The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor's Journey into Christian Faith

by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

Worship is separate from life and worship standards must come from the Bible—that is, they must come from divine revelation and not from natural revelation.

The more God-centered our worship practice, the more mercy-centered our life.

Worship is our rehearsal for how to live today and how to glorify God in heaven.

After years of singing the Psalms, and because the word does not return void, we listen, we respond, and, as part of God’s training of our hearts, we grow in grace and sanctification.

When Christ is at the center, the distinct roles that we assume have allowed us to claim unity in Christian heritage (by understanding the origin of the family as outlined in the first three chapters of Genesis and in the catechism questions that ask: “Who made you?” [God]; “Of what were you made?” [Of dust]; “What doth that teach you?” [To be humble and mindful of death]).

When Christ is at the center, the distinct roles that we assume have allowed us to claim a unity in family purpose.

How do we put Christ at the center? By intentionally holding all things captive to Christ, each moment of each day. By never daring to do anything without fervent prayer, seeking the Lord’s wisdom, counsel, blessing, and life-sustaining breath. I learned, during those years, that the idea that one is ever too busy to pray is delusion of the most dangerous variety.

Two distinct kinds of home-based ministry developed in our first year of marriage: ministry to those who know God (encouraging the fellowship of the saints through hospitality) and ministry to those who do not yet know God (developing a theology of the public, meeting the “stranger at the gate,” and finding intentional ways and means to bring the gospel to the outcast, the lost, and the lonely).

I believe that there is no greater enemy to vital life-breathing faith than insisting on cultural sameness.

Betrayal and risk are at the heart of the gospel life.

One of God’s greatest gifts is the ability to see and appreciate the world from points of view foreign to your own, points of view that exceed your personal experience.

God is not crushing the dreams of parenthood when he deals the card of infertility. God is asking you to crush the idolatry of pregnancy, to be sure. And, he is saying: Dream My dreams, not yours!

I think that what really happened is that God sanctified and then answered our prayers. We prayed that J would talk, but God taught us to listen to and respond to a scared boy who at first talked with his eyes. Then, I think that when we learned to listen, it became safe for J to talk. That is, I believe, the bottom line of the Christian life. Jesus is the word made flesh, and our faith and our deeds of love puzzle together with the Lord of lords and King of kings setting the sequence that makes the pattern of grace-filled life.

We have, by God’s grace, been given another day to serve and love, laugh and learn, pray and ponder.