A Continued Story

Picking up where I left off last night....My siblings and I became involved in the Methodist church that we had attended very infrequently after my mom's stroke.  In our little town, it was very Baptist in my ways.  I wouldn't have known that there was much of a difference between my church and any other except that our sign said we were Methodists. That and we baptized infants, but we didn't have very many of them because we were a small, old church.  When I say small, I mean 35 tops on a good Sunday!  And when I say old, I mean that we were the only family that wasn't over 50...or at least it felt that way. But I didn't care too much about that because it was my church and I loved the people there!

The Beginning of the Journey

As stated in my last post, I've decided to discipline myself for Lent by blogging about various reasons that I became Anglican.  I'm going to start with a few days of briefly sketching out the contours of my life.  I do this to give some context and background because nothing is without some context in life.  

And now I begin....

One of the most formative moments in my life was a night in 1988.  Sadly, I would need to ask my siblings what day it was as I haven't thought about the specific date in a long time, but the event is burned forever into my psyche.  It was the night that my mom had her stroke.

Something for Lent...hopefully

So...I've been quite quiet for a while on here.  I've just struggled with what to say and what to do with this blog.  I used to enjoy writing so much, but have been overwhelmed of late with doing it....

It is a sad state.

I hope to remedy this during Lent and maybe be able to get a habit going for the future.

During Lent, I hope to blog about why I ended up in the Anglican camp.  There are various categories that go into this.  I don't guarantee that everything will be accurate according to the various theological representations within Anglicanism that seem to believe that their particular vision of it is exactly what Anglicanism was 450 years ago.  But this is purely from my perspective, how I have observed and understood Anglicanism through the back drop of a "theological mut," so to speak.  It is true, I am a "mut" of sorts or maybe to put it more nicely, "a bit eclectic" theologically, as I said the other night to a friend.

A shocking blog!

This is something that I ran across that seriously disturbs me!  Read it and find out why, and no, it isn't because an old man sent graphic pictures of an abortion to the hospital administrator!  It is seriously disturbing the retaliation that this man has received for revealing the truth in what happened in an abortion.  He has been struck off of a list to receive a hip replacement by the director of the hospital. Really?!? They can refuse to treat people because they have philosophical differences?  They can pull political punches that limits someone's quality of life?  Aren't those the very things that they are "protecting" by killing innocent babies?  Irony, I say!

http://www.visionandvalues.org/2006/06/in-the-uk-aborting-a-baby-is-legal-but-depicting-it-is-a-crime/

Sin will have no dominion over you

“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Rom 6:14, ESV). These words from Paul are challenging words for us Christians. Why are they challenging though? It is because of what we are in our natural state. In that state, we are sinners, children of wrath, disobedient people who love sin over the Creator. However, as Christians, we are new creations (2 Cor 5:17) who are seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph 2:6). We have been regenerated and called to live a new life that is not characterized as sinners, but as saints. It is this new life and how to live it that raises the question of sanctification. Some sectors of Christianity tend to view anyone who emphasizes sanctification as a legalist or any call to obedience as legalism. And yet, Paul continually exhorts believers to live in certain ways; ways that line up with what the law of God commands for his people to do. The question before us today is if obligatory obedience constitutes legalism in our sanctification. I do not believe that it does. I also believe that those what claim that it is legalism need to consider two major issues.

N.T. Wright

So I am reading Justification by N.T. Wright at the moment.  At times I have wondered what all the fuss was about; at others I understand why people are upset.  I will have to dwell on his thoughts for a while, though at the moment some of his general conclusions I whole heartily agree with.

I will have more to say later.

Advent hymn

This is an Advent hymn that I will be using this Sunday at church.  I heard it while listening to the God Whisperers this week.  I have greatly been enjoying doing music this Advent.  This is really the first Advent that I have done music planning ever.  Rachel and I did some Advent music while at Way of the Cross (a Fellowship of Grace Brethern church) a few years ago, which was really my first foray into the season.  It was only a couple of songs that year since it was a church that did not in any way observe the church year, but Pastor Randy didn't mind the change up in music from us.  However, now that we are in the Anglican church, I'm taking full advantage of the opportunity to play Advent hymns!  It has been fun transposing some onto guitar and then finding others on the internet that others have written out.  I may have to take some time to record some of these hymns after the season is over, especially the couple that I have jazzed up here at the house.

Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending

Lo! He comes with clouds descending, once for every sinner slain

Thousand thousand saints attending swell the triumph of his train

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Christ the Lord returns to reign

Ev'ry eye shall now behold Him, robed in glorious majesty;

Those who set at nought and sold him, pierced and nailed Him to the tree,

Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing, shall their true Messiah see.

Those dear tokens of His Passion still His dazzling body bears,

Cause of endless exultation to His ransomed worshippers.

With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture gaze we on those glorious scars!

Yea, amen, let all adore Thee high on Thine eternal throne.

Savior take the pow'r and glory, claim the kingdom as Thine own.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Thou shalt reign, and Thou alone!

Blogs on Numbers 20:1-13

Numbers 20:1-13

I recently wrote a paper in my Hebrew class. It was on Numbers 20:1-13. This was my longest paper in seminary thus far! So I will not belabor anyone by simply posting it. I am going to make a few posts out of the paper because I got so much out of it. Please be ready for them to begin in the next few days.

May the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always!

When Trials turn to Tempations

James 1:12-15



Trials. They come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they are physical, like a sickness. Sometimes, they are inward, maybe a struggle that you don’t want to talk about and you keep it in. But no matter what the trial is, they have one thing in common, God desires our good to come out of them. He desires for us to be successful in coming though them. He uses these trials to stretch and grow our faith in Christ. Yet, where do temptations come from? In a financial struggle, where does the temptation to lie on your taxes or steal some money from a cash drawer originate? Is that God? By no means, God desires our good, but our own sinfulness turns a trial into a temptation. We see this in James words to these early Christians today.
James says, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.” Why is such a man blessed? Who would think that a trial is a blessing? These believers that James is writing to were most likely early Jewish Christians that has be driven from Jerusalem during Jewish persecution of the church. James tells these people, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.” The reality is that James is continuing and building upon what he said about tests of faith that he talked about in vv 2-4 of this chapter. There he said, in essence, “Be joyful at the testing of your faith because that testing produces steadfastness or perseverance and let that have its full effect because that means you will be perfect and complete and lack nothing.” James has told us that trials produce steadfast faith and now he says we are blessed when we remain steadfast, when we remain faithful and trusting in Christ for what he has done for us. The reason we are blessed is what he says in the rest of the verse. He says, “…for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” We receive the crown of life when we are steadfast in our faith and trust.

Word and Sign (2 Kings 20:1-11)

For the Scripture passage go to:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20kings%2020:1-11&version=ESV

Faithfulness. The faithfulness of God is at stake in today’s text. On many levels we struggle with God’s faithfulness. How is God faithful? How do we know that God will be faithful? How do we respond to that faithfulness? We all come to a point in our lives when we have doubts, when the burdens of our selves weigh down on us. What do we do? Do we attempt to look inward for some subjective feeling about our faith? Will we make the claim that our assurance of God’s faithfulness is based on our feelings of his faithfulness? Or will we know God’s faithfulness through His words and His signs that he has given to us through his messengers? I say, we must take seriously these words and signs that God gives through His messengers.