...and where YOU should go, or send an arts-gifted Christian from your church:
--the conference: The Artist Unleashed: the Arts in Ministry.
--in partnership with the Gospel Music Association’s [GMA’s] “Music in the Rockies
--Click here for info and sign-up
--Featured Speaker #4: Karen Covell. Karen is a leader in profiling that Hollywood—and the film, arts & entertainment sub-culture—is a true “missions field,” and she’s right !! Karen is the Director of the Hollywood Prayer Network [www.hollywoodprayernetwork.org] . Through her job as a film and television producer she has lived her faith in the Film industry for years—while modeling and developing ministries of evangelism and discipleship within that community. Few Christians will challenge us as pragmatically as she can towards a lifestyle of ministry that is both culturally relevant and ‘ministerially’ effective. You can contact Karen directly at <>. Sign up to get her Hollywood Prayer Network updates for yourself.
A short word from Byron Spradlin: It’s time the Church wakes up to the reality that the Hollywood—Arts & Entertainment sub-culture is actually “shaping” the way Christians think about life and living; and that’s NOT a good thing. It’s also time the Church takes pro-active efforts to equip, commission and send qualified ‘ministry agents’ into that sub-culture (most of whom will be volunteer or bi-vocational). Our conference this year serves to affirm these critical “ministry agents” and equip them for more active and effective volunteer & regional ministry. Here are some of the topics: arts in missions, regional outreach strategies, personal ministry skills, biblical teaching on the “ministry” aspect of music & the arts, ministry organization, support raising for your ministry.
Our speaker list is outstanding: Karen Lafferty [missionary songwriter], myself, Dave Durham [missionary musician and culture creative specialist], Dave Bunker [music industry businessman, professor & arts specialist], Rory Noland, Scott Wesley Brown [recording artist, worship pastor, music in missions advocate], Karen Covell [Hollywood producer], Michele Suh [A.C.T. staff working in Hollywood with Hollywood Connect], Dr. Vernon Whaley [Worship & Music department chair at Liberty University], Steve Scott [pastor, arts in missions advocate, songwriter & poet], Billy Smiley [worship pastor, songwriter, recorder], Jeff Morrison [recording artist, songwriter, regional ministry specialist], Julie Branham, [worship leader with a music evangelism focus, singer & songwriter, regional ministry specialist], Larry Moshell [A.C.T. Staff Development Dir., ministry development specialist], Lee Porter [A.C.T. staff, vocal coach worship pastor].
Tuesday
Christ Church
Brad points us to Christ Church in Plano, Texas, one of the largest and fastest growing congregations in the Episcopal Church, USA, which has decided to disassociate itself from the denomination.
This is the church where I received training in the Alpha course and I was very impressed with the church and the people I met there.
While the collapse of the Episcopal Church is sad to observe, the reports from the Episcopal Church conference that are posted at the Christ Church site are truly inspiring - a voice of faith from within an apostate body.
This is the church where I received training in the Alpha course and I was very impressed with the church and the people I met there.
While the collapse of the Episcopal Church is sad to observe, the reports from the Episcopal Church conference that are posted at the Christ Church site are truly inspiring - a voice of faith from within an apostate body.
Wednesday
Prepare a Highway
We're going to give a shot at writing our own Christmas Cantata this year and the first song I wrote (last week) is based on Isaiah 40. The melody can't be posted yet but when I can I'll record a rough version and post it here.
Prepare a Highway
From Isaiah 40:1-4 (second draft of lyric) 6/12/06
V1
Hear the words of Comfort God is sending:
To declare the time of brokenness is through,
Days of sad and wounded hearts are ending,
A tender voice of hope for me and you:
Ch
Prepare a Highway for the Lord,
A road that leads to life eternally.
Prepare a Highway for the Lord,
And let it run right through the heart of me.
V2
Let the mountains of my sin begin to crumble,
Let the valleys of my heart be filled with grace.
Make a pathway for the Savior, meek and humble,
For the road that leads to where I’ll see His face.
(Ch)
Bridge
Like the grass beneath the summer sun, we’re dying,
Like the flowers of the field we fade away.
We rely upon your grace, the forgiveness in Your face,
So let your work begin anew today.
(Ch)
© 2006 Rick Lindholtz
Prepare a Highway
From Isaiah 40:1-4 (second draft of lyric) 6/12/06
V1
Hear the words of Comfort God is sending:
To declare the time of brokenness is through,
Days of sad and wounded hearts are ending,
A tender voice of hope for me and you:
Ch
Prepare a Highway for the Lord,
A road that leads to life eternally.
Prepare a Highway for the Lord,
And let it run right through the heart of me.
V2
Let the mountains of my sin begin to crumble,
Let the valleys of my heart be filled with grace.
Make a pathway for the Savior, meek and humble,
For the road that leads to where I’ll see His face.
(Ch)
Bridge
Like the grass beneath the summer sun, we’re dying,
Like the flowers of the field we fade away.
We rely upon your grace, the forgiveness in Your face,
So let your work begin anew today.
(Ch)
© 2006 Rick Lindholtz
Monday
Various Things on June 12th...
1. END OF THE SPEAR is out on DVD tomorrow! If you missed it in the thatre, don't miss it on DVD. One of the best films I've ever seen.
Worlds collide and tragedy strikes as a missionary group journeys to the heart of the Amazon jungle in search of the Waodani, a tribe of fierce warriors on the brink of extinction due to revenge killings. When five of the missionary men are speared to death by tribesmen, their families are left husbandless and fatherless. Undeterred by their tremendous loss and spurred on by hope, the families decide to remain in Ecuador, and risk living among the Waodani. But the effects of that first encounter have yet to subside: A young boy, struggling to unlock the secret of his father’s death, must learn to accept a tragedy he cannot change in this powerful true story of sacrifice, courage, and reconciliation.
Available on DVD from Fox Home Entertainment starting tomorrow (June 13), End Of The Spear takes viewers deep into the heart of darkness to discover that faith and forgiveness can transcend the senseless acts of violence that stand in the way of cultural understanding.
Go to your local video retailer, or visit the following links to purchase End Of The Spear DVD's tomorrow: bestbuy.com , walmart.com or amazon.com !
2. JUST BACK FROM COLORADO!
ElenaClaire and I got back last night after 8 days in the Rockies with 80 teens and 13 adults. Awesome beauty. Adventure Experiences' Basecamp is at 10,000 feet. Our days were filled with hiking up to 13,000 feet to a bowl between three peaks (Our team went on the first day and we were led by 3 guides who had never done this hike before - and they started us off on the wrong trail, which led us to the wrong point - but we didn't mind - our hike was tougher than the usual one and we actually got totally off any trail - we also got lost on the way down - but we had an awesome hike and saw things no one else on the trip saw), rock climbing, high ropes challenge courses, a prayer trek, and white water rafting.
I got sick while up there - not altitude sickness, but a severe chest cold that flattened me and I missed several activities, but seeing God at work in the lives of students was worth going through a little misery.
3. MILES IS IMPROVING.
Just before I left, Miles was hospitalized overnight with diabetic complications. I would have cancelled my attendance on the trip but Alicia's sister Rachel said she's come down to stay with Alicia and Miles - which was so necessary because Miles needed constant attention - and even with Rachel there, Alicia absolutely exceeded all she is capable of. By the time I got home Alicia had not had a solid night's sleep in 13 days - Miles was needing blood checks every 2 hours, day and night, and though Rachel could take some of those, she could not make every dosing decision. Her presence also allowed Alicia to get a few things done during the day. THANK YOU RACHEL!
Friday
Da Vinci
Read a great essay and compilation of material.
See also the collection of material I've compiled for the church website.
See also the collection of material I've compiled for the church website.
Monday
My Experience at the Mosque
I have a new appreciation of what it feels like for someone like Hemant with no experience attending a Christian Church to walk into that environment for the first time.
On Saturday afternoon I drove into the parking lot of the Baitus Samee Mosque in Houston, an invited guest of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, to participate in a symposium on the topic “The Existence of God and Human Suffering”.
I’ve never been in a mosque before.
I was not concerned for my safety, unlike those among my acquaintances who learned of my invitation and suggested a bullet proof vest (only half-joking, I suspect). Through my conversations with my host, Shahed, and my reading on the Ahmadiyya website, I knew that this muslim community, which is spread across 178 nations, utterly rejects violence and terrorism, recognizing that “jihad” as a word that refers to the individual’s inner struggle to live out a life that honors Allah.
My main concerns were that I would not unintentionally offend my hosts through my ignorance of their customs. I needed not be concerned. They were more than helpful and welcoming – truly delightful and friendly people who showed me where shoes could be placed during the symposium (since they are not worn in the mosque). Many of the 35 or so men present were quick to come forward and welcome me – the genders are separated in the mosque, so there were no women present in the seminar. The women were holding their own seminar on the other side of the wall. Even in the fellowship time which followed the women were separated from the men.
The program began with “a recitation of the Holy Qur’an”. If there was an element in the service that had me on pins and needles, this was it. What would I experience?
The Qur’an is always read in Arabic, and so one man came forward to read. I could not be absolutely clear on whether he was singing, or whether the rising and falling tones are reflective of the tonal nature of the Arabic language. The only experience I could compare it to was hearing the Qur’an read over loudspeakers in Iran or Iraq, such as one sometimes hears on a television news program.
The reading was followed by a translation in English – certainly for guests like me, but I wondered if it was also for those whose Arabic is rusty.
Next were three 15 minute addresses by the three speakers – first the jewish guest, then myself, then the muslim speaker.
In my presentation, I was eager to observe a careful balance. On the one hand, I had been invited to speak on the assigned topic from a Christian perspective. I also wanted to faithfully represent the message of biblical Christian faith. On the other hand, I was a guest, and did not want to communicate in a manner that would offend my hosts. I think that I effectively hit the mark.
The next 30 minutes was a time of question and answer. The moderator requested that all questions be directed to all three panelists so that each of us could answer, so that was the way the afternoon flowed on.
However, when the moderator said there was time for one more question, a man rose to the microphone and said “I have a question I would like to direct only to Rick: You said in your presentation that the sufferings of Christ could alleviate the sufferings of humanity, and I am not clear how that could happen. Could you explain your meaning please?”
For me, this was a wonderful moment, for it seemed to me that I was being invited by my hosts to be more specific in describing the nature of my faith as a Christ-follower. And so I took several minutes to answer the concluding question.
The last thing that occurred before the symposium concluded was a brief 5 minutes by a man identified as a muslim missionary. I did not have the feeling that his brief message contributed anything of substance to the words that had been spoken already.
After the symposium, many people came forward to graciously thank me and express appreciation for the content of my talk. One man said that he’d had many questions about Christianity, and I had managed to answer several of them. I was grateful. My secondary goal in being there was to help the listeners to learn and understand the day’s topic from a Christian perspective. I am grateful that this goal was met.
My primary goal had been to learn, and I certainly learned, from both the jewish and muslim people I encountered. I was struck by how similarly we approached the topic, and several times in the Q&A, I responded and then one of my fellow panelists said “I was going to say the same thing Rick said”.
(If I had a third goal, it was to enjoy a very different, cross-cultural cuisine in the time of refreshments that followed. Alas, I might as well have been at a Texas Baptist pot luck: there was fried chicken, cole slaw, pasta salad, pizza and Coke. However, there were two desserts that were culturally distinct, and they were wonderful!)
One last word: I thought of you, my acquaintances at OTM, as I went through this experience – and particularly thought of my brother Tom, who like me is characterized by a love for the unfamiliar or cross-cultural. Eat your heart out, Bro!
(This review was originally published by me at the "Ebay Atheist" website, sponsored by Off-the-Map. The site has evolved into a place of dialogue between Christians and atheists. At that site there are 18 replies, a couple of which are elaborations by me. read them here...)
On Saturday afternoon I drove into the parking lot of the Baitus Samee Mosque in Houston, an invited guest of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, to participate in a symposium on the topic “The Existence of God and Human Suffering”.
I’ve never been in a mosque before.
I was not concerned for my safety, unlike those among my acquaintances who learned of my invitation and suggested a bullet proof vest (only half-joking, I suspect). Through my conversations with my host, Shahed, and my reading on the Ahmadiyya website, I knew that this muslim community, which is spread across 178 nations, utterly rejects violence and terrorism, recognizing that “jihad” as a word that refers to the individual’s inner struggle to live out a life that honors Allah.
My main concerns were that I would not unintentionally offend my hosts through my ignorance of their customs. I needed not be concerned. They were more than helpful and welcoming – truly delightful and friendly people who showed me where shoes could be placed during the symposium (since they are not worn in the mosque). Many of the 35 or so men present were quick to come forward and welcome me – the genders are separated in the mosque, so there were no women present in the seminar. The women were holding their own seminar on the other side of the wall. Even in the fellowship time which followed the women were separated from the men.
The program began with “a recitation of the Holy Qur’an”. If there was an element in the service that had me on pins and needles, this was it. What would I experience?
The Qur’an is always read in Arabic, and so one man came forward to read. I could not be absolutely clear on whether he was singing, or whether the rising and falling tones are reflective of the tonal nature of the Arabic language. The only experience I could compare it to was hearing the Qur’an read over loudspeakers in Iran or Iraq, such as one sometimes hears on a television news program.
The reading was followed by a translation in English – certainly for guests like me, but I wondered if it was also for those whose Arabic is rusty.
Next were three 15 minute addresses by the three speakers – first the jewish guest, then myself, then the muslim speaker.
In my presentation, I was eager to observe a careful balance. On the one hand, I had been invited to speak on the assigned topic from a Christian perspective. I also wanted to faithfully represent the message of biblical Christian faith. On the other hand, I was a guest, and did not want to communicate in a manner that would offend my hosts. I think that I effectively hit the mark.
The next 30 minutes was a time of question and answer. The moderator requested that all questions be directed to all three panelists so that each of us could answer, so that was the way the afternoon flowed on.
However, when the moderator said there was time for one more question, a man rose to the microphone and said “I have a question I would like to direct only to Rick: You said in your presentation that the sufferings of Christ could alleviate the sufferings of humanity, and I am not clear how that could happen. Could you explain your meaning please?”
For me, this was a wonderful moment, for it seemed to me that I was being invited by my hosts to be more specific in describing the nature of my faith as a Christ-follower. And so I took several minutes to answer the concluding question.
The last thing that occurred before the symposium concluded was a brief 5 minutes by a man identified as a muslim missionary. I did not have the feeling that his brief message contributed anything of substance to the words that had been spoken already.
After the symposium, many people came forward to graciously thank me and express appreciation for the content of my talk. One man said that he’d had many questions about Christianity, and I had managed to answer several of them. I was grateful. My secondary goal in being there was to help the listeners to learn and understand the day’s topic from a Christian perspective. I am grateful that this goal was met.
My primary goal had been to learn, and I certainly learned, from both the jewish and muslim people I encountered. I was struck by how similarly we approached the topic, and several times in the Q&A, I responded and then one of my fellow panelists said “I was going to say the same thing Rick said”.
(If I had a third goal, it was to enjoy a very different, cross-cultural cuisine in the time of refreshments that followed. Alas, I might as well have been at a Texas Baptist pot luck: there was fried chicken, cole slaw, pasta salad, pizza and Coke. However, there were two desserts that were culturally distinct, and they were wonderful!)
One last word: I thought of you, my acquaintances at OTM, as I went through this experience – and particularly thought of my brother Tom, who like me is characterized by a love for the unfamiliar or cross-cultural. Eat your heart out, Bro!
(This review was originally published by me at the "Ebay Atheist" website, sponsored by Off-the-Map. The site has evolved into a place of dialogue between Christians and atheists. At that site there are 18 replies, a couple of which are elaborations by me. read them here...)
Tuesday
A Unique Opportunity
I have a unique opportunity on this coming Saturday, 2-4 pm.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association has invited me to a Symposium on the topic of
“The Existence of God and Human Suffering”, at the Baitus Samee Mosque.
The day will be marked by speeches by three guest speakers from the
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities. (Each presenter speaking for 15 minutes)
I will be the guest Christian presenter.
It is the muslim way to have separate events for men and women. I will be speaking only to men. There will be a parallel meeting for women at the same time, with female speakers.
Tea and refreshments will be served afterward.
This is going to be, if nothing else, a very unique cross-cultural experience. It is also an opportunity for me to communicate the message of Christ.
My Christian faith tells me that the God I worship is a God who is intimately familiar with suffering because He Himself chose to suffer. Here, I realize, is where I part company with my muslim and jewish friends, but it is a very important part of the way I as a Christian process my understanding of the existence of God and human suffering. I therefore plan to conclude by explaining how this uniquely Christian doctrine informs my thinking on the crucial question that has been the focus of our conversation today.
My goals for the day are to learn from the other presenters and the people with whom I interact; and to communicate clearly on my assigned topic with a distinctively Christian flavor.
I covet your prayers as I prepare my presentation and as I present it on Saturday.
I am hopeful that I can gather a group of men who are available on Saturday and can attend with me. I have extended invitations to men in this area.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association has invited me to a Symposium on the topic of
“The Existence of God and Human Suffering”, at the Baitus Samee Mosque.
The day will be marked by speeches by three guest speakers from the
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities. (Each presenter speaking for 15 minutes)
I will be the guest Christian presenter.
It is the muslim way to have separate events for men and women. I will be speaking only to men. There will be a parallel meeting for women at the same time, with female speakers.
Tea and refreshments will be served afterward.
This is going to be, if nothing else, a very unique cross-cultural experience. It is also an opportunity for me to communicate the message of Christ.
My Christian faith tells me that the God I worship is a God who is intimately familiar with suffering because He Himself chose to suffer. Here, I realize, is where I part company with my muslim and jewish friends, but it is a very important part of the way I as a Christian process my understanding of the existence of God and human suffering. I therefore plan to conclude by explaining how this uniquely Christian doctrine informs my thinking on the crucial question that has been the focus of our conversation today.
My goals for the day are to learn from the other presenters and the people with whom I interact; and to communicate clearly on my assigned topic with a distinctively Christian flavor.
I covet your prayers as I prepare my presentation and as I present it on Saturday.
I am hopeful that I can gather a group of men who are available on Saturday and can attend with me. I have extended invitations to men in this area.
There is None Like You
We sang this song by Lenny LeBlanc last Sunday in worship. On Saturday morning as we rehearsed, the team was about to move on to another song, "Come Holy Spirit, Fall fresh on me". As they turned to the proper page, I looked at the bridge or verse of "There is None..."
"Your mercy flows like a river wide,
and healing comes from your hands;
suffering children
are safe in your arms;
there is none like You...."
© 1991 Integrity's Hosanna! Music
and I had a moment of inspiration. I quit playing keys and singing as I wanted a second verse and it came to me all at once. As the idea fell into place I realized it could lean heavily on some of the words that were already there:
"You gave your life as a gift of love,
and healing flowed from your hands.
Death could not hold you;
You rose from the grave;
There is None like you...."
Rick Lindholtz 2006
Boom, there it was, before the team could finish rehearsing the next song. When they finished I said "Mark, I just got a verse for There is None." He said "Let's hear it" and I went through it. And he said "Let's use it tomorrow. Write it down, everyone, we'll change the screens later".
Afterwards he told me: "Earlier in the week as I was writing the service, I realized I wanted more resurrection in it, but since it was Confirmation Sunday, the theme was not lending itself to selecting a song in that direction, and God just led you to the right words."
It was a neat moment. And it was very effective in worship. Especially on the third Sunday of Easter.
"Your mercy flows like a river wide,
and healing comes from your hands;
suffering children
are safe in your arms;
there is none like You...."
© 1991 Integrity's Hosanna! Music
and I had a moment of inspiration. I quit playing keys and singing as I wanted a second verse and it came to me all at once. As the idea fell into place I realized it could lean heavily on some of the words that were already there:
"You gave your life as a gift of love,
and healing flowed from your hands.
Death could not hold you;
You rose from the grave;
There is None like you...."
Rick Lindholtz 2006
Boom, there it was, before the team could finish rehearsing the next song. When they finished I said "Mark, I just got a verse for There is None." He said "Let's hear it" and I went through it. And he said "Let's use it tomorrow. Write it down, everyone, we'll change the screens later".
Afterwards he told me: "Earlier in the week as I was writing the service, I realized I wanted more resurrection in it, but since it was Confirmation Sunday, the theme was not lending itself to selecting a song in that direction, and God just led you to the right words."
It was a neat moment. And it was very effective in worship. Especially on the third Sunday of Easter.
Saturday
My first post in a long time
These've been busy days. The weeks before Easter always are. CTK requires/encourages all staff to track their hours, and those in excess of 48 hours a week become comp hours. It's typical for the program staff to ramp up quite a few comp hours in the weeks preceeding Easter and Christmas Eve. So here I am with several days of comp time saved up.
Throughout Lent we had Wednesday evening services preceded by soup supper. (Back in 2001 when I was unemployed, unsatisfactorily-emplyed and/or underemployed all year, we got hooked on the soup supper because it was one evening of free dinner.) Mark and I alternated leading worship on Wednesday evenings. They were great services - with Vicar Brian preaching on Israel's journey through the wilderness. The kid's got game!
Maundy Thursday, Brian and I again teamed on the service. With our focus on the Passover and the Last Supper, we wanted a more intimate feeling than we usually have in a 700 seat Worship Center - since both Passover and Jesus' final meal occured in homes, not Worship Centers - so we created a "living room" on the thrust of the platform with couch, chairs, coffee table, and populated the living room with 2 guitarist/singers, one vocalist, a percussionist playing a djembe, and myself on keys and vocal. All vocals were handled via Countryman headsets - a lot of production went into making this feel un-produced. It was awesome and very well received. Once we all sat down in the "living room", none of us got up again for the entire service.
Good Friday was a very powerful service with Alicia, EC and myself in the 60 voice choir. The service began with the sound of nails being driven and included the seven last words appearing on screen, very artfully presented - lots of darkness and silence. Lots of opportunities to reflect on the price paid for our salvation. Great series of dramatic messages presented by Pastor Doyle.
Tomorrow, the three of us are again in the choir. I'll be conducting during one of the songs, an arrangement Brian and Mark did of "Crown Him with Many Crowns"; and Dana will be conducting an arrangement by Mark and myself of "Christ the Lord is Risen Today".
The kids have been busy today making Easter Eggs (both real ones, jello ones, and Mexican Cascarones and watching the Narnia movie. Alicia spent hours preparing food for tomorrow, though it will just be the four of us. I spent the better part of the afternoon moving mulch around in the yard - mulch from a chipper that's been working behind the church, clearing brush for the "CTK park".
Throughout Lent we had Wednesday evening services preceded by soup supper. (Back in 2001 when I was unemployed, unsatisfactorily-emplyed and/or underemployed all year, we got hooked on the soup supper because it was one evening of free dinner.) Mark and I alternated leading worship on Wednesday evenings. They were great services - with Vicar Brian preaching on Israel's journey through the wilderness. The kid's got game!
Maundy Thursday, Brian and I again teamed on the service. With our focus on the Passover and the Last Supper, we wanted a more intimate feeling than we usually have in a 700 seat Worship Center - since both Passover and Jesus' final meal occured in homes, not Worship Centers - so we created a "living room" on the thrust of the platform with couch, chairs, coffee table, and populated the living room with 2 guitarist/singers, one vocalist, a percussionist playing a djembe, and myself on keys and vocal. All vocals were handled via Countryman headsets - a lot of production went into making this feel un-produced. It was awesome and very well received. Once we all sat down in the "living room", none of us got up again for the entire service.
Good Friday was a very powerful service with Alicia, EC and myself in the 60 voice choir. The service began with the sound of nails being driven and included the seven last words appearing on screen, very artfully presented - lots of darkness and silence. Lots of opportunities to reflect on the price paid for our salvation. Great series of dramatic messages presented by Pastor Doyle.
Tomorrow, the three of us are again in the choir. I'll be conducting during one of the songs, an arrangement Brian and Mark did of "Crown Him with Many Crowns"; and Dana will be conducting an arrangement by Mark and myself of "Christ the Lord is Risen Today".
The kids have been busy today making Easter Eggs (both real ones, jello ones, and Mexican Cascarones and watching the Narnia movie. Alicia spent hours preparing food for tomorrow, though it will just be the four of us. I spent the better part of the afternoon moving mulch around in the yard - mulch from a chipper that's been working behind the church, clearing brush for the "CTK park".
Thursday
Come Holy Spirit
There are several songs by this title, one by Malcolm Fletcher. Here is a text that is very similar in meter to Fletcher's:
Come Holy Spirit, Open up your Word
Let me see your glory; Let me see my Lord
only you can change my heart
make in me a brand new start
Come Holy Spirit, Open up your Word
Come Holy Spirit, Open up your Word
Let me see your glory; Let me see my Lord
only you can change my heart
make in me a brand new start
Come Holy Spirit, Open up your Word
Thursday
The Liberal Baby Bust
What's the difference between Seattle and Salt Lake City? There are manydifferences, of course, but here's one you might not know. In Seattle,there are nearly 45% more dogs than children. In Salt Lake City, there arenearly 19% more kids than dogs.This curious fact might at first seem trivial, but it reflects a muchbroader and little-noticed demographic trend that has deep implications forthe future of global culture and politics. It's not that people in aprogressive city such as Seattle are so much fonder of dogs than are peoplein a conservative city such as Salt Lake City. It's that progressives areso much less likely to have children. read more...
Go see a movie...
..on May 19 - that's the recommendation of Barbara Nicolosi. She's suggesting that on the day "Da Vinci code" opens, Christians avoid the tempting alternatives of:
-ignoring the movie (which is like not voting in an election: you're giving the task of shaping the future to others)
-or protesting the movie (which will just drive the box office up by attracting attention)
-or discussing the movie (which is a nice thought if anyone was listening)
So, she says, go see a movie. ANY other movie.
"You'll get a vote, the only vote Hollywood recognizes: The power of cold hard cash laid down on a box officewindow on opening weekend.Use your vote. Don't throw it away. Vote for a movie other than DVC. If enough people do it, the powers that be will notice. They won't have achoice.
"The major studio movie scheduled for release against DVC is the DreamWorks animated feature Over the Hedge. The trailers look fun, and you can take your kids. And your friends. And their friends. In fact, let's all go see it. Let's rock the box office in a way no one expects -- without protests, without boycotts, without arguments, without rancor. Let's show up at the box office ballot box and cast our votes. And buy some popcorn, too."
It's a creative suggestion. The Dreamworks people have gotta love this idea...
What's the difference between Seattle and Salt Lake City? There are manydifferences, of course, but here's one you might not know. In Seattle,there are nearly 45% more dogs than children. In Salt Lake City, there arenearly 19% more kids than dogs.This curious fact might at first seem trivial, but it reflects a muchbroader and little-noticed demographic trend that has deep implications forthe future of global culture and politics. It's not that people in aprogressive city such as Seattle are so much fonder of dogs than are peoplein a conservative city such as Salt Lake City. It's that progressives areso much less likely to have children. read more...
Go see a movie...
..on May 19 - that's the recommendation of Barbara Nicolosi. She's suggesting that on the day "Da Vinci code" opens, Christians avoid the tempting alternatives of:
-ignoring the movie (which is like not voting in an election: you're giving the task of shaping the future to others)
-or protesting the movie (which will just drive the box office up by attracting attention)
-or discussing the movie (which is a nice thought if anyone was listening)
So, she says, go see a movie. ANY other movie.
"You'll get a vote, the only vote Hollywood recognizes: The power of cold hard cash laid down on a box officewindow on opening weekend.Use your vote. Don't throw it away. Vote for a movie other than DVC. If enough people do it, the powers that be will notice. They won't have achoice.
"The major studio movie scheduled for release against DVC is the DreamWorks animated feature Over the Hedge. The trailers look fun, and you can take your kids. And your friends. And their friends. In fact, let's all go see it. Let's rock the box office in a way no one expects -- without protests, without boycotts, without arguments, without rancor. Let's show up at the box office ballot box and cast our votes. And buy some popcorn, too."
It's a creative suggestion. The Dreamworks people have gotta love this idea...
Tuesday
Monday
...was a long day. We drove up to Dallas for the memorial service of a baby girl named Kate who only lived 40 days. Kate's parents are in inner city urban ministry in Dallas.
It was hard on all of us to go through but we wanted to be there to provide comfort for the family who are dear friends.
Back in Kingwood today, my energy levels are rather low.
Meanwhile, Tom is back from his trip to SoCal, and so it is fun to both be posting on the ebay atheist again. At one point yesterday, the two of us were responsibile for 7 of the 10 most recent posts. And one of mine got lifted to the front page, where it's already generated over 89 responses. It offered a link to an op-ed piece in the Houston Chronicle about a self-avowed atheist who writes about joining a Christian Church.
It was hard on all of us to go through but we wanted to be there to provide comfort for the family who are dear friends.
Back in Kingwood today, my energy levels are rather low.
Meanwhile, Tom is back from his trip to SoCal, and so it is fun to both be posting on the ebay atheist again. At one point yesterday, the two of us were responsibile for 7 of the 10 most recent posts. And one of mine got lifted to the front page, where it's already generated over 89 responses. It offered a link to an op-ed piece in the Houston Chronicle about a self-avowed atheist who writes about joining a Christian Church.
Thursday
Ebay Atheist article in Wall Street Journal
Read the article here. Those of us who are part of this community are bracing for a whole lot more traffic.
Experiences are the best gifts
If you're familiar with the "Languages of Love" books or concepts you know the premise: different people have different "love languages" to which they respond. I am definitely in the experiences camp, and for my 50th birthday, Alicia gave me a great experience:
We spent about 75 minutes at the home of the last living artist from the "Rocky and Bullwinkle Show".
Gerard Baldwin was the art director of the Jay Ward Studios, is the brother-in-law of a friend, and lives about 5 minutes from our house. Alicia, the kids and I arrived at his home about 6 pm and were met by Gerard at the door, offering us a glass of wine. So we sipped wine and looked around his home at various works of art as he shared stories about the shows on which he worked and the people who worked with him.
And best of all, Mr. Baldwin offered us a framed original work to be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for the annual Gala Fund-raiser's silent auction. The work to be done will have a minimum value of $500 .
Tomorrow night we will be hosting 18 for dinner in the lovely Houston townhome of Bev Mitchell, our dear friend. And I am advised that there are still a few surprises in the works. But our visit with Gerard Baldwin was an experience I will not soon forget.
We spent about 75 minutes at the home of the last living artist from the "Rocky and Bullwinkle Show".
Gerard Baldwin was the art director of the Jay Ward Studios, is the brother-in-law of a friend, and lives about 5 minutes from our house. Alicia, the kids and I arrived at his home about 6 pm and were met by Gerard at the door, offering us a glass of wine. So we sipped wine and looked around his home at various works of art as he shared stories about the shows on which he worked and the people who worked with him.
And best of all, Mr. Baldwin offered us a framed original work to be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for the annual Gala Fund-raiser's silent auction. The work to be done will have a minimum value of $500 .
Tomorrow night we will be hosting 18 for dinner in the lovely Houston townhome of Bev Mitchell, our dear friend. And I am advised that there are still a few surprises in the works. But our visit with Gerard Baldwin was an experience I will not soon forget.
Wednesday
A text for Ash Wednesday
Lord, you have promised
A text for Ash Wednesday
vv. 1,2,4 2002, v. 3 2006 © R. Lindholtz for the tune “Bunessan” (aka ‘Morning has Broken’)
Lord, you have promised beauty for ashes
Freedom to captives, sight for the blind
Lord, you have promised comfort for mourning
Freedom to prisoners, hope for mankind.
Lord, you have promised gladness for grieving
And for the broken, words that bring peace,
Bread for the hungry, help to the homeless
And to the captive, words of release.
Lord, you provided grace and forgiveness
When on the cross You showed us your love,
Bringing us pardon through your afflicttion
Making a way to raise us above.
As we await the promised fulfillment
Lord, we delight in Your loving grace
For You have clothed us in Your salvation
And we will see You face to face.
A text for Ash Wednesday
vv. 1,2,4 2002, v. 3 2006 © R. Lindholtz for the tune “Bunessan” (aka ‘Morning has Broken’)
Lord, you have promised beauty for ashes
Freedom to captives, sight for the blind
Lord, you have promised comfort for mourning
Freedom to prisoners, hope for mankind.
Lord, you have promised gladness for grieving
And for the broken, words that bring peace,
Bread for the hungry, help to the homeless
And to the captive, words of release.
Lord, you provided grace and forgiveness
When on the cross You showed us your love,
Bringing us pardon through your afflicttion
Making a way to raise us above.
As we await the promised fulfillment
Lord, we delight in Your loving grace
For You have clothed us in Your salvation
And we will see You face to face.
Joyful Joyful - a new text
Joyful, Joyful, we Adore You, God of Glory, Lord of Love.
Maker of the world around me, weaver of the sky above.
I believe your hands have made me, fashioned me in every part;
Maker of the earth and heavens, Lord, I give to you my heart.
Thankful, Thankful, we exalt You, singing praise to Christ the Son,
Born among us of a virgin, Heaven’s child and Holy One,
Teaching of your Father’s Kingdom, off’ring up your life for all,
Bursting from the grave, you offer life to those who hear your call.
Holy, Holy, we declare you, Spirit of the Living Lord;
Come to dwell within your people, You are worshiped and adored.
God my Father, Christ my Savior, Spirit living in my heart:
Finish in me your salvation, make my life your work of art!
© 2006 Rick Lindholtz
Maker of the world around me, weaver of the sky above.
I believe your hands have made me, fashioned me in every part;
Maker of the earth and heavens, Lord, I give to you my heart.
Thankful, Thankful, we exalt You, singing praise to Christ the Son,
Born among us of a virgin, Heaven’s child and Holy One,
Teaching of your Father’s Kingdom, off’ring up your life for all,
Bursting from the grave, you offer life to those who hear your call.
Holy, Holy, we declare you, Spirit of the Living Lord;
Come to dwell within your people, You are worshiped and adored.
God my Father, Christ my Savior, Spirit living in my heart:
Finish in me your salvation, make my life your work of art!
© 2006 Rick Lindholtz
Monday
Monday's Post
Our new Care Group met last night. We had 8 people: 3 couples and 2 singles; one of the couples were members of the church that I pastored 7 years ago, who are now attending CTK (since the previous church closed about a year ago). We've agreed to meet twice a month: once in a home for fellowship, relationship-building, and spiritual encouragement, and once away from home, in service ministries such as feeding the homeless, or things like that.
I shared with our group about the enrichment I've been getting reading the ebay atheist and off the map . One of the recent posts invited Christians and atheists alike to offer one word characterizations of the other. Here's what the atheist said about Christians:
zombie - Fundamentalist - evangelical - Tedious - skeptical (most people are skeptical of what they have to say) - sheep - oppressor - Fat - hate - follower - boring - dangerous - When someone labels him or herself as a Christian, I tend to think of that person as a fundamentalist or someone who holds very strong religious beliefs - sanctimonious - hypocrites.
And here is how Christians labeled atheists:
Muggle - questioning - misunderstood (most Christians don't really want to know the Atheist or what they think) - questioning - empty - interesting - indignant - bitter - Seeker - lost - thinker - Blind - intellectual pride (in the sense of confidence that their brain can figure out and *think* their way through the existence of God; also in the sense that they often express contempt for the intelligence of those who are believers.) (that last one was mine)
Our converstaion at the group led me to write the following, which is now posted and receiving comments at off the map:
I find this entire site and discussion very stimulating. On your person blog you asked Christians and atheists alike to offer a one word characterization about the other side. Some of the replies were honest, some were harsh. My question is, have you ever encountered a Christian whose character and manner of engagement with you challenged the preconceived notions you had about followers of Christ? If you have had such an experience I would find it very interesting to know what you learned about them and in what ways they seemed different than you expected. Thanks! Rick
The idea being that the extremes tend to classify each group in the eyes of many people on the other side of the fence.
This conversation is very worth listening in on. AMong other things, Hement (the atheist) reveals something we should evaluate very carefully:
“I’m always listening for something I can take back with me (whether in person or on TV). If it’s an anecdote, wonderful. If it’s a lesson I should learn, fine. If it’s only someone spouting Bible verses, it’s in one ear, out the other. Unless it’s in a context I can enjoy listening to, the scripture part of it will do very little for me”
Incidentally, the pictures are not coming up on my blogs because they are linked to the CTK server, and we've just redirected our DNS to point to the site that is hosting our new website. We haven't yet made advantage of all the new features, but we're very pleased with church fusion.
I shared with our group about the enrichment I've been getting reading the ebay atheist and off the map . One of the recent posts invited Christians and atheists alike to offer one word characterizations of the other. Here's what the atheist said about Christians:
zombie - Fundamentalist - evangelical - Tedious - skeptical (most people are skeptical of what they have to say) - sheep - oppressor - Fat - hate - follower - boring - dangerous - When someone labels him or herself as a Christian, I tend to think of that person as a fundamentalist or someone who holds very strong religious beliefs - sanctimonious - hypocrites.
And here is how Christians labeled atheists:
Muggle - questioning - misunderstood (most Christians don't really want to know the Atheist or what they think) - questioning - empty - interesting - indignant - bitter - Seeker - lost - thinker - Blind - intellectual pride (in the sense of confidence that their brain can figure out and *think* their way through the existence of God; also in the sense that they often express contempt for the intelligence of those who are believers.) (that last one was mine)
Our converstaion at the group led me to write the following, which is now posted and receiving comments at off the map:
I find this entire site and discussion very stimulating. On your person blog you asked Christians and atheists alike to offer a one word characterization about the other side. Some of the replies were honest, some were harsh. My question is, have you ever encountered a Christian whose character and manner of engagement with you challenged the preconceived notions you had about followers of Christ? If you have had such an experience I would find it very interesting to know what you learned about them and in what ways they seemed different than you expected. Thanks! Rick
The idea being that the extremes tend to classify each group in the eyes of many people on the other side of the fence.
This conversation is very worth listening in on. AMong other things, Hement (the atheist) reveals something we should evaluate very carefully:
“I’m always listening for something I can take back with me (whether in person or on TV). If it’s an anecdote, wonderful. If it’s a lesson I should learn, fine. If it’s only someone spouting Bible verses, it’s in one ear, out the other. Unless it’s in a context I can enjoy listening to, the scripture part of it will do very little for me”
Incidentally, the pictures are not coming up on my blogs because they are linked to the CTK server, and we've just redirected our DNS to point to the site that is hosting our new website. We haven't yet made advantage of all the new features, but we're very pleased with church fusion.
Saturday
Jibstay - a good read
My friend Don N. Johnson moved from the midwest to Santa Barbara, just down the hill from where Alicia and I first met, where he is pastoring Montecito Covenant Church. He's started blogging too, and often has great stuff to post. I've always enjoyed Don's way of seeing life and experience through a homiletical eye, and this post is no exception.
Wednesday
A Theology of Glory
The church that bought Lakewood Church's former facility has this page up on their site. Take a look. Note the ticket price, the attire suggestions and the gift suggestions.
"Without the theology of the cross, man misuses the best in the worst manner". - Luther
"Without the theology of the cross, man misuses the best in the worst manner". - Luther
Monday
Off the Map's "Ordinary Attempts"
I found them because they are the people who bought the ebay atheist's church attendance for $504.00. I love their slogan: "Helping Christians be Normal". And I am very impressed with their approach:
"Christians still don’t really believe me when I say 'We are not trying to convert Hemant' . The purpose of this assignment is not to get Hemant saved (using some secret methods he can’t quite figure out). The one and only purpose of this assigment is to have Hemant tell us christians what he thinks about us and our products and services (we call it a service don’t we?). I would like to suggest that we refrain from trying to overtly or covertly convert Hemant and instead ask him questions about his experience, observations and thoughts after parchuting into our world. We are the ones who need to be converted - Hemant can work his own issues out with God (or his non god)"
The Ordinary Attempts section includes stories chronicling a very nontraditional approach to evangelism -- ordinary activities that you’re already doing. Not a program, pitch or presentation, but a simple shift in how we view the people formerly known as lost. Jesus said, “If you give a cup of cold water to a little child because you are my disciple you won’t lose your reward.” Matthew 10:42
Our culture's equivalent of a cup of cold water is attention.
Here's my oa (in as close to 200 words as I could make it):
After Hurricane Rita, we welcomed a man and woman into our home for 2 weeks. The woman professed belief in Jesus; her friend had been raised in catholic schools, rejected his faith, was a 60’s radical for a time then a Jehovah’s witness before totally rejecting faith in God. He seemed to use his impressive knowledge to keep people at a distance.
He went downtown to search for work and his car broke down. I drove down to pick him up and as we waited for the towtruck, we talked. I just listened mainly to his story. At one point he marveled at the feeling that despite his repeated rejection of God, God seemed to be “still pursuing” him.
After a long pause I asked “Why do you suppose that is?” He took a few deep rapid breaths and mumbled something and changed the subject.
On the drive home, as he continued to speak abstractly of God I requested permission to ask a question. “How do you see Jesus fitting into all this?” He spoke for a few minutes of his understanding of “the Christ”. Then he asked me who I thought Jesus was and I described my understanding.
At the end of two weeks he told me that he felt re-discovered by God.
"Christians still don’t really believe me when I say 'We are not trying to convert Hemant' . The purpose of this assignment is not to get Hemant saved (using some secret methods he can’t quite figure out). The one and only purpose of this assigment is to have Hemant tell us christians what he thinks about us and our products and services (we call it a service don’t we?). I would like to suggest that we refrain from trying to overtly or covertly convert Hemant and instead ask him questions about his experience, observations and thoughts after parchuting into our world. We are the ones who need to be converted - Hemant can work his own issues out with God (or his non god)"
The Ordinary Attempts section includes stories chronicling a very nontraditional approach to evangelism -- ordinary activities that you’re already doing. Not a program, pitch or presentation, but a simple shift in how we view the people formerly known as lost. Jesus said, “If you give a cup of cold water to a little child because you are my disciple you won’t lose your reward.” Matthew 10:42
Our culture's equivalent of a cup of cold water is attention.
Here's my oa (in as close to 200 words as I could make it):
After Hurricane Rita, we welcomed a man and woman into our home for 2 weeks. The woman professed belief in Jesus; her friend had been raised in catholic schools, rejected his faith, was a 60’s radical for a time then a Jehovah’s witness before totally rejecting faith in God. He seemed to use his impressive knowledge to keep people at a distance.
He went downtown to search for work and his car broke down. I drove down to pick him up and as we waited for the towtruck, we talked. I just listened mainly to his story. At one point he marveled at the feeling that despite his repeated rejection of God, God seemed to be “still pursuing” him.
After a long pause I asked “Why do you suppose that is?” He took a few deep rapid breaths and mumbled something and changed the subject.
On the drive home, as he continued to speak abstractly of God I requested permission to ask a question. “How do you see Jesus fitting into all this?” He spoke for a few minutes of his understanding of “the Christ”. Then he asked me who I thought Jesus was and I described my understanding.
At the end of two weeks he told me that he felt re-discovered by God.
Paul at the Grammys
This guy's an awesome entertainer and performer. He played two numbers at the Grammys and here they are. "Fine Line" sounds better live than it did in studio. And "Helter Skelter" never sounded better. (Press Play)
Thursday
My confession.
OK, I admit it. I have a habit. Ebay. I'm into it. I buy. I sell. I buy and re-sell.
There. Now that I have that off my chest, I can share the most unique auction I have ever seen. An atheist auctioned his church attendance. Offered to go to church for $10 a visit. Any Chicago-area church the buyer chooses. It sold for over $500.
I've written to the winning bidder asking if he would share the rest of the story as it develops over, presumably, the next year. I'll keep you informed. I also see that the atheist will be blogging about his experience here.
Here is a link to the auction for as long as it stays up (usually 30 days after the auction ends).
Here is the basic text of the auction:
I'm a 22-year-old Atheist from Chicago. I stopped believing in God when I was 14. Currently, I am an active volunteer for a couple different national, secular organizations. For one of them, I am the editor of a newsletter that reaches over 1,000 Atheist/Agnostic college students. I have written several Letters to the Editor to newspapers in and around Chicago, espousing my Atheistic beliefs when Church/State issues arose. My point being that I don't take my non-belief lightly. However, while I don't believe in God, I firmly believe I would immediately change those views if presented with evidence to the contrary. And at 22, this is possibly the best chance anyone has of changing me.
So, here's my proposal. Everytime I come home, I pass this old Irish church. I promise to go into that church every day-- for a certain number of days-- for at least an hour each visit. For every $10 you bid, I will go to the Church for 1 day. For $50, you would have me going to mass every day for a week.
My promise: I will go willingly and with an open mind. I will not say/do anything inappropriate. I will respectfully participate in service, speak to priests, volunteer with the church if possible, do my best to learn about the religious beliefs of the church-goers, and make conversation with anyone who is willing to talk. (Though I do reserve the rights to ask the person questions about the faith.)
I will record my visits through a journal, pictures, or whatever other method of proof you'd like-- I will uphold my promise.
Will I become religious? Well, I don't know. I really do have an open mind, but no one has convinced me to change my mind so far. Then again, I have also never attended a real church service. Perhaps being around a group of people who will show me "the way" could do what no one else has done before.
If the Irish Church doesn't work for you, we'll just find some other place local to me. I'll go to any place of worship-- a Christian Church, a Catholic Church [revision: I realize a Catholic Church is a Christian Church... so let me rephrase. By Christian, I mean Protestant], a Mosque, a Synagogue, etc. They're all nearby. Makes no difference to me, but perhaps it's your faith that could change the mind of this Atheist.
I also assure you that if you bid on this, I will write an article about my experiences in the newsletter mentioned earlier. The article would reach over 1,000 college students who share my current views. Even if you don't end up changing my mind, perhaps you can change theirs.
If you have any questions about this auction, I'd be glad to answer them.
There. Now that I have that off my chest, I can share the most unique auction I have ever seen. An atheist auctioned his church attendance. Offered to go to church for $10 a visit. Any Chicago-area church the buyer chooses. It sold for over $500.
I've written to the winning bidder asking if he would share the rest of the story as it develops over, presumably, the next year. I'll keep you informed. I also see that the atheist will be blogging about his experience here.
Here is a link to the auction for as long as it stays up (usually 30 days after the auction ends).
Here is the basic text of the auction:
I'm a 22-year-old Atheist from Chicago. I stopped believing in God when I was 14. Currently, I am an active volunteer for a couple different national, secular organizations. For one of them, I am the editor of a newsletter that reaches over 1,000 Atheist/Agnostic college students. I have written several Letters to the Editor to newspapers in and around Chicago, espousing my Atheistic beliefs when Church/State issues arose. My point being that I don't take my non-belief lightly. However, while I don't believe in God, I firmly believe I would immediately change those views if presented with evidence to the contrary. And at 22, this is possibly the best chance anyone has of changing me.
So, here's my proposal. Everytime I come home, I pass this old Irish church. I promise to go into that church every day-- for a certain number of days-- for at least an hour each visit. For every $10 you bid, I will go to the Church for 1 day. For $50, you would have me going to mass every day for a week.
My promise: I will go willingly and with an open mind. I will not say/do anything inappropriate. I will respectfully participate in service, speak to priests, volunteer with the church if possible, do my best to learn about the religious beliefs of the church-goers, and make conversation with anyone who is willing to talk. (Though I do reserve the rights to ask the person questions about the faith.)
I will record my visits through a journal, pictures, or whatever other method of proof you'd like-- I will uphold my promise.
Will I become religious? Well, I don't know. I really do have an open mind, but no one has convinced me to change my mind so far. Then again, I have also never attended a real church service. Perhaps being around a group of people who will show me "the way" could do what no one else has done before.
If the Irish Church doesn't work for you, we'll just find some other place local to me. I'll go to any place of worship-- a Christian Church, a Catholic Church [revision: I realize a Catholic Church is a Christian Church... so let me rephrase. By Christian, I mean Protestant], a Mosque, a Synagogue, etc. They're all nearby. Makes no difference to me, but perhaps it's your faith that could change the mind of this Atheist.
I also assure you that if you bid on this, I will write an article about my experiences in the newsletter mentioned earlier. The article would reach over 1,000 college students who share my current views. Even if you don't end up changing my mind, perhaps you can change theirs.
If you have any questions about this auction, I'd be glad to answer them.
Wednesday
Jesus Creed
I am finding so much good reading in Scot McKnight's blog. His breadth and volume of output is very impressive, and the community that is interacting with him is enriching.
The past week or two Scot has been posting on "Jesus and Homosexuality" and while he's not done, there's just so much good in there - a balance of grace and truth that hits the spot.
The past week or two Scot has been posting on "Jesus and Homosexuality" and while he's not done, there's just so much good in there - a balance of grace and truth that hits the spot.
Thursday
A Confession and Affirmation of Faith
...based on the second commandment, for our series on the commandments entitled "Experience God Now". In the series we will articulate the positive expression of each commandment:
1. Accept No Substitutes
2. Take God Seriously
3. Take regular breaks with God
4. Submit to God's Authority System
5. Affirm Life.
6. Honor God's View of Sexuality
7. Help others in Need.
8. Be an Encourager.
9. & 10. Be Content.
Summary: Pursue this relationship always.
Anyway, here's the confession / affirmation:
God, you have invited me into the brilliant reality of knowing your name,
of recognizing how separate you stand from all of your creation.
Stone, tree, fish or human –
all of these are categories of what has been made.
But you are creator.
How quickly I forget to set you apart,
how easily I fail to recognize your holiness.
In the things that I have done, or have left undone –
even in the way I think or speak of you –
I treat you as just another thing to check off my list.
But you are Holy.
Your name itself is Holy.
You are truth, purity, and life.
In your presence, in the light of all you are, I recognize my own brokenness.
Yet you do not leave me in brokenness.
You, the God who is above all creation,
came into your creation in Jesus Christ to redeem and save me.
You call me away from the irreverent use of Your name – away from those patterns that minimize the name that is above every name. You invite me to a new way of living, a life in which I can call upon your name in every trouble, praying, praising, and giving thanks to You.
Thank you for the gift of your name. Help me always to remember its holiness.
© 2006 Rick Lindholtz
1. Accept No Substitutes
2. Take God Seriously
3. Take regular breaks with God
4. Submit to God's Authority System
5. Affirm Life.
6. Honor God's View of Sexuality
7. Help others in Need.
8. Be an Encourager.
9. & 10. Be Content.
Summary: Pursue this relationship always.
Anyway, here's the confession / affirmation:
God, you have invited me into the brilliant reality of knowing your name,
of recognizing how separate you stand from all of your creation.
Stone, tree, fish or human –
all of these are categories of what has been made.
But you are creator.
How quickly I forget to set you apart,
how easily I fail to recognize your holiness.
In the things that I have done, or have left undone –
even in the way I think or speak of you –
I treat you as just another thing to check off my list.
But you are Holy.
Your name itself is Holy.
You are truth, purity, and life.
In your presence, in the light of all you are, I recognize my own brokenness.
Yet you do not leave me in brokenness.
You, the God who is above all creation,
came into your creation in Jesus Christ to redeem and save me.
You call me away from the irreverent use of Your name – away from those patterns that minimize the name that is above every name. You invite me to a new way of living, a life in which I can call upon your name in every trouble, praying, praising, and giving thanks to You.
Thank you for the gift of your name. Help me always to remember its holiness.
© 2006 Rick Lindholtz
Wednesday
Improvement today
Miles had a much better day today than he has in the past 10 days or so. 75% of his readings were within target today, no fever, no ketones. Didn't eat much, but ate. Thanks for your prayers.
Alicia and I spent the last 90 minutes watching the first 2 hours of season 5 of the show "24". I've heard a lot of talk about this show. Now I understand why. It's a pretty grip-your-throat production style. I think I'll keep watching.
Alicia and I spent the last 90 minutes watching the first 2 hours of season 5 of the show "24". I've heard a lot of talk about this show. Now I understand why. It's a pretty grip-your-throat production style. I think I'll keep watching.
Tuesday
It had to end eventually
Miles has had a seven year run of really good management of his diabetes, but the last week has been the unhealthiest he's seen since his diagnosis at age 2. He had high numbers (over 500) and ketones much of Wed thru Sat last week and finally we went to the hospital downtown to put an IV in him and rehydrate him (ketones and high numbers demand a lot of fluid to wash the toxins out of him).
Last night we were up until midnight dealing with nausea and low numbers. Today Miles is home from school - for the 4th day of 5 days. Our endo is giving us some new instructions for Miles' care.
This is one miserable little boy and a couple of exhausted parents.
Pray for Miles. And pray for a cure.
Sunday
End of the Spear -Finally out
The movie is in theatres now and it's well worth your viewing. I took the Faith and Film group to go see it on opening night, Friday the 20th. There were 14 of us in a filled theatre, 11 of whom went to Starbuck's afterwards to discuss the film.
I'm also reading the book (linked here from Brad's site so that profits will go to mission work in Guam). It's an excellent read and also well worth your time.
Thursday
Wednesday
Logo conceptual - what do you think?
This is a logo 
idea we are considering. How does it strike you? What does it suggest about the church on whose sign or literature you see the logo?
My impressions:
1. I want to move the crown down a little so that it doesn't appear to be another word. (A couple people thought it was a continuation of King, as in, perhaps, "Kingdom".
2. I want the white part of the crown to be solid white so that the cross doesn't show through the crown.
3. I'm not sure about the font. Another font might work better with the graphic.
What do you think?
idea we are considering. How does it strike you? What does it suggest about the church on whose sign or literature you see the logo?My impressions:
1. I want to move the crown down a little so that it doesn't appear to be another word. (A couple people thought it was a continuation of King, as in, perhaps, "Kingdom".
2. I want the white part of the crown to be solid white so that the cross doesn't show through the crown.
3. I'm not sure about the font. Another font might work better with the graphic.
What do you think?
Sunday
Amazon's Music clips
Lately I've bumped into a number of very nice musical clips to be found on Amazon. They are attached to certain product description pages. The first one I found was this wonderful performance of "Born to Run" by Springsteen. It's a performance from the Hammersmith Odeon in 1975, the year that Born to Run exploded and put Bruce on the covers of Time and Newsweek in the same week. It sure looked like very effective hype at the time, but Bruce has proven himself to be a lasting artist, and this performance from '75 proves what the fuss was all about. What an incredible performance. I enjoyed seeing parts of Bruce and the band's more recent Live concert DVD, until he started into his mock preaching mode, which I found offensive. Give me the 70s Bruce. This clip demonstrates what all the commotion was about.
This weekend I was pointed to this Paul McCartney performance of "Please Please Me" from his 2005 tour rehearsals. He's great as always. I love it when he digs up old material that hasn't been part of his repertoire for the last 20 years. His 2004 European tour had at least 10 first time concert performed songs, and this year's US tour had another 6 to 8 brand new appearances, including "I'll Get You", which was the b-side of "She Loves You", if memory serves. I never need to hear "Hey Jude" or "Jet" live again, but they show up on every tour, and I guess I understand why.
This weekend I was pointed to this Paul McCartney performance of "Please Please Me" from his 2005 tour rehearsals. He's great as always. I love it when he digs up old material that hasn't been part of his repertoire for the last 20 years. His 2004 European tour had at least 10 first time concert performed songs, and this year's US tour had another 6 to 8 brand new appearances, including "I'll Get You", which was the b-side of "She Loves You", if memory serves. I never need to hear "Hey Jude" or "Jet" live again, but they show up on every tour, and I guess I understand why.
Thursday
Fogo de Chao
If you live or travel near Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Beverly Hills, Washington DC or Chicago, this Brazilian Restaurant is the place to take your special someone for a memorable evening. The salad bar is really a bar of vegetable dishes - marinated asparagus spears, pepper slices or sundried tomatoes, as well as fine cheeses and more typical salad items, plus rice and black beans. But don't fill up - the meat is coming and this is really a meat-eater's restaurant - 12 different kinds of meat fire-roasted on spits and carved at your table by wandering waitstaff. You have a red and green disc for each diner. Green means bring me food; red means leave me alone for a while so I can eat. And the sides that will be brought to your table include garlic mashed potatoes, grilled polenta, cheese bread puffs and friend bananas. Incredible food; incredible decor; incredible service. Yes, it's pricey - plan to spend $50-65 per person, so for us it's an anniversary thing, the one night a year we don't look at prices on the menu (of which there are none at Fogo anyway). We shared a Flan for dessert, and the lovely former Alicia Martinez said it was the best she'd tasted (to which I carefully added "except for yours")
Movie Reviews
King Kong - too long for my tastes at 3 hours; special effects looked - well, computer-generated; several parts were too gross to watch (the giant cockroach scene in particular); but the faithfulness to the essential story of the Fay Wray classic. Much better than the mid-70s Dino de Laurentis version ("Nobody cry when Jaws die. When my Kong die, people cry.")
Good Night and Good Luck - A wonderful George Clooney film. Shot in grainy black and white to capture the 50s television feel, it's a film about Joe McCarthy, Edward R. Murrow and William F. Paley and the HUAC Communist blacklisting. The actor who plays Murrow is dead-on accurate. The story is great and fairly balanced and the jazz soundtrack featuring Diane Reeves is fabulous.
A Creed
You are the God who calls me to draw near:
Creating Father, whose fingers formed all that I see
and the things that are invisible.
You spoke and all things came to be.
My faith is in You.
You are the God who came down to save:
Jesus Christ the Son, from whose virgin-born hands
Nails drew guiltless blood –
You, who saw a morning of resurrection power,
My trust is in You.
You are the God who makes a home within my heart:
Holy Spirit, leading me into all truth
And calling me onward in faith.
You are the guarantee of all that has been promised.
My hope is in You.
Father, Son, and Spirit:
One God, in three persons.
Let my life be a canvas
On which you paint
Your masterpiece of joy and glory.
I believe in You.
Rick Lindholtz 2006
Creating Father, whose fingers formed all that I see
and the things that are invisible.
You spoke and all things came to be.
My faith is in You.
You are the God who came down to save:
Jesus Christ the Son, from whose virgin-born hands
Nails drew guiltless blood –
You, who saw a morning of resurrection power,
My trust is in You.
You are the God who makes a home within my heart:
Holy Spirit, leading me into all truth
And calling me onward in faith.
You are the guarantee of all that has been promised.
My hope is in You.
Father, Son, and Spirit:
One God, in three persons.
Let my life be a canvas
On which you paint
Your masterpiece of joy and glory.
I believe in You.
Rick Lindholtz 2006
26 years
Alicia and I walked down the aisle 26 years ago today, at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas. What an amazing journey it has been. Home has been Portland, OR; Dallas; Chicago; Eureka, CA; Davis, CA; Chicago again; Muskegon, MI; Denver, Dallas again; Lansing, MI; Kent, WA; and Kingwood TX, where we've lived for the past 7 years. That's longer than anywhere except the almost 8 years in Lansing, and longer in this house than anywhere we've lived before.
On our first anniversary, over dinner we looked back and recalled the best and worst thing about 1980. That started a pattern we continued for a long time - best and worst for every year. Over the last year or two we've had a hard time doing that - both because we have a tough time remembering each year individually, and because we have to start the litany almost before we get in the restaurant door!
In 1987 we went to a movie before our dinner, and that started a pattern as well. We almost always do movie and dinner now, and today we're going to see King Kong AND Good Night, Good Luck. We don't get to theatres for grown-up movies too often so it's a fun escape from the ordinary.
I'm thankful for the pleasure of looking back over 26 years being married to my best friend. And I'm amazed at how quickly the years have flown past, especially as I look at the kids.
On our first anniversary, over dinner we looked back and recalled the best and worst thing about 1980. That started a pattern we continued for a long time - best and worst for every year. Over the last year or two we've had a hard time doing that - both because we have a tough time remembering each year individually, and because we have to start the litany almost before we get in the restaurant door!
In 1987 we went to a movie before our dinner, and that started a pattern as well. We almost always do movie and dinner now, and today we're going to see King Kong AND Good Night, Good Luck. We don't get to theatres for grown-up movies too often so it's a fun escape from the ordinary.
I'm thankful for the pleasure of looking back over 26 years being married to my best friend. And I'm amazed at how quickly the years have flown past, especially as I look at the kids.
Top Ten Films of 2005
Here's the take as reported by two Books and Culture Contributors. How different would your list be from theirs?
I find this helpful as I am starting a "Faith and Film" study group that will be attending films in theatres (or in homes, for overlooked already-released films) and discussing how the films interface with spiritual convictions and especially Christian faith. What recent films do you think speak to the human condition and have something to say to Christians?
THE CREATIVE SPIRIT
My dear friend and mentor in the arts for more than 30 years, Byron Spradlin of Artists in Christian Testimony, has sent me a magazine by that name, produced by Belhaven College. Its contents in this issue consists of the Occasional Paper on "Redeeming the arts" published by the Lausanne Committee. I've only read a bit of it but it is very impressive.
I find this helpful as I am starting a "Faith and Film" study group that will be attending films in theatres (or in homes, for overlooked already-released films) and discussing how the films interface with spiritual convictions and especially Christian faith. What recent films do you think speak to the human condition and have something to say to Christians?
THE CREATIVE SPIRIT
My dear friend and mentor in the arts for more than 30 years, Byron Spradlin of Artists in Christian Testimony, has sent me a magazine by that name, produced by Belhaven College. Its contents in this issue consists of the Occasional Paper on "Redeeming the arts" published by the Lausanne Committee. I've only read a bit of it but it is very impressive.
End of the Spear
On January 20, the film End of the Spear opens in over 1000 theatres across the U.S.
My friend Ed Delgado and I had a private screening when we were in Tulsa in September. What an amazing film, capturing the essence of the story of Nate Saint, Jim Elliot and their three colleagues, but most importantly, capturing the true story of redemption, forgiveness, and grace.
Jim Elliot is the name most familiar to many people, notably for the quote from his journal, shown above in a scan from the journal itself. I knew the name Saint mainly because my brother lived in Saint Hall when he was at Wheaton College.
This film takes two perspectives that many people have never heard:
• the perspective of Mincaye, a member of the killing party who killed Nate Saint.
• and the perspective of Steve Saint, Nate's son. Only 5 when his father died, he followed his father to the jungles of the Waodani tribe, largely because of the influence of his aunt Rachel Saint, who had gone to live among the Waodani and teach them of Christ.
Most of the world never heard of the results:
• in a tribe judged among the most violent in history, among whom 60% of adult deaths were homicides by the spear, the killings stopped - just stopped - when the gospel came to them.
• when Rachel Saint died, the Waodani invoked a custom that requires a relative to step forward to fill the role of the deceased. They asked Steve Saint to come and live among them, representing their culture to the encroaching world. And he did. In doing so, he embraced the man who had been his father's killer.
It is an amazing story and an amazing film.
Today Steve and Mincaye are in Dallas at a premiere of the film, and a friend of mine with the production company, Every Tribe Entertainment, was going to arrange for me to meet them and interview them. But alas, the word came in this morning: media presence there is very heavy. In fact, there are some national media who couldn’t get interviews on their shows who have RSVP’ed for this one in hopes of getting interviews at the theater.
So we won't be making the drive. We'll wait for the opening night, when I will be taking a group to see the film. I hope you'll go see it on opening weekend, too.
Sunday
A New Year Begins
...and the Lindholtzes wish you well.
2005 ended very differently than I thought it would. We began the year with a strong sense that we were being prepared by God for a change - a change that eventually came, but differently than we expected. We thought it was going to be a change of location. There were several conversations - but one church decided to continue looking elsewhere, and another one, though it had much of the right stuff going for it, did have a couple things that caused me to send some not-interested signals which they picked up and we let it go. It was just afterwards that I was invited to take on a few new responsibilities and stay where I am at CTK - which was the right thing for me and the right thing for my family. In retrospect I believe the whole episode was an opportunity to trust God in a time of stress; an opportunity for myself, my wife and daughter, the chruch, and the staff. I look back over 14 months to a day when I was sure that by this time I would be gone from Kingwood, and I am happy to be exactly where I am.
What does 2006 hold for us? It's hard to say. We're hoping for a couple vacations to see family - in the Carolinas (July?) and in Mexico (March?). It may hold a chance to visit California as well, in February or March. It will provide EC and I with a Colorado trip with the CTK youth in June.
I hope that a year from today will see progress on debt retirement and savings growth. Most of all though, I am hoping that the year 2006 will be a year in which the Kingdom of God holds ever-deeper influence in my heart. May it be so for you as well.
Wednesday
A Communion text, especially for Advent and Christmas
O Come, all ye Broken
to the tune (obviously) of 'O come, all ye Faithful'
O Come, all ye broken
Hungry for salvation,
O come and receive from Christ forgiveness and grace
Come and behold Him giv'n for your salvation
O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord
Yes, Lord, we greet you
Coming to your table
Your blood shed, your body broken
All to redeem
Glory to God, all glory in the highest.
O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord
© Rick Lindholtz, 2005
to the tune (obviously) of 'O come, all ye Faithful'
O Come, all ye broken
Hungry for salvation,
O come and receive from Christ forgiveness and grace
Come and behold Him giv'n for your salvation
O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord
Yes, Lord, we greet you
Coming to your table
Your blood shed, your body broken
All to redeem
Glory to God, all glory in the highest.
O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord
© Rick Lindholtz, 2005
Monday
Diabetic Management
Diabetes invaded Miles' body over 7 years ago now, putting us on a steep learning curve. We started with shots - simple insulin therapy. But Miles was only 2 and couldn't tell us how he was feeling - which was lousy. Simple insulin therapy wasn't doing the trick and our strategy escalated to 5 shots a day with 2 different kinds of insulin. We still were not getting the control we needed. After about 20 months we swtitched to the Disetronic H-Plus Insulin pump, which greatly improved our control, since it gives Miles 480 tiny doses daily - every three minutes day and night. We also must give "bolus doses" in addition to all those "basal doses" - the boluses cover his carbohydrate intake. With the pump, Miles can eat whatever he wants, as long as it is covered by a bolus dose.
Several years back, some caring friends gave us a Palm Visor Pro PDA and accompanying hardware and software that turn it into a combination Palm Pilot/glucometer/record book. Into it we enter every blood glucose reading, every carb eaten, every amount of insulin dosed, notes on his exercise regimen, his insulin site changes, every opening of a new bottle or cartridge of insulin - everything related to his health management. Before his quarterly visit with his pediatric endocrinologist, we print up a month worth of info for Dr. Brosnan's review. (One day's worth of data is almost a full page in11 point type).
Because we have all this info and can sort and access it in various ways, we can spot trends quickly and adjust our strategy when things go wrong. We can easily identify good days and "perfect" days (blood checks 100% within the target range). They don't happen too often - 3-5 times a year.
Here's the good news: In the last 9 days Miles has had 1 perfect day and 3 almost perfect days (missing the target range just barely only once on each of those days). The result is that he now has a 7 day in-target rating of 67.7% That's unusually good! Several days back he had a three day in-target rating of over 90% - a number we have NEVER seen before.
This morning his 7-day average is 135 (the target range is 80-200, with an idealized goal-within-a-goal of 130-150), with a standard deviation of only 71 (the lower, the better).
This is all good. He feels good, and his long-term health prospects are the more hopeful when we get good control. It is an unbelievavble amount of work and emotional investment, but it is worth it. His PDA is nearing the end of its useful life and will be replaced soon, the glucometer add-on hardware is obsolete and off the market now, there's newer Palm software available (though it couldn't be too much of an improvement over what we have), his pump is off the market and about to be replaced with a newer version which we hope to get at some point in the future (since his pump was said to have a life of 5 years and it's going on 6 now) but his health is good.
Friday
Traditional Christmas - for us
CTK has a full slate on Saturday and Sunday. a 4 pm service designed for families with small children, at which I lead the music and Brian does a very interactive message. Traditional Christmas Eve services with choir and brass at 6 and 7:30, with Alicia, ElenaClaire and myself in the choir, and Brian and I doing a dramatic piece we wrote for this service; a 10:30 service that is a little more high church and includes Holy Communion. And a 10:30 AM Worship service (which is our custom EVERY CHristmas, not just those that fall on Sundays) at which I lead worship.
Since Christmas always has that heavy work component, we have a special Christmas meal at noon on Christmas Eve - and we usually have guests for dinner, which you can't do on Christmas Day since most people are with family that day.
The menu is also very traditional (for us) - Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno appetizers, Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas and beef tamales, Salad, Cranberry/Jalapeno relish, fudge, and strong coffee.
It doesn't get any better.
Since Christmas always has that heavy work component, we have a special Christmas meal at noon on Christmas Eve - and we usually have guests for dinner, which you can't do on Christmas Day since most people are with family that day.
The menu is also very traditional (for us) - Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno appetizers, Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas and beef tamales, Salad, Cranberry/Jalapeno relish, fudge, and strong coffee.
It doesn't get any better.
Thursday
Wednesday
Confession / Prayer to be a blessing to others
Heavenly Father, your love surrounds us:
A singular grace touching all our lives.
Yet so easily we live in darkness,
and we neglect the brilliance of Your love.
You pour one blessing after another
While we view the good filling up our lives
As our “good luck” or our entitlement.
You have positioned us uniquely to
extend Your blessing to those in our lives
-to our family, friends and acquaintances.
We hoard the grace you intend to be shared, while
those closest to us choke within themselves
their cries to sense Your Holy presence.
God, Forgive us for our cold distancing.
Savior, please forgive us for all our sins.
Fill us anew with your Holy Spirit.
Refresh our hearts to bless those around us,
So that we, and all people whom we touch
may rejoice in Your extravagant love.
Rick Lindholtz 2005
A singular grace touching all our lives.
Yet so easily we live in darkness,
and we neglect the brilliance of Your love.
You pour one blessing after another
While we view the good filling up our lives
As our “good luck” or our entitlement.
You have positioned us uniquely to
extend Your blessing to those in our lives
-to our family, friends and acquaintances.
We hoard the grace you intend to be shared, while
those closest to us choke within themselves
their cries to sense Your Holy presence.
God, Forgive us for our cold distancing.
Savior, please forgive us for all our sins.
Fill us anew with your Holy Spirit.
Refresh our hearts to bless those around us,
So that we, and all people whom we touch
may rejoice in Your extravagant love.
Rick Lindholtz 2005
Tuesday
To a Divorcing friend
That’s a good start. You opened the envelope. I’ll take that as a compliment. I have no particular reason to believe that my name on the return address would prompt you to do so. And from what I gather, your decisions of late have not shown a lot of good judgment, so I figure there’s a good chance that • you won’t open the envelope; or that • you’ll stop reading before the end of the letter; or that • you’ll get to the end of it and write it and me off, concluding “he doesn’t know what he’s talking about…because he doesn’t know me in the first place. Not the real me. I was hiding, faking it the whole time I knew him.”
So why write? Beats me. It’s 2 AM, I woke up thinking about you and I can’t get back to sleep is a pretty good reason. Maybe if I write this all down I can salvage a couple more hours of sleep.
I don’t buy the part about not knowing you, if you were thinking that. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen enough to know that the enemy of our souls is a deceiver. He starts by lying to the man (or woman) in question. Then he gets us to lie to ourselves. Finally he gets us to start lying to our spouse and to our children and to our friends and to the people who have held significance for us over the past. That last step is the easiest.
Some of the lies I have heard other people say are “I never loved you” (which cuts no ice because it presumes I’m too stupid or inexperienced to be able to spot a faker). or “I still love you” spoken to a spouse, which is only true if love means some vaguely sentimental feeling or some claptrap like that. (I saw her on Sunday. Love doesn’t do what I see happening to her). To paraphrase Harry Truman, that kind of love isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit. Give me the muscular, sinewy love of acting selflessly for the good of another to whom a lifetime of promises have been made. Easy? No. Worthwhile? Yes.
Yeah, the lies of Satan are pretty unoriginal. I have been known to quip that there must be a book of lines people use when they walk out on their partners, because they always say the same things.
A truer statement would be “I decided my kids need to have 2 divorces in their future”. Two, because they’ll go through this one, and then, as statistics suggest, they’ll go through their own. Just as children of suicides are more likely to attempt suicide, children of divorce are more likely to divorce or be divorced in the future. No matter their age when they watched it.
Still reading? Thank you very much. Seriously. Because the odds are as I sit here that this is our final communication. Really, when you think about it. I mean, you appear to have chosen a path, and we truly are not so close that I expect this letter to influence your next steps. So having seen it play out before, my guess is that you may or may not keep this letter even a day, but whatever you do, you’ll write me off as one of those who just don’t understand. (But I do care. I wouldn’t be up at this hour if I didn’t.)
And maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t understand some things. But some things I do understand. For example, I do not know whether you are currently experiencing joy (not happiness, joy). You might be feeling exhilaration like someone on a roller coaster. I will tell you this – it will not last. It’s not a roller coaster, it’s just the first two hills. Then the tracks end in ruin.
But I don’t know, like I said. Exhilaration might not be your experience right now. It’s at least as likely that you’re deeply depressed and riding a guilt coaster. Figuring that you are beyond forgiveness and grace. And so as James Taylor said in the song “Secret o’ life”: “Since we’re on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride”.
The bottom line is, I believe your life still has value and the capacity for salvage. Spiritually, that will always be true. But you have placed yourself and your marriage on a path that will move you to places cut off from the chance to restore. And there may come a day – in all likelihood there will, based on my observations – when you will wish you had taken another try. Wish someone had added one more voice to those seeking to pull you back from the destruction that lies ahead.
I care. I think you have worth, hope and a future. I don’t write you off, though you perhaps have or may be writing me off.
So when the crash does happen (as it will, if you continue) I will feel pain, because you matter to me. I believe even now the crash can be avoided.
Now or later – you can contact me. If we lose track you can always find me on Google (or whatever may have replaced it down the road). There aren’t many of us with my last name, and right now if you Google me, you’ll find me. So I close with this: May you find joy. It’s out there and it is not far from you right now. But it is not on the current track.
So why write? Beats me. It’s 2 AM, I woke up thinking about you and I can’t get back to sleep is a pretty good reason. Maybe if I write this all down I can salvage a couple more hours of sleep.
I don’t buy the part about not knowing you, if you were thinking that. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen enough to know that the enemy of our souls is a deceiver. He starts by lying to the man (or woman) in question. Then he gets us to lie to ourselves. Finally he gets us to start lying to our spouse and to our children and to our friends and to the people who have held significance for us over the past. That last step is the easiest.
Some of the lies I have heard other people say are “I never loved you” (which cuts no ice because it presumes I’m too stupid or inexperienced to be able to spot a faker). or “I still love you” spoken to a spouse, which is only true if love means some vaguely sentimental feeling or some claptrap like that. (I saw her on Sunday. Love doesn’t do what I see happening to her). To paraphrase Harry Truman, that kind of love isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit. Give me the muscular, sinewy love of acting selflessly for the good of another to whom a lifetime of promises have been made. Easy? No. Worthwhile? Yes.
Yeah, the lies of Satan are pretty unoriginal. I have been known to quip that there must be a book of lines people use when they walk out on their partners, because they always say the same things.
A truer statement would be “I decided my kids need to have 2 divorces in their future”. Two, because they’ll go through this one, and then, as statistics suggest, they’ll go through their own. Just as children of suicides are more likely to attempt suicide, children of divorce are more likely to divorce or be divorced in the future. No matter their age when they watched it.
Still reading? Thank you very much. Seriously. Because the odds are as I sit here that this is our final communication. Really, when you think about it. I mean, you appear to have chosen a path, and we truly are not so close that I expect this letter to influence your next steps. So having seen it play out before, my guess is that you may or may not keep this letter even a day, but whatever you do, you’ll write me off as one of those who just don’t understand. (But I do care. I wouldn’t be up at this hour if I didn’t.)
And maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t understand some things. But some things I do understand. For example, I do not know whether you are currently experiencing joy (not happiness, joy). You might be feeling exhilaration like someone on a roller coaster. I will tell you this – it will not last. It’s not a roller coaster, it’s just the first two hills. Then the tracks end in ruin.
But I don’t know, like I said. Exhilaration might not be your experience right now. It’s at least as likely that you’re deeply depressed and riding a guilt coaster. Figuring that you are beyond forgiveness and grace. And so as James Taylor said in the song “Secret o’ life”: “Since we’re on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride”.
The bottom line is, I believe your life still has value and the capacity for salvage. Spiritually, that will always be true. But you have placed yourself and your marriage on a path that will move you to places cut off from the chance to restore. And there may come a day – in all likelihood there will, based on my observations – when you will wish you had taken another try. Wish someone had added one more voice to those seeking to pull you back from the destruction that lies ahead.
I care. I think you have worth, hope and a future. I don’t write you off, though you perhaps have or may be writing me off.
So when the crash does happen (as it will, if you continue) I will feel pain, because you matter to me. I believe even now the crash can be avoided.
Now or later – you can contact me. If we lose track you can always find me on Google (or whatever may have replaced it down the road). There aren’t many of us with my last name, and right now if you Google me, you’ll find me. So I close with this: May you find joy. It’s out there and it is not far from you right now. But it is not on the current track.
Thursday
The Drama for Christmas Eve
I am having more fun with Brian, our Vicar (Student Pastor from Seminary). Like myself, he was a Fine Arts major in college and is a fine actor. Al asked us to come up with a drama that would lead into the message for three of our four Christmas Eve Services (What we came up with will not work for our Family friendly 4:00 pm service designed with small kids in mind).
We wanted to do a drama involving the shepherds, but we didn't want to give away the farm. So we workshopped the idea for about 2 hours on Tuesday morning. There was no script and still isn't, otherwise I would post it. But the basic vision involves two guys walking into a Coffee bar and talking. They've just witnessed something bizarre. There's LOTS of silence between them - the idea can be descibed in 90 seconds but it will play for 9 minutes. They are filled with questions: Does this kind of thing happen at work all the time? (No).That part about not being afraid; I was afraid (oh, you were not...really?) But the funny thing is I am not afraid any more. What does it all mean? And those words... Savior - saved? From what? From this crummy job? From Danger? And that other word - Christ? You don't really believe that that little baby is - you know - who they said he was? (I don't know). (At that point they are lost in silence again until they begin to laugh and just start laughing so hard at the very idea of it all.) One of them says "I'll tell you this much - I gotta tell someone about this". Then they recall the music they heard - how beautiful it was - how peaceful. Finally: "But seriously - do you think he could be - you know - who they said?" "Yeah."
I know that sounds hard to imagine as a 9 minute drama, but that's where we're going.
I'm hoping to videotape it and maybe even have it in a form that can be posted. I'll keep you informed.
We wanted to do a drama involving the shepherds, but we didn't want to give away the farm. So we workshopped the idea for about 2 hours on Tuesday morning. There was no script and still isn't, otherwise I would post it. But the basic vision involves two guys walking into a Coffee bar and talking. They've just witnessed something bizarre. There's LOTS of silence between them - the idea can be descibed in 90 seconds but it will play for 9 minutes. They are filled with questions: Does this kind of thing happen at work all the time? (No).That part about not being afraid; I was afraid (oh, you were not...really?) But the funny thing is I am not afraid any more. What does it all mean? And those words... Savior - saved? From what? From this crummy job? From Danger? And that other word - Christ? You don't really believe that that little baby is - you know - who they said he was? (I don't know). (At that point they are lost in silence again until they begin to laugh and just start laughing so hard at the very idea of it all.) One of them says "I'll tell you this much - I gotta tell someone about this". Then they recall the music they heard - how beautiful it was - how peaceful. Finally: "But seriously - do you think he could be - you know - who they said?" "Yeah."
I know that sounds hard to imagine as a 9 minute drama, but that's where we're going.
I'm hoping to videotape it and maybe even have it in a form that can be posted. I'll keep you informed.
Saturday
Narnia Radio Theatre
For several years I've known that a radio dramatization of all seven chronicles of Narnia was available. I've thought many times that I'd like to hear a portion and perhaps buy it.
While we were in southern California for my niece's wedding I noticed my sister had the set, and since we were driving to San Diego for Thanksgiving, I asked if we could borrow the set for the drive. We decided on the final book, The last Battle.
I was breathless. This is a must have.
Click here to see this great item on Amazon. (Linked via Brad's website, so that if you buy, some of the money goes back into ministry. One of these days Brad I'll work up sponsorship links as well.)
Friday
Baptism in The Covenant 3: Why does this discussion matter?
1. It matters to the Ministerium.
As pastors and churches communicate to their members who we are, their accuracy and clarity is important so that their members have a clear picture. This is a Ministerium issue because, in all likelihood, at some point in the future Covenant ministers will be exploring new avenues of ministry. If a local church body has not clearly understood the breadth that exists in The Covenant, its pulpit vacancy may effectively become a closed door for pastors who reflect the best qualities of Covenant freedom and openness – simply because the local church in question is not looking for a Covenant pastor, but for a pastor who holds baptism convictions in a more specific and limited way than The Covenant as a whole does. Ministerium members may find The Covenant, their own denomination, a less welcoming environment to its own pastors.
2. It matters to the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism.
Church planting is a specialized form of ministry, and I fully support the way The Department actively recruits and trains Church Planters (Incidentally, the pastor of the church whose website I have quoted is not a pastor brought in from outside The Covenant). I hope that such recruited pastors are clearly understanding and following the commitments they make in signing the policy. The danger is that churches don’t ever catch the ethos of freedom in The Covenant.
3. It matters to North Park Theological Seminary
It is still true, to the best of my knowledge, that most new pastors in The Covenant are North Park trained. And that’s a good thing, because North Park does such a good job of preparing pastors for ministry within that ethos of freedom. But if churches lose contact with that, and seek pastors with a less-open mindset they may have been taught (intentionally or not) by their previous pastors, a NPTS education may begin to have less credibility to churches seeking staff. Already there is evidence of a preference for clergy from outside The Covenant. And while I have nothing but good to say about almost all of the pastors I know who have entered Covenant ministry from outside – my own home church’s pastor and one of my most intimate friends and mentors among them – it may begin to bother NPTS graduates when they find themselves being passed over in favor of pastors from outside The Covenant.
As pastors and churches communicate to their members who we are, their accuracy and clarity is important so that their members have a clear picture. This is a Ministerium issue because, in all likelihood, at some point in the future Covenant ministers will be exploring new avenues of ministry. If a local church body has not clearly understood the breadth that exists in The Covenant, its pulpit vacancy may effectively become a closed door for pastors who reflect the best qualities of Covenant freedom and openness – simply because the local church in question is not looking for a Covenant pastor, but for a pastor who holds baptism convictions in a more specific and limited way than The Covenant as a whole does. Ministerium members may find The Covenant, their own denomination, a less welcoming environment to its own pastors.
2. It matters to the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism.
Church planting is a specialized form of ministry, and I fully support the way The Department actively recruits and trains Church Planters (Incidentally, the pastor of the church whose website I have quoted is not a pastor brought in from outside The Covenant). I hope that such recruited pastors are clearly understanding and following the commitments they make in signing the policy. The danger is that churches don’t ever catch the ethos of freedom in The Covenant.
3. It matters to North Park Theological Seminary
It is still true, to the best of my knowledge, that most new pastors in The Covenant are North Park trained. And that’s a good thing, because North Park does such a good job of preparing pastors for ministry within that ethos of freedom. But if churches lose contact with that, and seek pastors with a less-open mindset they may have been taught (intentionally or not) by their previous pastors, a NPTS education may begin to have less credibility to churches seeking staff. Already there is evidence of a preference for clergy from outside The Covenant. And while I have nothing but good to say about almost all of the pastors I know who have entered Covenant ministry from outside – my own home church’s pastor and one of my most intimate friends and mentors among them – it may begin to bother NPTS graduates when they find themselves being passed over in favor of pastors from outside The Covenant.
Baptism in The Covenant 2: A case study in how we Communicate
These comments arose from reading the website of a Covenant Church. I know the pastor, though not well, from the period when we served in the same conference. I am not seeking to criticize him, his church or his ministry, but just to explore the way in which we tell people who we are and how we practice our faith.
The website homepage links to its baptism web page with a link inviting the reader to “Get dunked! Click here to register for baptism.” My interest was caught by what sounded, to me, like “professing believer baptism only” language. I wondered: Does this church practice baptism the way its home page suggests? So I followed the link to the baptism page.
Website: “Once a person admits that he or she is a sinner and turns to Christ for salvation, the Bible says the watching world needs to know.”
1. This statement is written exclusively from a professing believer baptism perspective. And if this web page represents the pastor’s perspective, that’s OK, since “Covenant pastors may, and must hold their own convictions concerning baptism”. If it represents this local church’s perspective, and if the church’s Constitution follows the model constitution in affirming that “While the denomination has traditionally practiced the baptism of infants, in conformity with its principle of freedom it has also recognized the practice of believer baptism”, it raises the question of whether the web page reflects the Covenant character of the church.
2. Covenant Pastors commit themselves to administer both infant and professing believer baptism. Would anyone know of this pastor’s commitment from reading this Covenant Church’s web page on baptism? If not, it is a matter of concern. It’s partly a matter of honesty and full disclosure. It would be unwise in the extreme to represent a Covenant Church as though it were a church making room for professing believer baptism only, when any Covenant pastor who serves that church now or in the future must make the commitment referenced above.
Website: “Baptism has always stood as a kind of public test for people who have moved from being a unconvinced into being a believer.”
This statement just caught my attention because, first of all I am not convinced it is accurate, and certainly doesn’t seem to come out of the scriptural text at the top of the page (Acts 8:34-38). The baptism of the Ethiopian was neither public nor a test. I guess my response to the sentence comes in the form of the classic question, “Where is it written?” I took the time to go to Bible Gateway and do a keyword search on “bapt*” in the New Testament. I certainly didn’t see any public test language.
Website: Believers are those who have realized that their sin has separated them from God. They have given up all efforts to reach God through good works or religious activity. They have concluded that Jesus Christ's death on the cross for their sins is the only thing that can bridge the gap between them and God. A believer is someone who has decided to trust Christ alone for his or her salvation.
While I’ve included this whole paragraph, it was really the last sentence that caught my attention. I thought that a believer is someone who trusts Christ alone for his or her salvation. By grace we are saved through faith, Ephesians tells us – not through any decision or choice we make. Maybe it’s splitting hairs, and I’ll allow that charge to be made. But I think it is a distinction with a difference. How many people allow a decision to function as a good work or religious activity in their spiritual life? “Of course I’m saved – I went forward (or I decided, or I chose, or I prayed the prayer)?” Speaking personally, I have done all those things, and as a personal evangelism trainer and associate for The Covenant since 1991 I have taught on this topic many times. We are not secure in Christ because of what we have done. We are secure because of the grace He has given us to trust in what He has done. Isn’t that right? And if it is, shouldn’t we be careful to make sure our communication carries that message?
In the section of the page headed “Biblical Passages”, the author further articulates a perspective on baptism following faith – i.e., professing believer baptism. I’m not going to challenge the content there from a theological perspective, since The Covenant does make room for both baptismal positions.
I love the fact that, as the policy states, “The Covenant chooses to respect the biblical positions of both infant and believer baptism equally”. I deeply respect the Statement’s observation that “The new birth created a strong bond among believers that would not be broken by differences over baptism. The result was that the doctrine of the church took priority over the theology of the sacraments.” Recognizing that “infant and believer baptism are in fact mutually exclusive at critical points of theology and practice”, I am grateful to every Covenant pastor who submits to The Covenant’s policy “for the unity of the church…acting out of respect for the convictions of the people they serve”. I believe that is a perspective unique among church bodies (though certainly not exclusive to The Covenant) and that rather than letting it be hidden by its absence in a church’s public communication, it should be highlighted and honored. It’s one of the features that makes The Covenant such a wonderful body in which to do ministry.
The website homepage links to its baptism web page with a link inviting the reader to “Get dunked! Click here to register for baptism.” My interest was caught by what sounded, to me, like “professing believer baptism only” language. I wondered: Does this church practice baptism the way its home page suggests? So I followed the link to the baptism page.
Website: “Once a person admits that he or she is a sinner and turns to Christ for salvation, the Bible says the watching world needs to know.”
1. This statement is written exclusively from a professing believer baptism perspective. And if this web page represents the pastor’s perspective, that’s OK, since “Covenant pastors may, and must hold their own convictions concerning baptism”. If it represents this local church’s perspective, and if the church’s Constitution follows the model constitution in affirming that “While the denomination has traditionally practiced the baptism of infants, in conformity with its principle of freedom it has also recognized the practice of believer baptism”, it raises the question of whether the web page reflects the Covenant character of the church.
2. Covenant Pastors commit themselves to administer both infant and professing believer baptism. Would anyone know of this pastor’s commitment from reading this Covenant Church’s web page on baptism? If not, it is a matter of concern. It’s partly a matter of honesty and full disclosure. It would be unwise in the extreme to represent a Covenant Church as though it were a church making room for professing believer baptism only, when any Covenant pastor who serves that church now or in the future must make the commitment referenced above.
Website: “Baptism has always stood as a kind of public test for people who have moved from being a unconvinced into being a believer.”
This statement just caught my attention because, first of all I am not convinced it is accurate, and certainly doesn’t seem to come out of the scriptural text at the top of the page (Acts 8:34-38). The baptism of the Ethiopian was neither public nor a test. I guess my response to the sentence comes in the form of the classic question, “Where is it written?” I took the time to go to Bible Gateway and do a keyword search on “bapt*” in the New Testament. I certainly didn’t see any public test language.
Website: Believers are those who have realized that their sin has separated them from God. They have given up all efforts to reach God through good works or religious activity. They have concluded that Jesus Christ's death on the cross for their sins is the only thing that can bridge the gap between them and God. A believer is someone who has decided to trust Christ alone for his or her salvation.
While I’ve included this whole paragraph, it was really the last sentence that caught my attention. I thought that a believer is someone who trusts Christ alone for his or her salvation. By grace we are saved through faith, Ephesians tells us – not through any decision or choice we make. Maybe it’s splitting hairs, and I’ll allow that charge to be made. But I think it is a distinction with a difference. How many people allow a decision to function as a good work or religious activity in their spiritual life? “Of course I’m saved – I went forward (or I decided, or I chose, or I prayed the prayer)?” Speaking personally, I have done all those things, and as a personal evangelism trainer and associate for The Covenant since 1991 I have taught on this topic many times. We are not secure in Christ because of what we have done. We are secure because of the grace He has given us to trust in what He has done. Isn’t that right? And if it is, shouldn’t we be careful to make sure our communication carries that message?
In the section of the page headed “Biblical Passages”, the author further articulates a perspective on baptism following faith – i.e., professing believer baptism. I’m not going to challenge the content there from a theological perspective, since The Covenant does make room for both baptismal positions.
I love the fact that, as the policy states, “The Covenant chooses to respect the biblical positions of both infant and believer baptism equally”. I deeply respect the Statement’s observation that “The new birth created a strong bond among believers that would not be broken by differences over baptism. The result was that the doctrine of the church took priority over the theology of the sacraments.” Recognizing that “infant and believer baptism are in fact mutually exclusive at critical points of theology and practice”, I am grateful to every Covenant pastor who submits to The Covenant’s policy “for the unity of the church…acting out of respect for the convictions of the people they serve”. I believe that is a perspective unique among church bodies (though certainly not exclusive to The Covenant) and that rather than letting it be hidden by its absence in a church’s public communication, it should be highlighted and honored. It’s one of the features that makes The Covenant such a wonderful body in which to do ministry.
Baptism in The Covenant 1: Introduction
These are not fighting words. Let me make that much clear. I realize that peoples’ and pastors’ theologies are dearly held convictions, and to challenge their beliefs and practices is stepping where angels fear to tread. But I am not throwing rocks. Rather, I am looking at what is communicated by Covenant people, churches and pastors regarding who we are and how we live out our faith: Covenant identity and practice. And the issue that raises this series of posts is how we live out our identity in the area of baptism.
We need to start from common ground. Firstly, I am writing from a perspective of love for The Evangelical Covenant Church, and deep respect for my colleagues in ministry.
Secondly, If you are unfamiliar with the Covenant’s baptismal perspective, you’ll need to read these two documents, or else what follows will not make much sense:
Here is The Covenant’s Policy on Baptism, which every Covenant Pastor is required to sign in order to be ordained.
And here is a Statement on Baptism in The Covenant (pdf format), which explains a lot of the theology and sociology behind our policy.
MY PERSPECTIVE
I am writing from a perspective that is fairly unique in The Covenant. I am currently serve on the ministry staff of Christ the King, a Lutheran church of about 1000 people in Kingwood, Texas (suburban Houston). I am Director of Communications at CTK, a thriving and healthy contemporary church – very contemporary in the context of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod – and in fact my guess is that most Covenant people could attend CTK and feel right at home. In fact one Covenant friend visited us in Kingwood, and after worship, commented that she felt as though she had been in a Covenant Church.
I am deeply thankful for the blessing of serving this wonderful church alongside so many gifted and godly believers, both lay and ordained, on and off of the staff. But my perspective is also colored by my history. While God’s sovereign hand has led me to this place, the journey occurred through the experience of serving two Covenant Churches that were characterized by a lot of dysfunction. As a result I found myself twice pressured out of Covenant ministry. Neither church continues in ministry: The dysfunction that was present before my arrival continued after my departure and eventually closed the churches. And you need to trust me: When an ordained pastor in The Evangelical Covenant Church longs to be in pastoral ministry in The Covenant and has been led by God out of that ministry context for a season, one watches with great interest The Covenant’s doings, hopeful that some day in God’s sovereignty an opportunity might be provided to return to that context for ministry. One carries a concern about how readily re-entry to Covenant ministry can be accomplished (Indeed, there is not a little anxiety in me as I write these words and reflect on how their appearance on a public forum like my blog might impact my ability to return to Covenant ministry when God’s season for me at CTK is concluded.)
There are those Covenant pastors, of course, who do not wish to return to ministry at all, or to ministry in The Covenant. I do not write from the perspective of these friends in Christ.
While the policy states that “Covenant pastors may, and must hold their own convictions concerning baptism”, I am, as I put it in my Pastoral Profile, “sincerely, genuinely non-partisan on the issue of baptism. I am pro-baptism”. I don’t really “have a dog” in this discussion. I write in the interest of accurate and compelling communication.
As Director of Communications at CTK (Here’s what that means), among many other tasks I am responsible for website development (and am in the midst of a major re-working this week, in fact). I surf a lot of church websites. And because of my heart for The Covenant, I surf a lot of Covenant websites. And I see what appears to me to be (at least) confusing communication about who we are and how we live out our faith and commitments - specifically in the theology and practice of baptism.
In my next installment I will address the specifics of my observations.
We need to start from common ground. Firstly, I am writing from a perspective of love for The Evangelical Covenant Church, and deep respect for my colleagues in ministry.
Secondly, If you are unfamiliar with the Covenant’s baptismal perspective, you’ll need to read these two documents, or else what follows will not make much sense:
Here is The Covenant’s Policy on Baptism, which every Covenant Pastor is required to sign in order to be ordained.
And here is a Statement on Baptism in The Covenant (pdf format), which explains a lot of the theology and sociology behind our policy.
MY PERSPECTIVE
I am writing from a perspective that is fairly unique in The Covenant. I am currently serve on the ministry staff of Christ the King, a Lutheran church of about 1000 people in Kingwood, Texas (suburban Houston). I am Director of Communications at CTK, a thriving and healthy contemporary church – very contemporary in the context of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod – and in fact my guess is that most Covenant people could attend CTK and feel right at home. In fact one Covenant friend visited us in Kingwood, and after worship, commented that she felt as though she had been in a Covenant Church.
I am deeply thankful for the blessing of serving this wonderful church alongside so many gifted and godly believers, both lay and ordained, on and off of the staff. But my perspective is also colored by my history. While God’s sovereign hand has led me to this place, the journey occurred through the experience of serving two Covenant Churches that were characterized by a lot of dysfunction. As a result I found myself twice pressured out of Covenant ministry. Neither church continues in ministry: The dysfunction that was present before my arrival continued after my departure and eventually closed the churches. And you need to trust me: When an ordained pastor in The Evangelical Covenant Church longs to be in pastoral ministry in The Covenant and has been led by God out of that ministry context for a season, one watches with great interest The Covenant’s doings, hopeful that some day in God’s sovereignty an opportunity might be provided to return to that context for ministry. One carries a concern about how readily re-entry to Covenant ministry can be accomplished (Indeed, there is not a little anxiety in me as I write these words and reflect on how their appearance on a public forum like my blog might impact my ability to return to Covenant ministry when God’s season for me at CTK is concluded.)
There are those Covenant pastors, of course, who do not wish to return to ministry at all, or to ministry in The Covenant. I do not write from the perspective of these friends in Christ.
While the policy states that “Covenant pastors may, and must hold their own convictions concerning baptism”, I am, as I put it in my Pastoral Profile, “sincerely, genuinely non-partisan on the issue of baptism. I am pro-baptism”. I don’t really “have a dog” in this discussion. I write in the interest of accurate and compelling communication.
As Director of Communications at CTK (Here’s what that means), among many other tasks I am responsible for website development (and am in the midst of a major re-working this week, in fact). I surf a lot of church websites. And because of my heart for The Covenant, I surf a lot of Covenant websites. And I see what appears to me to be (at least) confusing communication about who we are and how we live out our faith and commitments - specifically in the theology and practice of baptism.
In my next installment I will address the specifics of my observations.
Monday
Scripture Collage for 10.30.05
The worship theme we've been following since late August is "The Most Excellent Way", a focus on the way of love. Sunday's text was Cor 13:5 - Love "keeps no record of wrongs." (NIV)
The service began with "Rock of Ages", then after welcome and announcements, the chorus of the song "Think about His Love":
Think about His love, Think about His goodness
Think about His grace that's brought us through
For as high as the heaven's above
So great is the measure of our Father's love,
Great is the measure of our Father's love.
Walt Harrah © 1987 Integrity's Hosanna! Music
Then we needed scripture that would move us forward in the theme of forgiveness and would also drop a hint preparing for the introduction of the new song "Better than Life":
Your love is everlasting, It's an everlasting love
Your mercy is as new as ev'ry rising of the sun
And Your lovingkindness, Lovingkindness is better than life
Your grace is all sufficient, it's an all-sufficient grace
Your power and Your glor are forever on display
And Your lovingkindness, Lovingkindness is better than life
Oh it's better, Oh better than life
Oh so much better
Jesus Your lovingkindness is better than life
Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff & Israel Houghton
c 2001 Integrity's Praise! Music My Other Publishing Company (Admin. by Integrity's Praise! Music) Lakewood Ministries Music (Admin. by Integrity Music, Inc.)
So after once through "Think about His love", we went into a unison reading:
O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land where there is no water.
Now here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
drinking in your strength and glory.
Your love is better than life – How I praise you!
Psalm 63 – from the NIV, NLT, and Message versions - arranged by RJL
We sang "Think about His Love" again before the following reading:
It wasn't so long ago that we were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. We let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell us how to live. We all did what we felt like doing, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ.
O God, Your love is better than life – How I praise you!
Eph 2:1-5 and Psalm 63:3 – from the NIV, NLT, and Message versions
Then we sang "Better than Life" - with full rhythm section and brass.
Finally this unison reading led into "For the Lord is Good", also with an original brass arrangement:
The LORD is good. When trouble comes, he is a strong refuge. And he knows everyone who trusts in him.
Nahum 1:7 NLT
(Cho)
For the Lord is good, and His love endures forever
He's a faithful God to all generations
For the Lord is good and His mercies will not fail us
They are new each day, O lift your voice and say The Lord is good!
Great is Your faithfulness O Lord (ECHO)
Your lovingkindness fills our hearts to overflowing
Songs of rejoicing and sweet praise
They fill our hearts (ECHO)
They fill our days
(Cho)
Gary Sadler & Lynn DeShazo
c 1997 Integrity's Hosanna! Music
We have a second verse text which was written by our Senior Pastor, Al Doering:
Your love and mercy give us life
Jesus, your cross has opened up the way to Heaven
Daily we live under Your grace
You bring us hope
through all our days.
It was a very strong opening for worship.
The service began with "Rock of Ages", then after welcome and announcements, the chorus of the song "Think about His Love":
Think about His love, Think about His goodness
Think about His grace that's brought us through
For as high as the heaven's above
So great is the measure of our Father's love,
Great is the measure of our Father's love.
Walt Harrah © 1987 Integrity's Hosanna! Music
Then we needed scripture that would move us forward in the theme of forgiveness and would also drop a hint preparing for the introduction of the new song "Better than Life":
Your love is everlasting, It's an everlasting love
Your mercy is as new as ev'ry rising of the sun
And Your lovingkindness, Lovingkindness is better than life
Your grace is all sufficient, it's an all-sufficient grace
Your power and Your glor are forever on display
And Your lovingkindness, Lovingkindness is better than life
Oh it's better, Oh better than life
Oh so much better
Jesus Your lovingkindness is better than life
Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff & Israel Houghton
c 2001 Integrity's Praise! Music My Other Publishing Company (Admin. by Integrity's Praise! Music) Lakewood Ministries Music (Admin. by Integrity Music, Inc.)
So after once through "Think about His love", we went into a unison reading:
O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land where there is no water.
Now here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
drinking in your strength and glory.
Your love is better than life – How I praise you!
Psalm 63 – from the NIV, NLT, and Message versions - arranged by RJL
We sang "Think about His Love" again before the following reading:
It wasn't so long ago that we were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. We let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell us how to live. We all did what we felt like doing, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ.
O God, Your love is better than life – How I praise you!
Eph 2:1-5 and Psalm 63:3 – from the NIV, NLT, and Message versions
Then we sang "Better than Life" - with full rhythm section and brass.
Finally this unison reading led into "For the Lord is Good", also with an original brass arrangement:
The LORD is good. When trouble comes, he is a strong refuge. And he knows everyone who trusts in him.
Nahum 1:7 NLT
(Cho)
For the Lord is good, and His love endures forever
He's a faithful God to all generations
For the Lord is good and His mercies will not fail us
They are new each day, O lift your voice and say The Lord is good!
Great is Your faithfulness O Lord (ECHO)
Your lovingkindness fills our hearts to overflowing
Songs of rejoicing and sweet praise
They fill our hearts (ECHO)
They fill our days
(Cho)
Gary Sadler & Lynn DeShazo
c 1997 Integrity's Hosanna! Music
We have a second verse text which was written by our Senior Pastor, Al Doering:
Your love and mercy give us life
Jesus, your cross has opened up the way to Heaven
Daily we live under Your grace
You bring us hope
through all our days.
It was a very strong opening for worship.
Sunday
Bravo for this essay on Halloween!
It's great to hear someone offer a balanced perspective on a topic that routinely gets well-meaning believers worked up over an unnecessary concern.
Excerpts:
It has become routine in October for some Christian schools to send out letters warning parents about the evils of Halloween, and it has become equally routine for me to be asked questions about this matter.
"Halloween" is simply a contraction for All Hallows' Eve. The word "hallow" means "saint," in that "hallow" is just an alternative form of the word "holy" ("hallowed be Thy name"). All Saints' Day is November 1. It is the celebration of the victory of the saints in union with Christ.
and
What is the means by which the demonic realm is vanquished? In a word: mockery. Satan's great sin (and our great sin) is pride. Thus, to drive Satan from us we ridicule him.
..."He who sits in the heavens laughs; Yahweh ridicules them" says Psalm 2. Let us join in His holy laughter, and mock the enemies of Christ on October 31.
Read more... (via)
Excerpts:
It has become routine in October for some Christian schools to send out letters warning parents about the evils of Halloween, and it has become equally routine for me to be asked questions about this matter.
"Halloween" is simply a contraction for All Hallows' Eve. The word "hallow" means "saint," in that "hallow" is just an alternative form of the word "holy" ("hallowed be Thy name"). All Saints' Day is November 1. It is the celebration of the victory of the saints in union with Christ.
and
What is the means by which the demonic realm is vanquished? In a word: mockery. Satan's great sin (and our great sin) is pride. Thus, to drive Satan from us we ridicule him.
..."He who sits in the heavens laughs; Yahweh ridicules them" says Psalm 2. Let us join in His holy laughter, and mock the enemies of Christ on October 31.
Read more... (via)
Scripture Collage
We often assemble what we call "scriptural collages" that are used in worship - sometimes spoken in unison, sometimes responsively between one or more leaders and the congregation.
This week we wanted a series of passages emphasizing grace and forgiveness to seamlessly join two songs: Phil Baquie's "God of Mercy" and the choral song "Mercy's embrace". So I knew I wanted to begin and end with mercy. Here's the final cut:
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. 2 Cor 1:3
He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven. Eph 1:7
All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all. Is 53:6
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
All the prophets testify … that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Acts 10:43
He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5
This week we wanted a series of passages emphasizing grace and forgiveness to seamlessly join two songs: Phil Baquie's "God of Mercy" and the choral song "Mercy's embrace". So I knew I wanted to begin and end with mercy. Here's the final cut:
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. 2 Cor 1:3
He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven. Eph 1:7
All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all. Is 53:6
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
All the prophets testify … that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Acts 10:43
He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5
Monday
Monday Morning: All Narnia
Narnia: The Pressure is Insane
So says Walden Media President Micheal Flaherty, who's feeling the heat to get The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe exactly right. But Flaherty promises audiences a "fantastic, faithful adaptation."
Read More...
The Lion, the Witch, the Faithful
"This is a huge roll of the dice for Disney and Walden," said "Narnia" producer Mark Johnson. "But the payoff could be enormous."
Walt Disney Studios is hoping that the same kind of church-based campaign that helped turn "The Passion of the Christ" into a blockbuster will convert C.S. Lewis' children's classic "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" into a big-screen franchise — with "Lion King"-sized profits.
Read more...
How to Tell if The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a Christian Film (from Time.com)
Whether four sentences from the C.S. Lewis book make it onto the big screen will make a big difference
By DAVID VAN BIEMA
The White Witch: "That human creature is mine. His life is forfeit to me. His blood is my property."
Aslan (later) : "The Witch knew the Deep Magic. But if she could have looked a little further back... she would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards." from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis
Earlier this month, Disney ran the first test screening of its December release, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe in a California theater. The existence of a screenable print constitutes a kind of opening bell for two questions regarding its content.The answer to the first, "Is it any good as a movie?" will be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Disney and its co-producer, Walden Media and will only be known later this year when the box office comes in.
The second, more intriguing question, "Has it reproduced the Christian character of C.S. Lewis's book?" could also be worth tens of millions if it inspires Passion of the Christ-style repeat viewings by conservative Christians. And the answer could lie in whether the four sentences above, which constitute a kind of evangelical sniff test make it into the film. (A Disney spokesperson said that since he had not attended the screening and that there is not yet a final cut, he could not verify whether it contains the lines, but promised that "the movie is going to be as faithful to the book as possible.")
Lewis always insisted that his seven Narnia books were not a point-by- point Christian allegory. Much of The Lion, the Witch owes more to English folktales or Norse and classical myth than to the New Testament. The passage of the four Pevensie children through the magic closet into a world laboring under a spell of eternal winter is not Christian, nor are the cruel white witch, talking animals, centaurs, and even a duo of Roman gods who inhabit it. True, the description of the redeeming figure of the lion Aslan as "the Son the Great Emperor-Beyond-the- Sea" is a big hint. But even Aslan's sacrifice on a huge stone table (not a cross; and performed with a stone knife, Aztec-style), and his subsequent miraculous recovery could have been borrowed from any number of world religions.
It is the book's explanation for this key sequence that makes it exclusively Christian. After Edmund Pevensie betrays Aslan and his brother and sisters, the Witch claims his blood in accordance to the laws of "Deep Magic." Aslan concedes this and offers himself up in proxy, announcing glumly, "I have settled the claim on your brother's blood." Miraculously revived, he explains, "the Witch knew the Deep Magic. But if she could have looked a little further back... she would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
This is Christianity in a kid-lit veil. Like any good sermon, its key points can be traced to Biblical citations here mostly from the Letters of the apostle Paul. Edmund's treachery corresponds to the sins of humanity, which Paul explains is inherently doomed to violate God's Law ("The Deep Magic"). Because of this violation, writes Paul in Romans, humans are literally owned by Satan ("slaves of the one whom you obey"); and "the wages of sin is death." The idea that Aslan, because he is sinless, can voluntarily pay for Edmund's blood with his own, is the powerful Christian doctrine of blood atonement, developed from texts like the First Letter of Peter: "You know that you were ransomed... with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." Like Christ's, Aslan's resurrection is inevitable ("If Christ has not been raised, then ... our faith is in vain," Paul writes in First Corinthians.) And it conquers not just his death (or as Aslan would say, causes it to move backwards) but that of all believers, who will also see resurrection. Paul rejoices: "Death is swallowed up in victory... O death, where is thy sting?"
In The Lion, Aslan and Lucy Pevensie celebrate with a "mad" game of tag. Gibson's The Passion of the Christ magnified one fraction of the Atonement/Resurrection storyChrist's suffering into a two hour movie. By contrast, Lewis packed the two huge ideas into a few lines at the brief hinge moment of his plot. But the same electric current than charged The Passion runs through them. What the Lion's filmmakers do with the charming storytelling that surrounds them is theologically optional. But if these key ideas are muddled, the film may be a classic, but never a Christian classic. And its revenues, large as they may be, will reflect that.
So says Walden Media President Micheal Flaherty, who's feeling the heat to get The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe exactly right. But Flaherty promises audiences a "fantastic, faithful adaptation."
Read More...
The Lion, the Witch, the Faithful
"This is a huge roll of the dice for Disney and Walden," said "Narnia" producer Mark Johnson. "But the payoff could be enormous."
Walt Disney Studios is hoping that the same kind of church-based campaign that helped turn "The Passion of the Christ" into a blockbuster will convert C.S. Lewis' children's classic "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" into a big-screen franchise — with "Lion King"-sized profits.
Read more...
How to Tell if The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a Christian Film (from Time.com)
Whether four sentences from the C.S. Lewis book make it onto the big screen will make a big difference
By DAVID VAN BIEMA
The White Witch: "That human creature is mine. His life is forfeit to me. His blood is my property."
Aslan (later) : "The Witch knew the Deep Magic. But if she could have looked a little further back... she would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards." from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis
Earlier this month, Disney ran the first test screening of its December release, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe in a California theater. The existence of a screenable print constitutes a kind of opening bell for two questions regarding its content.The answer to the first, "Is it any good as a movie?" will be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Disney and its co-producer, Walden Media and will only be known later this year when the box office comes in.
The second, more intriguing question, "Has it reproduced the Christian character of C.S. Lewis's book?" could also be worth tens of millions if it inspires Passion of the Christ-style repeat viewings by conservative Christians. And the answer could lie in whether the four sentences above, which constitute a kind of evangelical sniff test make it into the film. (A Disney spokesperson said that since he had not attended the screening and that there is not yet a final cut, he could not verify whether it contains the lines, but promised that "the movie is going to be as faithful to the book as possible.")
Lewis always insisted that his seven Narnia books were not a point-by- point Christian allegory. Much of The Lion, the Witch owes more to English folktales or Norse and classical myth than to the New Testament. The passage of the four Pevensie children through the magic closet into a world laboring under a spell of eternal winter is not Christian, nor are the cruel white witch, talking animals, centaurs, and even a duo of Roman gods who inhabit it. True, the description of the redeeming figure of the lion Aslan as "the Son the Great Emperor-Beyond-the- Sea" is a big hint. But even Aslan's sacrifice on a huge stone table (not a cross; and performed with a stone knife, Aztec-style), and his subsequent miraculous recovery could have been borrowed from any number of world religions.
It is the book's explanation for this key sequence that makes it exclusively Christian. After Edmund Pevensie betrays Aslan and his brother and sisters, the Witch claims his blood in accordance to the laws of "Deep Magic." Aslan concedes this and offers himself up in proxy, announcing glumly, "I have settled the claim on your brother's blood." Miraculously revived, he explains, "the Witch knew the Deep Magic. But if she could have looked a little further back... she would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
This is Christianity in a kid-lit veil. Like any good sermon, its key points can be traced to Biblical citations here mostly from the Letters of the apostle Paul. Edmund's treachery corresponds to the sins of humanity, which Paul explains is inherently doomed to violate God's Law ("The Deep Magic"). Because of this violation, writes Paul in Romans, humans are literally owned by Satan ("slaves of the one whom you obey"); and "the wages of sin is death." The idea that Aslan, because he is sinless, can voluntarily pay for Edmund's blood with his own, is the powerful Christian doctrine of blood atonement, developed from texts like the First Letter of Peter: "You know that you were ransomed... with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." Like Christ's, Aslan's resurrection is inevitable ("If Christ has not been raised, then ... our faith is in vain," Paul writes in First Corinthians.) And it conquers not just his death (or as Aslan would say, causes it to move backwards) but that of all believers, who will also see resurrection. Paul rejoices: "Death is swallowed up in victory... O death, where is thy sting?"
In The Lion, Aslan and Lucy Pevensie celebrate with a "mad" game of tag. Gibson's The Passion of the Christ magnified one fraction of the Atonement/Resurrection storyChrist's suffering into a two hour movie. By contrast, Lewis packed the two huge ideas into a few lines at the brief hinge moment of his plot. But the same electric current than charged The Passion runs through them. What the Lion's filmmakers do with the charming storytelling that surrounds them is theologically optional. But if these key ideas are muddled, the film may be a classic, but never a Christian classic. And its revenues, large as they may be, will reflect that.
Saturday
Yes, I'm still here
It's been a fairly busy week, y'all. 10 days ago we learned that a person I've known for over 6 years but strictly through a couple of Christian e-mail discussion groups was evacuated from her southeast Texas home, and that she and her friend were on the verge of leaving the home in northeast Texas where they were holed up. They needed a place to stay and yet had nowhere to go. They were looking west towards Tyler, TX. Because she anticipated being offline for an unknown period of time and did not want to be utterly out of contact or un-locatable, she gave the friend's cell phone number.
We read the post and knew we were being tapped by God to provide lodging for these two friends. And so it was that 9 days ago our house became a home to 2 more people.
It has been a fascinating journey. Of particular note and satisfaction has been watching this man re-discover faith. He showed up 9 days ago with a haunted, hunted kind of look. I have just watched as God has softened his heart and re-made a home there. We've had several conversations and I have spent a lot of time just listening and asking open-ended, leading questions. And God is moving in this guy's heart.
They have connected with the local AA folks since they are both recovering alcoholics. They have attended church and feel a strong attraction to it. They've secured an apartment through the local AA connections here but now need to fill it with furnishings as wide as pots, pans and dishes, couch, table, chairs, beds, dressers. Unfortunately, Rita and Trina before her have nearly emptied out the pool of available resources like that. Our friends will probably go to southeast Texas to salvage what they can from their previous home. (If you are so inclined you are welcome to make a donation towards their needs sent to CTK.)
There is much God has yet to do in their lives - as there is in mine or yours - but it has been very satisfying to see God use our few loaves and fishes' worth of ministry efforts to impact these two lives.
We read the post and knew we were being tapped by God to provide lodging for these two friends. And so it was that 9 days ago our house became a home to 2 more people.
It has been a fascinating journey. Of particular note and satisfaction has been watching this man re-discover faith. He showed up 9 days ago with a haunted, hunted kind of look. I have just watched as God has softened his heart and re-made a home there. We've had several conversations and I have spent a lot of time just listening and asking open-ended, leading questions. And God is moving in this guy's heart.
They have connected with the local AA folks since they are both recovering alcoholics. They have attended church and feel a strong attraction to it. They've secured an apartment through the local AA connections here but now need to fill it with furnishings as wide as pots, pans and dishes, couch, table, chairs, beds, dressers. Unfortunately, Rita and Trina before her have nearly emptied out the pool of available resources like that. Our friends will probably go to southeast Texas to salvage what they can from their previous home. (If you are so inclined you are welcome to make a donation towards their needs sent to CTK.)
There is much God has yet to do in their lives - as there is in mine or yours - but it has been very satisfying to see God use our few loaves and fishes' worth of ministry efforts to impact these two lives.
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