Monday, April 03, 2023

Wedding message - Michael and Mary

The following message contains references to Genesis 2:18-25, Ephesians 5:15-33,  and the hymns "Holy, Holy, Holy" and "Be Thou My Vision" that were read or sung during the service.  Their full text is at the bottom of this document.

Aren’t Michael and Mary beautiful?

It didn’t have to be this way, though.  You didn’t have to be so beautifully dressed up and to be standing in front of such a wonderful group of family and friends.  People do get married in a courthouse in front of a justice of the peace with a witness or two to sign the marriage certificate.

But that is such a sad and inadequate way of entering into such a momentous covenant, and we know this deep in our hearts, even if we can’t explain it.  Marriage is foundational for who we are as human beings.  It has a deep meaning that extends far beyond simply uniting people who happen to like each other in a legal union.  The ceremony we enact today is intended to communicate some of this deep meaning as it is revealed to us in the passages that were read for us a few moments ago. 

In the passage from Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we see is that marriage has been a part of humanity from our very beginning.  After creating the first man from dirt and assigning him the responsibility of caring for the garden of Eden, God said “it is not good for the man to be alone”.  Though up to this moment, God had pronounced everything that he had created to be good, the solitude of the man in the garden was not good.

So God gave the man, Adam, the task of naming the animals.  Each of them had its mate but Adam did not.  When this was done, Adam knew firsthand that it was not good that he did not have a mate.

To remedy this, God sets out to make a mate for Adam, someone who was a helper fit for him.  But rather than making this perfect companion for Adam from dirt, like he had made Adam and the other creatures, he made Adam’s helper Eve from a piece of Adam himself.  She is made of the same flesh as Adam.  He recognized this when Eve was brought to him – “This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”.  “Finally!”, he says, “someone who is one flesh with me”.

This passage ends by telling us, “The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed”.  When God brought Eve to Adam, he was conducting the first wedding ceremony, and Adam and Eve became husband and wife.  Our ceremony today is modeled after that first wedding, with you, Michael, playing the role of Adam.  You, Mary, are Eve, and your father has the role of God.  One difference, of course, between this wedding and the first one is that both of you are fully and beautifully clothed, but the nakedness will have to wait.

The resemblance of this ceremony to the first marriage runs deeper still, for we are told in this passage that when a man and woman get married, they, like Adam and Eve, are one flesh.  This doesn’t mean that you, Mary, were somehow made from one of Michael’s ribs, yet in some way the union that you two are making here today is so deep that it can be called one flesh even as Adam and Eve were one flesh.  We see here one reason why divorce is so tragic; it is something of an amputation, for it severs two people who are one flesh from each other.

As the first book of the Bible has taught us the foundation of marriage, the last book of the Bible, Revelation, teaches us what marriage is modeled after, for in it we read: 

21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

At the culmination of human history, when the world has been made new again, there is a wedding.  In this wedding, God escorts another bride, the new Jerusalem.  She is the church, descending from heaven in splendor for her husband, Jesus Christ.

So Michael, you represent to us not only Adam, but also Jesus, and Mary, you represent not only Eve, but also the church, the new Jerusalem.  Your beauty is intended to hint in a small way at the splendor of the church in that day when all sorrows are gone and God has wiped away every tear.  And this ceremony is intended to point us to the day when we will see Jesus united with his church in a profoundly intimate union that transcends even the intimacy of the one flesh union experienced by Adam and Eve.

And not only does your wedding ceremony point to the relationship between Christ and his church, but your lives going forward together are intended to point to that same relationship, for we see in the second passage that was read for us today, a portion of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, that as husband and wife, you are to relate to one another as Christ and his church relate to each other.

It is here that we find the true understanding of marriage.  Marriage is the union of a man and a woman that is modeled on the relationship between Christ and his church.  It is a picture of an eternal reality, not an arbitrary convention that we may alter as we see fit.  God is holy, and altering the picture that he gives us of the relationship between Christ and his church would be as disrespectful as painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.  In particular, we may not make marriage into a union of two of the same kind of person.  Christ and his church are not the same, and there can be no union of two Christs or two churches that could serve as a model for a marriage.  The differences between Christ and the church are profound, and they are what teach us about the differences between the roles of the husband and wife in a marriage.

You, Michael, are to love Mary as Christ loved the church, and to give yourself up for her so that she might be as beautiful as God intends for her to be.  At the very least, as Paul says, you are to desire her good as much as you would desire your own.  You should be as eager to see her thrive as you are to be healthy yourself.  But loving Mary as Christ loved the church means even more than that.  To paraphrase a portion of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we can see that you, Michael, are to:

do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count Mary more significant than yourself. You must look not only to your own interests, but also to Mary’s interests. You must think of yourself the way Christ Jesus thought of himself, for though he was in the form of God, he did not cling to the status that gave him.   

Instead, Jesus made himself nothing becoming a servant to us, living as an ordinary person, humbling himself and becoming obedient to God’s calling to the point of death by dying on a cross.

It was by loving the church in this way that Christ made it possible for us to be reconciled to God and be cleansed from all our sin, and it is by loving Mary this way that you are to help her to become as beautiful as God intends for her to be.  Though you are not likely to be called upon to die for Mary’s sake, you are likely to be called upon to lay down your life for her in many smaller ways. Whatever the situation you find yourself in, your calling is to do this out of love with joy, just as Christ loved the church.  Michael, this is the job description that you are signing up for as Mary’s husband.

And Mary, you are to submit to Michael’s leadership as to Christ.  This is a really hard thing to say in today’s society.  There probably are some people in this room who are struggling to agree with what Paul says here.  Submission has become a horribly toxic word in our society, one which reeks of suffering, defeat, and humiliation.  But if we pay attention to the whole passage, we must realize that this is the farthest thing from what Paul had in mind when he used that word.  It is impossible to imagine that a man who loved his wife as Christ loved the church could ever wish to impose suffering, defeat, or humiliation on his wife.  

We are much closer to Paul’s thinking if we imagine a skilled pair of swing dancers on the dance floor, or a couples ballet team on the ice.  In each case, the man may be leading the woman, but it’s not because he has defeated her.  She will be following his leadership, but not because she has been humiliated by him.  Rather the man is serving the woman as a leader by putting his strength and skill to her service so that she will look as good as she can on the dance floor, and she is submitting to his leadership by receiving the service that he gives and using it to display her excellence on the dance floor or on the ice.  This is how you, Mary, are to follow Michael, for this is how the church is to follow Christ.

And it is not as if you are the only one being called to submission in this passage, for Paul calls all of us as believers to submit to one another as to Christ.  Even as you are to submit to Michel’s leadership, he is to submit to you as he seeks to meet your needs.  You and Michael have different roles, but submission is necessary for both of you as you seek to fulfill those roles.

When the world looks at your marriage, God intends for us to see two people seeking with all their hearts to live out a little illustration of how Christ and the church relate to each other.  As you, Michael, pour out yourself in love for Mary, and as Mary responds to your leadership with joy and submission, we will learn something of the nature of how Christ pours out himself for his people and how his people are to respond to his gift with gratitude and obedience.

This is what you will be promising to do for each other in your vows, and by God’s grace this is how you are to seek to live with each other as long as you both shall live.

And apart from God’s grace, you will fail.

On your own, neither of you is good enough, wise enough, knowledgeable enough or strong enough to adequately fill the roles that God has given you in marriage.  There will be times when you, Michael, can’t or won’t love Mary as Christ loved the church, and times when you, Mary, can’t or won’t be able to submit to Michael as unto Christ.  Each of you at times will fail, and it will be necessary to acknowledge that failure, learn from it, and set out again to do what God has given you to do.

You will need to help one another to fulfill your roles.  Mary, pray for Michael that he might have the grace and strength to love and to lead you as he should, and strive to help him do this well, for he will need your help.  Especially seek to be a wife who is not hard to love and lead.  Michael, pray for Mary that she might have the grace to receive the good that you intend for her.  Seek to be a man who is not hard to respect and strive to know and love Mary better so that you can be wise about what she needs and glad to give it.

You in the congregation, who promised together to uphold Michael and Mary in their marriage, pray for them.  If they come to you for advice, encouragement, or assistance, help them to remember the promises they are making here and give them what you can to help them live out these promises faithfully and joyfully together.

Be encouraged, Michael and Mary – God is with you.  The God who designed marriage and who intends that it mirror his love for his people will not leave you to carry out this purpose on your own strength alone.  Seek his help and the help of his people and you will find him faithful.  Focus on Jesus and let him be your vision as Lord of your life.  Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and you will find him working in you to enable you live out the life that he intends in your marriage.

God is faithful.  The vows that you are about to make to each other also teach us something about God, for they point us to the promises that God has made to his church.  He has promised to take us to be his people for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, and he will love and cherish us not just until we die, but into eternity.  As this wedding leads to a honeymoon, the wedding of Christ and his church will lead to our eternal honeymoon with God in heaven.  Marriage is holy and beautiful and to be celebrated with joy for it reminds us of the purpose for which God has created us, which is the joy we will experience in the presence of God in heaven.

Holy, Holy, Holy
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
who wert and art and evermore shalt be.
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name in earth, and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Be Thou My Vision
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Genesis 2:18-25
18 Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him. 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Ephesians 5:15-33
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 
31 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Monday, September 06, 2021

Making disciples

My church is teaching about discipleship, so I've been thinking about discipleship as well.  Below are my answers to some questions about discipleship.  I'd love to have your feedback on any of this; let me know what you think, whether good or bad.

What is a disciple? 

  • Someone who has been baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and is learning to obey everything that Jesus has commanded us.

Why be a disciple?

  • I want to be a fruitful seed and not fall away or be seduced by wealth (Matthew 13:18-23)
  • I want to be gathered into Jesus’ barn and not burned (Matthew 13:24-30)
  • I want to be a wise virgin not a foolish one (Matthew 25:1-13)
  • I want Jesus to say, “well done, good and faithful slave” and not call me and evil and lazy slave (Matthew 25:14-30)
  • I want to be a sheep and not a goat (Matthew 25:31-46)
  • I want what I build to endure when the storm strikes and not get swept away (Luke 6:46-49)
  • I want what I build to survive and not be consumed by the fire (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
  • I don’t want our lampstand to be taken away but to eat from the tree of life (Revelation 2:1-7)
  • I want to receive the crown of life and not be harmed by the second death (Revelation 2:8-11)
  • I don’t want Jesus to make war against me, but to receive from him the hidden manna and a white stone on which my new name will be written (Revelation 2:12-17)
  • I don’t want to endure the terrible disease which Jesus will inflict on the followers of Jezebel, but to receive authority over the nations and the morning star (Revelation 2:18-28)
  • I don’t want Jesus to come like a thief against me, but to have him declare my name before the Father and his angels (Revelation 3:1-6)
  • I want to be a pillar in the temple of God, with the names of God, the new Jerusalem and Jesus written on me (Revelation 3:7-13)
  • I don’t want Jesus to vomit me out of his mouth, but to be able to sit with him on his throne (Revelation 3:14-22)
  • Etc.

How does someone become a disciple?

  • Be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
  • Learn what Jesus has commanded by studying Scripture and learning from godly teachers
  • Learn how to do what Jesus has commanded by imitating his example and the examples of disciples who have gone and are going ahead (1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; Hebrews 6:12, 13:7; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; Philippians 3:17)

Why make disciples?

  • So Jesus can be glorified in the lives of others as I hope to glorify him in my own life
  • So they can enjoy the benefits of knowing Jesus that I hope to enjoy myself
  • Because Jesus has commanded us to do so, and this is part of the obedience of discipleship

Who makes disciples?

  • Disciples make disciples.


Saturday, February 13, 2021

Wedding message - Daniel and Paula

The following message contains references to Song of Solomon 8:6, Ephesians 5:25, 22-23, Revelation 21:2, 6 and the hymn "And can it be" that were read or sung during the service.  Their full text is at the bottom of this document.

Daniel and Paula, you have made it.  In the midst of a season of COVID-19, personal struggles and political uncertainty, you have come to this place to be united to each other, to make binding promises of loyalty and faithfulness to one another.  But how is it that we dare to make such promises to another person in such an uncertain time?  Promises imply a confidence in the future; that we will have the resources, the ability, and the desire to do what we say that we will do, and that the situation in which we will find ourselves in the days to come will allow us to fulfill these promises.  But why would we make such weighty promises and how can we be confident that we can fulfill them when so much around us is in flux?

One of the reasons we make such weighty promises is that love demands them.  In passage that we just read from the Song of Solomon we hear one of the lovers demanding of the other, “Set me like a seal on your heart.”  “I want a permanent place in your affections”, the lover says, “right at the center of your soul, with uncontested supremacy over any other earthly love you may have.”  Why did they demand this?  “Because love is as strong as death.”  Extravagant language like this is commonplace in describing love; just read the Valentine’s day cards that have been sold this last week and you’ll find plenty of similar language.

Love demands this kind of language, but we know in our hearts that our love isn’t nearly strong enough to defeat death.  There is only one love that is this strong, and that is the love of God the Father, who raised Jesus Christ from death to eternal life.  Because we are made in the image of God, your love for each other is patterned after the love that God the Father has for His Son and for His people, and so is described in the language that is appropriate for the love of God, even if we only approach a love like this by the grace of God.  

The lover in Song of Solomon goes on to say “jealousy is as fierce as the grave.  Its flashes are … the very flame of the Lord.”  A jealous affection is one that claims an exclusive right to the corresponding affection in the beloved.  We tend to think of jealousy as a bad emotion, for it is commonly associated with a husband who falsely suspects that his wife is being unfaithful to him, or with a child who is jealous of the attention a new baby is receiving from their parents.  But proper jealousy isn’t suspicious, nor does it demand things to which it has no right.  A good jealousy is a refusal to share with someone else something that should be kept for one’s self alone.

God’s jealousy, described in the Song of Solomon as “the flame of the Lord”, is his jealous requirement that we respond to his love for us by worshipping him alone and his refusal to share that worship with anyone or anything else.   This may feel rather uncomfortable to people who want the right to offer themselves in worship to other things besides God, but it is God’s right as our Creator and Lord to demand our fidelity to him, and, because your love for each other is patterned on God’s love for us, it is your right to require of each other the fidelity that you will be promising as you make your vows.  Though the world will call you in a thousand ways to share the intimacy and loyalty that you are promising each other with a third party, whether it be a coworker, a family member, or the images on a screen, that must never be allowed, for like God's love for you, your love for each other is a jealous love that is never to be shared.

But this sounds awfully difficult and constraining, and it is.  Good things are.  If you want to play good music on the piano, you can’t simply hit any piano key whenever you want; that would be the sound of a cat walking on the piano.  To play a piano well, you have to work hard to learn how to press the right piano keys at the right time in the right way.  If you want to play soccer well, you can’t simply kick the ball wherever you want whenever it comes to you; that would be what a kindergartner would do in an AYSO game.  To play soccer well, you have to work hard to learn how to kick the ball in the right direction in the right way at the right time.  Good athletes and good musicians know that to do their craft well, they must work hard to submit themselves to the requirements of that craft.  Likewise, if you want to do any relationship well, and especially if you want to do marriage well, you must work hard to learn how to submit yourself to the requirements of the relationship.

In the passage from the book of Ephesians that we just read, God shows us how we are to submit ourselves as husbands and wives to the requirements of marriage as he ordained it.  Here the apostle Paul tells us that the marriage relationship is patterned after the relationship of Christ and his church, where the husband is to imitate Jesus Christ, and the wife to imitate the church.

Husbands, as they imitate Jesus Christ, are to love their wives the same way that Christ loved the church.  The first thing that needs to be said here is that no man is an adequate imitation of Jesus Christ in his love for his wife.  We are all like kindergartners dressing up in their dad’s clothes, with huge shoes that barely stay on our feet and a shirt that hangs down on us to the floor.  Jesus surpasses us.  There is no way that we will ever be able to love our wives as abundantly and sacrificially as Jesus loves the church, yet it is the standard that we are called to strive after by the grace of God and with the encouragement of our wives.

In seeking to measure up to this standard, we husbands must strive to submit ourselves to God’s purpose for us, as Jesus submitted to God’s purpose for him in the Garden of Gethsemane.  There, as he faced the prospect of being brutally beaten and killed so that he might bear for his church the punishment for their sins, Jesus had to wrestle to submit to God’s purpose for him.  While God will never call us to suffer for our wives to the extent that Jesus suffered for his church, we will likely find ourselves at times struggling to imitate Jesus by saying to God “not my will but what you will” as he calls us to love and serve our wives.  Often that struggle will be over small things, like being willing to simply listen to her talk without trying to fix anything or being willing to get up at 2:00 AM to care for a cranky baby.  

But whether the issue is relatively minor or a major family crisis, it is your responsibility, Daniel, in every situation to love Paula as Christ loved the church, by saying to God, “not what I will, but what you will,” when he calls upon you to provide her with the good that she needs from you.  This self-giving love that we sang about in the hymn "And can it be", where Christ left his throne to die for us is to be your model, as you give of yourself that Paula might be set free from her burdens even as Christ delivered us from the burden of sin and death.

And Paula, as you imitate the church, you are to submit to Daniel’s leadership in your marriage as though you were submitting to Jesus Christ.  Of course, Daniel is not Jesus Christ, and sometimes following his lead may not feel very much like following Jesus.  It may feel at times more like dancing with a partner who keeps on tripping over your feet.  But Daniel is the partner you have chosen (and God has given you) for the dance of marriage, and your job is not to take over the lead from him when he falls short of what you desire, but to strengthen and encourage him as he seeks to grow into the role that he has been given in your marriage.

The two of you are not alone in pursuing this, for your friends here who have joined you in this ceremony have committed themselves to supporting you and Daniel as you strive to make your marriage as good as it can be.  They, along with your church family, are like coaches for a football team, ready when you come off the field after a difficult and exhausting battle to strengthen, encourage, and equip you to return to the field to fight together for the welfare of your family.  For you are never to be each other’s adversaries.  Your true adversary is the devil, and it is against Satan and his allies that you will need to fight to preserve and strengthen your relationship with each other and the health of your family.

And these things are worth preserving.  Marriage is a thing to be honored and preserved, for God gave it to us as both an illustration of how He relates to us and the means by which a strong loving environment can be created in which children can be born and raised.  A family should be the place where children receive the loving care of their mother and father, who love each other and are committed to the welfare of their children.  Each of you will bring your own strengths to the table in this process, and the contributions that each of you make will be needed.

But child-raising is not, by God’s grace, a one-way street, where you children take and take and take, leaving you empty.  Each of you will find as you raise children that there are joys in the process that you could not have imagined ahead of time.  You will learn important things about yourselves, each other, and God, that you could have learned in no other way.

Beyond what you learn from raising children, you will learn things about God as you work to preserve and strengthen your relationship.  We all know that God is faithful to us; we learn something about what that means by learning to live faithfully with each other.  We all know that God loves unlovely people; we learn a little of what that means by learning to love each other when we are not at our best.  And we husbands learn just how much God has condescended to us by choosing to be called “Father” (not “parent” and not “the Force”) when we compare his perfect love, wisdom, knowledge, and power with our own very imperfect displays of these virtues. (Our wives may learn this lesson as well by looking at us).

But more important still, in marriage we learn beautiful things about the love that God has for us and the wonderful future that He makes available to us.  When Jesus taught people, he repeatedly referred to a great wedding feast to which his people were invited, and in the passage in Revelation which we read  it is very briefly described.  There the author of Revelation said, “And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”  This is the point of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection; to make for himself a holy city, namely his church, to be his bride.  This city is further described in another passage as “having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel.”  She is seen coming down from God to be presented to the groom, who is Jesus.

So, what we saw today, as you, Paula, were brought down the aisle by your father to Daniel was not merely a nice tradition, it was a true (but small and limited) representation of what we as believers can look forward to at the culmination of history.  In your beauty, Paula, you represent to us what the church will be like on that day, while your father represented God as he brought you to Daniel, who represents Jesus.  At the risk of stretching the analogy a bit, we might even say that your brother-in-law represented the Holy Spirit.  What you have shown us here is a tiny foretaste of what awaits all believers in heaven, a celebration filled with beauty, joy, and anticipation nothing at all like our cartoon image of bored angels standing in clouds strumming harps.

And this, by God’s grace, will be just the beginning.  God hasn’t brought you this far to say, “good job and good luck!” and then give you a push into the future and wave farewell.  He, more than any of us here, will be with you in all that you do.  He will be in your joys to deepen them, and in your struggles to make them fruitful.  To echo the apostle Paul, I am sure of this, that he who has begun a good work in both of you in this wedding will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  Until then, press on in anticipation.  Receive the good that God gives you with gratitude and use it faithfully for His good purposes.  Receive the challenges he sets before you with hope, knowing that with the challenges God will supply water from the spring of life to sustain your souls and that He works everything (even the tough stuff) for the good of people like yourselves who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  

God will be with you wherever you go, and we will come alongside as opportunities permit, to help you make your marriage and family one that glorifies God, brings you delight, and reveals to us something of the wonder of God’s goodness toward us.

Congregational hymn - And can it be
And can it be that I should gain
An int'rest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?

Refrain:
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me!

He left His Father's throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race;
'Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me. [Refrain] 

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee. [Refrain]

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th'eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own. [Refrain]

Scripture
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the Lord.
Song of Solomon 8:6

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior
Ephesians 5:25: 22-23

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband… To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
Revelation 21:2, 6b

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Lynn's status - COVID 19

As of 1/4 9:30 PM

Life is returning to normal.  While Lynn is still on the oxygen at times, she can come off of it to work in the kitchen and can do other tasks with the oxygen.  She still gets tired more quickly than before, but it seems just a matter of time before her energy level returns to normal.  I'm going to stop updates here, as I don't think that there's anything more that needs special attention.  If things change, I'll get word out.  Thanks to everyone who has been tracking Lynn's health, praying for her, and offering assistance; you all have been a great encouragement to us.

As of 1/4 9:00 AM

Lynn got good sleep without the oxygen concentrator and woke with blood oxygen at about 93.  After resuming use of the concentrator, it's back up to 97.  She ate breakfast at our normal place and seems to be doing well overall.

As of 1/3 10:00 PM

Lynn's blood oxygen got up to 98% briefly, even at setting 2 of the oxygen concentrator.  I expect that we'll try removing the oxygen tomorrow and see how she does.  She's started to get a little stir crazy and has begun doing a few things around the house, which is excellent.

As of 1/3 11:00 AM

Lynn woke up somewhat draggy, with lower blood oxygen, but within an hour it was up to a good level.  She's able to eat normally at this point, and feels like her progress is slow, but discernable.

As of 1/2 7:25 PM:

Lynn's blood oxygen was up to 97%, so we turned down the oxygen concentrator from 2.5 to 2.0.  She is eating normally, but food tastes "off" (not surprisingly).  Otherwise, she's doing well.  Thanks to Paula Clevenger, who delivered a large El Pollo Loco meal, which will give us a few days of leftovers.  She, Dana Chisholm and family members have kept us well supplied.

Another note from some friends of ours:

We got our test results back last night and we too are Covid positive. Bob is struggling the most on account of his other diagnoses, and while not seriously in trouble, as in shortness of breath, pain, etc...his pulse ox is also not keeping up. So this morning we came to ER on the recommendation of the Kaiser nurse...and we’re here now. He’s on O2 at the moment and being worked up for all other things as they usually do. His other main symptoms are achiness when the fever rises, but none higher than 100.8 so far and his asthmatic cough...truly he feels he has the flu with asthma exacerbation.  But the numbers say otherwise. We do hope to get some treatment help before leaving today but will keep you posted.

Sorry to lay this on you when you are concerned for Lynn...but Bob wanted to reach out for prayer support from the group as well.

PS for Grace group...Bob is now in hospital. They found patchy double pneumonia and a blood clot in one lung. He is being moved to Kaiser Irvine tonight as there were no beds in Anaheim. He feels pretty well, and is glad to be able to sleep in a proper bed tonight, once in Irvine. Thanks so much for your prayers.

Lillian

As of 1/2 9:15 AM:

Lynn had a decent night's sleep on oxygen, woke refreshed, had a normal breakfast.  Temperature of 98.4, blood oxygen 96.  All in all, looking quite good (except that the dog didn't want to come home from his walk).

As of 1/1 4:30 PM:

Lynn is home with home oxygen, antibiotics and steroids.

As of 1/1 12:10 PM:

St. Jude's is working on setting up home oxygen for Lynn.  It is possible that she will be discharged today, but that isn't certain at the moment.

As of 1/1 7:45 AM:

Lynn had a decent night's sleep (with some help from a painkiller).  Her fever seems to be gone and the headache with it, which is really nice.  During the night her blood oxygen went low and she was put on oxygen support but that was removed before morning.  It is painful for her to inhale too deeply.

As of 12/31 7:00 PM:

Pneumonia seems to be responding to a round of steroids and antibiotics, now she's being monitored.

As of 12/31 6:30 PM:

Hospitals are not known for being great places for a good night's sleep; pray that she sleeps well anyhow and is really rested in the morning - this has been difficult for her lately even at home.

As of 12/31 5:00 PM:

Lynn is in her room and feels better after having eaten something.  Her blood oxygen was measured at 94, which is considerably higher than it was this morning.

As of 12/31 2:30 PM:

A room has been designated for Lynn and they're preparing to move her into it.

As of 12/31 12:00 PM:

The doctor reports that x-rays indicate that Lynn may have some pneumonia.

As of 12/31 11:00 AM:

Lynn will be admitted to St. Jude's when they can get a room for her.  The ER is very crowded. 

As of 12/31 9:00 AM:

I took Lynn to the Emergency Room at St. Jude's this morning.  Her blood oxygen level was too low and wasn't coming up.  She had no fever when admitted, and had been able to eat most of a breakfast of two eggs and a slice of toast.  Her cough continues to bother her and she continues to feel lousy, but she managed the preparation well.  No other symptoms we could see.


Friday, December 25, 2020

Merry Christmas 2020

 For many of us, this Christmas season has been marked by a painful loss of traditions that highlighted the season in years past.  Gatherings with family or friends are either difficult or impossible and many concerts and other community celebrations have either been cancelled, or else were livestreamed to be "celebrated" at home on one's couch with no real connection with those with whom we are purportedly celebrating.  Those of us whose jobs have been labeled "non-essential" may have found that limited finances prevent them from buying the gifts they long to give.  And some of us may have lost people we cared about to COVID-19.  Add to all this the recent spikes in COVID-19 cases and deaths and the political and social turmoil which have characterized 2020, and it can be hard to say "Merry Christmas!" with any enthusiasm, let alone look forward to a "Happy New Year" in 2021.

But if we look at the Christmas story as told in Luke 1-2 (which we have been reading this month as part of Grace's Scripture reading plan), we see a picture that resembles our situation more than we might have thought.  Chapter 2 begins with an imperious decree from a distant ruler (does this sound familiar?) that everyone was required to travel to their ancestral hometown to be counted as a part of a census.  For Mary and Joseph, this could not have been a welcome demand, with Mary being so close to term.  If they knew their Bible, they might also have remembered that God did not always approve of a king demanding a census of his people (see 2 Samuel 24).  Nevertheless Joseph and Mary did what was required of them and made the trip from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem to join the mass of people who had all been forced by Caesar's command to make the same trip.  While Mary's cousin Elizabeth had delivered her baby three months earlier at home surrounded by family and close friends (Luke 1:57-58), Mary delivered her baby in the only place they could find, an animal stall, isolated from all of their friends and family.  And when they went to Jerusalem to fulfill the requirements of the Law regarding the birth of a child, the prophet Simeon warned them that Jesus was a sign that would be rejected by many and that a sword would pierce Mary's own heart (Luke 2:34-35).  He was joined by the prophetess Anna, who spoke to those who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:38), which would not turn out at all as expected for those who thought that it meant Jerusalem's liberation from Roman rule.

And yet, the message that the shepherds brought from the angels who visited them to Mary and Joseph was one of "good news of great joy" (Luke 2:10).  Under the burdensome decrees of an unjust ruler, in an animal stall in a strange town, away from family and friends, with the prospect of alienation and pain in their future, Mary and Joseph were still to know great joy, for to them (and to us) was born a Savior who is Christ the Lord.  This Lord, they would discover, would not overthrow their unjust ruler to take his throne, nor would he save them from loneliness, hostility, and persecution.  Instead he would give them joy beyond all these things; the joy of the resurrection (see Luke 24:50-53).  Mary expressed it in her song in Luke 1:46-55, the shepherds voiced it in Luke 2:20, and Simeon spoke of it in Luke 2:29-32.  God was becoming one of us in the person of His Son, who would save us from sin and all suffering by transforming them through His resurrection power into eternal life and a joy that will make all the hurt that we have ever endured seem insignificant in comparison.  Oppression, poverty, suffering and death may burden us, as they did Jesus, but if we recognize what Jesus has accomplished for us in His resurrection, they will lose their sting because through the resurrection God has promised to work all these burdens for our good and His glory (see Romans 8:28-29).

So if we find ourselves struggling with loneliness, oppression or fear, we can be assured that, far from being experiences that are alien to Christmas, they were there at its inception.  But joy was there too, a joy that God intends for us to experience as well.  God wants us to be firmly convinced, as the first disciples were, that no matter what trials we endure in this life, if we rest in the resurrection power of Jesus to transform them, they will in the end become beautiful trophies of His grace that will bring us great joy.  If this is our confidence, then we will be able to truly and sincerely wish each other a Merry Christmas, for this is the day that God gave us Jesus, who would turn all of our sin, sorrow and suffering into joy, and a Happy New Year, for this is another year in which we have an opportunity to participate in the resurrection work that Jesus is doing in and through us for His glory and our good.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Galatians 4 - my attempt to translate/paraphrase it in contemporary English.

I tell you that if a young child inherits an estate, he has no more authority over it than a slave even though it all belongs to him.  Instead, he is under the authority of people appointed to care for him and the estate until he reaches maturity.  So also, when we were spiritual children, we were under the authority of the world's basic rules for human behavior.  But when the right time had come, God sent his Son to be born like one of us, born of a human mother, under the authority of God's basic rules.  The Son was sent to emancipate us from our slavery to these rules so that we could be adopted as God's children.  Now that you are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, so you, like the Son, can call out to him, "Daddy, Father!".  Instead of being a slave, you are now also a son, and because of the work of God's Son, our Champion, you also are one of God's heirs.

 

Before you knew God, you were slaves to things which are not really gods at all.  But now that you know God and he has become intimate with you, why would you abandon him to become slaves again to those weak and pathetic things?  You act as if the most important thing is to properly celebrate the various holidays.  I am afraid that all the work I have done for you might have been wasted.

 

Please, fellow teammates, join with me as I have with you.  Far from rejecting me, the first time I preached the Good News to you (though you could easily have despised me because of my illness), you received me as a messenger of God, or even as Jesus our Champion.  There was joy in you then, and, had you been able to, you would have even plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.  Are we now enemies because I have told you the truth?  The teachers you are now listening to enthusiastically pursue you, but not for a good cause.  They want to alienate you from me, so that you may pursue them alone.  Enthusiasm is only good when it's for a good cause, and then only if you keep it up when I'm away.

 

My dear children, I had thought that I was finished with the labor of bringing you to birth in Christ, but it seems that I have to do it all over again.  I long to be with you, so I wouldn't have to talk this way.  What happened to you?

 

Those of you who want to be bound again to follow God's basic rules, do you realize what those rules say?  In the authoritative writings we read that Abraham had two sons, one born of a servant and one of a free woman.  The servant's son was born by human effort alone, but the free woman's son was born as a result of God's promise.  These are physical representations of spiritual truths, for they represent God's two covenants.  The servant woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai in Arabia, where God's people were bound under the authority of the covenant to live according to his basic rules.  She is like the old Jerusalem, and those who still seek to live by those rules are her spiritual children and so are bound in slavery like her.  But the free woman, Sarah, is like God's heavenly Jerusalem, set free by God's promised new covenant and the mother of all who have been so freed.  And there will be many of them, for God tells us in his authoritative writings: "Celebrate your family, you childless single woman who has never given birth, for you will have more children than the married woman."

 

Like Sarah's son Isaac, we, fellow teammates, are children of God's promise.  But then as now, the child born solely of human effort persecuted the child born by the work of God's Spirit.  But the authoritative writings say to us "Send away the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman."  And we, fellow teammates, are not spiritual children of a servant, but of the free woman, with the inheritance that follows.


Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Colossians 1 - my attempt at a paraphrase/translation in common English.

  1. Paul, appointed by God as a representative of the Champion, Jesus, together with Timothy our teammate,
  2. to the Champion's faithful teammates in Colossae:  May you know the gracious acceptance and peace of God our Father.
  3. Whenever we pray for you, we thank God, the Father of our Commander, Jesus the Champion,
  4. for we have heard about your confidence in the Champion Jesus and your love for his team,
  5. Your confidence and love spring from the anticipation you have for all the good prepared for you in heaven, which you learned about from the authoritative source, the Good News,
  6. which is changing lives throughout the world even as it has changed your lives since you truly grasped the message of God's generosity
  7. which our much-loved coworker Epaphras delivered to you.  He serves the Champion faithfully by serving you
  8. and has told us about the love God's Spirit has created in you.
  9. Ever since he told us, we have asked God in our prayers to give you all the spiritual wisdom and understanding needed to fully know His will,
  10. so you will be able to live the kind of lives that reflect well on the Commander, pleasing him in every way, accomplishing all the good that he intends, and coming to know God better and better.
  11. May the Father, out of his magnificent resources, strengthen you with all the power you need to joyfully and patiently persevere,
  12. as you thank him for allowing you to share in his team's shining inheritance.
  13. He has rescued us from the control of darkness and placed us under the rule of the Son he loves,
  14. who has freed us from our debt by securing the forgiveness of our unmet obligations to God.
  15. Though we can't see God, His Son, whom he has placed in charge of creation, shows us what God looks like.
  16. For through the Son and for his sake God created everything in the spiritual and physical realms, whether visible or invisible, including every kind of spiritual power.
  17. The Son is the foundation of everything, and he holds everything together.
  18. He is the head of his team, the church.  Everything has its beginning in him, including life after death, so he towers over everything.
  19. Everything that God is, the Son also is,
  20. and it was by bleeding and dying on the cross that the Son ended creation's rebellion and made peace between God and his creation.
  21. You, who were part of that rebellion, rejecting God and doing what he hated,
  22. are included in the peace that the Son made through his death on the cross, so you are now clean and innocent and fit for God's presence---
  23. if, of course, you keep relying confidently on the Son to secure for you the good that is promised in the gospel that was announced to you and to all creation, the gospel that I, Paul, serve.
  24. This service involves suffering for your sake, which I am glad to do, for it completes the work that the Champion's suffering did for the sake of his team, the church.
  25. God gave me the responsibility of serving you, his church, by fully and accurately delivering to you his message,
  26. which reveals to us, his team, a secret that has been unknown until now.
  27. God has decided to tell us that he is offering something of immeasurable value and beauty to everyone regardless of nationality, namely the presence of the Champion in them, enabling them to look forward with anticipation to all of the good that heaven offers.
  28. We tell everyone about him, doing our best to warn and encourage them, so that we may present them as well trained members of the Champion's team.
  29. I work hard at this, laboring with all the energy which he pours into me.