Hearing the Music

Beautiful

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Art begins with noticing. Perhaps the colors of the leaves catch your eye, as they vary their glow from tree to tree, their intensity changing with the weather, and with the light. Maybe you catch the scent of the outdoor air when your children come indoors, or notice the frosty crisp smell of hunting season. The wrinkles in a face you hold dear, the sound of a beloved voice, the roughness of firewood, the bracing cold of a fall breeze, all of these things and many more create a vision of the beautiful, the sense of loveliness, a recognition of the things created that God called good. A true student studies this vision, pursues it, and eliminates anything that would detract from its beauty.

I admit that at first I did not see any connection between Art and the passage being preached this coming Sunday. But truly, both art and II Timothy 2:22-26 are about seeing a vision of the Good, a vision of the Good news that can re-shape our perspective of how the Christian sees himself, and of how he views those who do not know the Gospel.

Paul not only gives Timothy a vision for his own life, through righteousness, faith, love and peace, but also a vision for life in community with the saints. When these beautiful traits characterize the palette of a healthy believer, the power of God works through them to lead others to the truth. Could there be a more beautiful expression of the Good News? 

The Right Politics

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You may have already heard, but in roughly five weeks our country will hold an election that will put men and women into offices ranging from the President of the United States to township commissioners. While I do not talk a lot about politics per se from the pulpit or in other public forums, I do have thoughts on the political process and on how particular policies impact our life together. But what I am more concerned about as your pastor is the place that our American politics has come to occupy, either intentionally or by default, in the hearts of Jesus' people.

Our current cultural moment would have us believe that everything that happens in our world is downstream of politics. That whoever gets elected in November will determine the course of the future.  That if you do not vote this way, or if you do not vote that way you will be letting down yourself, your children, and your nation. Now, we all should participate, as much as we feel called, in our nations' politics. It is a gift for us to be part of this republic and I would encourage you to engage the processess around you. Vote. Support specific candidates. Trumpet causes that you believe in and reflect Christian commitments. Run for office if you feel so called. These are good endeavors for believers to throw themselves into, as Christians, operating out of the mind of Christ (cf. Phil 2:5), bearing the fruit of the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:22ff). But....

But what we can never forget, is that our ultimate politics are not of this world (cf. Jn. 18:36). While in America we may belong to a Republic, as Christians we serve a King. We serve a King whose Kingdom is the cosmos. Our geographic and historical presence in this Kingdom is tiny against its immensity. The power and absolute sway of our King puts all other rulers to flight. He does reign and his purposes will come to be. Nothing that popes, peasants, princes or politicians conjure can thwart the coming of his Kingdom in his time and in his way. If we believe the above is an accurate transmission of the truths of scripture, then I would posit to you that the most important political thing we do each week is go to public worship on the Lord's Day, submit to our King, and proclaim his Kingdom as he leads us in worship. As we participate in the liturgy, pray for our enemies, confess our sins, join with Christians throughout the ages in confessing the creeds, pray the Lord's Prayer ("Thy kingdom come"), sit under the authority of the Word, partake of the Lord's Supper, and remember our baptisms; we are engaging in the politics of THE one Kingdom that truly matters. As we plant ourselves in the Gospel, things that might otherwise take hold in our lives - fearful anger, anxiety, depression, pride, disdain for others who think differently than us - begin to lose their power.

So read your Bibles. Pray. Examine your hearts. Examine the candidates. Vote. But remember, there are some ways in which the election in five weeks matters. But in most of the things that are most important, its outcome doesn’t really matter at all.

And one final thing, regardless of who you might vote for, regardless of what happens on November 5; my call to you as as your pastor on November 6, my care for you all as this particular flock of Jesus, will still be the same: let’s keep following Jesus together.

Poetry and Words

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Words are amazing! When I say, “A maple tree in every color of citrus including blood orange,” a creative image pops in your head. Maybe you saw a tree like that in your travels. Maybe you imagine one in your mind and it happens to have oranges, lemons, and limes for leaves. Or maybe you didn’t, but now you do. Words take you along a path, a story. 

I trained and worked as a nurse for 45 years. That’s a lot of left-brain work: science, formulas, metrics, policies. But when I discovered poetry about 12 years ago, it was as if I could feel my right brain stretch and flex its neurons in a new way. I enjoy the feeling, the process and the craft. I enjoy the connection it gives to others as we discuss poems and poetry.

Nature is my main muse. Something about being outside enjoying God’s creation makes me want to write about it. Sometimes it’s just an observation, but that might turn into a metaphor, and then I’m delighted when it goes a step further and God shows me something about his character and his care for us.

Recently, I wrote a poem about the Westminster Confession of Faith 7.1 after a Sunday School class (okay, different muse), and in asking Bruce Baugus about the word “fruition” among other words, he wrote: “I generally cast this in terms of enjoyment. That comes most from Augustine, who I find extremely helpful on some of these points. For Augustine we use some things to enjoy other things and the ultimate object of enjoyment is God alone. Thus everything else is to be used to that end, and doing so is to make a right use of all other things because everything exists to the end of knowing and enjoying God (the glory of God).” This helped me see that I use poetry to enjoy nature to the end of knowing and enjoying God to his glory. 

At the condo association where we live, I offered to paint the address plaques and a surprising benefit was that I was able to compose poems while mindlessly painting. My eyes and ears were open to the abundance of wildlife around. I was considering how to describe the evening crickets. I couldn’t sleep that night and pulled out Luci Shaw's book What the Light Was Like. In her poem “The Simple Dark,” she writes: 

    The shadow purples,
    the dusk intricate with crickets. The sky
    infested with pricks of light.
    My whole body an ear, an eye.

See what she did there? I count six times she used the “K” sound in two sentences. The crickets are singing right there in the words. Luci uses her poetry to enjoy creation and to bring glory to God. 

I’m also impressed by the lyric writers of hymns and songs with all their rhyme, rhythm and purpose. How great would it be to have your poem sung to the Lord in praise! I can’t speak for all the arts, but I know they influence each other. I’m anticipating hearing from those who enjoy other art forms. 

Remember our maple tree? All the fall colors? Is the tree groaning as it goes through this dying season? Is it fall because of The Fall? Paul said, “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Romans 8:20-21). Will there be those glorious colors in heaven? Or will there be colors we can’t even imagine? Beyond blood orange.

Paul knew about bondage. In this week’s passage about the gospel he says, “...for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!” (2 Timothy 2:9). Looking forward to Sunday as we worship together, celebrate communion and learn as Pastor Michael teaches from God’s word, the word that is not bound. 

Posted by Nellie deVries

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