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Hard Pressed (2 Corinthians 1.7-11); a sermon delivered to the 2013 Overseas Council ‘President’s Weekend’

March 20, 2013 by David Baer

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. (2 Corinthians 1:8–11 ESV)

Now I think we need to see those faces again …. Continue Reading »

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checking the perimeter: Goodbye, Rosie

January 13, 2013 by David Baer

Rosie didn’t wait long to make her impact on our family. As we drove down the mountainside from the Costa Rican farm where we had picked up our second puppy, Rosie urped up the better part of a whole chicken in the back of my Toyota Landcruiser. We stopped in the plaza of the first town, two giggly boys and I pushing the enormous cargo of regurgitated fowl out the door and into the street as we struggled to keep trembling little Rosie wrapped in her brand new comfort blanket.

It was the first of many family moments at which Rosie was front and center. Continue Reading »

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letters to me: a new book edited by Dan Schmidt with a contribution from the voice behind Canter Bridge

November 18, 2012 by David Baer

I recently had the chance to toss a small chapter into a quirky little compilation put together by my friend Dan Schmidt and now available in paperback and eBook formats on Amazon. Continue Reading »

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pavilioned in splendor: words for the people of God

October 31, 2012 by David Baer

We rightly grow weary of the dismissive verbal wave of the hand that claims, ‘These modern worship songs can’t compare to the old hymns. They just repeat the same words over and over again’.

Our generation’s artists, who dare the challenge of providing us with words and song for worship, need our encouragement rather than our blanket condemnation. The established hymnody of the church, after all, tosses at us some sickly-sweet laughers that would make the apostle Paul wince. And this is to say nothing of the richness that is to be found in corners of the contemporary worship repertoire. Continue Reading »

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such a refuge e’er was given: Children of the Heavenly Father

October 27, 2012 by David Baer

The best hymnody leaves little else for comment. When a writer of music intended to lead the people of God into worship manages to assemble, meaningfully and memorably, the great truths in a way that brings the simple and the wise together into adoration, he has accomplished a very great thing.

Recently, at the Christian community that my wife and call home—Indianapolis’ Church at the Crossing—these words came into our mouths. What more can one say?

Children of the Heavenly Father
Safely in His bosom gather
Nestling bird nor star in heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given Continue Reading »

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say it: Jeremiah 50

October 26, 2012 by David Baer

A prophet like Jeremiah—and so many others who bore with similar reluctance the mantle of YHWH’s spokesperson—needed to be dragged kicking and screaming to the duty. Rarely were those prophets whom the biblical canon endorses as true prophets, the genuine article, eager with careerist zeal for the task to which YHWH had summoned them.

They dragged their feet.

Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim, conceal it not, and say … (Jeremiah 50:2 ESV)

There is a reason for the insistent repetition in the order. Continue Reading »

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facing the music: 2 Timothy 1

October 22, 2012 by David Baer

There are a million reasons to stay on the couch.

Passive resignation before the unyielding hardness of life and leadership can easily become a lifestyle. Passivity has a lot going for it, starting with the fact that it’s so much easier than getting up, walking out the door, and facing the music. You can even spin it in acceptable directions: living a ‘balanced life’ springs to mind and—apparently—to the pens and keyboards of a thousand suburban Christian writers, for whom balance and peace have become the twin goblet handles of the Holy Grail. Continue Reading »

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Studying Love: the doctoral experience as obedience to the two greatest commandments

October 16, 2012 by David Baer

An address delivered by David Baer (President, Overseas Council/USA) to the 2012 ICETE Doctoral Consultation in Nairobi, Kenya.

 

 I have been asked to sound the notes of celebration and achievement this evening, a task I hasten to undertake. I will add to these a personal word of congratulation.

I have given to the modest thoughts that I will place before you this evening a title of just two words: Studying Love. Continue Reading »

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what must be: Jeremiah 15

October 10, 2012 by David Baer

To be a prophet is not simply to declare what’s coming.

Contrary to what is often assumed, the language of the biblical prophets is rarely deterministic. To the contrary, the lines of this literature are relationally rich. The emotion of love and embrace, as of love unrequited, is a frequent visitor to these pages.

The Lord is not only the subject of the famous words, ‘Thus says …’. He is also the one who woos his often recalcitrant Israel. He pleads with her, suffers with her, is stunned by her, returns to her. He both desolates and is desolated by his beloved people. Continue Reading »

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two in: a father’s thoughts on the first day of having two sons in Ranger School

October 7, 2012 by David Baer

I am, today, a statistical outlier in the most unlikely of ways: I may be the only father in this country with two sons in the U.S. Army’s Ranger School at the same time.

I stress the word unlikely.

My sons are warriors. I am not. They wear a uniform I did not at their age choose to wear and have now lived too many years to put on. For these reasons and others, I take no credit for what they are surviving and conquering in Georgia’s mountains and Florida’s swamps. I look on in wonder, admiration, and paternal concern, asking myself ‘How did this happen?’ Continue Reading »

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