chongs · worship – Page 70 – [ mites from our momentary marriage and ministry ]

Our 10-month olive shoot

Eden had a 10-month growth spurt last week. For the non-parents, it means for a few days she ate heaps and slept more, which is not too different to adults on some days (maybe we can use the same excuse for eating and sleeping – “sorry just having a growth spurt”…)!

Cheryl and I have both noticed that since then:

her “awake” time has increased from 3 to 4 hours – which means with two good naps in a day, she’s not tired till 9pm
she’s more sociable, and seems to want to communicate with us and others
she’s babbling a bit more
she’s much more interested in photos that we show her
she’ll offer her hand out to respond to high fives
she’s started to stand herself up for a few seconds at time (she stood for 15 seconds when the Richardsons came round yesterday!)

While it’s all moving so fast (as every parent seems to feel), we want to celebrate each undeserved moment. I want to share one in particular that God gifted me last night.

We’re at our church’s evening service.

Cheryl is in the pews and taking notes from the sermon. I’m in the foyer on a couch, attempting to keep Eden in one spot. She’s happily crawling around on the couch and in her right hand is a half-eaten snack.

The cracker is soft from her holding it for a long time.

I lean my head towards one of its corners.

“If you’re not going to eat it Eden…”

She hears the crunch, turns to me with a quizzical look…

then grins, and holds her hand out towards me, as if to say “here, have some more”.

She stares at me with a sweet smile and lets out a soft giggle for each playful bite I take.

And lest I finish off her food, before I can react she pulls her hand back and turns away to keep eating.

It seemed to me as if time slowed down, with a strong impression suggesting I’d just witnessed a special, almost (dare I say it) sacred moment.

“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.” – Psalm 128:3

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The other congregation this St Patrick’s Day

Tomorrow morning, there’ll be plenty of Christian saints meeting in churches across New Zealand to celebrate that Jesus died and rose.

Yet there’ll probably be more people meeting in pubs across New Zealand to celebrate “St. Patrick’s Day” with much drunken revelry.

If you get the opportunity to start a conversation, here are ~~two~~ four helpful primers on the real Patrick of Ireland.

http://matthiasmedia.com/briefing/2013/03/st-patrick-the-irish-evangelical/

http://www.rabbitroom.com/2013/03/on-the-greatness-of-saint-patrick/

http://www.powerofchange.org/blog/2010/3/13/patrick-of-ireland.html

http://theresurgence.com/2010/03/17/st-patrick-one-of-the-greatest-missionaries-who-ever-lived

You’ll be surprised to learn that:

He wasn’t Irish
He was never canonised as a “Saint”
He didn’t drive snakes out of Ireland
He grew up in a Christian home but was an atheist in his youth
He was an evangelist who God used to win whole villages for Christ

As Patrick himself once said:

“Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.”

Web curations (15 Mar)

#worldview

How we view the world we live in (our worldview) underpins every part of our life. Cameron Blair created an infographic with a summary of the major worldviews that exist today, with helpful 2-ways-to-live-styled diagrams (our associate pastor also taught a lengthy series on a biblical worldview).

World view of a different sort: An inside view into Google’s project “Ground Truth” to show how much work goes into creating Google Maps that work (the picture above shows the raw data, then the final result after the data is fixed). In the process they’re redefining what a map is. Alexis Madrigal writes:

“The maps we used to keep folded in our glove compartments were a collection of lines and shapes that we overlaid with human intelligence. Now, as we’ve seen, a map is a collection of lines and shapes with Nick Volmar’s (and hundreds of others’) intelligence encoded within.“

Apple has much work to do if it ever hopes to catch up. (HT: Henry)

#opinion

What day changed the course of history? 10 historians suggest a pivotal day in human history. Some fascinating and unexpected insights, though all from a secular perspective though (e.g. no mention of the illegal execution in 33 A.D. that changed everything…). One historian placed the Gutenberg printing press at the top, with its ensuing democratisation of ideas – most notably the Bible. (HT: @trevinwax)

#fun

Sound engineers can do anything (HT: @stephenaltrogge)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMCDwWZXd2w?rel=0]

Everyone grows old – Ana Oliveira has a really neat photography project. She finds old portraits, then shoots the subjects in the same pose years later. (HT: @challies)

“You who are young, be happy while you are young,
and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
God will bring you into judgement.” – Ecclesiastes 11:9

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On Google choosing to ditch Reader (suggestions welcome on how I replace this extension of my brain!):

"We need to focus. Keep the self-driving cars, magic glasses, laptop, handheld OS, and Brazilian social network. Ditch the feed reader."

— Pinboard (@Pinboard) March 14, 2013

Worshipping a crucified man?

Christians are often openly mocked for ascribing honour and worth to Jesus Christ. To skeptics and enemies of Christianity, it seems an absurd idea to worship a Jewish carpenter whose greatest accomplishment (humanly speaking) was to incite a riot and get himself executed.

Yet John Stott points out that this derision is not new:

“…Whether their background was Roman or Jewish or both, the early enemies of Christianity lost no opportunity to ridicule the claim that God’s anointed and man’s Savior ended his life on a cross. The idea was crazy.

This is well illustrated by a graffito from the second century, discovered on the Palatine Hill in Rome, on the wall of a house considered by some scholars to have been used as a school for imperial pages. It is the first surviving picture of the crucifixion, and is a caricature. A crude drawing depicts, stretched on a cross, a man with the head of a donkey. To the left stands another man, with one arm raised in worship. Unevenly scribbled underneath are the words ALEXAMENOS CEBETE THEON, “Alexamenos worships God.”

The cartoon is now in the Kircherian Museum in Rome. Whatever the origin of the accusation of donkey-worship (which was attributed to both Jews and Christians), it was the concept of worshipping a crucified man which was being held up to derision.”

– John Stott, The Cross of Christ: 20th Anniversary Edition (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 32.

It’s hard for us to imagine now, but to think of the Saviour of the world as a crucified Saviour would have been unthinkable to the Roman and Jewish cultures of the day.

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“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…” – Acts 2:36-38

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Rock of Ages (Ruth Buchanan version)

A couple of reasons why I appreciate this arrangement:

It’s very singable. Cheryl and I first heard this at YLC conference, and picked it up reasonably quickly.
It matches the words better. In my opinion, Thomas Hasting’s original “Toplady” tune and Richard Redhead’s Petra variation both sound a bit too bright and chirpy, compared with the helplessness and pathos that Augustus Toplady’s words evoke. Ruth Buchanan’s melody gets more urgent (diminutes) and lifts in pitch right at the emotional climax of the verse.
It suits a contemporary band better. Ruth’s melody I feel gives more space for each line of the hymn, which allows the church to think more on the words. Guitar and bass players might also appreciate the chords changing around less often.
It’s helped many younger Christians sing historical-redemptive theology. Toplady has packed this hymn with rich imagery, the most obvious one being that Jesus Christ is our Rock of refuge (Numbers 20:11, 1 Corinthians 10:4) and the only source of salvation. Verse 1’s line about the “double cure” helps to image both the justifying and sanctifying work of Christ on behalf of His children, and the third verse alludes to Genesis with “naked come to Thee for dress”. Ruth Buchanan’s melody continues to give wings to this hymn of the faith.

If you’d like to sing this song at your church, look up the following details on CCLI:

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