A Sickness Worth Catching
A Sickness Worth Catching
The word "Incarnation" is derived from the Latin word incarnatus meaning "made flesh." In a human sense, it is appropriate to say that the work of the Highlands Study Center can be described as incarnating the whole of the Word of God in the daily lives of Christians. This is a particularly challenging work in the Gnostic atmosphere that is the contemporary evangelical church. The conventional wisdom of today boils the essence of Christianity into an abstract form of moralism that isn't really very moral at all. It seeks to strip God of His sovereignty over His creation, while simultaneously absolving man of his responsibility for his sinful choices. The ministry of the Highlands Study Center serves as a baseball bat between the eyes to this absurd logic. Thankfully, they don't just seek to expose folly. They offer truth, in a loving but firm manner to all who will listen. When they say that they are your best friends because they will tell you the truth, these are not empty words. They are slaves to Christ, who was the Truth Incarnate.
I sell for a living. Selling is easy when you believe in your product. In fact, you begin to get a little overbearing like an ex-smoker at a party (well-intentioned as they may be). So, to get a visual of the following paragraphs, just imagine me blathering on incessantly, waving my arms for additional emphasis. Then keep on reading. Be warned: Salesman Dead Ahead.
Kim (my wife) and I were first exposed to ETC when a friend had the Home Sweet Home issue sent to us. We get a goodly number of Christian periodicals in the mail; some never get a very good reading. However, I was immediately hooked on ETC upon reading this issue. My wife and I had been dealing with many of the issues discussed in this particular issue (I highly recommend looking it up on the HSC website, if you don't have it). The excellent articles gave voice to the convictions that were brewing in our hearts. The subsequent issues continued to feed us and provoke the same kind of enthusiastic discussions that the first articles did. I found myself homesick for a place where I have never lived.
When the Basement Tapes started coming out, things got really crazy. Kim and I listened to the tape on Living Life Simply first. It simultaneously left us both speechless and mentally exhilarated. We had been struggling mightily with the many competing demands on our time and our energy. This tape, and the subsequent tapes on the HSC motto helped to birth a vision and a clear direction for our family for years to come. I don't mean to sound like an advertisement, but you have GOT to get these tapes. You will be hooked, rest assured. There is a network of Basement Tape addicts developing all over north Alabama as I write this. Consequently, if you hear something in the press about some strange fringe group claiming our freedom under the banner of the Independent Reformed Homesehooling Constitutionalist Republic of Alabama or something like that, you know who to blame it on.
Providentially my business travels took me to the Bristol area on two occasions, where I was able to enjoy the Tuesday night Bible Study, as well as the intrepid crew that meets for breakfast on Wednesday mornings. A later business trip afforded me the chance to bring my whole family for a few days. I got to see firsthand a glimpse of the simple, separate, and deliberate lives that the folks at St. Peter's are seeking to live for the glory of God. I don't want to insinuate that they are perfect people; however, I can say that they are genuine people. The only word that I can use to describe how we felt as we left for home was refreshed.
Kim and I tried to nail down what was so refreshing about our time there. I thought about the playgrounds and water parks near our home in Alabama. During our visit in Virginia, instead of climbing metal bars painted to look like a tree, our children climbed real trees. Instead of playing in a man-made wave pool, they played in a real creek and looked for crawdads. The fun was organic, not prefabricated. Please understand, I am not implying that there is anything wrong or sinful with metal and plastic playgrounds or wave pools. They are, however, only facsimiles of something else. There is something special about reality as opposed to facsimile. Jesus Christ was God Incarnate, not a human facsimile of God. We need to embrace the quest for reality in our lives, and not settle for second-hand imitations.
Obviously, I am not saying that you have to move to Virginia to experience this. Simplicity and deliberateness of life can be pursued anywhere. However, the sense of love and community that I see being lived out there is quite extraordinary. This is as much an indictment of what the modern church has become, as it is a testimonial for the Study Center.
The folks at the Highlands Study Center are serving a vital role in the Body
of Christ that is reaching far beyond a few reformed homeschooling families
scattered about our fair land. Their vision is as grand as it is simple. I
am convinced that their work is worthy of our reading, our contemplation, our
prayers, and our support. You can be used of God to further the work there
through your prayers, your financial giving, and your purchasing and distributing
to all who will listen the wares available through Draught Horse Press. I also
pray that you will catch the homesickness that I have caught, and that you
will also seek the simple, separate, and deliberate cure that my friends in
Virginia are seeking to model for us.