True Masculinity

Both of the Bible studies I lead in my home are studying Paul's letters. In the high school girls' group we're doing Romans (their choice--can you see why I love them so?!) and in the young adult girls' group we're going through Ephesians. In both studies, we're nearing the part about "wives submit to your husbands." Uhhg--that is such a hard part, isn't it? I find myself just needing to be reminded of what masculinity and femininity are supposed to look like, so that I can maybe make just a little sense out of these hard passages that speak of gender roles.

As if on cue, I came across possibly the best sermon I ever heard on masculinity the other day. This was the very last sermon I heard Carter Crenshaw (my pastor at West End Community Church in Nashville) give before I moved from the Music City to New England. West End is now posting Carter's sermons online, which is great news for me because I love to listen to him!

Before I ever visited West End, my sweet friend Shelley told me how Carter performed her brother and sister-in-law's wedding service, and how it was beautiful and poignant, and how Beth Moore (a friend of theirs through LifeWay) loved it so much that she endorsed it on her blog! (I later read the blog post--you can check it out on the Living Proof blog here. I can just picture Carter being "up in their stuff" and patting Rich on the arm over and over...he's so dear.) I attended West End for the better part of a year, and people from other churches would often tout Carter as the best pre-marriage counselor in Nashville. When I met with him one-on-one a couple of times, and especially when I heard this sermon on masculinity, I began to see that they weren't just being gracious. This guy means business!

The message is taken largely from a book by John Piper (one of my favorite theologians) and Wayne Grudem (the guy who wrote my 1200+ page Systematic Theology textbook). But Carter lends his wonderfully enthusiastic and studied flavor to it.

So the point is, listen to this sermon. If you're a dude, it will make you want to shape up and be a real man like Jesus. If you're a girl, it will make you want to quit flirting with fire and find a guy who seeks after Jesus with his whole heart. Seriously. It's good stuff. And if you struggle at all with Paul's telling the saints that wives should submit to their husbands, and husbands should lay down their lives for their wives, maybe it will bring just a little clarity to the whole messy issue.

Click here for the audio file.

Real Sex

I got to spend the holiday weekend in Richmond for my sweet friend Goodie's wedding. Y'all know how I love Richmond. I feel blessed to the sky each time I get to go back and visit my alma mater, spend time with dear friends, and dwell in rich community at Third Pres (and Tikvat Yisrael, though, sadly, not this weekend). I love it, love it, love it!

On Sunday night I got to fellowship with a wonderful couple from church (and their four sweet kids--my cup runneth over!). They mentioned a sermon given several weeks ago by Corey Widmer, a pastor at Third and truly the best teacher I've ever had the privilege of learning from on a weekly basis. (Serioulsy, y'all--he rivals some of my favorite famous Christian teachers, and he teaches at my little church in Richmond!) The sermon is titled Real Sex: Biblical Wisdom for Sex and Sexuality, and you can listen to it here. It's part of a sermon series on the book of Proverbs, and each of the messages in the series are outstanding.

I wondered throughout the sermon if perhaps the message was named with Lauren Winner's book Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity in mind, and Corey did mention the book toward the end of the sermon. What a concept for our Christian culture--where sex is often diminished in Christian circles as something to be avoided and even despised! That we could "get naked" (read: honest) about the topic of chastity (sexual purity by the standards of a given culture, ours being dictated by the gospel of Christ) is pretty revolutionary. And it's needed.

Lest you listen to the message and say I didn't tell you...this sermon is not for the faint of heart! It is actually a little graphic, but it's a holy sort of graphic, fitting for those who desire to be chaste. And what I love is that Corey not only addressed married people and single adults, he seized the opportunity to speak to teenagers very candidly about their bodies and sexual desires. Winner's book is much the same. It addresses the sexual issues of single and married people and offers a Christian ethic to glorify God in and through sexuality.

So here's my little plug for my very favorite pastor/teacher and my very favorite writer on a subject that is taboo in many Evangelical circles. Check them out--and don't be surprised if they make you blush :)

Lenny Kravitz and Celibacy

As I was listening to the radio on my way to work this morning, I heard a plug for an article about Lenny Kravitz. The DJ mentioned that Kratvitz's father, an agnostic Jew, came to know Christ toward the end of his life (y'all know I love a story that includes a Jewish family loving Jesus). What's amazing about the article, written for a UK based paper, is that the reporter was able to talk candidly with Kravitz about a decision he made in 2005 to abstain from sex until he remarries. Obviously, this is a radical choice for anyone, celebrity or not, but especially for this rock icon known for plenty of drug use (he's resolved to quit that, too...).

Here's the hook:

"No one nailed the rock idol act like Lenny Kravitz. Love god, guitar hero, wild thing, he lived the life – multiple women, homes and Grammys. Then he revealed last year that he had been celibate since 2005. The Telegraph visits him at his Bahamian retreat and discovers the roots of his newfound purity."

You can read the full article here.