Hearing the Music

Serving the Lord with Gladness

As Deacons at Christ Church, one of the many delights we experience are our interactions and conversations with people inside and outside our congregation. From week to week, we are provided many opportunities to hear stories of how folks among us are running the race set before them and keeping the faith - even when it is seemingly overwhelming and perhaps paralyzing. The context of these places and situations makes much of our work unseen and unknown to many of those in the congregation. Other times, it is the smile and good morning of a Sunday morning as you walk into the sanctuary for worship. All of these conversations invigorate us as a group, as we seek to run our own race and keep the faith in our service to the church.

Practically speaking, our roles as deacons are focused around ministering to those in need, developing the grace and liberality of the church, and caring for the property of the congregation. In recent years, as our Diaconate has grown, we have benefited from being able to engage more needs, support our Facilities team better, help evaluate and think long-term about needs in front of us, and help with more financial hardship than we historically have done. However, our work does not happen in a silo of 13 guys in a room, engaged in committee work. Our service is empowered by you, the congregation: in your prayers of support for various situations and for your fellow congregants, and through your financial support of our Deacon’s Fund. So when we encounter people fighting the good fight and keeping the faith amidst hardship (in many cases, with heavy hearts), we do so with great delight because of your support and ultimately the Lord’s sustaining grace. 

We thank you for your support, trust, and encouragement – now we’d like to take a moment and encourage you! How can you become engaged in acts of service and be a part of our work in serving the congregation? Let us give you a few practical ways! First, handing out bulletins and ushering on Sunday mornings with a bright smile contributes to a welcoming worship experience, especially for those who may feel a bit of stress in finding a seat or meeting people. Second, volunteering at Spring or Fall cleanup days allows you to partner with us in taking care of the wonderful creation that surrounds our building. Third, giving above and beyond your normal giving helps to grow the Deacons Fund, which enables us to meet many and varied financial needs. These needs are both internal among the congregation, and externally through our Community Care team, which works diligently to serve those in need in our local community. Finally, and most of all, being in prayer for us as a group as we seek God’s wisdom in our calling to bring comfort to those in hardship, serve the church with mercy and grace, and run the race alongside you as your Deacons.  

Duty and Grace Post Election

How are you doing? It is the first Friday post election after all. Like the pre-election, the post election editorializing has ranged from Nirvana to Netherworld, from ecstasy to agony. As we have said in various ways throughout this cycle, and would say again here, it is not that politics are unimportant, but they are not the most important. And whoever sits in the white house, senate, congress or city hall, their hearts are all in the hands of THE KING. So humility for the winners. Grace for those who feel they have lost. And confidence for all in the King of Kings.

Even as we start with the election, we move quickly to our lives. After all, the day to day hasn't changed. As we woke up Wednesday and head into this weekend, there are still leaves to be cleaned up, laundry to be done, work left unfinished and relationships to attend to. How do we do this as God's people in ways that bring honor to our Lord?  

This is the heart of what we have been talking about in our Adult Institute class on sanctification. How do we live lives of holiness that reflect the new nature that we have been given by grace? Sometimes we stumble a bit when we think about the call to holiness in a community of grace. Isn't the pursuit of holiness antithetical to a reception of grace? Do we try or do we trust? And the answer is.... Yes! John Owen puts it this way:

Let us consider what regard we ought to have to our own duty and to the grace of God. Some would separate these things as inconsistent, If holiness be our duty, they would say, there is no room for grace; and if it be the result of grace there is no place for duty. But our duty and God’s grace are nowhere opposed in the matter of sanctification; for one absolutely supposes the other. We cannot perform our duty without the grace of God; nor does God give his grace for any other purpose than that we may perform our duty.               

You have been made new to live as a new creation in the midst of a world that desperately needs beacons of light. People, both inside the church and without, are constantly finding that the cisterns they are trusting in are broken. They are thirsty, longing to know where to find living water. This is why Paul charges Timothy to "preach the word". In the midst of culture that doesn't flock to Biblical truth, we are to live as to point to Christ.

Art as wisdom, worship and obedience

Since art is woven into my being from my earliest memories, here are a few thoughts about the significance and value of art. They are in no particular order. I share them with you for purposes of encouragement and for God’s glory. Maybe you would not describe yourself as artistic but everything that I will say applies to art appreciation and any artistic endeavor however great or small, clumsy or fine.  I am no musician but find myself more often moved by the art of music to praise God than any other artform – a beneficiary of other people’s obedience to their calling.

Art as wisdom: In della pittura (1435) Leon Battista Alberti called art “sensate wisdom” and I agree with this definition. Our sermon passage tells us of a young Timothy: “…that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (NKJV). Alberti writes of another kind of wisdom that begins with observing the handiwork of God all around you; a wisdom that increases by looking at these things intently, over lengths of time to see how Christ sustains it and holds it all together, redeeming everything in due time. We increase our knowledge of God and His mighty works as we represent the continuous masterwork of creation to one another. While human art can never be superior to the world around us, it is a lovely and valuable signpost along the path of His redemption plan toward our eternal destination. Here we see that God has made this massive oak or, in His image, an old man stooped over with age. Mighty are His works… What comes next? The dim light will strengthen in the spring and the leaves will come back and the man will be brought home to glory. Thusly we have observed God’s faithfulness toward His artwork in the world and we can now make a visual testimony of these things on paper.

Art as worship: I play no instrument and am not a great singer, but I love to sing. Christ Church monthly shape note gatherings have been meaningful times of worship even though I would not be credited with having any giftedness in the music department. God is not looking for perfection but desire. If you think that you do not possess an artistic gift, I encourage you to try out an unfamiliar artform and bring a desire to worship God through feeble efforts and dedicate it to Him. In a world of inputs, I find a worshipful dialogue taking place in the quiet moments of artistic planning and output. My meandering thoughts over the hours inevitably end up in praise to God for the wonders of His love and delight in Him. I am filled with gratitude for the things that I am rendering – especially trees which I greatly enjoy drawing and painting. I am daily in awe of God as I work on designs with materials that He provides and see them built and finished in His light. And I am pleased to show Him the results of any work that I engage, and I hope that He is pleased to see it.

Art as obedience: “ See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:  And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship...…  and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee” (KJV). While Bezaleel is uniquely pointed out in the passage, it must be noted that the same spirit is issued broadly for many to contribute to the work of the tabernacle and in every case the initiator is the spirit of God, in wisdom. This is consistent with the creation mandate; be fruitful and multiply. That is to say; “be creative, make things, arrange things, invent, design, carve, photograph, color, cook, draw, paint, sculpt, cut, stitch, sew, build, write, make music, sing, dance” and then go back and do it again with improvements! There are no people on this earth to whom that mandate has not been issued. When we obey God’s creation mandate, we are spreading abroad the goodness of God and the gospel of His salvation through Jesus. I suppose some people obey unintentionally – Rafael is responsible for many marvelous religious artworks (my favorite is Deliverance of St. Peter, 1514) but in life he was kind of a dirtball and fortunately confessed his life of sin on his deathbed at age 37. At any rate, for those that obey out of a desire to please God and worship Him in artworks, get used to all this creativity – this is something that will not only continue in Heaven but will accelerate.