Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church

Peter will be here preaching for us on November 15th.

Sexualized childhood is the next frontier for the sexual revolution. It comes in the sheep’s clothing of pregnancy prevention and healthy lifestyles, but it is a wolf. It promises to disorder human sexual relationsand to undermine what remains of our marital and family ethic and subvert civilization itself.

You want a solid reason not to vote for or support Leftist progressives? Here it is.

Ever since college I've been skeptical of the pretensions of "science." One of the reasons I never pursued graduate work right out of college was my disgust at the subjective nature of scientific work in my field of interest at the time (geology). On the one hand, the work of mineralogy, petroleum geology, gemology, etc. was fairly straightforward and practitioners produced mostly objective results. On the other hand, everyone associated with geological earth history, paleo...ntology, etc. accepted wave after wave of unverifiable principles that necessarily grounded their work. They accepted the "scientific consensus" without ever examining the logic and evidence associated with it. They did so because their livelihood depended on them towing the line. There was no place for objective, out-of-the-box evaluation. And this is the thing about "science" that is not appreciated in pop culture. Science is done by fallible, self-interested people, facts have to be interpreted, evidence has to be marshaled, reputations have to be maintained, federal grants have to be justified, colleagues have to be pacified, businesses must make moneyin short, science is intensely personal and subjective, especially when the fortunes of government and business institutions are involved, which in modern times is pretty much always. See more

C.S. Lewis's care for his two difficult stepsons.

A long-time member of Providence, Robert Wermuth, died this past Thursday. He had been isolated from the congregation for years because of health issues. The memorial service was originally scheduled for Thursday, September 3. But it has been postponed until Thursday, September 24, at 7 PM. Please share this with those in St. Louis who knew Robert and might be interested in attending.

The model of performance that has been slowly infecting American churches for decades with stages, monster screens, surround sound, and bands, rather than choirs, has gone viral now as we watch prerecorded Zoom sessions of members singing alone in their homes. It’s all blended into one track, but they aren’t together when they record it, and we’re singing in our homes like you might watch a concert on TV, softly and also alone or with a few family. . . And now we are literally being catechized by cultural liturgies into watching a performance of everything, not just music, rather than practicing our faith.

Why do we come to church? The answer to that question is actually monumentally important. If you have a simplistic/minimalist view of church, then showing up la...te or attending infrequently, or taking every other Sunday to go camping/fishing instead of being with God's people means your ecclesiology is about as great as RoboCop 3, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, or whatever sequel that ruined a great franchise. If your view of the Church is represented by that mentality, then good luck, or whatever you say to someone who is endangering his soul and the souls of his offspring. But for the rest of you who treasure worship, and who have made a once-in-a-lifetime decision to be with God's people every Sunday unless providentially hindered, then you should know that no matter the tradition, your view of worship is all-inclusive. There is no half-time show, no water-break; rather, the whole thing from beginning to end is significant to shape your view of Christ. In my tradition, if you show up about 10 minutes late, you will have missed the prayer of confession and Christ's words of forgiveness. You will have missed a really big part of the Gospel story. This leads to the second argument against keeping children in worship from beginning to end, which is, I am not going to get anything out of the service if I am constantly distracted by them. This is a variation of the first argument, but it adds that since the sermon is the central element of worship, keeping children in worship takes our attention away from the preached Word. There is much to admire in this perspective. But we need to challenge the basic premise here, which is that the purpose of worship is merely to hear a 20-50 minute sermon. While the premise is noble and we must treasure God's word proclaimed, we fundamentally err in thinking that the sermon is a stand-alone act in worship. What goes before the Word preached sets the stage for the Word preached and what goes after the Word preached is the response of grateful hearts to the words of God. Our first mistake is to think that children are a distraction from the real business of the Church. But why should they not benefit from the sermon also? What if instead of viewing them as distractions during the sermon, you view them as hearers of the sermon as well? What if you worked towards getting them to participate in the singing and the hearing? If the Word of God proclaimed by an ordained minister is so crucial--and it has always been in the history of the Church and the biblical story--why are little children exempt from such a blessing? "But they won't understand a word!" you might say. Is their humanity and the blessings of God's revelation contingent on their understanding? What if you have a 30 year-old mentally disabled son who grasps only the minimal? Is he also not worthy of hearing God's word because of his mental incapacity? Think very carefully about this logic. We often view children differently than how the Bible viewed them. In Joel 2:16, the assembly gathered and the prophet added to that flock "the nursing infants." In Psalm 8:2, the psalmist says that praises flow from the mouth of babes and infants. There is never an indication that these little ones were set aside for a separate assembly during the prophetic delivery, and there is zero indication that Jesus scattered the babies during the sermon on the mount. But the opposite is in fact true. The other failed premise is to assume that "getting something out of the sermon" is the sole purpose of worship. If your congregation is full of life in word and singing, then God is ministering to you in every element of the worship service. You don't have to wait until the sermon to be fed; God has already begun to feed you before the sermon and will do so after the sermon in the worship service. It is my contention that the service itself provides opportunities for you to gain throughout by the very act of training your little ones, and being around others with little ones, and singing with little ones, and hearing with little ones. Will there be distractions? Yes. Will you follow the pastor's argument in Jude 6 all the way? Probably a bit or most certainly not. But do these acts of togetherness with your offspring set the stage for future worshipers who grow into decency before God and man and who treasure the songs of Zion and the Word made flesh? You better believe it! I've seen it! Heck, I lived it just a few minutes ago in our family morning worship.

The next Men of the Covenant meeting (open to all men in the church) will be on Wednesday, September 2, at 7 PM on my back porch. We will be discussing C.S. Lewis's book That Hideous Strength. Here's something that was just published by the Discovery Institute that will help you get a feel for the significance of the book.

The goal of this discussion is to foster conversation on a topic that is too neglected in evangelical churches. And speaking of evangelicals, I am one of those ...who proudly affirm the "evangel" and if the "icals" were a team I'd cheer them on as well. So, I am trying to speak from a place of wild familiarity. I also don't want to shame anyone into keeping their kids through the whole service when they haven't thought carefully about it and are simply acting out of guilt. Guilt-based decisions have the durability of an ice cream cone left out in the Florida sun. Making decisions that are not common in various congregations (and in this case the majority) need to be done discerningly. One of my answers to people about children and schooling and other related subjects is that I love my children much more than your ideal scenario. In other words, if a Church practices something that I am not comfortable with regarding my children, my children will always take precedence over the Church's ideals. So, if a Church has a suggested policy (if such policies are mandated we have a whole other problem) that children go to children's church during "adult" worship" and you decide that it is best that your children stay, and you do it peacefully without causing a scene, the leaders of the church should understand. And if they get into a habit of making ugly faces at you every Sunday and sending you dissertations about how your child is only holy if he/she goes to that children's church down the hall, then it may be time for you to have a more serious conversation as a family about how a) to continue dealing gracefully with such an uncomfortable situation, or b) how to properly inform the leaders that what they are doing is not kosher and needs to stop, or c) begin to discuss how to graciously and honorably leave that body. So, it should be clear that this is not an attempt at revolution or causing havoc in a local congregation. What I am trying to do is to bring to your attention a different way to view children whether in the local Baptist or Presbyterian or "insert cool name" Church. First Argument Against Children in Church One of the more common arguments made against keeping children in Church--from beginning to end---is: I can’t keep my children quiet during worship, therefore I don’t see the need to keep them with me. The argument posits that the demands of disciplining and watching over little ones during the worship service ultimately does not bear any benefits. This is a legitimate concern. You are in Church to worship on the Lord's Day and the last thing you want is to add additional tasks to your time. After all, weren't you just in the process of changing a diaper, disciplining, correcting, breaking up a fight right before Church? Why bring that whole business into the house of the Lord? The first response is that there is no place you can go where some level of authority structure is not set into place. If you walk into the local Wal-Mart with your little one (s), you are still expected to navigate difficult scenarios. In other words, you cannot escape your authority. Whether a dad or mom, your authority needs to be exercised--always preferably lovingly--at all times and in all places. The nurture and admonition of the Lord does not take a Sabbath on the Sabbath (Lord's Day), rather it should be accentuated. There are two things that matter to the Christian: a) the worship of the Triune God, b) and how that worship fleshes itself out during the week.The worship of God most powerfully manifested on the Lord's Day proves to be the most sober opportunity you will have to train your little ones (we will discuss some practical steps down the line). Of course, you could let Sister Sally watch your little ones during Church, and I am certain she will be saying some nice things and even instructing your child well, but Sister Sally does not speak as an ordained minister, Sister Sally cannot speak on behalf of the Church, Sister Sally cannot do for your children what you can do, because while Sister Sally may have a general love for your child, only you (dad and mom) know the needs, understand the hearts, and see the week after week struggles of your child to properly train your child. Remember, worship is not the academy, it's not a classroom, it's a living experience of the Triune God in a sacred space taking place by the power of the Spirit in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). Read that sentence three more times. Yes, your child will struggle to stay quiet and he/she will be distracting; and yes, it will demand a little more of you each Sunday. And, you may miss that really great hymn/song while you are changing a diaper or Johnny throws a fit over something. But I can guarantee you that the more you do it the more you will begin to see little victories and with each little victory you will discover that the joys of corporate worship are always more filling when you are together with your little ones during the worship of heaven. Like any glorious thing, the benefits come when you persevere in this holy task.