Augustine: The Cross of Mortification

In a sermon on the beginning of Lent, Augustine says,

"It goes very well with our devotion, after all, that as we are very soon going to celebrate the passion of the crucified Lord, we should also make a cross for ourselves out of the curbing of the pleasures of the flesh, as the apostle says: But those who are Jesus Christ's have crucified their flesh with its passions and lusts (Galatians 5:24)." (p.103)

and,

"So it is that both Moses and Elijah and the Lord himself all fasted for forty days, to suggest to us that we are being worked upon in Moses and in Elijah and in Christ himself, that is in the law and the prophets and in the gospel itself, to ensure that we aren't conformed to this world and don't cling to it, but that instead we crucify the old self, behaving not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness; but let us put on the Lord Jesus, and take no care for the flesh in its lusts (Romans 13:13-14). Live here like that always, Christian; if you don't want your footsteps to sink in the earthly quagmire, don't come down from this cross.

But now, if that is what has to be done throughout the whole of this life, how much more during these days of Lent, in which this life is not only being spent, but in addition is also being mystically signified?" (p.104)

From Sermon 205 On the Beginning of Lent
The Works of Saint Augustine
A Translation for the 21st Century
Sermons
III/6
(184-229Z)
on the Liturgical Seasons
translation and notes by Edmund Hill, O.P.
editor John E. Rotelle, O.S.A.
New City Press: New Rochelle, New York
1993

"I pledge allegiance to one Church, under the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with liberty and justice for the repenting faithful"

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the flesh, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was written against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
~Colossians 2:9-15~

"If one of the definitions of nationalism is that the nation-state affords one his or her primary sense of identity and belonging, and if Christians on the whole have articulated no real disagreement with such a view--indeed have been wholly complicit with such a view--then it is fair to say that the church has surrendered its central claim that Jesus is Lord to the nation's demand for an unquestioned allegiance to free market capitalism. On the surface, this may seem an outrageous claim. Churches continue, one could argue, to baptize; they continue, in the liturgy and in their efforts at formation and discipleship, to confess the lordship of Christ and to proclaim the good news of the gospel. Yet the more complicated reality is that the church in the West has failed quite spectacularly to understand and to embody in a meaningful way the radical implications of such a confession and proclamation: that those who utter them will find themselves in profound conflict with any and all other appeals for loyalty and fidelity, especially those which would claim for a nation the sovereignty and power that alone belong to God."
(p.7)

"Baptism, then, is a subversive act. It is, like the Eucharist, an act of disaffiliation. It confers an identity at odds with the ways we are named and claimed by family, nation, and ideology. Baptism is the constitution of a new people whose prior loyalties and allegiances are exposed, named, and radically reconfigured. In this way, baptism can also be understood to be a profoundly political act, for if the church itself constitutes a polis--an alternative ordering of human relations governed by the Trinitarian pattern of love-in-communion--then baptism forms a people whose politics are shaped not by suspicion and self-interest but by trust and mutuality, thanksgiving and generosity." (p.8)

Debra Dean Murphy, "Identity Politics: christian baptism and the pledge of allegiance." Published in "Liturgy - God Bless America: Public Worship and Civic Religion." Journal of The Liturgical Conference Volume 20, Number 1, 2005.

Thanks be to God (2)

Two stories of God's blessed providence today.

I called my friend Joe for some insignificant reason, and I happened to mention that our dormitory no longer carries cleaning supplies for us to clean our bathrooms with. This was on my mind, since I thought I was going to have to go to the store to get some later. Instead, Joe kindly offered to loan me some of his. Thank you, Lord.

Later today, on my way to church, I was attempting to pump air into my tires. I don't think I was having much success. A friend from school, a different Joe, stopped by and said hi. I explained to him that I was trying to figure out how much air to put in my tires, and he explained to me that this info. should be on the tires themselves. He then succeeded in helping me put inflate all my tires to an acceptable level. Without him, I wouldn't have had any hope of success. Also, when I filled up my tank, it came to $20.00 exactly.

Thanks be to God.

Ash Wednesday Homilies

Homily on Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

The land of Israel had been invaded by a plague of locusts that devoured all their food, and this seemed to be God’s punishment for Israel’s sins. God had withheld his blessing because of Israel’s failure to obey, but he promised he would restore them as long as they would mourn their sins and return to him.

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.
Tear your heart, and not your clothing” (Joel 2:12-13a).

When was the last time your heart was torn? I don’t mean torn between two options, as if your will were divided, and you couldn’t make up your mind. I mean: when was the last time your heart was broken for the concerns of God? When was the last time you really mourned your sins? All too often, perhaps, we may throw up a prayer of confession, begging for pardon, without taking the time to become truly sorry for how we have harmed others, God, and our very selves. We beg for mercy, but because we don’t mourn, we receive no comfort from God.

It’s no small thing to mourn our sins. In fact, it can be rather difficult sometimes. We become accustomed to our own reasons for behaving the way we do, accustomed to justifying ourselves in our own minds, accustomed to our own point of view. And we take no account for how God sees things. To catch the light of God’s perspective on sin, righteousness and judgment, that is the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, and that is real repentance. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, and signifies primarily a change of mind and heart. It means that we have changed our mind about our actions, changed our mind about what the world really revolves around, and changed our mind about the meaning of life.

But we may ask what takes place first: mourning our sins, or returning to the LORD? I would say that the two cannot really be divided or placed in any particular order. The two seem to go hand in hand. On the one hand, how can we come to God if we are not really sorry for our sins, if we don’t really consider ourselves in need of his mercy and forgiveness? On the other hand, how can we sufficiently mourn our sins through God’s eyes without coming before his presence, so that what is hidden in the dark may be exposed by the light of his grace? I believe that God first invites us back to himself by confronting us with his presence, at which point we realize our folly, and may become truly sorry for our sins. Isaiah was first given a vision of God before he cried, “Woe is me.” The people of Israel needed the prophets to offer them God’s invitation to return while confronting them with their sins. And even the prodigal son remembered the blessings of his father’s house before he decided what words of repentance he would say to his father when he returned.

When I was younger, but too old for a spanking, my parents would punish me for misbehavior by sending me to my room. I hated being alone in my room, because I could always hear what great fun everyone else was having outside of my room. I wanted to be with them. But what my parents would ask me to do was to think about what I had done until I was sorry for misbehaving. Once that was accomplished, I could come back out, apologize and be restored to my family’s fellowship. I was confronted in my parent’s presence by the reality of my sin, sent away for punishment, excluded from the family’s blessing, until I was sorry for what I had done, and then I could return.

It is the same with the LORD. In his presence we are confronted with the reality of our sin, and we realize that this sin excludes us from his blessing. But he asks us to be sorry for our sin, that we may return and be restored to fellowship with him, and receive his blessings again.

Earlier we talked about the Greek word for repentance. Perhaps you have noticed that this is an Old Testament reading, which was originally written in Hebrew. Before we go asking ourselves what repentance means in Hebrew, we ought to ask ourselves who does the repenting in this passage – God does! In verse 13, it says that God relents from sending calamity. In the Old Testament, the same word that is translated ‘repent’ for humans, is commonly translated ‘relent’ when referring to God. Here this verb most likely means “to be sorry, be moved to pity, to have compassion.” The word is also in verse 14 translated as “have pity.”

We may ask what would lead God to relent from sending calamity. In verses 12 and 13, God asks his people to turn back to him with fasting, weeping and mourning. In verse 14, he says that he himself will then turn back and have pity. The word used in verse 13 for the people’s turning back, is the same word used in verse 14 for God’s turning to have pity on them. So we find that the answer is that we must sincerely mourn our sins and turn back to God. At such an action, God himself will repent and not judge us.

The Lord’s brother James gave the same exhortation to a people who had become a little too friendly with the ways of the world, and despised God:

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:7-10).

One more thing: this returning to God cannot be half-hearted. No. “Return to me with all your heart,” says the Lord. We cannot leave some part of our lives behind, or hold back part of our hearts from God. We must give ourselves completely to him. We must offer ourselves, and all our mess, to God, and ask him to transform us.

The season of Lent is here. Lent is typically a season of repentance and self-denial. It is an opportunity to return to God with all our hearts, and to repent of those sins which we may have allowed into our lives either willfully, thoughtlessly, or through neglect. Many people fast during the season of Lent. But it was the teaching of St. John Chrysostom that it is more important to fast from sin than from foods. I want to encourage you during this season of Lent, to keep a record of the sins you may commit habitually or occasionally, be they willful sins or sins of infirmity. If you only want to focus on one, that’s fine too. Let’s take a few moments to mourn our sins in the light of God’s presence. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to convict our hearts; pray with me: “Search me O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23-24).

Hear the word of God to all who truly turn to him through Jesus Christ:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

“This is a true saying, and worthy to be received by all, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

“If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins to all who truly turn to him, have mercy upon us, pardon and deliver us from all our sins, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Through Christ our Lord, amen.

I’m going to ask you, when you go home, when you have time, to write down the sins in your life you want to cease from. Keep this list with you, and pray over it daily, asking God to give you continual progress and victory over these sins. These coming 40 days of Lent mirror Jesus’ 40 days in the desert, when he took up fasting as a weapon against the evil one, and trusted in the word of God instead. Hear what confidence we have in Christ:

“Christ had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:17-18).

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Cor. 10:13).

“Since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

When you are tempted, call upon the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.

Homily on Matthew 6:1-21

Now we heard from the prophet Joel that God invites his people to return to him with all their heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. We have just mourned our sins, and perhaps we will mourn them again during Lent. But we have not yet fasted, and to return to God with all the heart must of necessity include private prayer. Jesus has something to say to us today concerning the practice of whole-hearted devotion.

As I said before, it was the teaching of the church fathers that Jesus took up fasting as a weapon against the temptation of Satan. And in our passage from the prophet Joel, the Lord commended fasting as a sign of repentance and returning to God. The three traditional Lenten disciplines according to the church, are fasting, prayer and almsgiving. It is universally commended to all the faithful that during this season in particular, we increase our participation in these three practices. And it is no accident, for these are the very three practices of devotion that Jesus comments on in his Sermon on the Mount. We may view these practices as the fruit of our repentance. We will find that Jesus recommends to us a particular manner of devotion, that has itself wholly focused on God, and avoids the notice of others.

Some biblical scholars believe that the Pharisees actually put dirt or ashes on their faces when they fasted, and that that is what Jesus was referring to when he used the words “they disfigure their faces.” Whatever implications this may have for how long we leave our ashes on our head tonight, we can be certain that the intent of the hypocrites was to show other people that they were fasting. They wanted to be seen as pious. But Jesus recommends we wash our face, get all cleaned up, nice and shiny, so that our fasting will not be obvious. The Orthodox call Lent the ‘fast of brightness’ because we are not to look somber, but put on a smile because we are returning to the LORD and embracing his forgiveness by forgiving others. So when you fast this Lent, whatever you choose to abstain from, don’t be sad about it, or go about moaning that you have to fast from this or that, but be joyous and don’t tell anyone that you are fasting or what you are fasting from. I think it can be very easy to justify telling others that we are fasting under the mask of “accountability,” when really we just want other people to know the sorrow that we shouldn’t have in the first place. When you fast in secret, unto God himself alone, he will reward you.

Prayer is the sister of fasting. It is said by the church fathers that fasting without prayer, without forgiveness, and without mutual love, is the fast of demons. For the demons do not eat, but neither do they pray, forgive or love. Listen: it would be better to pray more and not to fast, than to fast and not pray.

While I doubt many of us are tempted to pray on the street corner to look pious, we may still need the exhortation of Jesus: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to you Father who is unseen.” How much time do we take for private prayer? Do we have any inkling of a sense that we could benefit from more of it, or desperately need more of it for the good of our soul? If so, let us increase the time we spend in our prayer closet.

A close friend of mine reminded me that there is a spiritual interpretation of this verse, in which our closet is our heart, and our body is the door. We are not always able to go to our prayer closet. So, when you pray in public places, try to disguise the fact that you are praying, if at all possible. For this kind of secrecy pleases God. For you only have his interest in mind.

And let us be absolutely sure we are forgiving others because of the forgiveness we have received from God. For Jesus says that if we do not forgive other people their sins, God will not forgive ours! Lent is not only a time for us to return to God for forgiveness, but a time to return the favor of God to those who have wronged us.

Finally, let us increase our giving to the poor – the giving of our time, money, resources, and selves. Let almsgiving include works of mercy, Matthew 25 type stuff. But once again, don’t go around telling everybody what you’re doing, because then you will lose your reward from God. The poor need our help because they are our equals. They are humans just like we are, and they deserve to be treated as such, with dignity. To care for them is to remind them that they still matter to us as members of the human family, and that they do not deserve to be forgotten and left to suffer alone. Remember, Proverbs 19:17 says, “He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.”

Jesus said of the hypocrites, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Mark 7:6). And so Jesus has provided for us a guard against such an error. He has instructed us to be devoted to him secretly, to make sure that we do not seek the honor of humans, but only the glory of God.

The prophet Joel exhorted God’s people:

“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and mourning” (Joel 2:12).

Today we have mourned our sins, and made an attempt to give ourselves back to God. And Jesus has shown us the perfect way of secrecy in our devotion, how we may keep ourselves whole-heartedly focused on God alone, not seeking the notice of anyone else. Having returned to the Lord, let us ask for his help to overcome temptation, and fast from sin. Let us increase our practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, and let us do them in harmony with one another, for if we do, this season of Lent will be a sacrifice acceptable to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Fasting this Lent

Ash Wednesday (Feb. 25, 2009) begins the season of Lent. The word lent comes from an old English word for spring, since this period of the church calendar comes during that season. In the early church, it was the practice to baptize new converts at Easter, and to prepare for that baptism with fasting and repentance. Later on, it was common for people who had committed serious sins to return to communion with the church by demonstrating their repentance. So Lent has always been a time to prepare for the mystery of the resurrection by turning from our sin to God, through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

The season of Lent is primarily a season of spiritual discipline, in which we deny ourselves and our own desires in favor of God and his desires for us. As I have said, it is also a time for repentance, when we confess any sins (habitual or occasional) that we may have in our lives, and ask for God’s help to put these sins to death in us. As we begin to deny ourselves in the little things, such as food, we will have the courage and strength to deny ourselves in the bigger things, such as sin.

To fast is to abstain, or keep oneself from anything good or evil, especially for the purpose of devoting oneself to God. We do not fast to earn God’s favor; instead, fasting is a step of faith we take, remembering that “humankind does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

The season of Lent lasts 40 days, from Ash Wednesday until Easter, not counting the Sundays in between. These Sundays are feast days celebrating Christ’s resurrection. It will be up to you to decide whether to keep your fast on Sunday. But these 40 days mirror Christ’s forty day fast in the desert while he was being tempted by Satan. While we attempt to cease from sin, we take up fasting as a weapon against the temptations to sin we will most likely face.

There are many ways to fast. We may fast from meat; we may eat only 2 meals per day instead of three; we may choose to fast from breakfast and lunch one day of the week. Many people decide to “give up” something for Lent – options include: dessert, coffee, soda pop, television, video games, make-up, shopping, gum-chewing, unnecessary talk, vain thoughts, distractions, email or internet, unnecessary waste, excessive sleep, sex, alcoholic beverages, meat, cheese, or any excessive or unnecessary habit.

Ash Wednesday Quotes

"Remember that you are made of dust, and to dust you shall return."

The Liturgy says, "We begin our journey to Easter with the sign of ashes. This ancient sign speaks of the frailty and uncertainty of human life, and marks the penitence of this community" (Book of Common Worship, Presbyterian Church USA).

"Ash Wednesday, as the beginning of our journey toward Easter and eventually toward death, is an important witness to and a blaring contradiction of the culture in which we live. It proclaims to this culture the hope of the paschal mystery, that by living the baptized life, we have the grace to die so that we might truly live." - Martin Connell

Collect for February 22, 2009

God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Song Commentary for February 15

Every week I am going to be posting a commentary on the songs we sing at Trinity U.M.C. on the Lord's day, as well as the collect/invocation, and occasionally a "teaching moment" on a particular aspect of the worship service.


Songs:
"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" - words by Walter Chalmers Smith, 1867 (1 Tim. 1:17)
"Here I Am To Worship" - by Tim Hughes
"Fairest Lord Jesus" - words by Munster Gesangbuch, 1677; trans. Joseph August Seiss, 1873. music: Schlesische Volkslieder, 1842; arr. by Richard Storrs Willis, 1850
"Inside Out" - by Hillsong United

Because we have a visiting speaker coming to our church on the 22nd of February, we decided to celebrate Transfiguration Sunday on the 15th. Transfiguration Sunday is the last Lord's day in Epiphany, the season of the church calendar when we celebrate the 'manifestation' or appearing of Christ, the God-Man, to the world. In a way, it is a continued celebration of the incarnation following the Christmas season (which happens to have 12 days, believe it or not!). So this week we are celebrating the revealing of Jesus' glory on the mountain of transfiguration. There, as my New Testament professor so eloquently simplified, "Jesus got all white and shiny." You can read the account here.

Thus, I selected songs for this week that involved the theme of light.

The first song, "Immortal, Invisible" celebrates the unseen character of God, using language taken from the King James Version of 1 Timothy 1:17 - "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen." Thus the first two lines of the first verse:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes, . . .

And the last verse:

Thou reignest in glory; thou dwellest in light;
thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
all laud we would render: O help us to see
'tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.

These stanzas remind us of some other verses. 1 Timothy 6:16 says, ". . . God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen." And 1 John 1:5, ". . . God is light, in him there is no darkness at all." And James 1:17, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." It is the official teaching of the church universal and of scripture that God is invisible. We cannot see him. But John gives us this reminder: "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us" (1 John 4:12).

"Here I Am To Worship" is a song about the incarnation. I sometimes worry that people may not realize this. This song worships Jesus specifically, and honors his coming into the world.

Here are the relevant verses from the first chapter of John to this song and to this holy day: "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. . . . The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known" (John 1:3-5, 9, 14, 16-18).

Let's examine the first verse:

Light of the world, you stepped down into darkness,
opened my eyes, let me see
beauty that made this heart adore you
hope of a light spent with you.

Please notice how all the verbs of this first verse are past perfect. Translated, "you stepped down into darkness, you opened my eyes, you did let me see." We are speaking about what Christ did for us by being born into the darkness of this world.

This ought not to be confused with a quite legitimate request that is not the matter of this song: "open my eyes, let me see."

The first and accurate interpretation of this first verse is in the past tense, while the second would be a misunderstanding of the verse's meaning.

My favorite line from the second verse is:

Humbly you came to the earth you created,
all for love's sake became poor.

Shane Claiborne accurately points out in his book The Irresistible Revolution that Jesus was actually poor, by human standards. He wasn't only poor by divine standards, but once he began his ministry, had "no place to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20). He had no possessions, relied on the hospitality of friends, and, of course, was poor in spirit. Not to mention that he died the most shameful death imaginable during his day. Crucified as a regular rebel.

Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down,
Here I am to say that you're my God.

This chorus claims Christ himself as our God. This implies that he is divine, and shares all the divine attributes with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. But it also implies that Christ rules over us, and his will and teaching are instructive and primarily influential for our actions. This part of the chorus seems to me to primarily imply our subjection to Christ as our God, our bowing down in reverence to him.

Dictionary.com tells me that there are several definitions of "fair." Of course, the one we're most familiar with is "free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice." While this quality certainly describes Jesus, I am not certain whether that is what Munster Gesangbuch had in mind when he penned the words of "Fairest Lord Jesus." Although, verses 1 and 4 certainly speak of the Lordship of Christ, and in that respect he certainly rules justly and fairly. However, verses 2 and 3 speak of Christ's brightness in comparison with the most beautiful and bright things of creation, so at least in this respect I believe we are speaking of Christ as being pleasing in appearance, or bright in glory, impeccable and without blemish. These verses obviously go nicely with the Transfiguration.

"Inside Out" is a song that reminds us that worship is not merely about outward appearances, but about surrendering to and praising God from the inside out:

In my heart and my soul I give you control,
Consume me from the inside out, Lord.
Let justice and praise become my embrace
to love you from the inside out.

and,

And the cry of my heart is to bring you praise -
from the inside out, Lord, my soul cries out.

With language of "consume me from the inside out," we think of God having all of us, totally. And our pastor spoke of bearing our cross in the light of Christ's glory, since glory is found in the cross. So he spoke of surrendering to God's will, and denying ourselves. This song picks up that theme:

Your will above all else, still my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise.

And so let this be our prayer:

God our Father, before the suffering of your only Son Jesus you revealed his glory upon the holy mountain – grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Teaching Moment: "AMEN"

Occasionally I am going to offer a moment of teaching on worship before or during Sunday’s service. Today is our first teaching moment.

There are two Hebrew words which Christians have carried over into nearly every language without translating them. Do you know what they are? If you do, shout them out.

They are ‘alleluia’ and ‘amen.’ These words were so common and so meaningful to the earliest Christians that they did not translate them. ‘Alleluia,’ of course, means “praise the LORD,” while ‘amen’ means “let it be so” or “so be it.” It is not merely a way of ending a prayer. Rather, it is a word affirming one’s assent and agreement with the words that have just been prayed. It was the practice of the early church, and still is the practice in many churches for the whole congregation to end a prayer with ‘amen,’ after the prayer has been spoken by the leader. Saying ‘amen’ is a way for the congregation to say together, and to God, “We affirm and ask for what was just prayed. We add our prayers to the prayer of the leader.”

And so, it is my earnest desire that we begin saying ‘amen’ together, as a whole congregation. It is not so hard to tell when a prayer has ended, when it is time for everyone to say ‘amen.’ Prayers often end with something like this: “In Jesus’ name” or “through Jesus Christ our Lord” or some prayers have a Trinitarian ending, such as “through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.” After each of these types of endings, it is fully appropriate for the congregation give their agreement by saying, ‘amen.’ However, you may want to wait for a brief moment to make sure that the prayer is really over before you say ‘amen.’

So before the service today, I want us to get in some practice. Get ready to say ‘amen’ after each of these prayer endings. Ready? Here we go.

“In Jesus name,” amen.

“through Christ our Lord,” amen.

“through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.” Amen.

Okay? That’s all the practice we get. From now on, let’s be ready to give a whole-hearted ‘amen’ all together as a congregation in affirmation of the prayers that are prayed in our midst. You will have plenty of opportunities today to become accustomed to this practice.

One more thing: you may either say ‘ah-men’ or ‘ay-men.’ Pronounce it as you like.

Collect for Lord's Day, Feb. 15th

God our Father, before the suffering of your only Son Jesus you revealed his glory upon the holy mountain – grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Recently Hired

My dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Of recent God has graciously provided that I be hired as the worship leader of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hartford City, IN. Such an opportunity to serve God's people and kingdom gives me great joy, and I already love my job. My duties include: weekly song selection, planning worship services, leading in prayer, working with the choir, praise team, and passionate worship committee, and above all getting to know God's people better that I may love and serve them as Christ would have me do. I am superbly excited, and eagerly expect God to do marvelous things for, in and through Trinity Church. I pray you will rejoice with me for God's gracious gifts.

More than anything, I ask for your holy prayers:
+ that God would increase my faith, hope and love, that they may overflow to the many,
+ that God would give me all the grace necessary for salvation and ministry,
+ that I would hear God's voice and follow his lead in leading his people in worship, and
+ that integrity and uprightness would protect me, and I would be delivered from the evil one.

On this website I will be posting things related to ministry for the benefit of our congregation.

The Lord give you his peace,
brother Scott

Collect for February 1, at Trinity U.M.C., Hartford City IN

A collect is a short prayer usually said before the scripture readings in the western church liturgy.

"God of all creation, through your beloved Son Jesus Christ you have called all people to yourself. Grant that we may follow the example of Christ and his apostles by opening our arms, offering ourselves, and proclaiming the truth to our neighbors, and by carrying your good news across social borders, so that your salvation may be known among all peoples. All this we ask through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen."