AIM: Multichurch training institute

Good message

HT: Pyromaniacs

G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

Fight where it counts...

HT: TC

The uncharted wilderness of mythopoeic imagination...

I have experienced one of those lovely confluences in my reading this week. One of those times when two separate and seemingly unrelated things form a new whole in my little brain. First, here is a lovely quote from David Hicks: 

It has become almost commonplace to divide ancient consciousness thus between the logos and the mythos, but when fully understood, this division is recognized as timeless-- a precondition, as it were, of the human mind. No one exists who does not in some measure possess these complementary defenses against an unintelligible and hostile world.  The mythos represents man's imaginative and, ultimately, spiritual effort to make this world intelligible; the logos sets forth his rational attempt to do the same.  What is not hedged off in the severely symmetrical German garden of reason belongs to the uncharted wilderness of mythopoeic imagination-- well, perhaps not entirely uncharted, for even the most rational man spends most of his life wandering in this wilderness, learning its ways and doing his best to follow whatever rudimentary maps come to hand...
~David Hicks, Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education, p.29

This put me in mind of something recently read by Paul Tripp:

The second thing that distinguished Adam and Eve from the rest of creation [after the fact that we were created to be revelation receivers] was that they were created to be interpreters.  people are meaning-makers; we have been created with the marvelous ability to think.  We are always organizing, interpreting and explaining what is going on inside us and around us...When we say that God designed human beings to be interpreters, we are getting to the heart of why human being do what they do. Our thinking conditions our emotions, our sense of identity, our view of others, our agenda for the solution of our problems, and our willingness to receive counsel from others. That is why we need a framework for generating valid interpretations that help us respond to life appropriately.  only the words of the Creator can give us that framework.
~Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change (Resources for Changing Lives), pp.41, 43

In some mythopoeic way, this gets to the heart of why I teach.  Since we are built to be interpreters, and we search for meaning, it seems important to guide the young in that important search.  What a calling it is to teach! (And what a lovely word: mythopoeic...)

On memorizing Scripture...

HT: TC

Self-absorption and submission pondered...

In visiting with many friends in many places and looking at the struggles they face, I have been struck lately by how universally difficult relationships within Christ's church seem to be in this fallen world.  Why is it our most difficult situations are often not from enemies outside the church, but from brethren within?  As I have been pondering this, I can across this passage in what promises to be an excellent book: Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change (Resources for Changing Lives) by Paul David Tripp. 

In our self-absorbed culture, we need to see the grandeur of this [God's] kingdom.  We cannot shrink it to the size of our needs and desires.  It takes us far beyond our personal situations and relationships. The king came not to make our agendas possible, but to draw us into something more amazing, glorious, and wonderful than we could ever imagine...
~p.4

This left me pondering my own self-absorption, and wondering how many of my relational problems with my brothers and sister in Christ are more a matter of self-absorption and personal agenda than they are matters of the glory of Christ and His kingdom.  Tripp continues:

As we listen to eternity, we realize that the kingdom is about God radically changing people, but not in the self-absorbed sense our culture assumes.  Christ came to break our allegiance to such an atrophied agenda and call us to the one goal worth living for. His kingdom is about the display of his glory and people who are holy. This is the change he came, lived, died, and rose to produce.  This is the life and work he offers us in exchange for the temporal glories we would otherwise pursue.  This kingdom agenda is intended to control our hearts and transform our lives.
~p.5

And as I pondered this, I came across the following video with Randy Alcorn that just seemed to dove-tail with all these thoughts.  The darkest time we experience is the alienation of losing the support and love of our brothers and sisters in Christ, but that is not an excuse for abandoning them and moving on.  There is submission and lack of self-absorption to be learned there.

I will keep pondering these thoughts, and working out my salvation with fear and trembling.  May you be on that same journey, Gentle Reader.


What is the darkest or most difficult experience you have had to date? from Randy Alcorn on Vimeo.


HT: TC

Christ as treasure...

HT: TC

Wrestling, demons and the gospel...

HT: TC

Real men...

HT: TC

Infinite...

This morning I take a break from Mr. Hicks's worthy tome, and share instead something I read in my quiet time this morning.  It brought me up short and found me wanting.  It is a from a book entitled Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions.  The portion of the prayer that really caught my attention this morning said:

Thy blood is the blood of incarnate God, its worth infinite, its value beyond all thought.  Infinite must be the evil and guilt that demands such a price.
Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions p.41

I am only a little part of that "infinite evil", but how often I go through my days without ever a thought to my corruption being the cause of Christ's suffering, or the costliness of my redemption.  But this prayer ends with the hope that gives me a place to stand:

Yet thy compassions yearn over me, thy heart hastens to my rescue, thy love endures my curse, thy mercy bore my deserved stripes.  Let me walk humbly in the lowest depths of humiliation, bathed in thy blood, tender of conscience, triumphing gloriously as an heir of salvation.
~Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions p.41 

May we indeed, Gentle Reader, walk in this way.

Ramadan

Did you know that in three weeks Ramadan begins?  Many around the world will be observing these holy days of Islam. If you are interested in praying for the Muslim world during the 30 days of Ramadan, I suggest this site.  I get their e-mails through Ramadan, and can pray for specific people groups every day during Ramadan.  Join me!

The drama of dogma...

It is...startling to discover how many people...heartily dislike and despise Christianity without having the faintest notion what it is. If you tell them, they cannot believe you. I do not mean that they cannot believe the doctrine: that would be understandable enough, since it takes some believing. I mean that they simply cannot believe that anything so interesting, so exciting and so dramatic can be the orthodox Creed of the Church.
Somehow or other, and with the best intentions, we have shown the world the typical Christian in the likeness of a crashing and rather ill-natured bore-- and this in the Name of One Who assuredly never bored a soul in those thirty-three years during which he passed through the world like a flame.
it is the dogma that is the drama-- not beautiful phrases, nor comforting sentiments, nor vague aspirations to loving-kindness and uplift, nor the promise of something nice after death-- but the terrifying assertion that the same God who made the world lived in the world and passed through the grave and gate of death. Show that to the heathen, and they may not believe it; but at least they may realize that here is something that a man might be glad to believe.
~Dorothy L. Sayers, as quoted in Glimpses of Church History, Issue 246

Death, where is your sting?

Today I read an honest and difficult reflection on our enemy, Death. Sometimes God gives such grace on a death bed. And more often it is nothing but horrific. We sometimes forget that death is our enemy- counter to our creation. Sometimes in the throes of death, we see its ugliness for what it is. As Denise Day Spenser says:

In that moment I realized that the hardness of Michael’s death was a reminder that it is not supposed to be this way. Ever read the first three chapters of Genesis? Man was created for life, not death. But we live in a fallen world, and the cherubim still guard the tree of life with white-hot swords. Our only hope is a Redeemer who has conquered death itself and has risen as he said. He will deliver us to a new world, a world where “there shall be no more curse,” for “…on either side of the river [is] the tree of life…”

What a timely reminder for us who live, that while death looms ahead, we were not created to die, but to live. And it is in Jesus we live and move and have our being in this world and the next.

Dreams...

This morning i had another of those very real dreams-- the ones that come just prior to waking that seem so realistic that it's hard to deal with after you wake. Sometimes they are silly things: I dream I am late for a test in a class I've never attended, or that I am trying to remodel this big house, and keep finding new rooms. I seem to be having lots of these lately. I had to e-mail a cousin after I dreamed of a death in her family. I had to work very hard not to be mad at Dave after I dreamed he had rejected me. And this morning I dreamed about cancer again. Not mine this time, but Dave's. I'm sure Freud or Jung would have a field day with my dreams, but I don't want to get too carried away by them.

I wonder how God built my subconscious mind, anyway. I have not been worried about cancer. But we have been talking about it more lately. And I wonder if Satan sees the opportunity to sneak up on me and instill fear where strong emotion exists. So, I need to be on guard and fight him at every turn. He will not steal my joy.

So, I climb out into the sunlight of the day, from the dark place of this terrible dream into the happy blessings of reality. I read God's word, and remind myself what is true. And I wonder briefly if Satan is demanding me before the throne today. May God give me, and you, Gentle Reader, the grace to prove faithful in such silly trials.

A little Edwards, anyone?

Last weekend, we had a guest teacher at church who spoke about the amazing theologian, Jonathan Edwards. He also preached an excellent sermon during our worship service. You can listen to all the teaching times here. I highly recommend the sermon, entitled "How Can I Know I am Elect?"

Learning a new song...

Dave and I help lead a "gathering hymn" each Sunday at our church. This is usually done with guitar, and with our pianist friend Gregg, and is usually a contemporary hymn used to call everyone to worship and focus our thoughts on the Lord. We are getting ready to teach a new song, and this morning as I sat listening to the bees buzzing in my beautiful pear tree and watched the daffodils sway in the breeze, I found myself contemplating the words. A good sign, I think! I am singing it every day to learn it well, and will start playing it soon and teaching it to my patient dh (who has been dragged into music leadership, and does a lovely job of it.) We have lately been spending a month learning a new hymn, then reviewing familiar ones. Here is the new song for May. You can listen to it by clicking on the link in the title below, then clicking on the recording.

Go Up, My Heart by Horatius Bonar and David Ward

Go up, go up, my heart,
And dwell with God above;
For here you cannot find
A satisfying love.
Don’t set your love upon
These things so stained and dim;
Go up to meet with God,
Take up your love to Him.

Chorus:
Go up, my heart, go up
To the fountain of delights.
Go up, my heart, go up
To the source of all joy, Jesus Christ.

Go up, go up, my heart,
Don’t spend your treasure here:
Ascend above these clouds,
Soar to a higher sphere.
Don’t waste your precious stores
On creature-love below;
To God that wealth belongs,
On Him that wealth bestow.

Sabbath Sentiments

Judge not Christ's love by providences, but by promises. Bless God for shaking off false foundations, for any way whereby He keeps the soul awakened and looking after Christ; better sickness and temptations, than security and superficiality.
~Thomas Wilcox, "Honey Out of the Rock"

Beware of cooling down...

“I have but one request to make, and that is that you will persevere. I implore you to maintain your zeal and never let it go. I urge you never to stop doing the things you did at first, never to leave your first love, never let it be said of you that the things that you did in the first part of your Christian life were better than the things you did in your latter years. Beware of cooling down. All you have to do is to be lazy, and to sit still, and you will soon lose all your zeal. You will soon become another person from what you are now. Oh, don’t think that this is a needless exhortation!”
~ J.C. Ryle
Practical Religion, “Zeal”, 208, 209.

HT: J C Ryle Quotes

As nothing but Thy power doth cut...

The Altar by George Herbert

A broken ALTAR, Lord thy servant rears,
Made of a heart, and cemented with teares:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workmans tool hath touch’d the same
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow’r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy Name:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
O let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctifie this ALTAR to be thine.

(HT: KL)