Father Cantalamessa (The Preacher to the Pope)

Here are the promised pictures of Raniero Cantalamessa's visit to Asbury along with a digital short to give you a taste of the events.

Our first interaction with Cantalamessa was in a thirty minute Question and Answer session that Dr. Baucum set up for the Beeson students and a few other guests.

The picture shows how genuine this man is. He was a joy to hear.

I admit that I wanted him to talk more about what it's like to have papal preaching duties, but that wasn't the purpose of his visit. He didn't say much about that part of his vocation (he was appointed to this position, by the way, by the late Pope John Paul. He was retained by Pope Benedict). His purpose in coming to Asbury was to talk about preaching as it relates to our ministries . . . hence . . . no need to drag the Pope into things!

I asked him to talk about the use of allegory in sermons and how to recover it in approriate ways for preaching. He is a Patristics scholar by training (he taught at the University of Milan for a time). His answer was, essentially, that it just takes some wisdom and some common sense; that a preacher must always be careful not to abuse interpretation whether allegory was being used or not.

His understanding of what it takes to interpret scripture kept reminding me of my mother's use of scripture, even though she studied scripture very differently than Cantalamessa. She didn't bring a Ph.D. to the table, but she brought the same spirit to scripture as this man. Over and over I heard echos of my mother's understanding of how God blesses scripture and people and the interaction of the two.

In Bryan Bucher's blog he mentions how amazing it is that the papal pastor was asked to speak at a conservative Methodist seminary in the hinterlands of Kentucky. He's absolutely right. What's even more amazing is that Cantalamessa accepted. He has made it part of his mission to work for Christian unity . . . and that warms the cockles of my heart of Stone-Campbell.

If pictures are worth a thousand words, then this video might be worth seventeen or eighteen words. There is nothing funny in it. No trains will burst onto your screen. I just thought it might be nice to catch a snippet of the action with video. If you're two minutes ahead of schedule today, go ahead and check it out. I also included a little clip of the worship leader, Matt Maher.

Beeson Training Video #1

This past weekend we Beeson couples had a fine marriage retreat. I will blog on that later (maybe).

As for this blog . . . I received an email this past week from an incoming Beeson Pastor (Paul from Idaho) who is wondering what kinds of things to bring to Wilmore this summer. I remember having the exact same questions. Last year at this time I even found Rob Couch's blog (Couch was a BP2005). It was that blog that gave me the idea to start blogging. I remembering wishing that Rob would blog more so I could get an idea of what goes on during the Beeson DMin year.

A warning is in order. This video is a bit longer than most of my homemade videos (almost 4 minutes). Enjoy--if you have the time.

Fostering Spirituality

Bryan and Trav were jazzed to be in attendance today for the lecture by Richard Foster. I have to admit that I was excited too. Foster's classic, Celebration of Discipline, has meant a lot to me over the years. Even Jason and Jack were ready to settle down for a good lecture.

The main part of Foster's message consisted of his "10 Counsels in Spiritual Formation." They were as follows:

1. Do not define spiritual formation in terms of various practices. This one was my favorite, it's too easy to decide that what connects with me spiritually will work for others. That's not the case. It's okay if some "spiritual" practices just don't work for you or for me. The practice of the discipline isn't the point, "the practices are the way to get you into life."
2. Do not focus on curriculum based solutions. "The evangelical church is in love with curriculum."
3. Do not aim at outward action. Under this heading Foster simply called upon the church to balance the "six streams" of the church: contemplation, holiness, charismatic, social justice, evangelical, and sacramental.
   
4. Do base spiritual formation in the Great Commission. The Great Commission includes life in the kingdom of God and is available now. "Life" in the kingdom of God is unpacked in the Sermon on the Mount.
5. Do think internationally.
6. Do think in terms of the church universal.
7. Do give sustained attention to a balanced vision of the Christian life.
8. Do draw from the great tradition of the church.
   
9. Do take a long view of discipleship and maturation.
10. Do develop the highest possible Christology.
    

You might notice that Foster has a pony tail these days. He said it is to honor his Native American heritage.

McKenna Chapel was pretty full for this session. It was nice to get the chance to hear Foster speak, another perk that comes along with being here this year. The day ended on a bittersweet note. When I got home there was a message on my phone from Buddy Swain letting me know that Howard from Grandview died today. I will blog about him tomorrow. We will miss Howard very much, but he wanted to go. God Bless Howard!