Welcome to “Sacred Slang.” Each newsletter has six sections: Imagine, Interpret, Apply, Curate, Interrogate, and Horizon. I tried hard to make them all “I” words, but got stuck and gave up. Think of them like sections in a newspaper: read the ones that interest you, skip the ones that don’t. If you want to submit a question for next month’s “Interrogation” section - just reply to this email with your question.
Imagine.
So I released a book this week that I’ve been working on for about 10 years, but today, I really want to talk about baths. I’m sure that’s bad marketing, but honestly, if you can’t write about what you want…what’s the point in writing at all.
I take two baths a day. Almost every day. And I’m not using '“bath” to generally means showers. Nope. I mean rub-a-dub-dub, sitting in a tub, rubber ducky, kinds of baths.
I’ve been doing this all my life.
Short baths. Long baths. Baths with salts. Baths with soaps. Baths with bubbles.
I love them all.
I normally don’t take baths in hotels, because ew. But outside of the few times a year when I’m in a hotel; I take two baths a day.
And I think you should take “baths” every day too. But, I don’t really care whether you take them in a bathtub or someplace else. (The quotation marks around baths in that previous sentence should be a signal to you that I am about to segue now to discussing something bigger than baths. If you can imagine such a thing.)
Baths are where I think. They are a dedicated space to reflect. I read in the bathtub. I’ve become very proficient at drying off books with a blowdryer. I write in bathtubs - don’t fear, I don’t do it with a computer. I play with thoughts, stage mock debates in my mind, mull over a thought, try different ways of formulating a thought in my mind.
Surrounded by the suds, I sit soaking in thoughts.
Everyone needs time to reflect. Time to think.
Baths are my way of “buying” that time every day.
I think that leadership, in any area, great or small, requires imagination. The ability to see something better through the haze of hustle, hurt, and headache. But deep imagination is impossible without deep reflection. And reflection requires silence and solitude.
For me, baths are a portal into a place where I can sit with my thoughts. And you need a place like this in your life.
So, take a “bath” today. Whether you get wet or not, hopefully you will sink beneath the surface of the superficial and leave feeling just a bit more refreshed.
(And if you are interested in hearing more about Jesus than baths. Click the picture below and find out how being “in Christ” changes everything. I had the publishers make sure that my new book is “bath proof.”1)
Interpret
We just wrapped up a sermon series on radical generosity at Mosaic Church. Beginning the year with a sermon series on generosity is a bit like serving broccoli as an appetizer before dinner - few can claim it isn’t “good,” but it’s not the most appealing start.
Generosity, in the simplest terms, is sharing what you love. Generous people come in all shapes and sizes. You can find generous people across all tax brackets: kings who lay down crowns and widows who drop pennies into the basket. You can be generous with little or with much.
As I’ve grown in my understanding and practice of generosity, spending time around people who excel in it, I have discovered that underneath radical generosity there are two support beams: faithful surrender and wise stewardship.
Generous people embrace the answer to the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism: “I am not my own, but belong to Jesus." Faithful surrender is the undercurrent of the radically generous. They give freely because they truly believe that nothing belongs to them by right, but whatever they have has been entrusted to them by grace.
But they aren’t irresponsible. They aren’t careless. They don’t sow the wind. Radically generous people, whether “rich” or “poor,” are wise stewards. They see themselves as caretakers, not owners. Wise stewards look to spread order, cultivate good, multiply life, and restrain evil.
You can’t have radical generosity without faithful surrender and wise stewardship. To make a fire you need oxygen and kindling and to create a culture of generosity you need a community of caretakers who passionately believe that everything belongs to God.
So, go forth and share what you love. Generosity is contagious. And it also happens to be a ton of fun.
Apply
JD Vance, Vice President of the US, lit the internet on fire last month when he spoke about the “ordo amoris.” In short: The concept of “ordo amoris” is about having your loves rightly ordered. It is a very helpful way of framing the discussion around what should matter most and can be very helpful in triaging the way we exercise love and loyalty. If you want a longer take on what the “ordo amoris” is and isn’t I think that Pastor David Cassidy did a great job getting into the weeds on this conversation.
But I do want to say something about this recent dust up. Many years ago, when I was a philosophy student at Dallas Baptist University, I had a professor who introduced me to the concept of “ordo amoris.” His name was Dr. David Naugle. You can find him in the acknowledgements section of my new book Home with God and early on in my writing journey I decided I would credit him in the acknowledgements of every book I ever wrote. His impact on me was profound to say the least.
Dr. Naugle wrote a book entitled Reordered Loves, Reordered Lives. And if the title wasn’t a giveaway, it’s all about the “ordo amoris.” In the book, Naugle argues for an intimate connection between our loves and the pursuit of happiness: “Our quest for happiness based on our loves is what our lives are all about.”
He quotes Augustine, “My love is my weight: wherever I go my love is what brings me there."
And here is the crux of the matter for today: Rightly ordered loves are anchored in a telos. An end. A goal. And the goal is happiness. The summum bonum - the highest good.
Your loves aren’t rightly ordered based on some abstract conception of the good, but from a specific sense of what the ultimate good (the summum bonum) actually is. To put it simply: You can’t have ordo amoris if you don’t have the right summum bonum.
Vance’s articulation of “ordo amoris” was the right engine, the question is: What does Vance believe is the summum bonum? For we can only discern whether our loves are ordered rightly, if we know where they are meant to take us.
Curate
For years, I prepared a weekly brief of the most significant cultural “artifacts” for a strategic group of Christian leaders. In an age of endless information, curation is crucial. Each month I am going to point you towards articles, books, albums, and artifacts of consequence.2
Alright - I am going to put you onto something that you will about before anyone else. “Holding the Hope” by Michelle Raybourn and Andy Gullahorn just released and it is a phenomenal song. A beautiful meditation about what it’s like to love and care for those struggling with hopelessness.
This is a must read article from Peter Leithart. There has been a lot of chatter about what it means to live in or recapture an “enchanted world.” And Leithart’s entry is now essential reading.
Interrogate
Our question this month comes from Laura: “I grew up thinking that the Devil might be anywhere at any time. It honestly kind of spooked me out. I’m not scared all the time any more, but I do still wonder: where is the Devil?” Thanks for the question Laura!
If you’d like to submit a question for a future Sacred Slang issue - just respond back to the email with your question! Or drop a comment/question on this post.
The devil is somewhere. And that should give us confidence.
I am not saying we should be happy that the devil exists, but it is good news that he is somewhere. And by that I mean, he is not everywhere.
This is a theological reality: God is the only infinite being. He is not constrained to space and time, for He is Creator God, not a mere creature. On the other hand, the devil is a creature. A spiritual being. He is not eternal. He is not Creator, he is creature.
He is confined to space and time. As a spiritual being, he does not move through time and space in the same way we do as creatures of body and soul, but he does move through them.
We can confidently say:
The devil is a spiritual creature: He is bound to space and time in a manner in which all creatures are - even if he moves through them differently than animals and humans.
The devil may be anywhere, but he is not everywhere: The devil is not omnipresent. This is both philosophically essential and practically beneficial.
The devil is somewhere and wherever he is - he is disarmed: “God disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Col. 2:15)
One day we will all know exactly where the devil is - and where he will be forever: “…and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Rev. 20:10)
There is much more to say about the devil and if you are interested, I deal with the question of spiritual warfare in an entire chapter in the book I have releasing in May - Formed for Fellowship: Becoming what You Behold. (You can pre-order it now!)
Horizon
I’ve been all over podcast land talking about union with Christ:
This week Home with God: Our Union with Christ released, but in May I have the sequel releasing. I imagine a lot of people are going to read Home with God and think: “Yeah, but how do I actually live an ordinary life in Christ?” That’s why I wrote Formed for Fellowship and it’s available for preorder now.
Next Newsletter I’ll be: Starting a series on the “10 Worst Theologians in History,” chatting about Churchill, and writing about why we were all wrong about Thomas Kinkade paintings. If you want to subscribe to the newsletter - you can do so in the box below…
B&H wanted me to make sure to tell you that “bath proof books” are wholly an invention of my own mind and they cannot guarantee the structural integrity of any of their books if they fall into a bath.
Three notes:
Some of these will be behind a paywall (I’ll let you decide whether or not you want to burn a “free article” on them or finally do your duty to the art of letters and subscribe).
You should anticipate that I do not endorse any of them in their entirety. If you read, watch, or listen and find them in some way objectionable. Be an adult.
They will not all be “new.” I may point you to an article I read last week or I may recommend an album from 35 years ago. Deal with it.
Beautiful writing!
Two baths is very Chrurchillian! Looking forward to the future post about him
Enjoying Home with God!