Hearing the Music

Stones and Rocks

Good Friday 

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon –
I, only I.

Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

by  Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti, a Victorian age poet, has given a beautiful reflection of her own heart as she engages the magnitude of Good Friday. "Am I a stone, and not a sheep", she asks. Is my heart hard? Do I truly appreciate the death of Christ?

These are deep and worthwhile reflections to be sure, but she also gives us a glimpse of the heart of God. God, "who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all" (Romans 8:32). Her imagery here captures Moses striking the rock to bring forth life sustaining water for the people (Numbers 20:11), as well as Paul's reflection that this rock speaks to us of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). As we come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount this week, Christ entreats us to ensure that our lives are founded on that Rock (Matthew 7:21-29). I trust you will find this an appropriate invitation for Easter morning as we celebrate the stone being rolled away and new life emerging from the empty tomb!

Photo by Ondřej Matouš on Unsplash

Sabbatical on the Horizon

This in my penultimate Friday Letter before our upcoming sabbatical, which officially begins following our Easter services on April 17th. While away, Lisa and I hope to renew, re-center, and reset for continued service in the church. As many of you know, once we get our daughter Lydia married to Noah, we will do some re-creating through family European travels. There will also be some re-deployment as I will be teaching "Christ Centered Preaching" and "Preaching Christ from the Old Testament" to 3 different seminary groups in Peru. Outside of that, we hope for large swaths of rest and renewal, reading the Word, prayer, walks together, etc...

While Lisa and I disconnect from all official Christ Church responsibilities, plans are in place for you as the body to be well cared for and to thrive in our absence. We have a great preaching schedule lined up with guests invited to preach a text that the Lord has "Etched on their Heart" and which they invite you to etch on yours. Our elders are on point to follow through with pastoral care needs as they come up. Feel free to reach out to them, to Pastor Addison, or any other staff for encouragement or help. Other ministries and programs will continue unabated.

While 16 weeks feels long, I am sure that it will go by more quickly than we imagine. For now though we have this last week to settle into the greatest story ever told. A story of a king who went to a cross to gain an unlikely victory. This Sunday, as Jesus begins to wrap up his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:13-20) he invites would be disciples to the Narrow Little Road. 

Photo by Moritz Kindler on Unsplash

Most Well Known Verse

In years past, if you were to approach the average Joe or Jane on the street and ask them for a bible verse they would most likely reply with John 3:16, "For God so loved the world ...". But it seems that the tides have changed and that the same question today may more likely yield Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that you be not judged." Why the change? What has caused this shift?

In speculating the spirit of the age, the move could certainly be noted from an awareness of our need for God's intervention in our lives (John 3:16) to a more general denial of any wrongdoing that require a savior (Matthew 7:1). While this may be an assessment of the spirit of the age, it is not an accurate interpretation of Jesus' intent in this part of the Sermon on the Mount. This Sunday we will be opening the first 12 verses of Matthew 7 in an attempt to understand what it is that Jesus is saying. As he continues to lay out a blueprint for life in the Kingdom, it appears that Jesus is giving some instruction for his followers on how to live in right relation to one another and to the broader world. While the words of this text are well known, our prayer is that the Holy Spirit will make their meaning clear to us as well!

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash