Hurry Up! There's Waiting to Be Done!
A Meditation on Advent | Plus: A Review of Shepherds for Sale by Megan Basham
Dear Friends,
Though the heart hangover was palpable after everyone left, we had a tremendous time of Thanksgiving as a reunited family here in Central Illinois. Here are a handful of photos:
Ministry Update
The word of the month for December is “study.” For those following along, I’m due back before our presbytery’s credentials committee in January in hopes of an outcome better than the last one. If I pass this oral exam, I’ll then preach and be examined in February for licensure. If all goes well there, I’ll be one significant step closer to ordained ministry, which is the goal.
In the meantime, we’re in the midst of launching our first Life on Life groups to begin meeting in earnest from January to May. We had 29 people commit to be part of these discipleship groups, which is a tremendous start for our little church! I’ve also been asked to assume responsibility for our Sunday morning liturgy planning and music leading, so that’s new.
Finally, I prepared and preached as part of each of our sermon mini-series this Fall (twice on evangelism and once on discipleship). Also, this past Sunday, I was privileged to preach the first message as part of Anticipating the Christ, our four-week series on the Old Testament prophets and prophecies of Christ’s Incarnation and the New Testament nativity narrative.
Megan
Megan continues to put in long hours not only teaching each weekday, but also tutoring twice a week and continuing her dyslexia certification on Saturdays once a month. She works so hard in her preparation and presentation as a teacher, and also co-leads the children’s discipleship class at Exodus on Sunday mornings. She’s also co-hosting a women’s event with Emily Sturm, my Second Drafts podcast guest from last month, on December 15.
Here’s a look at December for the Dunhams:
December
7: Megan’s continuing Children’s Dyslexia Centers certification training
15: Megan co-hosting Five Favorite Things Women’s Christmas Gift Exchange
20: Millie home for Christmas Break
28: Craig, Megan, and Millie on the farm with Craig’s family for Christmas
29: Craig preaches at Exodus Church (10 a.m.)
29-January 2: Craig, Megan, and Millie in Tulsa with Megan’s family for New Year’s
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! As always, thanks for reading Second Drafts,
Craig (for Megan)
PS: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hurry Up! There’s Waiting to Be Done!
“It will be said on that day,
‘Behold, this is our God;
we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’”
—Isaiah 25:9
The next time someone wishes you a merry Christmas, let me encourage you to smile, look him or her in the eye, and respond with this simple question: “What’s the rush?”
Sure, you may get accused of being a smart aleck (trust me, I’ve been called worse), and I don’t mean it as just a sarcastic push-back against commercialism’s favorite holiday (also trust me: I’ve written plenty of those in my day here, here, and here).
But recently (okay, slowly, over the past five years), I’ve found myself mellowing in my fight against the commercialization of Christmas (though I’m probably not yet ready to all-out censor myself as Elizabeth Bruenig suggests in this well-written bit of salutatory sophistry in The Atlantic).
What’s helped? Rediscovering the season of Advent, which began this past Sunday.
What We Miss Out on When We Miss Advent
I like what the late Rev. Harry Reeder wrote of Advent in this Reformation 21 article:
“The Advent is a work of God’s grace whereby God Himself has come to us, to be among us and become one of us in order to save us from our sins and will come again for us to be with us forever.”
That’s a pretty cut-to-the-chase definition, but don’t miss the weight of what Reeder is saying: Advent has always been and should be a kind of two-for-one deal. That is,
“…while not being enslaved or conscience-bound to observe a church calendar, I would suggest that if we intentionally returned to the historic emphasis of the Advent season which intentionally celebrates the first Advent while also anticipating the second Advent, we could add a theological focus which would enhance our pastoral ministries of both celebration/worship and discipleship/equipping.”
In other words, in observing Advent, we should prepare and long for the second coming of Christ as we joyfully celebrate the first coming of Christ. Wrote Reeder:
“Start reclaiming the vibrancy of the Advent season from secularization by enhancing our commitment to the Great Commission of making disciples through emphasizing the inseparable dynamic relationship of both advents of Christ.
In a word, let's return to the historic objective of using the Advent season to affirm both the victory of Christ in His first Advent and our longing for the consummation of His victory in the second Advent. In so doing we would not only minister to a heart-felt need in the lives of God's people, we would also more effectively disciple God’s people and more effectively proclaim the Gospel of Hope to the world.”
More Than Just “Church Speak”
That all may seem like a lot of highfalutin’ “church speak,” so let me put it into practice. Here are some ways to “hurry up and wait” on Christmas by way of Advent:
Save the Christmas music for Christmas; play more Advent-themed songs instead. Here’s a list (there are also some other song resources here) that does a pretty good job of separating familiar seasonal songs into two (albeit somewhat overlapping) categories. You don’t have to be militant about it, but arranging two different playlists accordingly might be interesting.
We always did Advent calendars with our girls and they still remember and love them. There’s plenty of devotional material available to go along with a calendar (my favorite for adults is poet Malcolm Guite’s Waiting on the Word collection). Note: if you buy the Taylor Swift Advent calendar, you’re doing it wrong.
Schedule Christmas parties after Christmas instead of before. The liturgical season of Christmastide (what we sing of as the “Twelve Days of Christmas”) begins on Christmas day, after which people “made the rounds” visiting friends and family back in the day. Data point: every time I’ve ever scheduled staff Christmas parties or family gatherings after Christmas, people have loved not having to squeeze them in before Christmas.
Go ahead and put up your Christmas decorations and tree, but spend time with it listening to aforementioned Advent music, reading, and praying at night by the glow of its lights, not just Christmas morning in the midst of gift opening chaos.
Listen to messages and meditate on Scripture that help you make the most of Advent as preparation for Christmas. (Pardon the shameless self-promotion, but here’s my sermon, “The Beginning of Advent,” from this past Sunday if it serves.)
What We’re Glad and Rejoicing For
To be sure, if you know Christ, Christmas is as good a time as any to be glad and rejoice in your salvation. But before you do, and even in these dwindling weeks before Christmas on December 25, hurry up! There’s waiting to be done, and Advent can help inform and inspire our understanding of what we’re glad and rejoicing for.
To read more about Advent:
“The History of Advent” (The Gospel Coalition)
“Theology of Advent” (Reformation Bible College)
“The Neglected Meaning of Advent” (Desiring God Ministries)
Peaches’ Pick: Shepherds for Sale, Megan Basham
At the beginning of Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda, journalist and Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham leads with a quote from J. Gresham Machen’s classic 1923 book, Christianity and Liberalism:
“The type of religion which rejoices in the pious sound of traditional phrases, regardless of their meanings, or shrinks from ‘controversial’ matters, will never stand amid the shocks of life. In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight.”
The quote is appropriate as a prelude to Basham’s book, which is indeed about “really important things” and how they have been handled (or mishandled) by leaders within Evangelicalism—pejoratively labeled “Big Eva.” Basham’s table of contents is as current as they come in terms of topics—climate change; illegal immigration; the hijacking of the pro-life movement; media and money; Covid-19 propaganda; critical race theory; the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements; LGBTQ and transgender controversies—and her research and writing chops are up to the task.
What is the task? From Basham’s perspective, it is exposing the “wolves, cowards, mercenaries, and fools” in roles of leadership within (predominantly American) churches, parachurch ministries, and publishing houses who have compromised before a progressive political and theological movement to undermine biblical orthodoxy and entice Christian shepherds (and their flocks) to find themselves at home and comfortable in greener, more liberal pastures.
Basham calls out a troubling amount of individual decisions made and actions taken by plenty of familiar names in the church. At the barest of minimums, her descriptions of multiple head-shaking scenarios and questionable-at-best motives serve as a reminder that, in the words of Lord Acton, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.” Even, sadly, in the church.
But what’s hard to discern about some of Basham’s claims and her “receipts” contained within 50 pages of end notes are how much or how well they can be tied together to support every case. While she is convincing in much of her dot-connecting, in other scenarios she can seem to be reaching for conspiracies that may or may not be there, at least not to the degree she is claiming they all do. (I’ve read some of the rebuttals to her book, and some of them are at least as convincing.)
With regard to all things Covid, Basham writes on page 120 about those leaders who “demonized and promoted discrimination against the unvaccinated, twisting the Bible to do so, while others…actively fanned flames of hatred against them.” She then writes,
“I believe if those who used their positions of influence to unjustly burden and malign other evangelicals would acknowledge the hurt they caused, they’d be surprised to discover how many of their brothers and sisters are eager to at last put away resentment and anger. These leaders acted with utmost certainty. Yet they know now that they were wrong, while those they were accusing of being unloving were right. Refusing to say so suggests they have learned nothing and would do it all over again.”
Considering some of the folks Basham keeps company with are vocal leaders within various strains of the Christian Nationalism movement, I question if that kind of grace and forgiveness would happen without a lot of self-righteous “I told you so’s.” Maybe I’m wrong, but for reasons on both sides, I doubt we will ever see it.
Perhaps the most compelling chapter of the book is the last one, in which Basham shares her testimony (which is pretty messed up but beautifully redeemed by Christ) and has shaped her heart for what is true, good, and beautiful in the world. Having followed her work for years (she started as a movie critic for WORLD Magazine) and having interacted with her briefly on X (formerly Twitter), I believe she is a genuine person and talented writer who cares about Christ, the church, and our nation.
Thus, I appreciate what Basham has set out to do and think it worthy of a careful read. But I question whether all the conspiracy claims are the slam dunks she presents them as; in the midst of crisis situations, sometimes leaders just make mistakes.
Fresh Linkage
Some Peaches-suggested articles, posted with commentary:
“67 Screen-Free Activities for Kids” (After Babel)—nothing novel for GenXers and older, but for those whose youth was not digitally-free, it’s a helpful compilation.
“Always. Be. Blogging.” (Nate Silver)—I’ve been blogging since 2003 and always enjoy reading solid feedback from guys who seem to have figured it out.
“George Bailey is the Protestant Elite We Need” (Aaron Renn)—fun and timely read if you’re a fan of It’s a Wonderful Life, honest living, and hard work.
“How 260 Tons of Thanksgiving Leftovers Gave Birth to an Industry” (Smithsonian)—now you know.
“Pro-Lifers Must Resist Trump on Abortion and IVF” (Catholic World Report)—a good piece that captures much of my own thinking on the pro-life movement.
Until next month…
Craig and Megan Dunham live in Springfield, IL, where Craig serves as Ministry Coordinator at Exodus Church while pursuing ordination in the Presbyterian Church in America. Megan teaches 2nd grade at Springfield Christian School and is an occasional newsletter contributor.
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Ordering the book: Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda.
Thank you for the heads up. The last book I read was about 400 pages ( Holiness, by J. C. Ryle)...it did take a bit of time. I will get back to you with my thoughts on this new read when I'm finished, Deo volente. Thank you for your article!