Uri Brito

On February 13, 2024 By Uri Brito In Culture Like

A Shrove Tuesday Homily

Shrove Tuesday is a glorious excuse to feast like the Hebrews, swim in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory guilt-free, and do what hobbits were made to: have a second breakfast. Christians should be notoriously bold about eating, and they should be notoriously known for getting together to eat. As a matter of fact, eating together is the virtue that toppled empires. While the Egyptians ate at elaborate banquets, God sent locusts to consume and eat their banquets. Of course, God will not allow competing parties in his world. If they attempt to compete for Banquet Hosts, God will consume them.

So, how do we enter into God’s banquet? Where do I RSVP? The requirement for entrance to this banquet is not acute taste buds or a culinary degree; it is the badge of love. “Better a dinner of herbs with love, than a fatted calf with hatred and disobedience,” says the Lord.

In our evangelical attempts to outdo the ascetic movement, we often talk timidly about the extra slice of pizza we had, or we say even apologetically, “I sure ate a lot last night!” But in the Bible, apologies about eating can seem outright tasteless. We don’t have to dig too far in the Bible to see that the idea of “fatness” carefully considered is a good thing. For example, the word “anointing” means to “make fat.” The Hebrew word Dashen means to be fat, grow fat, and become fat.

In fact, Psalm 23, a favorite to many, uses that precise language. In Hebrew, it reads: “You fatten my head with oil and my cup overflows.” Shrove Tuesday is an additional opportunity to criticize our sensitivities, wash away the grammar of cultural pietism, and embrace the fatty bacon like a gift from God.

God is not stingy about butter, and under ordinary conditions, as Elisha asked for a double portion of the Spirit, children of the living God should ask for a double portion of pancakes.

And this leads me to my final point in this brief but fat-filled exhortation, and that is that we only abuse the gift of food when we forget that food is a blessing to a forgiven community. Unrepentant communities don’t know how to eat correctly, and as a result, their food is merely consumed and not celebrated.

On the other hand, the Church’s table is good and right and wholesome and beneficial because it is covered by the blood of God’s Lamb, Jesus Christ. Jesus was food for us, and now we eat the food of the table with the hearts of forgiven saints. Solomon says, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” The mercy of confession is what makes food glorious and delicious.

Tomorrow, we are going full-steam into a 40-day culture of repentance. For many, this will mean fasting and meditating and focusing in greater detail on our lack of gratitude for the gifts of God. We have eaten without understanding, communed without confession, watched without discernment, entertained ourselves without the table, and found refuge in feeble fortresses made by human hands. We have rebuked our children for their lack of love while we have been unloving to our spouses and our own children.

We have 40 days to flesh this out, but tonight, eat well, laugh goodly, and love your neighbor like God loved the fat of the lambs in Israel’s sacrifices. Don’t be shy! Jesus gave his life for the abundant table we share tonight!

Let us pray:

O, Lord, how beautiful these last days have been! Prepare us now on this last day of Epiphany for the gifts of your table. When we forget you, we forget life itself; therefore, give us the fat of Israel’s sacrifices, yay more, give us the fulfillment of Israel’s sacrifices, Jesus himself. For the riches of Solomon’s house and the banquets of Pensacola do not come close to the glory of the marriage Supper of the Lamb. As we stand at the end of Epiphany and the entrance gate to the Lenten Season, may our hearts long for the kneeling bench of forgiveness, the peaceful ethos of a clean conscience, and the benediction of a loving God. Cleanse our hearts that we may eat as unto the Lord and may live as unto the Lord, for we pray unto the Lord of forgiveness who declares our hands clean to eat and drink, amen!

On February 5, 2024 By Uri Brito In Culture Like

When Liturgy Becomes Hospitality

We need to begin moving our liturgical efforts into the realm of hospitality. What I mean by this may appear obvious, but it isn’t very easy on a large scale. Some congregations may want to move into that arena but are paralyzed by self-inflicted wounds. They are more interested in showing their distinctiveness than proving their distinctives through tangible actions.

We use a saying in our inquirer’s class that goes something like this: “We need to bathe our weirdness with a deep sense of commonness.” Internally and behind the scenes, we don’t view ourselves as weird, but we are quite aware that the perception exists in a thoroughly de-liturgized culture.

This came across in an observation from a mother who raised her daughter in a Reformed context and saw her daughter go into a different tradition altogether. Now, mind you, the daughter was not antagonistic towards Reformed Theology, but she found the practices of this broadly evangelical environment more friendly and inviting. For the record, I am the last person to give much credence to an impressionable young adult. Still, I do want to take the opportunity to offer some general thoughts on the art of commonness and why black coffee Calvinists like myself think our churches need more than mere liturgism.

The first observation is that our Reformational theology/liturgy should be inviting. However worship is communicated–paraments or stripped tables–it must carry on the gravitas of joy from beginning to end. We live in a culture that craves the normalcy of joy. If we invite younger generations to taste and see Geneva’s God, we must also ensure that we don’t portray Geneva as some ogre attempting to tyrannize conscience. Geneva needs to show up with smiles and greetings, not five points of inquiry.

The second note is that the sweetness of worship ought to give folks a sense of the holy. We need liturgical worship that brings people to see the sovereignty of God resting in every element of worship in every line and every response.

Once, a visitor told one of our congregants that even though the liturgy was foreign to her, it was incredibly joyful. But even if the impression is oppositional–and it has happened–we should still communicate a culture where the holy is a common ritual of the people. You cannot control reactions, but you can manage interactions. You can control a sweet disposition towards a visitor. You can sit next to them when they walk in alone and guide them through the order of worship.

Third, and finally, if the liturgy is a living liturgy–contrary to modernistic ritualization experiences in mainline churches with alternating “Mother God” lines–then that liturgy must breathe life into the home. It needs to be perpetuated with food and drink for those strangers who visit. If they are not invited to see your lived-out liturgy, it is unlikely they will find pleasure in your acted-out liturgy on Sunday mornings. It will continue to be strange and foreign rather than warm and inviting.

Our liturgical efforts must move into hospitable efforts. In fact, liturgy necessarily moves into homes. Ultimately, we may still appear strange, and our songs may still give a Victorian vibe, but at the very least, we will have given visitors a sense of the holy and an invitation to joy.

Our Reformed churches should contemplate that model in our day.

On January 29, 2024 By Uri Brito In Culture 2

Alistair Begg and Gay Weddings

I want to acknowledge that Alistair Begg’s ministry has been an illuminating journey into exegetical faithfulness. Five decades of opening your Bible and examining it verse-by-verse is the ol’ fashioned evangelical method, which has birthed much fruitfulness in this country and produced remarkable teachers. It worked for Martin Lloyd-Jones, John MacArthur, and many who followed in their train.

While I have not followed Begg’s ministry in over a decade, I know his fervor and sense of the holy from the testimony of many respected leaders in the Reformed world. So, it’s with enormous sadness that I have watched a man who should be ending his pastoral career at the height of ethical orthodoxy in his preaching and teaching utter unconscionable rubbish.

For those tuning in, here is the lengthy section from his interview with Bob Lepine:

BEGG: And in very specific areas this comes across. I mean, you and I know that we field questions all the time that go along the lines of “My grandson is about to be married to a transgender person, and I don’t know what to do about this, and I’m calling to ask you to tell me what to do”—which is a huge responsibility.

And in a conversation like that just a few days ago—and people may not like this answer—but I asked the grandmother, “Does your grandson understand your belief in Jesus?”

“Yes.”

“Does your grandson understand that your belief in Jesus makes it such that you can’t countenance in any affirming way the choices that he has made in life?”

“Yes.”

I said, “Well then, okay. As long as he knows that, then I suggest that you do go to the ceremony. And I suggest that you buy them a gift.”

“Oh,” she said, “what?” She was caught off guard.

I said, “Well, here’s the thing: your love for them may catch them off guard, but your absence will simply reinforce the fact that they said, ‘These people are what I always thought: judgmental, critical, unprepared to countenance anything.’”

—–

I have waited patiently to give honor to whom honor is due, but nothing has clarified his position. I often give these elderly statesmen honor (I Tim. 5:1). I want to believe Begg has not kept up with the times or failed to see the negative world and its ramifications. Or perhaps Begg stays away from these political discourses, and the moment he spoke into it, he butchered the pastoral applications. I am hoping for an ethical epiphany.

(more…)

On January 1, 2024 By Uri Brito In Culture 1

Resolutions for Church-Friendly Family

Merry 8th Day of Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here are the five resolutions I encourage you to take seriously as members of local churches in 2024:

a) Resolved to attend corporate worship every Lord’s Day unless providentially hindered. We live in a society that treasures entertainment and personal hobbies on Sundays, but God has made his commandments clear. If you compromise on this, you are placing your offspring at the altar of preference and convenience, and the fruit will be disastrous.

b) Resolved to be engaged in the life of fellowship. This is, of course, an extension of the first, though it does not carry the weight of the first. The solution to knowing your community is to be around it beyond Sunday morning. There are activities where it is good and right to attend and there are seasons where attending such activities/events are not profitable nor necessary. Wisdom needs to be considered often. For the life of any Christian body to grow in love and holiness, you will have to work extra hard to maintain a good community life, which demands a commitment, but the rewards are beyond measure.

c) Resolved to grow in the knowledge of God and His Word. One of the great threats of our day is apathy: Christians who sit week after week without increasing their knowledge of the Bible or who are content with the bit of knowledge they have.

Dear friend, it is a sin to not desire to know more about God. To be indifferent as a Christian contradicts the Lordship of Jesus. Jesus demands your souls and bodies. Don’t give him your crumbs.

d) Resolved to be hospitable Christians. Your home—however big or small—is meant to be a garden that provides refreshment to those who enter. I am exhorting you to take your calendars and mark one day a month when you plan to have folks over.

Some families are more gifted in this area ( a gift which has been built with years of practice) and will have people over for meals every week—and you are free to go above and beyond—but I am encouraging 12 days a year where you will intentionally invite some (one) over your home for a meal or dessert or some kind of fellowship. If you need help implementing any of these things, send me a note, and I’d be pleased to offer some suggestions. As one who has been practicing hospitality since the beginning of our marriage, I have learned much from these years and am eager to share any lessons.

e) Resolved to live out the Church Calendar in 2024. Depending on your context in a local church, you can still practice many of these things as families and on your own. If your congregation’s leadership is adamantly opposed to the calendar, I would refrain or, at the very least, talk with them. But in most cases, local churches are indifferent to private practices. Remember that everyone has a calendar. We don’t allow the government or other institutions to determine our calendar. The Church has its own. It takes some practice and creativity to use the calendar wisely. For example, most evangelicals in our culture think that there is only one day of Christmas on the 25th. Anything after the 25th becomes a preparation for the new year. But the Church has set aside 12 days to celebrate Christmas.

So, there are things we can do to make these seasons even more festive and meaningful. Ultimately, the church’s life is the only true life there is. Live it out faithfully this new year and commit your joys and sorrows to the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ.

On December 18, 2023 By Uri Brito In Culture 1

Pope Francis and the Sexual Revolution

The pontiff’s opening words on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in 2013 noted:

“My hope is that this journey of the Church that we begin today…be fruitful for the evangelization of this beautiful city.”

What has this evangelization wrought in a decade but decadence and a concrete movement toward old-fashioned modernism! The audacious hierarchy of Rome brought all the fruits you would expect of a fallen man playing the role of vicar of Christ on earth. The man who came to power to strengthen human bonds is now eagerly dissolving the very fabric of society established in Eden.

Romanism will enter into the most challenging chapter of its history with a declining population (even in South America, the home of Francis) and a growing apathy to traditional forms. The Catholic Charismatics was an attempt to preserve the Church amid a changing demographic in the 60’s, but now what will become of a Church that claims dogmatic authority led by a pope playing out his socialist and progressive schemes before an ever-changing society? There is no certainty this transition is the last among a wildly revolutionary play on sexual ethics. The Church that prided itself in theological stability and coherence through centuries is now plagued by its own ecclesiology.

Conservative bodies need to be prepared to absorb this hungry generation of Roman Catholics who have observed dogma and tradition faithfully after Vatican II but now will look to find refuge somewhere where creational norms of sexuality have not evolved with time.

I believe the conservative Protestant tradition–especially among the Reformed and Lutheran–must be prepared to educate a massively illiterate Catholic population. Only the Bible and the vast Reformational tradition can provide that security; only the Scriptures can be the source of evangelization.

On December 18, 2023 By Uri Brito In Culture 2

The Pastor’s First Duty

Pastors have a fundamental responsibility to shepherd within before they can shepherd without. While the negative world provides us plenty of opportunities to uphold truth, if those propensities and proclamations are not shaped by the garden of the Church first, the opinion pieces will fail to get a hearing. They will only draw the untrained and uncivil pugilist to your corner, who eventually may swallow the young clergy. Therefore, that percentage dynamic should be heavily weighed in favor of the immediate parish concerns (I Pet. 4:17).

While much of theological and pastoral output can benefit the outside community, the minister’s primary goal is to meet the needs of his people. He is a local shepherd, accountable to a local body (Heb. 13:17), connected to a local people.

We are experiencing a monumental decline in pastoral candidates in mainline traditions and a slight decline in more conservative bodies like the Missouri Synod Lutheran.* While there are sociological demands for modern pastors to confront every conceivable moral issue, the minister represents God to his visible assembly, whom he addresses from the pulpit and to whom he administers the elements of bread and wine. His particular dispositions must be used accordingly; his gifts need to be activated rather than re-creating him after the image of some publicly acclaimed character.

While there is tangible evidence of institutional dereliction among seminaries, there is still a more significant fault among those who have demands of pastors that do not place them first at the feet of their congregants before the feet of outside inquiries.

Of course, every pastor has a public face, but his local image shapes that public image. To reverse that dynamic is to create influencers rather than shepherds. The decline of candidates stems from expectations that ministers must embody nearly renaissance gifts, and no man can endure that level of pressure for sustained periods of time.

Too much pastoral theology in our day, put the Table and Pulpit secondary, and the political halls and podcasts as primary. But ministers are heavenly professionals tending to the first garden of God before moving into the land and world.

On December 5, 2023 By Uri Brito In Culture, Family and Children Like

Why We Hate Advent!

No one likes to long for things. No one likes to wait. We are consumerist beings expecting everything to be hand-delivered not one second too late; preferably, one second earlier. It’s for these and other reasons that we hate Advent! It’s perhaps for this reason also that we join together Advent and Christmas conceptually. We don’t grasp what Schmemann called the “bright sadness” of this Season, so we rather incorporate it with a happier season.

But we usually don’t hate Advent intentionally; we hate it emotionally–almost like a visceral reaction. We hate it because words like “longing,” “waiting,” “expecting,” “hoping” don’t find a comfortable home in our hearts or vocabulary.

So, I propose we begin the process of un-hating Advent. But we can’t simply un-hate something we have long hated. It takes time to undo our habits. We must try to see Advent for what it really is; a season of practice. It’s a season to warm up our vocal cords for the joys of the world, to strengthen our faith for the adoration of Christ, the Son of the living God.

Few of us treasure the practice time, rehearsal, the conductor’s corrections to our singing, the coach’s repetitive exercises before the big game. Ultimately, we hate Advent because we don’t like to practice.

Sometimes, however, the solution to stop hating something is to reframe the way you think about that something. Imagine you sit under a tedious professor who reads from his notes with no modulation in his voice. To make matters worse, he rarely if ever looks up to engage your eyes, but buries himself in his manuscript. While the material is wonderful, you long for that intimate connection between the content and the character. The next class comes along and suddenly you have an engaging lecturer who is interested in connecting with you. He will add a couple of funny lines to ensure you are awake. Those professors almost always make a greater emotional impact than the tedious lecturer.

Advent is like longing with an engaging professor who not only enjoys teaching but looks up to you and seeks to connect with your eyes and heart. If adventing (waiting) was only a process of listening without engaging, it would be a duty without pleasure. But Advent is being guided by someone who looks into the eyes of affliction and who speaks from experience.
So, yes, it’s about perspective. To Advent is to wait actively, to long hopefully, and to engage the dynamic prophets who prophesy and proclaim Messiah Jesus.

If we begin to see Advent as an engaging practice for Christmas, suddenly our distaste for the season before Christmas will decrease and our longing will be more meaningful. Perhaps we won’t hate Advent after all. We will long together with the prophets and those first-century saints who practiced well and embraced Christmas with sounding joy.

On November 15, 2023 By Uri Brito In Culture Like

5 Ways to Make Fun of Evil

There is an art to making fun of evil. You have to build a resume. You can’t just throw words at evil things like an amateur. You have to be armed with the right stuff so you don’t mock the faith while attempting to mock unbelief. So, what do you need to make fun of evil like a professional?

You need courage.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Courage keeps you focused on the enemy. It keeps our warfare on the right target. It keeps moving when the opposing team seems to have the advantage.

You need biblical fidelity.

^“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Fidelity to the Bible is indispensable to attacking evil premises. You can attempt cute remarks that will get cheap applauses, but only faithfulness to the Bible will provide enduring mockery material.

You need festivity.

“Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” You cannot be a talented mocker unless you know how to celebrate properly; the church needs to be a place for sincere and true festivity among the pagan festivals of the world. We gather on the Lord’s Day because this is the great festival day. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

You need family virtues.

“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table.” You are to build a repertoire of songs and prayers in your household. Parents are to build memories around the table; children need to embrace doses of virtues in honoring father and mother; in serving around the house.

Finally, take your calling seriously.

“Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.” You have been chosen by God to do what he has called you to do. You cannot take off the armor of God simply because you decided to entertain yourself in the playground of evil. God has given you a calling. Work. Persevere. Repent and enter into his gates with thanksgiving to mock evil with boldness.

Let us mock evil in the act of praise and adoration. God has called us to make his name holy by mocking the unholy.

On November 1, 2023 By Uri Brito In Culture Like

A Brief Explanation of All Saints Day

We celebrate —together with a vast majority of Christian Churches in the world–the feast of All Saints. On this day, we honor and remember the saints gone before us. Traditionally, All Saints Day is the day after All Hallowed Eve on October 31st, and the Church celebrates it on the closest Sunday to the first of November.

All Saints Day is also known as the day when we celebrate the hallowed ones, those who have been honored by God because of their faithful lives. The Bible encourages frequently to give honor to whom honor is due (Prov. 3:27) and it lists the great heroes of the faith while praising them for their mighty actions in the face of grave danger (Heb. 11). All Saints’ Day is the benediction of God upon martyrs, the “well done” upon the faithful, and the clothing in white robes on all those who, from their labors rest.

By celebrating the life of the saints, ultimately, we are celebrating the death of death. We celebrate that in the death of the faithful ones, Satan has been mocked. In fact, All Saints testify to the humiliation of the devil and evil throughout history. The Christian Church rejoices over evil by mocking death. The third-century theologian Athanasius gives a good example of the early church’s attitude toward death:

“Death has become like a tyrant who has been completely conquered by the legitimate monarch; bound hand and foot the passers-by jeer at him, hitting him and abusing him, no longer afraid of his cruelty and rage, because of the king who has conquered him. So has death been conquered and branded for what it is by the Saviour on the cross. It is bound hand and foot, all who are in Christ trample it as they pass and as witnesses to Him deride it, scoffing and saying, “O Death, where is thy victory? O Grave, where is thy sting?” (1 Cor. 15: 55).”

Only the Gospel gave people hope that death could be defeated and reversed. Only the Gospel promised people glory at death and even more glorious resurrection life at the end of history.

The reality is that paganism cannot compete with All Saints’ Day because paganism cannot offer hope after death. The Christian message can offer a definitive answer to death. Jesus is the answer to death’s grip because Jesus overcame the grip of death.

On October 18, 2023 By Uri Brito In Culture 1

Victimization Culture

The victimization culture has become an overwhelming feature in our modern discourse. It offers a culture (henceforth, vc) that is almost always antagonistic toward the cause of the conservative Christian faith. VC looks around its environment for micro-aggressions, eager to act as the moral arbiter. Indeed, this culture attempts to form a new morality that despises a merit-based world–the kind that has defined Western Civilization–in favor of passive rewards.

The argument is quite simple: You are, therefore, you deserve. This new religious class lumps entire cultures into neat associations that help categorize them into antagonists or champions of human rights. If you support their cause, a Nobel Peace Prize is nearby.

What we have is a new generation of youth pre-cooked for victimization. Their entire demeanor is pre-disposed to being offended by the smallest acts or rituals. Ironically, these disgruntled/confused men and women want nothing more than dominion. They want to impose their morality on others, which for their cause means to legislate a no-tolerance agenda towards “fanatics” who believe in the authority of holy writ.

To provide a fruitful dialogue in the VC, you need to speak carefully with every nuance, avoid all the pitfalls of potential hurt, navigate carefully the waters of gender ideology, and speak from a position of deference to the greater good of such culture. In this worldview, everyone is fundamentally against you; if they don’t bow down to your needs, they are oppressors. Essentially, this VC has provided a space where the conversation is necessarily evil if you begin from a position of authority, especially the One from on High.

The entire proposal from “Victimization Culture” stems from a “guilty” before proven innocent philosophy. And this is coming down the pipe for “radicals” like us who treasure biblical inerrancy and have little tolerance for mind games played by the Left in this country. No matter how much you assert that the walls of partition are broken down in the name of Messiah Jesus, no matter how often you preach Jesus Christ crucified for sinners, you are still guilty of not performing the act of submission towards the cause of victimization.

I am led to the simple conclusion that we cannot allow our children to be trained under such infidels to the Triune Mission. Faithful worship and faithful cultivation of habits of grace in the church and household is the solution to the day’s confusion. One can be a genuine victim of evil whose life will require community care, love, and truth. We pray churches will embrace such people and lead them to green pastures of comfort and peace.

As an observer of this modern phenomenon, I stand humbled and grateful for a true Victim who suffered at the hands of murderers and unjust men for our cause. He suffered, t yet did not seek to force others to pay him homage but transformed others to love his suffering. True victims are beholden to the cause of a true Sufferer– stricken, smitten, and afflicted for our victory to the eternal praise of his glorious grace.