True Hope

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,

"therefore I will hope in Him."

~ Lamentations 3:22-24

Chilling

I don't often post political stuff, although my family constantly discusses issues, but this blog by Dr. Veith of PHC is a must-read.  There is so much at stake here. 

Green Dolphin Street

I just posted on my friend Sarah's new blog that I had reviewed Elizabeth Goudge's Green Dolphin Street here, and then realized that I actually hadn't, only thought I had (not very uncommon for me these days). Anyway, in my current Elizabeth Goudge binge, I read this book for the first time. I think I started it years ago, but it didn't grab me, and I put it aside. Now I can't imagine why or how it didn't. I truly loved this book and would recommend it without hesitation. Like most of Goudge's books about marriage and family life that I have read, it is about real the demands of true, gritty, Christ-like love in unexpected ways and places, and in a self-sacrificing way that is definitely not hip or cool today, even among most Christians. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

Here are just a few of my favorite quotes:

"…what the world sees of any human creature is not the real life; that life is lived in secret, a reality that moves behind the façade of appearance, like wind behind a painted curtain; only an occasional ripple of the surface, a smile, a sudden light or shadow passing on a face, surprising by its unexpectedness, gives news of something quite other than what it is."

"There's much that goes into the makin' of a man or woman into somethin' better than a brute beast, but there's three things in chief, an' they're the places where life sets us down, and the folks life knocks us up against, an' – not the things ye get, but the things ye don't get."

And a most insightful quote on the ongoing battle with habitual and indwelling sin:

"By this time next week, such was her selfishness and pride, she might find herself once more a changeling, strayed again from home, with the door to unlock all over again. Yet once you had been home, surely, it was easier to get home again, and each fresh fight to get back to the water brook would bring one nearer its source, and that final coming home would be the satisfaction of every longing and the healing of every pain."

Who Shall Deliver Me?

God strengthen me to bear myself;
That heaviest weight of all to bear,
Inalienable weight of care.

All others are outside myself;
I lock my door and bar them out
The turmoil, tedium, gad-about.

I lock my door upon myself,
And bar them out; but who shall wall
Self from myself, most loathed of all?

If I could once lay down myself,
And start self-purged upon the race
That all must run ! Death runs apace.

If I could set aside myself,
And start with lightened heart upon
The road by all men overgone!

God harden me against myself,
This coward with pathetic voice
Who craves for ease and rest and joys

Myself, arch-traitor to myself ;
My hollowest friend, my deadliest foe,
My clog whatever road I go.

Yet One there is can curb myself,
Can roll the strangling load from me
Break off the yoke and set me free

~Christina Rossetti

A Book of Comfort, by Elizabeth Goudge

My friend Linda Dean introduced me to the novels and writings of Elizabeth Goudge years ago. Yesterday I pulled this anthology of poetry and prose from my shelf to peruse again.  I love this quote this from her preface, describing the comfort which books give us…

"…What are the sources of comfort to which we turn in what Saint Augustine…calls "our mortal weariness"?  The answer is that our existence is as light with comfort as it is weighted with weariness.  The sources of our comfort are legion, and cannot be counted, but if we attempted the impossible and tried to make a list most of us would place books very high indeed, perhaps second only to faith, for reading is not only a pleasure in itself, with its concomitants of stillness, quietness and forgetfulness of self, but in what we read many of our other comforts are present with us like reflections seen in a mirror.  If the light of our faith flickers we can make it steady again by reading of the faith of the saints, and hearing poetry sing to us the songs of the lovers of God.  In the absence of children we can read about them, and in the cold and darkness of midwinter, look in the mirror of our book and see flowers and butterflies, and spring passing into the glow and warmth of summer…"

I also like her "categories" of comforting things (from the table of contents):

We Are Comforted When We Consider the Glory and Wisdom of Creation… The Comfort We Have in Delighting in Each Other… The Comfort of Faith… The Comfort We Have in Living in the World of Imagination

Elizabeth Goudge (1900-1984) was the daughter of a clergyman of the Church of England. You can read more about her here, and see the extensive bibliography of her works.  A couple of my favorites are The Dean's Watch;  a trilogy about the fictional Eliot family: The Bird in the Tree, The Herb of Grace (also published under the title The Pilgrim's Inn), and The Heart of the Family; and her children's fairy tale, Linnets and Valerians, which I read for the first time last week, and which I thoroughly enjoyed!

Stop Tinkering

“Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God, we do not see ourselves--blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One.”
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948]

I need this relief. Badly.

O For a Closer Walk With God

In today's bible reading, this lovely and haunting hymn by William Cowper was juxtaposed in the Book of Life with Jesus' high priestly prayer for his disciples (and all believers!). I thought it was interesting that the authors would make this connection...which seems so appropriate to me, as it is so often my own experience. I especially like the verse that begins with "The dearest idol I have known"...

O for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!

Where is the blessedness I knew,
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?

What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.

Return, O holy Dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest!
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn
And drove Thee from my breast.

The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.

So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb.

Jane Austen on the "mega-church"

In Mansfield Park, chapter 9, Fanny and Edmund are discussing the importance of the clergyman with the disdainful Miss Crawford. Miss Crawford has just observed that don’t have much influence over their congregations, even if they preach “two sermons a week, even supposing them worth hearing, supposing the preacher to have the sense to prefer Blair’s to his own (my footnote says that many preachers of that day would read the well-known and eloquent Rev. Hugh Blair’s sermons rather than preach their own...nothing new under the sun, hmmm?)

Edmund supposes she is speaking of large congregations in London, while he is referring to the rest of the nation.

“We do not look in great cities for our best morality. It is not there that respectable people of any denomination can do most good; and it certainly is not there that the influence of the clergy can be most felt. A fine preacher is followed and admired; but it is not in fine preaching only that a good clergyman will be useful in his parish and his neighbourhood, where the parish and neighbourhood are of a size capable of knowing his private character, and observing his general conduct, which in London can rarely be the case. The clergy are lost there in the crowds of their parishioners. They are known to the largest part only as preachers…”

Owen and Tennyson

well...long time, no post. I bet you've all been waiting with bated breath...

I'm reading Tennyson's Idylls of the King this summer for Book Tea. It's wonderful, although I might find it pretty hard going if I hadn't read James Knight's version for children of Morte d'Artur and Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain first.

I'm also reading John Owen's Mortification of Sin. These two, surprisingly, complement each other nicely.

When the fair Elaine falls in love with the dashing Sir Lancelot,

"The shackles of an old love straiten'd him,
His honour rooted in dishonour stood
And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true."

He was faithful to his unfaithful love for Queen Guinevere. Consequently, Elaine pined away unto death and then dramatically (to say the least) made a point of letting Lancelot know. It's worth reading if you don't know the story...and you must read it to understand Anne's perilous river journey which ended with Gilbert's rescue in Anne of Green Gables.

Here's Owen on sin's effect on our judgement:

"Sin's loud voice darkens the mind so that it cannot make a right judgement of things...so that it does not rightly judge the guilt of sin."

Humbled By the War I Cannot Win

Paul Tripp has an excellent personal paraphrase of Romans 7 and Psalm 51 on his website today. Just what I needed today as I have been beset and given in all day to impatience and frustration. Thanks be to God!

Here's an excerpt, go here for the entire thing.

I am thankful for God’s grace, but there is daily evidence that I'm still in need of help.
That battle inside me cannot be solved by
Theology
Strategies
Principles
Techniques
Plans
Preparation
Helpful hints
Outlines
I have been humbled by the war I cannot win.
I have been grieved by desires I cannot conquer.
I have been confronted by actions I cannot excuse.
And I have come to confess that what I really need is rescue.
So, have mercy on me, O God,
According to your unfailing love
According to your great compassion
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions
And my sin is always before me.
I embrace the rescue that could only be found in you.
Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Mark Twain on the Sovereignty of God

...although I seriously doubt he would have meant to honor God with this, yet his Presbyterian upbringing and bedrock presupposition is there.

This is from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, describing the death of Injun Joe and the tiny drip of water in the cave which provided some small comfort to him as he was slowly starving to death.

That drop was falling when the Pyramids were new; when Troy fell; when the foundations of Rome were laid when Christ was crucified; when the Conqueror created the British empire; when Columbus sailed; when the massacre at Lexington was "news." It is falling now; it will still be falling when all these things shall have sunk down the afternoon of history, and the twilight of tradition, and been swallowed up in the thick night of oblivion. Has everything a purpose and a mission? Did this drop fall patiently during five thousand years to be ready for this flitting human insect's need? and has it another important object to accomplish ten thousand years to come?

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.

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

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.

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.

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!!