Sunday Hymn: Mighty God, While Angels Bless Thee

MIGHTY GOD, WHILE ANGELS BLESS THEE

Mighty God, while angels bless thee,
May a mortal sing thy name?
Lord of men as well as angels,
Thou art every creature's theme.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

Lord of every land and nation,
Ancient of eternal days,
Sounded through the wide creation
Be thy just and lawful praise.

For the grandeur of thy nature,
Grand beyond the seraph's thought;
For created works of power,
Works with skill and kindness wrought.

But thy rich, thy free redemption,
Dark through brightness all along,
Thought is poor, and poor expression,
Who dare sing that awful song?

Brightness of the Father's glory,
Shall thy praise unuttered lie?
Fly, my tongue, such guilty silence,
Sing the Lord who came to die:

From the highest throne in glory,
To the cross of deepest woe,
All to ransom guilty captives,
Flow my praise, for ever flow.

Trinity Hymnal #5

Quote of the Week: Calvin

[W]herever there is a lively perception of heavenly things, the world with all its allurements is not so relished, that either poverty or shame can overwhelm our minds with grief. If then we wish to bear anything for Christ with patience and resigned minds, let us accustom ourselves to a frequent meditation on that felicity, in comparison with which all the good things of the world are nothing but refuse. 

John Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews, Chapter 10

A big, fat goose egg

Zero degrees this morning.  Cold, dark, gritty snow.  That's January in Chicagoland.

But it's warm and cozy indoors and for the first time this week, I have a day all to my self.  No appointments, no errands--just a few house chores and the I'll be working at my drawing board, listening to the radio or my Ipod, ignoring the cold truth of winter and enjoying the bright winter sunshine and dreaming of spring, and my new granddaughter, and my niece's summer wedding.

And it's Friday.  I love Fridays because Tom comes home a half hour earlier and we have the whole weekend ahead of us--sleeping in on Saturday, sipping coffee and reading newspapers together, a late breakfast--we sort of roll into the day.

Happy Friday, friends! 

Thankful Thursdays 2010

Today I am so thankful that the sun is streaming into the house and the sun sets AFTER 5 pm now!

It's bitter cold and windy but the sunshine reminds me that spring is on the way!

'On the way' reminds me that my little grand daughter, Madelyn, is on the way!  Next week we turn the page to February--the month that Madelyn arrives.  The anticipation is growing each day!

Dictionary Word of the Day: Panjandrum

Today's Dictionary Word of the Day comes with a story:

panjandrum

pan-JAN-druhm\ , noun;

1.An important personage or pretentious official.

Origin:

Panjandrum was coined by Samuel Foote (1720-1777) in a piece of nonsense writing:

So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf to make an apple-pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. "What! No soap?" So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber: and there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies, and the grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top, and they all fell to playing the game of catch-as-catch-can till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.

It was composed on the spot to challenge actor Charles Macklin's claim that he could memorize anything. Macklin is said to have refused to repeat a word of it.

Note to Self

Sparrows are chattering in the trees outside the living room window!  I hadn't realized how much I've missed the sound of bird song!

To re-read or not to re-read. . .

. . .that is the questionl

My husband (who knows that I collect quotes and that I re-read books over and over) just sent me this quote:

"If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all."
Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet, Novelist, Dramatist and Critic, 1854-1900)

And of course, it got me thinking (good quotes always do!)  Do I really agree with Mr. Wilde?  I have my own opinion but I'm wondering. . .do YOU agree with Mr. Wilde?  Why or why not?

The Big Melt

We've had a heavy snow cover since right around Christmas.  It's been a bit warmer for the past few days and we've had some meltage, but today will be the big melt.  Forty-five degrees with a steady rain.

The gutters are still frozen and the downspouts are under snow and ice.  I hope the basement doesn't flood.

Sunday Hymn: Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word

BLESSED JESUS, AT THY WORD

Blessed Jesus, at thy word
We are gathered all to hear thee;
Let our hearts and souls be stirred
Now to seek and love and fear thee,
By thy teachings, sweet and holy,
Drawn from earth to love thee solely.

All our knowledge, sense, and sight
Lie in deepest darkness shrouded
Till thy Spirit breaks our night
With the beams of truth unclouded.
Thou alone to God canst win us;
Thou must work all good within us.

Glorious Lord, thyself impart,
Light of Light, from God proceeding;
Open thou our ears and heart,
Help us by thy Spirit's pleading;
Hear the cry thy people raises,
Hear and bless our prayers and praises.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Praise to thee and adoration!
Grant that we thy Word may trust
And obtain true consolation
While we here below must wander,
Till we sing thy praises yonder.

Trinity Hymnal #220

Quote of the Week: Thomas Reade and Calvin

I read this quote recently and it came to mind as I read Chapter 12 of Calvin's Institutes:

“If we are preferring any earthly object, of whatever kind to Jesus Christ, if our affections are placed on any other being in opposition to Him; or if we are seeking our delight in any created thing as distinct from Him and independent of Him, we are neglecting His great salvation; yes, setting up idols in our hearts. We must love the adorable Saviour with a supreme affection; and we must love other objects only for His sake. Our temporal blessings must be enjoyed as flowing from Him; our friends and domestic comforts must be received as gifts coming to us through His redeeming grace. All we possess must be held at His disposal and with a view to that account which we must one day give. Thus Christ must be the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and ending, of all our desires and affections. “

THOMAS READE

Calvin was dealing more specifically with God as our sole object of worship, the difference between worship and service, and how the Law gives strict boundaries to reign in our human propensity to worship and serve men, but we are so prone to give our affections to earthly possessions and created things.  It was Calvin who said that the human heart is a factory of idols. This is true even for Christians and ought to drive us again and again back to the One who gave His life that we might be reconciled to God!

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Thankful Thursday 2010

Dorothy and I have the same thankful thoughts this Thursday.

This afternoon we gathered around Dorothy's kitchen table with our dear friend and Bible study buddy, Carol, and worked our way through Hebrews 10:26-31:

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

It was a very sobering passage.  I'm very thankful for the words of John Calvin:

This severity of God is indeed dreadful, but it is set forth for the purpose of inspiring terror. He cannot, however, be accused of cruelty; for as the death of Christ is the only remedy by which we can be delivered from eternal death, are not they who destroy as far as they can its virtue and benefit worthy of being left to despair? God invites to daily reconciliation those who abide in Christ; they are daily washed by the blood of Christ, their sins are daily expiated by his perpetual sacrifice. As salvation is not to be sought except in him, there is no need to wonder that all those who willfully forsake him are deprived of every hope of pardon: this is the import of the adverb ἔτι, more. But Christ’s sacrifice is efficacious to the godly even to death, though they often sin; nay, it retains ever its efficacy, for this very reason, because they cannot be free from sin as long as they dwell in the flesh. The Apostle then refers to those alone who wickedly forsake Christ, and thus deprive themselves of the benefit of his death.

Worth the effort it takes

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

[But] images are so far from helping unto this thing, (the true worship and honoring of God)  that the same do (in) diverse ways hinder and restrain every man from the true honoring of God.

Martin Bucer, Images

I've been slowly slogging my way through an article written in Old English entitled Images, by Martin Bucer, an early German Reformer.  Once you get going, it's not that hard to figure out what is being said, however, I am having a hard time reading it with comprehension.  Here's an example:

Bycause the trewe honouring of god can nat be but either mynisshed, orels dyverse wayes letted: as sone as we shall suffre the sayde ymages, contrary to the commaundement of god in churches, or in other places, where they be honoured or els maye be honoured. For substancyall & parfyte fayth, & the parfyte honouryng of god requyreth, that we shulde do our dilygence to cause this only god to be knowen in all places, that we shulde drede and honour him: that we shulde in all places and at all tymes with full mouth, prayse & magnify the workes of him alone. But ymages ar so farre from helpynge unto this thyng, that the same do dyverse wayes hyndre & let every man from the trewe honouring of god.

I'm finding that I can mentally figure out the words but in a sentence, those parts don't make a whole; the sense of the sentence is lost to me until I type it out and then re-read it.  It's a challenge, but it's fun--and worth it:

Because the true honoring of God cannot be but either 'minished (diminished) or else diverse ways letted (lead away from?): as soon as we shall suffer (permit) the said images, contrary to the commandment of God in churches, or in other places, wehre they be honored or else may be honored.  For substantial and (perfect?) faith, and the (perfect?) honoring of God requires that we should do our diligence to cause this only God to be known in all places, that we should dread and honor him:  that we should in all places and at all times with full mouth, praise and magnify the works of Him alone.  But images are so far from helping this thing that the same do (in) diverse ways hyndre and restrain every man from the true honoring of God.

I get by with a little help from my friends

The sweetest thing happened this morning.

I had to run some errands.  Eve was sleeping on her pillow; Ivy on the couch.  I called both dogs to their crates.  Ivy ran straight to her crate, but Eve had a hard time waking up.  I had to call her loudly (she is very deaf) because she becomes afraid if you touch her when she's asleep or in that confused state (she is nearly blind).  I finally got her to a standing position and she immediately took off for the space between a chair and the TV cabinet, thinking it was her crate (which is in the next room).  After some struggles, I got her turned around and headed in the right direction, but she missed the door to the room and got herself stuck behind a chair near the door.  Again, I had to call her name and gently get her turned around so she could be led into the room.  When we got to the door, Ivy was standing in the office, watching Eve blundering about and me blundering right along with her, trying to lead her into her crate.  She tried to go into the open space in the computer cabinet.  She tried to go under the desk.  Ivy was standing there, taking it all in.  Once she had sized up the situation, Ivy sprang into action.  She helped me herd Eve into her crate and even opened the crate door wider for Eve.  Once Eve had entered her crate, Ivy stuck her nose in and 'kissed' Eve before I shut the crate door, then she turned and ran to her own crate.

She got an extra cookie.

Sunday Hymn: Not All the Blood of Beasts

NOT ALL THE  BLOOD OF BEASTS

Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain,
Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or wash away the stain:

But Christ, the heavenly Lamb
Takes all our sins away,
A sacrifice of nobler name
And richer blood than they.

My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of thine,
While like a penitent I stand,
And there confess my sin.

My soul looks back to see
The burdens thou didst bear,
When hanging on the cursed tree,
And knows her guilt was there.

Believing, we rejoice
To see the curse remove;
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And sing his bleeding love.

Trinity Hymnal #176

Quote of the Week: Calvin

(I)t must be regarded as a fixed principle, that all modes of worship devised by man are detestable.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book One, Chapter 11

Reading through Chapter 11 reminded me of my first introduction to The Institutes.  It was back in 2004 during the weeks leading up to the release of Mel Gibson's controversial movie, The Passion of the Christ.  I was reading a lot about the pros and cons of the movie.  Many Christians were anxiously awaiting its release, others were sounding strong warnings--often on Biblical grounds surrounding the Second Commandment.  There were those I admired on both sides of the controversy, so I spent as much time as I needed to sort through the Biblical issues surrounding the Second Commandment for myself--chief among those the issues of images of God/Christ as well as questions about what constitutes Biblical worship. 

I've decided not to move on to Chapter 12 until after I've had a chance to review some of what I learned back then.  Once I've found my way back from my bunny trail, I'll pick back up at Chapter 12.

Thankful Thursdays 2010

Another Thursday*, another day to count my blessings and give thanks!

My thankful list:

I'm thankful for some special 'Grandma and Elliott' time this week

I'm thankful for favorite children's books to share with my little reader

I'm thankful for appreciative giggles from Elliott when I act silly. 

I'm thankful that I can still remember (and recite) every single word and I can still sing every single word of every single song of the old 'Cat in the Hat' video

I'm thankful that that same video that drove me nuts all those years ago brought as much joy to Elliott as it did to his father and uncles all those years ago

I'm thankful that the medical tests I had on Tuesday weren't as bad as I expected and that I had dreaded them for nothing

I'm thankful that my dear friend, Dorothy's test results came back normal!

I'm thankful that the temperature is above freezing and the monster icicles are melting

I'm thankful for short chair naps and a peaceful afternoons

I'm thankful I took a few extra days to read through Book One Chapter Eleven of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion instead of blustering through quickly to 'keep up.' 

I'm thankful for opportunties

I'm thankful that I can pray for wisdom and God hears me

I'm thankful for books

and time

and bedtime

I am thankful for time to reflect on this good day

I am thankful.

*God willing, I will be joining Kim at the Upward Call and many other bloggers in stopping for a moment each Thursday in 2010.  Why don't you join me in spending some time reflecting on the great blessings that God has given and then GIVING THANKS to the One from Whom all blessings flow.

Institutes of the Christian Religion: Chapters 9 and 10

(W)hat kind of Spirit did our Saviour promise to send? One who should not speak of himself (John 16:13), but suggest and instil the truths which he himself had delivered through the word. Hence the office of the Spirit promised to us, is not to form new and unheard-of revelations, or to coin a new form of doctrine, by which we may be led away from the received doctrine of the gospel, but to seal on our minds the very doctrine which the gospel recommends.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book One Chapter Nine

Regarding the Attributes of God revealed in Creation:

Assuredly, the attributes which it is most necessary for us to know are these three: Loving-kindness, on which alone our entire safety depends: Judgment, which is daily exercised on the wicked, and awaits them in a severer form, even for eternal destruction: Righteousness, by which the faithful are preserved, and most benignly cherished.

Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book One Chapter 10

Sunday Hymn: And Can it Be

AND CAN IT BE

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Quote of the Week: Calvin

(T)he testimony of the Spirit is superior to reason. For as God alone can properly bear witness to his own words, so these words will not obtain full credit in the hearts of men, until they are sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book One, Chapter 8

Quotable Calvin

For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any books however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly. God therefore bestows a gift of singular value, when, for the instruction of the Church, he employs not dumb teachers merely, but opens his own sacred mouth; when he not only proclaims that some God must be worshipped, but at the same time declares that He is the God to whom worship is due; when he not 65only teaches his elect to have respect to God, but manifests himself as the God to whom this respect should be paid.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book One, Chapter 6