“In the Middle Ages, the church showed its glorious wisdom by placing statues of the martyrs at the front door, in the portal of the church. Thus the faithful were welcomed into the church with scenes of decapitation, bloody swords, and suffering servants of God. The church, up front, at the first, portrayed the cost of discipleship” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 102).

“I have thus far sought to argue that, because of the doctrine of creation, historical locatedness is something good. The tradition we inherit is part of our location in history, and so in doing theology it is necessary to relate to the tradition” (Stephen R. Holmes, Listening to the Past: The Place of Tradition in Theology, 17).

Doug Wilson recently posted Seven Theses on the Age of the Earth.

Theses #4 — The fossil record is a record of death. The fossil record is a graveyard. We have exegetical reasons for believing that this paleontological graveyard was planted after the fall of man. We have a time stamp for Adam in the genealogies, and because of what the Scriptures teach about the nature of death, the recorded deaths of all sentient beings needs to be dated after that point.

“When your congregation prays ‘Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,’ the folk at City Hall ought to get nervous. The church exists to sign, to signal, to sing about the tension whereby those who are at the bottom are being lifted up and those who are on top are being sent down” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 97).

“We should not attempt to escape from our embeddedness in the Christian tradition, but should rather celebrate it” (Stephen R. Holmes, Listening to the Past: The Place of Tradition in Theology, 13).

In light of the doctrine of creation, Stephen Holmes is contemplating the goodness of “historical locatedness” (6).

Let me add that it is the doctrine of sola scriptura which enables the believer embedded in the Christian tradition to celebrate, to borrow a phrase, both “in spirit and in truth.” God’s revelation teaches us first and foremost that God is God and we are part of his creation. Scripture is our chief authority, it is God’s Word given by the inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life (WCF. I. 2.), and in Scripture we learn to be thankful for “historical locatedness” (i.e., creatureliness) and to celebrate tradition, which is a “subsidiary authority” (6).

What Moses said to God when looking for a successor: Numbers 27:16-17, Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd.

Moses was a shepherd over the flocks of Jethro in Midian (Exodus 3:1) before becoming the shepherd of Israel (Exodus 3:10). Moses was a true shepherd, he was concerned that the flock would still be shepherded when he was gone.

“The Lord’s Prayer is training in how to understand the political significance of God’s Messiah, Jesus. It is a pledge of allegiance to a king and his kingdom that throws all other allegiances into crisis” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 96).

“Satan masquerades as an angel of light and resists being unmasked. Get ready for a fight” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 91).

A 128

All       men       for        Honor
hardest        work
But            are      not      known
to     earn –
Paid      after        they   have
ceased     to        work
In          Infamy           or   Urn –

(Marta Werner and Jen Bervin, Emily Dickinson: The Gorgeous Nothings [a collection of Dickinson’s “envelope poems”], 28).

“Christians are those who ask to be saved” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 87).