by Elizabeth | May 4, 2010 | Learning Story
When I am sad, music soothes my soul. The last several days I’ve found myself drawn and repelled by television news…we are again in a season of suffering, and images of floods, oil spills, and averted bombs flood the airwaves. Two days ago my husband and I headed to Pensacola Beach to take part in a pre-oil debris cleanup. I’ll be honest – I wasn’t sure our measly efforts to pick up a few plastic bottlecaps (our beach is kept fairly litter-free) would make much of a difference in the darkness spreading our way. But when a Canadian freelance reporter asked my husband and me why we were participating, I unhesitatingly affirmed what I believe, “Because it is a small way to take part in restoring beauty in the midst of brokenness.”
It is true, the light is coming SOON. Though SOON may not seem soon enough in our suffering, let’s remember daily that God has already redeemed and is continuing to restore until the day when there will be no more darkness ever again.
I couldn’t find a video link of this song, but it is beautiful as is the whole album. Click here if you want to play a sample:
Back Home
BY JJ AND DAVID HELLER
Don’t let your eyes get used to darkness
The light is coming soon
Don’t let your heart get used to sadness
Put your hope in what is true
No matter how the wind may blow
It cannot shake the sun
Lay your sorrows on the ground
It’s time to come back home
When the future seems uncertain
Like the coming of a storm
Your loving Father carries his children
When they can’t walk anymore
No matter how the wind may blow
It cannot shake the sun
Lay your sorrows on the ground
It’s time to come back home
Oh, back home…
by Elizabeth | May 3, 2010 | Learning Story
Creation groans under the weight of two different floods today: oil in the Gulf Coast and waters in Tennessee and surrounding areas. For the past 24 hours, the words of Isaiah 43 have provided more comfort than ever before. I know they are true even when it may seem otherwise.
1 But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
2 When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom;
I gave Ethiopia[a] and Seba in your place.
4 Others were given in exchange for you.
I traded their lives for yours
because you are precious to me.
You are honored, and I love you.
5 “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
I will gather you and your children from east and west.
6 I will say to the north and south,
‘Bring my sons and daughters back to Israel
from the distant corners of the earth.
7 Bring all who claim me as their God,
for I have made them for my glory.
It was I who created them.’”
Isaiah 43:1-7, NLT
by Elizabeth | May 1, 2010 | Learning Story
oil staining the waters
Oh, Lord, redeem our failure to steward this glorious creation you have given us with care and foresight. Forgive us for greed and short-sightedness that has led to creation catastrophe.
I admit it, I’m pretty angry today. I also confess, I have to include myself in the ranks of people I am angry with, for historically I’ve been fairly apathetic about the issue of drilling off the coast. But now it’s hitting home, quite literally, as oil seeps its way toward the beautiful white beaches of the Gulf Coast, and I am thinking hard about the creation call to humans to exercise “dominion” over the earth. Listen to Cornelius Plantinga’s helpful words on the subject:
“Christians and others have sometimes taken dominion as justification for the ‘conquest’ of nature — language that once appeared routinely in social science textbooks. The language of conquest suggested that we humans were at war with God’s nonhuman creation, that roaming herds and burgeoning forests were somehow our enemy. Such language showed that we had lost the biblical portrait of shalom and that we needed to repent and recover it.
Nonetheless the Bible is not the problem here. The Bible speaks of dominion, not in the sense of conquest, but in the sense of stewardship. After all, how does God himself exercise dominion? How does God demonstrate hospitality in creation and providence?
In the kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed, dominion is never ‘lording over’; it’s more like ‘lording under’ by way of support. In the kingdom of God, to have dominion is to care for the well-being of others. To have dominion is to act like the mediator of creation. This means that a human steward of God’s good creation will never exploit or pillage; instead, she will give creation room to be itself. She will respect it, care for it, empower it. Her goal is to live in healthy interdependence with it. The person who practices good animal husbandry, forest management, and water conservation shows respect for God by showing respect for what God has made.” Cornelius Plantinga, Engaging God’s World
by Elizabeth | Apr 30, 2010 | Learning Story
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:9-10
Let’s face it, love is tough. It’s hard to know what it means to love in every situation. The challenge of love keeps us on our knees, seeking the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and guidance for the loving words to speak in each situation, the kind actions to take. Hear what Tim Keller has to say about Romans 12:9-10
First, we are told that our love must be true to our heart. Literally, the word “sincere” in Greek is an-hypokritos (unhypocritical). We are not to be phony in our dealings with people. We are not to be polite, helpful and apparently warm on the outside while on the inside despising them. This is so important because, within the church and any community which emphasizes traditional values, a culture of “niceness” can develop in which a veneer of pleasantness covers over a spirit of backbiting, gossip, prejudice. There is a total lack of “tough love” in which people love each other enough to confront and be direct about problems and sins in oneself and in one’s friends.
Second, we are told, both negatively (hate) and positively (cling) that our love must be true to God’s will. We are told here that our love must “remember” and operate on the basis of the moral order of God. We must hate (literally to “be horrified” by) what God calls evil and we must cling (literally, to glue ourselves inseparably) to what God calls good. Why is this so important? Well, because when we love someone, it so often distorts our view of good and evil. Song lyrics capture the problem: “If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right!” “It can’t be wrong, if it feels so right!” In other words, if you love someone, your heart is bound up with the heart of the other. Their distress becomes yours and their happiness becomes yours. Therein lies the temptation to give the loved one what creates emotional joy, rather than what is best for them (but which may create emotional sadness or anger). It is an extremely common problem in child rearing. The parents don’t punish children consistently because they cannot bear their tears and anger. But the result of a discipline-less childhood is always disaster.
It may seem strange to tell someone to love, and then to hate in the same sentence, but that is what Paul does. We cannot love rightly without hating rightly! Now we see that this is closely linked to the “sincerity.” Real love loves the beloved enough to be “tough.” Real love “is so passionately devoted to the beloved so that it hates every evil which is incompatible with his or her highest welfare.” (Stott) God’s law reveals how our world and our souls were designed. To disobey God’s law is always bad for the beloved. Therefore, real love is concerned about truth.
Any love that is afraid to confront the beloved is really not love, but a selfish desire to be loved. This kind of selfish love is afraid to do what is right (toward God and the beloved) if it risks losing the affection of the beloved. It makes an idol out of the beloved. It says, “I’ll do anything to keep him or her loving me!” This is not loving the person — it is loving the love you get from the person. In other words, it is loving yourself more than the person. So any “love” that cuts corners morally or that fails to confront is not really love at all.
But true love is willing to confront, even to “lose” the beloved in the short run if there is a chance to help him or her. Here is a great quote that gets this across.
“Think of how we feel when we see someone we love ravaged by unwise actions or relationships… Real love stands against the deception, the lie, the sin that destroys. Nearly a century ago the theologian E.H.Gifford wrote: ‘Human love here offers a true analogy: the more a father loves his son, the more he hates in him the drunkard, the liar, the traitor.’ The fact is… anger isn’t the opposite of love. Hate is, and the final form of hate is indifference.”
– Becky Pippert, Hope Has Its Reasons
in Tim Keller’s Romans Study, available through www.redeemer.com
by Elizabeth | Apr 29, 2010 | Learning Story
Ouch. I’ve read it through several times in the past few days, trying to find a way out, around, or through some of the “love” language in Romans 12. To make matters worse, in my ESV Bible, the heading reads, “Marks of the True Christian.” Read it through slowly, carefully, reflectively, asking yourself — “How is it possible to love this way?” My guess is you’ll reach the same conclusion I have — only through Christ working in us is this deep, abiding, strong, and compassionate love possible:
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d]says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Be forewarned (or encouraged:) — over the next few days, I’ll post some thoughts from good thinkers about what it means to live out these verses. Today, the rest of Peterson’s devotional on Romans 12 from Conversations:
“Another way we express our worship to God is by giving him our heart — our total heart, including the sinful impulses that reside there. When people wrong us, for example, we feel resentful, and we have the impulse to hurt them in return. We can do it directly, lashing them with our tongue or our fists. Or we can do it indirectly through gossip, coldness, indifference or manipulation. One thing is certain: None of us have the impulse to bless the person who does us wrong. We all have the impulse to avenge ourselves. Worship means the reversal of the equations of hurt and revenge. It means returning a blessing for a curse, forgiveness for revenge, peace for strife.
Worship isn’t a religious performance we sit back and enjoy; it’s an act in which we participate. And as we participate, we’re changed. Worship is the presentation of our bodies as a sacrifice to God so that he can act upon us. Either the world shapes us or God shapes us. Either we’re conformed to the world or we’re transformed by God. And worship is what he uses to bring about that transformation.” Eugene Peterson, Conversations
by Elizabeth | Apr 28, 2010 | Learning Story
I love Eugene Peterson’s Conversations, which integrates The Message Bible and commentaries and devotions from Peterson.
Today I continue the examination of Romans 12 with his thoughts on worship:
“Here’s a basic tension: We keep trying to confine worship to the sanctuary — to preaching, prayers, and parish announcements, to religious experiences. But God is commanding us to extend it to home, work, neighborhood, and leisure. Worship is the style of life in which our bodies become living sacrifices offered up before God.
People have different skills, different strengths, different sensibilities. God has given us one another so that we may have a shared life. None of us can live the abundant life as hermits. Nor can we live to the glory of God if we carefully pick whom we’re willing to associate with. All who live are God’s creation and parts of the body of Christ. We’re members of one another. We exist in a family, together, not alone.
And here’s how God wants us to live in such a family: worshipfully.
Life is full of financial inequities, and worship involves a generous response to the economic needs of others. This reverses the natural inclinations of all of us. We sometimes convince ourselves that everything we have has come from our own hard work and achievements. And with pride we then hold on to it all, and in moments of good, we’ll dole out a little to church or to charity.
But worship is meant to be more complete than that: It’s the offering of our total economic selves to the glory and service of God. It means a liberal and generous assessment of other people’s needs in relation to our own. Income and earning capacity is God’s gift to us, too — and must be part of offering our lives.”
This is a great devotion from Peterson. I’ll stop here and offer some more tomorrow. But between now and then it seems like a good idea to reflect on the hard challenge put before us — how do we view our gifts, and how do we view our giving?
