Hearing the Music

Sweet Authority

 A quick perusal of current headlines will invariably find articles and stories working through issues of immigration, right to die, violence done against minorities, transgender rights, efforts to create human/chimpanzee embryos and a whole lot more. As Christians, how do we make sense of our place in this world? How do we interact with those whose framework for viewing the world is vastly different than ours? How do we avoid being conformed to the ideals of this current age? 

As we seek a way forward, a couple of truths stand out. First, we need transformed hearts and transformed characters. If we seek for answers on our own, without the Spirit of God to guide and help us along the way, we will only add our foolishness to the foolishness of the world. Second, the ancient, reliable Word of God is said to be "sweeter than honey" with a power to meet humanity at its point of greatest need. It is the Word of our Creator that has the wisdom to shape our lives for the flourishing for which he created us. It is the Word of our King that is authoritative, binding us as his people to live in his way. In the Word of God the one who calls us his friend and our brother reveals to us his heart. It is in his Word that we find the sweet authority that we need.

Over the next several weeks we will be looking through the lens of Psalm 119 to behold the beauty of the Word of God. Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Bible with every single one of it's 176 verses extolling the virtues of the scriptures. In this psalm we see how God's Word rejoices the heart, makes wise the simple, revives the soul, brings comfort in affliction, lays a path for purity, and holds forth justice for the oppressed. We will be taking each of these themes in their turn. This week, Pastor Addison will help us see that when we come to the Word, we come to the very heart of God. 

The very opening to the Psalter lays out the path for the blessed life. Blessed is the one whose "delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). May we all grow in our delight of the Word!

_{Photo by Benyamin Bohlouli on Unsplash}

Anti-Cancel Culture

The idea that we live in a "cancel culture" has been circulating for the last 5-8 years. According to Wikipedia "Cancel culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to have been 'cancelled'." Most frequently folks are cancelled because the opinions they express are deemed wrong, oppressive, or inappropriate by a group of people. In popular culture we see over and over how people make mistakes, get caught and are cancelled. We also see groups call out people for ideas contrary to their own. Depending on the power or influence of the group calling you out you could be cancelled. The prevalence of cancel culture has contributed widely to the polarization of society that we experience today politically, culturally and religiously. Cancel culture has infiltrated the church as well. We see leaders or fellow church members mess up and they are cancelled. If some one doesn't hold the same theological views that we do, they are cancelled*. Values like listening, empathy, healthy disagreement and forgiveness do not thrive in a cancel culture.

That is why I am so drawn to the anti-cancel culture that Jesus inaugurates and that we will be looking at this Sunday in John 21. If anyone deserved to be cancelled it was Peter. Peter, who boasted of his superiority to the other brothers (Mark 14:29), who completely missed the humble way in which Jesus was bringing his kingdom (John 18:10,11), who denied he even knew Jesus - with imprecations (Mark 14:71,72). Surely he would be cancelled. But Jesus doesn't think like that. Jesus doesn't think like us. He knows Peter. He loves Peter. He pursues Peter from the very moment of his resurrection (Mark 16:7). He restores Peter, gives him back his dignity, gives him a task to do and something worth dying for. My cancel culture weary psyche can't wait to dive into this with you on Sunday!

Death's Master

Charles Spurgeon once parabalized (is that a word?) an encounter with death:

But Death said to the man, "I am come for you."
He smilingly replied, "Ah, Death! I know you,
I have seen you many a time.
I have held communion with you.
You are my Master's servant,
you have come to fetch me home.
Go, tell my Master I am ready; whenever he pleases,
Death, I am ready to go with you."

How could a person face death so calmly, so confidently? Christians around the world this week are celebrating the answer to that question. Christians can face death confidently because Jesus embraced death on Good Friday and rose victorious on Easter Sunday. This is the reason death holds no terror for the Christian. Christ, our master, has become the master of death, defeating it, as Paul so poignantly says:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:54–57

I can't wait to come together this Sunday and celebrate with you the resurrection of our Lord. We will return to John 11 and zero in on Jesus' declaration: "I am the Resurrection and the Life!"

Photo by S. Laiba Ali on Unsplash