Behind the Music Stand

Over the years I have heard several of my friends say things like, "I don't have to go to church to be a Christian," or "Going to church doesn't make me a Christian any more than lying in a hotdog bun makes me a hotdog!"   (Brace yourself for a love-based tongue-lashing!) Recently in a communion service (and doubtless through our pastor, Albert Gillin’s message) I was impressed with these thoughts: è     What do you bring to the table?   Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “ 24  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” o So first we must note the obvious:   It is a direct biblical imperative to meet together.   Assuming you respect the authority of the Bible, nothing further needs to be said on that point! o But let us look a little deeper at these ver...

Above The Cross.   Jesus’ almighty power is greater than Death     itself—even the graphic, horrifying death on the cross! On The Cross.   As Jesus thought of us—as He carried our sin, we were there on the Cross with Him! Under The Cross.   We are convicted by its necessity and covered by Christ’s work on it. Through The Cross.   Jesus paid our debt. Behind The Cross.   We can take refuge with The Cross as our shield.   If even Death could not keep Christ away from us, who or what could?   We need only stand behind The Cross—behind Christ’s redeeming victory on it, and all threats, trials, and temptations pale to nothing in compression. Before The Cross.   We all stand on equal ground at The Cross.   We must all face The Cross and decide what to do with it—and with Jesus who died there.   EJA 04-03-2018

ere's my theory--maybe wiser folk than I cooked it up and I just subconsciously stole it, or maybe I'm just crazy, BUT...      I think it's funny that we humans generally dislike change, yet part of the human condition is that everything changes.   I think the reason we dislike change is because we are made “ In the Image of God ” (See Genesis ) , and GOD NEVER CHANGES.   To put it another way, part of being made in God ’ s image is longing for that quality of “ Non-Changing-ness ” that only He has!      It is interesting and amusing then that just as God is more complex than we can comprehend, the converse of this “ Change-Aversion ” is also often true for us!   As much as we dislike change, we mortals are also prone to the “ Grass Is Always Greener / Never Happy With Our Circumstances ” Attitude.   When it ’ s hot outside we long for cooler weather.   When It ’ s cold we want it to warm up. ...

     Today in church (as usual) we had a wonderful sermon.   The topic was we are blessed to be a blessing, and Pastor Gillin illuminated how the promise given to Abram in Genesis is fulfilled in Christ and extended to us.      As is typical for me, this spun my brain off into thoughts of love, for how can we better bless others than by showing them God’ love?   (The choir sang “Fill Us with Your Love,” too!)   But then I looked back at some of my previous posts and saw that I have written about love before, (See “Le Mot du Jour est ‘L’Amour’,” dated 2/17/14) and I felt like I should write this time on the topic of Truth.      Someone wiser than I am has said the Gospel stands on the two feet of Grace and Truth.   Now Grace and Love, while not the same thing, are inextricably linked, and I’ll save that discussion for another time.   Today, I am more interested in exploring the “Other side o...

      We all have favorite things, and this Zimbabwean proverb is one of my favorites.  It bears repeating: "If you can walk, you can dance-- If you can talk, you can sing!"        Pastor Albert preached a wonderful sermon today about service.  Of course, I was too dim to bring my sermon notes back home with me today, but I believe he gave us 10 reasons why we must serve, and he explained we must serve first God, then His family, then the world.       One of the things he also included in his sermon was the general statistic that nation-wide, 10% of Christians do 90% of the ministry work.  He compared them to social club members, who pay their monthly dues and soak up the benefits of club membership, but never put in any actual work to maintain the organization.       So here are some questions for you--I hope they make you think, and more imp...

     Often when we walk through valleys we become angry with God.   We ask—no, we angrily demand, “WHY?!”   Hopefully, if you are emotionally in this place, this will encourage you to use that anger constructively.   Just know that the anger and sadness you are feeling are temporary!   We walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Ps 23).   We do not “Stop and rest” there!   The hard times in our lives are roads we must travel.   They are NOT places where our traveling breaks down!      There are many, MANY verses in the Bible full of encouragement.   Bearing in mind that God is big enough to handle anything we throw at Him—any question, and all our anger at Him—let me take a wild liberty and paraphrase some Bible verses for you.   Words that are all capitals are ones I have substituted in for similar phrases—I pray this will fire up your tenacity!   (Pardon my grammatical/editorial erro...

       Reading some updates on Facebook made me think of several sweet friends of mine who have lost loved-ones recently.   Having a cross-referencing brain, and thinking of how special these friends of mine are, I was reminded of the Bible verse that says, “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” (Rom 12:10)        Now I know many of us, as Christians, have been taught to believe we should love everyone , and while I won’t disagree with that nor digress (too much!) about exactly how that universal love should be practiced, I will point out, as wiser folk than I have done previously, that we are called to add an extra-heaping measure of love on to our fellow Christians. 1        Remember the old song, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love—by our love…?”   Perhaps the composer thought about it, but we can extrapolate that the love sung about...