Monday Music - Resting Place

RESTING PLACE
My faith has found a resting place
Not in device or creed –
I trust the Ever-Living One
His wounds for me shall plead.

Enough for me that Jesus died –
This ends my fear and doubt.
A sinful soul, I come to him –
He’ll never cast me out.

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea –
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that he died for me.

My faith is leaning on the word,
The written word of God –
Salvation by my savior’s name,
Salvation by his blood.

My great physician heals the sick,
The lost he came to save.
For me, his precious blood he shed;
For me, his life he gave.

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea –
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that he died for me.

Words by Eliza E. Hewitt in Songs of Joy and Gladness, 1891. 
Hymnals often show the author as Lidie H. Edmunds, Eliza's pseudonymn.

Sunday Supplication - Grace and Glory

Almighty and everlasting God, you have revealed your grace and glory in this world through your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for your mercy and ask that you complete your saving works of mercy in our world. Help your Church in all places to persevere with steadfast faith. Shape and use each of us as we find our place and purpose in your Church.

You know our weaknesses and you understand our limitations.  Our sins and failures are no secret or surprise to you. And yet, you are faithful to forgive, you are ready to renew, you are able to lift us up, and you call us to press forward in Christ. In the same way, help us to forgive, to encourage, and to bless others. You are gracious and merciful to us, and we ask you to make us gracious and merciful to others.

O God, help us to seek you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Show yourself to us through your word, your people, your promises, and all that is beautiful and true. Help us to desire and delight in your will and to walk in your ways to the glory of your Name.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - This Is Hilarious!

Nina Conti live at the Apollo - the art of ventriloquism at its best from artFido - fetching art on Vimeo.

Friday Family - Rhubarb and Cactus Blossoms

Due to high winds up on the North Shore last Saturday, Cheri and I unexpectedly headed back to Saint Paul. We got back in time to catch our boys playing on The Rhubarb Show at the Fitzgerald Theater. We had fun and The Cactus Blossoms sounded great! "Happy Man on a Gloomy Day" is one of the new songs they played that night. Perfect for that day!

Thursday Thinking - Writing Tips from C. S. Lewis

If you're interested in writing, you may find the Aerogramme Writers' Studio Blog to be as helpful and enjoyable as I do. One recent post on that blog included some advice for writing from C. S. Lewis.

It was Lewis' daily practice to spend an hour each morning reading his mail and crafting thoughtful replies. The following short list of suggestions for writers was excerpted from a letter Lewis penned to one of his correspondents named Joan Lancaster, a young American woman who aspired to be a writer.

1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.

2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.

3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.”

4. In writing. Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers “Please will you do my job for me.”

5. Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

Read More Here

Letters of C. S. Lewis: Revised and Enlarged Edition (C. S. Lewis)

This volume collects C.S. Lewis’s correspondence with family, friends, and fans, and spans from his youth as a student to just a few weeks before his death. Witness his conversion from atheism to Christianity, as well as his thoughts on books, nature, humanity, and God.

Wednesday Words - Scaffolding

Scaffolding

Masons, when they start upon a building,
Are careful to test out the scaffolding;

Make sure that planks won't slip at busy points,
Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.

And yet all this comes down when the job's done
Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.

So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be
Old bridges breaking between you and me

Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall
Confident that we have built our wall.

"Scaffolding" by Seamus Heaney. © Copyright 1980 by Seamus Heaney. From Seamus Heaney Poems: 1965-1975 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

Tuesday Tome - Who Is This Man?

Who Is This Man? by John Ortberg is the reading selection for an upcoming book club I am leading at Valley Christian Church. The publisher's description is posted below. If you live nearby, I hope you'll consider participating. You are welcome to join us even if you are not able to attend all three sessions.

BOOK CLUB SCHEDULE:
    Session 1: October 22, 7:00pm -          
    Forward through Chapter 5 (pp. 7-73)
 
    Session 2: November 5, 7:00pm - -    
    Chapters 6 through 11  (pp. 74-149)

    Session 3: November 19, 7:00pm -    
    Chapters 12 through Epilogue (pp. 150-202)

Publisher's Book Description:
Jesus' impact on our world is highly unlikely, widely inescapable, largely unknown, and decidedly double-edged. It is unlikely in light of the severe limitations of his earthly life; it is inescapable because of the range of impact; it is unknown because history doesn't connect dots; and it is doubled-edged because his followers have wreaked so much havoc, often in his name.

He is history's most familiar figure, yet he is the man no one knows. His impact on the world is immense and non-accidental. From the Dark Ages to Post-Modernity he is the Man who won't go away.

And yet . . .you can miss him in historical lists for many reasons, maybe the most obvious being the way he lived his life. He did not loudly and demonstrably defend his movement in the spirit of a rising political or military leader. He did not lay out a case that history would judge his brand of belief superior in all future books.

His life and teaching simply drew people to follow him. He made history by starting in a humble place, in a spirit of love and acceptance, and allowing each person space to respond.His vision of life continues to haunt and challenge humanity. His influence has swept over history bringing inspiration to what has happened in art, science, government, medicine, and education; he has taught humans about dignity, compassion, forgiveness, and hope.

Monday Music - Joyful, Joyful

Joyful, Joyful
Joyful, joyful, we adore you,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before you --
Hail you as 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 your works with joy surround you,
Earth and heaven reflect your rays,
Stars and angels sing around you --
Center of unbroken praise.

Field and forest, vale and mountain,
Flowering meadow, flashing sea,
Chanting bird and flowing fountain
Call us to rejoice in Thee.

Joyful, joyful we adore you. Joyful!
Joyful, joyful we adore you. Joyful!

Words: Hen­ry J. van Dyke, 1907.

Sunday Supplication - Show Us Your Ways

Lord, we pray that your grace will always direct us, go before us, and follow us in all we are, in all we say, and in all we do. We pray that your grace will shape and motivate us that we may continually be given to good works.

O God, we humbly recognize our need for forgiveness and restoration. In our weakness and selfishness, we often fail each other, fail ourselves, and fail you.  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.


Lead us into truth, O God. Show us your ways. Teach us to follow your lead. Help us to turn away from what is wrong and to do what is right. Our hope is in you all day long.

Help us to be faithful followers of Jesus and help us to become more like him each day. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - OCDC

Friday Family - Burkum Boys at Work

The Cactus Blossoms are playing on Garrison Keillor's Rhubarb Show tomorrow night. I'm not able to be there, so I hope someone is recording the program.



LEAGUES has started their Fall Tour. They'll be at the Turf Club next Wednesday night. Get tickets for the show.


Leagues - Walking Backwards from Nelson Alley on Vimeo.

Have you seen the new Bose Headphones TV Commercial featuring the Leagues single, Spotlight? CHECK IT OUT.

Thursday Thinking - The Problem with Preaching

Preaching is one of the ongoing challenges of pastoring a church. It requires the sound interpretation of the Biblical texts, the pastoral discernment about what people need to hear, an awareness of current events, and the presentation ability to hold attention, provoke thought, and motivate action. In other words, preaching requires more skills than any one person can master. I know it's certainly beyond me.

I remember how relieved I was when I read the first pages of John Stott's book, Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today. He wrote:

... I confess that in the pulpit I am often seized with "communication frustration,"for a message burns within me, but I am unable to convey to others what I am thinking, let alone feeling. And seldom if ever do I leave the pulpit without a sense of partial failure, a mood of penitence, a cry to God for forgiveness, and a resolve to look to him for grace to do better in the future.

My first response to that remarkable confession was, "Whew! Even John Stott feels that way about preaching." My second thought was, "If that's how Stott feels, I don't stand a chance."

I have a love/hate relationship with the enterprise of preaching. The truth is that preaching is more of a problem for me than a pleasure. I do, however, consider preaching to be an exciting problem. More than a challenge, I consider preaching to be a sacred privilege. I take it seriously.

My approach to preaching is more about faithfulness than talent or skill. I simply try to be faithful to the text, faithful to the people, and most importantly faithful to Christ and the Gospel. This inclination toward faithfulness does not always result in preaching success, but I hope and trust that it does produce something God can somehow use.

Recently, Ben Witherington, Asbury Theological Seminary professor, has been posting about "The Problem with Preaching" on his Bible and Culture Blog. These short posts have some helpful thoughts for those of us who are preachers and for those of you who may be interested in better understanding and appreciating the preachers in your life.

Here are some links and excerpts to get you started:

From "The Problem with Preaching" (Part 1):

Whatever Biblical preaching looked like in the first century, and whatever caused Eutychus to fall out of his window as Paul waxed eloquent, it isn’t much in evidence in churches today. This word just in, preaching in the NT era was not based on a lectionary of NT texts blended with OT ones. There was no NT in the NT era, and the word Gospel applied quite specifically to the good news about Jesus himself, not about abstract concepts or theological ideas found in letters written to people who were already Christians. We have four Gospels, they all tell the story of Jesus.

From "The Problem with Preaching" (Part 2):
It’s no good giving people an exhilarating experience and buzz in worship if there is little or no Biblical substance to chew on thereafter, little or no sound exposition of God’s word. Without Biblical and theological literacy you have no means to properly interpret your worship experiences, say, being able to tell the difference between a heart-warming experience and heart burn!

From "The Problem with Preaching" (Part 3):
...God can use you to convey his Word even if you are a blunt instrument, even if you are Balaam’s donkey! But frankly, God would rather not. He gave you a brain for a reason. He’d rather you have increased your knowledge and honed your skills, so you will be the sharpest knife in his drawer. Would you rather be like the two-edged sword referred to in Hebrews, or be like an ole blunt battle axe bludgeoning the congregation for the Lord?

From "The Problem with Preaching" (Part 4):
For preaching to be ‘good preaching’ it needs to be a word on a target. But if the preacher doesn’t know the target, he is unlikely to hit it. What this in turn means is that he or she must know his or her people. The more one knows one’s people, the easier it is to know what a word on target will amount to. Of course some preachers prefer the buckshot method– spray a variety things out on the audience and hope something strikes home. It’s like a game of paintball where you are aiming at moving targets and hoping something will hit them and leave a mark.

Wednesday Words - Blessing in a Time of Conflict

For Love in a Time of Conflict

When the gentleness between you hardens
And you fall out of your belonging with each other,
May the depths you have reached hold you still.

When no true word can be said, or heard,
And you mirror each other in the script of hurt,
When even the silence has become raw and torn,
May you hear again an echo of your first music.

When the weave of affection starts to unravel
And anger begins to sear the ground between you,
Before this weather of grief invites
The black seed of bitterness to find root,
May you souls come to kiss.

Now is the time for one of you to be gracious,
To allow a kindness beyond thought and hurt,
Reach out with sure hands
To take the chalice of your love,
And carry it carefully through this echoless waste
Until this winter pilgrimage leads you
Toward the gateway to spring.

"For Love in a Time of Conflict" by John O'Donohue, from To Bless the Space Between Us. © Copyright 2008 by John O'Donohue.

Tuesday Tome - When God Spoke Greek

Dr. Timothy Michael Law's new book, When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible, arrived at my door just last week. It explores the fascinating subject of early Christianity and its relationship to Scripture. What texts did they read and how did they understand those texts? How is that similar or divergent to the Christians of later centuries and today? How did the Septuagint shape their view of the Hebrew canon? This is fascinating stuff with important implications for both historical and contemporary perspectives of the Bible.

The Publisher's Description:
How did the New Testament writers and the earliest Christians come to adopt the Jewish scriptures as their first Old Testament? And why are our modern Bibles related more to the rabbinic Hebrew Bible than to the Greek Bible of the early Church?

The Septuagint, the name given to the translation of the Hebrew scriptures between the third century BC and the second century AD, played a central role in the Bible's history. Many of the Hebrew scriptures were still evolving when they were translated into Greek, and these Greek translations, along with several new Greek writings, became Holy Scripture in the early Church.

Yet, gradually the Septuagint lost its place at the heart of Western Christianity. At the end of the fourth century, one of antiquity's brightest minds rejected the Septuagint in favor of the Bible of the rabbis. After Jerome, the Septuagint never regained the position it once had. Timothy Michael Law recounts the story of the Septuagint's origins, its relationship to the Hebrew Bible, and the adoption and abandonment of the first Christian Old Testament.

Back Cover Blurb from Diarmaid MacCulloch:
"Law overturns the assumptions of most Christians about their sacred scripture. He points out that the Greek text of the Septuagint was the early Church's Bible, that it predates the Hebrew Scripture now commonly accepted, and that it presents plural traditions of ancient Hebrew biblical texts, many now lost to us. Fundamentalists will find these unpalatable truths; others will find that Law points to new delights in their reading of scripture." --Diarmaid N.J. MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church, Oxford University

About the Author:
Timothy Michael Law is founder, publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of The Marginalia Review of Books (http://themarginaliareview.com). He is currently an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in the Seminar für Altes Testament in the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (with Prof. Dr. Reinhard Kratz) and affiliated with the Septuaginta Unternehmen. He spent 2009-2012 as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Oriental Institute at the University of Oxford, and until 2014 remains Junior Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.