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.
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.
Monday
Evacuee Report 2
We are very blessed, both in the track of the storm which avoided Kingwood, in the reports that other than some branches down, our home is fine, and in the place God arranged in advance for us to land. Though it took a long time to get here on Wednesday and Thursday, we are in a wonderful place. Tulsa is a lovely town, Redeemer Covenant is a really great church full of wonderful people, and Jim and Debbie Consedine couldn't be nicer hosts.
The "Bringing my World to Christ" seminar is going very well - we wrap up tonight - and it has been a treat to share this weekend with Ed Delgado, the Covenant's new Director of Evangelism and Prayer. Ed is here to observe and learn how evangelism has been taught in The Covenant over the last 15 years as he strategizes for the future.
And - as if we need icing on this cake - a church member has made connections and arrangements for Ed and me to have a private screening of the soon to be released film (January 2006) "End of the Spear". Here is a link to the trailer. Long-time readers of this blog know how passionate I am about this film. (See posts on 3/17 and 8/12).
The "Bringing my World to Christ" seminar is going very well - we wrap up tonight - and it has been a treat to share this weekend with Ed Delgado, the Covenant's new Director of Evangelism and Prayer. Ed is here to observe and learn how evangelism has been taught in The Covenant over the last 15 years as he strategizes for the future.
And - as if we need icing on this cake - a church member has made connections and arrangements for Ed and me to have a private screening of the soon to be released film (January 2006) "End of the Spear". Here is a link to the trailer. Long-time readers of this blog know how passionate I am about this film. (See posts on 3/17 and 8/12).
Thursday
Evacuee Report 1
If you made the trip or know someone who did, or even if you just saw the freeway shots from Houston, then you know what it was: 50 miles in 5 hours before we were able to break onto a minor road and off the main freeways. We left at 11:15 pm and were bumper to bumper the main part of 5 hours to Livingston TX. Then we cut off and went to Onalaska and turned towards Trinity, Palestine and Athens. By 10 AM we were in the Dallas environs. The whole experience gave me some compassion for the whole refugee experience world-wide and more recently out of Katrina's wake.
It was like the Runaway Scrape all over again.
As I drove into Oklahoma today I had the music of Rogers and Hammerstein in my head - but more authentically, the music of Woody Guthrie (as I learned it from a Michael Parks LP called "Closing the Gap" in the late 60s or early 70s:
Many years have come and gone
Since I wandered from my home
In those Oklahoma hills where I was born.
Many a page of life I've turned,
Many a lesson I have learned;
And I find that in those hills I do belong.
'Way down yonder in the Indian Nation
Ridin' my pony on the reservation,
Oklahoma hills where I was born.
'Way down yonder in the Indian Nation,
A cowboy's life is my occupation,
Oklahoma hills where I was born.
It was like the Runaway Scrape all over again.
As I drove into Oklahoma today I had the music of Rogers and Hammerstein in my head - but more authentically, the music of Woody Guthrie (as I learned it from a Michael Parks LP called "Closing the Gap" in the late 60s or early 70s:
Many years have come and gone
Since I wandered from my home
In those Oklahoma hills where I was born.
Many a page of life I've turned,
Many a lesson I have learned;
And I find that in those hills I do belong.
'Way down yonder in the Indian Nation
Ridin' my pony on the reservation,
Oklahoma hills where I was born.
'Way down yonder in the Indian Nation,
A cowboy's life is my occupation,
Oklahoma hills where I was born.
Wednesday
Here we go...
OK, readers, my family and I are about to become hurricane evacuees. I'm leaving work in a few minutes and we anticipate driving north to Tulsa around 10 pm or midnight tonight. Pray for us; pray for our home and region; and pray for our church. I'll check in with you from Tulsa.
Rita Update #2
The plan now is that the kids and Alicia are coming to Tulsa with me. We're leaving Thursday and since I'll be teaching through Monday evening, the earliest we can come back is Tuesday. Humble ISD has cancelled school Thursday and Friday. I've set up a blog called CTK RITA to communcate with our church members and friends the impact this is all having on our church calendar and schedule.
Tuesday
...and now, Rita...
...and I don't mean the lovely meter maid.
Rita's anticipated to be cat 4 when she makes landfall. As luck would have it, I will be in Tulsa for a weekend teaching evangelism at Redeemer Covenant, accompanied by the new Director of Prayer and Evangelism, Ed Delgado. But Alicia and the kiddos are making plans to evacuate to Dallas for the weekend.
Rita's anticipated to be cat 4 when she makes landfall. As luck would have it, I will be in Tulsa for a weekend teaching evangelism at Redeemer Covenant, accompanied by the new Director of Prayer and Evangelism, Ed Delgado. But Alicia and the kiddos are making plans to evacuate to Dallas for the weekend.
Thursday
John Mark Reynolds on yesterday's pledge ruling
Excerpt:
I will not swear absolute allegiance to the state. I view the "under God" clause as making the same point as the Declaration of Independence. It limits more than it affirms. My rights do not come from the state. They come from the Creator. The state cannot take away what it did not give. My allegiance to the state is qualified. My obedience will be limited by the laws of Nature and of Nature's God.
Read more...
I will not swear absolute allegiance to the state. I view the "under God" clause as making the same point as the Declaration of Independence. It limits more than it affirms. My rights do not come from the state. They come from the Creator. The state cannot take away what it did not give. My allegiance to the state is qualified. My obedience will be limited by the laws of Nature and of Nature's God.
Read more...
Wednesday
Three27
This post's title comes from Proverbs 3:27 - a verse Alicia and I memorized almost 20 years ago.
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it."
We've always understood that verse as a call to all kinds of good, including the giving of public thanks to those who have in many different ways given to and blessed us.
When my dear friend and mentor Jim Russell finished his earthly race 2 weeks ago today, I wrote a post remembering him and how his faith and love had blessed me over the last 19 years. Since then I have missed him and wished for one more chance to verbalize my appreciation one last time. I especially missed Jim when Jerry and Michaella sent me a copy of the worship folder from the Memorial Service, and again when I read Terry Mattingly's column about Jim.
I had been thinking this past week, perhaps I should dedicate a few blog posts to talking about the other people who have had the most significant impact in my life.
So I've started a new blog called three27.blogspot.com to honor and give thanks for those people through whom God's greatest blessings have flowed to me.
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it."
We've always understood that verse as a call to all kinds of good, including the giving of public thanks to those who have in many different ways given to and blessed us.
When my dear friend and mentor Jim Russell finished his earthly race 2 weeks ago today, I wrote a post remembering him and how his faith and love had blessed me over the last 19 years. Since then I have missed him and wished for one more chance to verbalize my appreciation one last time. I especially missed Jim when Jerry and Michaella sent me a copy of the worship folder from the Memorial Service, and again when I read Terry Mattingly's column about Jim.
I had been thinking this past week, perhaps I should dedicate a few blog posts to talking about the other people who have had the most significant impact in my life.
So I've started a new blog called three27.blogspot.com to honor and give thanks for those people through whom God's greatest blessings have flowed to me.
Tuesday
Offspring of the Passion
Excerpts:
"I think religion or spirituality in the modern era tends to be treated almost the way sex was treated in the 1950s: If you just watched our movies, you wouldn't even know it's part of our culture, and I wanted to write something that wasn't propaganda, wasn't trying to persuade people to think the way that I do, but to recognize the fundamental importance of those essential questions: Does the spiritual realm exist? Is there a Devil, and more importantly, Is there a God, and if so, what are the implications of that? I don't care what you believe, those are questions tobe reckoned with."
. . . . . .
"I think if you go all the way back to Augustine via Plato, there's always been a sort of antipathy in the Church toward the arts, a fear or suspicion, and I think that much of the hostility between Hollywood and Christian audiences has been more on the side of Christian audiences than it has on Hollywood's."
Read more...
"I think religion or spirituality in the modern era tends to be treated almost the way sex was treated in the 1950s: If you just watched our movies, you wouldn't even know it's part of our culture, and I wanted to write something that wasn't propaganda, wasn't trying to persuade people to think the way that I do, but to recognize the fundamental importance of those essential questions: Does the spiritual realm exist? Is there a Devil, and more importantly, Is there a God, and if so, what are the implications of that? I don't care what you believe, those are questions tobe reckoned with."
. . . . . .
"I think if you go all the way back to Augustine via Plato, there's always been a sort of antipathy in the Church toward the arts, a fear or suspicion, and I think that much of the hostility between Hollywood and Christian audiences has been more on the side of Christian audiences than it has on Hollywood's."
Read more...
Sunday
Sunday Notes
• Mark Senechal has discerned God's voice calling him to remain at CTK. All of us are thankful.
• The Dateline NBC filming went well on Friday night. Watch for it on Monday evening. There was a follow up to the content of the Friday night interview, which I am sure will be aired along with it - it's a happy ending and we all need to hear one of those.
• The brother of Darryl, who is part of the family interviewed by Dateline, has a houseful of displaced friends. Danny and his wife moved here from NOLA only 2 months ago. There are 17 under their roof. 3 of those families decided to rent the house across the street. So yesterday was a day of helping them connect with people who have beds, appliances and furniture.
• I am taking to heart the wise counsel of my friend Paul Knight, pastor of Hope Covenant in Grand Forks, ND, where floods and fire ravaged the town back in 1997. Paul wrote:
I would also encourage you all to pray for the relief workers and pastors. I absolutely loved the ministry going on during the flood and afterward. I was reveling in the adrenaline and hopefully some the power of the Holy Spirit. God was clearly giving us opportunity. However, about 1 1/2 later I nearly crashed my ministry and spiritual life -- I did not take care of my heart or spirit. A fatique so deep set into my life that I didn't care about anything........... My counselor walked me through deep waters. A disaster of this magnitude is a long-term opportunity for recovery -- where the pastors and workers will need to drink deeply from the fresh waters of the Holy Spirit.
Good Words. Thanks, Paul. As I said to him in a note yesterday:
You probably remember the addictive rush that one gets when in the thick of this kind of ministry. Friday and Saturday are my days off and between them I worked more hours than I want to admit. At CTK we track our hours and are careful to take comp days, but still, it is important to be reminded of how we sometimes try to save the world and lose our soul. Thanks for calling me back.
• The Dateline NBC filming went well on Friday night. Watch for it on Monday evening. There was a follow up to the content of the Friday night interview, which I am sure will be aired along with it - it's a happy ending and we all need to hear one of those.
• The brother of Darryl, who is part of the family interviewed by Dateline, has a houseful of displaced friends. Danny and his wife moved here from NOLA only 2 months ago. There are 17 under their roof. 3 of those families decided to rent the house across the street. So yesterday was a day of helping them connect with people who have beds, appliances and furniture.
• I am taking to heart the wise counsel of my friend Paul Knight, pastor of Hope Covenant in Grand Forks, ND, where floods and fire ravaged the town back in 1997. Paul wrote:
I would also encourage you all to pray for the relief workers and pastors. I absolutely loved the ministry going on during the flood and afterward. I was reveling in the adrenaline and hopefully some the power of the Holy Spirit. God was clearly giving us opportunity. However, about 1 1/2 later I nearly crashed my ministry and spiritual life -- I did not take care of my heart or spirit. A fatique so deep set into my life that I didn't care about anything........... My counselor walked me through deep waters. A disaster of this magnitude is a long-term opportunity for recovery -- where the pastors and workers will need to drink deeply from the fresh waters of the Holy Spirit.
Good Words. Thanks, Paul. As I said to him in a note yesterday:
You probably remember the addictive rush that one gets when in the thick of this kind of ministry. Friday and Saturday are my days off and between them I worked more hours than I want to admit. At CTK we track our hours and are careful to take comp days, but still, it is important to be reminded of how we sometimes try to save the world and lose our soul. Thanks for calling me back.
Friday
Getting Intense
I had hoped to be in Michigan by this time, to remember and give thanks for my friend Jim. But it could be I was supposed to be here to keep efforts moving on Hurricane relief.
Things are ramping up as people realize what a huge challenge lies before Houston in caring for the people displaced by Katrina. This situation is going to get bigger faster and stay here longer than anyone can imagine, and it is taking a while for infrastructure to get in place. I suspect we will all be doing ministry 2 weeks from now bigger than we can imagine ourselves doing now.
A CTK family will be featured on Dateline NBC Monday evening. The producer just left and the filming will occur here tonight.
Keep checking the church website for our most comprehensive news.
Things are ramping up as people realize what a huge challenge lies before Houston in caring for the people displaced by Katrina. This situation is going to get bigger faster and stay here longer than anyone can imagine, and it is taking a while for infrastructure to get in place. I suspect we will all be doing ministry 2 weeks from now bigger than we can imagine ourselves doing now.
A CTK family will be featured on Dateline NBC Monday evening. The producer just left and the filming will occur here tonight.
Keep checking the church website for our most comprehensive news.
Thursday
CTK Responds to Katrina
Please see the CTK website to learn what is happening in Houston as we repsond to the Hurricane Katrina situation and thousands of displaced families. There may even be a way you can help, wherever you are.
Wednesday
Crossing the finish line
About 5 years ago I wrote an annotated list of the dozen most influential men in my life. Among their number was Jim Russell. Jim crossed the finish line earlier today and was welcomed in the embrace of his master Jesus. For him I rejoice; but for all of us who knew him well, he will leave a large whole in our lives and hearts.
Jim had been a Marine in his younger years and later settled in Lansing, MI where he worked in sales for years before establishing RBF Inc. nearly 40 years ago. RBF was and is an extraordinarily strong Business Forms company and formed the foundation for remarkable success and financial rewards for Jim. But his greatest influence (other than his 57 year marriage to Phyllis and their five children) was the way his faith in Christ found expression through the AMY Foundation. Named for their youngest daughter, a beautiful young woman with Downs Syndrome, the AMY Foundation became first a vehicle to support missions work and Bible Education, then to become the sponsor of the AMY Foundation Writing Awards program, which rapidly became the largest and most popular writing awards program in American journalism - and also the largest cash award in journalism prizes. First place winners take home the top $10,000 of a pool of $34,000 in awards given to writers who present the biblical perspective in issues facing the world today. Writers like Cal Thomas and Richard John Neuhaus are counted among the top prize winners.
After the AMY Writing Awards, Jim went on to establish the Church Writing Group Movement and the Pen and Sword Newsletter for writers, the book "Awakening the Giant" (Zondervan, 1996) and the AMY Pastor Awards. I was blessed to be counted among the 15 recipients of the AMY Pastor Award.
Jim was the first person I met from Bretton Woods Covenant Church in Lansing. A member of the search committee, he was going to be out of town in Dallas the weekend I visited to candidate at BWCC, and since I lived in Dallas at the time, we arranged to meet for dinner.
The man I met that evening was gentle and soft-spoken, but filled with the Holy Spirit and passionate about impacting the nation and world for Christ. How often he and I shared breakfasts at Pat's Pantry, where I would be the recipient of his love and wisdom for a solid hour. How generously he shared his wisdom and insight with me. How affirming he was of my ministry.
In the 12 years since I left Lansing, Jim and I stayed in touch several times a year - but now I wish we'd spoken more. Whenever I communicated with Jim, be it by phone or e-mail, I walked away feeling loved, valued, and significant - and a little bit stronger in my faith.
Heaven is the wealthier today and earth the poorer. But we will meet again.
Jim had been a Marine in his younger years and later settled in Lansing, MI where he worked in sales for years before establishing RBF Inc. nearly 40 years ago. RBF was and is an extraordinarily strong Business Forms company and formed the foundation for remarkable success and financial rewards for Jim. But his greatest influence (other than his 57 year marriage to Phyllis and their five children) was the way his faith in Christ found expression through the AMY Foundation. Named for their youngest daughter, a beautiful young woman with Downs Syndrome, the AMY Foundation became first a vehicle to support missions work and Bible Education, then to become the sponsor of the AMY Foundation Writing Awards program, which rapidly became the largest and most popular writing awards program in American journalism - and also the largest cash award in journalism prizes. First place winners take home the top $10,000 of a pool of $34,000 in awards given to writers who present the biblical perspective in issues facing the world today. Writers like Cal Thomas and Richard John Neuhaus are counted among the top prize winners.
After the AMY Writing Awards, Jim went on to establish the Church Writing Group Movement and the Pen and Sword Newsletter for writers, the book "Awakening the Giant" (Zondervan, 1996) and the AMY Pastor Awards. I was blessed to be counted among the 15 recipients of the AMY Pastor Award.
Jim was the first person I met from Bretton Woods Covenant Church in Lansing. A member of the search committee, he was going to be out of town in Dallas the weekend I visited to candidate at BWCC, and since I lived in Dallas at the time, we arranged to meet for dinner.
The man I met that evening was gentle and soft-spoken, but filled with the Holy Spirit and passionate about impacting the nation and world for Christ. How often he and I shared breakfasts at Pat's Pantry, where I would be the recipient of his love and wisdom for a solid hour. How generously he shared his wisdom and insight with me. How affirming he was of my ministry.
In the 12 years since I left Lansing, Jim and I stayed in touch several times a year - but now I wish we'd spoken more. Whenever I communicated with Jim, be it by phone or e-mail, I walked away feeling loved, valued, and significant - and a little bit stronger in my faith.
Heaven is the wealthier today and earth the poorer. But we will meet again.
Responding to Katrina
Christ the King is becoming a responder to the Hurricane, and I am the staff liaison. There are huge needs in Houston - all the folks who were in the Superdome are coming to the Astrodome and there are already thousands of displaced families here. We will be hosting families here on site as well as coordinating other needs.
The biggest need we have is for cards that can be redeemed at grocery stores (Kroger is probably the only national chain here - other Texas stores are Randall's and HEB), gas stations and Wal-Marts. If you'd like to help, you can mail those cards to:
Hurricane Relief
Christ the King
3803 W Lake Houston Parkway
Kingwood TX 77339
attn Rick
The biggest need we have is for cards that can be redeemed at grocery stores (Kroger is probably the only national chain here - other Texas stores are Randall's and HEB), gas stations and Wal-Marts. If you'd like to help, you can mail those cards to:
Hurricane Relief
Christ the King
3803 W Lake Houston Parkway
Kingwood TX 77339
attn Rick
Tuesday
A Passion for the call of God
I am so impressed with the way this body goes about discerning the call of God. Here's a church in Illinois that is seeking a Director of Worship. After several calls to a guy who clearly says "I'm not interested in moving, thank you", they finally ask "Will you at least consent to a phone interview?". He agrees to this and they have a profitable conversation.
Then this gutsy search committee decides sight unseen, having never heard his voice lead worship nor his other ministry skills in action, knowing him only by reputation and over the phone, decides to recommend him to the church board - who then recommend him to the congregation - who then vote to extend a call to him sight unseen.
He now senses that this may in fact be God's hand and makes plans to go meet the church and spend a weekend with them. And in his heart a stirring is awakened for some of what he has learned about them, which is in some ways reinforced during his visit.
Meanwhile back home here, the day after his return, a meeting is planned here - but not a meeting to persuade him to stay, though that is the obvious desire of every person attending. Instead it is a prayer meeting focused on God's majesty and greatness, the calling power of the Holy Spirit, and the need for workers in the Lord's field.
There is an understanding of the sovreignty of God and a yieldedness to His will. There is none of this nonsense about a church professional being an employee. There is such a sense of health here that I have never experienced before. It gives me hope.
I have placed my desires before the Lord. But I am fully at peace regartding the outcome.
Then this gutsy search committee decides sight unseen, having never heard his voice lead worship nor his other ministry skills in action, knowing him only by reputation and over the phone, decides to recommend him to the church board - who then recommend him to the congregation - who then vote to extend a call to him sight unseen.
He now senses that this may in fact be God's hand and makes plans to go meet the church and spend a weekend with them. And in his heart a stirring is awakened for some of what he has learned about them, which is in some ways reinforced during his visit.
Meanwhile back home here, the day after his return, a meeting is planned here - but not a meeting to persuade him to stay, though that is the obvious desire of every person attending. Instead it is a prayer meeting focused on God's majesty and greatness, the calling power of the Holy Spirit, and the need for workers in the Lord's field.
There is an understanding of the sovreignty of God and a yieldedness to His will. There is none of this nonsense about a church professional being an employee. There is such a sense of health here that I have never experienced before. It gives me hope.
I have placed my desires before the Lord. But I am fully at peace regartding the outcome.
Thursday
Created to be Connected
Christ the King's vision statement is:
Christ the King is a caring community of believers who connect others to life in Jesus Christ.
That idea of "connection" plays a central role for us in everything we do - which is why, for example, our personal evangelism emphasis is re-named "Connecting my World to Christ".
In this weekend's service, the congregation will confess our sins using language that reinforces this connection idea. I don't remember exactly when I wrote these words, but I am pretty sure it was within the last year:
God, you created me for connection.
Connection with you.
Connection with others.
You knew that being connected
would bring me joy,
would bless others,
would glorify your name.
But I spend too much of my life in isolation.
I turn from your invitation to know and trust you.
I turn from opportunities to care for and serve others.
I turn to the self-serving patterns that I have been taught by this sinful world.
In this place, in this moment, Lord,
I am longing to turn back to you.
In the name of Jesus, Forgive my sin and my selfishness. Turn my heart.
Re-connect me to your grace.
Re-connect me to others around me.
Re-connect me to the power of your Holy Spirit,
Who can hold me secure in your love.
Amen.
Christ the King is a caring community of believers who connect others to life in Jesus Christ.
That idea of "connection" plays a central role for us in everything we do - which is why, for example, our personal evangelism emphasis is re-named "Connecting my World to Christ".
In this weekend's service, the congregation will confess our sins using language that reinforces this connection idea. I don't remember exactly when I wrote these words, but I am pretty sure it was within the last year:
God, you created me for connection.
Connection with you.
Connection with others.
You knew that being connected
would bring me joy,
would bless others,
would glorify your name.
But I spend too much of my life in isolation.
I turn from your invitation to know and trust you.
I turn from opportunities to care for and serve others.
I turn to the self-serving patterns that I have been taught by this sinful world.
In this place, in this moment, Lord,
I am longing to turn back to you.
In the name of Jesus, Forgive my sin and my selfishness. Turn my heart.
Re-connect me to your grace.
Re-connect me to others around me.
Re-connect me to the power of your Holy Spirit,
Who can hold me secure in your love.
Amen.
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