On Failing Calvin

Ok, so I have a confession to make: I didn’t finish The Institutes last year as I’d hoped. I didn’t really get close. I don’t remember at what point I stopped making it a priority, but I don’t think I got too far into Book Three after skimming through a lot of Book Two. Almighty Father, I have left undone things which I ought to have done. Lord, have mercy.

I don’t really want to justify myself, only to humbly acknowledge my failure while at the same time hoping that this Local Theologians site remains a meaningful place for conversation. I’ve left the link bookmarked in Chrome, so I see it regularly and often think to myself, “Man, you need to find something worth saying for the Local Theologians space.”

Now, if it’s a matter of needing something to say, then there’s no real point in saying it. This space will be no good if it’s us trying to muster up valuable things to say to each other, either by virtue signaling or by working to outdo each other’s theological insights. But I don’t think that’s who we are.

I think this is a group of thoughtful local pastors and theologians trying to figure out how to serve God meaningfully in our contexts. I think there is value in us trying to figure some of that out publicly in this space by (1) asking thoughtful questions and presenting thoughtful ideas about our lives, ministries, and things we are reading; (2) supporting and challenging one another with meaningful interactions, including debates and reviews and responses; (3) inviting thoughtful others to join in the conversation as guests and respondents. What else am I leaving out here?

So, I propose a conversation, or a set of conversations, as a way to get 2018 off to a start: What are you struggling with in your ministry and in your context? What do you hope God does in or through you this year? What texts, biblical or otherwise, are most shaping you right now? And (since we are local) what are the struggles in your city or region and how are you responding to them?

I’ll start. Struggles: I am in the middle of developing a Young Adults Ministry at our church, which can feel either incredibly easy or impossibly difficult. My whole goal is to integrate our young people into the community but I have consistently sensed resistance from those who are older. There is this idea that we need to create a Young Adult Service to cater to their specific needs and desires, further dividing people and giving in to this pervasive consumerist mindset. We’ve recently presented a survey of young adults that says that’s not what they want — instead, they want to be integrated and full participants in the community — so now comes the hard work of actually working to integrate them. I welcome your ideas.

Hopes: My biggest prayer for myself and hope for this year is that I grow in self-discipline. As evidenced by my Calvin flop, I am not firm in the things I set out to do. I am starting my days with Morning Prayer (from the BCP), and I have found this helpful for now. I pray that this continues and that the discipline will spill over into the rest of life.

Texts: I am just getting into a new novel (Camus’ The Plague) and I don’t know what impact it will have on me. Usually, novels shape me in powerful ways and I am always reading one. Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory was the latest I read and I loved it. A cruciform life impacts the world for the Kingdom even when the one living it is stuck in sin and failure. For now, though, I would say that Revelation is the text having the greatest impact on me. I have finished a first draft of a book on Revelation (suggesting that it is a devotional and practical book and emphasizing those themes). I want to learn to live in ways that prepare me to face tribulation and suffering faithfully.

Boise: Two things stand out to me, though other Boiseans will see things I’m missing. First, the housing crisis. We do not have good answers for low-income housing and it is ruining the financial situations of people we serve. Second, we are not aware of the racial problems in our city. I hear, a lot, that race isn’t a huge issue in our city because the minority population is so small. But, a racial history of our city suggests that the minority populations are small because we pushed out people who are Chinese and Black and have kept others from gaining much cultural power (the major exception being our Basque friends).

So, there we are. What about you? How was your Calvin experience? How is being a local theologian?

Blessings in Christ our King,

Josh