Sunday Silliness...

Silence is golden but duck tape is silver.

Apply as needed... :)

Wisdom From Pogo

Here Is Love Vast As The Ocean

The Welsh hymn, Here is Love Vast as the Ocean, was written by William Rees in 1876 and is sung by Huw Priday.

Here is love vast as the ocean
Loving kindness as the flood
When the Prince of life, our ransom
Shed for us His precious blood
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten
Throughout Heaven's eternal days

On the Mount of Crucifixion
Fountains opened deep and wide
Through the floodgates of God's mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide
Grace and love, like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above
And Heaven's peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love

Let us all His love accepting
Love Him ever all our days
Let us seek His Kingdom only
And our lives be to His praise
He alone shall be our glory
Nothing in the world we see
He has cleansed and sanctified us
He Himself has set us free

William Wilberforce - Movie

If you have not seen the move, Amazing Grace, you might want to rent it. It is a docudrama of William Wilberforce (1759-1833) and his 20+ year fight for the abolition of slavery in the British parliament. I found it to be a fascinating and inspiring portrayal of how the vocation of politician can be employed for good. I also enjoyed the warm friendship depicted between Wilberforce and William Pitt (1759-1806), who became Prime Minister. If you like docudramas... you might enjoy this one. Here's a trailer of the movie:

Wisdom from William Pitt

Necessity is the plea

of every infringement of human freedom.

It is the argument of tyrants.

It is the creed of slaves.

William Pitt (1759-1806)

History does have a way of highlighting the truth of Solomon's words in Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. The 'tyranny of the urgent' and the plea of 'necessity' appear to be favorite tools in our government to push foolish and unread legislation into law. It is a fallacious 'appeal to fear' that is used to take men captive to the will of another. It is a wicked ploy that I wish more people would recognize. :(

Fabulous Anti-Depressant

No prescription needed,

But definitely habit forming... :)

Photo source

Dorothy Sayers

Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) was a friend of C. S. Lewis, and like Lewis, she was an orthodox Anglican. She was a well-known British playwright, author, and scholar. In her era, there were efforts to redefine Christian practice and teachings similar to what we face in our own generation. In her book, Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine, and in her book, Creed or Chaos? Why Christians Must Choose Either Dogma or Disaster, she countered these shifts away from orthodoxy, critiquing the appalling apathy and biblical ignorance of those who called themselves Christian. Surely, times have not much changed and her words are as pointed and applicable as ever. When I think upon how timely her words are, it reminds me of Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

What has been will be again,

What has been done will be done again;

There is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which one can say,

"Look! This is something new"?

It was here already, long ago;

It was here before our time.

Here is a sampling from Sayers' writings:

It it is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality, unless they are prepared to take their stand upon the fundamentals of Christian theology. It is a lie to say that dogma does not matter; it matters enormously. It is fatal to let people suppose that Christianity is only a mode of feeling; it is vitally necessary to insist that it is first and foremost a rational explanation of the universe. It is hopeless to offer Christianity as a vaguely idealistic aspiration of a simple and consoling kind; it is, on the contrary, a hard, tough, exacting, and complex doctrine, steeped in a drastic and incompromising realism. And it is fatal to imagine that everybody knows quite well what Christianity is and needs only a little encouragement to practice it. The brutal fact is that in this Christian country not one person in a hundred has the faintest notion what the Church teaches about God or man or society or the person of Jesus Christ.... ...Theologically this country is at present is in a state of utter chaos established in the name of religious toleration and rapidly degenerating into flight from reason and the death of hope.

"There are three kinds of people we have to deal with. There are the frank and open heathen, whose notions of Christianity are a dreadful jumble of rags and tags of Bible anecdotes and clotted mythological nonsense. There are the ignorant Christians, who combine a mild, gentle-Jesus sentimentality with vaguely humanistic ethics…Finally, there are the more-or-less instructed churchgoers, who know all the arguments about divorce and confession and communion in two kinds, but are about as well-equipped to do battle on fundamentals against a Marxian atheist or a Wellsian agnostic as a boy with a peashooter facing a fan-fire of machine guns."

Official Christianity, of late years, has been having what is known as a bad press. We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine—'dull dogma' as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama. That drama is summarized quite clearly in the creeds of the Church, and if we think it dull, it is because we either have never really read those amazing documents or have recited them so often and so mechanically as to have lost all sense of their meaning.

. . . for the cry today is: “Away with the tedious complexities of dogma-let us have the simple spirit of worship; just worship, no matter of what! The only drawback to this demand for a generalized and undirected worship is the practical difficulty of arousing any sort of enthusiasm for the worship of nothing in particular.

It is the dogma that is the drama-not beautiful phrases, nor comforting sentiments, nor vague aspirations to loving-kindness and uplift, nor the promise of something nice after death-but the terrifying assertion that the same God who made the world, lived in the world and passed through the grave and gate of death. Show that to the heathen, and they may not believe it; but at least they may realize that here is something that man might be glad to believe.

Dogma is the drama. According to Sayers, to forsake doctrine is to miss what is truly captivating. I agree with her and would add that a teacher can also have a numbing effect on his listeners if his depth of affections does not correspond with his affirmations. I think both are needful. What do you think?

Book Available at Amazon

It Is Well With My Soul

This is a beloved hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford (1828-1808) and composed by Philip Bliss. It was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life.

The first was the death of his only son in 1871, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the S.S. Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near the spot where his daughters had died.

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Looking Back with Thanksgiving

The Good Shepherd

I was going through some files and found something I had written a few weeks prior to Christmas while in the midst of a black depression. It's funny looking back. I can see God was holding onto me even though I felt as if I was falling off the edge of the earth. I am thankful to be delivered from that bleak hole, Here is what I wrote in the midst of my struggle:

God's Promises

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart." (Deut 6:4-6)

No one knows the guilt, pain, and suffering that depression can wrack on the soul like a fellow sufferer. In depression, there are days that I am so numb and feel so cast away from God's presence that I feel hopeless. It's as though I am flattened so low that I cannot see over the top of the carpet. My world is black and I am penned in a cage with invisible walls that I cannot break through. I seek God and I cannot find him.

I feel completely emptied. I find myself wanting so much to love the Lord my God with all my being and my soul can be tormented by my lack of love for God. These are the kinds of days that the law can crush me beyond description for I always fail to keep the first commandment to love God with my whole being. In depression, the tiniest real or imagined sin can scream at me that I do not love God, for Jesus said, "if you love me, then you will obey me." And with this thought my painful angst deepens.

On a better day, I have wondered whether the first commandment might be considered as both law and promise? God says, "You shall." If the first commandment can be looked upon as a promise, then my heart finds rest. For it is in Christ that the law is kept and all of my sins are forgiven and I am given His righteousness to cover my nakedness. It is also in Christ that all of God's promises are yea and amen. I shall one day receive His promise that my corruption will be exchanged for the incorruptible. Faith will become sight on that day. Then I shall love God with my whole being and shall never sin against Him again. Until that blessed day, it is a promise I am to patiently wait for.

And until that day arrives... He promises that He is at work within me to will and to do His good pleasure. He has told me that He is compassionate and remembers that I am but dust. He has also told me that I will struggle and my spirit is willing but my flesh is weak. He has told me that He is greater than my heart when it condemns me. He has promised that His grace is sufficient for me in all trials and tribulations. He has promised that He is the Lord, my Savior, my Keeper, my Righteousness, and my Sanctification. No one can snatch me out of His hand. Nothing can separate me from His love. He has hidden me in Christ. I am safe in Him. Thoughts like these encourage me.

Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

Psalm 42 & 43

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Ave Verum Corpus - Mozart

This is a beautiful Eucharist hymn sung by Bryn Terfel. I found 2 translations that are rich (shown below the video).

Metrical Translation I:

Jesu, Word of God Incarnate,

of the virgin Mary born,

On the cross thy sacred body

for us men with nails was torn

Cleanse us, by thy blood and water

Streaming from thy pierced side;

Feed us with thy body broken,

Now in death's agony!

O Jesu, hear us Son of Mary.

Metrical Translation II:

Jesu, Lamb of God, Redeemer,

born the virgin Mary's Son,

who upon the cross a victim

hast man's salvation won.

From whose side, which man had pierced

flow'd the water and the blood,

by thy sacred body broken,

Be in life and death our food.

O Jesu, be in life and death our food.