Refrain
Rejoice, pro-choice! Emmanuel
has cabinet and judges seats to sell.
O come, desire of nations, blind
Us with your soaring rhetoric, sublime.
Bid rising waters hasty retreat,
And be the presidential Prince of Peace.
has cabinet and judges seats to sell.
However, now - by immutable decree of Almighty God in His good providence (and, I suspect, humor) - I am an Anglican. And we pray through up to three Psalms in each of our daily offices. This has rejuvenated a portion of my Presbyterian posterior - psalmody. I'm trying to find (or arrange) our Sunday Psalm readings into singable formats. Luckily, there are some really great Psalters out there - mostly from the Scots-Presbyterian tradition. CGMusic hosts three of them online, with playable MIDI formats! It's become one of my favorite tools.
Arise, O Lord, inhabit now your constant place of rest. You and the ark of your great strength, with us your presence bless. Let all your priests be cloth-èd, Lord, with truth and righteousness. Make all your saints with songs of praise Shout loud for joyfulness! And for your servant David’s sake, suffer not, Lord, I pray. The face of your Anointed one to ever turn away. The Lord to David did make oath, sworn on His name alone: “A son from your own body shall I seat upon your throne.” And if your sons my cov’nant keep, and to my laws submit, Their children too, forevermore Upon your throne shall sit.” The Lord himself has Zion chose, there He desires to dwell. “This is my ever-bless’d abode, for I do love her well.” “And I will bless with great increase! Her food stores everywhere. With living bread I'll satisfy The poor and needy there. With salvation I’ll robe her priests! From saints, my praises flow. There David’s son shall ever reign, the Lamp ordained to glow.
Apparently, a Dutch scientist has found a difference between Calvinists and Atheists when it comes to pattern recognition.
Can I get an AMEN?
"There has been no trend in the number or intensity of storms at landfall since 1900," says Pielke, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado. "The storms themselves haven't changed."
Before we become hopelessly lost in despair, however, there is good news: we can do something about this problem. We can enact meaningful building codes and stop keeping insurance premiums artificially low in flood zones.
But first we need to understand that disasters aren't just caused by FEMA and greenhouse gases. Says Tierney: "I don't think that people have an understanding of questions they should be asking — about where they live, about design and construction, about building inspection, fire protection. These just aren't things that are on people's minds."
In real estate, the old mantra is Location, location, location. It should be. Some plots are naturally good for building. Others have to have a lot of preparation, then maintenance. It is a poor use of our resources to continually try to fight against natural consequences. It ties up capital and man-power in maintenance rather than expansion.
What happens if I focus on the ordination process,Here's Martin Luther's prayer for his own ordination:
becoming callous (non-reverent) from the handling of holy things?
Or, in a desire to be called “Reverend,”
ignore the adjective when it doesn't come from a committee?
What if I miss the everyday chances
to live into my own baptism
because I'm focused on someone else
as a child of the covenant?
What if I never break the bread of hospitality
and pour the cup of tea at my own table,
or if I don't recognize them as “the gifts of God for the people of God”?
What if my voice is never heard (in a choir)?
What if I don't listen to those who set foot in a pulpit?
What if I made seminary about a piece of paper,
Whether a diploma,
or an ordination certificate,
and therefore wasted my time
and all our resources?
What if I believe that my usefulness to God
is equivalent to my usefulness to a denomination,
a local governing body,
a committee,
or a single congregation?
What if I think I'm not good enough,
even though the Lord of the Universe
took on flesh and died in my place,
then sent His Spirit to reassure me
of my place at His table?
What if I used seminary
as a buffer against following God's call?
What if I missed growing during that time
because I was waiting on something at the end...
...instead of waiting on God?
What if I lost sight of the glorious
ministry of the covenant people of God
because I wanted to be in the lead?
What if I missed out on the call to serve
a congregation from out of the midst of them
because I would only listen to a call if it
were duly authorized and passed through
paper channels.
What if I passed over the garment of praise,
the garment of salvation,
and the robe of Christ's righteousness,
because it didn't look like a Geneva gown?
What if I made the mistake of taking a good thing
and missing out on the best thing.
Lord, I believe.
Help my unbelief.
Lord, You have called.
Help me follow You wherever You call.
Oh, Lord God, Thou hast made me a pastor and teacher in the Church. Thou seest how unfit I am to administer rightly this great and responsible Office; and had I been without Thy aid and counsel I would surely have ruined it all long ago. Therefore, do I invoke Thee. How gladly do I desire to yield and consecrate my heart and mouth to this ministry! I desire to teach the congregation. I, too, desire ever to learn and keep Thy Word my constant companion, and to meditate thereupon earnestly. Use me as Thy instrument in Thy service, Only do not Thou forsake me, for if I am left to myself, I will certainly bring it all to destruction. AMEN.May all who seek leadership among God's covenant people say Amen!
The heart of the wise inclines to the right,Left, right, or wrong, go exercise the privilege purchased by the blood of patriots!
but the heart of a fool to the left.
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NRSV)
People sometimes ask me why I'm so against the whole global warming topic.
I'm not a big sweets fan, but I do have a definite weakness for Coca Cola. Halloween always makes me think of candy (I grew up during the satanist-laced-candy scares of the 1980s, so I'm happy I'm not paranoid over it). Above is a picture of Haribo's Happy-Cola Gummi Candies. Why don’t more companies make cola flavored candy? Am I in a small minority of people that likes the flavor? Here's a list of the cola-flavored candies I've enjoyed to date.
(root beer too - a personal favorite)I'm sure I missed some. I had two or three really lovely ones in London...but what can't you get there?
Self-appointed "prophet" and dubiously-doctored Cindy Jacobs recently announced on CBN that she had a vision - a word from God Almighty - that Christians needed to go to New York City and "pull down the strongman" that was blighting our economy.The Lord further said, “October 29 was Black Tuesday, the day the stock market crashed, and Satan wants to do it again.” We must be proactive in prayer. At the beginning of the year many intercessors began to hear from the Lord that without divine intervention, a major shaking was coming to Wall Street. This would spread until there were food shortages....On September 29 last month, the US stock market went down 777 points in one day. Cindy says it was no coincidence that this happened on the first day of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.
“We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the 'Lion’s Market,' or God’s control over the economic systems,” she said. “While we do not have the full revelation of all this will entail, we do know that without intercession, economies will crumble.”
I'll bet these folks know every verse about dreaded sexual sins. I just wonder if they've ever stopped to read Exodus 32.
Got an upcoming vacation? Business trip looming on the horizon? Church retreat? Let the manager know that you won't be staying at:Something that helped me fall in love with the Anglican tradition was the didactic and liturgical use of the collect. The collect (opening prayer, pronunciation here) has four parts. The collect I believe is a key to liturgy. However, it is regularly abused - a few seconds of just another little prayer near the start of a service, even read together from a printed pew-sheet for the day (reducing it to merely one part).
The word “collect” in Latin is collecta - gathering together. A collect gathers a litany (list of petitions) together into a final, single prayer. Or a collect gathers silent (or even sung) prayer together into a single prayer. This is what the collect is in the Entrance Rite - the Gathering of the Community. As it gathers the silent (or sung) prayers of everyone it functions to gather the individuals into a praying community.
The bidding: The presider invites the community to prayer - “Let us pray”. Or in a more extended way, something like: “Let us pray in silence that God will make us one in mind and heart”.
The silence: This is the heart of the collect. This deep silent praying of the community is what the collect is collecting. If there is no silent prayer, it is not a collect because there is nothing to collect. Without this silence the “collect” is reduced to merely another little prayer cluttering the vestibule at the start of our service.
The collect:* After sufficient silent prayer the presider proclaims the collect, gathering the prayers of the community, and articulating the prayer of the church - the body of Christ. As Christ’s body the collect is addressed in Christ’s name, on Christ’s behalf, to God the Source of all Being, in the power and unity of the Holy Spirit.
Amen: The community makes the collect its own by a strong “Amen” - “so be it”.
The collect when well understood and aptly used can powerfully gather the community, deepen our prayerfulness, and profoundly express much at the heart of Christian spirituality.
| Step | Task | Collect for Purity |
| Step 1 - Address | Begin the prayer by addressing it to God. | Almighty God, |
| Step 2 - Amplification | Call to mind God's character - saying something about what God is like or what God has done. This serves as a mini-covenant renewal, reiterating the character of the Supreme covenant-keeping God to Himself and His people. Sometimes, a motive is used here - reminding God of His undending mercy. | unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid |
| Step 3 - Petition | Ask God to do something that only He can do. | Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy holy spirit, |
| Step 4 - Purpose | Continue by giving a reason for why you are asking, or what you want to happen. | that we may perfectly love thee, |
| | ||
| Step 5 - Motive | Reiterate how this action is in accord with God's purposes and glory. | and worthily magnify thy holy name: |
| | ||
| Step 6 - ending the prayer | End the prayer, perhaps using a traditional ending, preferably Trinitarian, and finish with ‘Amen’. | through Christ our Lord. Amen. |
It looks like this sterling example of American citizenship got more than his fair share of the change we can believe in."Sometimes, they come up and bribe me with a cigarette, or they'll give me a dollar to sign up," said Freddie Johnson, 19, who filled out 72 separate voter-registration cards over an 18-month period at the behest of the left-leaning Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. (ACORN)
ACORN is under investigation in Ohio and at least eight other states - including Missouri, where the FBI said it's planning to look into potential voter fraud - for over-the-top efforts to get as many names as possible on the voter rolls regardless of whether a person is registered or eligible.
Did you hear about the Harley-ridin' holy-rollers in southern California? They became bikers to reach the Hell's Angels (and others). Only, when the real Hell's Angels showed up, the Christians forgot to turn the other cheek and a Bible-packin' biker-brawl broke out! Two Hell's Angels ended up getting stabbed.
(BTW, you have to love a church where the Hell's Angels pick a fight...and lose!)
As I was going over the Order for Holy Baptism with an adult who has come to faith, I was struck at how presumptuous the service is for children. The covenant vows that are taken (resisting evil, seeking obedience to God's law, etc.) are big enough as it is. But afterward, we apply water in the name of the Triune Godhead.Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon these your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised them to the new life of grace. Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works. Amen.
While the preface to the 1549 prayer book notes that “There never was any thing by the whit of man so well devised, or so surely established, which in the continuance of time hath not been corrupted. . . .” both documents do set forth a very concise system of doctrine that is easily understood by any that care to read them. It is in the setting forth of the doctrine contained in Scripture that both documents find their wholeness, and that is what determines the degree to which they remain uncorrupted. The system set forth is as harmonious to the Word of God as the work of man can be. Accordingly and not surprisingly, both are systems that have withstood the test of time and temptation.I encourage you to read the rest here.
There is another way in which both documents, at least from a Calvinistic point of view, are complete. Historically, Calvinists have defined a true church by the following marks: the preaching of the gospel, the right administration of the sacraments, and church discipline. In both documents, The Thirty-Nine Articles and the Westminster Confession of Faith, we find excellent and concise definitions of these marks, discussions that are both in harmony with each other and with scripture. From a pastoral standpoint — and this is indeed the where the rubber meets the road — they are wonderfully complete. The documents then find their ultimate completeness in their usefulness to the church.
Last Spring, a seminary friend of mine was invoking his privilege as a senior to give one sermon at the midweek chapel service. The senior sermon serves as an opportunity to share something of your faith with the community that, for two or more years, has been part of shaping that very faith. There are basic, "broad middle" sermons. Some sermons that question the person's call after 2.5 years of education. Many sermons that criticize the Bush administration. And a plethora of GLBT, Social Justice, or other standard Christian Left sermons. Fine and dandy.
"For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ."While he later mentions a striving between Euodia and Syntoche, I don't think that's what is in view here. Rather, I think Paul is grieving for people who have fallen away from the faith.
Yes, Bluto. Suprising but true, I'm against it.
It looks like the Obama campaign is relying on his skills in community organizing to get out the vote in Missouri. And Missouri's governor is pretty upset about it.
Joseph Stalin said:Remember this, gang, when they pull out the fascism card (which never seems to be applied to thugs like ACORN). When did America lose it's basic belief that increasing freedom was the solution to the problems of humankind?
- Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.
- Ideas are far more powerful than guns. We don’t allow our enemies to have guns, why should we allow them to have ideas?
- Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.
- The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.
- When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use.
