Relocating To Elfland

“One of the most effective evangelistic methods a church can use is exposing the unchurched to the authentic worship of God.” (Ed Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches, p. 263)

“Grant to us Lord we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful; that we, which cannot be without thee, may by thee be able to live according to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

“God, whose providence is never deceived, we humbly beseech thee that thou wilt put away from us all hurtful things, and give those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Shame is basic to our human condition since the Fall. We’re all experts at sewing fig leaves, trying to conceal our nakedness.

A waste product of this shame is that we often project our own self-loathing into the hearts of others. If it’s hard to believe God looks on us with favor in Christ, it’s perhaps equally hard to believe others do. This would explain our wretched tendency to put nearly everything said or done to us by another person in the worst possible light: “Oh, she did that just to spite me . . . .” “See, I wasn’t included again, which just proves . . . .” “How dare he ask that of me! If that doesn’t show how little I’m valued . . . . ”

Of course, it may be that other people actually think of us much worse than we imagine – it is certain that they see our faults more clearly than we do. But if the gospel means anything, it means we can lift up our heads before God even when no one else will allow it; and it means we have power as His people not only to extend grace and favor to each other, but also to receive and trust this favor from one another. Love doesn’t assume another person sees me through my own graceless eyes, any more than it assumes the other person sees me through my own rosy spectacles. It believes, rather, that God’s truth and grace are at work in the heart of the other who names His name, and that He intends me to be the beneficiary of both.

It’s been a quiet summer on this blog. Part of the reason can be found here:

http://trinitychurchlongisland.com

Very excited about this launch!

“Lord of all power and might, which art the author and giver of all good things; graft in our hearts the love of thy name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

From Brian Brock’s recent weighty work, Christian Ethics in a Technological Age (pp. 378–79):

“Technology assessment has only one inviolable prohibition: Thou shalt not undermine the survival of the institution, or stated positively: Thou shalt protect your own institution by tirelessly expanding those resources under your control. The Christian community has one inviolable claim upon it that can only be stated in positive terms: Thou shalt love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself. The promise of Christ is that collaboration with his love frees humans from the compulsions to expansion driven by fear of a world bound to securing its own well-being.”

Bernd Wannenwetsch on the idea behind his book title, Political Worship: Ethics for Christian Citizens:

“The expression ‘political worship’ takes into account the fact that in the proper sense every public service of worship in which a Christian congregation engages has a specifically political character, since it is the assembly of ‘Christian citizens’, ‘fellow-citizens with the saints’ (Eph. 2:19), in praise of the God who, in the words of the hymn, ‘ruleth on high’. Christian ethics recognizes that it is political when it considers the forming of the congregation in worship as the formation of ‘a public’ in its own unique sense: the particular political form of life which is determined by ‘the law of the Spirit’ (Rom. 8:2).”

He goes on to say (all of this is found on p. 7):

“In my view, the political understanding of worship holds the key to an understanding of its meaning for Christian ethics in general.”

“God, which hast prepared to them that love thee such good things as pass all man’s understanding; Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we loving thee in all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Christ our Lord.”

“Grant Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy congregation may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”