Sermon brings legal logic to biblical counsel

NSBC screenshot from YouTube

Tomorrow morning, Sunday, September 28, I will have the privilege of speaking to North Scituate Baptist Church (NSBC) in Rhode Island about Hebrews 13:5.

The verse (NIV) reads:

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

I hope to share some legal logic with the congregation, breaking down the verse as a statement of causation. I'll also describe how I found evidence of the verse's causal truth when I traveled to one of my favorite places in 2020, Ghana.

When the service is available online, I will link to it here (message archive; YouTube channel; full service). Meanwhile and for then, below are the slides I will share (all RJ Peltz-Steele CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

I'm grateful to my friends at NSBC, especially for the support of Pastor Kim Nelson, administrator Gretchen Pino, and musical coordinator Linda Farynyk. Thanks to my friend Eric D'Agostino for pointing me to the prayer of Julian of Norwich.

I wish all a blessed first weekend of autumn.

 

Amos, King: love one another; defend the oppressed; plead the cause of the innocent, the powerless

David Erickson CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

On this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, I was blessed with the opportunity to stand in the pulpit of the historic North Scituate Baptist Church, Rhode Island, affording a rest for beloved Pastor Kim Nelson there.

I spoke to the Book of Amos, chapter 5, verses 21 to 24 (NIV), often cited by Dr. King. In the "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 (photo), Dr. King quoted Amos 5:24: “[L]et judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream" (KJV).

In the history of the church, Amos at times has been controversial for its ominous depiction of God. But Amos contains a call for social justice that is as important and relevant today as it was in America during the Civil Rights Movement and in Israel in the 8th century B.C.

My wife and I are deeply grateful to the people at North Scituate for their warm hospitality.

Advice for New Law Students, 2019 Edition

New law students, allow me to refer you to and to recommend my 3Ps for 1Ls (2018).

This morning my pastor preached on Proverbs 15:31-33.  It occurs to me that the teaching, which deals with spiritual maturation, is especially appropriate and extrapolatable to the start of the school year, for us all, teachers and students, of any level, and, to be sure, of any faith.  Here's the NIV:

³¹ Whoever heeds life-giving correction
    will be at home among the wise.

³² Those who disregard discipline despise themselves,
    but the one who heeds correction gains understanding.

³³ Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord,
    and humility comes before honor.

Pastor Kim pointed out that there's a difference between a "wise guy" and a wise person, and the latter takes work.  (Aug. 18.)  Verse 32 is especially intriguing: "[O]ne who heeds correction gains understanding."  

The words for "discipline" and "correction" in verse 32 vary with translations.  But I think it's fair to say (not being a scholar of these things) that the Hebrew words put a little more rebuke and reproof into the former and a little more instruction and rectification into the latter.

As is often the case with Proverbs, this is good advice that goes beyond faith and has application in commonsense life.  In our academic pursuits, we should always be open to correction.  Pastor Kim laid out correction, even rebuke, as sine qua non of learning and growing.

Pastor Kim also pointed to the word "humility" in verse 33.  The antithesis of pride, humility renders us susceptible of correction, and therefore ready to grow in knowledge, intellect, and wisdom.

Happy new academic year!  Be humble and get wise.