Author Archives: jackshannon7

by - 0 comments

Encouragement and Reflections from a Christian Friend

Brandon asked that I give a short exordium entitled Encouragement and Reflections from a Christian Friend

And so I want to do that. Brandon is my friend and I am a Christian. So it works out quite well. Brandon and I became friends at Hillsdale College. We were both drawn to the life of thought and letters and what that means as a Christian. And as I was thinking about what to say about marriage today I kept coming back to this combination – the contemplative life and the life of a Christian. Let me explain.

Brandon has a knack for writing and a sweet tooth for good literature. I’m also the kind of person who enjoys having pages flick my fingers. This is something Brandon and I have in common because it allows us to enter into what the Western tradition has called the Great Conversation. This conversation asks questions like, “What is good? What is true? And what is beautiful?” This conversation has been carrying on by intellectual giants for several millennia. But here’s where being a Christian changes things. Being a Christian means more than merely entering into conversation. Being a Christian is less about entering into a great conversation and more about entering into a great gospel brawl. Being a Christian means entering into warfare. But how does warfare relate to marriage?

In Genesis 3:15, God promises to pick a fight with Satan – that serpent, or that dragon whom Adam failed to fight against. God says concerning His Son, the Second Adam, that, “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This is the first whisper of Christ’s victory on the cross. And it is more than mere whisper. It is God trashing talking the opposing team. He is taunting the bad guys. He is saying, “I am going to kill you and I’m going to get the girl you tried to kill.” And how does He do this? He does it by sacrificing Himself. He does it by letting a mob, a pretentious religious elite, an abdicating Roman prefect, and knuckle dragging soldiers, beat him, mock him, spit on him, and nail him to a piece of wood for the sake of his girl. This is good news – this is Gospel. Because all of us are that girl, in that all of us need saving, but all of us are also the brawlers in that all of us in the Church as the Body of Christ are participating in overcoming the Evil One, the serpent, or as John says that murderer from the beginning.

But how are we conquering?

Through things like this, today. God has instituted this Gospel story in little bite-size chunks called marriage. Every individual marriage is like a preview to a really great movie. If done right, you’re going to want to see the whole thing. Or like a quote from a really great book. If it’s appealing enough, you’re going to want to read the whole book. Marriage is a symbolic representation of the union between Jesus Christ and His Church. Paul says this is mystery, but it is a mystery that has been embedded in the story of mankind since creation – it is the story of the Bible. It is the foundational story of every great story ever told. It is the story of killing the dragon and getting the girl.

Let’s pray: Father, we thank you for giving us the opportunity to witness the covenant between Brandon and Jenna. We thank you that you that you sent your Son, the Second Adam to fight and win where the First Adam was passive and lost. We thank you that you’ve instituted marriage to be a proclamation of life and good news to a dying and hopeless world. We ask that you bless the union of Brandon and Jenna and that their union would be living proof of the joy found in your Son and His Bride the Church.

by - 1 Comment

Incarnational Words

Exhortation delivered at New Saint Andrews College Morning Prayer February 24, 2014

Proverbs 3:11-20
I John 3:18-4:6

By wisdom the Lord founded the Earth, by understanding he established the Heavens; by his knowledge the deep broke open, and the clouds dropped down the dew. Think about what’s going on there. While still maintaining an element of mystery, we see a connection of understanding, knowledge, and wisdom with implementation, action, and things happening. Cause and effect. The Lord has wisdom – he founded the Earth. The Lord has understanding – he establishes the Heavens. The attributes of God tangibly express themselves. They are incarnational. Things about God do not exist purely in an abstract, Platonic way. They have manifested themselves to us in the things that we see.

So, when John tells us not to love in word or talk, but in deed and truth, we’re being God-imitators. God’s Word became flesh. God’s Word didn’t stay word. It manifested itself by doing things in the world that we see. So all of our talk, all of our words, all of our, for example, “I love you’s,” are a type of “in the beginning was the Word.” In the beginning was the proposition “I love you,” but it can’t simply stop there. It must not stop there. It has to manifest itself into things seen. So, the question becomes how does your “I love you” become flesh? How does it manifest itself in what it does?

You, as NSA students, are particularly blessed to be in this community. And you will no doubt walk away with a lot of knowledge and a lot of understanding. You’re growing in these things daily, and for you to even be here indicates that you have a measure of these things already. I’m continually astounded by the level of ability which NSA students possess. It’s humbling to me. So the exhortation is this: take that knowledge, take that understanding and don’t keep it to yourself. Don’t restrict that understanding to formal abstractions. Do something with it. Find ways to serve, to love your friends, family, church better. Find ways to do this and as John says, “you will know that you’re of the truth and you will reassure your heart before God.”

Image

by - 0 comments

Building an Ark

Greyfriars Hall Exhortation delivered at Anselm House August 27, 2013


“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7)

We would do well to examine what transpired leading up to the flood, the preparation period. The time before the flood. The building of the Ark. Consider how overwhelming it may have been to Noah after God instructed him in the Ark’s dimensions. Think about the number of trees that needed to be cut down, moved, shaped, fastened and suitable to the Ark’s purpose. This work was long, tedious, and difficult. It took over a hundred years for Noah to build.

This expression of faith and obedience to God over an extended period of time is something we should emulate because we are all building arks. More specifically, we’re all building the Ark. Just as the Ark saved Noah and his family from a deluge of God’s judgment, Christ saves us from God’s wrath.  Christ’s body, the church, represented by the Ark continues to be built. And if you are a follower of Jesus, then you are a servant, a worker, a partaker in this massive building project.  We have a seemingly impossible task before us: books to read, papers to write, languages to learn, people to save, all peoples to be saved, all nations to be baptized, the ushering in of a kingdom. So overwhelming are these glorious prospects that it can present the temptation to be paralyzed with fear, but we have not been given a spirit of fear. We’ve been given a Spirit of power, of love, and self-control. This time is set aside for us that we may be prepared for the crushing waters. The workload at this point looks like a forest of trees that we’ve been tasked to cut down with a butter knife, but take heart. We live for a Savior who has overcome this world. He gives us better things than knives. He gives us His Holy Spirit. This same Spirit raised Christ from the dead and now lives in us. And if the Spirit living in us, helps us in our weaknesses and declares that we are more than conquerors, which it does, then we may confidently go forward in our work.