Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Wednesday Words - Adult Advent Announcement

O Lord,
Let Advent begin again
In us,
Not merely in commercials;
For that first Christmas was not
Simply for children,
But for the
Wise and the strong.
It was
Crowded around that cradle,
With kings kneeling.
Speak to us
Who seek an adult seat this year.
Help us to realize,
As we fill stockings,
Christmas is mainly
For the old folks —
Bent backs
And tired eyes
Need relief and light
A little more.
No wonder
It was grown-ups
Who were the first
To notice
Such a star.

“Adult Advent Announcement” by David A. Redding,
from If I Could Pray Again (1965).

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Tuesday Tome - Soul Keeping

I'm going to be reading through this book with a few friends from church in the months ahead.

Soul Keeping
by John Ortberg

Publisher's Description...
The health of your soul isn’t just a matter of saved or unsaved. It’s the hinge on which the rest of your life hangs. It’s the difference between deep, satisfied spirituality and a restless, dispassionate faith.
In an age of materialism and consumerism that tries to buy its way to happiness, many souls are starved and unhealthy, unsatisfied by false promises of status and wealth. We’ve neglected this eternal part of ourselves, focusing instead on the temporal concerns of the world―and not without consequence.
Bestselling author John Ortberg presents another classic that will help you discover your soul―the most important connection to God there is―and find your way out of the spiritual shallow-lands to true divine depth. With characteristic insight and an accessible story-filled approach, Ortberg brings practicality and relevance to one of Christianity’s most mysterious and neglected topics.

Table of Contents
Foreword by Dr. Henry Cloud
Prologue: The Keeper of the Stream Introduction: Holy Ground

I. What the Soul Is
 1. The Soul Nobody Knows
 2. What Is the Soul?
 3. A Soul-Challenged World
 4. Lost Souls
 5. Sin and the Soul

II. What the Soul Needs
 6. It’s the Nature of the Soul to Need
 7. The Soul Needs a Keeper
 8. The Soul Needs a Center
 9. The Soul Needs a Future
 10. The Soul Needs to Be with God
 11. The Soul Needs Rest
 12. The Soul Needs Freedom
 13. The Soul Needs Blessing
 14. The Soul Needs Satisfaction
 15. The Soul Needs Gratitude

III. The Soul Restored
 16. Dark Night of the Soul
 17. Morning

Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Bible Versions
Sources

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Sunday Supplication - The Light of Your Son

Almighty God, we ask you to help us turn away from sin and darkness, and instead to embrace the light of your Son Jesus Christ who came to live among us in great humility. We look forward to the day when he will come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, and raise us to immortal life.

Help us in this Advent season to honor Jesus in thought, word, and deed.  Help us to follow him and to walk in the light as he is in the light. Thank you for the forgiveness and renewal you have given to us through Christ Jesus.  Make us able and ready to give forgiveness to those who have sinned against us.

Save us, O God, from trouble and help us to trust you completely. Grant us a deep sense of your loving presence when the troubles of life threaten to overwhelm us. Remind us of your faithfulness. Calm our hearts. Help us to be still and know that you are God.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Sunday Supplication - The Light of Your Son

Almighty God, we ask you to help us turn away from sin and darkness, and instead to embrace the light of your Son Jesus Christ who came to live among us in great humility. We look forward to the day when he will come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, and raise us to immortal life.

Help us in this Advent season to honor Jesus in thought, word, and deed.  Help us to follow him and to walk in the light as he is in the light. Thank you for the forgiveness and renewal you have given to us through Christ Jesus.  Make us able and ready to give forgiveness to those who have sinned against us.

Save us, O God, from trouble and help us to trust you completely. Grant us a deep sense of your loving presence when the troubles of life threaten to overwhelm us. Remind us of your faithfulness. Calm our hearts. Help us to be still and know that you are God.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Thursday Thinking - Newbigin: Jesus & Scripture


“…the confession of Jesus as the unique Son of God who by his incarnation, ministry, death and resurrection has acted decisively for the redemption of the world and for the renewal of the whole creation…provides the hermeneutical key with which I seek to understand the scriptures as a whole.

When we read, and meditate on, and immerse ourselves in the Scriptures, we become aware of the basic tensions within the Scriptures.

Place, for example, the book of Joshua alongside the Sermon on the Mount. Place the exclusivist writings of Ezra and Nehemiah alongside the inclusivist writings of Jonah and Ruth. Put Paul and James side by side on the doctrine of justification, or put Romans 13 and Revelation 13 side by side in search of a doctrine of the state. Plainly, these are simple examples of an immense internal critique which is going on throughout the whole of the Bible.

And that critique is part of the very life of the church, because a tradition remains living when it is constantly wrestling with questions of truth.

And the hermeneutical key to which I have referred—namely, the actual incarnation and ministry, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ—is the point at which this internal tension is historically actualized, which at its very heart is the tension between the holy wrath of God and the holy love of God, the ultimate tension which has its final manifestation and resolution in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, is the key by which we can understand the great internal tensions within the Scriptures.

Which means that when we read the Scriptures, we do not simply read individual passages by themselves and take them as they stand to be God’s Word for us, but that take the Scripture always in its canonical wholeness and read the whole of it within the perspective of its canonical wholeness and with the hermeneutical key of the ministry, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

– Lesslie Newbigin, “Scripture at the Locus of Truth,” The Trinity Journal for Theology and Ministry 4.2 (2010): 43-44


From Boston University School of Theology...
Newbigin, J(ames) E(dward) Lesslie (1909-1998)
British missionary bishop in India, theologian, and ecumenical statesman

Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, Newbigin was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he was brought to Christian faith through the ministry of the British Student Christian Movement, which he later served for two years as secretary in Glasgow. In 1936 he was ordained by the Church of Scotland for missionary work in India. He served as a village evangelist (1936-1947), as an architect and interpreter of the Church of South India (CSI), and as a bishop of the CSI in Madurai (1947-1959). In 1959 he became general secretary of the International Missionary Council (IMC) and guided it in 1961 to integration with the World Council of Churches (WCC), which he served until 1965 as associate general secretary, with responsibility for the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. He then returned to India as CSI bishop of Madras until 1974. During his postretirement years in England, he [was] professor of ecumenics and theology of mission at Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham (1974-1979), moderator of the United Reformed Church (1978-1979), and pastor of a small inner city United Reformed congregation in Birmingham (1979-1989). In 1982 he organized the Gospel and Our Culture group to explore the form of Christian mission to pagan Britain.

Newbigin was preeminent as a theologian passionately devoted to the mission and unity of the church. The influence of his thought and style are found in countless ecumenical conference reports he wrote or edited, in articles, sermons, and biblical studies throughout his career, and in his books, especially The Household of God (1953) and The Open Secret: Sketches for a Missionary Theology (1978, rev. ed. 1995). At the same time, engagement of Christian faith with the spirits and worldviews of modern society was his constant theme. His Honest Religion for Secular Man (1966) foreshadowed the substantive theology and social analysis of his later works, Foolishness to the Greeks (1986) and The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (1989).

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Wednesday Words - Thanksgiving for Two


The adults we call our children will not be arriving
with their children in tow for Thanksgiving.
We must make our feast ourselves,

slice our half-ham, indulge, fill our plates,
potatoes and green beans
carried to our table near the window.

We are the feast, plenty of years,
arguments. I’m thinking the whole bundle of it
rolls out like a white tablecloth. We wanted

to be good company for one another.
Little did we know that first picnic
how this would go. Your hair was thick,

mine long and easy; we climbed a bluff
to look over a storybook plain. We chose
our spot as high as we could, to see

the river and the checkerboard fields.
What we didn’t see was this day, in
our pajamas if we want to,

wrinkled hands strong, wine
in juice glasses, toasting
whatever’s next,

the decades of side-by-side,
our great good luck.

"Thanksgiving for Two" by Marjorie Saiser, ©2014 by Marjorie Saiser.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Tuesday Tome - Good Grief





I'm reading through this little book and hoping to find it a short but helpful resource to read along with people recovering from loss of a loved one.

Good Grief
by Granger E. Westberg

For fifty years Good Grief has helped millions of readers, including NFL players and a former first lady, find comfort and rediscover hope after loss. Now this classic text is available in a new edition with a foreword by one of the nation's leading communicators of medical health care information. An afterword by the author's daughters tells how the book came to be.

Good Grief identifies ten stages of grief--shock, emotion, depression, physical distress, panic, guilt, anger, resistance, hope, and acceptance but, recognizing that grief is complex and deeply personal, defines no "right" way to grieve. Good Grief offers valuable insights on the emotional and physical responses persons may experience during the natural process of grieving. The anniversary gift edition includes space for readers to record thoughts about their personal experience with grief.

Whether mourning the death of a loved one, the end of a marriage, the loss of a job, or other difficult life changes, Good Grief is a proven steady companion in times of loss.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Sunday Supplication - For Fruitful Lives

Almighty God, we ask you to help us turn away darkness and to put on the armor of light. Today, as we live in this place and in this time help us to hold fast to Jesus. Thank you that he came to live among us in humility. Thank you for the promise that he will one day come again in glory and raise us to eternal life.

Forgive us for the sins we’ve committed. Relieve our guilty consciences. Purify our hearts and transform us that by your Spirit we might turn away from what is wrong and, instead, love to do what is right. Make us ready and able to forgive those who have sinned against us. Make us merciful and forgiving toward others, as you have been merciful and forgiving toward us.

Thank you, O God, for the fruitful lives we are able to live through Christ. Help us to stay connected to Jesus.  By your power and grace, lead, teach, transform, shape and strengthen us, that we might delight in your will, and walk in your ways to the glory of your name.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Thursday Thinking - Watch Your Mouth

JAMES 3:2-13
We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Wednesday Words - Footnote to All Prayers

He whom I bow to only knows to whom I bow
When I attempt the ineffable Name, murmuring Thou,
And dream of Pheidian fancies and embrace in heart
Symbols (I know) which cannot be the thing Thou art.
Thus always, taken at their word, all prayers blaspheme
Worshipping with frail images a folk-lore dream,
And all men in their praying, self-deceived, address
The coinage of their own unquiet thoughts, unless
Thou in magnetic mercy to Thyself divert
Our arrows, aimed unskilfully, beyond desert;
And all men are idolators, crying unheard
To a deaf idol, if Thou take them at their word.
Take not, O Lord, our literal sense. Lord, in thy great
Unbroken speech our limping metaphor translate.

“Footnote to All Prayers” by C. S. Lewis, from Poems by C. S. Lewis, 

© Copyright 1992 by Walter Hooper.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Tuesday Tome - Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting

Thought I'd read this to brush up on some parenting skills and gain some new insights. Kids are a blessing from the Lord. The better we do with our kids the better for our world.

Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting
by Noël Janis-Norton

Publisher's description...
Tired of nagging, pleading, negotiating, or yelling just to get your kids to do the simple things you ask? You don’t need to be a Tiger Mom or a Helicopter Parent. There is a better way.

Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting brings the joy back into family life and helps parents to raise confident, responsible adults.

Based on her forty-plus years of experience, behavioral specialist Noël Janis-Norton outlines a clear, step-by-step plan that will help any parent raise a child who is cooperative and considerate, confident and self-reliant. Transform your family life with these five strategies: Descriptive Praise, Preparing for Success, Reflective Listening, Never Ask Twice and Rewards and Consequences. You’ll begin to see results almost immediately:

• Kids start cooperating the first time you ask
• Mornings, bedtimes, mealtimes and homework all become easier
• Even very resistant kids start saying” yes” instead of “no”

Full of examples and stories from real parents, this book offers the complete toolkit for achieving peaceful, productive parenting. Parents who have read How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk or Positive Parenting will appreciate Noël’s battle-tested methods and easy-to-follow strategies.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Sunday Supplication - Calm Our Hearts

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your promise and plan to restore all things through your beloved Son, Jesus, the Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. In your mercy, bring freedom and unity to all people. Save us from sin and divisiveness and bring us together under your gracious rule.

Forgive us for the wrongs we’ve done and the good we’ve left undone. Renew us by your Spirit. Help us to turn away from what is worthless and make us able to do what is right. Show us how to live as Christ, and as you have forgiven us, make us merciful and ready to forgive those who have sinned against us.

O Lord, grant us a deep sense of your loving presence when the troubles of life threaten to overwhelm us. Remind us of your faithfulness. Calm our hearts. Help us to be still and know that you are God.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Friday, November 11, 2016

Friday Favorites - Blood Drive Next Week

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1:00-7:00PM
Soon it will be time, once again, for the annual Valley Blood Drive during Valley's Community Action Awareness Week!  We'd love to have you participate this year!! Click Here to schedule your donation.  Or just walk in (17297 Glacier Way, Rosemount, MN 55068) and give a pint!


Volunteers are also needed to welcome and help donors sign in for their appointment as well as help at the refreshment table. Call Sheri Lynch a call at 952-431-5858.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Thursday Thinking - Public Character Formation

Let’s Not Do This Again
David Brooks, New York Times | NOV. 8, 2016

If I had to sum up the election of 2016 in one clause, I would say it has been a sociological revolution, a moral warning and a political summons.

Sociologically, this campaign has been an education in how societies come apart. The Trump campaign has been like a flash flood that sweeps away the topsoil and both reveals and widens the chasms, crevices and cracks below.

We are a far more divided society than we realized. The educated and less educated increasingly see the world and vote in different ways. So do men and women, blacks and whites, natives and immigrants, young and old, urban and rural.

We like to think of democracy as a battle of ideas and a process of individual deliberation, but this year demography has been destiny. The campaigns have pushed us back into our tribal bunkers. Americans now seem more clannish, and more incomprehensible to one another.

KEEP READING

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Wednesday Words - May God Thy Gold Refine


O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Tuesday Tome - You Are What You Love


The final session of this book club will be next Monday, November 14. You are welcome to join us.




BOOK SELECTION:  
You Are What You Love by K. A. Smith

WHEN:
Five Mondays at 8:00pm

WHERE:
Valley Christian Church Office

READING & MEETING SCHEDULE:
Monday, November 14, 8:00pm - Chapters 6-7


PURCHASE THE BOOK AT AMAZON

Publisher's Description...
You are what you love. But you might not love what you think. In this book, award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that who and what we worship fundamentally shape our hearts. And while we desire to shape culture, we are not often aware of how culture shapes us. We might not realize the ways our hearts are being taught to love rival gods instead of the One for whom we were made. Smith helps readers recognize the formative power of culture and the transformative possibilities of Christian practices. He explains that worship is the "imagination station" that incubates our loves and longings so that our cultural endeavors are indexed toward God and his kingdom. This is why the church and worshiping in a local community of believers should be the hub and heart of Christian formation and discipleship. 

Sunday, November 06, 2016

Sunday Supplication - To the Glory of Your Name

O God, we give you thanks for your Son, Jesus, who came into the world to overcome evil, and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life. Help us to become holy even as he is holy. And make us ready for the day when he will come again in glory to set the world right.

Gracious Father, in our weakness and selfishness, we often fail each other, fail ourselves, and fail you. We humbly recognize our need for forgiveness and restoration. We also recognize the hope and power we have in Christ.  Raise us and transform us by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Forgive us our sins, and make us ready and able and quick to forgive others, even as you forgive us.

You give us hope and salvation, O God. Save us from the forces and the circumstances that threaten to defeat us. Lead, teach, transform, shape, and strengthen us—that we might delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your Name.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Thursday, November 03, 2016

Thursday Thinking - The Religious Right: A Eulogy

The Religious Right: A Eulogy
By Rod Dreher • The American Conservative - October 24, 2016, 11:44 PM

Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore delivered one hell heck of a speech Monday night in New York. When First Things magazine tapped Moore to deliver its prestigious annual Erasmus Lecture, I wonder if the editors imagined how consequential the speech was going to be. It amounts to a eulogy for the Religious Right, delivered by a conservative Southern Baptist who has had enough. I believe it will be seen as a generation-defining speech, a line in the sand between the Old Guard and the Next Generation, as well as a line in the sand marking the end of an era and the opening of a new one.

Click Here to Read Complete Article by Rod Dreher

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

Wednesday Words - Geese Alighting on a Lake


I watched them
As they neared the lake

They wheeled
In a wide arc
With beating wings
And then

They put their wings to sleep
And glided downward in a drift
Of pure abandonment

Until they touched
The surface of the lake

Composed their wings
And settled
On the rippling water
As though it were a nest.


"Wild Geese Alighting on a Lake" by Anne Porter from Living Things.
© Zoland Books, 2006.

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Tuesday Tome - Book Club Week 4

Our fourth session of this book club will be next Monday, November 7. You are welcome to join us.


BOOK SELECTION:  
You Are What You Love by K. A. Smith

WHEN:
Five Mondays at 8:00pm

WHERE:
Valley Christian Church Office

READING & MEETING SCHEDULE:
Monday, November 7, 8:00pm - Chapter 5
Monday, November 14, 8:00pm - Chapters 6-7





PURCHASE THE BOOK AT AMAZON

Publisher's Description...
You are what you love. But you might not love what you think. In this book, award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that who and what we worship fundamentally shape our hearts. And while we desire to shape culture, we are not often aware of how culture shapes us. We might not realize the ways our hearts are being taught to love rival gods instead of the One for whom we were made. Smith helps readers recognize the formative power of culture and the transformative possibilities of Christian practices. He explains that worship is the "imagination station" that incubates our loves and longings so that our cultural endeavors are indexed toward God and his kingdom. This is why the church and worshiping in a local community of believers should be the hub and heart of Christian formation and discipleship.