I love the last line of the Apostles’ Creed: [. . . I believe] in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. While the Creed may not have the same level of authority as inspired Scripture, it nevertheless represents the best of the collective wisdom of early Christians. And they described our eternal hope as “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” Interestingly, they did not describe it as “the immortality of the soul.” One of my most significant learnings of recent years is the discovery that Christianity is much more about the resurrection of the body than it is about the immortality of the soul. Check especially I Corinthians 15. The whole chapter.  You'll see that life after life after death was a more pressing concern for Paul than merely life after death. It’s in the Creed. It’s in Scripture. It’s in the way the ancient mind worked.

Psalm 133

I doubt anyone can give a definitive answer to these questions, but here's what I've been pondering recently:  

• Why am I just now realizing what a good writer Stephen King is?
• Why do people turn the fans on full blast at the Y?  People: you're going there to sweat!
• Why does South Carolina build or expand its roads so much more quickly than North Carolina?
• Why do so many people put apostrophe's in the wrong places?
• Why do so many Christian denominations fund their own insurrections?
• Why have I had to wait over fifteen years for the next Don Henley album?
• Why do some people drive cars that are worth more than their houses?
• Why the Kardashians?
• Why is the book almost always better than the movie?
• Why don't more Methodists connect the dots?

 

One of my favorite novelists is John Irving. He's the author of books that are both critically acclaimed and wildly popular, such as The Word According To Garp, A Prayer For Owen Meany, and The Cider House Rules. Most Irving novels blend high hilarity, deep pathos, and improbable plot twists to craft narratives that are both entertaining and enriching. And he's known for something else:  he writes the last sentence of his novels first.  Once that wording is set, the rest of the novel is ready to take shape.  In fact, that process drives The Last Night In Twisted River, one of my favorite Irving novels of all. And I can't help but think that what works now for John Irving worked earlier for John the author of the Fourth Gospel, also known as John The Evangelist. In John 20:31 -- not exactly the last sentence, but pretty close, especially if John 21 is a sort of appendix to the rest of the book -- John very clearly states his reason for writing Jesus' story: ³¹ But these are written that you may believe^[a] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Everything John includes, then, is for that singular purpose: that you might believe and that by believing you will have life in his name. I can imagine the inspired author getting that sentence down on paper  parchment, sitting back, and exclaiming, "I've got it!  Now that I know why I'm writing and where the story is headed, that will determine what I'll leave in, what I'll leave out, and what hints I'll drop along the way." And those "hints along the way" interest me for this post in particular.  On Tuesday, a friend and I were continuing our study of John (this is why being a pastor is such a good gig), and as part of the prelude to the Lazarus story, we read these words in 11:14-15: ¹⁴ So then [Jesus] told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” I've been reading John for 35 years; I've known 20:31 is the thesis statement for 25 years, and yet I'd never noticed that bread crumb John drops through Jesus in chapter 11:  so that you might believe.  On Tuesday, reading it out loud and in community, it literally leaped off the page at me. It's what John Irving's readers would call a foreshadow. It turns out John the Evangelist leaves similar clues throughout his gospel: John 3:15 (often overlooked because of his big brother, the 3:16!):  ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^{[b] 15} that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”^[c] John 5:24:  "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. John 19:35:  "The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe." And in case we miss the pattern and the purpose,John makes the same declaration in letter form in I John 5:13:  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. When you write that last sentence first everything else in the story falls into place. It's true of novels.  It's true of Gospels.  And, in many cases, it's true of sermons as well.      

This math will be revolutionary to no one, but . . . I realized today that the 90s started a quarter century ago. In some ways, 1990 seems like yesterday -- that's when I began full-time ministry, when Julie and I moved to the Carolinas, when we were in the early days of parenthood. And in other ways, it seems like a lifetime ago -- I'd never heard of "contemporary" worship, Good Shepherd was only a sign in a briar field, and mullets were still in style. So as I reflect on the 90s, what are my five favorite songs that give shape to the decade?  Do my tastes from yesteryear lean to the grunge sound that launched the 90s or the boy band vibe that wrapped it up?  As you'll see below, the answer is . . . neither.   1.  One, U2.  Rolling Stone called One  both "intimate and anthemic."  What a perfect description of an almost perfect song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftjEcrrf7r0     2.  Learning To Fly, Tom Petty.  Under-rated, under-played, overwhelming.  The live version is delicately sublime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxXBhKJnRR8   3.  Ironic, Alanis Morissette.  The best song ever with a Valley Girl imitation embedded in it.  Note the 90s pattern of soft, gentle verses followed by LOUD, AGGRESSIVE chorus.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc     4.  No Rain, Blind Melon.  The little guitar riff that opens and then drives the song never fails to hypnotize.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qVPNONdF58   5.  Hold My Hand, Hootie & The Blowfish.  This is probably fresh in my mind because my friend Joey Hopper played it at a funeral of a good friend just last week.  It suited the occasion perfectly, as it suits this list as well.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoW3bqnr7tw