Our dog Manu died last night. The kids are sad and having a hard time, but they are happy to have had a few years with such a fun and kid-friendly dog. Much of today is remembering their best times with Manu. We’ve been talking theology, and the kids are handling it well.
This weekend I’m preaching on Hebrews 9, and in chasing a few leads online about relevant material I came across this old hymn by Isaac Watts comparing/contrasting the OT priesthood and Christ’s ministry as High Priest. Beautiful stuff.
Hymn 145
Jesus, in thee our eyes behold
A thousand glories more,
Than the rich gems and polished gold
The sons of Aaron wore.They first their own burnt-offerings brought,
To purge themselves from sin;
Thy life was pure without a spot,
And all thy nature clean.Fresh blood as constant as the day
Was on their altar spilt;
But thy one offering takes away
For ever all our guilt.Their priesthood ran through several hands,
For mortal was their race;
Thy never-changing office stands
Eternal as thy days.Once in the circuit of a year,
With blood, but not his own,
Aaron within the veil appears
Before the golden throne:But Christ, by his own powerful blood,
Ascends above the skies,
And in the presence of our God
Shows his own sacrifice.Jesus, the King of glory, reigns
On Zion’s heav’nly hill;
Looks like a lamb that has been slain,
And wears his priesthood still.He ever lives to intercede
Before his Father’s face:
Give him, my soul, thy cause to plead,
Nor doubt the Father’s grace.
You can’t talk about Watt’s today without thinking of Sojourn’s amazing new CD, Over the Grave, where they have taken Watt’s lesser known works and written new music. Fantastic stuff – a must have. Get it here.
Last night I finally started reading Paul E. Miller’s A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World
“…don’t hunt for a feeling in prayer. Deep in our psyches we want an experience with God or an experience in prayer. Once we make that our quest, we lose God. You don’t experience God; you get to know him. You submit to him, you enjoy him. He is, after all, a person.
(pg, 21)
I’m not sure that I hunt for a feeling in prayer, but the thought that I shouldn’t seek to experience God, but experience life with God is the kind of precise exhortation I need. God isn’t a feeling, but a person I was made to know. It’s like with my wife, Jen. I don’t set out to experience her, I seek to know her more fully and experience life with her.
He also likens prayer to a family meal – a beautiful picture I can appreciate. As he unpacks this idea he points out that we often think of prayer solely in terms of the words we are using. We so focus on the conversation that we miss out on the person with whom we are talking. At his family meals (what he considers his family’s “best times”) no one is working on the conversation – it flows out of their love for one another. Miller says,
Oddly enough, many people struggle to learn how to pray because they are focusing on praying, not on God. Making prayer the center is like making conversation the center of a family mealtime. In prayer, focusing on the conversatin is like trying to drive while looking at the windshield instead of through it. It freezes us, making us unsure of where to go.
(pg. 20)
I met with some young men at our church yesterday, and as we shared how we could be praying for one another I told them one area to always pray for in my life is prayer. They lifted me up yesterday and God is already coming to my aid through Miller’s book. If you don’t have it, get A Praying Life
Dear Self,
You really should be singing more. You should be singing more than at gathered worship with the church. You should continue singing in the car, while working in the yard and in your home. And when you sing you should do so with more than lungs and lips. You should sing with your soul.
And stop rolling your eyes!
People sing about the things that capture their hearts, things that give them joy, or allow them to express sorrow. People sing of heroes, victory, longing, and hope. Does anyone have more reasons to sing than you? As a sinner who has been forgiven, a slave who has been set free, a blind man who has received sight, a spiritual cripple who has been healed – all by the gospel, you have real reasons to be known as a man of song!
It is one thing to tell the world of God’s redemption, it is another to sing of it. It’s easy to parrot truth, but to sing of it – from the soul – reveals how you feel. Song is the natural and appropriate response to the gospel, because it is one of the highest expressions of joy.
So why aren’t you singing “always, only for your king?” Have the mercies of God grown small in your heart? Is there little joy, little gratitude, little wonder? Do you just not feel like singing? The confession of your sins and gospel meditation will lead you there. Get on it!
From the great hymns of old, to the new songs echoing the wonders of God’s mercy you have more means of finding songs of redemption than any other generation before you. So join the chorus of God’s people who have always been known as a people who sing.
Bob Thune on why preaching might be killing your church plant
Pat Aldridge on growing kids in grace
The book I recommended to Redeemer this past weekend
From porn to purity
Advance 09 Audio
I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship, husband to Jen, Dad to Katherine, Elias and Madeline - and the short, bald guy in Starbucks writing in a Moleskine journal.
