The following was initially a blog post. I have refrained from editing out matters of informality etc.
Before I get to the sessions (and the activities surrounding them) of the conference itself, I wish to begin by commenting on what preceded.
I arrived in Monroe on Saturday afternoon and settled nicely into Jackson House, which is a recent purchase of Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church. James B. Jordan arrived a couple hours later (he moved to a hotel on Monday). It was the first time we had met in person; we shared a good time of fellowship and food at the Olive Garden on Saturday night.
Wright as Sunday School teacher
On Sunday morning, Bishop Wright led adult Sunday School at the Episcopal church, only about two blocks away from AAPC. The class had been going through the Gospel of Matthew, so Wright proceeded to do an overview of the Gospel and intended, if he could, to zero in on the passage they had arrived at, in the middle of the book.
I believe Wright had notes with him - probably on Matthew 14 or 15 - but I don't believe he ever looked at them. He never did arrive at the specific passage; the entire time was devoted to how Matthew as a whole "works." He pointed out that the Gospel is built around five major discourses (corresponding to Torah), and that these discourses tightly interrelate.
Wright noted that the Sermon on the Mount is generally handled as a source for "Christian ethics." And he did not quarrel with that; as he said, "If you were prayerfully to read the Sermon on the Mount daily, you would doubtless live as a better Christian than if you did not." But he added that this discourse is first of all aimed at Israel: the time has come; this is the people that she is called to be; she is finally to fulfill her calling as "the light of the world."
But the Sermon goes beyond that: it outlines the task which Jesus now takes up as the new, eschatological Israel. Israel will not answer the call of Matthew 5-7, but Jesus does. In particular, on the hill of Golgotha, He embodies the "city set on a hill" which cannot be hidden. And just as He called for the radical "going of the extra mile" - which referred to carrying Roman military equipment (Roman soldiers had authority to demand the locals to carry their equipment one mile) - Jesus will go the extra mile, carrying a piece of Roman military equipment beyond the city limits, and will die upon it. (This is very striking, although I need to observe that in Matthew's Gospel, the explicit stress is upon Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross. Nonetheless, I think Wright's point is still valid.) In short, the Sermon on the Mount is not merely an "ethical program;" it is a fulfillment program for Israel's Messiah, who carries out the calling which she has failed to discharge.
There was much additional material that was fascinating, but I was not taking notes for this session, so I will have to leave off the desciption with the simple observation that it was certainly one of the most memorable Sunday School hours I have ever experienced.
Norman Shepherd preaches at AAPC
Following Sunday School, I went back to Auburn and worshipped there. The singing was glorious!
Sunday evening, Norman Shepherd preached. His text was Job 29.1-6. Commenting on Job's recollection that there had been a time that "my path was drenched with cream," Shepherd gave a memorable illustration drawn from his past. While in seminary, he drove a milk truck during the summers. While he was being trained, there was an extremely hot day. The man training him pulled the truck over and asked: "Do you want to taste something really good?" With that, he pulled out a bottle of chocolate milk (yes, milk was bottled in those days), dumped half of it on the ground, and topped the bottle up with rich cream. As Shepherd said: "And my path was drenched with cream. It tasted so good! (Although it sat like lead in my stomach!)"
To be honest, I thought Shepherd was starting slow, and in fact I was getting the uneasy sense that there wasn't going to be substance to the sermon. But oh! substance there definitely was. (I heard a fellow conference attendee say afterward that hearing Shepherd's sermon was itself worth the cost of the trip.)
Shepherd pointed out the clear things which the book says about Job - that he really was righteous, that he really was a good man. The Bible is unapologetic about that (unlike some would-be orthodox Protestants, I might add).
But that did not prevent Job from suffering, from losing it all, and without knowing why. Shepherd spoke poignantly and powerfully of God's grace in suffering, and I was struck by the fact that, probably without intending to do so, he was telling his own story. Here is a man who has been viciously attacked for 2 1/2 decades, and has responded with meekness and kindness - or more aptly, with grace. And that is clearly because the gospel is fully alive in his life. (The irony, of course, is that those who claim Shepherd is undercutting grace in his theology almost never show a fraction of the grace that he does. As I commented to someone this week, it's almost as if people are afraid that if they themselves are gracious, it will rob God of His glory for His grace.)
There is, again, material from the sermon that I have not remembered, to my shame. But it was a beautiful vindication of the gospel.
With my next Monroe post, I will start in on the sessions. It's a busy time, so I don't know how quickly these will go up, but I will do my best to make good public use of all that material I collected in my note-taking.