Halleujah! A thoroughly biblical sermon

One of the mild surprises in my nearly eight month pastoral hiatus, during which I have been a visitor in numerous churches for the Sunday morning service, is that far too often there has been something missing from the worship time - a biblical mesage.

This surprises me, since I have been in SBC churches, inerrantists all, save for a Sunday off the reservation at a Presbyterian church  (whose pastor, a friend of mine would make a good Baptist and preached a solid biblical sermon that Sunday).

There have been Sundays where the sermon was jettisioned in favor of music.

There have been Sundays where a patriotic God-and-Country theme meant a perfunctory reading of a single Bible verse followed by 45 minutes of Founding Fathers with Jesus in a cameo appearance.

There have been Sundays where it seemed that if the pastor got red-faced and apopleptic and screamed a lot, that was supposed to be preaching. It wasn't.

There have been Sundays when the idea seemed to be to declare the glories of some of our denominational programs.

There have been a Sundays where I just wasn't sure what was being preached.

And there have been many Sundays where the sermon was biblical, solid, and preached well.

This past Sunday I worshipped in a rather high-church fashion. Music was good, though sedate. Any hymn with a Brahms symphony (the fourth, I believe) for the music is a hit with me. OK, I cannot recall singing the Gloria Patri lately, although the Doxology (not the one whose tune I always used) was comforting.

Several passages of Scripture were read.

The sermon was on Uzzah and was the best treatment of that text I have ever heard, though I cannot say there are many to choose from. The pastor was enthusiastic in his delivery and thoroughly biblical in his handling of the story. I love narrative preaching that paints a picture, explains the story, and makes appropriate application. He did well on all counts, and that with nary a hint of alliteration.

I could learn something from this.

Oh, did I mention that the pastor and church were Baptist? They are indeed. Did I mention that this Baptist church is one of the few Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches that no longer have any ties with the SBC? They don't.

We had better be careful about those stereotypes. It might just profitable for us inerrantists to give geater primacy to Scripture in worship...like this church.

A tale of two Baptist schools in Georgia

The two schools:

Mercer University is a top tier private school in Macon, Georgia. It had a long history of affiliation with the Georgia Baptist Convention but is no longer connected to or funded by the GBC.

Shorter University is a Georgia Baptist school, closely held and controlled by the GBC, and that after a failed attempt by earlier trustees to sever ties with the GBC and transfer the school's assets to an entity not controlled by the GBC.

Mercer has just approved a policy granting domestic partner benefits for gays. Mercer is also hosting a Baptist sexuality conference next year.

Shorter has just required all employees to sign a personal lifestyle statement that pledges rejection of unbiblical sexual activity, including homosexual activity.

Mercer is a superior educational institution. Shorter is held in lower regard in academic reputation.

Shorter makes national news with their pointedly conservative, many use the term 'fundamentalist', stance on morality, homosexuality, and Biblical inerrancy.

Mercer makes news, though not national news, by granting gays domestic partner benefits.

Mercer and some connected with the school, including Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (co-sponsor of the conference on Baptist sexuality), may (and please note my partisan speculation rather than fact here) be among the first Baptists to outline a theology of affirmation and acceptance of homosexuality.

No Georgia Baptist Convention church contributes to Mercer through their Cooperative Program gifts but they do contribute to Shorter which receives over one million dollars annually from the GBC.

Mercer is on very solid long term footing and its future looks strong and secure. Enrollment is growing at Shorter and its short to medium future looks strong.

When Southern Baptist life began to splinter thirty years ago, it was probably a good and necessary thing, something these two schools illustrate. My reading of SBC and state convention life is that the experiences of these two schools and their affiliations is typical. Does anyone think that we could all just go along and get along with each other and cooperate with such a contrast in beliefs and practices? Surely not.

Baptists have a clear choice. Let each one choose.