prayer for the day.
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from the liberti Lent & Easter 2012 prayerbook & the Book of Common Prayer)
Earlier this week, I kicked off this year’s Lent series with a question.
This season, we’ll be meditating on the biblical idea that Jesus, in some mysterious way, was slain in eternity past. And so, I asked what this means for the Cross of Jesus:
Was it an eternal truth breaking into the temporal realm, or was it itself such a powerful event that it echoed backwards and forwards through the past and future?
My vote? Jesus’ suffering and “slain-ness” is an eternal attribute of who he is, and the Cross was this aspect of the nature of God breaking into our reality. The Crucifixion was, in effect, God drawing the curtain back on a heavenly reality that had, until that point, only been hinted at.
I side with this for two main reasons: the essence of God, and the election of God.
In light of the recent birth control controversy, there’s been a revived discussion about abortion and the “personhood” of babies, especially after a paper justifying the aborting of newborns was published in a major journal. Also, in response to rising criticisms for how the Obama administration has abused their seizure of Executive power to pretty scary levels, Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, gave a speech [transcript] at Northwestern University on Monday defending the administration’s actions. Today’s articles deal with these issues.
Grab some coffee, and let’s go.
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HIGHLIGHTS
The New Scar on My Soul | American Thinker
If you read nothing else from this post, please let it be this. I found myself crying in the middle of the coffee-shop I was in as I read this. Please, anyone, help give me a reasonable framework from which to respond to this. I need something beyond empty rhetoric, powerless outrage and sadness, and unrealistic policy aspirations. And also, please, if you find yourself on the pro-choice side of this, I would love your thoughts on this topic after reading this post. I’m really struggling here.
The Obama Administration and Targeted Killings: “Trust Us” | Council on Foreign Relations
Such a good article giving a brief–yet substantive–analysis of Holder’s speech and how it holds up to legal, moral, and common-sensical scrutiny. Please read this. Also, for a very comprehensive (yet fairly brief and easy-to-read) summary of the history and background of this all-important topic and its relevance today, CFR put together this Backgrounder.
For anyone that keeps any sort of track of the Church music scene, they will know that it is sort of a fad nowadays to update older hymns with modern music, instrumentation, and melodies. Some of my favorite groups that do this are Indelible Grace, Red Mountain Church, Sojourn Music, and Redemption Hill (my old church in Richmond). I love all these acts, but even they are hit-and-miss in some of their executions.
A newer group (I think) on this scene is New York Hymns.
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“…the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world.” –Revelation 13.8
“…you were ransomed…with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot, who was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last time for your sake.” –1 Peter 1:18-20
“Jesus Christ and him crucified… a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” –1 Corinthians 2:1,7
Today, I just want to briefly introduce the Lent series I’ll be doing (while listening to some free Lenten music!). It will be a meditation on an idea that only explicitly appears a few times in the Bible, but it’s truth echoes throughout the Scriptures. It’s mind-boggling in both its scope and implication, and yet gets so little treatment from mainstream Protestantism.
The idea? That Christ was slain in eternity past–before anything was; before any sin had been done by a single human.
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prayer for the day.
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all of us who have gone astray from your ways, and bring us again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from the liberti Lent & Easter 2012 prayerbook & the Book of Common Prayer)
1,000 meals + 3 wells in celebration of the resurrection
I have the privilege of being a part of an amazing movement of churches in Philadelphia, seeking to “live, speak, and serve as the very presence of Christ” for the city (I go to the Center City one).
Last year, the churches gave away 1,000 Easter meals to familes in need. This year we’re trying to raise money to give away another 1,000 and to build 3 water wells in Africa
This week (until the end of Saturday), a donor is offering to match any donations up to $5,000.
There’s still a lot more to go to meet that goal. We need people to donate money to help us serve our neighbors in this city. So please donate if you can. Any amount will help. Remember, through church history Lent has been a time the church has given much to these sorts of efforts.
If you can’t give money, and still want to serve, we not only need money for the meals and wells (we’re trying to raise $35,000), we also need people to call families that would like the meals, as well as people to pack the meals and drive them. You can volunteer (and request a basket) at the website.
For more information or to sign up for any part of this initiative, please visit:
I’m sitting in this coffee shop, and across the room there’s this college-aged girl walking one of her friends (apparently from another country) through the story of the Bible and the gospel.
She seems like a pro. She’s teaching her friend the structure of the Bible, answering her questions, and having her read the Scripture. She’s talking about who wrote the different books and each of their stories. They’re even hanging out in the Old Testament a bunch.
She’s not over-anxious or pushy; she’s just hanging out. The friend seems engaged and they keep laughing, sharing stories, and engaging the Scriptures.
I can’t help but feel I’m watching the Kingdom of God breaking all the more into this world–the future flooding the present.
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Continuing a tradition I started during Advent, I’ve made a mixtape for the Lenten season. The simple act of making this mixtape really helped me in my meditation and prayer time. My hope is that it can do the same for you. So, for your streaming and/or downloading pleasure, click over to the page:
This is an ongoing series talking about how, for this Presidential election, I am a one-issue voter. I will be making my decision for President based on what the candidate believes about Executive Power and Civil Liberties. Read Part 1 and Part 2 for more. In this post, I outline specific ways the Executive is increasingly abusing its power. The hope is that this will show others how this should be a legitimate concern of all Americans.
Did you know . . .
The President, on New Year’s Eve, signed legislation making it absolutely legal for him, personally, to order you imprisoned indefinitely with no charges being filed against you and no lawyer being offered you. Be sure to read this Al-Jazeera article bemoaning the loss of American freedom because of this. (more here and, for a snarkier analysis, go here).
The Administration reserves the right to simply have any American citizen killed without a trial or any chance to offer evidence in their defense. Obama is the first known President to ever authorize this.
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Hey, quick post to let everyone know that on Thursday I’ll be posting a Lent Mixtape. But, that means the Advent Mixtape is going away for 10 months. So… you have until Wednesday night to download it if you want. So, download away!
Also, I’ll be posting the third part of my one-issue voting/civil liberties series tomorrow. It’s a doozy, so if you haven’t read the other two posts, be sure to catch up.
prayer for the day.
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let us find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
(from the liberti Lent & Easter 2012 prayerbook & the Book of Common Prayer)
As I said the other day while introducing Lent this year, the Lenten season has historically been marked by three practices of those that participate in it. Prayer and fasting tend to get most of the attention, but almsgiving is another component of a Lent-historically-done-well. Almsgiving is the ancient term for giving materially of your resources for the purpose of charity, love, and grace.
I have never been good at giving my money away. Tithing has always been difficult for me to practice; giving to the homeless has been hard; and I always have a good excuse why I’m not able to give to some cause greater than myself. Sure, I’ll talk about the organization or even write a blog post in support of it, but it’s hard for me to part ways with my money.
This season, however, I wanted to try an experiment to fight against this and hope and pray that God meets me in it and grows me in deep, lasting ways.
This Lent, I want to give away some of my money everyday. For Monday through Saturday (the Church considers Sundays Lent “mini-breaks”), I want to give some amount of money to a non-profit or charity that can use it to help others.
But I need help.
If you have a non-profit or charity or social justice organization that you particularly like, could you leave a comment below telling me what it is?
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prayer for the day.
Most loving Father, whose will it is for us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our cares on you who care for us: Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested to us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (from the liberti Lent & Easter 2012 prayerbook & the Book of Common Prayer)
This post from last year is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. It helped many others at the time, and I hope that it can serve you well this year as well. Also: See the Ash Wednesday prayer & meditations for today and read about how I’m observing Lent this year.
the long way home 