Hearing the Music

Hymns and a hymn

Behold the singing of the saints! (or, Don’t miss the singing of the followers of Jesus!) Our singing gives us a way to praise God, remember his promises, cling to truth, lament, learn what faith lived out looks like, rejoice in the beauty of God, repent, hope, and encourage each other. On July 30 at 6pm, we’ll get an opportunity to really dig in to singing together at a Hymn Sing in the sanctuary. Some songs will be pre-selected, others chosen on the spot. Everyone is welcome. 

One of the hymns of the church we’ve been singing this summer is “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” It’s based on Psalm 46 which was written by the sons of Korah; Martin Luther paraphrased the psalm sometime between 1527 and 1529; and Frederick Hedge translated it into English verses in 1853. So followers of God and Jesus have been singing these truths for thousands of years! Below is my paraphrase of the hymn, using a dictionary and the articles linked below*. I enjoyed working on this for the Arts & Rec in a Box this summer and thought I’d share it here too! Let me know if you would have paraphrased something differently.

Hope to see you Sunday. Pastor Michael will be opening I Samuel 20 with us where we see the beauty of David and Jonathan’s friendship; and we’ll be singing “A Mighty Fortress!”

*What “One Little Word” Will Fell Satan?
*What Do the Lyrics of “a Mighty Fortress” Mean?   

Photo by Zack Smith on Unsplash

Making Mikveh

Happy Friday Christ Church!

When was the last time that you really needed a bath or shower? Something made you filthy and you needed either a good soak or a good scouring? If any of you have ever played basketball with me, you know I am grateful to live in a part of the world where there is lots of water available and showers to be had!

Bathing has been a big part of the story of God with his people. In the Jewish tradition this is known as making mikveh. Specifically in the Mosiac law the people of God were to remain aware of their ritual status at all times to avoid inadvertently coming into contact with the holy while in a state of ceremonial uncleanness. According to Leviticus 15:31, ritual purity was required of all the people of Israel, not only the priests. Ritual purity was mandated in order to enter the Tabernacle or Temple, before making a sacrifice, and for receiving the benefit of a priestly offering. Immersing in a mikveh is further commanded in Scripture for a number of common life events such as: restoring purity after childbirth, cleansing of skin diseases such as leprosy, purification after coming in contact with a corpse, and for women completing each menstrual cycle.

The prevalence of the mikveh was easily observed in our recent travels in Israel. Every synagogue had its own mikveh. Herod the Great had one built to specifications on top of Masada, his impressive desert fortress/palace. The strict Jews of the Qumran community had nine mikveh's in a monastery with only like twelve other rooms!  

The good news is that Christ has done away with the need for this ritual purification. Titus 3:4–7 puts it this way, "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."  We are washed in the Savior! He has made the definitive mikveh, pouring out on us his fully finished work on the cross. This is what David was longing for in Psalm 51 when faced with the sinfulness of his heart, "Wash me and I will be whiter than snow."

What a joy it is to live as those fully cleansed! Of course, we do, in a sense, make mikveh before the Lord regularly as we confess before him, seeking to keep short accounts of our battles with ongoing sin. But these washings speak to the dust of the journey for those who have already been washed and found clean. They are not the deep cleaning of the unregenerate. Jesus captures this idea in his interaction with Peter during the last supper, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean (Jn. 13:10)." May we learn to confess with the confidence of one who has been washed.

This Sunday we will immerse ourselves in the well known story of David and Goliath in I Samuel 17.  While this may be one of the most well known stories in the whole of the Bible, there is much to consider as we see the ways of God with His people in the face of challenges.

Photo by Raphael Wild on Unsplash

Dependence Day

As you know we have just celebrated Independence Day in the United States. As we commemorate our 247 years of nationhood, the words from our Declaration, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are very much in vogue. In many ways, this triad has come to characterize our modern times: my life, my liberty, my happiness. But does our notion of liberty, i.e. the freedom to do what we want, really square with the story that we are in?

Over the last several weeks we have been reading of God’s providential* care for his people. A people that he rescued from slavery and made his very own, not because they were the most likely, but quite the opposite, because they were the least likely (cf. Deut. 7:7). Along the way people like Moses and Miriam, Samuel and David, Ruth and Esther and Mordecai, all found that their role in the story was brought to the fore, not because of their choices, but because God had brought them to such a time as this (cf. Esther 4:14). Contrary to the notion of writing their own story, these people were content to find their place in the story that God was writing through them. It is not that our choices become irrelevant, but rather that our choices find their framework within God’s story. One’s theology really does matter.

Recently Hannah Anderson in an article for Christianity Today reflecting on her own spiritual journey says the following: Instead of reflecting on my past through the lens of what I chose, I’m thinking more about what was given to me. ... This framework has freed me to see my spiritual story with a detachment that allows me to evaluate it more honestly. Since my path is no longer a statement about myself, I can weigh and consider it. I can honor the good, true, and beautiful while rejecting the bad and ugly.

All of which brings us to the idea of Dependence Day. For rather than being set free to set our own courses, we have been brought to the doorpost of our Savior and invited into his yoke. Dependent on him, we embrace each day, month or year as it is given to us. Confident, not that we have chosen or will choose well along the way, but confident that He is establishing our steps (cf. Prov. 16:9).

*Here is the Heidelberg Catechism on Providence:

Question 27. What do you mean by the providence of God?
Answer: The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed, all things come, not by chance, but by his Fatherly hand.

Question 28. What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence does still uphold all things?
Answer: That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move.

Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash