Yesterday I heard a talk from John Dickson, the Director of the Centre for Public Christianity. He spoke on humilitas from which we derive the word “humility”. It was a challenging topic and I appreciated what he had to say about the “virtue” of humility. It made me want to be a little more humble.
I have my first opportunity today! I am preaching at a church this evening so I went to their website to get some information. On the front page there is an announcement that I will be there. I thought that was great (especially because I am called “fascinating”), except that my name is “Brain La Porte”! Nothing brings one back to earth as quickly as the realization that my name is far from a household commodity!
So there we go with my first exercise in humility! I will accept that I am not only not well-known, but that my last name is very easy to confuse. By the way, “Brian” = “high” or “noble” or “eminence” or “strength” or “honor” and “brain” = that mushy thing in our head that controls our thoughts and actions. Also, “le port” = “the port” and “la porte” is “the door”. So I went from a strong port to a brain-door?
the archives near Emmaus 
hahaha, that’s great. 🙂
Are you skipping Romans 6 on purpose? I ask because that Mohler character quoted in the NPR article was pinning the whole farm on Paul’s use of Adam and Christ in Rom 6 and 1 Cor 15.
Which I think is absurd, however.
Hahaha God has a good sense of humor! I hope your sermon goes well today!
@Dustin: I thought so too!
@John: I’m not really “skipping” Rom 6. I can only read so much Scripture and still sermonize so I decided to cover the most important Adam-Christ passages. I am covering 5.12-21. Are you sure that is not the one Mohler mentioned?
@Super Virgin: Thank you!
Brian, you’re right about Mohler’s ref to Rom. 5. Maybe ‘Brain’ is a good nickname for you after all. 🙂 Fits you better than me anyway (with my memory).
Nevertheless it was Rom 5, after all, which I thought was an absurd place to bet the farm.
Things could be worse.. Your surname could be Bruggink. I have a collection of 175 different ways that it has been misspelled over the years.
I loved the last paragraph of your post. I dare you to use it tonight.
Best wishes for your sermon. I’m sure it will be fascinating.
Remember, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
@Paul: Thank you! I posted a link to the audio this morning. I wanted to make a joke about the misspelling, but the mood was a bit somber during the transition, because the last song was quite reflective, so I opted to move into the text instead.