From Lies of Pen and Tongue…

No wonder this one was left out of the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal. From the 1940 Hymnal, this seems very timely, especially for Anglicans:

O God of earth and altar,
bow down and hear our cry,
our earthly rulers falter,
our people drift and die;
the walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide,
take not thy thunder from us,
but take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,
from lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches
that comfort cruel men,
from sale and profanation
of honor, and the sword,
from sleep and from damnation,
deliver us, good Lord!

Tie in a living tether
the prince and priest and thrall,
bind all our lives together,
smite us and save us all;
in ire and exultation
aflame with faith, and free,
lift up a living nation,
a single sword to thee.

~ Gilbert Keith Chesterton, 1906

You can hear the tune here.

(I found reference to this hymn in an online journal called Earth & Altar: A Journal of Anglican Life and Worship, an interesting read for Anglicans and Anglican sympathizers.

Light Enough to See My Darkness

from the Valley of Vision, Mortification:

...I have light enough to see my darkness,
sensibility enough to feel the hardness of my heart,
spirituality enough to mourn my want of a heavenly mind...

True words...true of this heart and life. When I look at myself and realize the truth of these words, and the struggle Paul portrays of my life in Romans 7, I am tempted to despair. But...

"Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!...There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus." ~ Romans 7:25a, 8:1

All the more reason to look to Christ instead of myself, and what I can do in my frail flesh.

Good news. Gospel. Christians need it...every day!

Why Is Church History Important?

~ the question we discussed in Sunday School today, as my pastor is beginning a ??-long series on Church History...how cool is that??

Okay, here are some of the answers we came up with:
1. There's nothing new under the sun. The same heresies are repeated over and over, just with new buzzwords and cultural application.
2. We repeat mistakes if we don't know mistakes of the past (true for all of history).
3. We see God's preserving hand of the true church through the ages.
4. We get context for Scripture, and avoid chronological snobbery (C.S. Lewis)
5. Each age has its own blind spots, including ours!
6. Throughout history, we see God's corporate sanctification and maturing process of the universal (catholic with a little "c") church.
7. We are to comprehend our faith "with all the saints" (Ephesians 3:18)
8. Hebrews 11:36-40: we are part of the family that is listed here...there's more to the story, and it includes us.
9. I Timothy 4:11-16 speaks of the handing down of doctrine and life...must know the life and doctrine of the apostles and church fathers in order to imitate it.

So...all five of you that read this blog...I'd like to know why YOU think Church History is (or isn't) important.

Sola Scriptura or Sola Cultura?

Read this response by John Yates and Os Guiness to a scurrilous op-ed piece in the Washington Post entitled "Episcopalians against equality".
Heres's an excerpt from the list of problems with Episcopalian revisionism of the historic faith revealed in the Scriptures:

Episcopal revisionism negates the authority of faith. The "sola scriptura" ("by the scriptures alone") doctrine of the Reformation church has been abandoned for the "sola cultura" (by the culture alone) way of the modern church. No longer under authority, the Episcopal Church today is either its own authority or finds its authority in the shifting winds of intellectual and social fashion -- which is to say it has no authority.

I'm pleased to see that our Episcopal church of yore (Church of the Epiphany in Herndon, VA) is voting to join Truro and The Falls Church. Pray for these courageous churches as they stand against heresy.

HT Jeanne :)

Why Children Should Memorize Poetry...

...from a beautiful out of print volume on my shelf called "The Children's Library: Poems", Doubleday & Sons, 1904:

"There are people who believe that in the matter of poetry there is no "ought", but this is a false belief. There is a duty, even there; for every American citizen ought to know the great national songs that keep alive the spirit of patriotism. Children should build for their future -- and get, while they are children, what only the fresh imagination of the child can assimilate.

They should store up an untold wealth of heroic sentiment; they should acquire the habit of carrying a literary quality in their conversation; they should carry a heart full of the fresh and delightful associations and memories connected with poetry hours to brighten mature years. They should develop their memories while they have memories to develop." ~Mary E. Burt, editor

More on Epiphany...

From Wes Callihan's very informative and interesting Scholegium newsletter :

Epiphany is the end of the Christmas season. It's sometimes called Twelfth Day (hence Twelfth Night the evening before) because it's the twelfth day from Christmas. The famous Twelve Days of Christmas are those from Christmas to Epiphany. They include the Feast of the Innocents (commemorating the slaughter by Herod of the children), the Feast of the Circumcision (commemorating Jesus' parents keeping the law by having him circumcised on the eighth day), and the Feast of Stephen (commemorating the first martyr).

Epiphany itself began in the very early Eastern church as a nativity celebration but by the middle ages it became, in the Western church especially, a declaration of the manifestation of Christ to the nations as the Hope of the Nations. The Magi were Gentiles, and thus represented the nations, and so in Christian story they became kings, who are heads of their people, because of all the prophecies of kings bringing their kingdoms to the Messiah: "kings will walk in the brightness of thy rising."

So Epiphany is a glorious celebration of the King of the Nations, the Ruler of the World, the Eternal Augustus, the Everlasting Princeps, whose empire has no end in time or space. When we pray "Thy kingdom come", we should remember that Christians have already been praying that for two thousand years and the answer to that prayer was immediate (Already) and is still growing (Not Yet). In his birth, life, death, and resurrection, Jesus Christ triumphed (past tense) over his enemies, and He will reign till He has put all His enemies under His feet, and that will indeed happen. He wins, they lose. Epiphany is a wonderful time to remind ourselves that that phrase in the Lord's Prayer MEANS SOMETHING. This is 2007 A.D. -- In the Year of the Reign of Our Lord and King Jesus Christ. He owns the world.

You can subscribe to Scholegium here...it's a wonderful mix of history, astronomy, and the tutor's musings.

Epiphany

Today is Epiphany, according to the church calendar.

On his excellent and informative blog, Grantian Florilegium, George Grant writes:

The celebration of Epiphany is the culmination of what is traditionally called the "Twelve Days of Christmas." The word literally means “revelation” or “sudden unveiling” or “manifestation.”

The day, which historically has been celebrated with as much joy as Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, commemorates the day when wise men from the East were conducted by a miraculous star to the nativity in Bethlehem. The Magi were thus the first to comprehend that Jesus was not merely the prophetic fulfillment of Jewish aspirations since the beginning of time. Instead, He was the hope of the world, the light of the world, and the joy of every man’s desiring. They beheld the very glory of God that day--for in the city of David, the Savior was born.

As a result, Epiphany is the celebration of the ultimate proclamation of good news. Good news, indeed.

Epiphany was the name of our Episcopal (Anglican!) church years ago…our mission statement was “to make Christ known to the world.” Yes, indeed, good news!

The traditional collect from the Book of Common Prayer for Epiphany:

O God, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know Thee now by faith, to Thy presence, where we may behold Thy glory face to face; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

In Other News...

Okay, that last one wasn't really the last...

There's this big news...





















My oldest (by one minute) son Joshua proposed to his sweetheart, Abby, on the Golden Gate Bridge in SF, and...

...she said YES!!



They've only had eyes for each other since age 15...

...and we are thrilled!


:)

A deep grasp of the sovereign grace of God…

And, finally for tonight…I think you’ll find John Piper’s excellent “Challenge to Women” from the archives of Desiring God to be very thought-provoking, if not terribly politically correct. You can find all fifteen challenge points here.

The one that resonated with me is Number 6:

That you be women who have a deep grasp of the sovereign grace of God undergirding all these spiritual processes, that you be deep thinkers about the doctrines of grace, and even deeper lovers and believers of these things.

I know I believe and assent to God’s sovereign grace, but a “deep grasp”? I read, and try to think deeply about the doctrines of grace, but I’m aftraid I’m a lot like the great philosopher Winnie-the-Pooh…”I try to remember, then, when I remember, I forget…”

To the best of my understanding, thinking deeply about the doctrines of grace is what “Semper Reformanda” (Always Reforming) is all about!

And I am sure, that the deeper grasp and the deeper thinking will lead to the deeper love and belief.

Lord, help me to…

…deeply grasp your sovereign grace…

…deeply think about your doctrines of grace…

…deeply love and believe those truths…and live like it!

Indicative and Imperative

Catchy title, huh? Nice for us grammar geeks, but what about everyone else?

It is a hugely important distinction, and it affects everything about my Christian life.

Here’s what it means: In Scripture, the Indicative tells us who we are, and the Imperative tells us what we must do. The Indicative truth of Scripture tells me who I am in Christ...for example, from Ephesians: chosen before the foundation of the world, holy and blameless, redeemed, forgiven, lavished with riches, beloved of God, made alive with Christ, raised and seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Of course, Paul is careful to make sure I also know what I was before God saved me…dead, dead, dead (repeated over and over), and totally unable to save myself.

Okay, this is not news for most Christians. But, the key is this: the Imperative flows from the Indicative and not the other way around. In other words, what I am to do (Imperative) is simply be who I am (Indicative). My tendency has been to get this backwards and upside down…if I “do” the commands of Scripture…particularly the New Testament commands concerning the Christian life…then I will be accepted by God, or in “right relationship”. (I did already understand that my “legal standing” with God was secure as a Christian, regardless of whether I did the Imperative or not.)

Instead, what God has been teaching me through my pastor and other faithful preacher/teachers, is that “doing” the Imperative of Scripture is simply living like I am who I am (sing Popeye theme now…I yam what I yam…)

In Galatians, who I am is expressed in terms of a son or a slave. I am a son (daughter) of the king…now LIVE like it! Not to gain favor, approval, or blessing …Scripture says I already have those things…but just because it is who I am. Of course, because I am still clothed in sinful flesh, I can’t do it perfectly (that gets into the Already and the Not Yet…another post on some other day). If (when) I fail, I am simply to repent, look to Christ’s finished work instead of my feeble works, and go on…I am not to wallow in despair or agonize over my inability to live the “victorious” Christian life. That would be looking to myself and my works to gain approval, instead of looking to Christ’s finished work that has already brought me God’s approval and blessing, remembering that there is nothing I can do…or NOT do…that will change that one little bit.

Since Scripture tells me I am united with Christ, one of my goals for my Bible reading and study this year is to learn all I can about Christ throughout the Scriptures, so I can better understand who I am.

Most of this came from my pastor, Charles Biggs, as he preached through the book of Galatians for the last few months of 2006. (You can download his sermons here.) I heartily and enthusiastically recommend that you listen…they are life-changing…sounds very cliché, I know, but it is true. And he says it all so much better than I can in this rambling post.

Semper reformanda!!

A Resolution for 2007…and an excuse for 2006

I do hereby resolve to post more regularly this year for my reader (s?).

The Girltalkers are discussing how to keep resolutions, so I’ll be following that thread! I am the conusummate resolution breaker. Other than reading my bible through in a year once or twice (I mean…really finishing…every word), I think most of my resolutions are broken by Jan 2.

The things that I have been reading and studying this past year have been so obviously sovereignly directed by God, and the thoughts and emotions have been overwhelming at times. It has been a season of really sitting at the feet of Christ, and learning the marvelous truths of the gospel over…and in some ways, for the first time, even though I have been a Christian for 20+ years.

In the midst of all this, I think I have been like Mary, pondering these things in my heart…hence the infrequent posting. (Of course, there are other factors…a husband, 6 kids, homeschooling, writing books…but I digress…)

So, to make up for it, I have two other posts to make tonight. J