Update

Much like the original intent of this blog, I am here to update you as to what Meredith and I are up to:

Over the last several months, we have been applying and interviewing for different positions, both musical and non-musical. I interviewed for two church-musician positions. In the process, I found out that it would be nearly impossible to decide which would be the best for me. After asking God to make the decision for me, he did. One of the churches passed on me and the other has worked out very nicely. Meredith has interviewed for and been offered the handbell director position at Our Savior Lutheran Church, in West Columbia. I will begin sometime this summer as the Director of Music at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Columbia, pending the final approval of the Church Council (which should be just a formality, having been recommended by the search committee). Our lease is up in Charlotte July 21 and we hope to be moving that weekend and to begin a new life in Columbia. While it will be hard to move at that time of year to a place notorious for extremely hot temperatures, I know that we can and that it will be a rewarding experience. Bear in mind, Meredith and I have been working part time jobs in Charlotte and the Lord has made it work for us, financially. We hope that Meredith can find another part-time job, at least, in Columbia so that we can have the financial flexibility to allow her to start teaching flute privately.

This is an exciting bit of resurrection joy. Continue to pray that we don't lose heart and that things work out smoothly!

Ride on, Ride on in Majesty!

At the beginning of this Great and Holy Week where our Lord went up to the cross of suffering and victory and changed the cosmos by the joy of his resurrection, I felt the need to share this hymn with you. We sang it in church yesterday to the tune of WINCHESTER NEW. This text is so powerful and in the context of yesterday's service, got me emotional in both services.

Ride on, Ride on in Majesty!

by Henry H. Milman, 1791-1868

1. Ride on, ride on, in majesty!
Hark! all the tribes hosanna cry.
O Savior meek, pursue Thy road,
With palms and scattered garments strowed.

2. Ride on, ride on, in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die.
O Christ, Thy triumphs now begin
O'er captive death and conquered sin.

3. Ride on, ride on, in majesty!
The angel armies of the sky
Look down with sad and wondering eyes
To see the approaching Sacrifice.

4. Ride on, ride on, in majesty!
Thy last and fiercest strife is nigh;
The Father on His sapphire throne
Expects His own anointed Son.

5. Ride on, ride on, in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die.
Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain.
Then take, O Christ, Thy power and reign.

I hope that you can take these words and meditate on them this week. Perhaps it can come to mean to you what it means to me.

Lord, have mercy as we seek you this most holy time of year!

Thinking of the Past

This morning I woke up before Meredith, which is nothing new. A lot of times I will lie there and think about an assortment of things anything from the future to what I am going to eat for lunch today. Today, as I have been a lot recently, I thought of the past.

It's amazing to me how vividly I remember things in the quietness of the night or the early morning. I was thinking today about my elementary school. I remember really loving that time of my life. I was so proud of my 1930s elementary school building. What I loved most about school at that time was our library time when we would go pick out books, check them out, and then head to the couches for our weekly installment of some great book that the librarian would read to us. This is one thing that really taught me to love reading. I remember being this age, and knowing that I want my kids to have the same experience as I had. I even remember the smell of the library books.

I also was thinking about my life then. I remember being at home with my brother, who was unfortunately charged with the task of driving me around, as he is 9 years older. I remember playing "catch" with my dad on a daily basis as well as helping him in the yard with the work that needed to be done. I remember unloading groceries for my mom. Actually, most of my memories of my mom include the grocery store. I guess I accompanied her on a frequent basis. To this day, if I smell the men's deodorant "Speedstick" thoughts of my dad flood in my mind. I remember going with my dad to jobsites and helping him with his work in the summer. Because he loved "oldies" I came to love that music too. I tell people that because of hearing that music so frequently I feel like I grew up in the 60s.

Then my thought turn to summers at home. I remember, not too long ago, I was at home in the summer practicing the piano for hours at a time. I remember getting up late in the morning and mowing the grass. I remember having an endless amount of Totinos Pizza Rolls, cleaning my parents house, house training whatever new puppy my mom acquired, taking long naps (that didn't affect my sleep that night), reading and reading and reading, taking walks in what I feel is the most beautiful area in the world-Taylorsville, driving around with Joseph talking about what we thought the future would be like and listening to the Beach Boys, giving the local Walmart my patronage. I remember the hours of practicing the organ in the evenings at Antioch Baptist Church.

All these things pass in my mind in the morning or late at night. They pass as quickly as they happened. I think now of how my brother just celebrated his ninth wedding anniversary and now has two beautiful girls and a boy on the way. I think of how I never get to see my parents and when I do it goes by too quickly. I think of how my heart hurts when I drive out "in the country" in Alexander and Catawba counties knowing that I can't be there for more than a day or so at a time. I think of how I am married now, and not "just" married. I have been married for almost a year and a half. My friends are married and getting older. When we used to talk about girls, we now talk about bills. When we used to talk about the future, we now talk about the past.

This is the beginning of my life, I know. I am excited about what the future holds, believe it or not. I know that sometimes when you are the most homesick, that is reflective of unhappiness or unsettledness in the present time. Sometimes I just wonder if this is just part of who I am-having a grip on what has made me and shaped me. I certainly am unsettled at this point. I hope to be filling you in as to what the next step for Meredith and me is very shortly. For now, I will just leave you with these thoughts of the past. Perhaps it will prompt you to think of your past and enjoy those memories in the late evening or early in the morning.

Love Wins

So, I read "Love Wins" the other day by Rob Bell. A friend of mine and I were discussing the press that this book was getting and I thought if I can give an opinion, it must be an informed one. So, reading the book would be a must.

Let me just say, as I was finding my way in the world of all things church and theology, I came through the evangelical movement called the Emerging Church. This was a focus among Christian leaders to incorporate a wider view of things theological and a broader approach that is inviting of the unchurched. As you probably know, I came through that-finding a home in the liturgical tradition. Rob Bell is a leader in the Emerging Church and pastors a church in Michigan.

"Love Wins" is getting a lot of press because Bell supposes that there is little reason for consideration of an eternal hell. His thoughts keep coming back to a God whose "steadfast love endures forever" whose "anger lasts for a moment but compassion for a lifetime." Amid many references to the Hebrew texts as well as the words of Jesus and Paul, he refutes the idea of an eternal hell based on the concept of a loving God whose love "would melt the hardest of hearts" given time. While refusing to be referred to as a universalist, this is universalist theology clearly.

Bell makes the point that there are few mentions of a literal hell and thus lists them in his book and explains their historical context. While this was a good idea, he leaves out several common references to hell in Paul's letters including the haunting picture in 2 Thess. 1. I understand what he was doing and the point he makes. It is certainly not in the orthodox stream of Christian theology.

Making references to the Bible, he also refers to some of the Church Fathers, one being Origen whose theology of hell has not been accepted by the wider Church. He also suggests reading C. S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce" for further reading on the subject, but fails to mention Lewis' "The Problem of Pain" which discusses openly Lewis' perspective on hell.

The point is (according to Bell)... Our God, who IS love will love you unconditionally unless you make the wrong choice in which he will send you to an eternal consciousness of torment with no chance to "repent." Put this way, I would also question this God of love. It was in this way that "Love Wins" was a good chance for me to question some things.

I don't know where I am on the whole hell thing. I am not sure that a Christian who doesn't believe in hell should be considered a "non-Christian." I do recognize that hell is a part of main-stream theology. I also know that Jesus wasn't really referring to hell in a lot of his stories. Another thing-- Hell is a great conversion tool as used by the Church in the middle-ages and even today.

One BIG BIG mistake in life is to make the here and now about heaven or hell later. This was not the way of life for Jesus. One thing about Jesus was that he lived "in the moment." Christ calls us to live in the moment... as Paul says, "redeeming the time, for the days are evil." Life is too short to make it all about something that is later. YES! One day we can live in the resurrection glory of Christ face to face, but let's live in this glory now... giving it "away" to all that come our way.

This isn't a critical review of Bell's book. It was a decent book with good points. Don't buy it though. It's too expensive. Take a couple of hours and go to the bookstore and read it. It will be good for you and fun to get out of the house and do something different. Be careful in reading it though. He needs a fact checker. He takes some verses out of context and misquotes some passages. This isn't a book that I would quote regularly, let's just say. Also, take it for what it is. It is not meant to be a dense treatise on things theological, it is rather one man's collected thoughts based on his understanding of scripture and his relationships with others.

Pass on the resurrection glory of Christ!

Annunciation of Our Lord

+ March 25 + Annunciation of Our Lord

What a special day this is. Frankly, I didn't know this first thing about this day until two years ago when this date fell on a Chapel service day at LR. Here we have a day celebrating Mary's willingness to serve the Lord. "Let it be done to me according to your word" she says to the Angel Gabriel. In so doing, she opens the door for redemption through Jesus Christ.

"Annunciation" comes from the latin, annunciare which means "to announce." It refers to Gabriel's announcement to the Virgin that God is with her and that she is highly favored among women. Protestants are often afraid of talking about Mary too much. This can be understandable in light of what tradition has made of her, however, consider her plight, or "blessing." Her blessing was one of profoundly unique obedience. In her was the redemption of mankind. In her was the doorway to the new covenant in Jesus. She was not herself our salvation, but she carried our salvation. We celebrate her special obedience to God's calling. We remember her today and venerate her willingness. We do so by being ourselves willing to follow God's calling. In her is our obedience and our selflessness through the power of the Holy Spirit. We look to her for inspiration to put off all doubt and embrace the mystery of true submission. Consider her mystery... virgin birth. We take this all to much for granted. We embrace the mystery of faith in the virgin birth and the deep calling to obedience in her willingness to be the "handmaiden of the Lord."

Set on saving the cosmos, he who set all things in order came down to it of his own volition. And, though being the Shepherd as God, for us he appeared like us as a man; and having called his own, like by like, as God he hears, alleluia. (From the Orthodox Salulation S)

Great and Holy Lent

Another Lent is upon us. Too many folks get confused about this peculiar time of year. What is Lent? Well, the term "lent" is but an old word for "spring." So, what goes on during this time of year?

To put this answer very simply, we remember who we are. We remember that we are called to a common life in Christ in devotion to him and to his cross and what it means. Our lives are lived in the way of the cross. We are called to deny ourselves which is why many take on Lenten "fasts." We must also remember that this time is just that, a time of sacrifice. It has become necessary for some folks to "take on" something during this time of year, something of a positive nature. Sometimes this is a great thing, and it is that in "taking on" something that they are giving up something else. For folks purposing to read scripture daily during Lent, they are giving up the time they would have otherwise had.

It is a season of fasting. In fasting we begin to see precisely that liberty we have in the grace of the resurrection. We are not bound by our addictions, but rather we have the grace through Christ to overcome them. Lent is a "high and holy" time so to speak. It is a time of instruction and learning. Historically, this would be the time that people wishing to join the Church would learn of Christ's teachings and then ultimately be accepted into the body at Easter.

It is a season of remembering our frail humanity. In remembering Christ's life and death, we think of our own mortality. Every day is another grain of sand through the hourglass of our lives. Every moment seeming shorter than the previous becomes more important and more fleeting the longer we live. Lent reminds us that our lives must be lived fully in Christ. Each grain of sand is redeemed in his great love. Each moment is a gem, priceless and worthy to be honored. It is a season to become keenly aware of our fragile nature and to thank God our provider for his many gifts.

Let us attend to those things which Christ would find worthy. Let us be about the reading of scripture and honest prayer. Devoting ourselves to his calling, let us not lose heart but look to the triumph of the cross and let the glory of the resurrection be our joy.

Activism Uncovered

I have become increasingly disenchanted with activist movements, particularly in the Christian circles. Activism has come to bother me because in many movements, what a group of people are against becomes more important than what the group is for. Think about some movements you know... there was the Tea Party movement who lobbied against gross spending among other things. There was the Obama campaign that was activism at its best, lobbying for change in its most vague. Immigration reform, income tax reform, human rights, gay rights, hunger, homelessness, veterans rights, women's rights, NAACP, NRA, PETA... just to name a few.

You must know that it is not my opinion that humans have no rights, that women shouldn't vote, and that animals deserve less than modest living. However, when it is done in the name of Jesus the activist, as opposed to Jesus the Son of God, there is a problem. Jesus was not an activist, he was God. Jesus welcomed all, but was also very exclusive. The inclusive nature of the Church today, in the name of Jesus the Activist is not consistent with the Bible or Historical Tradition. However, Christ does welcome all and his grace is free but not without a cost.

Giving to others done in the name of Jesus is great, but shut up about it already! Give to others because God has given to you and leave that between you and God and maybe your family. Thank God for the opportunity to work for justice, but let it go and know that it is for God that we do our work. For God's sake, stop bemoaning the fact that we live in the richest nation in the world and that we have it so good and start thanking God for placing you in a situation of invaluable resources. Feed the poor, tend the sick, and love your neighbor where ever you may be. Pray for your neighbor, Christian, Muslim or Jew.

Jesus was not an activist. Our work is not part of a campaign. Jesus was God and our work is an expression of faith and love. Work for human rights in your own household, in the name of Jesus the Son of God.