Need Counseling?

For those of you who can't afford or don't want to pay for private counseling, here is a freebie from Bob Newhart.

May the Mind of Christ My Savior

This sweet hymn was written by Kate B. Wilkinson in the early 1900's. You can listen to the tune here.

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.

May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.

May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing,
This is victory.

May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.

May His beauty rest upon me,
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only Him.

A little lesson from Pilgrim's Progress

This morning we read in Pilgrim’s Progress about Pilgrim’s conversation at the Palace Beautiful with Prudence. The little bit below really impressed me, especially with the current scandal raging around Ted Haggard and his confession. Tim Challies, in his thought-provoking piece on the scandal, made the point that all Christians should be saddened and horrified, because, knowing our true Adamic nature, we should know that “there but for the grace of God go I.” Yes, there is much more to consider here for such a public figure with such questionable theology, but Tim's reminder definitely caught my attention. Shouldn't our understanding of our total depravity make us all the more anxious to "watch our life and doctrine" carefully? I think that is what Bunyan was getting at in the part we read this morning.

Here’s my little retelling (all my Classical Writing readers will know what I mean :)

Prudence asks Christian whether he does not till think some about his former home, the City of Destruction. Christian acknowledges that he does, indeed, to his shame, remember his life there, but that his desire now is for a better city (Hebrews 11:15-16).

Next Prudence inquires if Christian still thinks of some of the things he left behind in the City of Destruction. Sadly, Christian agrees that he does sometimes think about those things that formerly delighted him and his companions in that doomed city. Now, however, these thoughts bring him grief, and he wishes that he would never think on them. He echoes St. Paul (Romans 7:15, 21) “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”

So Prudence asks him if he can remember what it is that makes those loathsome thoughts disappear at times. Christian knows exactly what they are:

~ “when I think what I saw at the cross, that will do it”

~ “when I look upon my broidered coat, that will do it”

~ “when I look into the roll that I carry in my bosom, that will do it”

~ “when my thoughts wax warm about whither I am going, that will do it”

These are the thoughts that will deliver me from the futile and vain imaginations and desires that assail me daily (hourly!): Christ’s death to take the penalty, the curse, of the law for me; Christ’s clothing me with His righteousness instead of the old filthy rags of my sin; the Word of God which always points to Christ; and the hope I have of a heavenly Mt. Zion, where:

“I hope to see Him alive that did hang dead on the cross; and there I hope to be rid of all those things that to this day are in me an annoyance to me: there they say there is no death (Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 21:4) and there I shall dwell with such company as I like best. For, to tell you the truth, I love Him because I was by Him eased of my burden; and I am weary of my inward sickness. I would fain be where I shall die no more, and with the company that shall continually cry, Holy, holy, holy.”

My prayer today for myself, and for all who find this Pilgrim’s Way difficult:

Almighty God, You alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners. Grant Your people grace to love what you command and desire what You promise: that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
(Book of Common Prayer, ~ Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Lent)

Beating the gospel into our heads...

According the Martin Luther, we "leak" the gospel, and it needs to be beat into our heads. Every day. Over and over. My pastor has been teaching throught Galatians, and has quoted Luther on justification (which IS the gospel) and our need to understand it, hear it, and preach it to ourselves constantly.

Justin Taylor over at Between Two Worlds had a link to this article by Jerry Bridges, which says the same thing...

So I learned that Christians need to hear the gospel all of their lives because it is the gospel that continues to remind us that our day-to-day acceptance with the Father is not based on what we do for God but upon what Christ did for us in his sinless life and sin-bearing death. I began to see that we stand before God today as righteous as we ever will be, even in heaven, because he has clothed us with the righteousness of his Son. Therefore, I don't have to perform to be accepted by God. Now I am free to obey him and serve him because I am already accepted in Christ (see Rom. 8:1). My driving motivation now is not guilt but gratitude.

Yet even when we understand that our acceptance with God is based on Christ's work, we still naturally tend to drift back into a performance mindset. Consequently, we must continually return to the gospel. To use an expression of the late Jack Miller, we must "preach the gospel to ourselves every day." For me that means I keep going back to Scriptures such as Isaiah 53:6, Galatians 2:20, and Romans 8:1. It means I frequently repeat the words from an old hymn, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness."

I urge you to read Bridges' article in its entirety...I was recently talking to a friend, trying to explain why this Galatians series has been so liberating, and found myself totally unable to articulate what I meant. I think this article says what I was fumbling to say.

Not What My Hands Have Done

by Horatius Bonar

(Click here for the tune)

Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load.

Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace;
Your power alone, O Son of God, can all my sin erase.
No other work but Yours, no other blood will do;
No strength but that which is divine can bear me safely through.

Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God, not mine, O Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest, And set my spirit free.

I bless the Christ of God; I rest on love divine;
And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt; I bury in His tomb
Each thought of unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom.

I praise the God of grace; I trust His truth and might;
He calls me His, I call Him mine, My God, my joy and light.
’Tis He Who saveth me, and freely pardon gives;
I love because He loveth me, I live because He lives.

If God be for us, who can indeed be against us?

Read this extremely encouraging tidbit from my pastor’s (Charles Biggs) exposition on Romans. You can read the whole thing here; scroll down to Favorites/Special Editions. It is the one titled "The Christ of Romans".

Paul wants us to understand the story of our lives from the perspective of being in Christ even when we suffer and find circumstances difficult to bear- -when we most feel like quitting and giving up in the Christian life! Paul says that the tribulation has purpose (Rom. 5:3-5), and it has meaning in Christ, because we suffer in Christ as God’s children in this world of sin and misery.

So don’t be moved by difficult circumstances, but look to Christ the exalted Lord! As God did not leave Jesus in the tomb, so he will not leave us or forsake us! Rather, he will raise our bodies and we will physically be resurrected to take part in a glorious body like Christ’s (Rom. 8:22-25; 1 Cor. 40-58).

What a grand and gracious story that has meaning and makes sense of our lives! Whatever comes our way, however we groan with the creation in this present age (Rom. 8:22), we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus! Nothing spiritual or material, holy or demonic, can ever take away God’s love and purpose for us “in Christ”.

If God be for us, who can indeed be against us?

I have been using Charles' teaching (you can find his audio sermons on Romans here) and outline as a guide as my kids and I read through Romans, and we are currently memorizing Romans 8:31-39. I told my kids that if they remember nothing else specifically of what we study in Romans, this is the thing I want indelibly etched on their brains.

If God be for us, who can indeed be against us?

The Church's One Foundation

We sang this yesterday at Caleb's church in Grove City, Rocky Springs Presbyterian (PCA). Sweet little church, wonderful sermon, and a fun lunch following with Caleb, Erin, and Ben. A lovely visit!

The church's one Foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is his new creation
By water and the Word:
From heav'n he came and sought her
To be his holy bride;
With his own blood he bought her,
And for her life he died.

Elect from ev'ry nation,
Yet one o'er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food.
And to one hope she presses,
With ev'ry grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping,
Their cry goes up, "How long?"
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song.

The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
To guide, sustain and cherish
Is with her to the end;
Though there be those that hate her,
And false sons in her pale,
Against or foe or traitor
She ever shall prevail.

'Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace for evermore;
Till with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious
Shall be the church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
With the God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with thee.

for Geni...football and movies

Wow, the Redskins won on Sunday. Amazing, huh? (not that I actually watched the game or anything...) And so did the Broncos. Wow.

And, we saw an amazing movie last weekend (really, Geni...a real live movie!). Our pastor does this film night thing, where he invites people from the community to watch a classic movie, and then there's a discussion following. The movie we watched was "Night of the Hunter" with Robert Mitchum...very intense, but a very strong message of redemption. It's not normally the kind of movie I would watch (okay, Geni, most there aren't many movies I ever watch!), but I really loved it, and especially the discussion afterwards. If you haven't seen it, do! But I will warn you, the song "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" will always remind you of this film...but it ends up being one of the coolest things about the movie. It is truly unbelievable that the gospel could be presented so accurately by a man who was trying to discredit the church with this movie.

Love you, dear friend Geni!

Three Quotes from Schaff

This from the series that Joshua & I are reading for our Church History class. I love the way this man uses words...

“For the Holy Spirit does not supersede the gifts and peculiarities of nature, which are ordained by God; He sanctifies them to the service of His kingdom.” (p. 514)

“John’s spirit and style may be compared to a calm, clear mountain-lake which reflects the image of the sun, moon, and stars, while Paul resembles the mountain-torrent that rushes over precipices and carries everything before it; yet there are trumpets of war in John, and anthems of peace in Paul.” (p. 550)

“Plain fishermen of Galilee could not have drawn such a portrait of Jesus if He had not sat for it. It would take more than a Jesus to invent Jesus. They did not create the divine original, but they faithfully preserved and reproduced it.” (p. 581)

~History of the Christian Church, Volume I, by Philip Schaff, 1858

Fall Term 2006 at Libertas Academy

I was inspired by Cindy at Dominion Family to post our family's plans for this fall. So...here you go...

ARTIST: Pieter Breugel the Elder
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (c.1554-55)
Children's Games (1560) Details and info.
Tower of Babel (1563)
Landscape with the Parable of the Sower (1557) also here.
Hunters in the Snow (1565)
Peasant Wedding (c. 1568)

COMPOSER: Ludwig von Beethoven ~ music files downloaded from eclassical.
Symphony 5 or 6
Piano Sonata 14 (Moonlight, Opus 27) OR 8 (Pathetique, Opus 13)
Razumovsky String Quartets Opus 59, no 1-3 OR Septet in E-flat Opus 20
Piano Concerto 5 (Emperor, Opus 73)
Symphony 7 OR 9 (Opus 125)
Fidelio

BIBLE:
The Book of Life Volume 8 “Paul, Life &Letters”
Psalms & Proverbs

SCRIPTURE MEMORY
Hebrews 11
Nicene Creed

SCRIPTURE REVIEW:
Psalm 91
Books of the Bible
Ten Commandments, The Shema (Deut. 6:4-5),
Jesus’ Summary of the Law (Matthew 22:36-40),
Apostle’s Creed, Gloria Patri, Doxology

HYMNS
Come Thou Fount
Immortal, Invisible
Lift High the Cross

HYMNS REVIEW:
All Glory, Laud & Honor
I Sing the Mighty Power
The King of Love
I Sing a Song of the Saints of God

POETRY READING:
Book of 1000 Poems

POETRY MEMORY:
The Builders by Longfellow
Crossing the Bar by Tennyson

POETRY REVIEW:
I Never Saw a Moor, A Book, Autumn by Dickinson
Pirate Story, The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson
October’s Party by George Cooper
November by Margaret Rose
First Thanksgiving by Nancy Byrd Turner

READING ALOUD:
The Story of the Middle Ages (H.A. Guerber, edited by Christine Miller)
Famous Men of the Middle Ages (Memoria Press Edition)
Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula
King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles
Twelve Bright Trumpets by Margaret Leighten
Burgess Animal Book for Children
Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells by Opal Wheeler
Fifty Famous Stories by James Baldwin
Beatrix Potter Treasury

Why Latin? Indeed...

Excellent post from Cindy at Dominion Family about the reasons for teaching Latin to our kids.

The Reason for Rote

This is a little scrap of conversation from The Daisy Chain, by Charlotte Yonge, a truly delightful book, full of gems and thoughts on church tradition and classical education.

Shocked and saddened by the “Ladies’ Committee” decision to “leave off reading the Prayer-book prayers morning and evening!” at the neighborhood school, Ethel, the awkward but deep-thinking heroine, laments:

“And it is much to be expected that next they will attack all learning by heart…If they don’t learn them (the Psalms – the Gospels – these ties—these links to the church) by rote when they have strong memories…they will not know them well enough to understand them when they are old enough!…memory and association come before comprehension, so that one ought to know all good things…with familiarity before one can understand, because understanding does not make one love. Oh! One does that before, and when the first little gleam, little bit of a sparklet of the meaning does come, then it is so valuable and so delightful.”

Her wise and theologically astute older brother, Richard, agrees with her,

“…these lessons and holy words were to be impressed on us here from infancy on earth, that we might be always unraveling their meaning, and learn it fully at last…”

I can only say…Amen!

Always be ready...

Two posts in one day...don't fall out of your seats!

This is a great website refuting the outrageous claims and false information in Dan Brown's DaVinci Code. Get a cup of tea, and spend a bit of time there.

The Truth About DaVinci

Of course, the heresies presented in DaVinci are nothing new. I see this as a great opportunity to share the truth of the gospel! I want to "always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks (me) to give an account fort he hope that is in (me), yet with gentleness and reverence." (II Peter 3:15)

Many of Brown's lies seem plausible to us because we are so ignorant about church history, and just history in general...I know I am! So, here's another link for you...Joshua and I have signed up for this class for next fall. Care to join us?

Schola Tutorial's Church History class

"But false prohets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who brought them here, bringing swift destruction upon themselves..." (II Peter 2: 1)

Father, give us such a love and holy jealousy for Your word that we immerse ourselves in it daily, and equip us to refute false teaching wherever we find it! Keep Your church...Your "called out ones"... pure and spotless. Amen.

Consider Jesus...

...the High Priest and Apostle of our calling… ~ Hebrews 3:1

Matthew Henry’s commentary on this passage is challenging and thought provoking.

Consider…

…what He is in himself

…what He is to us

…what He will be to us hereafter and for ever

Consider Him, fix your thoughts upon him with the greatest attention, and act towards Him accordingly…

My thoughts and my heart wander…and this is reflected in my everyday actions towards Him and towards others.

Matthew Henry goes on to give us four mandates based on our need to consider Jesus as commanded in this verse:

1. Many that profess faith in Christ have not a due consideration for Him; He is not so much thought of as He deserves to be, and desires to be, by those that expect salvation from Him.

He both deserves and desires to be considered and thought of with great, high, and constant thoughts. But my thoughts are constantly drawn to things of no importance at all. How much time do I waste every day in consideration of things that don’t deserve it at all?

2. Close and serious consideration of Christ would be of great advantage to us to increase our acquaintance with Him, and to engage our love and our obedience to Him, and reliance on Him.

I do want to know Him and love Him more, I want to obey and rely on Him. So, here is the prescription…intentionally, and seriously thinking about Christ and His attributes daily.

3. Even those that are holy brethren, and partakers of the heavenly calling, have need to stir up one another to think more of Christ than they do, to have Him more in their minds; the best of His people think too seldom and too slightly of Him.

Do I stir up others to think great thoughts of Christ? And…do my Christian friends stir me up to think more of Christ? I must evaluate all my fellowship and relationship with other Christians in light of these two questions.

4. We must consider Christ as He is described to us in the scriptures, and form our apprehensions of him thence, not from any vain conceptions and fancies of our own.

Amen! “The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.” (Westminster Shorter Catchism) This is how I can really know and understand who Christ is…not by my own ideas of what He should be or do.

We Will Tell the Next Generation ~ Catechism

As I mentioned in my last post, we believe strongly in the value of catechizing our children. Dr. Kim Riddlebarger had a great article on the practice of catechism on yesterday's blog. I'd like to share a few highlights, and my own observations.

Catechism (from the Greek word catechesis) is simply instruction in the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. Instead of replacing or supplanting the role of the Bible in Christian education, catechism ideally serves as the basis for it. For the practice of catechism, as properly understood, is the Christian equivalent of looking at the box top of a jig-saw puzzle before one starts to put all of those hundreds of little pieces together.

In our family, catechism has been a wonderful tool to get our children thinking deeply and biblically about the real questions of life. I have a precious memory of a certain sleepy little three year old, having learned his newest catechism question, telling his older brother who was carrying him from the car to bed, "Caleb, God is a spirit, and he has no body like we do." (just in case big brother Caleb, age 16, didn’t know!) That deep and unfathomable truth was filling his mind, even as he was drifting off to sleep.

...Protestants have always argued that creeds, confessions and catechisms are authoritative only in so far as they faithfully reflect the teaching of Holy Scripture. This means that the use of catechisms, which correctly summarize biblical teaching, does not negate or remove the role of Holy Scripture. Instead, these same creeds, confessions and catechisms, as summary statements of what the Holy Scriptures themselves teach about a particular doctrine, should serve as a kind of spring-board to more effective Bible study.

Amen...the catechism and creeds you choose must be completely biblical. We like the Westminster Shorter Catechism for kids 10 and up, and the First Catechism, Biblical Truth for God's Children. Whatever catechism you choose, be sure to read it all the way through and make sure it lines up with Scripture!

The practice of catechism also serves as an important safeguard against heresy and helps to mitigate some of the problems associated with the private interpretation of Scripture. How many times have you been forced to sit through a Bible study in which the goal was not to discover what the text actually says, but instead to discover what a particular verse means to each of the studies' participants? When we remember that virtually every cult in America began with an open Bible and a charismatic leader who could ensure his or her followers that they alone have discovered what everyone else, especially the creeds, confessions and catechisms, have missed, we see perhaps the greatest value of catechism. These guides protect us from such errors and self-deluded teachers. As American evangelicals have moved away from the practice of catechism for subjective and experiential modes of meaning, it is no accident that biblical illiteracy has risen to embarrassing levels and that false doctrines have rushed in like a flood.

This is sobering and convicting. Cults tend to target "churched" kids, because they are attracted to spiritual things, but tend to be so ignorant of Scripture, that they make easy marks for conversion. Protecting our children from error is a fundamental responsibility of Christian parents. A solid program of Scripture memory, catechism, and creeds is a first-line defense against this kind of error. Random memorization of Scripture verses will not give children this kind of theological protection. I know this will make many evangelical Christians nervous, but please understand what I am saying here. I am arguing for a thoroughly biblical systematic theology course for our children, from the earliest possible age...and the best practical way we have found to implement this is the use training program consisting of catechism, Scripture memory, and creeds to teach our kids the fundamentals of the faith.

Making sure our children can recite catechism and creeds will not regenerate them...only God's work in their hearts can do that...but it will give them a solid foundation and understanding for the faith that I am confident He will work out in their hearts. And it is their hearts we are after. My wise friend, Mary Ellen, now at home with the Lord, once said, "You can teach a parrot to recite the sinner's prayer (catechism and creeds), but we want their hearts!" (italics mine). In addition to the need for a systematic training program in Scriptural truth, children need to see their parents earnestly seeking God, and loving and serving Him with their whole hearts. Children must be encouraged to take the truths they are learning, and apply them to their daily lives. If the catechism, Scripture memory, and creeds are rote, and unaccompanied by any requirement in daily life to live out true faith, they will produce little or no fruit in a child's life and heart.

Even in the absence of the parent's example and discipline, however, God can use memorized truth as a "handle" for the Holy Spirit's work in drawing a person to Christ. I can use myself as an example here. Even though my parents did not actively teach or live out Scripture in our home, they did make sure I attended church every Sunday. It was an Episcopal church, not particularly "alive", but in the liturgy each week, I heard deep truths of Scripture, and theological teaching from the Book of Common Prayer and great hymns of the faith. All of that made a deep impression on my spirit, and God used it as He drew me to Himself in my early twenties. I am so grateful for my heritage.

One of the best by-products of parents taking an active role in catechizing their kids, is that they also catechize themselves in the process! ...There are surprising practical ramifications that result from the practice of catechism as well. ...Too often people assume that the place to start learning theology is through tackling technical theological writing, when in fact the creeds and catechisms of the Reformation were designed to instruct novices in the faith. Starting with the catechism and confessions is really a better way to go.

This is unspeakably true! I heartily agree that has been true in our home. I am convinced being a parent (particularly a homeschooling parent) is truly God's discipleship of ME! And I think we as individuals and churches would do well to take Dr. Riddlebarger's advice to heart in the discipleship of new believers as well as the training of our children.

Well, once I get going, I can't stop. I guess this is why I post so infrequently! I highly recommend reading Dr. Riddlebarger's article linked above. He also gives some great practical tips for teaching your children the catechism. In my previous post, I also listed some good resources for this training.

We Will Tell the Next Generation ~ Family Devotions

...We will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
Psalm 78:4b

Barbara over at Mommy Life has a wonderful post today about Family Devotions in her home. I commented there and told about some of the things we do in this regard, and I got so excited I decided to start a little mini-series on this subject of passing on our faith to our kids. In our homeschool, and in our everyday life, we try to be very intentional about teaching our children deep doctrinal truths. We want them to have a bedrock foundation so that the Holy Spirit has lots of "handles" with which to grab our children's hearts in His good timing.

I am grateful and blessed to have a husband who has a very short commute and so has time to lead our family in devotions every morning before he leaves. There have been seasons when that wasn't the case, and family devotions were in the evening, or whenever we could manage to get everyone together. I know everyone doesn't have this ability, and I think it's just important to set a regular routine and stick to it. If Rick couldn't do it in the mornings, I made sure I did something during the day, even if it was just a short Bible story and prayer before naps. And we have had plenty of times when our family devotions are disrupted by crying or uncooperative children, but as they have grown, they have learned that this is what we do together daily as a family. Daily perseverance is truly the key.

Since both Rick and I were raised in the Episcopal Church (see the last post), we both have a deep respect and love for the Book of Common Prayer. We begin our daily devotional time with Morning Prayer. It's amazing how quickly our kids have learned the prayers, the Apostle's Creeds, and the Scriptures that are part of the service. Each child has a prayer book, and even the non-readers like to follow along.

After that, Rick usually uses a daily devotional called "Training Hearts, Teaching Minds" which goes through the questions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, one question each week, with five days of teaching and application on each one.

I have a list of Scripture that the kids memorize individually from age 3 up as well. And we memorize things together as a family.

All of our kids are also memorizing catechism questions. The younger kids use First Catechism from Great Commission Publications, and then they graduate to the Westminster Shorter by the time they are about 10 or so. I start my little guys at age 3 with the First Catechism, and it is just so cool to hear them...and then to see them start making connections with every area of their lives...

Who made you? God...
What else did God make? God made all things...
Why did God make you and all things? For his own glory...
How can you glorify God? By loving Him and doing what He commands...
Why are you to glorify God? Because He made me and takes care of me...

Talk about TRUE self-worth! :) I highly recommend catechizing your kids. I am amazed at the doctrine I have learned, even from the First Catechism. And it sure helps in answering those unanswerable questions kids love to ask.

Great Commission also has a neat little thing called Memory Work Notebook by Paul Settle. It divides the catechism questions into a grouping for each year from age 3 to 12th grade, with suggested Scripture and hymns and creeds to memorize as well. I have found that to be a great track to run on. There's also a CD of songs that reinforce these catechism questions by Judy Rogers called "Why Can't I See God?" It is excellent!

We also sing hymns, and do other things with Scripture during the day. I will post some more of the things we do in future posts.

Why Lent?

Thou blessed Spirit, Author of all grace and comfort,
Come, work repenetance in my soul;
Represent sin to me in its odious colors
that I may hate it,
...Show me my ruined self
and the help there is in Thee;...
May I confide in His power and love,
commit my soul to Him without reserve
bear His image,
observe His laws,
pursue His service,
and be through time and eternity
a monument to the efficacy of His grace
a trophy of His victory

~Valley of Vision

For the first time in many years, I attended an Ash Wednesday service at St. Peter's, our local Episcopal (yes, Episcopal! see note at bottom of this post) church. The whole point of Lent (this is for my dear non-liturgical friends) is a season of repentance and reflection in preparation for a glorious celebration of Easter. Even after ten years of being in a decidedly non-liturgical church, every year I am reminded that there is no Easter without a Good Friday. The forty days of Lent have always been a precious preparation time which makes Easter so much more meaningful for me.

The associate rector gave the sermon, and he was really marvelous. One of his comments really struck me. He said the Hassidic Jews had a tradition that each man must have two pockets in his coat. In one pocket he should have a slip of paper that says "I am but dust, and to dust I shall return". In the other pocket, a slip that says, "God created the whole universe for me". It is vital that we understand these two truths about who we are, so that we can begin to fathom a holy and righteous, yet merciful and loving Father, and respond to Him in love. So we can comprehend our "ruined selves" and still be a "trophy of grace".

*Yes, dear friends, Episcopal churches can be orthodox and Christian. St. Peter's is a church to watch, and pray for. From what I saw there, I believe you will see this church standing firm and continuing in the faith through the current storm which God is using to purge the apostate Episcopal Church... Praise God, and pray for all the courageous congregations who will stand firm!!

New Year's Resolutions

I was inspired by "New Year's Ambitions" at Holy Experience (scroll down to 12/30). Anne's verse for the year is "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to attend to your own business and work with your hands." (I Thess. 4:11) Her thoughts on that are very insightful and challenging to me.

This morning I read this from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening:

"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." "Grow in grace"-not in one grace only, but in all grace. Grow in that root-grace, faith. Believe the promises more firmly than you have done. Let faith increase in fulness, constancy, simplicity. Grow also in love. Ask that your love may become extended, more intense, more practical, influencing every thought, word, and deed. Grow likewise in humility. Seek to lie very low, and know more of your own nothingness. As you grow downward in humility, seek also to grow upward -having nearer approaches to God in prayer and more intimate fellowship with Jesus. May God the Holy Spirit enable you to "grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour." He who grows not in the knowledge of Jesus, refuses to be blessed. To know him is "life eternal," and to advance in the knowledge of him is to increase in happiness.

In order to lead that quiet life of faith Paul describes, I need more of grace, and more knowledge of Jesus this year. This verse is preceded by Paul's exhortation about diligence in pursuing holiness, and warnings to guard against doctrinal error. But he is not just advocating growth in knowledge (knowledge puffs up), but growth in grace AND knowledge. Grace preceding knowledge...exactly where I so often get it backwards. Knowledge I know how to pursue, but grace?? Can't muster it on my own. So Father, I ask that You will grant me grace, and firm and ever-increasing belief in Your promises.

If I am growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus, I will also grow in love to Him. I want to make it my goal each day to love fall more deeply in love with the Lord (wise advice from my dear friend Margaret Ashmore). I will become more satisfied in Him, and He will be more glorified in me, both now and forever.

Father, this year, let me grow in grace, and in the knowledge of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To You be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.