It is such an apt image: ‘fallen’ … stumbling, grazing, bruising, hurting, slipping.
The ‘evangelical’ world in the USA has been shocked in this past week by the fall of one of its leaders(Ted Haggard). It is tragic – particularly for his wife and his children. The last time this happened with someone of such profile was probably twenty years ago and a guy called Gordon McDonald. He has written an intriguing reflection on this recent fall … take some time over it!
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2006/11/the_haggard_tru.html
As I read McDonald’s comments I am reminded again that while the 100% fire-proofing of our lives from a ‘falling’ incident might be impossible (“but for the grace of God, go I” – as they say), the asymptote of our lives can get pretty close to touching that horizontal axis by pleading with God to graft two qualities into our characters: humility and holiness. It is the prayer worth praying. It is the life worth living.
But for a change of theme, you might also like to consider
www.lahr-nsw.de/flash/indiansimpson.swf
nice chatting
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
Football helps me train preachers. See, when you speak to me about football—or, ‘footie’—I need to know where your feet are before I can understand what you mean. Are your feet in Ireland, or Brazil, or the USA, or NZ—or in crazy Australia? It must be the most fanatical sporting nation in the world. Within…
Having been born in 1959, I don’t remember much about the 1960s. But I have heard a lot. Hippies. Drugs. Rock ‘n Roll. Assassinations. Moon-walking. A quick trip across to ChatGPT informs me immediately that it was ‘a transformative decade across the world’—marked by the civil rights and feminist movements, Cold War tensions, consumerism and…
Thanks Paul. There is a follow up article in Christianity Today (where the MacDonald article first appeared) on restoration, which is also very good http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2006/11/signs_of_a_rest.html
The tragic thing about this episode is that Haggard isn’t the first and won’t be the last. There is a huge amount of commentary on this episode on the Web, but I think maybe the best approach is silent humble reflection on Christ’s words “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. Haggard’s sins are more public than most of ours, but all of us – without exception, whether evangelical leader or not – are sinners in need of the grace of God.