Scot's Hermeneutics Quiz

Scot McKnight has a Hermeneutics Quiz - "designed to clarify how you understand the Bible and how you apply it. Some people will quibble with the categories in the quiz or insist on more than one answer. That’s okay. No test like this can reveal all the nuances needed, but broad answers are sufficient to benefit from taking the quiz."

I took it and came up with a score of 64, "moderate". (Thanks for the tip Brad, a nearly identical 62 .... no surprise there.) I read Scot's Blog almost daily, but as Scot says, Fridays are for friends, and for me, Friday's my day off - I rarely get to my reading as early in the day. Fridays are for Family and relaxation - and sometimes, for household tasks.

Wednesday

Randy Stonehill says this so well:

" I knew Larry Norman perhaps better than anyone, yet to this day I'm not sure that I really understood him completely. For as brilliant and insightful as Larry was, I'm not sure that he understood himself completely. This issue became apparent in the way he consistently seemed to "derail" relationships through out his life. Larry is the man who introduced me to Jesus. He led me to the door of eternal life, and for that singular priceless gift I am eternally in his debt.

In my relationship with Larry, I experienced the beauty of brotherhood, the richness of creative collaboration, the mystery of human brokenness, and ultimately the overshadowing wings of God's all encompassing grace.

After 20 years of friction and distance between us that began around 1980, Larry and I realized that what united us in Christ was far greater than what had separated us in our personal frailty and pride. We worked together on the re-issue of the "Welcome to Paradise" recording and talked and laughed together over the phone from our respective homes in Seal Beach California and Salem Oregon.

We stood together onstage for what would be the last time at the Cornerstone Festival in July of 2001 and it felt to me like being home. Then he "disappeared" into the mist. I wrote it off to the busy pace of life and his consuming health problems but I still couldn't help but scratch my chin and wonder.

He graciously agreed to sing with me on my song, "We Were All So Young", for the "Edge of The World" project in 2003. We accomplished that performance process long distance through computer technology. Then he was silent again. I had hoped that in these last years we might continue to build on our recent reconciliation and even get together for some song writing and recording, sharing what we had learned about life and about our craft to offer something better than ever to the world.

Death is so final..We are out of time, at least in this life. No more conversations, No more plans, No more songs. It's a strange sorrow that leaves you feeling hollow, like someone knocked the wind out of you. The light of hope, however, that lifts my spirit is the knowledge that Larry's profound contribution to the work of God's Kingdom is eternal and that his struggles with his own demons is over."

-Randy Stonehill February 25, 2008

And John Fischer, another of the first generation of what's now called CCM, opines:

The Outlaw
Wednesday, February, 27, 2008
Some say he was an outlaw, that he roamed across the land,With a band of unschooled ruffians and few old fishermen,No one knew just where he came from, or exactly what he'd done,But they said it must be something bad that kept him on the run.

Some say he was the Son of God, a man above all men--That he came to be a servant and to set us free from sin,And that's who I believe he is, cause that's what I believe;And I think we should get ready, cause it's time for us to leave.- Larry Norman

Well, maybe not time for all of us, but most certainly time for Larry to leave. He's already gone, in fact. He left this earth last Sunday morning at 2:45 a.m., and the world has lost a prophet. There are undoubtedly those who would challenge me on that last statement, but I will not recant. Sure he had enemies among his friends, and he created much of that. He was an enigma -- an iconoclast. He could be so far off you wondered if he was only visiting this planet, but he could be so on the mark that you could only credit the truth and light of the Holy Spirit for it. Indeed, the first verse of his song "Outlaw," quoted above, could have as easily been written about him. No one knew where he came from, but many wished he would go back to wherever that was. He was an outlaw to everything established, and for that he embodied the renegade nature of Christ's first coming.

When you think of it, a guy with shoulder-length blond hair who sang about "sipping whiskey from a paper cup," "gonorrhea on Valentines Day and you're still looking for the perfect lay," and "shooting junk till your half insane," is probably not going to go over very well with the 11 o'clock Sunday morning worship crowd, especially 35 years ago. But then again, he wasn't speaking to those folks anyway. And to his credit, he never adjusted, like the rest of us did, to the Christian culture that grew out of the movement he helped found. He never compromised for a living. He stayed an outlaw until his death.

For these, and other reasons, I have always likened Larry to John the Baptist -- a non-conformist living in the desert wearing funny clothes, eating weird foods and hearing voices no one else heard. After having the dubious distinction of being the one to baptize Jesus and prepare the way of the Lord, John lost his head for sticking his neck into King Herod's private life. Larry stuck his neck out lots of places where people didn't think it belonged. It's a wonder he hadn't lost his head sooner.

In a time of spiritual revolution, Larry Norman carried the torch. He was and will remain through his enigmatic music, a voice crying in the wilderness. I celebrate Larry's final one-way trip to heaven, and if I know him well enough, I would guess he would want us all to make sure we were ready to leave ourselves.One way, one way to Heaven, hold up high your hand.Follow, free and forgiven, Children of the Lamb.

February 25

Brad’s blog made me aware of yesterday’s death of Larry Norman, the “godfather’ of Christian rock music back in the 70s. I remember a great fondness for Larry when I was in high school, buying the LP pictured here and seeing Larry in concert in Sacramento in 1972 – little realizing that simultaneously, down in Dallas, a family of 7 kids were likewise loving Larry. I wound up marrying the youngest of them. We remember you with fondness and sadness today, Larry. Go in peace.

Yesterday we went to Maggiano’s Little Italy for an early celebration of my birthday next Sunday (when EC will be working and unavailable). I learned some 5 years ago that the most enjoyable way to order in restaurants is to let the server select my meal and not tell me what it will be until it arrives. I’ve never been disappointed, and yesterday was no exception.

Time Freezes at Grand Central

Here's a video about one of the coolest "happenings" I have ever seen. The actor in me loves this.

"Speak O Lord"

At tonight’s Wednesday evening Lenten service we are singing Keith Getty and Stuart Townend’s “Speak, O Lord”. These guys (who previously wrote “In Christ Alone (my hope is found)” have a calling to write new worship music that works in the world of hymns, but I find that it also speaks powerfully to those who prefer the more typical contemporary fare. The lyric quality is very high – I note especially in v2, line 7, “Your majestic love and authority” – the typical praise and worship stuff, good as I think some of it is, rarely turns at that point of the song to remind us of the authority of God in our lives. The melody is superb. I’m looking forward to leading this tonight.

Speak O Lord as we come to You
To receive the food of Your holy word
Take Your truth plant it deep in us
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith
Speak O Lord and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory

Verse 2
Teach us Lord full obedience
Holy reverence true humility
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity
Cause our faith to rise
Cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority
Words of power that can never fail
Let their truth prevail over unbelief

Verse 3
Speak O Lord and renew our minds
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us
Speak O Lord till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory

© 2005 Thank You Music

The Big Story

Brad posted a link to a piece about whether the Bridge illustration has lived out its effective usefulness. I am really attracted to James Choung’s The Big Story, a simple 3 minute explanation of the gospel, which I found referenced on the comments page and then pursued by Googling James' name. (See also his follow up, Big Story Part 2, and this pdf explanation). Both Big Story links will take you to his website where you’ll find a really good 3 minute video summary. This is creative thinking.

A confession for Ash Wednesday

Note: I have written this for 2 or more leaders so that each leader begins reading almost before the previous reader is finished, so that a) it moves quickly and b) one gets the feel of a piling-up, an accumulation of sin – and increasingly so as the reading progresses.

Leader 1: God spoke all these words: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Leader 2: "You shall have no other gods before me.

People: God – Lord and father –
We have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

(Sung) Jesus, I've forgotten the words that You have spoken
Promises that burned within my heart have now grown dim
With a doubting heart I follow the paths of earthly wisdom
Forgive me for my unbelief, Renew the fire again
Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy on me
Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy on me

Leader 3: "You shall not make an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below, nor bow down to them or worship them.
Leader 1 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.
Leader 2 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

People Wash me clean from my guilt.Purify me from my sin.
For I recognize my rebellion;it haunts me day and night.
You're the One I've violated,
and you've seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair. I've been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born. What you're after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

Psalm 51:2-3 (NLT), 4-6 (MSG)


(Sung) I have built an altar where I worship things of men
I have taken journeys that have drawn me far from You
Now I am returning to Your mercies ever flowing
Pardon my transgressions Help me love You again
Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy on me
Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy on me

Leader 3 "Honor your father and your mother.
Leader 1 "You shall not murder.
Leader 2 "You shall not commit adultery.
Leader 3 "You shall not steal.
Leader 1 "You shall not give false testimony.
Leader 2 "You shall not covet.

People I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t.
I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;test me and know my anxious thoughts.Point out anything in me that offends you,and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Romans 7:18-19, Psalm 139:23,24 (NLT)

(Sung) I have longed to know You and all Your tender mercies
Like a river of forgiveness ever flowing without end
So I bow my heart before You in the goodness of Your presence
Your grace forever shining Like a beacon in the night
Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy on me
Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy on me

Leader 3 If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
Leader 1 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
Leader 2 Once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!

1 John 1:9; Psalm 103:12; Eph 5:8 (NLT)