The Longest Game

The Horns won the longest game in the history of college baseball last night. UT defeated Boston College in the NCAA Regionals in a game that went 25 innings, and ended at 1:05 this morning. Incredibly, the Horn's Austin Wood pitched nearly 13 innings of perfect, no-hit baseball on the way to the victory. Wood entered the game in the seventh. Pretty amazing stuff.

http://www.kvue.com/video/local-index.html?nvid=366866

Murder is Never Pro-Life

Being pro-life includes being pro-rule of law. Before God, the murder of late-term abortion provider Dr. Tiller is as much a violation of the commandment forbidding such a crime as was any abortion he performed. In the eyes of the law of our land it was also a murder, and the killer should be brought to justice in accordance with that law. And make no mistake about this: whatever excuse the killer will make for this violation of both the Law of God and the law of man, his action in no way reflects any view that is pro-life. People who are seriously and consistently pro-life are opposed to the murder of people - all people, including those who perform abortions.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/31/kansas.doctor.killed/index.html

Well, I was Gonna Watch the NBA Finals, but...

That's because I thought we'd all get to see Kobe vs Lebron. Guess not. Lakers - Magic Finals? Not exactly what central casting ordered. I don't care if every game goes six overtimes and it takes seven games to settle it. I mean really, outside of LA and Orlando (Orlando! ORLANDO!), who is going to watch this? OK, back to being bored beyond belief by the Cubs.

Prayer of Adoration - Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Prayer of Adoration

Spirit of the Living God, Lord and giver of Life, proceeding from the Father and with the Father and Son eternally worshiped and glorified,

By your work the world was ordered, and prophets spoke; by your power the Son of God became the son of Mary and our Savior, crucified unto death and raised unto life; through your presence your Church has been led into the truth and proclaimed the Gospel in all nations.

Descend upon us this day and write your word on our hearts that we might always love and fear Thee;

Breathe on us this day that we may live;

Empower us this day that we may serve;

Fill us this day that we might be made holy;

Guide us this day in the Truth;

Open our mouth to cry ‘Abba Father’ to the One who made us his own through Jesus Christ the Lord.

Lead us now with all the saints and all the Holy Angels to enter heaven itself and offer in that Temple sacrifices of praise with shouts of joy!

For it is you O Holy Spirit who ever lives and reigns with the Father and the Son, One God, world without end. Amen.

On the Holy Spirit

"What the soul is to the body of man so is the Holy Spirit to the Body of Christ, which is the Church."
- St Augustine of Hippo

"Come Holy Ghost who ever one reignest with the Father and the Son, in this good hour our souls possess with Thy full flood of holiness."
- St Ambrose of Milan

"The Holy Spirit is likened to fire...Like the wind, fire is elusive: alive, free, ever-moving, not to be measured, weighed, or constricted within narrow limits. We feel the heat of the flames, but we cannot enclose and retain them in our hands."
- Kallistos Ware

"The Logos took flesh that we might receive the Spirit."
-Vladimir Lossky

"The Spirit supplies all things;
He causes prophecies to spring up,
He sanctifies priests,
To the unlettered he teaches wisdom,
The fishermen he turned into theologians.
He holds together in unity the whole Church.
One in essence and one in throne with the Father and the Son,
O Paraclete, glory to Thee!"
- Vespers on the Feast of Pentecost

Sermon Notes for Pentecost Sunday

The Purpose of Pentecost
John 15:26-27; 16:4-15
Pentecost Sunday
May 31, 2009

I. The Spirit Anticipated in Promise
A. Fire on the Mountain
B. Breath in the Valley
C. Glory in the Temple

II. The Spirit Arriving in Power

A. Revealing the Son – Fire on the Mountain
· As at Sinai, God comes down to transform us and make us his own covenant People
· “Who Proceeds from the Father…” – Nicene Creed
· Christ’s incarnation and sacrifice makes possible our union with him. It is the arrival of the Holy Spirit that actualizes this work of Christ in our lives and in the world (Ephesians 1:3-18; Romans 8:1-28)
- Born of the Spirit
- Baptized in/with/by the Holy Spirit into the Body
· It is the Holy Spirit who reveals the resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus to us in life-changing power and grace

B. Enlivening the Church – Breath in the Valley
· “The Lord and Giver of Life…” – Nicene Creed
· It is the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ to the world by forming us to be the Body of Christ: bone to bone arising from death
· The Lord does not leave the newly formed body devoid of divine life: Genesis 2:7
1. The Glorious Presence of God overwhelms and penetrates every aspect our life, personally and congregationally
2. The Temple is only the Temple because God dwells therein
- The Ministry of the Word
- The Ministry of Sacraments
· John Calvin on Spirit, Word, and Sacrament: Wherefore, let it be a fixed point, that the office of the sacraments differs not from the word of God; and this is to hold forth and offer Christ to us, and, in him, the treasures of heavenly grace. They confer nothing, and avail nothing, if not received in faith, just as wine and oil, or any other liquor, however large the quantity which you pour out, will run away and perish unless there be an open vessel to receive it. When the vessel is not open, though it may be sprinkled all over, it will nevertheless remain entirely empty…They do not of themselves bestow any grace, but they announce and manifest it, and, like earnests and badges, give a ratification of the gifts which the divine liberality has bestowed upon us. The Holy Spirit, whom the sacraments do not bring promiscuously to all, but whom the Lord specially confers on his people, brings the gifts of God along with him, makes way for the sacraments, and causes them to bear fruit. But though we deny not that God, by the immediate agency of his Spirit, countenances his own ordinance, preventing the administration of the sacraments which he has instituted from being fruitless and vain, still we maintain that the internal grace of the Spirit, as it is distinct from the external ministration, ought to be viewed and considered separately. God, therefore, truly performs whatever he promises and figures by signs; nor are the signs without effect, for they prove that he is their true and faithful author (Institutes, Book IV. Ch.14).
- The Ministry of Gifts – we are an army not an audience!
- The Ministry of Mission: The Spirit is at work in the world (Jerusalem to Rome and Beyond)

C. Filling the Saint - Glory in the Temple
· Resurrection means a New Temple: John 2:18-22
· You are the Temple of the Holy Spirit: 2 Corinthians 6:16- 7:1
- True personally and congregationally
- Called to Truth
- Called to Holiness

Let us then say anew with fresh and fiery zeal, ‘Come Holy Spirit, reveal Christ to me and through your Church to the world; come Holy Spirit, renew and seal in me your many graces through the word and sacrament; come Holy Spirit, Lord of Life, and make me your living Temple, holy and pure.

Music, Theology, Community, and Society - Part Two: Sabbath Rest

Augustine's view of music as 'the science of proper modulation' speaks to our need for the presence of God in our sabbath keeping. In De Musica, Augustine is careful to note the measurement of the absence of sound as well as its presence. This absence is known to us as a 'rest', and where the rest occurs silence is commanded. We need 'the presence of absence' - places of repose - to properly hear and participate in the rythm of the poetry that is God's handiwork in creation. Pickstock takes this further, suggesting that Augustine's view of 'the alternation of sound and silence in music' is a 'Christianization' of the Pythagorean approach. This means that 'creation exhibits a perfect order or beauty' and that 'nothingness...is a necessary part of this order.'

Thus, 'when human creatures fail to confess this nothingness, when their life in time is without pauses...this order is denied and a greater...disharmony ensues."

God established sabbath as an intial aspect of the rythm of the created order. Fallen man seeks continuously to overthrow this order, denying the proper place of rest, by over-working himself and others, or, on the other hand, by divesting himself of labor and treating life as a continuous party. Labor without rest and rest without labor are both violations of God's creation, and the image of God in human beings.

More often than not I hear people say that when they are working they wish they were playing and when they are playing they think of all the work they must do. This can only lead to exhaustion, both physically and psychologically. Let us hear the music - including the the presence of the absence of sound; let us hear and receive the 'rest' Let us work and let us rest, and all to the glory of God.

"While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." - Genesis 8:22

"I did not speak with my mouth...I was silent...and while I kept silent, the fire burned..." - Psalm 39

Quotable on the Church

Men and women of Christendom, I am your Mother the Church. I was born in a poor fisherman's hut; but our Lord nourished and brought me up to be the Bride of the Trinity.

- Dorothy Sayers, The Emperor Constantine

Is There a Coming Economic Earthquake and Revolution?

Here are some alarming thoughts from a prescient thinker.

http://www.infowars.com/celente-predicts-revolution-food-riots-tax-rebellions-by-2012/

Children and the Kingdom

Children and the Kingdom

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name, receives me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” – Jesus, Matthew 18

“Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 19


“First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes…” and you know the rest of the old children’s sing-song. So having looked last week at the Kingdom as Marriage Feast it seems only right to ponder now the matter of children and the Kingdom. This is a wonderfully fascinating area of Biblical study, and we revel in our covenantal view of children. The Bible teaches that the child of a believer is ‘holy’ (1 Corinthians 7), and David said that the Lord had given him ‘trust in Him’ even while he was still nursing at his mother’s breast (Psalm 22). The Psalmist exclaims in wondrous praise, “Thou didst form my inward parts, Thou didst weave me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139). Jeremiah was chosen by God before he was born (Jeremiah 1), and in the same state John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit (Luke 1). As Jesus entered Jerusalem to inaugurate his great and final week of ministry that would culminate in his death and resurrection, he was welcomed by the loud acclamation of little children (Matthew 21). The Lord loved those exuberant voices and rebuked those who wanted them silenced. “No!” he said, “haven’t you read that out of the mouths of babes God has ordained praise so that the foe and avenger is silenced?” As Jesus says, the kingdom belongs to such as these.

In the most general sense, children are a blessing from the Lord (Psalm 127), and a man and woman with a ‘quiver full’, or seeing them ‘seated around the table’ like olive plants and strong as stately pillars, are blessed by God in a most wonderful way (Psalm 128). Parents are commanded to teach their children God’s word and God’s ways (Deuteronomy 6), and children are charged to honor and obey their parents (Exodus 20; Ephesians 6).

Perhaps most significantly, God reveals himself to us in saving love by coming among us as an infant, walking among us as a child. God came as a child (Matthew 1:18-25; John 1:1-3, 14-18). This does not make children gods (childolatry is a wicked sin; our children need their parents to love God and his Christ more than they even love their children). Nevertheless, the knowledge that the incarnation does not mean that Christ arrived as a fully grown man is significant. He came to us as a child – and he still does. “For as much as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me” (Matthew 25). Even in the inter-testamental apocryphal book ‘The Wisdom of Solomon’, we learn the view held in ancient Judaism that God judges the nations in part by the way they treat children (Wisdom 12:3-7). The nations rejected the Son of God, and in doing so sealed their doom.

My first ‘sermon’ was to a kindergarten class, and that was the best congregation I could possibly have had. I confess that I would probably do a children’s sermon every Sunday here, but really it isn’t necessary given the way parents are instructing their children to dwell in the House of God and derive benefit from sermons. That said, we need to be moved to devoted and earnest prayer and service for our covenant children as we raise them in the faith and do battle in our culture for all children everywhere. Satan as always hated the seed of the woman and sought the destruction of children. To resist the enemy is to serve children.

Children do say hilarious things and ask un-nerving questions. “Were you with Noah on the ark?” one little guy asked his grandmother. The progress of time is not something they are particularly gifted in. This is especially true of church services. “Is it STILL Sunday?” Sean once asked me. Mind you, he spent his first few years in services that were three hours long at times – and then came Sunday nights to boot! How then can we ‘train our children in the way they should go’ (Proverbs 22:6)?

First, it is vital that fathers and mothers faithfully love one another and keep their vows of marriage. Untold damage is done to the souls of children through the sinfulness of parents when we refuse to repent. Children learn to honor their mother by watching their father honor their mother, his wife. Children learn to respect their fathers by seeing their mother show respect to their father, her husband. Christian love, prayer and worship, and dedication to the Scriptures and the Church in the home are the setting in which children may best see the love of God made known.

Secondly, remember that Jesus NEVER ministered to a child apart from their parent(s). Look it up. Whether it was an exorcism, healing, resurrection, or general blessing, the Lord Jesus touched children with their parents. It is in the context of the covenant that our Lord blesses the little ones. Let us stop sending them away in hopes that Christ will minister to them apart from us. Parents are chosen by God to be the atmosphere in which grace is communicated. I saw Christ in my dad and mom, and they instructed me in the Faith. No matter what other teachers I had, they knew it was their responsibility to pray for me, teach me, and reprove me. Discipleship of a child is not an optional extra for a parent.

Thirdly, bring your covenant children to the Church for worship in spirit and truth. They should be presented for baptism raised at the Lord’s Table, and all under the sound preaching and teaching of God’s word. They must be catechized and so learn the central doctrines we cherish. They should learn the society of the Church, worshipping with and serving alongside not only their peers but all the congregation. This is the way they learn to respect and treat with honor the elderly, care for the weak and suffering, bear with the sinful, and relate in covenant with people very different from themselves. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it takes a Church to raise a Christian.

Finally, take education seriously. Look after the seeds being sown in the minds of your children. Just because there is a sign outside a school that says ‘Christian’ does not mean that the curriculum or philosophy of education is orientated around the Scriptures and the Kingdom. If they are in a government school, your children will desperately need you to assist them is assessing and critiquing the world-view they are imbibing for hours on end. If you educate them in your home, you must know that each child learns differently, and direct them always to Christ himself, teaching them to see him – and not just excellent SAT scores – as the goal of authentic education.

“Samuel, Samuel”, the Lord called to the child in the Temple. We do not know exactly when our children will become profoundly aware of the voice of the Lord calling them. But let us raise them in God’s house, under God’s word, eating at God’s table, serving among God’s people, praying that from a tender age they will find themselves with young Samuel saying as well, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” The Kingdom belongs to our children, our children are citizens of the Kingdom, and how we treat our children – and those of others – is one way we know that we are faithful subjects of the King.

Hook 'Em! Horns Top Seed in the Nation for the College Baseball Tournament

Here's the view from ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=4204372

Being the number one seed is quickly forgotten once the games begin, and this tournament is always capable of producing HUGE surprises. So congrats to the Horns on a terrific season and well-earned top seed, but lets all hope they're holding the trophy on the last day.

Memorial Day

There is an old proverb that says the first casualty of any war is the truth. That is often the case, but even when accurate it is never the last casualty. Nor are the wars fought only against a rogue nation. Pirates, drug cartels, technological and biological terrorists together with the more ‘traditional’ bombers, all represent threats to our peace and security that must be met by remarkably intelligent and courageous military personnel in every branch of the services. That truth can never be a casualty.

From Valley Forge to Vietnam, and from Bunker Hill to Baghdad we have been served with distinction by our brightest and best, as well as our bravest – men and women who were average sons and daughters of average towns and villages and farms who turned out to be anything but average. Many did not return to the home they left to serve the nation they loved. These are the soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen we pause to remember today.

Just as there is no one alive today who can point with living memory to the name of a fallen Civil War soldier, so also a hundred years from now there will be no one who can personally recall the fallen man or woman of our own time, tearfully running their finger across the engraved name on a tomb stone. Our commemoration today is a partial payment for the debt we owe to them all. It is also our gift to future generations, instructing them in the ritual of remembrance so that every generation of Americans knows that freedom and liberty, rightly understood, are a great stewardship, won by terrible sacrifice, and kept only by vigilance.

Thanks be to God for all who served, who serve today, and especially for those who perished in their service.

No greater love has any man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

A Sermon for the President on Ascension Day

Doug Wilson has it right in this sermon. With all we've been saying recently about the doctrine of the Kingdom, and the extent of Christ's authority, inlcuding the inescapable political implications of saying 'Jesus is Lord' and meaning it, this sermon should be easy reading.

http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=6593

Quotable on Feast Days

"The Feast Days of the Church are not mere recollections of events happening in the distant past: they grant access to the spiritual reality behind them , which has timeless and unchanging significance for us all...each one us receives Christ as his personal Savior and so we each make our own the events of Christ's life through personal experience...at the Feast of the Nativity we sing 'TODAY Christ is born in Bethlehem...at Epiphany, TODAY the nature of the waters is sanctified...and at Easter, TODAY Christ has trampled down death by death and risen from the tomb. If those outside the Church live with the reminisences of an irretrievable past or hope of an unknown future, those in the Church are called upon to live by the ever-present TODAY which is the reality of every-day communion with God."

Hilarion Alfeyev

Ascension Sunday Prayer of Adoration

Prayer of Adoration


Lord Jesus, Lamb of God, our Glorious Savior and King, You are worthy of all glory, honor, power, might, dominion, and blessing. Yours is the Kingdom and you rule over all. You were slain and purchased us with your blood, making us your kingdom of priests. Exalted to the Father’s right hand, reigning now on David’s throne, Head of the Church and vision of the martyrs, you protect and govern us as King, intercede for us as Priest, and Guide us as our Prophet through your word and Spirit. You will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. We long for that day O glorious King, and until then worship and extol you O mighty Son of Man who with the Father and the Holy Spirit ever reigns, the One Holy and Triune God, world without end. Amen.

The Notre Dame Speech Mythology

It is patently false that the Obama Administraton seeks a reduction in abortions in the US. For a closer look at what was really said and what is truly intended, please read the following article by a participant in a recent WH discussion for those who are meant to be working to find the so-called common ground on this matter.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=31970

Cubs Try New Revolutionary Strategy

The Chicago Cubs have baffled baseball experts by implementing a new strategy for success, untried before in the Majors. Unable to win by scoring runs, the Cubs are now trying to win by - get this - scoring no runs at all. So far the losses continue to mount. According to ESPN analyst Peter Gammons, the attempt to win by scoring no runs, or indeed fewer runs than one's opponent, has never been successfully implemented. The Cubs began their experiment against the Cardinals and continue to doggedly pursue this exercise against the Padres. While the outcome is not yet certain, most experts we interviewed were unpersuaded by this novel approach and suggested older, traditional ways of winning, like hitting and scoring more runs than the other team, would in the end prove more productive.

Church History Seminar in Kentucky

2000 Years in Two Days will be presented July 17-18 in Paducah, KY (that's a Friday night and Saturday). The gathering is being hosted by First Presbyterian Church there, and we are grateful for their welcome. The only cost associated with the event will be a five dollar purchase of the study guide for the weekend, though an offering for expenses will be received. All are welcome, and we hope many will attend this multi-media, lecture based introduction to the primary people and events that have shaped the Church through the years. Its fast paced, and if you are one of those people who think history might be boring and have nothing to do with how we live now, this seminar will turn you around. Hey, you'll even learn why Cappucino, Corn Flakes, and Graham Crackers really matter! OK, you'll also learn why the Great Cappadocians matter even more. "Who?" Exactly. You need to be there. Most people know more about the contestants on American Idol than they do about Athanasius, Ambrose, Augustine, and Anselm - just to mention a few members of the 'A Team'! Hey, in this, the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, you need to make this a priority.

This event is also being filmed for later distribution. Maybe you will be captured on film and become famous. See, there are lots of good reasons to come. Besides, its going to be blazing hot outside. You might as well come in and learn some cool and useful stuff.

For more information, drop me a line.

Sermon Notes for Feast of the Ascension

The King and His Kingdom
Acts 2:22-36
Feast of the Ascension
May 24, 2009

“Who’s in charge around here?” The question was asked by a frustrated customer as he stormed into the store where I was working. “I am”, I replied. “Not you Kid! I want the Manager.” In fact, given the look in that man’s eyes, I was glad not be in charge that day. We are all a little too quick to offer ourselves as the answer to the question ‘Who’s in charge?’ We need to stand back for a minute and realize that there is another Sovereign, another One who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that ‘of the increase of his government and of peace on the throne of his father David there shall be no end’ (Isaiah 9). Don’t miss that reference to the throne of David!

· Old Testament Promise and Hope: Adam (Rule and Glorify); Abraham (Bless the world); Israel (Light the Nations as a Priestly People)
· The Kingdom of David and Solomon
· A Son of David on the Throne Forever
· The Son of Man Ascending to Rule

I. Jesus Reigns as King in Fulfillment of God’s Promise – Acts 2:30-32
A. David’s Throne on Zion is a Present Reality
· Ruling from heaven doesn’t mean that Christ isn’t ruling over all: Matthew 28:18ff
B. David’s Throne finds its Heir in the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ

II. Jesus Reigns as King in the Presence of his Enemies – Acts 2:34-36
A. Psalm 110 and Psalm 2 envision Authority and Power exercised by the King Conquering his foes.
· Two Kinds of Enemies of the Messiah
- Foes to be judged (Romans 5:9; judgment and vindication has been given by the Father to the Son – John 5:22, 27)
- Foes to be converted (Romans 5:10)

Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?2The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,3"Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us."
4He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.5Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,6"As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill."
7I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you.8Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.9You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel."
10Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.11Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
B. We must be very mindful of the True Sovereign and what Happens to Arrogant rulers that exalt themselves as gods and cultures that rebel against the Lord: Proverbs 21:1; Acts 12:20; Romans 1:18ff

III. Jesus Reigns Over All for Us – Acts 2:33; Ephesians 1:20ff (Daniel 7; Romans 8:28)
A. The Gift and Presence of the Spirit is the Seal of the Kingdom (just as in Jesus’ ministry)
B. The Gift and Presence of the Spirit is the Power of God in the People of God
1. Faithful in our Confrontations
2. Faithful in our Mission
3. Faithful in our Sorrows
· Q. 26. How doth Christ execute the office of a king?A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
· Luther on the exalted Christian (for we are ‘seated with him in heavenly places)
- The Ascension of Christ fulfills the Past Promise and Previews the Future Hope
- The Angels stand astonished (and shall again): Psalm 24

Music, Theology, Community, and Society

In Boethius’ quadrivium we find the four-fold path of mathematics – arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. This vision is built on the foundation of Augustine’s monumental de musica (AD 391), written to explore the ‘science of proper modulations’. Some might be surprised to see music in the list (though the mathematical dimensions of music are well known), but this is likely only because our grasp of the significance of music as foundational and universal in human experience is so shallow. The significant difference between the two great thinkers is that for Augustine it is music itself, transcending mathematics, which leads one to the theology, that is to the proper contemplation of God. Augustine held that music arose among the intra-Trinitarian relations, and was thus singularly able to lay hold of the human person and draw him after God and into God. Music measured the soul and the body just as, it was held, between the ‘spheres’ as well.

Boethius took up this notion of music and noted a tri-partition of the discipline itself – musica mundana, musica humana, and musica intrumentalis. The first two deal with the unheard cosmic music of the spheres and interior music of the human person, and the last dealt with audible music produced by the movement of breath or force over string, through pipe, and upon surfaces conducive to percussion. In the Augustinian view, this latter music – musica instrumentalis – had a societal function, creating and reinforcing community values. In other words, a change in music represents and brings about a change in community. Music can be revolutionary as well conserving, but its use is not neutral, even if one wishes to assert that the notes and rhythms themselves possess no inherent moral or immoral aspect.

This philosophical background is essential to understand if one is to make sense of the very different ways in which music developed in the West (and in some ways ‘made’ the west) and in the East (Oriental music is radically different from the European development).

Catherine Pickstock has pointed out in her work that modern music has a nihilistic dimension and purpose, or, to use her word, an ontology of nihilism. This has massive social and political repercussions. She (in my view rightly) calls for a recovery of the Augustinian view of music as something ‘more than merely human’ if a proper foundation for the social order and the right ordering of the individual is to be achieved.

Why is this important for us? Music begins in heaven and flows to earth, via the spirit of man. We sing ‘in the spirit’ and we ‘prophesy’ on our instruments. This is most especially seen in the context of Lord’s Day worship, reminding us once again that life flows from the sanctuary. If churches continue to worship music rather than God, or treat music as if it were an insignificant addition to what is really important (Scripture and Sacrament) rather than a means of communicating Word and Sacrament, or if churches treat all musical traditions as equally able to lead the soul to God, we will show ourselves to be a) ignorant of the place God has given to music, and b) continuing the revolutionary spirit in our society rather than catechizing and communing in terms of the ancient faith and community.

If you mess with the music you mess with the theology and the liturgy. If you mess with the theology and liturgy, you will mess with the community. If you mess with the community of the Church, you will set the stage for societal disaster. If we recover the tradition, we can reform the Church. If the Church is reformed then, in time, the salt and light, savor recovered and shadows banished, can minister more wisely once again in the world.

Remembering Francis Schaeffer

The 25th anniversary of the death of Francis Schaeffer passed this Friday, May 15th, without a lot of fanfare or notice. I met him at L'Abri in England two years before he died, and that one single day - indeed, one single conversation with him - completely altered the course of my life. That's why I can't let the day pass without noting with thanks my debt to this very influential evangelical leader. Os Guinness said in an interview about Schaeffer, "I often say simply that I have never met anyone with such a passion for God, combined with a passion for people, combined with a passion for truth. That is an extremely rare combination, and Schaeffer embodied it." I witnessed first hand what Guinness is describing. I hope that I can combine in my life and work these same three qualities of life in Christ. Thanks be to the Lord for Francis Schaeffer.

Suggested Reading: "True Spirituality"

Days of Preparation for the Celebration

Preparing for the Wedding Day

Married bliss is often the subject of humor, and those of us who have been married for many years understand why this is so. One wit claimed that a marriage was two people becoming one, and spending fifty years trying to figure out which one. Rodney Dangerfield said, “My wife and I were happy for twenty years…then we met.” I personally like the story about the fellow on his death bed who looked up at his wife and said, “Gladys, when I lost my job, you were there; when I went through a depression, you were there; when I wrecked my truck, you were there; when I was told I was going to die, you were there; here I am on my death bed and once again, here you are. You know Gladys, I just realized something: you’re bad luck!”

Well despite the challenges marriage presents it remains true that one of the great joys in the pastorate is helping people prepare for marriage. There is a particular sparkle in the eyes of those who are engaged and they are typically eager not only to be together but to learn how to be together in continuing and growing love. The gals are also really, really concerned about the wedding - it has to be perfect! There’s plenty of advice around to help them in that quest. From programs on HGTV to all manner of Bridal magazines – some bigger than the Bible! – they can find ample resources to exhaust the budget of virtually any father of the Bride. In a way, that’s how things should be. Our weddings after all anticipate and remind us of where human history is headed.

6Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.7Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God." – Revelation 19:6ff

Revelation 19 celebrates three great, interwoven events: the judgment of the Harlot, the fully realized reign of Christ the King, and the wedding of the King to his Bride. The Bride of Christ is beautifully attired in costly garments, reminding us of the glorious vision of Psalm 45 where we see the Queen dressed in garments of gold standing beside her Beloved King. I have performed many weddings and witnessed the attire of many Brides, almost always beautiful and glorious. That splendor was the result of careful preparation and thought, that too the result of dreams stored in the heart for many years. “Bright and pure” – what an apt description of the Bride of Christ on her wedding day. In stark contrast, the harlot is impure, immoral, and consequently cast down forever. Here the ancient tale of two women – Lady Wisdom and the Adulteress (Proverbs 8-9) – reaches it’s conclusion, only one woman winning the heart of the King. We belong to one of these two women, and our eternal destiny is determined by the one with whom we identify – the harlot in her love for the world, or the Bride in her love for the Savior.

That day remains in the future; Paul writes that he has ‘betrothed’ the Church to Christ as a pure virgin and, with us, longs for the day of the wedding (2 Corinthians 11:3). Betrothal is the period between the official agreement to marry and the actual wedding, a season marked by intense preparations. The Groom prepares the home and the Bride prepares herself. When both home and Bride are ready the wedding can take place and the era begin. Jesus has gone to ‘prepare a place’ for us in his Father’s household, and by his Spirit has begun to wash us with the water of his word to remove from us every stain that would obscure the bright purity of his Bride on her great day.

The final unveiling of that glorious Bride is pictured as a glorious city in Revelation 21. Its description tells us about the reality of our calling to be forever at the side of Christ the King, our Head and Savior.

"Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel…22And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.”- Revelation 21:10ff

This is a city of grace, for it ‘comes down out of heaven from God’ (v.10). In contrast with Babel which rose in rebellion from earth to heaven, the Church moves in glory from heaven to earth. The Church militant on earth is one with the Church triumphant in glory. Ultimately it is the final and glorious reality which is what determines our identity and worth. We can be overly critical of the Church as she moves through history preparing for the wedding. “My dear, would you mind if I pointed out to you some of the defects I see in you?” asked a young husband. “Not at all”, replied his sagacious Bride. “Those defects are what kept me from getting a better husband.” We have a perfect Groom who is perfecting his Bride, not by criticism and exposure of her faults but by grace and mercy with unfailing love.

This is also a city of light (v.11, 23). The luminous glow from the urban centers of our day is nothing compared to the brightness in the eyes of the betrothed. Austin is now the 16th largest city in America, and the night sky shows that population growth. The heavenly light of the Bridal city however far transcends the fading glory of our civilization’s greatest urban centers. Jerusalem was always held by the prophets to be a beacon to the world, and the golden walled Temple in the mid-day middle-eastern sun surely made the city appear to be a star to all who first caught sight of her in their travels. But that glory was fading, while this eternal glory cannot fade away; it is the light of her Groom shining within her.

When on his 50th anniversary he was asked about the secret of his success, automobile manufacturing pioneer Henry Ford replied, “Stick to one model.” That’s good advice for everyone who is married or who is preparing for marriage. Sadly, not all here are faithful. There is One Groom however who will never leave nor forsake his Bride, One Groom who has already shown his love by giving her the most costly covenant sign of all – the gift of his death to secure her life. He has already fought her great enemies and slain the Dragon that kept her imprisoned in the tower. Her love for him is the response to the man he is – his love, courage, fidelity, power, wisdom, and authority.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote to Robert Browning, the love of her life, “The face of the world has changed since I first heard the footsteps of your soul.” This is the testimony of all who have heard the Savior unlock the garden of their soul and enter in covenant love. We love, because he first loved us. We shine, because he is our Light and has shone his grace in our souls.
Whether the wedding day is soon upon us or yet centuries and millennia away, we are the betrothed and we must be about the business of preparing. We must be ready, plenty of oil to last through a lengthy delay, lamps lit in our dark world, as we wait to hear the glad announcement, “The Bride Groom cometh!”

Blessed are all those who are invited the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Final Review at A & M

We spent Saturday among the maroon and white throngs in Aggie Land for Final Review, celebrating the completion of Claire's 'Fish' year, and packing up her things to come home for the summer. This was the first time we had seen Final Review. It was a remarkable ritual, and we thoroughly enjoyed witnessing the classes move up, with the Seniors moving on. During the day we caught a glimpse of several newly commissioned officers in their dress uniforms. It was a chilly, rainy day, but every heart was warmed with the understandable pride we take in these young men and women who are prepared to make such sacrifices for the cause of liberty. There is a confidence that arises in the soul from the accomplishment of a difficult task, a quality of character that is instilled only by dedicated hard work, fighting through failure, learning patience, and bearing with pain. The Cadets marching into Kyle Field for Final Review have that quality in spades. May their tribe increase. Gig 'em!

For a look at what the Army ROTC at A&M involves, see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3xrUr8i2X4

My Speech Today at Notre Shame

We Must Work Together to Make Car Theft Rare
by DP Cassidy

We live in days of challenging and bewildering complexity, and nowhere is that diversity more clearly on display than in the matter of car theft. I know that there are many people who believe that taking the car of another is a real theft, and represents a transgression of laws higher than our own. There are still others that believe such car taking is not theft in the true sense of the term, for the car depends on the life of another to be able to sustain movement and purpose. At the time of a so-called theft, the car is unoccupied and not being driven. Since no clear signs of driving are visible, one might easily conclude that the car is not owned and is available to those who would prefer to drive it rather than leave it where it is. Is it really then a theft? This is especially true if the transportation of the so-called thief is in danger, if the one acquiring the car cannot find transport to work in order to provide for his or her family. Is it really family values to say that person is a car thief?

It is true that the majority of Americans are anti-car theft. It is also true that the pro-drive groups are sometimes divided, some believing that only SUVs should be driven away from current owners, while others insist on only Sports Cars. We know people - your neighbors and friends - will steal cars at times, often under the strain of social pressure to be seen in a nice car rather than on a bike or the bus, and even laws against this won’t stop it. That’s why we have to work together to make car theft safe, legal, and rare. We have to care to make it rare.

The divisions between pro-drive and anti-theft groups cut across the fabric of our society, tearing at the seams of our union. We have to find ways of speaking to one another in civil tones about this issue rather than in-toning pejoratives and maledictions against one another. We need to get along. You see, we face bigger issues than car theft. Swine flu for instance doesn’t ask if one is pro-drive or anti-theft; we face that terrible enemy as one. We have common ground after all. An invasion of space aliens would also unite us – but I digress.

Our views on theft are shaped by so many things, especially our religious or anti-religious upbringing. I don’t believe that people can change their mind on such issues, conditioned as they are by circumstance rather than reason. Since change is unlikely (ironic, I know), it is crucial that we work together to make this controversial practice safe and rare. No one need be killed or injured in a car theft. We can work together to reduce the number of car thefts – education in security, the proper use of ‘The Club’, and the humility it takes to drive less desirable cars will contribute to making our culture one in which we all get along and car theft by those who are pro-drive can happen without the restraint of laws based in religious bigotry. We can lay aside our disagreement about car theft and get on with discussing what we have in common – like how to pay for cars in the first place. I believe the government can make everyone’s car payments for them, though the government must also then have the power to choose which car is most suitable for a person or family. Is this really so hard to see?

Some cars of course will never roll off the assembly lines. They will be stored there, unused for a time. True, they are not subject to the practice of theft, nor will they ever crash; but neither will they be driven by anyone. Would it not be wise then to take these partially formed autos and use them for spare parts and safety experiments to discover new ways to make theft rare and conquer other maladies such as speeding, flat tires, turn signals that refuse to switch off, the high cost of AAA, and why gas taxes are so low? Together, working hand in hand, we can do this.

Let us unite in a common bond of understanding and civility. If you insist on condemning car thieves, do so in loving language, and be prepared to give them your car – this would keep your car from being stolen in the first place, wouldn’t it! Ask what Jesus would drive. And then, let us do all we can to have a society that protects cars while also making their theft more safe, legal, and rare. It makes perfect sense.

Are the Majority of American's Pro-Life? Gallup Says 'Yes'

Here's the polling data.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/118399/More-Americans-Pro-Life-Than-Pro-Choice-First-Time.aspx

I don't put much stock in this, and, whatever the outcome of such polls, two things are crystal clear:

1. Even if a majority of Americans are pro-life they don't have it in the drivers seat when it comes to how they actually vote.

2. The struggle to win hearts and minds for this most basic of 'human rights' issues of our time will go on, whatever votes may be cast and whatever polls may say.

I will say this again - killing pre-born children is not a political issuse, but a theological and ethical issue with political consequences. Because Americans keep 'seeing' things through political lenses rather than theological lenses, they think every time a Pastor speaks on this issue he is being political. On the contrary, we are seeking to be theological and dogmatic and Biblical. The same goes for gender sanity, stewardship of the creation, education of our children, caring for the poor (and increasing human poverty through socialist economic policies, as well as defrauding and impoverishing people through atheistic capitalism, should be denounced with fervor and conviction), and other so-called 'political issues.'

There is no aspect of human existence that is not under the Lordship of Christ. There is no area of creation over which Christ Jesus the Lord does not claim the right to rule. This means that common grace is a vital truth to which we hold, giving to and receiving from our neighbors, whether Christian or not. It is also means that we speak and seek to act in such a way that human life is cherished and Gospel truth is offered, understood, and received by all whose hearts are opened by grace.

Losing Our Liberties in the Pursuit of 'Rights'

James Schall SJ has written an excellent article on the confusion over the language of rights, and how this is contributing to the loss of authentic liberties, especially those which are codified for American citizens in the Constitution. A must read.

http://www.thecatholicthing.org/content/view/1590/

Angels and Demons - Answers to this Sorry Flick's Mis-Information

Westminster Seminary in Philly has created a web site that offers actual historical answers to the goofy stuff Dan Brown writes in his novels. I have no problem with zany who-done-its, and I appreciate that what he writes is available in the Fiction section rather than the History section. The trouble is that most people 'learn' their history from wacky movies and docudramas, imagining that what they see on screen is the way things actually were and the characters portrayed are real. In an effort to assist people in dealing with subterfuge and silliness Westminster's offering will hopefully be of service.

http://www.christianpost.com/Education/General/2009/05/reformed-seminary-launches-apologetics-site-on-angels-and-demons-14/index.html

Sermon Notes for the Sixth Sunday in Easter

Finder and Seeker: The Kingdom of God and the Grace of God
Matthew 13:44-45
Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 17, 2009

Salvation in the personal sense is the arrival of God’s saving intervention in our lives. The King comes to reign not only in history but in our hearts as well. Paul describes this as being ‘delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom the Beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”(Colossians 1:13). Jesus describes the new birth as a work of the Spirit by which our eyes are opened to see the Kingdom and enter his kingdom (John 3:3ff). This is all of grace, as the two parables before us demonstrate.

I. The Finder: A Poor Man Discovering – Matthew 13:44
“I found the Lord!”

A. The Surprising Joy of our Discovery
· Salvation does have an emotional quality to it, just as any relationship of love would possess.
- Intellectual, Volitional, and Emotional
- The loss of joy is not the loss of salvation, but the presence of joy is consistent with salvation and forgiveness: Psalm 51:8, 12
B. The Sovereign Mercy in the Discovery – Isaiah 65:1
· Many people can’t see the treasure; they only see the dust and mud

C. The Surpassing Value of the Treasure
1. True Riches – Psalm 19:10
2. Buy the Field not the Treasure!
· The treasure isn’t all that’s in the field.

3. ‘For Sale’ – Sell off the Poor Quality to Gain the Field and the Treasure
· My right to rule
· My righteousness
· My repulsive sinful pleasures
- Philippians 3:7-14

II. The Seeker: A Rich Man Discovering- Matthew 13:45
“The Lord found me!”

A. The One in the Bible called ‘Seeker’: Luke 19:9-10
B. The Rich One forsaking all to Redeem the One he values supremely.
· The Bride of Christ – his pearl gated city: Revelation 21:21
C. The Suffering One purchasing us with his blood: Acts 28:20; 2 Corinthians 6:19

“I sought the Lord and afterward I knew
He moved my soul to seek him, seeking me.
It was not I that found, O Savior true;
No, I was found of Thee.”

We forsake all to follow the One who forsook everything to save us. We give our lives to the One who gave his life for us that we might live. The beauty of our Savior makes us cry with joy, “forsaking all others I shall cleave unto Thee O Royal Bridegroom!” The ugliness of our fall did not blind him to the value of the immortal souls he had made in his image, and allowed him for the joy set before him to endure the cross for us, purchasing us with his own blood.

Women Deacons and the PCA

I've written elsewhere on the underlying struggle going on in the PCA over the matter of women being ordained to the diaconate (or churches adding women to the diaconate while refusing to ordain men or women, and thus removing the 'problem' of ordination). For an interesting overview of the issue - and make sure you read all the comments - check out Tim Bayly's article linked below:

http://www.baylyblog.com/2009/05/woman-deacons-and-the-pca-the-state-of-the-union.html#more

Table Talk on 'Authority'

Timing is everything. Here we are in the middle of a study on the Kingdom and noticed in the office today the March 09 edition of RC Sproul's 'Table Talk' dealing with the issue of Authority. It has some good basic introductory thoughts to offer, with articles on the necessity of authority, God's authority, the limits of power in human government, the authority of the Church, and authority in the home. I hope many of you will be helped by these contributions, and I only wish there could have been an article on the subject of the Kingdom in a more specific sense.

Ecclesio-Humor Speech

Top 10 Reasons to be an Episcopalian/Anglican (from the comedian Robin Williams, who is reportedly an Episcopalian)

10. No snake handling.

9. You can believe in dinosaurs.

8. Male and female God created them; male and female we ordain them.

7. You don't have to check your brains at the door.

6. Pew aerobics.

5. Church year is color-coded.

4. Free wine on Sunday.

3. All of the pageantry - none of the guilt.

2. You don't have to know how to swim to get baptized.

And the Number One reason to be an Episcopalian:

1. No matter what you believe, there's bound to be at least one other Episcopalian who agrees with you.

HT to Taylor Marshall

Ecclesiophobic Hate Speech

Sorry, I couldn't help it. Here're are some quotes from some H-wood ladies that tell the tale on why that nasty Prop 8 legislation passed in California. If it weren't so tragic it would be hysterical.

"The Mormons and Catholics...Most of the money came from Utah, its very unfortunate...I’m a Christian Pagan Buddhist Goddess worshiper, but I’m also a feminist. I think the ultimate glass ceiling is God, in another words, if we think God is a man, then we make man a God, and I studied and learned that there is a whole other history of the worshiping of the great mother," she explained. "I really think that probably God is a woman, that helped me to break through that celestial glass ceiling...."
- Cybil Shepherd

Sharon Osbourne said it’s all to do with our former President: "Bush, blame everything on Bush," she said.

"What gay marriage is really about which is equality and peace," Dushku said. "And who could speak against either of those things?"
- Eliza Dushku

"I wish they would think for themselves and not do what their Church tells them to do. Alot of people use the church as an excuse, and I don't like it and I don't buy it."
- Jane Lynch

I think my favorite line is "I studied and learned..."

And for goodness sakes DON'T DO WHAT YOUR CHURCH TELLS YOU TO DO!

Well, at least we know that while the Church is against equality and peace, it isn't entirely to blame. Former President Bush persuaded the majority of Californians to vote for Prop 8. Um, look, whatever you may think of President Bush, I can assure you he wasn't persuading a majority of voters in California to vote his way on anything!

God's Love; God's Judgment

Goodness and Severity

"And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God."
- 1 Corinthians 6:11

"Woe to you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites...blind guides...white-washed tombs, on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth..." - Matthew 23

When I was a college freshman I attended the inaugural meeting of the G-L-B group at the University of Evansville. I went so I could ask for permission to preach to them briefly. More on that in a moment. When I arrived for the event, I found that a group of frat members and football players had formed a gauntlet for the students to pass through in order to enter their meeting, hurling verbal abuse at the attendees. I passed through that gauntlet too. I was called the same names and suffered their insults. They were unkind, uncharitable, and de-humanizing.

When the meeting began the sponsor asked if anyone had anything to say. I raised my hand and explained that I was a Christian and would be grateful to have a few minutes to share with the group - there were around 20 there - about the Gospel. He said that would be fine. So I did. I told them that would they had just passed through did not represent the Kingdom of God or the Gospel. I told them that the people who had spoken to them in vile ways had sin in their lives, just like all of us gathered in that room. There was only one answer for human sin...and so on, straight to the cross and redemption. It took all of ten minutes. I offered to wait at the Student Union Building later to pray with anyone who would be interested in learning more and excused myself.Yes, there was a response and I am thankful to God for that.

A few years later I met with a man who was a major figure in the Anglican Communion and who was advocating for same-sex marriage and for the ordination of men and women engaged in active homosexual relationships. This was an ordained man who would later become a Bishop. I told him that unless he repented of calling evil good and good evil, unless he forsook telling people that the Scriptural injunctions against homo-erotic relations were just as righteous as hetero-erotic relations, he would be damned. He was not amused.

I share both accounts to make an important distinction in the same-sex marriage controversy. Jesus always receives with mercy and compassion those broken by sexual sin who earnestly desire to follow him, know forgiveness, and find new life. This is true whether the sexual brokenness involves hetero-sexual sin or homosexual sin. It is also true that Jesus reserves the most severe rebukes for false teachers who deny the Lord who created and bought them with his blood. Both mercy and justice, kindness and severity, must be held together - and directed to the correct party.

The fact of the matter is that the Church is filled with sinful yet forgiven people, people who have been shattered by their sins and those of others, made new by grace. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. We always receive with kindness and mercy the wounded refugees of the sexual revolution. HOWEVER, Church leaders who advocate and celebrate SINFUL PRACTICES are false prophets, wolves in sheep's clothing, clouds without water, hidden reefs in our love feasts (OK, not so hidden anymore), blind guides of the blind, and under the sentence of hell. Jesus always speaks with kindness to those who know their sin and seek his mercy; Jesus also always speaks with ferocious justice to those who tell the sinful that they are not sinful and encourage the continued pursuit of lawlessness in the name of Gospel freedom and God's love.

EVERY person that we meet - whether at Church or at work or as a neighbor - is a SINNER AS ARE WE. They must be met as God met us - with mercy: blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Furthermore, they bear God's image. It is precisely here that the problem with homosexual relations is seen, for it represents a violation of the Image of God, a caricature of the unity-in-diversity of the Holy Trinity, and a negation of the Truth of Christ and his Bride (and THAT is why so-called same-sex marriage is NOT marriage, whatever Governors, Justices, and Congress may say). We seek to call all people home from the distant country of sexual license, whether homo-sexual or hetero-sexual; to come home to the true demonstration and joy of showing forth the image of Christ and the heavenly kingdom. Some who struggle with same-sex temptations will do this through celibacy (though I urge you not to make the mistake that all celibates are struggling with that sin; that is assuredly not the case). Others who struggle with heterosexual temptations (the husband who feels compelled to seduce multiple women, or the wife who feels compelled to seek out other men for liaisons) will be met in confession with mercy and counsel to help overcome sin. We want ALL broken people to find the healing hand of the Great Physician. He came, he said, to call to himself the sick. That means me and you and all the wounded pilgrims left for dead on the roadside.

Loving people bound in homosexual sin does not mean attending gay pride parades or celebrating marriages that aren't. It certainly doesn't mean the arrogant modern notion of supposing that 'illiterate' Biblical Apostles weren't aware of the homo-erotic issues we see more clearly now. Indeed, the ancient world was filled to overflowing with all manner of sexual sin and it is dealt with in clear terms in the Gospels and Epistles. The Apostles knew what they were facing, and what they wrote then is for the Church for all time.

Love does mean speaking the truth with mercy and kindness, offering the fullness of the Gospel to those who know the suffering of relentless temptation to do what is dishonoring. That is also true for hetero-sexual sin.The Christian ideal of marriage took centuries to take root in what we now think of as western civilization. It took centuries to convert the barbarians of Europe and establish a Christian culture based in covenant (a culture derided by both secularists and Christians as a 'dark' or 'middle' age). That feudal culture (feudal derives from foedus, one Latin term for covenant) finally saw implemented in the culture the Biblical teaching of Christ regarding home and marriage, children and divorce. Was it perfect? In a fallen world, are you kidding? Of course not! But God's word was taken seriously as the standard for how human relationships work are to be entered and kept. And the parish took care of the hurting while refusing to endorse or underwrite destructive behaviors.

That meant covenant wedding liturgies reflecting a theology of man and woman as God's image-bearers, united together in body, soul, and possessions to bear and raise children who would love God and further the advance of the culture of the Kingdom. This was the cultural inheritance that was planted in this hemisphere by the Christians who first came to America, and it was accepted even by those who did not share in an orthodox view of the Faith. Post-enlightenment thinking however undermined the covenant view and replaced it with the sovereignty of the individual. This was further nuanced by the rise of romanticism, the exaltation of existentialism, and the psychological theories of Freud. Religious training to control temptation began to be viewed as a tyranny of the true person; self-discovery, self-promotion, and self-satisfaction became the new standards for orthodoxy. If a Church or parent or other authority figure dared to challenge the personal right of self-determination with regard to identity and sexual behavior that authority was viewed as repressive and in need of being overthrown and discarded. The full expression of every urge was self-actualizing and the mature thing to do. Tragedy followed.

There's nothing new under the sun: see Psalm 2 and Genesis 3 for details.

The rise in teen pregnancy, STDs, divorce, and the promotion/celebration of sexual license in all of its forms is easily observed. One need not stop for statistics to know the certainty of these matters.The Church - the Protestant Churches in particular - embraced this abandonment of the Biblical ideas of man and woman. In the west, it was largely left to Paul VI and John Paul 2 to articulate a Biblical defense of the covenant culture. Main-line protestants abandoned the tradition in droves. Evangelicals and Charismatics followed suit, calling women 'elders', and confusing equal access to the heavenly sanctuary with equal ministry in the Church without reference to the role of gender in the way in which liturgy communicates the image of Christ and his Bride. 'New' marriage vows were written and at weddings ministers started ducking the readings in the Bible that speak about those thorny issues of headship and submission.

There are a lot of people trying to fight right now for a 'traditional view' of marriage as one man and one woman. OK. BUT WHERE WERE YOU WHEN NO FAULT DIVORCE BECAME THE LAW? THAT WAS A RE-DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE, AND THAT IS WHEN THIS SO CALLED BATTLE FOR MARRIAGE WAS LOST!

You want to stand for what the Bible teaches about marriage? Good. Does that include what the Bible teaches about DIVORCE? It had better or you're advocating only half the truth.

Our times have seen squandered the hard-won inheritance of many generations. DO YOU THINK THAT SEX IS A GIFT GIVEN FOR PLEASURE OR A GIFT GIVEN TO UNITE AS ONE TWO DISTINCT PEOPLE IN COVENANT UNION, ONE A MAN AND ONE A WOMAN, AND CREATE CHILDREN, WITH MUTUAL PLEASURE AS AN ADDED BLESSING? If it is only about pleasure and not the creation of children then what's the difference between that view and any apologetic for homo-sexual unions with regard to sex itself? Hey, homosexual sex is apparently pleasurable to homosexuals. Human sexuality is about God's image in mankind. Homo-sexual relations cannot show that union, nor bear witness to the truth of Christ and his Bride.

The abandonment of Covenant Culture in the evangelical churches has led to the abandonment of historic, catholic, orthodox liturgy. This in turn has deepened the rift between Scripture and the meaning of marriage and family. Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi is proven to be true once again.

In our ancient liturgical forms is embedded the truths of Scripture about male and female roles. No wonder the modern American Church HATES liturgy. No wonder people who ought to know better put forward women in positions men are meant to occupy in the liturgy, feminizing the masculine dimension of the Church and creating a confusion in church that has paved the way for confusion in the culture. Gender-bending didn't start with Boy George; it didn't gain acceptance because of a Hollywood elite. It started in and grew out of the rebellious church of the 60s and 70s that left its home for the distant country and pig pen of anti-historical swill that has left the Church irrelevant despite her mega-assemblies, her 'worship' reduced to pop concerts rather than heavenly warfare.

Here are some words from a traditional-covenant wedding service. They're not written by the bride and groom, they're pretty old, and they would embarrass most Christians today.

DEARLY beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony; which is an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man's innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church; which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought, in Cana of Galilee; and is commended of Saint Paul to be honourable among all men: and therefore is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly, to satisfy men's carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts that have no understanding; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God; duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained.

First, It was ordained for the procreation of children, to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord, and to the praise of his holy Name.

Secondly, It was ordained for a remedy against sin, and to avoid fornication; that such persons as have not the gift of continency might marry, and keep themselves undefiled members of Christ's body.

Thirdly, It was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity. Into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined. Therefore if any man can shew any just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace.

And also, speaking unto the persons that shall be married, he shall say,I REQUIRE and charge you both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgement when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you know any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined together in Matrimony, ye do now confess it. For be ye well assured, that so many as are coupled together otherwise than God's Word doth allow are not joined together by God; neither is their Matrimony lawful.

At which day of Marriage, if any man do alledge and declare any impediment, why they may not be coupled together in Matrimony, by God's Law, or the Laws of this Realm; and will be bound, and sufficient sureties with him, to the parties; or else put in a Caution (to the full value of such charges as the persons to be married do thereby sustain) to prove his allegation: then the solemnization must be deferred, until such time as the truth be tried.

If no impediment be alledged, then shall the Curate say unto the Man, M. WILT thou have this Woman to thy wedded Wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?

The Man shall answer, I will.

Then shall the Priest say unto the Woman, N. WILT thou have this Man to thy wedded Husband, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, honour, and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?

The Woman shall answer, I will.

Then shall the Minister say, Who giveth this Woman to be married to this Man?

Then shall they give their troth to each other in this manner.

The Minister, receiving the Woman at her father's or friend's hands, shall cause the Man with his right hand to take the Woman by her right hand, and to say after him as followeth.

I M. take thee N. to my wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.

Then shall they loose their hands; and the Woman, with her right hand taking the Man by his right hand, shall likewise say after the Minister,

I N. take thee M. to my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.

Then shall they again loose their hands; and the Man shall give unto the Woman a Ring, laying the same upon the book with the accustomed duty to the Priest and Clerk. And the Priest, taking the Ring, shall deliver it unto the Man, to put it upon the fourth finger of the Woman's left hand. And the Man holding the Ring there, and taught by the Priest, shall say,WITH this Ring I thee wed, with my Body I thee worship, and with all my worldly Goods I thee endow: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Then the Man leaving the Ring upon the fourth finger of the Woman's left hand, they shall both kneel down, and the Minister shall say, Let us pray.

O ETERNAL God, Creator and Preserver of all mankind, Giver of all spiritual grace, the Author of everlasting life; Send thy blessing upon these thy servants, this Man and this Woman, whom we bless in thy Name; that, as Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully together, so these persons may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them made, (whereof this Ring given and received is a token and pledge,) and may ever remain in perfect love and peace together, and live according to thy laws; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then shall the Priest join their right hands together, and say,Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.

Then shall the Minister speak unto the people.

FORASMUCH as M. and N. have consented together in holy Wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a Ring, and by joining of hands; I pronounce that they be Man and Wife together, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

And the Minister shall add this Blessing.
GOD the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless, preserve, and keep you; the Lord mercifully with his favour look upon you; and so fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace, that ye may so live together in this life, that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting. Amen.

Then the Minister or Clerks, going to the Lord's Table, shall say or sing this Psalm following.Beati Omnes Psalm 128. (BOLD TYPE MINE)

What do you notice? Look at the purposes of marriage; look at the covenant language; look at the exhortations with regard to Scripture (and I have not included all the Biblical readings); look at the vows. THAT is a Biblical liturgy of covenant marriage.

That arose from a distinctly theological view of life, of God, man, woman, creation, and the future. It can NEVER exist as a ceremony for same-sex marriage, but same-sex marriage is more and more accepted, demanded, and celebrated because Christians abandoned this high view of marriage and settled for the liturgical equivalent of 'Marrying Sam' in Reno, complete with a velvet Elvis painting as a backdrop.

Let me summarize:
1. Receive all sinners, for we are all sinners and in desperate need of grace, and point them to Christ.

2. Rebuke the false prophets who turn grace into a license and deface the image of God, denying the truth of Christ and his Bride.

3. Recover a Biblical liturgy to reform our reductionist views of marriage and family.

Now THAT'S a Bible Church!

I think Redeemer is a Bible Church

I didn’t grow up around or ever serve near something called a ‘Bible Church’. I came to discover that such churches were characterized by a lengthy – and often very helpful and solid, Christ-exalting – sermon, preceded by a couple of hymns, prayer, and finishing up with another hymn. There’s some variation, and some use praise choruses rather than hymns, but the basic format is the same. These are more often than not led by godly, able elders and do a great service to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. In fact, I guess there's lots about their approach that would appeal to me. I like long, careful, meaty expositions of Scripture; I love solid teaching and can easily attend with joy to days of lectures that bore most people to tears. I don’t like sermonettes. So God bless the preachers in the Bible Churches.

That said, this whole designation of ‘Bible Church’ leaves me feeling a little restless (not to mention 'empty', given the lack of bread and wine, but that's another matter!). After all, if the designation arises from the emphasis on Scripture in the worship service, I think we have every right to claim such a designation.

I looked through last Sunday’s worship folder and here’s what I found:

Scripture reading from John 10:11-18 to be read privately in preparation for worship.
A responsive call to worship that is a direct quotation from Psalms
An exhortation to confess our sins that is a direct quotation from 1 John 1
An absolution that quotes Romans 4
A response to the Gospel absolution that is a quote from the Psalm 51:15
The Gloria follows, the first line of which repeats the angels song from Christ’s birth, as recorded in Luke 2
Then we sang Psalm 100 – all of it, not just a few verses.
The choir sang Psalm 23 to us
The we heard three Scripture lessons – Acts 4:1-12; 1 John 3:16-24; and Matthew 16:13-20
These were interspersed with prayers, Baptisms, and the Lord’s Prayer said all together, a direct quote from Matthew 6
The sermon included all three lessons, and, looking back at the notes, dealt not only with these texts but also passages from Isaiah 9, 22, 38; Matthew 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 21, and 28; Luke 2; John 3; Psalm 2, 103, and 110; Romans 10; Colossians 1; Revelation 10, 11; Acts 2, and 4.
After the sermon and the peace, we responsively quoted a portion of Psalm 24
For the Offering we quoted a portion of 1 Chronicles 29
After the Sursum Corda and Great Thanksgiving we sang the Trisagion from Isaiah 6
We quoted from Matthew 26, 1 Corinthians 11, and John 1 during the communion
The benediction was a quotation from Numbers 6.

That’s FORTY THREE chapters of the Bible set before us and confessed by us in the course of a single service.

Now THAT’S a Bible Church!

Sermon Notes for Fifth Sunday in Easter 2009

Thy Kingdom Come – Realities and Requirements
Matthew 13:24-33
Fifth Sunday in Easter
May 10, 2009

The first time the phrase ‘the kingdom of God’ appears in Scriptures is at Exodus 15:18 where the text records God’s powerful intervention to deliver the Hebrews at the Red Sea from Pharaoh and his armies. God’s triumph over his enemies and rescue of his covenant people is the Kingdom of God being made known. While the phrase can be used to denote God’s providential government of all things (Acts 17; Psalm 103:22), Jesus uses the phrase primarily to describe both the decisive and powerful intervention of God in history to save the world, the way of living embraced by those who are citizens of his Kingdom, and the ultimate outcome of that intervention, the ‘eternal kingdom’.

Kingdom is in time and beyond time, just as is the King himself. Christ the King decisively intervenes through his incarnation, life and ministry, death and resurrection, and ascension and return. He sends his Spirit – the same Spirit whose presence and power on him demonstrated the arrival of the Kingdom (The King is anointed, but by God, not man) – to create life in and work through his Kingdom subjects. Finally, the King will return to banish from his Kingdom all rebels and completely renew the creation, re-uniting things in heaven and earth (Ephesians 1:9-10).

· The Kingdom = the Government of God
- “Don’t Blame Me. I Voted for Jefferson Davis”

· The Kingdom of God is the Triune God’s powerful intervention in his creation to overthrow darkness and establish his loving and glorious rule where rebellion once held sway.

Jesus teaching on this divine intervention re-shapes the imagination of his followers and surprises friend and foe alike. There will indeed be a coming of the Kingdom with glory and judgment, but that, according to Jesus, is a second phase of the Kingdom’s advance. Focusing on that kind of intervention the people have mistaken the true nature of the Kingdom of God and missed its humble arrival. The Kingdom comes in a very small and apparently insignificant way. Jesus starts talking about tiny seeds and how leaven works in the dough to describe the Kingdom’s arrival and advance. A baby is born in helplessness; kingship is claimed on a donkey rather than a war horse; a man is crucified in weakness; a group of 120 is all that remains of that man’s work – and this is how the Kingdom comes?
· Let us not miss or underestimate the ‘end of the world’ that occurred in this coming of the Kingdom!
- Sun darkened
- Great earthquake
- Tombs Opened
- The dead saints seen walking through Jerusalem
- The Veil Rent
- The Gentiles believing

· The Kingdom is here because the King has Come
- Not everyone wishes to acknowledge this. Admitting reality takes time for some people. The 13th amendment abolishing slavery wasn’t ratified in Mississippi until February 16, 1995

I. Three Kingdom Realities
A. The Kingdom is In and For the World – Matthew 13:24-25, 36-38
o “If God was not in the world then obviously the world is a thing of inferior importance, or of no importance at all. Those who were disposed to exploit it would then be at liberty to do so…a man could aspire to heaven with his heart and mind while destroying the earth and his fellow men with his hands.” – Wendell Berry

B. The Kingdom is Advancing Until the End of the World – Matthew 13:26-30
o 2 Cultures, flourishing side by side, in conflict, until the final day” Culture War is NOT NEW!
o Final Judgment is Inescapable with the Culture of the Kingdom vindicated

C. The Kingdom will Fill the World – Matthew 13:29-30
o “Why doesn’t God DO something!?!”
- Seeds and Leaven and Crosses and Preaching and Bread and Wine and Water and Mercy
- Small Things with Mighty Outcomes
- Growth in China: 76 – 5-6m; 86- 50m; 09 – 400m. More Christians in China than people in the United States.
o From Garden to the Garden City: Eden Recovered and Glorified: The meek inherit the earth!
- The wicked always ‘lose their land’
- It’s a blessing to be ‘left behind’! Note the context: Matthew 24:38-42 – “As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…the flood came and took them all away…one will be taken and one will be left…”


II. Three Kingdom Requirements
A. Worship in the Sanctuary
o Adam and Eve lost the capacity to export the culture of the sanctuary because they failed to guard the sanctuary.
o Jesus is raised to life in a Garden to bring its life to the decaying world.
- That was an earthly holy of holies, and from there life flows.
- Our first duty and chief joy is to meet with God through word and sacrament, and share the covenant with the next generation; then we have the strength and power to go into the world.
- Why the Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Issue Was Lost Years Ago – Liturgy Changes!

B. Work in the World
o Seed-Tree: continuity of life
o Holy Work: MOM! Others too: Professors or Pool Installers; Bus Drivers or Bankers; Engineers or Entrepreneurs.

C. Witness to the Faith
o Living Epistles (Of and To the Icons of God)
o Loving Boldness
- Stop shouting at the world

- Do Not confuse political action with the Kingdom of God

- Bear Witness to the powers and wash the feet of the despised

OK, So I am Being a Tad Controversial

Hitting on societal issues and why the Church has set the table for the current disaster isn't usually what is encouraged in preaching that is supposed to be calm and culturally cool. Yeah, well...

"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ."

- Martin Luther

The Kingdom and the Church

“I will build My Church…I will give you the keys of the Kingdom…” – Matthew 16

In ‘City of God’ St Augustine identified the Church with the Kingdom of God (20.6-10), a view which has held sway in Roman Catholic circles until very recently. While not abandoning that view altogether, the post Vatican II Church understands the Kingdom to be larger than the Church itself, the Church becoming the means of the Kingdom as well as a manifestation of the Kingdom. An identification of the Church with the Kingdom can be seen in Protestant-Reformed theology as well, notably in the Westminster Confession where we read that ‘The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation’ (Chapter 25. II, italics mine). Dispensationalism, on the other hand, has always identified the Kingdom with the age to come, especially with the millennium viewed as a future event. Indeed, some older dispensational teaching suggests that the Kingdom was offered by Jesus to the Jews, rejected, and thus postponed until Christ’s return. The Church is a ‘mystery parenthesis’ in such a scenario, a kind of provisional ‘Plan B’ set in motion by God in response to Jewish unbelief in the Messiah, a body to be set aside in favor of a renewed Jewish Kingdom at the end of the age.

Between the poles of the Church as the Kingdom and the Church separated completely from the Kingdom is the more nuanced Biblical revelation of the Church as the Outcome, Instrument, and Demonstration of the Kingdom of God. Because the Kingdom of God has broken into history in Jesus Christ’s incarnation, preaching, miracles, death, and resurrection the Church has been born and will continue to grow, built by her ascended and ruling Head. But because the Kingdom has yet to come in its fullness at Christ’s return the Church is charged with the mission of proclaiming the Gospel and manifesting in the present age the life of the age to come, however imperfectly, all through the grace and presence of the Holy Spirit.

In this way the Church is identified with the Kingdom without becoming the totality of the Kingdom (and I think that Calvin’s comments on Matthew 13 and Vos’ work on the Church and the Kingdom would endorse this approach). If we take this view we maintain the high view of the Church as the Chief instrument by which the Kingdom advances in history without falling prey to the triumphalism that so identifies the Church with the Kingdom that one is compelled to admit that a lack of membership in the Visible Church means one has departed from the Kingdom of God!

In A Theology of the New Testament GE Ladd notes several crucial aspects about the relationship between the Church and the Kingdom. I believe Ladd goes too far in certain places with regard to distinguishing one from the other (we should distinguish without divorcing), and he makes far too much of the invisibility of the Church – an a-historical notion popular in evangelical circles which leads to the marginalization of the Church in the lives of believers and in society. Nevertheless, he makes a reasonable and sound case for the following, summary points of correspondence between the Church and the Kingdom.

1. The Kingdom of God is the dynamic in-breaking of God into human history. Ladd writes, “The Kingdom of God is the redemptive reign of God dynamically active to establish his rule among human beings, and that his Kingdom, which will appear as an apocalyptic act at the end of the age, has already come into human history in the person of Jesus to overcome evil…deliver people from its power, and to bring them into the blessings of God’s reign. The Kingdom of God involves two great moments: fulfillment within history, and consummation at the end of history.” Ladd’s brief synopsis highlights the two-stage coming of the Kingdom that Jesus’ teaching unfolds, notes the power dimension of its arrival, especially the warfare aspect of his work in binding, casting out, and defeating the devil, and points to the Kingdom as a people ‘brought into blessing’.

2. The Kingdom Creates the Church. That is to say that the mission of Christ brought the Church into being and the Church’s preaching of the Christ and his Kingdom expands her borders as well as the visible rule of Christ.

3. The Church bears witness to the Kingdom. Ladd rightly notes the preaching of the Apostles in Acts is the proclamation of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the announcement that Christ is Lord. This preaching is in direct continuity with the kerygma of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the early mission of the Apostles and the Seventy during Jesus’ mission (see Matthew 3, 4, 10, and Luke 10). Moreover, the disciples are told that the Gospel of the Kingdom must be preached in all nations as a witness before the end. However it is not only in preaching but in community and personal life that Kingdom finds a witness through the Church. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom” said Jesus (Matthew 5). Having announced that ‘the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ in chapter 4, we find in chapter 5 that someone has reached up and taken it in hand! The ‘ethics’ of the Kingdom in the sermon on the mount – prayer and fasting, righteousness, forgiveness, and so on – these are the mandate for kingdom living in a fallen, rebellious world.

4. The Church is the Steward of the Kingdom. The office of the keys comes into focus at this point, as the Church through its founding spokesman Peter, is entrusted with authority to open and close access to the King and administrate the Household of Faith. While there is an administrative dimension to this (Peter making changes in the way in which fellowship with Gentiles occurred and thus opening up the Gentile mission – Acts 10-11), the primary idea of opening and shutting has to do with the knowledge of God. Christ condemned the Pharisees for ‘closing the kingdom’ to those who wish to enter and refusing to go in themselves (Matthew 23:13ff). Whether the issue is internal administration, discipline, and forgiveness, or making known the truth of the Gospel, the authority of the Kingdom is in the Church as she serves in the world. This is why the ‘manifold wisdom of God is made known to principalities and powers through the Church…” (Ephesians 3:10).

While I find these points helpful, I am also persuaded that Ladd does not go nearly far enough in the matter of correspondence between Church and Kingdom. This can be clearly seen in his hasty dismissal of the identification of the people of God as a ‘kingdom’ in Revelation 1 and 5 and the absence of any note concerning the feast with and on Christ in the Eucharist as an anticipatory manifestation of the eschatological kingdom. The Kingdom of God is the people of God’s rule (the Church), the place of God’s rule (all creation, but especially the heavenly kingdom we enter at death and the regenerated heavens and earth of the age to come), and the power of God’s rule, seen most especially when the Gospel is preached and the sacraments are rightly administered.

Indeed, let me close by saying that the Eucharist is the central act of the Kingdom in this stage of the history of redemption. It is a ‘Churchly’ event in which Christ is present not only as Royal host at the King’s Table, but as the food as well. The bread and the wine not only are the means by which we commune in the body and blood of Christ, and thus share in his kingly victory over death and the devil, they also tell us of the progress of God’s reign made manifest through his people. We bring bread and wine, not grain and grapes. What we offer and what is then offered to us is Christ’s presence in the work of our hands; we take hold of God’s creation and ‘glorify’ it – making of it more than it was: grapes to wine, grain to bread. This ‘transformation’, this glorification, proclaims exactly what has happened in the grain of Christ falling seed-like into the soil and producing an abundant harvest, his death bringing many sons to glory as he is the fist born of many brethren (John 12, Hebrews 2, Romans 8). It is also anticipatory. We are presently ‘tasting of the powers of the age to come’, looking forward in faith to the fullness of Christ’s presence. Soon the ‘tasting’ will be over and we shall sit down for the full banquet in the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The Eucharist points us forward to the Kingdom yet to come while establishing and nourishing us in the Kingdom that has come among us, all the while teaching us to pray as the Church ‘Thy Kingdom come…’

For more good reading on the subject of the Kingdom of God and the Church, let me commend to you not only Ladd’s fine works Thy Kingdom Come and New Testament Theology, but also the contributions of Gerhardus Vos (Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation), Herman Ridderbos (The Coming of the Kingdom), GR Beasley-Murray’s Jesus and the Kingdom of God, and Peter Leithart's (The Kingdom and the Power).

Shattering Glimpses of the Obvious

This quote is from a Daily Telegraph article concerning the way in which corporate America is now turning away from its initial love-affair with President Obama. Its just hysterical. I can't believe that they didn't believe that he believed what he was saying during the campaign.

A top Obama fundraiser and hedge fund manager said: "I'm appalled at the anti-Wall Street rhetoric. It was OK on the campaign but now it's the real world. I'm surprised that Obama is turning out to be so left-wing. He's a real class warrior."

Here's the link for the full story:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5301078/Barack-Obamas-rich-supporters-fear-his-tax-plans-show-hes-a-class-warrior.html

True Greatness - On the Interior Life

"The word humility, like the word human, comes from humus, or earth. We are most human when we do no great things. We are not so important; we are simply dust and spirit - at best, loving midwives, participants in a process much larger than ourselves. If we are quiet and listen and feel how things move, perhaps we will be wise enough to put our hands on what waits to be born, and bless it with kindness and care."

- Wayne Muller, "Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest"

Muller is correct, but only in part. We are dust and spirit. With the Psalmist we can sing, "I do not involve myself in matters to great for me." On the other hand, we are a royal priesthood and a holy nation, God's image bearers, made to rule creation and destined to judge the angels. Let us keep both poles of our existence firmly in place: close to the ground from which we are made in humility, hearts on high unto which we will ascend in joy.

Creation vs Evolution: Good for a Giggle

You might enjoy this little take-off of the Mac vs PC ad.

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8f328547d9d4cee54d3f

6 Part Interview with NT Wright

NT Wright is one of the most influential and controversial theologians of our time. I have found his work on Jesus to be particularly rewarding, while continuing to disagree with his assessment of women in ministry and his conclusions on certain aspects of the Doctrine of Justification. Whether one agrees with him or not, Wright is always incisive and challenging. These brief interviews are a good introduction to the 'conversational breadth' in which the Bishop engages,

On Heaven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjElNncC-dg

On Postmodernity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P3noKr2T1A

On Satan and Evil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhrkB_55qaY

On the Homosexuality Debate in the Church: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpQHGPGejKs&feature=related

On Women in Ministry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaVVXleoAdU&feature=related

On his Debate with John Piper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xFzdeyK4Zw&feature=related

Charles Colson Chimes in on AN Wilson

Here's a good little article from Charles Colson on the return to the Faith of former atheist AN Wilson

http://www.christianpost.com/Opinion/Columns/2009/05/a-n-wilson-returns-to-the-faith-07/index.html

The Ministry of Beauty - Artists and the Church

The crisis in art today, where nobody much seems to know how to move beyond the sterile opposition of kitsch sentimentalism on the one hand and in-your-face brutalism on the other, is not to be solved, as Roger Scruton in his recent work seems to want to solve it, by a return to an early Romantic sensibility, however preferable that might be to some of what’s on offer today. The only way forward is to put back together what ought never to have been separated, so that, just as with God and public life, God and politics, God and art need to come once more into the same room and do business with one another. As with God and politics, this will be a huge struggle because there are so many ways of getting it wrong. But the church desperately needs artists of every sort, from sculptors to storytellers, from painters to potters, from singers to seamstresses, and so on; artists whose work will draw attention not to itself, the nemesis of an atheistic aesthetic, but rather to the glory of God. After all, if new creation has begun, if beauty has awoken afresh in the new Temple, the living home of the living God, as he awakens from the tomb, and if beauty is now let loose in all the world, it will rightly generate new forms, new possibilities, new delights. It will come closer and closer to its two senior cousins, Love and Truth, showing with them how to avoid the other false polarization, a brittle objectivity and a collapsing subjectivity, because it will be kept in place by the work of image-bearing, Spirit-filled human beings as they reflect the glory of God into the world and the glory of the world back to God.

- NT Wright

It is Easter - Beauty Awakes!

Let Beauty awake in the morn from beautiful dreams,
Beauty awake from rest!
Let Beauty awake
For Beauty's sake
In the hour when the birds awake in the brake
And the stars are bright in the west!

Let Beauty awake in the eve from the slumber of day,
Awake in the crimson eve!
In the day's dusk end
When the shades ascend,
Let her wake to the kiss of a tender friend
To render again and receive!

Let Beauty awake, in the morn from the cool of the grave,
Beauty awake from death;
Let Beauty awake,
For Jesus’ sake,
In the hour when the angels their silence break
And the garden is bright with His Breath.


Robert Louis Stevenson

Vir Ecclesiasticus

The Man of the Church -

"Such a person will have fallen in love with the beauty of the House of God; the Church will have stolen his heart. She is his spirtual native country, his mother and his brethren, and nothing which concerns her will leave him indifferent or detached; he will root himself in her soil, form himself in her likeness, and make himself one with her experience. He will feel himself rich with her wealth; he will be aware that through her and through her alone he participates in the unshakeableness of God. It will be from her that he learns how to live, and from her that he learns how to die."

- Henri de Lubac

The Holy Spirit and Worship

"It is the Holy Spirit who instils the desire for God in the faithful, who tears them away from their earthly ties, turning them towards the Lord Jesus, and thereby showing them the Father...all of Christian worship thus constitutes an unceasing epiclesis that culminates in a permanent Pentecost, that is, in the continuous presence of the Spirit in the Church."
- Boris Brobinskoy

A Sermon Question

I had a great question sent to me by email about the sermon last Sunday (I always like questions!). Here it is and here's my brief response:


Pastor,
I must admit that your sermon Sunday left me confused. It seemed to me that you said that some people (perhaps even the President ??) are too much of a sinner(s) to be allowed in worship. I don't understand this.
If one has to meet a certain threshold of righteousness before being allowed to worship, then who would be allowed to worship, and what would be the point of worship anyway? If this were true, we would all be in trouble, I suspect. Can you please clarify. Thank you, _____

My answer:


Thanks for the email.
Um, no. We ARE ALL sinners. Ambrose barred Theodosius from the Lord's Supper because he was an unrepentant murderer. That's the point. The question is not whether or not we are sinners, but whether we confess ourselves to be so and repent. Ambrose' discipline led Theodosius to repentance.

A good Biblical example of this is in 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul ex-communes an immoral man. We learn later in 2 Corinthians that the action led to his repentance and restoration. This is what is meant by the office of the keys and 'binding and loosing', as seen in Matthew 18 as well, where Jesus instructs us about Church discipline.

I hope that helps to clarify, but if not let me know and I'll give it another shot.

Thanks for asking!

I didn't answer directly the question about the President. The reason for this is that, as I have said in a previous BLOG post, the President in the illustration could be any President - or Senator, Representative, or Justice. That said, when it comes to the current President, we would welcome his attendance at the worship service, but - and this would be a decision for the Session and not for me alone - I would tell him 'no' on communion as his promotion of abortion on demand is sinful and must be confessed as sin and forsaken for him to rightly receive the sacrament. That's not the only issue by which one would measure receiving such office-holders at the Table. Had President Clinton shown up, there might have been other matters to raise, and likewise any other President you care to name. And remember - such actions are for the GOOD of the person approaching and the peace of the Church. That's the motive. If someone wishes to cry 'Judgment!' I plead guilty - with Paul: "What I have to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those who are inside the Church whom you are to judge? God judges those who are outside the Church" (1 Corinthians 5).

That's why - and this will come up on Sunday - we have to STOP yelling at the world. We live in insane times when the Church, utterly absent any discipline of its own members, seeks to scold the sinful world for behaving in a manner completely consistent with their unbelief. "Judgment begins with the Household of God."

The marks of the Church are, according to the Reformers, preaching of the gospel, right administration of the sacraments, and discipline. Number three is no optional extra (Matthew 18; 1 Corinthians 5; Galatians 6:1ff, etc.).

So again, our response to wicked rulers is first of all to pray for them. If they claim to be Christians and Church members then we have a different responsibility as well. That doesn't mean we Presbyterians ex-commune say a Methodist or a Baptist who isn't even here, but it would mean that if they came to us we would warn, exhort, and, if need be, close the door to the table.

So -

1. Discipline for members with regard to the table.

2. Stop scolding the world.

3. Preach the Gospel to the world

I'll tackle how we promote laws that reflect God's standards (protecting life, securing property, guarding truth in the courts, etc) in another, later post.

Comments on AN Wilson

A friend wrote me off site about the AN Wilson story. Their very fine comments are worth repeating.

Here are a couple of things (from the article) that grabbed me and make me so thankful for God’s quiet work in the lives of His people:

"But there is more to it than that. My belief has come about in large measure because of the lives and examples of people I have known - not the famous, not saints, but friends and relations who have lived, and faced death, in the light of the Resurrection story, or in the quiet acceptance that they have a future after they die.

But an even stronger argument is the way that Christian faith transforms individual lives - the lives of the men and women with whom you mingle on a daily basis, the man, woman or child next to you in church tomorrow morning."

Only our God can change a sinner’s heart – people can believe it or not, but it’s true.


True indeed! Grace alone is sufficient for the dark hold of sin and unbelief on the human soul. Thanks be to God.

UEFA Dreamin...

Turned into a nightmare for the Gunners fans. Man U 3, Arsenal 1 was the result of today's semi-final. Now we await the outcome of Barcelona and Chelsea to see which teams will face each other in the Final.

Who Was REALLY Mad - Van Gogh or Gauguin?

So maybe Vincent didn't cut off his own ear after all.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/5274073/Van-Goghs-ear-was-cut-off-by-friend-Gauguin-with-a-sword.html

Starry, starry night it wasn't!

Go Gunners!

Bonnie Prince Charlie (a gracious and good RPC member) reminded me that I had failed to mention the HUGE match between Arsenal and Man U tomorrow. Here's the link and be sure to follow the action -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/european/championsleague/5274345/Arsenal-v-Manchester-United-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-prepares-for-biggest-game.html

AN Wilson - Farewell to Atheism

I have several books by AN Wilson, having found 'God's Funeral' especially helpful in undertsanding the rise and lasting influence of 19th century anti-theism. Wilson can write knowingly about such matters - he was raised as a Christian and became an outspoken and scholarly atheist. His books on Christ and Paul reflect that anti-supernatural view.

Upon further reflection, however, Wilson has recanted his atheism and returned to the Faith. Prodigals still come home. He makes a compelling witness for those who struggle with doubt concerning the reality of God in a beautiful but sorrowful world. I don' think you should miss reading his account of the journey home.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169145/Religion-hatred-Why-longer-cowed-secular-zealots.html

Hey Sport!

1. The Cubs are FINALLY trying to play actual major league baseball again; the second half of April they were merely impersonating the art (and looked old and tired doing so).

2. The Cardinals and Dodgers are just incredible.

3. Missed the KY Derby for the first time in years. Won't miss the Indy 500 - that was such a great event to attend as a kid and follow every year.

4. Generally speaking I would never watch an NBA game. But that Celtics-Bulls series was incredible. Moreover, if the Finals pit Kobe against Lebron we will be witnessing the re-definition of must-see TV. Wow.

5. Favre wants to come back - again - and play for the Vikings? Sigh.

6. Is it college football season yet?

7. With my starting staff looking like a mash unit, my fanatsy baseball team remains in dead last.

Some Follow Up on Today's Sermon

One of the problems with sermons is the inability to footnote and stop to answer questions. That said, let me make a few extra comments about the subject today, especially as the doctrine of the Kingdom of God will be our focus for preaching in the next couple of weeks (then on to Church and Sacraments).

* Take it as a series not a sermon on its own. Today was somewhat 'introductory' and needs a lot of amplification - that will come with a closer look at a few key parables. You need the whole package.

* In my imagined scenario today the President coming up the steps is ANY President (our current CIC, former Presidents, or future Presidents). I could have added Reps, Sens, and Justices to the mix. The office of the Keys is sadly lacking in exercise in our day - not only with regard to political leaders but members themselves. Discipline is one of the marks of the Church.

* Yep, I am going to be crystal clear on some current controversies. Ministers should be. Did you see Joel Osteen on Larry King? When asked about same-sex marriage he replied, (and this is pretty close to a quote) Well Larry, we want to aim for God's best and that's a man and a woman, so that's where we would encourage people to go.

Joel, you're kidding me right? Aim for God's best? God's BEST is male and female, but, hey, something other than this is OK too?

* That said, I am leveling my 'hard words' for Christian Pastors and my own denomination and not for the 'world'. One of the members pointed out rightly that the Church has been 'yelling at the world' when in fact our own house is a shambles. Too true. Ambrose rebuked Theodosius because the Emperor was a baptized Christian who claimed to follow Christ. Its a church discipline issue, not a 'social justice' matter. Its fine to speak prophetically to the powers that be, but the season we're in doesn't call for the shrill condemnation of people doing exactly what one would expect from sinful people in positions of power and influence - that calls for Gospel preaching. However, it is time to demand of our Church and the Christian community that it return to the faith of our fathers and that we teach a younger generation of believers a thoroughly Biblical worldview. What we are seeing in our country is a clash of visions. We have to discern where we are in history and learn the lessons of those who have gone before us. Sunday morning preaching has the world in view but it is aimed at the Church and that includes content as well as tone.

* On the humorous side, one of the members 'corrected' me after the second service. She noted that I had said, "We are Christians first and Americans second." That was new math apparently. The proper order I was told goes more like "We are Christians first, Texans second, and Americans third." You gotta love this state! Pray for me - its only four years in June that we've been here and it takes time to get a handle on the nuances of life in the Lone Star state.

Theodoret on Ambrose and Theodosius

Here's how the Lordship of Christ over the Rulers of a Christianized Rome was expressed by Bishop Ambrose.

Theodoret (c.393-466 CE), Ecclesiastical History, V.17-18

Thessalonica is a large and populous city, in the province of Macedonia. In consequence of sedition there, the anger of the Emperor [Theodosius] rose to the highest pitch, and he gratified his vindictive desire for vengeance by unsheathing the sword most unjustly and tyrannically against all, slaying the innocent and guilty alike. It is said seven thousand perished without any forms of law, and without even having judicial sentence passed upon them; but that, like ears of wheat in the time of harvest, they were alike cut down.

When Ambrose heard of this deplorable catastrophe, he went out to meet the Emperor, who---on his return to Milan---desired as usual to enter the holy church, but Ambrose prohibited his entrance, saying "You do not reflect, it seems, O Emperor, on the guilt you have incurred by that great massacre; but now that your fury is appeased, do you not perceive the enormity of your crime? You must not be dazzled by the splendor of the purple you wear, and be led to forget the weakness of the body which it clothes. Your subjects, O Emperor, are of the same nature as yourself, and not only so, but are likewise your fellow servants; for there is one Lord and Ruler of all, and He is the maker of all creatures, whether princes or people. How would you look upon the temple of the one Lord of all? How could you lift up in prayer hands steeped in the blood of so unjust a massacre? Depart then, and do not by a second crime add to the guilt of the first.

The Emperor, who had been brought up in the knowledge of Holy Writ, and who knew well the distinction between the ecclesiastical and the temporal power, submitted to the rebuke, and with many tears and groans returned to his palace. The Emperor shut himself up in his palace and shed floods of tears. After vain attempts to appease Ambrose, Theodosius himself at last went to Ambrose privately and besought mercy, saying "I beseech you, in consideration of the mercy of our common Lord, to unloose me from these bonds, and not to shut the door which is opened by the Lord to all that truly repent." Ambrose stipulated that the Emperor should prove his repentance by recalling his unjust decrees, and especially by ordering "that when sentence of death or of proscription has been signed against anyone, thirty days are to elapse before execution, and on the expiration of that time the case is to be brought again before you, for your resentment will then be calmed and you can justly decide the issue." The Emperor listened to this advice, and deeming it excellent, he at once ordered the law to be drawn up, and himself signed the document. St. Ambrose then unloosed his bonds.

The Emperor, who was full of faith, now took courage to enter holy church where he prayed neither in a standing, nor in a kneeling posture, but throwing himself upon the ground. He tore his hair, struck his forehead, and shed torrents of tears, as he implored forgiveness of God. Ambrose restored him to favor, but forbade him to come inside the altar rail, ordering his deacon to say "The priests alone, O Emperor, are permitted to enter within the barriers by the altar. Retire then, and remain with the rest of the laity. A purple robe makes Emperors, but not priests. . ." Theodosius meekly obeyed, praising Ambrose for his spirit, and saying "Ambrose alone deserves the title of "bishop."

Sermon Notes for Fourth Sunday in Easter

Thy Kingdom Come
Matthew 16:13-19
Fourth Sunday in Easter
May 3, 2009

There are five words that the parent of every teenager dreads hearing for the first time: “May I have the keys?” Handing over the keys is not something lightly done and will be attended with solemn warnings and only after substantial verification of training, destination, passengers, and curfews. Having the keys means having some power. In the passage we read today, it isn’t horsepower that is being handed over but the power of heaven to open and shut the gates of the Kingdom of God. That’s some power.

This is not a passage that makes most lists of Easter verses, and that is unfortunate. For here we find a most remarkable prophecy and promise of Christ concerning resurrection and what that means for the world. It happens outside Caesarea Philippi. We should not skip past that geographical note.

It used to be called Paneas, but when control of the city was transferred to Herod the Great he built a temple there to Caesar Augustus for his worship as a god. After Herod died, the city was entrusted to the rule of his son Philip. Philip made improvements to the city and renamed it for Tiberius Caesar and himself. In other words, the city represents the zenith of human power and authority – the combination of the Caesars and the Herods in the government of the world. Just here, where human government boasts of its god-like character and claims we worship it and see it as our Savior, Christ asks the most important question any of us can answer. “Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Who do you say that I am?” he asks the disciples. Peter’s remarkable response brings forth from Jesus his essential teaching about the Church and the power of His kingdom.
Let me put it this way. Suppose you were given five minutes with the President and allowed to ask him one question. What would you ask? I’d ask him “Who do you say that the Son of Man is?” The right answer puts all earthly powers in their proper place.

· Theodosius and Ambrose
· “My Church…the gates of hell (hades/sheol)” – that is, the ‘gates of death’ (Isaiah 38:10): the Church will burst forth from the realm of the dead. It isn’t the gates chasing someone around, or the Church at the gates breaking in, but the Church breaking out of death and into life. Just as death could not hold Christ, so also those who believe in him cannot be held in its power.
· “The keys of the Kingdom” – Isaiah 22:22: unfaithful Shebna to be replaced by faithful Eliakim who will have the Palace Key placed on his shoulder. As steward to the King, he will open or shut access to the Sovereign. This about admission to the throne room, the exercise of discipline in the Temple of God.

Perhaps we are not very comfortable with this talk about authority and challenging the powers with the Lordship of the Son of Man. After all, we’re Americans and we have something of a history of having problems with Kings. I think this attitude is wide-spread in the Church when it comes to Christ. Many Christians I meet tend to think of Jesus as a duly elected President of some kind, bound to our will and ruling with our permission.

Um, no.

This isn’t even a limited Constitutional Monarchy. This is an absolute Monarch, loving to be sure, but ruling with unquestioned power and wisdom over all in his domain. To say he is less than this is blasphemous.
Our most basic confession of faith and the first prayer we learn, in other words, the first lessons we give and are given as Christians, are all about the Kingdom of God. Salvation is described as moving from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We long to hear Jesus say to us on the last day, ‘Well done…enter into the kingdom prepared for you’ Yet it is also apparent that this most basic of Christian doctrines is given little attention, an imbalance we need to address. Typically moderns have either restricted it to the heart or postponed it to the afterlife. The Bible’s teaching concerning Christ’s kingdom includes these but also embraces much, much more.

I. The Message of the Kingdom
A. Our First Petition – Matthew 6:10
B. Our First Priority – Matthew 6:33
C. Our First Proclamation – Matthew 3:1; 4:17; 10:7
1. 55x in Matthew (‘church’ 2x – yet these are deeply connected)
2. Genealogy; Magi’s Question; Jesus’ Temptation; Beatitudes; Seven Parables; Kingdom Taken and Given; Great Commission
- The new birth brings perception and entry into the Kingdom of God (John 3)
- Cannot read and grasp the Gospel without hearing and receiving the message of the Christ as King and what it means to be part of and dwell in his Kingdom

II. The Meaning of the Kingdom
A. The Kingdom of God is the Reign of God: ‘malkuth’; ‘basilea’: rule, government, authority. “The Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103:19); “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:8-10); “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end…” (Isaiah 9:6ff).
B. The Kingdom is the Place of the King’s Rule, the People of the King’s Rule, and the Power of the King’s Rule
C. The Kingdom is Three-Dimensional
1. Internal – within, transforming us
2. External – in the world, transforming it
3. Eternal – never-ending, the home of the transformed
- It has already come for the King has come (Colossians 1:13-14; Matthew 12:28)
- It is yet to come for the King shall come again (Revelation 10:7; 11:15)
· Thus the Kingdom of God – the rule of Jesus Christ – is both present reality and future hope
- “I Believe in Jesus Christ…whose Kingdom shall have no end” - Nicene Creed

III. The Mandate of the Kingdom

And that brings us full circle to the passage before us and Peter’s answer to the question, “Who is the Son of Man”. He responds that the Son of Man is the Christ, the Son of God. Well now, that is the language of Psalm 2 and Psalm 110.

· Psalm 2 – “Against the Lord and against his Anointed (Messiah)…I have stablished my king on Zion…Thou art My Son…ask me for the nations…”
· Psalm 110 – “The Lord said to My Lord…”

Guess when these passages are fulfilled in the NT. Peter takes those two passages and joins them to the promise made to David that one his Sons would reign forever on his throne, and says these words are fulfilled in the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ – Acts 2:36ff. He reigns now on David’s throne and will until he puts all his enemies under his feet. As this process is undertaken he is asking for and receiving the nations of the world as his inheritance.

A. Prioritize life as a Citizen of the Kingdom – Matthew 6:33

B. Pray for the Advance of the Kingdom – Matthew 6:10

C. Proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom – Matthew 4:17; Acts 2:36ff