The human predicament is dire!

The human predicament is so dire that it cannot be remedied in any ordinary way. If we fail to see this, then we “have not yet considered the great weight of sin.” [Anselm] Redemption (buying back), therefore, is not cheap. In the death of Jesus we see God himself suffering the consequences of Sin. That is the “price.” When Christian teaching falls short of this proclamation, the work of Christ on the cross is diminished to the vanishing point, becoming nothing more than an exemplary death to admire, to venerate, perhaps even to emulate, but certainly not an event to shake the foundations of this world order.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 287

The "mother" tree

Last week I finally read Finding the Mother Tree. Fascinating book and very readable. I highly recommend it. This quotation, from right at the beginning of the book, summarizes what she has discovered over the course of a lifetime of research.

The older trees are able to discern which seedlings are their own kin.

The old trees nurture the young ones and provide them food and water just as we do with our own children. It is enough to make one pause, take a deep breath, and contemplate the social nature of the forest and how this is critical for evolution. The fungal network appears to wire the trees for fitness. And more. These old trees are mothering their children.—Finding the Mother Tree, 5

It rings true with what I noticed informally over my life. They are finding it is true even among garden plants and between species. Truly amazing! The handiwork of God is beyond comprehension.

God is not divided!

God is not divided against himself. When we see Jesus, we see the Father (John 14:7). The Father did not look at Jesus on the cross and suddenly have a change of heart. The purpose of the atonement was not to bring about a change in God’s attitude toward his rebellious creatures. God’s attitude toward us has always and ever been the same. Judgment against sin is preceded, accompanied, and followed by God’s mercy. "There was never a time when God was against us. Even in his wrath he is for us. Yet at the same time he is not for us without wrath, because his will is to destroy all that is hostile to perfecting his world. The paradox of the cross demonstrates the victorious love of God for us at the same time that it shows forth his judgment upon sin.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 282

Anywhere with Jesus

594 Anywhere with Jesus

1 Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go,
   Anywhere He leads me in this world below;
   Anywhere without Him dearest joys would fade;
   Anywhere with Jesus I am not afraid.

Chorus:
   Anywhere, anywhere! Fear I cannot know;
   Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go.

2 Anywhere with Jesus I am not alone;
   Other friends may fail me, He is still my own;
   Tho' His hand may lead me over drearest ways,
   Anywhere with Jesus is a house of praise. [Chorus]

3 Anywhere with Jesus, over land and sea,
   Telling souls in darkness of salvation free;
   Ready as He summons me to go or stay,
   Anywhere with Jesus when He points the way. [Chorus]

4 Anywhere with Jesus I can go to sleep,
   When the dark'ning shadows round about me creep,
   Knowing I shall waken never more to roam;
   Anywhere with Jesus will be home, sweet home. [Chorus]
                         Jessie B. Pounds
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Just a Closer Walk with Thee

591 Just a Closer Walk with Thee

1 I am weak but Thou art strong;
   Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
   I'll be satisfied as long
   As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Refrain:
   Just a closer walk with Thee,
   Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
   Daily walking close to Thee,
   Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

2 Thro' this world of toil and snares,
   If I falter, Lord, who cares?
   Who with me my burden shares?
   None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee. [Refrain]

3 When my feeble life is o'er,
   Time for me will be no more;
   Guide me gently, safely o'er
   To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore. [Refrain]
                         Anonymous
                         Hymns for the Family of God

I Am His and He is Mine

590 I Am His and He is Mine

1 Loved with everlasting love,
   led by grace that love to know;
   gracious Spirit from above,
   Thou dost taught me it is so!
   O this full and precious peace!
   O this transport all divine!
   In a love which cannot cease,
   I am His and He is mine.
   In a love which cannot cease,
   I am His and He is mine.

2 Heav'n above is deeper blue;
   earth around is sweeter green;
   something lives in ev'ry hue
   Christless eyes have never seen.
   Birds with gladder songs o'erflow;
   flow'rs with deeper beauties shine;
   Since I know, as now I know,
   I am His and He is mine.
   Since I know, as now I know,
   I am His and He is mine.

3 Taste the goodness of the Lord:
   welcomed home to His embrace,
   all His love, as blood outpoured,
   seals the pardon of His grace.
   Can I doubt His love for me,
   when I trace that love's design?
   By the cross of Calvary
   I am His and He is mine.
   By the cross of Calvary
   I am His and He is mine.

4 His forever, only his!
   Who the Lord and me shall part?
   Ah, with what a rest of bliss
   Christ can fill the loving heart!
   Heav'n and earth may fade and flee,
   firstborn light in gloom decline;
   But while God and I shall be,
   I am His and He is mine.
   But while God and I shall be,
   I am His and He is mine.
                         George Robinson
                         Hymns for the Family of God

About that little Greek word hilasterion

[I]t should now be generally agreed that any concept of hilasterion in the sense of placating, appeasing, deflecting the anger of, or satisfying the wrath of, is inadmissible.

The more important, and truly radical, reason for firmly rejecting this understanding of propitiation is that it envisions God as the object, whereas in the Scriptures, God is the acting subject. This is especially noticeable in Romans 3, the context for Paul’s single use of hilasterion.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 280 (emphasis original)

Sure, there's a war, but…

God’s apocalyptic war is fought with weapons of self-giving love and total identification with those who suffer “outside the camp” (Heb. 13:13), whoever they are. The resistance of the demons to God’s coming kingdom is intense and determined and must be continually opposed. The armor of God, however, is the opposite of that used in this present age.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 275

In the Garden (hymn)

588 In the Garden

1 I come to the garden alone,
   While the dew is still on the roses;
   And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
   The Son of God discloses.

Refrain:
   And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
   And He tells me I am His own,
   And the joy we share as we tarry there,
   None other has ever known.

2 He speaks, and the sound of His voice
   Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;
   And the melody that He gave to me
   Within my heart is ringing. [Refrain]

3 I'd stay in the garden with Him
   Tho' the night around me be falling;
   But He bids me go; thro' the voice of woe,
   His voice to me is calling. [Refrain]
                         C. Austin Miles
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Gimme! Gimme! Now!

One of the most far-reaching developments in the history of the advertising industry, perhaps even in global culture as a whole, was the move from simply pitching products to selling “lifestyles.” In one sense, there is nothing really new about this; human beings have always been enthralled by fashion and novelty. In another sense, however, the consumer society that exists today is like nothing the world has ever seen before. The power of visual images, the lure of celebrity, the instantaneous delivery of services, the immediacy of virtual worlds, the demand for more and more stimuli — among many other factors — hold out false possibilities to young people, undermining their ability to postpone gratification in the service of higher goals. The weakening of family ties, school clubs, community associations, not to mention churches and other strong countervailing influences, has made it very difficult to convey any other set of values to young people. All this is well known and often lamented. We mention it here to underline the absence of any sense of the value of sacrifice in ordinary life.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 271 (emphasis original)

The way is open

In a striking and original act of imagination, the author of Hebrews reinterprets the temple veil as the human flesh of Jesus. Christ has gone ahead of us in his incarnate body as our forerunner, bringing our human nature along with him. The curtain that was a constant reminder of the exclusion of sinful humanity from the presence of God is gone forever. The temple has been figuratively destroyed and “raised up again in three days” in the body of Christ (John 2:19–21). No longer is the sanctuary forbidden, no longer is an intermediary required, no longer is there any restriction on access to the mercy seat and the remission of sin. Now — broadening the tent image to include the temple — there is no longer any hierarchy. The way is open for Gentiles, for women, for laypeople, for sinners of all sorts and conditions.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 269–70

He Keeps Me Singing

587 He Keeps Me Singing

1 There's within my heart a melody,
   Jesus whispers sweet and low:
   "Fear not, I am with thee; peace, be still,"
   in all of life's ebb and flow.

Refrain:
   Jesus, Jesus, Jesus–
   sweetest name I know,
   fills my ev'ry longing,
   keeps me singing as I go.

2 All my life was wrecked by sin and strife;
   discord filled my heart with pain.
   Jesus swept across the broken strings,
   stirred the slumb'ring chords again. [Refrain]

3 Feasting on the riches of His grace,
   resting 'neath His shelt'ring wing,
   always looking on His smiling face—
   that is why I shout and sing. [Refrain]

4 Though sometimes He leads through waters deep,
   trials fall across the way,
   though sometimes the path seems rough and steep,
   see His footprints all the way. [Refrain]

5 Soon He's coming back to welcome me
   far beyond the starry sky.
   I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown,
   I shall reign with Him on high. [Refrain]
                         Luther B. Bridgers
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Trust

The [binding of Isaac] narrative is extraordinarily economical, like all biblical narratives. We are told exactly what we need to know, and no more. Abraham has been following and trusting God for so long that it has become a habit. He doesn’t storm the gates of heaven with his prayers as Job does. He is ready to submit even before he hears what the command is, because of the God in whom he believed. He seems to believe that God is within his rights. On the next day, instead of lying prostrate in bed, Abraham cannot get up too early to do the will of God.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 263 (emphasis original)

A long slow walk…

We need to remember all that happened to Abraham and Sarah in the years between Genesis 12:1 and 22:2, the first time and the last time that “God spoke to Abraham.” For a great many years, this aging man with a barren wife lived on a promise. God appeared, withdrew, appeared again, withdrew again. Sarah could only laugh at the absurdity of it all, and no wonder. But as Paul says, in spite of these trials Abraham went on hoping against hope because of the God in whom he believed. So we have before us a man who has been living with radical trust for a very long time. His response to God’s appearance in chapter 22 speaks volumes: “After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here am I.’ He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and . . . offer him . . . as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning” (22:1-3).—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 263 (emphasis original)

Only Believe (hymn)

585 Only Believe

1. Fear not, little flock, from the cross to the throne,
   From death into life He went for His own;
   All power in earth, all power above,
   Is given to Him for the flock of His love.

Refrain:
   Only believe, only believe;
   All things are possible, only believe;
   Only believe, only believe;
   All things are possible, only believe.

2. Fear not, little flock, He goeth ahead,
   Your Shepherd selecteth the path you must tread;
   The waters of Marah He’ll sweeten for thee,
   He drank all the bitter in Gethsemane.

3. Fear not, little flock, whatever your lot,
   He enters all rooms, “the doors being shut,”
   He never forsakes; He never is gone,
   So count on His presence in darkness and dawn.
                         Paul Rader
                         Hymns for the Family of God

It is the very nature of God!

This is a crucial theological point namely, that the sacrifice of Christ was not God’s reaction to human sin, but an inherent, original movement within God’s very being. It is in the very nature of God to offer God’s self sacrificially.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 247

Set apart, but what does it mean?

Set-apartness is not meant to encourage a sense of superiority on the part of God’s people; it is God who is superior, not his servants. The members of the community are not to look down their collective noses at the Canaanites floundering in their idolatry. If we take the whole grand sweep of the Old Testament into consideration, the ultimate design is for Israel to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 243 (emphasis original)

We're walking, walking, walking… (Tozer for Tuesday)

We cannot go to heaven any other way but by the simple, pedestrian way: walking by faith. The Lord does not talk about a flight of faith, nor does He talk about a tour of faith; He talks about a walk of faith.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 167

There Shall Be Showers of Blessing

579 There Shall Be Showers of Blessing

1 There shall be showers of blessing:
   This is the promise of love;
   There shall be seasons refreshing,
   Sent from the Savior above.

Refrain:
   Showers of blessing,
   Showers of blessing we need:
   Mercy-drops round us are falling,
   But for the showers we plead.

2 There shall be showers of blessing,
   Precious reviving again;
   Over the hills and the valleys,
   Sound of abundance of rain. [Refrain]

3 There shall be showers of blessing:
   Send them upon us, O Lord;
   Grant to us now a refreshing,
   Come and now honor Thy Word. [Refrain]

4 There shall be showers of blessing:
   Oh, that today they might fall,
   Now as to God we're confessing,
   Now as on Jesus we call! [Refrain]
                         Daniel W. Whittle
                         Hymns for the Family of God

You need a literary mind, not a literal one

One reason for the reaction against the sacrificial motif is surely the literal-mindedness of a culture unaccustomed to reading poetry. It is one of the peculiarities of our time that we support a vast entertainment industry specializing in ever more explicitly gory movies and video games while at the same time covering ourselves with a “politically correct” cloak of fastidious high-mindedness. In an earlier and perhaps in some ways more sophisticated time, Christians actually sang the words of poet William Cowper, “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins,” with no sense of disgust. They were accustomed to extravagant literary images. It would not have occurred to them to take such a trope literally, any more than evangelical congregations do today when they sing “Power in the Blood.”—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 234

You are still enslaved

Atfluent communities need to understand. that they are enslaved by the pursuit of wealth, comfort, and status, often achieved at the expense of the poor.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 226

O Breath of Life

579 O Breath of Life

1 O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
   revive your church with life and pow'r;
   O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us,
   and fit your church to meet this hour.

2 O Wind of God, come bend us, break us,
   till humbly we confess our need;
   then in your tenderness remake us,
   revive, restore, for this we plead.

3 O Breath of love, come breathe within us,
   renewing thought and will and heart;
   come, Love of Christ, afresh to win us,
   revive your church in ev'ry part.

4 O Heart of Christ, once broken for us,
   'tis there we find our strength and rest;
   our broken, contrite hearts now solace,
   and let your waiting church be blest.

5 Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating
   while harvest fields are vast and white?
   Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting,
   equip your church to spread the light.
                         Bessie Porter Head
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Comparison

577 Comparison

Jesus Christ is unique, and one cannot be in His presence and not reveal the man he really is. Jesus pulls each person from behind his mask. In the exposure of that bleeding love on the cross, men become what they really are.

You may think you are wonderful until you stand in the presence of the One who is purity itself. It is the pure light of God that pierces a man. You can keep up your pretense of being holy until you stand in that light. Then immediately there is nowhere to hide, all your masks are torn away, all your hollow smiles fade. Revival means to be exposed for what we are. The presence of the Lord is revealing.
—Festo Kivengere
Hymns for the Family of God

Revive us again!

574 Revive Us Again

1 We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love,
   For Jesus who died and is now gone above.

Refrain:
   Hallelujah, Thine the glory!
   Hallelujah, Amen!
   Hallelujah, Thine the glory!
   Revive us again.

2 We praise Thee, O God, for Thy Spirit of light,
   Who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. [Refrain]

3 All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain,
   Who has borne all our sins, and has cleansed ev'ry stain. [Refrain]

4 Revive us again– fill each heart with Thy love;
   May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. [Refrain]
                         William P. Mackay
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
I didn't grow up singing this hymn; it wasn't in any of the hymnbooks that our church used. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in college that I was exposed to it. And I immediately loved it and it's been one of my favorites ever since. Incidentally, it occurs in more than 1200 hymnals.
</idle musing>

Participants, not creators

The key apocalyptic idea, to be developed further in later chapters, is the sovereign intervention of God, with a corresponding displacement of the capacity of human beings to bring that intervention about. It must be said in the strongest possible terms: in no way does this emphasis on the divine agency mean that there is nothing for us to do, or that our activity is meaningless. What it means, rather, is that human activity points to the future reign of God and participates in it proleptically (prolepsis, “to anticipate”). It does not, however, make it come to fruition; only God can complete his purpose. At no time does the Bible suggest that we are, in the currently popular phrase, “co-creators with God”; rather, we are graciously called and moved to be participants in what God alone is able to create. The word “eschatology” does not necessarily make this distinction clear; it is possible to refer to the “last things” and thus speak eschatologically, without being careful to show that God alone will cause those last things to come to pass—the emphasis that is the hallmark of apocalyptic. The role of the people of God is <>participation in what God is already doing.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 222 (emphasis original)

A biblical memorial day

The Passover is to be observed as a “memorial day.” Biblically understood, this is a world removed from what we usually mean by “memorial.” Memory (remembrance) in biblical thought does not mean “calling to mind.” “Remembering” means present and active.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 217 (emphasis original)

Thank God for children

570 Thank God for Children

Children possess an uncanny ability to cut to the core of the issue, to expose life to the bone, and strip away the barnacles that cling to the hull of our too sophisticated pseudo-civilization. One reason for this, I believe, is that children have not mastered our fine art of deception, that we call “finesse.” Another is that they are so “lately come from God” that faith and trust are second nature to them. They have not acquired the obstructions to faith that come with education; they possess instead unrefined wisdom, a gift from God.
—Gloria Gaither
Hymns for the Family of God

More on the importance of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

Throughout the New Testament, a thorough knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly the Law and the Prophets, and a commitment to their authority as Word of God are simply presupposed.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 215

The importance of the First Testament (as Goldingay calls it)

The current state of neglect of the Old Testament in the churches is cause for great concern. In attempting to understand what the Bible is saying to us about the crucifixion of the Son of God, it is essential that we listen carefully, with understanding, to the many voices that come to us from the history of Israel.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 214

<idle musing>
This has been a concern of mine and many other Old Testament/Hebrew Bible scholars for years. The church has always had a Marcionite tendency, but it does seem to have increased in the last 15–20 years.

Whether or not it's worse than it was in the 1950–1970s, I can't say. I do remember when I was growing up in the 1960s/1970s that more than a few people downplayed the value of knowing the Old Testament. But without knowledge of the Old Testament, how can you understand the full scope of God's plan for humanity and the world?

That has always baffled me. Especially when I read Hebrews, I wonder how people who don't have more than a (very) passing acquaintance with the Old Testament can even begin to understand what's going on. But that is also true of most of the New Testament.
</idle musing>

One Solitary Life

566 One Solitary Life

Born in an obscure village, He was the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty years old, and then for three years He travelled around the country, stopping long enough to talk and to listen to people, and help where He could. He never wrote a book, He never had a hit record, He never went to college, He never ran for public office, He never had a family, or owned a house. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself But when He was only thirty-three years old, the tide of public opinion turned against Him, and His friends all rejected Him. When He was arrested, very few wanted anything to do with Him. After the trial, He was executed by the State along with admitted thieves. Only because a generous friend offered his own cemetery plot was there any place to bury Him. This all happened nineteen centuries ago, and yet today He is the leading figure of the human race, and the ultimate example of love. Now it is no exaggeration to say that all the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever set sail, all the rulers that have ever ruled, all the kings that have ever reigned on this earth, all put together have not affected the life of man on earth like this One Solitary Life.
—Fred Bock (alt. )
Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
This was a pretty popular saying in the 1970s. If I recall correctly, the first time I heard it was on a the Gaither Alleluia! A Praise Gathering for Believers album (1973). But it rapidly spread.
<idle musing>

The Story

Overly rationalistic “theories” force the pictorial, poetic, and narrative structures of the Bible into restrictive categories. Even the writings of Paul, often construed as dry doctrine over against the more accessible stories of the Gospels, are for the most part urgently contextual. Paul is a man on a battlefield. He is a man seized by the gospel story, or, more accurately, by the Lord of the story. The fact that Paul has made the story into a sword of the Word to be wielded against the enemies of the gospel in specific situations, rather than retelling stories about Jesus’ life, does not make his preaching any less firmly grounded in The Story.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 211

As the world turns…

In some ways, however, it is becoming more difficult to close our eyes to reality. We are beginning to see more clearly now that children who rape and murder seem to be getting younger and younger, that no school or church seems to be safe from gunfire, that the Internet has greatly increased our capacity to share lethal information. Too many clergy have been arrested for child molestation, too many teachers have been caught sexually abusing students, too many supposedly upstanding citizens have downloaded too much child pornography. There is something sickening in human nature, and it corresponds precisely to the sickening aspects of crucifixion. The hideousness of crucifixion summons us to put away sentimentality and face up to the ugliness that lies just under the surface. The scandal, the outrage of the cross, is commensurate with the offense and the ubiquity of sin. Views of atonement wrought by Christ that do not acknowledge the gravity of Sin are untruthful in two respects: they are untruthful about the human condition, and they are untruthful about the witness of Holy Scripture, Old and New Testament alike. Sin is the colossal X-factor in human life. It is not something we do so much as it is something done to us by our mortal foe, the alien Power that has lured us into becoming its agents. There is no room for sentiment here; the stakes are too high. The cross rears up over all human life because it is the scene of God’s climactic battle against the power of a malignant and implacable Enemy.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 197

Blest Be the Tie That Binds

560 Blest Be the Tie That Binds

1 Blest be the tie that binds
   our hearts in Christian love;
   the fellowship of kindred minds
   is like to that above.

2 Before our Father's throne
   we pour our ardent prayers;
   our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
   our comforts and our cares.

3 We share our mutual woes,
   our mutual burdens bear,
   and often for each other flows
   the sympathizing tear.

4 From sorrow, toil, and pain,
   and sin, we shall be free;
   and perfect love and friendship reign
   through all eternity.
                         John Fawcett
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
Wow. Most hymns I've been posting lately have only occurred in at most a couple hundred hymnals. This one clocks in at more than 2300!

Hymnary.org inserts couple of verses:

4 When we are called to part,
   it gives us inward pain;
   but we shall still be joined in heart,
   and hope to meet again.

5 This glorious hope revives
   our courage by the way;
   while each in expectation lives
   and waits to see the day.

By the way, I've mentioned it before, but you really should read the author's biography in the link above. I doubt very many pastors today would respond the way he did to a better offer elsewhere...
</idle musing>

The Bible as R-rated?

Beginning with the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, we are given a full picture of human noninnocence. We have seen so many Sunday school pictures of dutiful children in biblical garb that we forget how utterly unblinking the Scriptures are about human nature. Far from being a collection of inspirational stories, the Old Testament is replete with unedifying R-rated tales of every conceivable kind of crime and villainy, much of it committed by men and women of God’s own choosing.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 196

Grace drives the sequence from first to last

It is surely no accident that Paul the Pharisee eschews all talk of repentance in his letters. He distances himself from any concept of repentance preceding, or being necessary for, the setting-aside (or “weakening,” in some versions) of God’s “severe decree.” At the risk of oversimplifying, for Paul the sequence is not sin-repentance-grace-forgiveness, but grace-sin- deliverance-repentance-grace. Grace drives the sequence from first to last.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 192

Tozer for Tuesday

Weed: The Father and the Son Love Us in Different Degrees

Then there is the teaching that Christ won God over to our side by dying for us. Some people imagine that. I have heard evangelists tell about an angry God with His sword raised to destroy a sinning man, and Jesus rushes in and the sword falls on His head. He died and the sinner lived. It might be good drama, but its very poor theology, for there is not a word of truth in it. The Father “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). And it was the love of the Father that sent the Son to die for mankind.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 157

Come, Holy Spirit, Dove Divine

559 Come, Holy Spirit, Dove Divine

1 Come, Holy Spirit, Dove Divine,
   On these baptismal waters shine,
   And teach our hearts, in highest strain,
   To praise the Lamb, for sinners slain.

2 We love Thy name, we love Thy laws,
   And joyfully embrace Thy cause;
   We love Thy cross, the shame, the pain,
   O Lamb of God, for sinners slain.

3 We sink beneath Thy mystic flood;
   O bathe us in Thy cleansing blood;
   We die to sin, and seek a grave,
   With Thee, beneath the yielding wave.

4 And as we rise, with Thee to live,
   O let the Holy Spirit give
   The sealing unction from above,
   The breath of life, the fire of love.
                         Adoniram Judson
                         Hymns for the Family of God

Sin? Not what you think…

To be in sin, biblically speaking, means something very much more consequential than wrongdoing; it means being catastrophically separated from the eternal love of God. It means to be on the other side of an impassable barrier of exclusion from God’s heavenly banquet. It means to be helplessly trapped inside one’s own worst self, miserably aware of the chasm between the way we are and the way God intends us to be. It means the continuation of the reign of greed, cruelty, rapacity, and violence throughout the world. In view of God’s nature, it is impossible that this state of affairs would be allowed to continue forever. Once we come to know God in Jesus Christ, we can no longer imagine the Father’s joyful banquet continuing into all eternity with the elder brother still standing outside looking in, imprisoned forever in his envy and resentment (Luke 15:25-32). This whole line of thinking exemplifies what we have been saying for several pages now, namely, that we cannot talk about sin for very long without being drawn into doxology. Were it not for the mercy of God surrounding us, we would have no perspective from which to view sin, for we would be entirely subject to it.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 174

More on prevenient grace

God is moving upon a person’s heart before the person even realizes what is happening. In presenting the gospel, then, we do not begin by attempting to convict people of sin. The movement of God’s prevenient (“going-before”) mercy comes first, in the disclosure of the presence of God, which then awakens the sense of sin by exposing the chasm between us and the holiness of God. When this recognition dawns on us, we are already standing within God’s grace (“this grace in which we stand” - Rom. 5:2). This is another way of explaining why the confession of sin can come as such a blessed relief.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 174 (emphasis original)

A Prayer for Unity

549 Prayer for Unity

Our Father, we thank You for the privilege of being together at this time and in this place.

As Your people, we pray that Your love will unite us into a fellowship of discovery.

Cleanse us of everything that would sap our strength for togetherness.

Unravel the knots in our spirits,
Cleanse the error of our minds.
Free as from the bondage of our negative imaginations.
Break down the barriers that sometimes keep us apart and cause us to drift along without a dream.

As we go from here-
Explode in us new possibilities for service.
Kindle within us the fires of Your compassion so that we may not wait too long to learn to love.

May we be a people with loving purposes-
Reaching out. . .
Breaking walls. . .
Building bridges. . .
Let us be Your alleluia in a joyless, fragmented world.

In the name of our Lord, we pray.
Amen
—Champ Taylor
Hymns for the Family of God

The world needs men

. . . who cannot be bought;
. . . whose word is their bond;
. . . who put character above wealth;
. . . who are larger than their vocations;
. . . who do not hesitate to take chances;
. . . who will not lose their identity in a crowd;
. . . who will be as honest in small things as in great things;
. . . who will make no compromise with wrong;
. . . whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
. . . who will not say they do it “because everybody else does it;”
. . . who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity;
. . . who do not believe that shrewdness and cunning are the best qualities for winning success;
. . . who are not ashamed to stand for the truth when it is unpopular;
. . . who can say “no” with emphasis, although the rest of the world says “yes.”

God, make me this kind of man.
                         —Leonard Wagner
                         Hymns for the Family of God, #531

<idle musing>
Sadly, those kind of men have always been in short supply. And it seems they are in even shorter supply today than ever...

Just an
</idle musing>

O Perfect Love

530 O Perfect Love

1 O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
   Lowly we kneel in prayer before Thy throne,
   That theirs may be the love which knows no ending,
   Whom Thou for evermore dost join in one.

2 O perfect Life, be Thou their full assurance
   Of tender charity and steadfast faith,
   Of patient hope, and quiet, brave endurance,
   With child-like trust that fears no pain nor death.

3 Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow,
   Grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,
   And to life's day the glorious, unknown morrow
   That dawns upon eternal love and life.
                         Dorothy Gurney
                         Hymns for the Family of God

A prayer for the Fourth

527 Answered Prayer

I asked God for strength,
     that I might achieve,
I was made weak,
     that I might learn humbly to obey . . .

I asked for health,
     that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity,
     that I might do better things . . .

I asked for riches,
     that I might be happy,
I was given poverty,
     that I might be wise . . .

I asked for power,
     that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness,
     that I might feel the need of God . . .

I asked for all things,
     that I might enjoy life,
I was given life,
     that I might enjoy all things . . .

I got nothing that I asked for-
but everything I had hoped for;
     Almost despite myself,
      my unspoken prayers were answered.
         I am among all men most richly blessed.
—Unknown Confederate Soldier
Hymns for the Family of God

Lord of the Dance

The analogy to the cantatas of Bach, with their combination of grief-stricken laments and ecstatic dance forms, is this: participation in Christ means abandoning our pretenses, openly acknowledging our identities as sinners in bondage, and in the same moment realizing with a stab of piercing joy that the victory is already ours in Christ, won by him who died to save us. The action of God’s grace precedes our consciousness of sin, so that we perceive the depth of our own participation in sin’s bondage simultaneously with the recognition of the unconditional love of Christ, which is perfect freedom. We recognize that love, moreover, not from the depths of the hell we were bent on creating for ourselves, but from the perspective of the heaven that God is preparing for us. In the victorious presence of the crucified and risen One, the whole company of the redeemed will throw off every bond and join in a celebration of mutual love and joy where no one will be a wallflower and everyone will be able to dance like Fred Astaire and Michael Jackson combined. Thus “Lord of the Dance” is truly an apt title for the risen Christ and for the kingdom of God.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 171 (emphasis original)

A Benediction

524 Benediction

May the Lord take from you all resistance to His will.
May He give to you the fullness of His life and the sufficiency of His practical, daily help.
May the Lord send you during this week to come to those He can only serve through your unique experience of life and your very special
abilities.
May the Lord bring us together even when we are apart, as we learn to be supportive of one another in our prayers and our service. Amen.
—Bryan Jeffery Leech
Hymns for the Family of God

Prevenient (love that word!) love

There is no way of taking the Bible seriously unless we are willing to entertain its presuppositions about sin, especially Sin in the singular. This is a catch-22 of sorts, because it is not possible to have a grasp of one’s own involvement in sin without a prior or simultaneous awareness of God’s prevenient love (Latin pre-venere, “going-before”). We need to recover that word “prevenient” because no other word or phrase captures so well the essential fact about grace: it prevenes (goes before), or precedes, recognition of sin, precedes confession of sin, precedes repentance for sin, and precedes forsaking of sin. Readers of this book are already held by God’s gracious intention toward them, whether they know themselves as sinners or not.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 168 (emphasis original)

An ancient prayer

521 Ancient Prayer

God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in mine eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at mine end, and at my departing. Amen.
—Ancient Prayer
Hymns for the Family of God

And there isn't a split in the Trinity, either!

In our preaching, teaching, and learning we must emphatically reject any interpretation that divides the will of the Father from that of the Son, or suggests that anything is going on that does not proceed out of love. As we shall see again and again, God’s justice and God’s mercy both issue forth from his single will of eternal love.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 163

There isn't any split!

God is a God of judgment and a God of grace. Both judgment and grace are in the New Testament. And both judgment and grace are in the Old Testament. God is always the same, without change: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.—A.W. Tozer, Experiencing the Presence of God, 156

Give Your Best to the Master

516 Give Your Best to the Master

1. Give of your best to the Master;
   Give of the strength of your youth;
   Throw your soul’s fresh, glowing ardor
   Into the battle for truth.
   Jesus has set the example,
   Dauntless was He, young and brave;
   Give Him your loyal devotion;
   Give Him the best that you have.

Refrain:
   Give of your best to the Master;
   Give of the strength of your youth;
   Clad in salvation’s full armor,
   Join in the battle for truth.

2. Give of your best to the Master;
   Give Him first place in your heart;
   Give Him first place in your service;
   Consecrate every part.
   Give, and to you will be given;
   God His beloved Son gave;
   Gratefully seeking to serve Him,
   Give Him the best that you have.

3. Give of your best to the Master;
   Naught else is worthy His love;
   He gave Himself for your ransom,
   Gave up His glory above.
   Laid down His life without murmur,
   You from sin’s ruin to save;
   Give Him your heart’s adoration,
   Give Him the best that you have.
                         Howard B. Grosse
                         Hymns for the Family of God