Thanksgiving 2021

Today the United States pauses for a day of thanksgiving. But since our society has largely jettisoned the concept of a divine governor to whom we owe thanks, the holy-day has become, in most cases, a festival of gluttony, football, and self-recrimination. Secularists will feel undirected gratitude for the happy accidents of prosperity in their primate existence which stand in contrast to the sea of pointlessness which characterizes their daily lives. Social justice warriors will spend the day feeling superior to other people as they lament the colonization, exploitation, and racism upon which this nation was founded. Many people will give no thought at all to the day beyond being thankful not to be at work. They will express their joy in a day of leisure by gorging themselves on food and intoxicating themselves with alcohol before capping the day off with heartburn, nausea, and a hangover. Unbelievers have all the fun.

As Christians we know that our God is the Giver of every good and perfect gift. We owe thanks to him for all the good that we enjoy in this world. Therefore believers should not observe Thanksgiving the way unbelievers do. The Lord may not have consecrated the fourth Thursday in November as a holy day of thanksgiving, but he has commanded his saints to give thanks, and while we ought at all times to do so, it is good and proper especially to do so when the civil magistrate sets aside a particular day for that purpose. So eat the fat, drink the sweet, sing the hymns of Zion, and give thanks to the God of heaven. Make this day one of holy, grateful feasting, and as you eat and drink or whatever you do today, do it to the glory of God. --JME

Preface to the 2021 Advent Series

Every year at ROPC we preach an “Advent series” during the Christmas season from the last Sunday in November until December 25th. Some Presbyterians are vexed by this and describe it as papist and a product of human tradition, but the Continental Reformed churches have upheld the value of the “evangelical feast days,” i.e. those days which historically commemorated significant events in redemptive history recorded in Scripture: Christmas, Good Friday, Christ’s Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost.[1] Our yearly Advent series focuses attention on biblical texts and themes related to the Lord’s Incarnation and first Advent. These are truths the Church ought to remember, meditate upon, and celebrate at all times, and there is no biblical warrant for spurning such celebration during the winter months of the year.[2]

This year our Advent studies will be divided into two parts. In the morning services each week, I will be preaching a series on biblical theology related to the typology of Eve, Mary, and God’s promise to bring salvation and blessing out of the barrenness of sin and judgment. In the evening services, Dane will be unpacking the doctrine of the Incarnation summarized in the Larger Catechism questions 36-42. It is hoped that these two series will complement one another, helping us all to better understand and appreciate both the poetry and the propositions by which God has made his salvation known.

I should say a few things about the morning series before it begins lest it be misunderstood. The Roman church has made much of Mary, and much of what they have said about her and the devotion arising from it is plainly unbiblical, even idolatrous. If Rome has said too much about the mother of our Lord, then many Protestants have said too little. It is not uncommon for evangelicals to shun ancient language that is creedal, thoroughly biblical, and ought to be uncontroversial--such as referring to Mary as Theotokos or Mother of God. This is an overreaction against Roman errors, but orthodoxy and piety are not well-served by steering into the ditch on the other side of the road.

The name Theotokos (God-Bearer) was used to refer to Mary by the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, long before the superstitious errors of Rome had grown to their present proportions.[3] If some think we ought to reject such language now given the misuse Rome makes of it, it should be noted this was not the position of our Reformed fathers even after the Council of Trent. Francis Turretin affirms:

“XI. Mary is rightly called the Mother of God (theotokos) in the concrete and specifically because she brought forth him who is also God, but not in the abstract and reduplicatively as God. Although this is not expressly stated in the Scriptures, still it is sufficiently intimated when she is called the mother of the Lord (Lk. 1:43) and the mother of Immanuel. If the blessed virgin brought nothing to the person of the Logos (Logou) absolutely considered, still she can be said to have brought something to the person of the incarnate Logos (Logou) economically considered, inasmuch as she gave the human nature which he took into the unity of person. 

“XII. The title Mother of God given to the virgin was perverted by superstitious men into an occasion of idolatry… Although, I say, this most gross error either arose from or was increased by this occasion, it derogates nothing from the truth because the abuse and error of the papists ought not to take away the lawful use of this name.” --Institutes of Elenctic Theology Vol. 2, 13.7.11–12, p. 320 (emp. added)

Even more recently, Geerhardus Vos wrote at the beginning of the 20th century:

“It must in fact be said: Mary gave birth to God (according to His human nature); that is to say, the subject, who is God, has undergone the process of being born by the Virgin Mary.” --Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 3, 61

We should lament both the idolatrous excess of Rome which terms Mary a Co-Mediatrix in God’s work of redemption to whom the Church may address prayers as well as the Protestant reactionary ambivalence toward a servant of God so greatly favored and used to bring salvation to earth. R. C. Sproul observed in a sermon:

“Because of… the heretical veneration Rome has given to Mary over the centuries, Protestants tend to flee so far in the other direction that we almost despise this one who was highly favored by the Lord, who was filled with the grace of God, and who was a model of submission to the authority of God Himself.” --R. C. Sproul, “Mary’s Fiat” (Nov. 13, 2011) https://www.ligonier.org/learn/sermons/marys-fiat

In that same sermon, Sproul decries and denies any parallel that may be drawn between Mary and Eve in the history of redemption, and so further explanation is needed to justify what we hope to introduce and explore this year. Simply stated, Rome’s errors and superstitions regarding Mary became possible because her role in redemptive history is so significant. There are many parallels that may be drawn from the pages of Scripture between Mary and Eve as well as many other women, wives, and mothers in Israel that lived in between. These parallels are neither an exercise in cloud-watching nor a manifestation of covert Roman Catholicism; they are observations of biblical typology in unison with the historical Church. Just as it is unnecessary (and unwise) to reject the language of Theotokos because of misguided devotion to Mary, it is likewise unnecessary and unhelpful to deny the many obvious parallels and instances of foreshadowing throughout the Bible that connect creation, covenant, and the Incarnation of the Christ-Child in Mary’s womb.

This year we plan to introduce and explore the biblical theology of Christ’s Incarnation in four lessons. First, we will examine the theme of blessing from barrenness and observe how often the covenant is preserved and salvation comes through a child of promise born to a barren woman. This is not a coincidence, and it does not happen merely once or twice. Second, we will look at the parallels between Mary and Eve, the mother of the living. We will see how Gabriel describes the birth of Christ as a new creation and learn to better understand Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 2:15 that the woman will be saved through childbearing. Third, we will consider how women play a role throughout redemptive history in crushing the serpent’s head, typologically leading to the birth of Christ who is the true Serpent-Crusher and Dragon-Slayer. Fourth, we will study the doxology of redemption as we examine Mary’s Magnificat and the historical and covenantal preparation for it in Miriam’s Song (Exodus 15), Hannah’s Prayer (1 Sam. 2), and the Psalms.

I hope this series of studies will be profitable to us all. There are many ways they might be misunderstood. They should not lead us to devotion to Mary, nor are they designed as a feminist re-reading of redemption. Indeed, in view of the poisonous errors of both Mariolatry and feminism, my hope and prayer is that this series will provide a robust and biblical alternative to such human doctrines. May we find our true joy and satisfaction in Christ and in the work of redemption he has prepared, performed, and proclaimed in powerful and poetic ways. --JME

[1] Cf. Daniel Hyde, “Not Holy But Helpful: A Case for the ‘Evangelical Feast Days’ in the Reformed Tradition” MAJT (2015): 131-149.

[2] Cf. “Celebrating the Birth of Our Lord” https://joelellis.blogspot.com/2012/12/celebrating-birth-of-our-lord.html

[3] “Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.” --Definition of the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451)

Two Years Later

November 11, 2019 was a Monday. That morning I received the kind of phone call every parent dreads. It was my oldest daughter, Hannah. A man driving a van had run a red light at a high rate of speed and struck their car. Hannah was bruised and had minor abrasions but would be okay. Ellen Beth was not. She was transported by ambulance to a local hospital where they discovered her spine was fractured. She was then transferred to a special unit at a Children’s Hospital where she would spend the next two weeks. After returning home, Ellen Beth spent the next three months in a wheelchair. Eventually, by God’s great mercy and grace, she began walking again, then running, then exercising, and then doing jiu-jitsu. Today Ellen Beth is finishing prerequisites for nursing school and working full-time as a Tech in the Observation unit of a local hospital. She has helped save the life of multiple patients, and she has performed CPR and worked bedside on other patients who have not survived. The crash in 2019 changed her life, in ways good and bad. She will always carry the scars of that day, but she is stronger, wiser, and better for having had that experience.

If the driver had struck Hannah and Ellen Beth’s car just a few seconds later, EB’s injuries might have been far worse, and Hannah would almost certainly not have survived. That car crash and everything that happened in it was not an accident. It was hard providence, governed, restrained, and guided by God’s grace. The situation might have been very different, and if one or both girls had not survived, the Lord would still be good and merciful. The crash was bad, but it could have been so much worse. The injury and trauma were great, but not as great as they might have been. We know this is true, and we speak about it often. But our family had a reminder this morning.

Two years to the week after that fateful day, once again on a Monday morning, another teenager in our family, the girls’ younger brother Jack, was driving near our house. This time I was in the car, sitting in the passenger’s seat. We were approaching an intersection just a few blocks from where Jack’s sisters were injured and could easily have died. I don’t think either of us were thinking about that day two years before as we approached the road. Suddenly just ahead of us a car traveling southbound ran a stop sign and began traveling westbound at a high rate of speed. The light was red as he approached the intersection, but he only accelerated as he rocketed into the path of north-south traffic. There was a loud, powerful collision as the speeding sedan struck a small SUV, destroying and immobilizing that vehicle and sending the sedan careening across the intersection, through the adjacent, undeveloped corner lot, and under a tree approximately half a football field length away.

Jack moved to the corner of the intersection and pulled to the curb. I switched on our hazard lights and told him to stay in the van. The driver in the middle of the intersection was screaming, trapped into the smashed car, covered in blood and deflated airbags, alive but in a bad way. As another bystander moved to the driver’s window, I ran across the intersection and into the empty lot to check on the driver of the other car. He was dead. It looked like he had broken his neck.

A police officer was on-scene less than a minute after the collision. The driver of the sedan had been fleeing from law enforcement, although it did not appear the officer was in high speed pursuit. But the speeding driver was desperate to get away. He was ready to risk everything to avoid being detained by the cops, and it cost him his life. I don’t know if the other driver’s injuries were life threatening or not, but the severity of the crash will surely affect him for the rest of whatever remains of his life.

It had been a quiet morning. Sitting in the passenger seat, I was looking down at my phone when the crash happened just ahead of us. Jack and I had been listening to a news podcast just like every other morning, and then everything changed. I spent the rest of the day thinking about the dead body I had seen. I’ve lost count over the years how many there have been, but I wasn’t expecting to see one today. We weren’t thinking about what happened just a few blocks away only two years ago, but when I later texted my wife and daughters to tell them what happened and that we were okay, we obviously thought about it then.

The last thing I tell my girls every morning when they leave to work a shift at the hospital is: Keep your head on a swivel. It is part of our morning liturgy. By now it may be so familiar that they no longer think about it. But I do. Every time I say it to one of them, I wonder if it will be the last time. How many times have I been distracted when driving? How easily do I forget how quickly and unexpectedly and permanently things can change?

The driver who ran a red light and crashed into my daughters walked away uninjured. The driver who ran the red light today died at the scene. My girls eventually recovered from their injuries. I don’t know what will happen to the other driver in the crash today. But today I was reminded of how great God’s mercy has been to my children. After all, that could have been my daughters, or today it might have been Jack. I was reminded of how quickly things can happen when you least expect it. I was reminded that the world is full of reckless people with no regard for the welfare of others, or even for their own. There are all kinds of lessons I could extrapolate as a pastor from today’s experience, but there is no need to do that. I’m sure they are obvious. In the meantime: Keep your head on a swivel. --JME

Temple Prostitution Makes a Comeback

“A brothel in Austria has begun operating as a COVID-19 vaccination center – with the added incentive of a free 30-minute session in the ‘sauna club’ with a ‘lady of their choice’ for anyone who takes them up on the offer” (source). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the brothel reports that “the scheme has been popular.” Those who take advantage of the offer are given the additional incentive of being “legally allowed to visit the ‘sauna club’ once more.” One of the employees told Reuters:

“I think it's a very good idea to have a vaccination street in the Fun Palast, because the name fun palace suggest to have a bit of fun here and return back to normality a bit more. And I also think it's a great idea that this is being offered for women, children and of course men.”

The altruism of this program can scarcely be overstated. Small business owners and sex workers are uniting to promote public health in the shared belief that COVID is a greater threat than sexually transmitted diseases or eternal damnation. One wonders how many of the women and children eligible for the program are also visiting Fun Palast to take advantage of the offer. Given the urgent importance of our public health crisis, one might envision entire households visiting the brothel together in the interests of their family’s welfare.

Of course, those with even a smattering of Bible knowledge or familiarity with religion in the ancient world will recognize the model. Appolyon has used it before, quite effectively, though it did not work out so well in cities like Corinth and Ephesus where, despite a lively sex trade in the temples, Christianity managed to gain a foothold and draw large numbers of worshippers out of the temple cult and into Christian congregations. Temple prostitution is nothing new. It is very old. The Dragon hasn’t managed to come up with anything truly new in a very long time. He simply recycles storylines like a Disney screenwriter working on the latest Star Wars film.

Temple prostitution invites worshippers to pledge allegiance and demonstrate their devotion to the gods by means of sexual communion with the priests and priestesses of the temple. It is like a lot of churches today which assure you that God’s desire is for you to be happy, and nothing says happiness like having sex with a stranger after getting poked in the arm with a needle. But make no mistake, the offer will cost you more than you expect. The first time is always free, or so they want you to think, but in reality although “the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil… in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell” (Prov. 5:3-5).

Set aside for a moment questions about the immunological value of the COVID vaccines. I regard taking the vaccine or not as a matter of personal liberty determined by each individual’s calculation. But the question of mandates aimed to vaccinate everyone, regardless of natural immunity, personal circumstances, or individual liberty is a religious mission which urges, propositions, or demands that citizens of the world bow the knee and pledge fealty to the lords of science in order to participate in the world’s economy and human society. You must burn the pinch of incense to Caesar or find yourself exiled from the world.

Entrepreneurs in Austria have only highlighted the lack of creativity in our American authorities. Imagine how much more popular President Biden’s vaccine mandate might have been if it had included a 30 minute private session in a sauna club. Instead, our executive officer decided to inspire cooperation by threatening companies with heavy fines designed to drive them out of business and threaten employees who do not comply with termination. Fun Palast in Austria has found a gentler approach to wooing participation. But make no mistake, both gambits are wicked and immoral, both are fundamentally religious in nature, and both are in defiance of the King’s rule and law. Both programs should be treated with the contempt they deserve, as devices of the Devil designed to waylay weak souls, offers and demands which like their maker are destined for Hell. --JME