Hearing the Music

GLP

For some reason the PCA loves abbreviations??!! We have the MNA, MTW, and RUF committees. Our TE's and RE's go to GA. And we are a part of this thing called the GLP.*

The GLP is short for the Great Lakes Presbytery and is our regional body of PCA churches in MI and Northern IN that convenes 3x per year. We met this last Saturday on the campus of the University of Michigan for a meeting hosted by our Ann Arbor churches and our RUF ministry at U of M. As you know it was a big meeting in the life of Christ Church, as both Michael and Roger were examined by the GLP. Michael was examined as a transfer candidate, coming in from the MO Presbytery, while Roger completed his ordination exams on his way to becoming a TE. Both of them acquitted themselves wonderfully.  

There are times when the seemingly tedious and ponderous nature of Presbyterianism gets a bad rap, but I wanted to take a minute to attest to the joy of fellowship with these other churches. First, I am so glad that we have standards with respect to Biblical knowledge, theology and polity that we ask our TE's to adhere to. We will only be as strong as our commitment to understanding and living out the Scriptures. We have seen around the world and across our land, when a church loses those things, it inevitably fails as a church. Second, I am excited by the shared ministry that we get to engage in with the GLP. Currently we have about 21 particular churches, with another 7 in the process of being planted. In addition, we have an active campus ministry at U of M through RUF and many of our churches are supporting other campus works through CO. We even have a church in Malawi, through our missionary Confex Makalira, that is under the oversight of the GLP!

As you may have heard, there is an 8th mission being planned for the GLP, this one in Muskegon. It is a work overseen by the Presbytery with leadership from Christ Church, Hudsonville Reformed, Trinity PCA, Gracehill, and Christ the King in Hastings. The families invested in planting a PCA church in Muskegon County are a close knit group who value the structure and governance of a presbyterian church, as well as the rich reformed tradition of the PCA. Although none of the families come directly from a PCA background, they are excited by the prospect of a gospel-centered, well-governed church in Muskegon. They are a mix of long time Muskegonites and transplants from other states, most of whom have young families. Will you pray with us that the Lord will send a church planter to love and serve these folks?  

On the topic of prayer and church planting, I would invite you to take note of the prayer time being set aside for our own future church planting endeavors, as committed to in our recent capital campaign, to take place at Christ Church on May 17th at 7pm.  

God is on the move. We will see this encouraging truth play out this week as we look at 1 Samuel 4-6.  God cannot be contained, either by his enemies or his people!

*PCA = Presbyterian Church in America
MNA = Mission to North America
MTW = Mission to the World
RUF = Reformed University Fellowship
TE = Teaching Elder
RE = Ruling Elder
GA = General Assembly
CO -- Campus Outreach

Don't Make It Rare

And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.   (I Sam 3:1)

I enjoy my steaks rare, medium rare at most. Keep the flavor, keep the juices. Please don't overcook it. But the rarity described in I Samuel with regards to the word of the Lord is not a rarity that I want any part of. We remember that Samuel's time was the time of the judges when people did what was right in their own eyes. They had little interest in the word of the Lord, for that would put a crimp in their style. And, as is often the case, God seemed to give the people what they wanted. Though he remained their God and was in a real way their King, his prophetic word was rare in those days; at least until the boy, Samuel.

We live in a society where the word is plentiful. We literally have copies of the Bible that we don't know what to do with, in addition to all the digital access that we desire. Accessibility is not an issue. But is the word rare?  

I am reminded of the Psalms, whose very opening 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). In Psalm 19 the Psalmist declares the beauties of the word in terms of riches and delicacies, "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb." (Psalm 19:10) When we come to Psalm 119 we encounter 176 verses dedicated to the beauty of the word of God. 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. It is sweeter than honey indeed!

This Sunday we will be looking together at I Samuel 3. It is a chapter about the word; about hearing it, longing for it, allowing it to change our lives and direct our paths. It is a passage that leads us to The Word; the One who was made flesh and dwelt among us. I look forward to studying it with you!

Photo by Elen Ogannisyan on Unsplash

Whose Story Is It?

If you were around last week you know that we have embarked on a study of 1st Samuel. It is a book that is filled with many memorable stories: the Lord calling to the boy Samuel, the Ark of the Covenant and the Philistine god Dagon, David and Saul, David and Goliath, David and Jonathan, etc... Last week we talked about the importance of identifying a "melodic line", learning to recognize themes at work, understanding the storyline of the scriptures. But what about these individual stories? How do we approach each of them?

I love the way that Eugene Peterson addresses this question in his intro to Samuel in the Message:

"... the biblical way is not so much to present us with a moral code and tell us “Live up to this”; nor is it to set out a system of doctrine and say, “Think like this and you will live well.” The biblical way is to tell a story and invite us, “Live into this. This is what it looks like to be human; this is what is involved in entering and maturing as human beings.” We do violence to the biblical revelation when we “use” it for what we can get out of it or what we think will provide color and spice to our otherwise bland lives. That results in a kind of “boutique spirituality”—God as decoration, God as enhancement. The Samuel narrative will not allow that. In the reading, as we submit our lives to what we read, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but to see our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves."

This certainly fits with the overall melodic line that we looked at last week, a refrain that highlights God; who He is, what He is up to in His world, and our very present hope. And I love how Peterson says that there is no picking and choosing when it comes to Biblical stories, but rather we must "submit our lives to what we read"; not see God in our stories, but rather see ourselves in His.

Friends, the only way that we will be able to really do this is through humble, prayerful reading. This week we will be looking at the material in I Samuel 1 and 2 that surrounds Hannah's prayer. Here we will see the struggle of Hannah and get a better read on what is happening in the nation of Israel. Like Peterson says, may we submit our lives to the Word. May God truly give us eyes to see and hearts to embrace His story.