Faithresting.

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When we come to Jesus we “arrive in the presence of God, whose wrath we should fear and whose holiness should terrify us, yet He gives us rest. Not wrath. Not judgment. Not condemnation. Rest. Rest from struggling, proving, earning, laboring, and losing. We’re given an easy yoke and a light burden. The membership dues are no greater than the entrance fee—and Jesus has taken care of them both. ‘Y’all just come on in,’ He says, again and again. ‘The laboring is done with, and I’m not starting it up again.'”1

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28 Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Put My yoke upon your shoulders—it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. When you are yoked to Me, your weary souls will find rest. 30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. 2

  1. Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey, 174, “Disciples.” ↩
  2. Matthew 11:28-30, The Voice ↩
 

I know my weakness, know my voice, but I believe in Grace & choice …

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Mumford & Sons’ newly-filmed music video of “BABEL,” filmed in San Francisco:

Excellent filmography, better melodies, and even better-est words…

So you may sing along, here are the lyrics to Babel1, the title track on their newest album:

‘Cause I know that time has numbered my days
And I’ll go along with everything you say
But I’ll ride home laughing, look at me now
The walls of my town, they come crumbling down

And my ears hear the call of my unborn sons
And I know their choices color all I’ve done
But I’ll explain it all to the watchman’s son,
I ain’t ever lived a year better spent in love

‘Cause I’ll know my weakness, know my voice
And I believe in grace and choice
And I know perhaps my heart is fast,
But I’ll be born without a mask

Like the city that nurtured my greed and my pride,
I stretch my arms into the sky
I cry Babel! Babel! Look at me now
Then the walls of my town, they come crumbling down

Continue reading →

  1. “Babel” is the one missing song I wish they’d played live at their recent concert at the Rose Garden in Portland, which was quite simply the best concert I’ve ever attended. (And yes, I’m aware there’s a controversy on whether this band is “Christian.” Thus I tend to reserve their two songs featuring an F-bomb in the chorus to those times I need a little angst to get me up a steep hill while running.) ↩
 

The Greenhouse: where the Gospel grows at home.

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As a church family RENEW is venturing through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. What began as deep, rich theology, has turned the corner to the “practical matters” of life. It’s as if the foundation has been laid, the walls are built, and the fixtures installed. Now we’re living in the house God built, full of grace and truth. He enters every room where life is enjoyed and helps us re-order it around the centerpiece, the Gospel of Grace. Next week is about work, our life vocation, while last week was about marriage. This week is about parenting.

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),
3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
—Ephesians 6:1-4

In our home we want to see these commands obeyed, from the heart. And not just by the kids. We are all children, even us grown-ups. We all have parents, whether living or deceased. We all were children at one time, with good parents, or bad ones, or mostly likely, imperfect parents who did their best and wanted us to become more than they were (with varying definitions of “more”).

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At one time we children stopped obeying our parents, for we grew up and they no longer had authority over us. (Or if your parents were bad and asked you to do things against God’s good and pleasing well, then you had to stop obeying them earlier.) Yet we never stop honoring them. That’s the challenge for us adult kids, to keep honoring our parents, and pursuing creative ways to do that. Just as parents set aside what they wanted to do in order to give us what we needed, now we set aside what we want in order to bless them.

20130701-064554.jpg We’ve nicknamed our house the Greenhouse, partly because it’s green, but mostly because we hope to grow up our “starts” into healthy, thriving “plants.” A greenhouse is an optimal environment which provides everything necessary for growth. There’s food, water, shelter, and yet much more. There’s a healthy — even loving — structure and order of things, with a master gardener who ensures every plant thrives in order to “grow up” and one day grow roots down into other soil outside the safe confines of the greenhouse. It takes nurture and it takes discipline. Both are necessary in a nuanced balance. That’s the essence of “instruction,” which is really teaching. And teaching is more than telling others what to do and believe. Teaching involves a relationship; it means walking alongside others as they learn, and letting them fail in safe ways before — and so that — they succeed. Every teacher will tell you it’s hard yet wonderfully rewarding work. I am learning that good parents are teachers.

Continue reading →

 

I am not what I ought to be …

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John Newton“I am not what I ought to be — ah, how imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wish to be — I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good! I am not what I hope to be — soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was; a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.'”

—John Newton1 reflecting on 1 Corinthians 15:10.

  1. As quoted in The Christian Pioneer (1856) edited by Joseph Foulkes Winks, p. 84. Also in The Christian Spectator, vol. 3 (1821), p. 186. ↩
 

Supernaturally brilliant.

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“What is merely human, however brilliant, will not pull us out of the ditch we have fallen into. But the words that Jesus spoke to us, they are spirit and they are life.”
—Ray Ortlund, Jr., preface to Supernatural Living for Natural People: The Life-giving Message of Romans 8

In the eighth chapter in his Epistle to the Romans, Paul takes the words, work, will and ways of Jesus to the depths our hearts need. Personally, I cannot get enough of it, and have wore out a few Bibles over the last decade from underlining and revisiting the life-giving words of this chapter.

Luther said our Bibles should be so worn from use that they almost automatically open to Romans, and especially to a crease in the binding at the brilliant eighth chapter.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” —Romans 8:1

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Whenever I need renewal and revival in my heart, I turn to this chapter, drawer from the deep well, plenty of water for this thirsty soul.
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Sing along: One Glorious Day.

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Today is D-Day, when sixty-nine years ago, on June 6th, 1944 at Normandy the tide turned and momentum swung in World War II. A significant day in recent world history. That day is known as “the beginning of the end” of the war. There’s another beginning of the end of the war, this war is between men and God. Jesus came to make the beginning of the end, and so it’s fitting to consider today the coming One Glorious Day when all wrongs will be righted, and everything will be set to the way God intended the world to be. Because King Jesus will wrap up the scrolls of history and mete out all justice in the way only His Grace is able to handle. Oh glorious Day!

Most days this week we’re highlighting songs in this space, particularly hymns we sang together at RENEW on Sunday. Having begun with Be Thou My Vision and In Tenderness, we continue with One Day, written in 1910 by John Wilbur Chapman, and recently reprised with a new verse melody for the new album “God of Victory” by Michael Bleecker of The Village Church in Texas. You may have sung it as we did, known as Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me), made more known by the band Casting Crowns. (Listen and watch John Mark Hall of Casting Crowns tell the story behind the song.)

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Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me)

Chords in the key of D

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He’s ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine

Oh, glorious day

Continue reading →

 

Today: Run Happy!

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Today, June 5th is National Running Day!

Will you go for a run? A jog? A Wog (walk-jog)?

A great feature of running is the only person you’re compete with is … yourself.

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Could you run a mile? A quarter-mile? Around your block?

A runner takes about 150-250 steps per minute (the lower figure for 9:00/mile and the higher at a 6:00/mile pace). So, if you run one mile that’s about 1,200-1,500 steps +/-. You have that many steps in you, right?

As for me, I usually run early mornings 3-6 times a week, but this week I’m laying low, with a sprained right ankle, and a gimpy left one too. Something about using a stool as a ladder that I learned last week was unwise.

Logging milesWhile that setback bummed me out, it was on the heels of the logging the most miles in consecutive months since I last weighed the same as I do now (at age 19). So, taking a long-view helps, for elite runners (or elite-anybodies) are not made overnight. It takes step after step, and mile upon mile. For example, I average more than 30-seconds-per-mile faster than I did a year ago. On top of averaging an additional three miles per run.

In 24 days I’ll run in a half-marathon. Yet, a mere three years ago it had been years since I’d been a consistent running, and thought it was just due to injury and being too busy. My foot hurt and life was packed. But honestly, my main problem was a lack of motivation.

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So, let me encourage you to lace up those shoes and go for a run — no matter how long or short — and enjoy the freedom God gave you to be healthy.

34cf9decee4011e1a2ce22000a1c86dc_7As you run: need some encouragement?

  • Tell someone your goals (or set goals together)
  • Read encouraging stories of those pushing themselves beyond their comfort zone (runners’ stories here and here and here).
  • Download an app on your smartphone. My favorite by far is Runkeeper, which is FREE (download app), and is far more than an app. It’s a running community (for more than just running) … make that a workout community.

Here’s what the Runkeeper community collectively completed in workouts during the first quarter of 2013:

Continue reading →

 

Sing along: In Tenderness He Sought Me.

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Highlighting five songs this week, hymns we sang together at RENEW on Sunday. Having begun with Be Thou My Vision, we continue with In Tenderness, written in 1894 by W. Spencer Walton, entitled “In Tenderness He Sought Me.” This beautiful, melodious song reminds us Jesus is both tough and tender. He loves us, and will do whatever it takes to bring us back to Him, to His fold, as the Good Shepherd.

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This song might be the key anthem of RENEW Church in this first year. Each of us have a life story that’s being re-written as we re-discover who God is, what He’s done, and who we are. Out of this new life flows new living. Yet before all of our attempts at a good and godly life, we come back to the truth: in tenderness He sought us, while we weary and sick with sin … He died for us while we were sinning…

O – o – oh the love that sought me!
O – o – oh the blood that bought me!
Oh the grace that brought me to the fold of God
Grace that brought me to the fold of God

I pray we never grow bored with the Gospel! As the light of the Gospel shines on us again and again, God renews us.

Sing along (and shout along) and join the party as The Citizens sing the rich Gospel anthem, In Tenderness:

In Tenderness

by The Citizens, from Already / Not Yet, track released 08 May 2012 (chords)

Verse 1
In tenderness He sought me
Weary and sick with sin
And on His shoulders brought me
Back to His fold again
While angels in His presence sang, until the courts of heaven rang

Chorus
O – o – oh the love that sought me!
O – o – oh the blood that bought me!
Oh the grace that brought me to the fold of God
Grace that brought me to the fold of God

Verse 2
He died for me while I was sinning..
Needy and poor and blind
He whispered to assure me…
“I’ve found thee; thou art Mine”
I never heard a sweeter voice, it made my aching heart rejoice

Verse 3
Upon His grace I’ll daily ponder
and sing anew His praise
With all adoring wonder,
His blessings I retrace.
It seems as if eternal days, are far too short to sing His praise. Continue reading →

 

Sing along: Be Thou My Vision.

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Last night at RENEW we sang five songs all older than (or about as old as) the building in which we gather. The Revival Building was built at the turn of last century, yet most of it burned down in the twenties, rebuilt in 1925. Originally it was the meeting place of the Presbyterian Church in the Singer Hill area of Oregon City. These days we’re grateful for the new owners, a dance studio, that let us gather there each Sunday afternoon.

All this week I’ll highlight a story behind these five songs, and the meaningful lyrics to which we get to sing along. A big thanks to Brian for selecting these songs and leading us so well!

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A 6th Century Irish monk, Dallan Forgaill, penned the words to Be Thou My Vision (original title, “Rop tú mo Baile”), as a tribute to St. Patrick’s wholehearted loyalty to God. The hymn was translated from Irish to English in 1905 by Mary E. Byrne. In 1912, Eleanor H. Hull arranged the song into the verse most commonly found in English hymnals today. (The version below was reprised by Ascend the Hill.) The music to accompany the lyrics is an ancient Irish folk tune called Slane.

The folk song got its start centuries earlier, in Ireland around 433 AD, when on the night before Easter, St. Patrick defied a royal decree by lighting candles. St. Patrick (385-461 AD) was a man filled with the Gospel of Grace and zealous to see Jesus reign and rule over the nation of Ireland. As a missionary, he defied an Irish King’s edict that restricted the lighting of candles on Easter Eve. King Logaire of Tara had decreed that no one was allowed light any fires until a pagan spring festival was launched by the lighting of a fire on Slane Hill — the King must be first. Patrick chose to honor God in spite the threat of death. King Logaire was so impressed with Patrick’s brave devotion, he let him continue his missionary work unhindered. This song harkens back to that day, and that man, and is a steady reminder of the one central theme of our lives.

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Be Thou My Vision

Continue reading →

 

Daily slogging.

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Not much time around here to write blog posts. Maybe I’ll gain a vision — or more precisely, carve out some time — to write before Summer arrives. In the meantime, these words from the wise Ray Ortlund, Jr. struck me, particularly as a young pastor simply desiring to be faithful, and especially as father, my first area of shepherding. Parenting and pastoring have a weight of responsibility that makes it all the more necessary to build long-term perspective, and to keep on keeping on, slogging ahead.

Ray Jr. writes about his father’s years and years of faithful service and leading a church, and the influence and depth of relationship they shared. It’s evident Junior as a man has been shaped deeply by Senior the man.

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“I am not impressed by young pastors who seem too eager to publish books and speak at big events and get noticed. They are doing the work of the Lord, and that’s good. But what impresses me is my dad’s daily slogging, year after year, in the power of the Spirit, with no big-deal-ness as the payoff.

This is the pastoral ministry that brings Jesus into the world today. ”
—Ray Ortlund, Jr., “Daily Slogging in the Power of the Spirit“

People often ask how church planting is going. It’s going. Slowly, but steadily and surely, I see RENEW becoming a family of missionary servants, and I see the Gospel of the Kingdom, Grace and the Cross overwhelming their hearts. No one is going to ask me to write a book about our experiences (too soon and too small), yet that’s not what matters in this.

Here’s what matters: Jesus our Senior Pastor is saving and leading His people, and there are many in the city who do not yet know Him. Let them one day tell others there were families in their cities who left the comforts of reputation and ease to form new relationships, recognizing their own brokenness while bringing the good news of Jesus to broken lives. He has made them whole, Jesus has renewed them forever!

Slog on.