Gordon Christian Fellowship

Daily Devotional - 10/31/2008

The Lord is with us!

A clean and pure heart.  It sounds a bit like the stuff of sappy love stories and Lifetime Channel movies.  But truth be told, when we think about it, we all want a clean heart.  We want a heart unburdened by guilt and regret.  We want a heart guided by pure motive and strong values instead of something we worry about protecting from hurt or injury.  We want to be free of the scar tissue our hearts seem to accumulate through our bad choices and we want to be rid of the insidious sludge and tar that gets into the nooks and crannies.  We want to be free from temptation and we want to only want “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…” as the apostle Paul says.

But we don’t.  We all know that we don’t.  We all struggle with wanting things that are less than true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable.  We struggle with wanting and taking things that are not of God.  We rebel against God.  We have an illness that saps our spirits and dirties our hearts. On our own, there’s nothing we can do about it.  We can fight and struggle and weep and shout at the sky but nothing we do apart from God will have affect we desire, the result we want.

Of course, the story doesn’t end there.  If it did we wouldn’t have any hope.  With God there is a process by which we can get clean.  It is one that requires cooperation between both the Great Physician and His patients.  The Physician has the cure but we have to tell Him our symptoms.  We have to confess our sins.  Psalm 51 is just such a confession.  Written by David after his affair with Bathsheba and the killing of her husband Uriah, this is a heartfelt cry to God for forgiveness.  Such a cry only comes from recognizing sin for what it is and understanding the need we have to be cleansed of it.

There’s not much I can write about the psalm that isn’t pretty obvious from reading the psalm itself but there are a few things I can say about using the psalm.  For many of us in the Protestant tradition of our faith, we have no experience with a formalized process of confession of sin and reconciliation to God and with the community or people we might have hurt by our actions.  For many of us, confession and forgiveness is thought to be a private action between ourselves and God.  The idea being that we don’t need someone to go to the Doctor for us (which is an inaccurate understanding of the process practiced by other Christians) or with us to get healed.  The problem, however, that many of us then struggle with is that we lack a sense of resolution to an issue or a real sense of what forgiveness entails.  In our doctor analogy our practice of private confession might be a bit like going out to WebMD, researching some disease or condition and its symptoms and then deciding that’s what we have.  We might be right but we’re not always sure and then we don’t always know what to do about it.

One course of action is to begin a regular practice of going to God and standing before Him with an attitude of awareness of our sins and contrition for them.  In this endeavor, Psalm 51 and other “psalms of contrition” (such as Psalm 32) are of great benefit.  They help us form the words that are often hard to think when we desire to go before God in prayer.  They help us to face up to the reality of our sinfulness and give us a way to express our awareness.  This is one very important benefit to including Psalm 51 in our regular prayer time.  Another gets back to something Gary mentioned yesterday; metanoia.  As he mentioned in yesterday’s devotional, metanoia is the Greek word used to describe the change of heart we are all called to experience as disciples of Jesus Christ.  It is the change that takes us from a “me” centered view of reality to a God or Kingdom centered one.  While the senseless repetition of Psalm 51 will never achieve this goal, repeated heartfelt reading and reciting of this psalm will change us because when we pray Psalm 51 we are praying that our hearts be changed.

This psalm is one of the most commonly used general confessions throughout Christianity.  For centuries it has guided God seeking men and women into a deeper and more authentic relationship with God and their faith communities. Personally I find that praying this in the evening helps me to review and reflect on my day and how I can do better tomorrow and living the grace of God in to my life and the lives of others. Perhaps you already do this, but if not, as you go through this weekend I invite you to practice this with me.  Pray this psalm slowly and with deep intent each evening and see where it leads you.  Examine your heart each time and see what changes get made and whether you feel a bit cleaner.

Grace and Peace.

In Him,

Chad

Psalm 51

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God,
      according to Your unfailing love;
      according to Your great compassion
      blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity
      and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
      and my sin is always before me.

Against You, You only, have I sinned
      and done what is evil in Your sight,
      so that You are proved right when You speak
      and justified when You judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth,
      sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Surely You desire truth in the inner parts;
      You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
      wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;
      let the bones You have crushed rejoice.

Hide Your face from my sins
      and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
      and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from Your presence
      or take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
      and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
      and sinners will turn back to You.

Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
      the God who saves me,
      and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,
      and my mouth will declare Your praise.

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
      You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
      a broken and contrite heart,
      O God, You will not despise.

In Your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
      build up the walls of Jerusalem.

Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
      whole burnt offerings to delight You;
      then bulls will be offered on Your altar.

Daily Devotional - 10/30/2008

Christ is in our Midst!

Christians have spilled gallons of ink---and sadly, of blood---fighting over the nature of salvation:  is one saved by faith, or by faith and works?  The long debate and all the violence and vituperation that it has elicited form an ironic and horrifying modern commentary on one ancient view of the Way:  “see how these Christians love one another.” 

Psalm 50 decisively informs this debate, and provides us with a way to reconcile these seemingly opposing theologies. 

I think it safe to say that Orthodox Christianity has always been a bit perplexed by the intensity and aggressiveness of both sides in this dispute.  The great danger, in any religion, is that it will somehow be reduced to empty formalism.  Orthodoxy, with its intense, ornate, and beautiful services always runs this risk.  Just such a critique has rightly been offered by Protestants to liturgical churches since the Reformation.  Put simply, if I keep the fasts, go to all the services, say my little rule every day, and don’t “change my mind,” as the Greek word for repentance, metanoia, is correctly translated, don’t seek to live the faith in my daily life, can I really imagine myself to be Christ’s follower? 

Protestants, and Orthodox priests and theologians would agree with them, would hasten to say, No! 

What Protestants often don’t see, however, is that a similar danger lurks in their own understanding of Christianity:  “justification by faith,” one of the crucial pillars of the Reformation.  That danger is the easy uncoupling of faith and action; that is, it is clear that for many people, since they are “saved by faith,” there is no requirement to do anything---even try to keep the commandments.  Their sins are somehow automatically forgiven.  Lest you think this too harsh, consider only one data point:  the vast disparity between the number of Americans who claim to be Christians, and who attend church services.  What they fail to see is that a crucial component of “faith” is response and action.  The great Reformers absolutely did not see faith as an intellectual assent---but as a “decision for Christ” as it is often put in contemporary evangelism that was supposed to shape every fiber of our being. 

Psalm 50 illustrates clearly the link between worship and daily life.  The psalmist indeed says that liturgical worship is important.  God will gather to Himself “My saints…, those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”  But almost immediately God reminds that liturgical worship, in this case, the animal sacrifices offered to God in the Jewish Temple, were not so much for God but for the people making the sacrifice.  God “will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices”; after all, this form of worship had been commanded by Yahweh Himself.  But God quickly notes that He has no need for any of this.  “For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.  I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.  If I were hungry I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof.” 

The psalmist then turns to those who refuse to obey God.  The Almighty’s words, “unto the wicked,” are uncompromising and bleak.  “What has thou to do with declaring My statutes, or that thou shouldest  take My covenant in thy mouth.”  Clearly, God insists, those who refuse to “walk the walk,” manifestly should not presume to “talk the talk.”  (Something that those of us who preach, or constantly hector others, or scribble verses at other people several times a week, ought to keep in mind.)  Because we have done evil things and God seemingly has kept silent, “thou thoughtest that I was such a one as thyself.”  How easy it is for me to mistake my own human desires and plans for the will of God!  Yet the Lord makes very clear that he will deal with those who refuse to obey Him.  He also affirms that “[w]hoso offereth praise glorifieth Me.”  Anyone, even great transgressors, can do things that glorify God.  But those who wish to be God’s followers, to abide with him, hear this exhortation:  “…and him that ordereth his manner of living aright, I will show the salvation of God.”  

Here we find a clear foreshadowing of the words of Christ:  “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.  But he who does the will of My Father, he will enter the kingdom of heaven.”   God certainly knows that we are all poor sinners---but we are expected to try to keep the commandments.  Every time we fail, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and set out again, hopefully chastened and humbled, but nevertheless resolute, on the Way. 

So in honor of my friends and colleagues in math and the sciences, let me sum this up in a “brilliant” mathematical formula:

Let “LW” be liturgical worship,” ALC” be attempts to live the commandments, and “F” be faith, then we can express this psalm like this:

LW – ALC = F – ALC = 0.

(I’m thinking here maybe Nobel Peace Prize in applied physics?)

However, perhaps Saint James said it best:  “faith without good works is dead.”

Gary

Feast of the Martyrs Zenobius and Zenobia, in Cilicia, under the Emperor Diocletian (A.D. 285)

Psalm 50

A psalm of Asaph.

 The Mighty One, God, the LORD, 
       speaks and summons the earth 
       from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.

 From 

Zion

, perfect in beauty, 
       God shines forth.

 Our God comes and will not be silent; 
       a fire devours before Him, 
       and around Him a tempest rages.

 He summons the heavens above, 
       and the earth, that He may judge his people:

 "Gather to Me my consecrated ones, 
       who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice."

 And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, 
       for God Himself is judge.

       Selah

 "Hear, O my people, and I will speak, 
       O Israel, and I will testify against you: 
       I am God, your God.

 I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices 
       or your burnt offerings, which are ever before Me.

 I have no need of a bull from your stall 
       or of goats from your pens,

 for every animal of the forest is Mine, 
       and the cattle on a thousand hills.

 I know every bird in the mountains, 
       and the creatures of the field are Mine.

 If I were hungry I would not tell you, 
       for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

 Do I eat the flesh of bulls 
       or drink the blood of goats?

 Sacrifice thank offerings to God, 
       fulfill your vows to the Most High,

 and call upon Me in the day of trouble; 
       I will deliver you, and you will honor me."

 But to the wicked, God says: 
       "What right have you to recite My laws 
       or take My covenant on your lips?

 You hate My instruction 
       and cast My words behind you.

 When you see a thief, you join with him; 
       you throw in your lot with adulterers.

 You use your mouth for evil 
       and harness your tongue to deceit.

 You speak continually against your brother 
       and slander your own mother's son.

 These things you have done and I kept silent; 
       you thought I was altogether like you. 
       But I will rebuke you 
       and accuse you to your face.

 "Consider this, you who forget God, 
       or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue:

 He who sacrifices thank offerings honors Me, 
       and he prepares the way 
       so that I may show him the salvation of God."

Daily Devotional - 10/29/2008

The Lord is with us!

You know, some things never change.  At the risk of sounding like the author of the Biblical book Ecclesiastes, there are times when the old adage of, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” is just so true.  And it can all seem so hollow.  I think election times tend to bring that feeling out in me more than during other times.  The politicians promise and posture the same way each election.  The press emphasizes the sensational and the fluff looking for scandal and drama while neglecting any nuanced discussion of the issues.  The rich and those with positions of power use their abundance to try and ensure that they will continue to have an abundance while those who don’t have enough, struggle to understand why any of this really matters.  As the writer of Ecclesiastes might say, “Vanity, all is vanity…”

The reason I bring up this little-read piece of poetic wisdom found after the great books of Psalms and Proverbs and before the great prophet Isaiah is that today’s psalm just feels like it was written, if not by the same author, at least in the same vein.  It is a lesson in the folly of relying on riches and one’s own wisdom.  In it the psalmist writes:

Why should I fear when evil days come, 

       when wicked deceivers surround me-

 those who trust in their wealth 
       and boast of their great riches?

 No man can redeem the life of another 
       or give to God a ransom for him-

 the ransom for a life is costly, 
       no payment is ever enough-

 that he should live on forever 
       and not see decay.

 For all can see that wise men die; 
       the foolish and the senseless alike perish 
       and leave their wealth to others.

This is the heart of today’s psalm’s teaching and there’s really not much I can write that adds to it.  Human beings have always struggled with focusing on the right things.  Thousands of gallons of ink have been used and tens of thousands of pages have been printed trying to speak the truth of the wisdom of this psalm into the lives of Americans and yet still we persist in pursuing wealth and material riches to the exclusion of more important things.  Regardless of what popular culture says (and has always said), in the bigger scheme of things, money just ain’t as big a deal as it seems.  Donald Trump isn’t going to buy his way out of the grave any better that Joe the Plummer (with or without the candidates’ tax cuts) or the person who lives in the subsidized housing project down the road.  Contrary to the rather ghoulish efforts of insurance company adjusters and class-action lawyers, one can’t place a value on a human life that truly captures its worth in the eyes of God.

And lest you think that this is a teaching particular to only Hebrew writings, read the words of the Lord:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also… No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

So pervasive is the allure of money that there are Christian preachers who say that the amount of money a person has is a measure of the health of their relationship with God and of God’s blessing upon their lives (even after reading Christ’s words that strongly suggest otherwise).  There’s an old saying; “Money makes the world go ‘round.”  I don’t think that’s exactly true.  Money makes the people who value money about all else go ‘round and very often they drive a lot of what happens in the world.  Unfortunately, a lot of those people are Christians.  We would do well to remember the words of James when he writes to the Christian congregation in 

Jerusalem: 

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”  (James 1:27)

But there are those who take the words of the psalmist and our Lord to heart.  They understand that they serve something higher and more lasting than money.  Almost since the beginning of Christianity there have been those who have listened to the words of Jesus to the rich, young ruler and have examined the influence money has over their lives.  Some of those have abandoned all wealth and committed themselves to live lives of poverty in order to more truly see God.  Others have chosen to use their wealth to do the work of God by buying things to help the poor and the naked, the widow and the orphan, the alien and the stranger have lives that are less harsh and more filled with justice, grace and compassion.  Both paths are true to the repeated teaching of Scripture about the true worth of money.

This is the wisdom of the psalmist:

This is what happens to those who live for the moment, 

      who only look out for themselves: 
   Death herds them like sheep straight to hell; 
      they disappear down the gullet of the grave; 
   They waste away to nothing— 
      nothing left but a marker in a cemetery. 
   But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death, 
      he reaches down and grabs me.

Quite a Halloween story isn’t it?  Let those who have ears listen.

Grace and Peace. 

In Him,

Chad

Psalm 49

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah

 Listen, everyone, listen— earth-dwellers, don't miss this. 
   All you haves 
      and have-nots, 
   All together now: listen. 

 I set plainspoken wisdom before you, 
      my heart-seasoned understandings of life. 
   I fine-tuned my ear to the sayings of the wise, 
      I solve life's riddle with the help of a harp. 

 So why should I fear in bad times, 
      hemmed in by enemy malice, 
   Shoved around by bullies, 
      demeaned by the arrogant rich? 

 Really! There's no such thing as self-rescue, 
      pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. 
   The cost of rescue is beyond our means, 
      and even then it doesn't guarantee 
   Life forever, or insurance 
      against the Black Hole. 

 Anyone can see that the brightest and best die, 
      wiped out right along with fools and dunces. 
   They leave all their prowess behind, 
      move into their new home, The Coffin, 
   The cemetery their permanent address. 
      And to think they named counties after themselves! 

 We aren't immortal. We don't last long. 
      Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die. 

 This is what happens to those who live for the moment, 
      who only look out for themselves: 
   Death herds them like sheep straight to hell; 
      they disappear down the gullet of the grave; 
   They waste away to nothing— 
      nothing left but a marker in a cemetery. 
   But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death, 
      he reaches down and grabs me. 

 So don't be impressed with those who get rich 
      and pile up fame and fortune. 
   They can't take it with them; 
      fame and fortune all get left behind. 
   Just when they think they've arrived 
      and folks praise them because they've made good, 
   They enter the family burial plot 
      where they'll never see sunshine again. 

 We aren't immortal. We don't last long. 
      Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.

Daily Devotional - 10/28/2008

Christ is in our Midst!

The Psalter---the book of Psalms---has served as the Church’s prayerbook for almost two millennia; that is, for just about as long as there has been a Christian Church.  I have been reading the Institutes of St. John Cassian (4^th- 5^th cen.), an account by a monk of his experiences in the ancient monasteries of the desert.  He describes the communal prayers of the fathers as consisting of the reading of twelve psalms, each psalm followed by a short prayer.  Cassian’s influence on the early Church is immense.  He was called to serve the Church in Constantinople, and was sent from there to Rome as an emissary to the pope by St. John Chrysostom himself.  By the end of his life John Cassian had founded several monasteries in ancient France, and had written two important books, the Institutes and his Conferences, relating his interviews with several of the most famous of the Desert Fathers.  His works are known to have deeply influenced St. Benedict of Nursia, a seminal figure in Western monasticism. Thus it is through the works of this 4^th century monk that the practice of reading or chanting the psalms, central to the prayer life of the monks of the East, became the core of the Western office of the Church as well. 

There are many reasons why the Psalter played such an important aspect of the Church’s daily prayer.  As had been noted several times here, the Church always reads the entire Bible through the focusing “lens” of the Lord’s death and Resurrection.  Christ is to be found on every page of both the Old and New Testaments, the Church insists.  Thus the psalms, the most ancient prayerbook of the Chosen People, would have obvious relevance and importance to a community that worshipped a Lord Who came not to abolish but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. 

A second reason for the use of the Psalter---and one that commends its use for us today---is the psalms’ ability to bring balance and perspective to our prayer life.  Human beings tend to be people of the “now”---it is my current needs, thoughts, desires, fears, hopes, dreads that overwhelm me.  There is always a danger that when I go to God my prayers will reflect only this total self-preoccupation.  But when I read the psalms thoughtfully, there are times when I must simply stop and reflect on the wonders of God, on His “Otherness” and His Majesty and His Love. 

Psalm 48 is just such a song, a chant of joy, and praise, and hope.  When I read this psalm, suddenly, if only for a moment, whatever cares and worries and depressing realities that so often engulf me dissipate.  Like the greats of the earth in the psalm, I must stop and contemplate the Lord and His Glory.  I must ask myself the existential question:  what is my life and what is its meaning?  If I truly believe in God as I so often proclaim, then ought I not follow Him, contemplate Him, trust Him?  Aren’t there realities far above and beyond my petty worries?  Instead of deluging God with my standard “laundry list” of things He needs to do for me---and oh by the way, Lord, quickly please---ought I not from time to time simply stop and praise the Lord, and maybe even lose myself in Him, if only for a moment? 

Psalm 48 is just such a reading.  It is a song of praise and rejoicing, of wondrous reflection on the God Who loves us, creates us, saves us.  Surely these are the existential realities that should resonate within me, much more than the election, or the economy, or my work and play. 

In short, praying the psalms can, I think, add or restore a real balance to our prayer.  It is why a personal rule of prayer that works through the psalms at whatever rate one feels appropriate can be an invaluable help in maturing our relationship with God.

Gary

Feast of the Martyrs Terence, his wife Neonilla, and their seven children, under the Emperor Decius, AD 249-250

Psalm 48

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

 Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, 
       in the city of our God, His holy mountain.

 It is beautiful in its loftiness, 
       the joy of the whole earth. 
       Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is 

Mount

 

Zion

, 
       the city of the Great King.

 God is in her citadels; 
       He has shown Himself to be her fortress.

 When the kings joined forces, 
       when they advanced together,

 they saw her and were astounded; 
       they fled in terror.

 Trembling seized them there, 
       pain like that of a woman in labor.

 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish 
       shattered by an east wind.

 As we have heard, 
       so have we seen 
       in the city of the LORD Almighty, 
       in the city of our God: 
       God makes her secure forever.

       Selah

 Within your temple, O God, 
       we meditate on your unfailing love.

 Like your name, O God, 
       your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; 
       your right hand is filled with righteousness.

 

Mount

 

Zion

 rejoices, 
       the villages of 

Judah

 are glad 
       because of your judgments.

 Walk about 

Zion

, go around her, 
       count her towers,

 consider well her ramparts, 
       view her citadels, 
       that you may tell of them to the next generation.

 For this God is our God for ever and ever; 
       He will be our guide even to the end.

Daily Devotional - 10/27/2008

The Lord is with us!

 

Clap your hands, all you nations; 
       shout to God with cries of joy.

And so begins the forty-seventh psalm with a calling of all nations and all people to the praise and worship of the God Most High.  In this psalm there are two related themes intertwined that may be a bit surprising when considered in the context of the culture that produced them. 

The first theme is this call to worship and to praise.  The song is rightly an uplifting of praise the ascendant God who is over all nations and all things.  Three times is the sacred assembly called to raise up its voice in praise of God.  While certainly stirring, what is somewhat remarkable is the inclusiveness of these instructions.  All nations, not just that of Israel, are encouraged to join joyfully into the worship.  For a nation that prided itself in being God’s chosen and which had religious laws designed to keep it separate from the corrupting influence of other cultures and societies, the desire for all peoples to acknowledge God is profound and telling.  In this is a lesson for us.  God is Lord and creator of all peoples, tribes and cultures.  All should be called to come and worship together with few requirements beyond and acknowledgement of God’s proper place and an attitude that brings them closer to Him.  I think too often we restrict worship to our own little tribes and circles and associations.  We end up walling certain people, whether unknowingly or knowingly, away from an authentic expression of joy from God.  Nowhere does the psalm say that the worshippers have to have it all “right” with God.  All are called: the rich and the poor, the well-dressed and the beggar, the prostitute and the pure.  All are invited to the banquet of worship that is a foretaste of the great feast at the end of days.  How many churches would invite the local outcasts to worship with them, to lift up their songs of praise?  How many churches would open their doors to drug addicts and con artists if those people seek to truly worship God? 

The second theme is represented by the lines: 

For God is the King of all the earth; 
       sing to Him a psalm of praise.

God reigns over the nations; 
       God is seated on His holy throne.

This is the idea of God as sovereign over all of creation.  This is a hard idea to pin down I think.  What does it mean so say that God is sovereign?  Does it mean that He controls and dictates all things?  Does it mean that His plans will always come to fruition?  Does it mean that the only things that happen are a result of His will and His will alone?  To be honest, while I’ve read a lot of literature written by well meaning, incredibly smart people who claim to know the answer to this question, I’m still not sure I do.  What I think I do know is that God has the power to do whatever He desires.  He has the power to set up kingdoms and to make them fall.  He has the power to bless and to curse.  He has the power to bring His plans to fruition and the power to frustrate the plans of others.  For that reason alone, that He has the power to make His will reality, He is to be worshipped by all who know Him.  But what is more amazing as I consider it is that God doesn’t use His power the way human beings often use theirs.  He doesn’t use His power in some active, “forcing things to be His way” sort of fashion.  His use of power is more gentle and subtle.  He doesn’t use His power to force or coerce but to attract and draw in.

Again, I think that there’s a lesson for us here.  Too often in religious dialogue we take a very strong approach to the wielding of what power we have as the body of Christ.  We try to force people to live the way we think they should live or punish them for not doing so.  God could have done this with us; forced us to live the way He wanted.  Instead He came as one of us and taught us about love and grace and joy and then lived out those things to His very last breath (and beyond) on the Cross of Calvary.  It is for this reason that we have come to worship Him and acknowledge His power in our lives.  As His body, I think the church should strive to do the same.  Instead of trying to make everyone live by some set of rules and regulations (most of which are actually pretty good and sensible), we should live love and grave and joy into people’s lives.  We should, with our lives, show them the Living God and what His sovereignty means.  We should exercise hospitality and humility in all of our interactions with others as a way of drawing them into a life with God.

It is a subtler and less obvious path but one that I think is more in line with God’s expression of sovereignty.

Grace and Peace.

In Him,

Chad

Psalm 47

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

 Clap your hands, all you nations; 
       shout to God with cries of joy.

 How awesome is the LORD Most High, 
       the great King over all the earth!

 He subdued nations under us, 
       peoples under our feet.

 He chose our inheritance for us, 
       the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.

        Selah

 God has ascended amid shouts of joy, 
       the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.

 Sing praises to God, sing praises; 
       sing praises to our King, sing praises.

 For God is the King of all the earth; 
       sing to Him a psalm of praise.

 God reigns over the nations; 
       God is seated on His holy throne.

 The nobles of the nations assemble 
       as the people of the God of Abraham, 
       for the kings of the earth belong to God; 
       He is greatly exalted.

Daily Devotional - 10/24/2008

The Lord is with us!

“Be still and know that I am God”

 

With these words, the psalmist encourages the people of Israel to take a collective deep breath.  From the tone of the psalm we get a sense that times aren’t the best.  “Nations are in an uproar, kingdoms fall,” the psalmist writes.  “Look upon the works of the Lord and the desolation He has brought,” he tells us.  There is fear that things as calamitous as mountains falling into the sea and the earth shaking and roiling.  Whatever is going on at the time this psalm is written, Israel and its capital are at the center of it.  The reference to city of David with it’s spring-fed source of water is clear in the psalmist’s lines:

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 
       the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall; 
       God will help her at break of day.

Times were tough when this was written.  Things were uncertain.  There are voices of doom and despair from all sides and they spread fear and panic wherever they are heard.  Would the city of God fall to a foreign invader?  Would the enemy conquer the king’s armies?  Would all that God had built in and through His people come to an end?

 “Be still and know that I am God”

Times are turbulent right now.  Ten days before a presidential election that may be the most notable in a generation there is much anxiety.  As I write this the signs are that Wall Street will have another terrible day and lose another 10% of its value.  In my inbox this morning there were emails about issues related to rising health care costs and reduced pension benefits for retirees.    There is news of war and violence both here at home and abroad.  Pundits are publicly questioning whether this is the end of America’s status in the world.  People are losing their jobs, their homes and, perhaps, their faith ion the systems and institutions upon which our society is founded.

The inclination in times like these is to join in the chorus of voices demanding something: the heads of the Wall Street executives who precipitated the financial crisis, the jobs of the politicians who may have let them, an explanation from your boss about the future of your company and your future in it.  These are understandable and, in some cases, expected responses to times of difficulty.  We have a right and responsibility to participate in our futures.  But too often we begin to rely on our own questions and we become ruled by our own fear.  We add to the frenzy of the crowd and become reactive instead of responsive.  This is where the words of this psalm become all the more important. 

“Be still and know that I am God”

There is a story of President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War or War Between the States.  It was a difficult time, much worse than anything we are facing now.  Lincoln was surrounded by voices that called for more military action and others that wanted less, people who wanted stronger leadership from him and those who wanted him to resign and let someone better take the job and those who counseled this or that military to win the war or end it more quickly.  The blood of a generation was slowly being bled onto the battlefields of Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg in what Lincoln would later call a “last full measure…”.  In the darkest days of that horrible conflict Lincoln found himself turning more and more to prayer.  It was said that he would rise an hour early each day to go into the Oval Office to pray.  In 1863 Lincoln introduced into the House and Senate resolutions calling for both a national day of prayer and a national day of fasting and humiliation before God (to be observed on April 30^th, 1963).  He would write:

"Well, I will tell you how it was. In the pinch of the campaign up there (at Gettysburg) when everybody seemed panic stricken and nobody could tell what was going to happen, oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I went to my room one day and locked the door and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed to Him mightily for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him that this war was His war, and our cause His cause, but we could not stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville... And after that, I don't know how it was, and I cannot explain it, but soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul. The feeling came that God had taken the whole business into His own hands and that things would go right at Gettysburg and that is why I had no fears about you." [July 5, 1863] 

So, as times seem uncertain and you find yourself struggling with anxiety the clear solution offered by our psalmist is not to spend more time and energy running around and making noise.  The solution is to stop and still your soul.  Get away from the “busyness” and the chaos and be alone with God.  For the students who read this I know that this is a time of great difficulty.  For some of you the results of your mid-terms have come back and you feel a great deal of anxiety about school and how you’re doing.  Some of you are wondering what to do.  I would offer that in addition to refocusing yourself on academic pursuits over social endeavors you should make time to be alone and quiet with God.  Turn off the cells phone and the iPod.  There is nothing of lasting importance on either “One Tree Hill” or “Grey’s Anatomy”.  Facebook and MySpace aren’t going anywhere soon and you won’t miss anything really, truly important by unplugging for a little while.  Follow the example of Lincoln and go to God in prayer and petition.  Humble yourself before Him and let Him love you with all of His love.

The apostle Paul writes to the church in Philippi:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7)

“Be still and know that I am God”

Grace and Peace.

In Him,

Chad

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, 
       an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way 
       and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam 
       and the mountains quake with their surging. 
       Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 
       the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall; 
       God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; 
       He lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us; 
       the God of Jacob is our fortress.

    Selah

Come and see the works of the LORD, 
       the desolations He has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; 
       He breaks the bow and shatters the spear, 
       He burns the shields with fire.

 "Be still, and know that I am God; 
       I will be exalted among the nations, 
       I will be exalted in the earth."

 The LORD Almighty is with us; 
       the God of Jacob is our fortress.

       Selah

Daily Devotional - 10/23/2008

Christ is in our Midst

Orthodox Christian exegesis of the Old Testament always begins with Christ.  As Father Thomas Hopko has explained, “we are to see Christ on every page.”  Such an understanding necessarily informs my reading of Psalm 45. 

Psalm 45 is a Messianic psalm.  It is Christ, we believe, that the psalmist describes as “fairer than the children of men; grace is poured upon thy lips; therefore God hath blessed thee forever.”  He is the “mighty one” before whom all shall bend their knee. 

Is there any evidence to support such an interpretation?  Why should we accept the idea that the psalmist is somehow mystically seeing the Christ, who will not appear on earth for another millennium? 

Ultimately such a claim is of course based on faith:  if Christ is indeed “very God of very God, consubstantial with the Father,” as the Apostles witnessed and, when severely challenged in the fourth century, the Church proclaimed at the Council of Nicaea, and if the Bible is indeed God’s principal record of His revelation to man, then it is not unreasonable to seek the face of Christ on every page.  But we also have evidence that the earliest Christians read this psalm Christologically as well.  Look quickly at Hebrews 1: 8-9, and you will see that St. Paul quotes Psalm 45 directly in his description of Christ and His ministry. 

“But unto the Son He saith, ‘Thy throne O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy Kingdom.  Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.’” (Heb. 1: 8-9 quoting Psalm 45, vv 6-7)  Thus no less an authority than the Apostle to the Gentiles reads this psalm as a prophecy of Christ. 

There is a second aspect of the psalm that any Orthodox Biblical scholar will note:  the idea that the “queen” and “daughter” in the song is indeed the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. 

Perhaps no person in all of Christian history is as controversial as Christ’s mother.  This is beyond sadness, since no one so resolutely “points” to her Son so steadfastly as does this humble Galilean woman.  Because Mary evokes such passion, and because her role in Orthodox Christianity is so often deeply misunderstood, let me explain very briefly how Orthodoxy understands her.  My goal is here is not to convert or even convince you, but simply so you will understand some of the differences that separate us as we read the Scriptures.  As ever, the “debate” is not over what the Scriptures say, but over what they mean.

For Orthodox Christians, Mary stands as the great example, the very thing we can all aspire to be and dedicate our lives to becoming.  For the source of Mary’s “honor” and the reverence with which she is held by the Church have a simple but profound origin:  she was chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of God, to bear God incarnate (the word Theotokos simply means “God-bearer”) in her womb, and when asked by God (through the Archangel Gabriel) to do this, Mary said “Yes”:  “Be it done unto me according to Thy word.”  God never does anything “by accident,” so His choice of this young woman to be His mother itself is wrapped in Divine mystery and holiness.  And we, in our Christian lives, ought to aspire to Mary’s role:  to bear God within us, and allow Him to work through us.  Our lives ought to, and can, the Church affirms, radiate God’s presence. 

Part of the “problem” of Mary certainly rests in the extravagant language with which she is addressed by the Church.  She is asked to “save us”; she is hailed as our “constant intercessor and only hope” in other prayers.  I know to non-Orthodox ears such prayers sound strange and perhaps even blasphemous, imputing to Mary what is God’s alone to give.  But the language Orthodox Christians use with Mary is “love language,” as noted Orthodox author Frederica Mathewes-Green said just this week in a talk in Macon.  “Love-language” is by definition given to hyperbole.  No one holds an ardent suitor guilty of blasphemy when he whispers to his intended that “you mean everything to me!”  No one expects the lover to tell his beloved precisely where he or she ranks in a scale of values that starts with God:  “If God is a ten on my scale, then you’re about a 9.2” is not an especially romantic or meaningful whisper. 

I’ve been Orthodox now for just about a quarter century, and I’ve never met anyone who believes that Mary in any way effected our salvation.  Indeed, the Church explicitly denies the doctrine espoused by some Christians that Mary is somehow our “co-Redemptrix” with Christ.  Mary required salvation along with the rest of us.  This is why, I think, the psalmist calls her both queen and “daughter.”  Mary is the Mother of God, but she is also His child, like the rest of us. 

The overall point is that Psalm 45 is a classic example of how the Church does see Christ on every page of the Old Testament. 

Gary                                                                                                                                                                 

Feast of the Apostle James, the brother of the Lord.

Psalm 45

For the director of music. To the tune of "Lilies." Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil. A wedding song. ^[a]

 My heart is stirred by a noble theme 
       as I recite my verses for the king; 
       my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

 You are the most excellent of men 
       and your lips have been anointed with grace, 
       since God has blessed you forever.

 Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one; 
       clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.

 In your majesty ride forth victoriously 
       in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; 
       let your right hand display awesome deeds.

 Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies; 
       let the nations fall beneath your feet.

 Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; 
       a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; 
       therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions 
       by anointing you with the oil of joy.

 All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; 
       from palaces adorned with ivory 
       the music of the strings makes you glad.

 Daughters of kings are among your honored women; 
       at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.

 Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: 
       Forget your people and your father's house.

 The king is enthralled by your beauty; 
       honor him, for he is your lord.

 The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift,
       men of wealth will seek your favor.

 All glorious is the princess within her chamber ; 
       her gown is interwoven with gold.

 In embroidered garments she is led to the king; 
       her virgin companions follow her 
       and are brought to you.

 They are led in with joy and gladness; 
       they enter the palace of the king.

 Your sons will take the place of your fathers; 
       you will make them princes throughout the land.

 I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; 
       therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.

Daily Devotional - 10/22/2008

The Lord is with us!

From a reading of the beginning verses, Psalm 44 reads like a song of praise to God by the armies of Israel.  In the triumphant stanzas we see a people who understand that their strength and victory comes not from their own might but from the mighty right hand of God. 

We have heard with our ears, O God; 
       our fathers have told us 
       what You did in their days, 
       in days long ago.

 With Your hand You drove out the nations 
       and planted our fathers; 
       You crushed the peoples 
       and made our fathers flourish.

 It was not by their sword that they won the land, 
       nor did their arm bring them victory; 
       it was Your right hand, Your arm, 
       and the light of Your face, for You loved them.

 You are my King and my God, 
       who decrees victories for Jacob.

 Through You we push back our enemies; 
       through Your name we trample our foes.

 I do not trust in my bow, 
       my sword does not bring me victory;

 but You give us victory over our enemies, 
       You put our adversaries to shame.

 In God we make our boast all day long, 
       and we will praise Your name forever.

Notice that the psalmist says that his bow and sword are not what brings him victory over his foes.  It is the will and activity of God, just as it was the will and activity of God that brought the people of Jacob out of Egypt and into the land of their ancestor Abraham that had been promised to them.  In each and every stanza of this psalm there is the repeated, “it was You who did…”  If only the psalm ended here we would label it as a psalm of praise towards God, but it does not.

Once again we encounter the word “Selah” inviting us to consider in the wordless space of the song or chant the theme of the previous verses: “God has been good and has given us all of the things we need.  In the past we have been victorious in our conquests of others by trusting in God.”  All of this, however, serves only to heighten and accentuate the lament that follows in the remaining verses.

The rest of the psalm is a cry to God by the psalmist over the military setbacks of the nation.  Where God once led to victory, now He has abandoned his armies.  Where once there was victory, now there is only defeat.

But now You have rejected and humbled us; 
       You no longer go out with our armies.

You made us retreat before the enemy, 
       and our adversaries have plundered us.

 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep 
       and have scattered us among the nations.

 You sold your people for a pittance, 
       gaining nothing from their sale.

 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, 
       the scorn and derision of those around us.

 You have made us a byword among the nations; 
       the peoples shake their heads at us.

 My disgrace is before me all day long, 
       and my face is covered with shame

 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, 
       because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.

To read these words is to read the pain of a defeated soldier.  In his eyes he has lost and has become contemptible.  The nation for which he fights is reduced to a pittance and its people are the subject of scorn and ridicule.  As he walks through the streets of his home town, his neighbors look at him and they shake their heads wondering why he and his army couldn’t defeat their foes.  We don’t know who the foe was that prompted the writing of this psalm or what the events were.  Maybe this is written after the conquering of the northern tribes of the nation by the Assyrian Empire by a soldier fleeing the victors.  Maybe it was written after a series of setbacks against on of the peoples that still occupied parts of the Promised Land during the reign of the King David.  Whatever the case, the psalm is a clear cry to God from the sense of pain and loss of the writer.

As the psalm moves towards its close, the psalmist asks the question that is asked in so many of the laments: Why?  Why has this happened?  Why have we been defeated?  What has caused the loss of your favor, Lord?

All this happened to us, 
       though we had not forgotten You 
       or been false to Your covenant.

Our hearts had not turned back; 
       our feet had not strayed from Your path.

But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals 
       and covered us over with deep darkness.

If we had forgotten the name of our God 
       or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

would not God have discovered it, 
       since he knows the secrets of the heart?

Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; 
       we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

Awake, O Lord! Why do You sleep? 
       Rouse Yourself! Do not reject us forever.

Why do You hide your face 
       and forget our misery and oppression?

We are brought down to the dust; 
       our bodies cling to the ground.

Our writer doesn’t understand what has happened and why God has removed His favor from the nation’s armies.  In the lament he says that God has set out to humble them but he doesn’t know why.  He claims that they have never worshipped other gods or broken the covenant they made with the Lord.  He says that their hearts have remained turned towards the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He wants to know why they are slaughtered all day long and yet God does nothing to help them.

I might be able to offer up some sort of feeble explanation or response to our soldier’s question but the truth is that I probably don’t know the heart of God any better than he does.  For us, that’s not really the point of the psalm I think.  There will be times in our lives when it looks like God has favored our cause and has cleared the obstacles from our path.  There will be other times when it will appear that God has forgotten and forsaken us completely.  Perhaps you’ve felt both of these things; I know that I have.  I very clearly remember a time when I felt like communicating with God was like passing tiny notes through a crack in a very tall wall.  At the time I didn’t understand why there was a wall and why God was so far away.  I fell like I was doing everything I knew how to do to try to be faithful to Him and He was so far off.  I remember very clearly my anger and frustration and tears (by the way, there was a reason for God’s distance but I wasn’t in a place in my life where I could understand what it was).

The important thing here is that our psalmist went to God with his questions.  Much like Job after he was afflicted, the soldier goes to God and he wants answers.  He turns back to his relationship with God as a source of comfort and solution.  He could have forgotten God in his misery, ending up spending his days in some watering hole or dive in a seedy part of town.  He could have cursed God and died; to paraphrase Job’s wife’s instruction to her husband.  He could have blamed his political leaders or his neighbors or his fellow soldiers but instead he goes straight to God and pleads for an answer.  He takes all his pain and anguish and frustration and hurt and lays it all at the feet of God.

We don’t know God’s answer to this outpouring but I do know that God honored what was brought.  I know that He heard the man’s cry and he “felt his pain”.  Sometimes things don’t go our way in this world.  Sometimes it seems that our holy cause falls flat and we don’t understand why.  A loved one betrays us, a business deal goes bad, a nation falters, a candidate loses and we are left with our hurt and our loss and seemingly not much else.  And so we must raise our voices in lament to God.  We can remember all the times He has helped us and those we’ve loved but we can also show Him our hearts full of pain.  Somehow, in some way, He will see our hearts and He will know our pain.  We know this because He hung on a Cross scorned and rejected by almost all.  His covenant was ignored and still so often is.  Because God “felt a hammer in the palm of His hand, God knows that way we feel” and He knew how that soldier felt.  Not just in some abstract way but in the way human beings feel.

In that lament, we will eventually be led to the place where we, like the soldier, can pray: 

Rise up and help us; 
       redeem us because of your unfailing love.

 Grace and Peace.

 In Him,

 Chad

Daily Devotional - 10/21/2008

Christ is in our Midst

“Introibo ad altare Dei….”  For more than half a millennium the daily worship of the Western Church began with verses from Psalm 43:  “I will go unto the altar of God.”  In the call and response between priest and altar boy in the ancient Latin, David’s words became the invitation to worship.

“Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam,” the altar boy would answer, “to God who gives joy to my youth.” 

How quaint those verses sounded more than fifty autumns ago, how warmly they resonate in my mind now.  I can see why the Church picked this psalm as its invitatory. 

Psalm 43 is a psalm of rescue.  “Judge me God, and give judgment in my cause against a nation that is not holy; deliver me from an unjust and deceitful man.”  We all want God on our side, and so we ask deliverance from our enemies.  God is our strength, David reminds, and yet so often we feel abandoned by Him.  Where are you, we (like David) ask?  “Why go I mourning while my enemy oppresseth me?”  We want to behold God’s light and truth; they will lead us to the very presence of the Lord.  

Psalm 43 is also a song of worship, a prayer of call and response.  David proclaims that God’s protection will lead us to the “holy mountain,” and the Lord’s tabernacles.  Moreover David promises that in response to God’s help:  “…et introibo ad altare Dei,” he vows.  Seeing all that God has done for me, I will go unto His altar, there to offer worship. 

Psalm 43 provides the perfect model for our relationship to God.  We should call on Him for our spiritual needs; we should expect His answer and wait to discern it.  The final response, however, is always ours:  whatever God does for us, we need to answer Him in worship. 

 Gary

Feast of Venerable St. Hilarion the Great

Psalm 43

Vindicate me, O God, 
       and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; 
       rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

 You are God my stronghold. 
       Why have You rejected me? 
       Why must I go about mourning, 
       oppressed by the enemy?

 Send forth Your light and Your truth, 
       let them guide me; 
       let them bring me to Your holy mountain, 
       to the place where You dwell.

 Then will I go to the altar of God, 
       to God, my joy and my delight. 
       I will praise You with the harp, 
       O God, my God.

 Why are you downcast, O my soul? 
       Why so disturbed within me? 
       Put your hope in God, 
       for I will yet praise Him, 
       my Savior and my God.

Daily Devotional - 10/20/2008

The Lord is with us!

As I begin the writing of this devotional, I am amazed that we've come as far as we have.  Psalm 41 is generally acknowledged as the end of the first "book" or portion of the larger collection of psalms and ends the first set of poems credited to King David.  From this point forward, for a little while, we will examine psalms written by other authors that have been included.  While you will notice differences in style, it should be understood that all voices here are influenced by Israel's great poet David.  One way of looking at it might be like looking at rock music.  While there have been many artists who have played rock, they all are playing in the same musical genre created by Elvis Presley.  Hence, when I listen to U2 I am still hearing the echoes of the young man in Memphis who walked into Sun Studios to record a record for his mom.  So even though the next several psalms will be attributed to the "Sons of Korah" we should understand that the beat of the each psalm comes from the same heart and echoes the same source of inspiration as those psalms written by David.  

The opening lines of Psalm 42 are among the most beloved in the Christian community because they are among the most authentic.

In the NIV the first verse reads:

As the deer pants for streams of water,
      so my soul pants for you, O God. 

Here we see the depths of author's desire for God.  We see his longing to enter into the presence of God and the distress he feels in being separated from the community of worship.  In this I think we find a lesson for our own faith lives that bears discussing.  Very often I hear students who tell me that they don't need to go to church because they can worship God on their own.  They claim that they don't need to be a part of a bunch of judgmental hypocrites that seem to make up the majority of the so-called Christians they know.  They can play their praise and worship CD's and read an emailed devotional (much like this one) and they'll be just fine.  While I question whether that person is really entering into the heart of worship when they don't come around the Lord's table with a community, I think that there are deeper issues to consider.  No matter how awesome your David Crowder CD of Hillsong United DVD is, it's not going to be there when the bottom falls out of your life. When the doctor utters the scariest words a person can ever hear, you're going to need more than a emailed devotional.  Listen to the Psalmist's words:

These things I remember
      as I pour out my soul:
      how I used to go with the multitude,
      leading the procession to the house of God,
      with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
      among the festive throng. 

Worship is meant to be done in community.  We may long for God alone but we will find Him in His most complete form when our life is lived within a community of believers.  When bad things happen to us, as they do to all people, it is this community that will be there for us to pick us up and help us turn towards God in our time of crisis.  And what will the message of that community be?

For the Psalmist, he is cut off from his worship community and those around him are asking, "Where is your God now?"  So too can we be cut off if we don't actively seek to remain within a group of those who, like us, long after God.  It is such a group that will remind us to, as the Psalmist writes, "put our hope in God", even as we lament out situation.  In America, the land of the individual, there is a siren song of independence that calls us to live as islands among a sea of others.  Our heroes are figures such as Superman and the Lone Ranger who lead solitary lives where the true identity is hidden behind masks and words.  Yet our faith calls us into community.  It's part of what we were created for.  Much of the anxiety, fear, loneliness and anger found in our society comes from the continuing isolation that our increasingly electronic and displaced culture creates.  As we fight the depression and despair so prevalent in our postmodern Western culture we have to consider the possibility it is a result, in part, of our being displaced from the community of God.

As we seek and thirst for God, let us also commit to finding His stream of living water with each other.  Let us help each other and accept help from each other.  Let us run together and rest together.  Let us share our journey with honestly and authenticity in hopes of quenching our thirst from the same source.

Grace and Peace.

In Him,

Chad

Psalm 42

For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.

As the deer pants for streams of water,
      so my soul pants for You, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
      When can I go and meet with God?

My tears have been my food
      day and night,
      while men say to me all day long,
      "Where is your God?"

These things I remember
      as I pour out my soul:
      how I used to go with the multitude,
      leading the procession to the house of God,
      with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
      among the festive throng.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
      Why so disturbed within me?
      Put your hope in God,
      for I will yet praise Him,
      my Savior and my God.
      My soul is downcast within me;
      therefore I will remember You
      from the land of the Jordan,
      the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep
      in the roar of your waterfalls;
      all Your waves and breakers
      have swept over me.

By day the LORD directs His love,
      at night His song is with me—
      a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God my Rock,
      "Why have You forgotten me?
      Why must I go about mourning,
      oppressed by the enemy?"

My bones suffer mortal agony
      as my foes taunt me,
      saying to me all day long,
      "Where is your God?"

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
      Why so disturbed within me?
      Put your hope in God,
      for I will yet praise Him,
      my Savior and my God.