The Falls Church Live Worship CD

Really enjoying this album so far. Well led by Jamie Brown and rest of the music teams, and a great sound from the church. Some thoughts in no particular order:

  • Loved the corporate reading of Psalm 150 to go with “Praise the Lord” – makes me wonder what other liturgical elements work well on a Sunday morning, would have been neat to include those elements in the recording too (transitions, leading comments from Jamie/others)
  • This is the first live worship music CD I’ve heard that pairs organ with contemporary band really well. The voicing is a mix between letting the organ shine in places “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven”, to very able “synth” sounds in other songs to add depth. Organ + band can definitely be done!
  • Very congregational keys for each song – Chris Tomlin copycats take note!
  • The mix highlights active congregational participation (singing, rhythmic clapping) really well. If there was a video recording I’d almost imagine joyful dancing too…
  • Really neat song choices – I know about half of them (mostly the Sovereign Grace ones) but was stirred to worship with all of them.

You can read about the Falls Church’s story here. Jamie Brown and the gifted musicians at TFC would be my go-to example of a large evangelical Anglican church doing sung worship with excellence and joy.

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On nursery walls and foundations

 

I write this as I take a break from redoing the walls of our baby room. And  as I write this, Cheryl is busy planning her hospital bag, and Baby is tickling her from the inside.

When I was young, to my shame I paid little attention during most of my dad’s attempts to include me in his DIY efforts. Therefore, I’ve had the opportunity to learn from scratch a variety of skills to date: waterblasting, gibstopping, wallpaper stripping, painting, and so on.  (In some ways learning how to paint walls in the year 2012 is vastly easier than the generation before. I’ve sat here to google each step of the way and learnt much from tutorials and videos made by people who have taught me what my dad couldn’t.)

Anyways, one of the things about a job like redoing a baby’s room is that it gives you much time to think, pray, listen to God’s Word, and so on. Scraping old wallpaper glue is actually pretty relaxing once you add the dulcet tones of Max McLean’s voice into the mix.

 

Yet through all this time, one practical lesson that the Lord impressed upon me was the value — no actually, the necessity — of a proper foundation.

I mean, the painting process for our nursery takes several steps:

  1. Remove the old, painted on wallpaper
  2. Remove adhesive from gib board that won’t come off without dissolving and scraping
  3. Fill divots, holes and imperfections with putty
  4. Masking tape on the edges, skirting etc.
  5. Paint wall with a coat of primer
  6. Sand down any imperfections
  7. Paint wall with 1-2 coats of paint
  8. Touch up skirting and other unpainted areas
  9. Decorate walls with decals and other bits and pieces

 

So far I’m already on step 6. Yet the mistakes I didn’t correct in the earlier stages in preparing the foundation have followed me right through each step. Because my foundation had speckles and uncorrected divots and so on (not too many, thankfully), these mistakes have followed me right through the various stages.

It reminded me of other foundation-related lessons, such as the parable of the house on the rock/house on the sand (Matthew 7:21-28), the description of Christ as the only sure foundation to build upon (1 Cor 3:10-15), and many other lessons from the pages of life.

 

Look forward to finishing this DIY project!

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– William

(Also another thing I’ve learnt: turps do not go down the drain.)

Fifteen pro-life truths

From a booklet by John Piper  (emphasis mine):

  1. Existing fetal homicide laws make a man guilty of  manslaughter if he kills the baby in a mother’s womb  (except in the case of abortion).
  2. Fetal surgery is performed on babies in the womb to  save them while another child the same age is being  legally destroyed.
  3. Babies can sometimes survive on their own at 23 or 24  weeks, but abortion is legal beyond this limit.
  4. Living on its own is not the criterion of human personhood, as we know from the use of respirators and  dialysis.
  5. Size is irrelevant to human personhood, as we know  from the difference between a one-week-old and a  six-year-old.
  6. Developed reasoning powers are not the criterion of  personhood, as we know from the capacities of three month-old babies.
  7. Infants in the womb are human beings scientifically  by virtue of their genetic makeup.
  8. Ultrasound has given a stunning window on the womb  that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking his  thumb, recoiling from pricking, responding to sound.  All the organs are present, the brain is functioning, the  heart is pumping, the liver is making blood cells, the  kidneys are cleaning fluids, and there is a fingerprint.  Virtually all abortions happen later than this date.
  9. Justice dictates that when two legitimate rights conflict, the limitation of rights that does the least harm is  the most just. Bearing a child for adoption does less  harm than killing him.
  10. Justice dictates that when either of two people must  be inconvenienced or hurt to alleviate their united  predicament, the one who bore the greater responsibility for the predicament should bear more of the  inconvenience or hurt to alleviate it.
  11. Justice dictates that a person may not coerce harm  on another person by threatening voluntary harm on  themselves.
  12. The outcast and the disadvantaged and exploited are  to be cared for in a special way, especially those with  no voice of their own.
  13. What is happening in the womb is the unique personnurturing work of God, who alone has the right to give  and take life.
  14. There are countless clinics that offer life and hope to  both mother and child (and father and parents), with  care of every kind, lovingly provided by people who  will meet every need they can.
  15. Jesus Christ can forgive all sins, and will give all who  trusts him the help they need to do everything that  life requires.

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– William Chong

Why should we expect to emerge unscathed?

I read this quote the other day:

“Marriage, see, was God’s idea. It’s one of the most potent metaphors in all of Scripture for the way God loves us and the way we’re to let ourselves be loved by him. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. To the contrary, it’s fraught with peril. Any good marriage involves a thousand deaths to self–the good news is, in Christ that marriage involves at least as many resurrections. We lay our lives down and enter this perilous dance with another human being who has done the same. Why should we expect to emerge unscathed?”

– Andrew Peterson, describing the story behind his song “Dancing in the Minefields”

The ironic thing is, soon as I posted it, Cheryl and I got into an argument. I don’t remember exactly what it was about (to heighten the irony, perhaps it was an argument about posting things on Facebook!).

But we sinned and went to bed angry (well, I know I did). And the next morning, the first thing we had to do was to repent of our wrongs. We then asked each other for forgiveness. Death to self. Then a resurrection. So true.

Marriage is a wonderful, gracious way to expose how selfish I continue to be, and that I’d have no hope of changing from if it weren’t for God gently, courageously transforming me into His likeness (Rom 12:1-2).

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– William

y’Ear in Review 2010 and 2011

Summing up 2 years of life on one page isn’t an easy task. But a rain-swept, humid summer’s day in Auckland offers us the chance to share what the last two years of life have been like for us.

Much has happened since  the last time William wrote to you. And much more since the earlier years, both  painful and precious to reflect on.

In 2010 and 2011, one particular narrative from the Bible has been a remarkably apt allegory for our personal lives.

Through Moses, God spoke to the fledgling band of Israelites who’d just left for a far country:

“…when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you–with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant–and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.” (Deut 6:10-13)

 

Our connection to this story is that as Christians, a little like the Israelites, over the past two years  we’ve personally been gifted many things we don’t deserve.

The gift of marriage (6 Feb 2010, best day ever), and the chance for us to dance in minefields together

 

The gift of a home (crosslease, 2 bedrooms) full of all good things we didn’t fill, fruit-bearing vines we didn’t plant, and opportunities to practise and grow in hospitality (lit. “love for strangers”).

 

The gift of family – unconditionally loving  brothers, sisters, parents, partners, future brothers, and an adorable nephew!

 

The gift of a church family  who encourage us and spur us to love and serve our head shepherd, Jesus Christ.

 

The gift of ministry (Cheryl in sound/singing/wherever needed, William in leading gathered worship) – where there’s much joy, growth and refinement in the crucible of service to the Lord and His people.

 

The gift of friends from near and far: Gaithersburg, Howick, Brisbane, Christchurch, Kuching, Alabama and even our neighbours down the road

 

 

The gift of work (Cheryl as a web developer/soon-to-be-household manager, William as a medical writer) – which we get to gladly do as unto the Lord.

 

… and the gift of our own child – being fearfully and wonderfully woven together in Cheryl’s womb as we write this.

 

Even amidst the sadness, corruption and pain that sin and death brought to the world this year  (e.g. Japan, Christchurch), for reasons yet to be explained to us, God’s chosen to pour out much grace in our lives. And yet we’ve also met and befriended folks – people who you think surely have little to be thankful for this past year, but yet continue to see new mercies each day.

 

So  back to the story.

Just like God’s people in the time of Moses,

we also should  take care

lest we forget the Lord

who brings people out of slavery

into great things that we didn’t build, fill, dig, plant, or deserve

who gives to us much to eat and be filled with

and who did not spare even His own Son as  the ultimate gift

so that we might be reconciled to God Himself.

 

It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.

And so in response, this coming year may it be the LORD we revere, serve, swear by, and live by.

 

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

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– Cheryl and William