Entries from April 2007 ↓

I meant to post this last night after we got home. We introduced this song at church yesterday as a prelude. Seemed to have gone over pretty well (at least, as well as it could have with me singing it ). We’ll probably work it into the rotation sooner or later, but what a perfect Easter song.

(Audio clip here – and no, that’s not me singing.)

Hark, the voice of love and mercy,
Sounds aloud from Calvary!
See, it rends the rocks asunder,
Shakes the earth and veils the sky!
“It is finished, it is finished,”
Hear the dying Savior cry.
“It is finished, it is finished,”
Hear the dying Savior cry.

“It is finished,” O what pleasure,
Do these charming words afford.
Heavenly blessings, without measure,
Flow to us from Christ the Lord.
“It is finished, it is finished,”
Saints the dying words record.
“It is finished, it is finished,”
Saints the dying words record.

Finished all the types and shadows,
Of the ceremonial law;
Finished all that God had promised;
Death and hell no more shall awe.
“It is finished, it is finished,”
Saints from hence your comfort draw.
“It is finished, it is finished,”
Saints from hence your comfort draw.

Tune your harps anew, ye seraphs;
Join to sing the pleasing theme;
Saints on earth and all in heaven,
Join to praise Immanuel’s name.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Glory to the bleeding lamb!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Glory to the bleeding lamb!

[It is Finished - Part II (Hark, The Voice of Love and Mercy) - © 2006 Red Mountain Music]

Happy Easter.

A scenario to consider:

• A particular evangelical church is in the plateauing/declining stage.
• Said church hires young, handsome, dynamic new pastor.
• Said pastor preaches a sermon to his new flock on the assurance of salvation.
• Said sermon has as one point (among others) that to be assured of salvation, one must be able to point back to a particular moment in time when he “asked Jesus into his heart”.
• A woman who’s been a member and leader in the church for years is shaken by this point, as she can’t remember a definitive moment that she came to believe. She proceeds to pray the “Sinner’s Prayer” right there as the pastor preaches.
• She informs the pastor after the service that she had done this, and a few weeks later, she’s baptized.
• A few weeks after her baptism, the woman is informed by the church’s elders that, after meeting about the matter, they’ve decided that it would be best to remove her as Head Deaconess (and from the deaconesses altogether), because she’s a “new Christian”.
• She is more than a little put off by this decision and withdraws almost completely from the church.

This actually happened recently at a church around here (and before anyone starts wondering, no, not my church). This scenario probably plays out at least monthly in countless evangelical churches, honestly. I was bothered when I heard about it — horrified and disappointed, actually. It’s never made sense to me that so many otherwise solid churches teach that one’s salvation can be judged by whether or not one has prayed a particular prayer (and remembers it). Scripture teaches that faith in Christ is a gift given by God (“I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” – Ezek. 36:26-27), without regard to whether someone has prayed a prayer, signed a card, raised a hand, or has responded to an “altar call”, and without regard to how “good” someone has been. Assurance doesn’t come from any of these things. A better question would be “do you believe at this moment? Do you trust and treasure Jesus now?”

Back to this (now former) deaconess at this church for a moment.  Let’s entertain the notion that the elders are technically right in removing her from her position of leadership.  Scripture does indeed warn again giving positions of office in the church to new converts.  Let’s say that she really was a new convert who’d previously had no real faith in Christ.  Fine.  Why, then, has she been a member of your church for the past ten years?  What did you miss in the membership interview process?  The whole “credible profession of faith” thing, maybe?  That’s kind of important.  Or did she give a credible profession, and now you think that she was just full of crap (or “mistaken”)?

(I find it much more likely that she did indeed already have saving faith in Christ and that she just had no remembrance of exactly when that began.  As it stands, the church has lost a valuable leader and her faith is shaken, probably unnecessarily.)

Now, don’t get me wrong; there can be great value in remembering a time and place that you first consciously trusted Christ. Great value.  As a matter of fact, I remember my own “moment” like that . . . I was six years old. It was a hot summer night in Mobile, Alabama, and I was on my grandfather’s front porch with my Dad and my Aunt Lily. They talked to me about Jesus, about how everyone needs him and that being a “good boy” isn’t enough, and asked if I wanted to be “saved”. I said yes and we prayed together (actually, I think my Dad did all the praying). I was happy to be headed to Heaven, and spent the rest of the night trash-talking the Devil and shooting him with pretend Jesus Ice Beams from my newly justified fingertips. It’s a precious memory for me, and God used that time to draw me to him.

What I’m saying is that the occurrence of such a moment (or its remembrance) isn’t a ground for reconciliation to God. While it may encourage some believers if they can look back on such a moment (as it does me), binding someone’s conscience by making it a litmus test is wrong and baseless. Not only that, but I can’t even enumerate the number of people I’ve heard say “well, I know I’m going to Heaven because I prayed a prayer/went forward/signed a card when I was little!”

Pastors . . . teachers . . . Christians: stop believing this lie. Then, stop lying to others. You’re spooking many true believers and damaging their faith, and you may be giving false assurance to people who actually don’t believe anything.  Just preach Christ and him crucified.  He’ll draw those who he will, when he will, and he may not do it with a “Sinner’s Prayer” or an altar call.  It’s okay.  Really.  Jesus isn’t a formula.

The trip to Virginia Beach was really good, and much needed, but it’s good to be back in Columbus.

This was actually our second time to go to VB in as many years. Amy’s friend Krystal got married this time, and last year, Krystal’s twin sister, Keri, likewise jumped the broom. (Read – briefly – about last year’s trip here.) So, while it was a little disconcerting to not have to deal with seeing pre-teen and teenaged girls in skimpy “clothes” everywhere* (last year’s trip was during Spring Break), there was still a sense of familiarity with the surroundings. We once again stopped and stayed at a hotel — the same hotel, in fact — in Hagerstown, MD the first night of travel, and once again headed to the National Zoo in DC the next day. Zoë had a great time again. She especially looked forward to seeing the elephant, because, in her words, “they’ll remember me from last year”. I liked the little guy on the above right, myself.

Next few days were spent actually in Virginia Beach after a few more hours of relatively painless driving. We got a good deal on an oceanfront hotel (like last year) and spent some time on the beach. Saturday was the wedding, which was beautiful and Christ-centered (though the jokes during the homily were a little… preacher-y). It was a bit déjà vu-ish seeing Krystal walk down the aisle and take vows, as her sister who looks just like her just did the same thing twelve months ago. Weird.

The reception was a great time, especially for Z. She was on the dance floor more than anyone the whole night. There’s almost nothing funnier than seeing a three-and-a-half-year-old girl in a pretty spring dress, getting down to Justin Timberlake, and shouting “this is my song!”

Spent Sunday at Krystal’s parents’ house, hanging out with their family and some of the wedding guests, and then headed home that night. Good to be back.

[I wish I had more pictures to show you, but the camera ended up breaking on the third day of the trip. (That does, however, give me a valid reason to purchase this beaut.)]

*: Where are these girls’ fathers? Grandfathers? Uncles? Brothers? Ugh.

Why, it’s The Ringing Bell, of course.

Derek Webb’s new studio album is set for release on May 1, but there’s no good reason to wait until then to hear it. Head over to TheRingingBell.com and stream the whole thing. Better yet, pre-order the album for an immediate digital download, and get a 96-page graphic novel based on the album when it’s released (and the physical disc, of course).

This is good stuff, folks. May be Derek’s best work yet. A little more “accessible” than I See Things Upside-Down and Mockingbird, so a little bit of the shiny indie cred has worn off, but still . . . great musicianship and great songwriting.

(And yes, seven bucks may be a little steep for shipping, it’s true. Order with the Amazon link above or at a show if you only want the album when it’s released. Just remember: there’s a time for free shipping and there’s a time for exorbitant shipping charges; and this, too, shall be made right.)