Tuesday Tome - Grace for the Afflicted

This is a book I will be reading with several others from my church in the months ahead. I'm looking forward to gaining new insights from the reading and from our discussions.

Grace for the Afflicted: A Clinical and Biblical Perspective on Mental Illness
by Matthew S. Stanford

Publisher's description...
Each day men and women diagnosed with mental disorders are told they need to pray more and turn from their sin. Mental illness is equated with demonic possession, weak faith and generational sin.

Why is it that the church has struggled in ministering to those with mental illnesses? As both a church leader and professor of psychology and neuroscience, Michael S. Stanford has seen far too many mentally ill brothers and sisters damaged by well meaning believers who respond to them out of fear or misinformation rather than grace.  

Grace for the Afflicted is written to educate Christians about mental illness from both biblical and scientific perspectives. Stanford presents insights into our physical and spiritual nature and discusses the appropriate role of psychology and psychiatry in the life of the believer. Describing common mental disorders, Stanford asks of each: "What does science say and what does the Bible say about this illness?"

Monday Music: Tatiana Parra - "Timidez"

Last week I posted a virtuosic vocal piece from Tatiana Parra. This week a nice pop song. I love the arrangement and the Portuguese language is so musical.

CLICK HERE OR ON IMAGE TO PLAY


Translation...
My shyness
Distance Dreams
And once again it's like this.
A contained gesture, a confused sign
Just because
I do not know how 
to tell you how I feel

A blue night
So many thoughts
What will I do to make you notice?
Eyes light up as I see you approach.
A shy smile
That you did not know how to see

Such shyness
Dreams so far
And once again it was so
Gestures so contained by confusing signs
Just because
I could not tell you how much I know you feel

Another blue night
So many thoughts
What else do you notice?
Eyes light up again to worship you

A shy smile
What do you finally see?
And you smile at me like that
Light up the look for me

So much to speak
Everything comes at once
But how to say?
Shyness

Sunday Supplication - Shaped & Guided

Almighty God, we know that without your grace we are powerless to help ourselves. We ask you to help us in heart, mind, and body as we seek to be your people. Save us from all those things threaten and tempt us in our bodies, and from all evil thoughts that hurt us in mind and spirit.

Forgive us our sins. Help us die to ourselves and live through you. Make us willing and able to forgive others as you have forgiven us. Help us to think, speak, and act in ways that restore lives, nurture relationships, create peace, and bring honor to you.

Thank you, O God, for salvation and life through Christ. Help us to surrender fully to you and to follow Jesus with whole hearts. Help us to know Jesus––to love him, to understand him, to honor him,
and to draw near to him––so that our lives are completely shaped and guided by him.

It is in His Saving Name that we pray these things. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Best Interests

"Good question. Yes, we have your best interests at heart."

Friday Faves - Gaffigan: Cinco

I watched this last week. Gaffigan is a funny, funny man. Watch it on Netflix.

CLICK HERE or on image above to watch a short clip.

Thursday Thinking - Dissolving Social Barriers

Richard Beck recently posted some insights about grace he has gleaned from Paul and the Gift by John M. G. Barclay. For instance...

We tend to miss the radical social implications of Paul's message of grace. We moderns tend to make grace a personal and psychological experience: I feel grateful because God loves me, an unworthy sinner.

But in Paul's context the message of incongruous grace--God gives gifts to the unworthy--blew up the entire ancient way of thinking about social relationships.

In short, rather than creating an internal, private experience grace creates a new social imagination and reality.

According to Paul, in the light of grace all previous cultural standards of significance and worth--how we divide up the winners and losers in any society--are dissolved and eradicated.

Grace is an acid that dissolves the social barriers that separate the winners from the losers.

Read Beck's complete post at Experimental Theology

Wednesday Words - Joyful, Joyful

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
hearts unfold like flowers before Thee,
Opening to the Sun above,
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy surround Thee,
earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
stars and angels sing around Thee,
center of unbroken praise:
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
Flowery meadow, flashing sea,
chanting bird and flowing fountain,
call us to rejoice in Thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving,
ever blessing, ever blest,
well-spring of the joy of living,
ocean-depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother,—
all who live in love are Thine:
Teach us how to love each other,
lift us to the Joy Divine.

Mortals join the mighty chorus,
which the morning stars began;
Father-love is reigning o'er us,
brother-love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward,
victors in the midst of strife;
joyful music lifts us sunward
in the triumph song of life.

"Joyful, Joyful" by Hen­ry J. van Dyke (1907), first pub­lished in the Pres­by­ter­i­an Hymn­al in 1911, also in the Po­ems of Hen­ry van Dyke, 1911.

Click Here for a Dave Burkum song using this text.

Tuesday Tome - A Diary of Private Prayer

A few days ago I shared a prayer from this book for my "Wednesday Words" post. The prayer was brought to my attention by my friend Steve Ginader who saw it posted along the path in a woodland garden in New Zealand. He sent me a picture of the garden placard, which prompted me to look for the author of the prayer and the book it came from.

I found a nice hardcover edition of the book and Cheri and I plan to add it to our coffee times in March. The book has a morning and evening prayer for each day of the month.

A Diary of Private Prayer
by John Baillie

Publisher's description...
Editor Susanna Wright offers this updated edition of a Christian devotional classic—invoking the daily prayers and timeless imagery of the original text through modern, accessible language.

In this wonderful collection, famed theologian Dr. John Baillie shares personal prayers for people who are seeking a better understanding of God and themselves. Organized by morning and evening—with special prayers for Sundays—A Diary of Private Prayer is written with eloquence, piety, and directness. Blending praise and meditative thoughts about God with a concern for the social and individual good, these daily invocations help and inspire us to search our inner selves and find the deep religious beliefs that lie within.

First published in 1936, A Diary of Private Prayer remains a seminal Christian devotional with more than a million copies in print. This modern edition—completely redesigned into a gift package—admirably preserves all the qualities of the original, ensuring that the wisdom of God and the wonder of Baillie’s prayers remain accessible for many generations to come.

About the Author...
John Baillie was a teacher, lecturer, preacher, and author of many books, including Christian Devotion, The Place of Jesus Christ in Modern Christianity, and A Diary of Readings. He held academic posts in the UK, the US, and Canada; was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and President of the World Council of Churches. He died in 1960.

Monday Music - Tatiana Parra & Vardan Ovsepian

This is simply amazing!

CLICK HERE OR ON IMAGE

Sunday Supplication - Steadfast Faith

O God, we are so thankful for your mercy. Please be gracious to us when we go astray from your ways. Bring us back to you. Give us humble hearts and steadfast faith. Teach us to hold fast to the unchangeable truth of your Word. Help us to follow Jesus Christ your Son.

Forgive us our sins. Renew us by your Spirit. Show us how to act, think, and live as Christ. And as you have forgiven us, make us merciful and ready to forgive those who have sinned against us.

Renew us, O Lord, and save us from the things that afflict us. Give us the strength to persevere, and give us hope as we cling to your promises. Forgive us our sins and deliver us from evil.

Make us vessels of your grace in a weary world. And as we are surrounded by so much suffering and hate, we ask you to make us a testimony of your saving and transforming love.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Wait a Minute

Friday Faves - Old Orchard Tart Cherry Juice

I've been living on Old Orchard Tart Cherry Juice all week. Trying to get lots of liquids while fighting illness. This stuff is great hot or cold or in tea or diluted with water. Delicious.

OLD ORCHARD TART CHERRY
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Features:

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Thursday Thinking - Why Culture Matters

WHY CULTURE MATTERS: TIM KELLER
People of faith differ on how much concern we should pay to the culture at hand, questioning what good can we really do engaging in a broken world. Can we really make a significant difference? Does God share these concerns? Every generation must answer these questions in the same way creatives, artisans, industry and civic leaders have done for two millennia. Tim Keller, New York Times Bestselling Author and Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City provides a fundamental perspective on why culture matters to God and therefore must matter to us.

Wednesday Words - Creator Spirit

Creator Spirit, who broodest everlastingly
over the lands and waters of the earth,
enduing them with forms and colors
which no human skill can copy,
give me today, I beseech Thee,
the mind and heart to rejoice in Thy creation.

Forbid that I should walk through
Thy beautiful world with unseeing eyes:
Forbid that the lure of the market-place
should ever entirely steal my heart away
from the love of the open acres and the green trees:
Forbid that under the low roof of workshop or office or study
I should ever forget Thy great overarching sky:
Forbid that when all Thy creatures are greeting
the morning with songs and shouts of joy,
I alone should wear a dull and sullen face:
Let the energy and vigor which in Thy wisdom
Thou has infused into every living thing
stir today within my being,
that I may not be among Thy creatures
as a sluggard and a drone:
And above all give me grace to use
these beauties of earth without me
and this eager stirring of life within me
 as a means whereby my soul may rise
from creature to Creator,
and from nature to nature’s God.

O thou whose divine tenderness doth ever outsoar
the narrow loves and charities of Earth,
grant me today a kind and gentle heart
towards all things that live.
Let me not ruthlessly hurt any creature of thine.
Let me take thought also for the welfare of little children,
and of those who are sick, and of the poor;
remembering that what I do unto the least of these His brethren
I do unto Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

"Thirtieth Day: Morning - Creator Spirit" by John Baillee, A Diary of Private Prayer.