The quote below is a great follow-up to this earlier post. I lifted this entirely from Jared's blog.

Self-denying humility ought to show up in the way we worship together. Thankfully, we don't hear as much these days about worship wars in Christian churches as we did just a few years ago, but they are still there. For years I thought this phenomenon was the bane of the "make it up as you go along" whirl of low-church evangelical Protestantism, and mostly it is. But even with a set traditional liturgy, Roman Catholics and other groups often experience the same kinds of tensions.

Maybe you're like me, reared to have the worship music tastes of a seventy-five-year-old woman. That's because, I think, a seventy-five-year-old woman was picking out the hymns and gospel songs in the church where I grew up. I tear up when I sing "Just As I Am" or "To God Be the Glory." And I'm left cold by what some people call the "majestic old hymns." They sound like what watercress-sandwich-eating Episcopalians from Connecticut would listen to (not that there's anything wrong with that). And so many of the contemporary songs sound as if they were written by commercial jingle writers, trying desperately to find words to rhyme with "Jesus" ("Sees us?" "Never leave us?" "Diseases?"). I'm not saying aesthetics don't matter in worship. Worship is, after all, commanded to be offered with "reverence and awe" (Heb. 12:28). I am saying our varying critiques of musical forms are often just simple narcissism disguised as concern about theological and liturgical downgrade.

We need more worship wars, not fewer. What if the war looked like this in your congregation—the young singles petitioning the church to play more of the old classics for the sake of the elderly people, and the elderly people calling on the leadership to contemporize for the sake of the young new believers? This would signal a counting of others as more important than ourselves (Phil. 2:3), which comes from the Spirit of the humiliated, exalted King, Christ (Phil. 2:5-11).

When I insist that the rest of the congregation serve as backup singers in my own little nostalgic hit parade of back-home Mississippi hymns, I am worshiping in the spirit all right, but not the Holy Spirit. I am worshiping myself, in the spirit of self-exaltation. The church negates the power of the third temptation when we remind ourselves that we all have this devilish tendency and cast it aside whether in worship planning or missions or budget decisions.

-- Russell Moore, Tempted and Tried (Crossway, 2011), 149-150.

Yes.

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10 ESV)

Woman shows incredible mercy as her son's killer moves in next door

She's a believer. I think only the love of Jesus can bring this kind of forgiveness. An excerpt:

Mrs Johnson and Israel are now close friends, a situation that she puts down to her strong religious beliefs but says she also has a selfish motive.

She said: 'Unforgiveness is like cancer. It will eat you from the inside out.

'It's not about that other person, me forgiving him does not diminish what he's done. Yes, he murdered my son - but the forgiveness is for me.'

Mary Johnson even wears a necklace with a two-sided locket - on one side are photos of herself and her son; the other has a picture of Israel.

Israel admits he still struggles with the extraordinary situation he finds himself in.

[H/T Althouse]

[H]e has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
-- Ecclesiastes 3:11

Sehnsucht (ZEN-sookt) -- From the German. A practically indescribable longing, craving, or yearning.

We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it...
-- C. S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory"

When we broke ourselves with our sin, the image of God in us was fractured, and the sound of its breaking is like a signal from our hearts sent out to deepest space in search of reception. It's been said we all carry around a God-shaped hole. There is something missing. This is a rather static concept inferior to the German concept of Sehnsucht. Lewis writes of it best. But other artists capture it equally well and better. Poets Whitman, Eliot, Auden. Novelists Austen, Auster, James. Van Gogh and Hokusai. Rachmaninoff to Radiohead. King Solomon. There is an active ache inside of us. We are groaning with creation.

We all groan. But we deal with it different ways. What do we do with Sehnsucht?

1. We drug it.
Perhaps the most common way we stifle this longing for God is by pouring false gods into it. "Every one of us is from birth a master crafstman of idols," Calvin says. From meth to porn, shopping to Facebook, the world does not lack for anesthetics. Most people commit to an endless cycle of temporarily satiating Sehnsucht. It's endless, of course, because drugs wear off.

2. We deny it.
This approach often goes hand in hand with idolatry, and is at its core self-idolatry, as plenty of people simply say they aren't broken, they aren't missing anything, they don't have that "inconsolable longing." They've got a happy family in a nice house with a two car garage supported by a good job and nothing bad has happened to them, and they just don't think they have cause to suspect they long for anything more. Of these people, John Kramp, author of Out of Their Faces and Into their Shoes, wisely reminds us, "You can be lost and not know it." Let's not pretend every person apart from Christ feels lost without Christ. This is probably the most dangerous position to be in.

3. We deify it.
This approach is becoming more popular in professing Christian circles, particularly among younger generations. At some point, the longing itself became more interesting than the longed-for. Idolaters of Sehnsucht don't mind reveling in the mysteries at the expense of their Author, because mystery seems so much more interesting than revelation. Those who settle for the longing itself rather than the settler of the longing coddle their doubts, cherish subjectivity, and elevate uncertainty.

4. We delight it.
"If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,'" Jesus says to the woman, "you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." How do you delight the longing? By finding the receiver tuned to its frequency. Only the enjoyment of God himself makes Sehnsucht truly beautiful. Only the rest of the Savior finally solves our weariness. The cry of our hearts has one authorized interpreter, and this once unknown tongue, a lament, a barbarous yawp (thank you, Whitman), translates to a joyous yawp when spoken in its native land.

You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are not at rest until they find their rest in Thee.
-- Augustine

This morning I ran across this blog post by John Piper titled "How I Almost Quit."

My dad is a retired pastor, and I learned firsthand how being in ministry can be a tough gig. Despite a deep-rooted love for Christian theology, I've never felt an inclination toward full-time ministry myself. (Perhaps the primary reason for that, however, has been that for most of my life I've been unworthy to be considered.) With those things said, I offer this excerpt from Piper's post, as quoted from his personal journal circa 1986:

O Lord, have mercy on me. I am so discouraged. I am so blank. I feel like there are opponents on every hand, even when I know that most of my people are for me. I am so blind to the future of the church. O Father, am I blind because it is not my future? Perhaps I shall not even live out the year, and you are sparing the church the added burden of a future I had made and could not complete? I do not doubt for a moment your goodness of power or omnipotence in my life or in the life of the church. I confess that the problem is mine. The weakness is in me. The blindness is in my eyes. The sin—O reveal to me my hidden faults!—is mine and mine the blame. Have mercy, Father. Have mercy on me. I must preach on Sunday, and I can scarcely lift my head.

Piper's point was to say, "Beware of giving up too soon." Pastors need perseverance and prayer. Thank you guys for serving.

This is fresh on my mind, because of the movie I watched on the flight back to the USA.

What are those movie scenes that stick out of you as redemptive?

The scene I'll start with is the Talent Show scene from About A Boy, which I watched on the flight back to the USA yesterday. Will sacrifices his dignity and undergoes complete public humiliation to rescue Marcus from social suicide. It becomes a turning point in Marcus' life.

I've got others. Feel free to leave any you have in the comments thread.

If you get a chance, check out the video below. It provides a glimpse into the life and ministry of 21-year-old Katie Davis, who left her family, friends, and comfort two years ago to go to Uganda and work with orphans. She is a mom to 14 little girls who she has adopted.

There's much more to this story - her blog is here. I haven't read much of it, but my wife spent a large portion of yesterday reading most of the entries (while crying).

Perhaps I'm biased, because the author is a very close relative of mine, but this post on divorce, marriage and the Gospel is one of the best I've ever read.

Money quote:

Marriage is sacred because of what it represents. The bond itself is the Incarnation. Two become one flesh, the burdens and troubles of one become the burdens of the other. The two carry each other, love each other, show mercy to one another, forgive one another, and and lift one another up above themselves. This is why Christ called his gift of Redemption a marriage. The one true and perfect Groom, brings his wounded, unfaithful Bride in and replaces her filthy rags with a wedding dress, kisses her scars and lavishes her with his all-surpassing love. He parades her down the aisle for all to see, and truly makes her worthy and good and beautiful. It is the one marriage that not even death can tear apart.

Does God forgive divorcees? Yes, yes, yes! Will he forgive an arrogant, lying idiot like me? Yes! Divorce is the failure to live up to a sacred oath, but the wonderful truth is that Jesus never goes back on his word. We are unfaithful and unaccommodating and untrusting, and He still goes out looking for us and finds us, even in our sin, and makes us new.

Highly recommended: read the whole thing . . .

I was just looking for Easter Poems for our Easter Bulletin and I found a picture of C.S. Lewis' wife's grave. The engraving has a mini-poem. Here it is:

"Here the whole world (stars, water, air
And field, and forest as they were
Reflected in a single mind)
Like cast off clothes was left behind
In ashes, yet with hope that she,
Re-born from holy poverty,
In lenten lands, hereafter may
Resume them on her Easter Day."

How awesome is that! What he's saying, is that Easter makes a difference. For those of us who are in Christ, just as Jesus had his "Easter day", his Resurrection day, so will we.

And the reference to "Lenten lands" (the same as Douglas Greshem's autobiography) is, if I understand it right a reference to the fact that "Lent" is the days of preparation up until Easter. So living here on earth was for Joy, as it is all Christians, the days of preparation for her very own Easter Day...

Because Christ did it first!

Lent means "40" and is a reference to the 40 years Moses spent in the wilderness preparing to lead his people from slavery, and the 40 years Israel spent in the wilderness preparing for the Promised Land, and the 40 days Jesus spent preparing for his ministry.

So if this earthly life of ours are our "Lenten Lands" then we are in the wilderness preparing for exodus from slavery, preparing for the Promised Land, preparing for ministry(service) in heaven...and preparing for our own Easter Day!

We are preparing for our Resurrection day. We will each have one, because Christ had one too. That's part of the joy of Easter. Because Jesus walked out of his grave, alive, more alive than ever before, gloriously victorious over death, so will you, because he went first.

The first "Easter" guaranteed that there will be many more...one for every Christian.

I think that's awesome.

Perhaps you Lewis scholars can elaborate on the meaning of this poem more for me....like what does "holy poverty mean? And to whose mind is he referring in the first two lines? Joy's or God's? I love the way he rhymes this whole thing.

AND I'm still looking for a good Easter verse, so please put any suggestions in comments. Who knows, maybe it'll show up in our church bulletin. :)

Yeah, he really did.

BANGKOK (AFP) – A Thai fireman turned superhero when he dressed up as comic-book character Spider-Man to coax a frightened eight-year-old from a balcony, police said Tuesday.

Teachers at a special needs school in Bangkok alerted authorities on Monday when an autistic pupil, scared of attending his first day at school, sat out on the third-floor ledge and refused to come inside, a police sergeant told AFP.
Despite teachers' efforts to beckon the boy inside, he refused to budge until his mother mentioned her son's love of superheroes, prompting fireman Sonchai Yoosabai to take a novel approach to the problem. The rescuer dashed back to his fire station and made a quick change into a Spider-Man costume before returning to the boy, he said.

"I told him Spider-Man is here to rescue you, no monsters are going to attack you and I told him to walk slowly towards me as running could be dangerous," Somchai told local television.

The young boy immediately stood up and walked into his rescuer's arms, police said.

Somchai said he keeps the Spider-Man costume and an outfit of Japanese television character Ultraman at the station in order to liven up school fire drills.

A real hero dressing up as a make-believe one to save a real child.

Awesome.

I wonder if there's a sermon illustration in there somewhere... :)

Aledo High seniors pick classmate with Down syndrome as homecoming queen

Never has the selection of a homecoming queen sent so many tears falling so freely.

Kristin Pass, an 18-year-old senior with Down syndrome, became Aledo High School's homecoming queen Friday to a joyous standing ovation and the flutter of a thousand tissues on a remarkable night for an amazing young woman.

Her grandfather, Dr. David Campbell of Corsicana, escorted her onto the field and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as Kristin joined eight other young women in the Homecoming Court to await the results of the vote, cast by the 360-plus members of Aledo High's senior class.

Erica Pace, Kristin Pass and Kelsey Williams (left to right) pose for a photo after homecoming festivities at Aledo High School. Ms. Pass was named homecoming queen.

"Oh my gosh! I was sitting in the student section and everyone stood up, crying and cheering for Kristin," said longtime friend and fellow senior Meaghan Geary, 17, who first met Kristin in the third grade. "It was great!"

Carolyn Pass stood at the edge of the football field, taking pictures of her daughter and friends' daughters in the court, when the stadium erupted.

"It's just something you can't even imagine," she said. "And afterward, everyone was just running down to her, congratulating her. And the other girls in the court, they're all just beautiful girls, inside and out."

[H/T - The Corner]

A couple of days ago Brandi and I watched the 1980 Anthony Hopkins film, The Elephant Man. To say that that movie is moving is an understatement. Simultaneously it's a portrait of human dignity, a redemption story, and a metaphor for the human condition: sin. (It's based on the true story of Joseph Merrick.)

In a culture (and sometimes, a church) where beauty is truth, the ugliness of the Joseph Merrick story helps us to look into the mirror, to see the hideousness that is our sin. We are ugly; yet, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

One of the most poignant moments of the movie for me was toward the end when Dr. Frederick Treves was helping Merrick get ready for their trip to the theatre. (Minor spoiler alert.) Merrick had just been rescued from being kidnapped and abused, being forced to work in a carnival as a sideshow attraction. Treves apologized to his friend, Merrick, because he wasn't there to help him when his captors seized him.

Merrick replied, "Don't worry about me, my friend. I'm happy every hour of the day, because I'm loved."

Through the kindness of Treves, Merrick tasted of the Miracle Drug -- the love of God. This wasn't a Hollywood romance story. Merrick never fell head over heels in love with some young beauty who learned to look beyond his disfigurement to see the true human being inside. Instead, it was something better. He tasted of the love of God through the kindness and selflessness of his friend, Frederick Treves.

In this age of idolized romance, we need reminders of God's grace through His Son, JESUS Christ, who loved us and pursued us with an everlasting passion despite the deformity of sin.

God, I need your help tonight
Beneath the noise, below the din
I hear your voice it's whispering
In science and in medicine
"I was the stranger, you took me in"
The songs are in your eyes
I see them when you smile
I've had enough of romantic love
Yeah I'd give it up, I'd give it up
For a miracle, miracle drug
-- U2, "Miracle Drug"

There's a popular Johnny Cash video out there, set to the song "God's Gonna Cut You Down." The video is something of a collage of cameos by various celebrities. Even though the song speaks of God's judgment, some notably audacious hellions were awed enough by the legend of Cash to make an appearance and mouth a few lines for the video. In particular I think of Kid Rock. I have no doubt that, absent an amazing (not that there's any other kind) work of the Spirit in his life, this video will be on the big screen at the day of judgment.

It's a remarkable song, and jarring in its effect. The steady rhythm and repetitive lyrics will pound the reality of God's judgment into your head.



But as real as God's judgment is, this video captures a hidden gem of Christian truth-- one that too often gets passed over by critics and defenders of God's wrath alike. It comes at about 1:41 in the video, just after Bono.

(I will continue after the applause for Bono dies down)

Okay, let's go.

The video moves from Bono to a blonde lady whose face is filled with pain. (I'll betray my ignorance of celebrity culture here-- I have no idea who she is). Cash sings:

You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
Sooner or later God'll cut you down

And the teary-eyed blonde shakes her head and mouths the words for a long time.

Now this may not seem like much, but it cut me to the quick. This is obviously someone who knows what it's like to be on the run. And that alone makes it powerful.

But it's not just the pathos that grabs you. It's the fact that she gets it. I don't know if she's a Christian, but I know-- in that moment-- she captured the agony of life apart from Christ. Most of us get the punchline all wrong. It's not about God cutting you down, although he will do it. It's about the running.

The tragedy isn't in getting cut down. The tragedy is running from God. We can waste our lives and wallow in our "freedom." You can run on for a long time. But in running, you don't postpone a bad thing. You risk losing it all:

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

It's the running, not the cutting, that demands a cry of lament.

Those of us who have been transformed by the Spirit know that God's judgment is a blessing:

God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? . . . For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

I absolutely love redemption stories.

The following is from Steve McCoy of Reformissionary. This is from an article he wrote on The High Calling website:

In the winter of 1994, I left my apartment in Carbondale, Illinois, and drove to the Baptist Student Center on the campus of Southern Illinois University. My wife, Molly, was not feeling well and decided to stay home. We had spent the past few months searching for spiritual truth and meaning, reading the Bible, and praying. I hoped this advertised "God meeting" on campus might be helpful. So Molly rested, and I left.

The building seemed empty, and I thought about just leaving as I tried to open a few locked doors. I found an open one around back and saw about a dozen students inside. At first glance, they didn't seem like my kind of crowd. I was into partying. They looked like they were into honors algebra. Still I walked in.

A few of them noticed my deer-in-headlights look, welcomed me, and gave me a stick name tag. Three guys were talking in the corner, so I walked over and stood next to a tall guy whose name tag was nearly level with my eyes. "Hello, My Name Is . . . Van."

Trying to fit in, I said, "How's it going, Van?"

"I'm blessed," he said, grinning. It was one of the oddest responses I’d ever heard, and one of the best.

I made it through the meeting, and they invited me to church on Sunday. My wife and I decided to go, and we both responded to the Gospel with repentance and faith. We began new lives in Christ.

Read the whole thing - it's good.