7/26/2006
OLD PEOPLE
NUMBER 155
Old People
OLD PEOPLE
Mount Hermon
Old People pray for their children.
And then,
They pray for their children's children.
And sometimes also
For their children's children's children.
Old people, from long practice,
Can do this praying while taking a nap;
First on the left hip,
Then on the right,
Then on the back until
All their bones are
Slightly achy.
Eventually,
They get up slowly
To answer questions and
Eat rhubarb pie.
JS 5/01/7/06
093
+++++++
“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance.”
Romans 8.22-23, The Message
Old People
OLD PEOPLE
Mount Hermon
Old People pray for their children.
And then,
They pray for their children's children.
And sometimes also
For their children's children's children.
Old people, from long practice,
Can do this praying while taking a nap;
First on the left hip,
Then on the right,
Then on the back until
All their bones are
Slightly achy.
Eventually,
They get up slowly
To answer questions and
Eat rhubarb pie.
JS 5/01/7/06
093
+++++++
“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance.”
Romans 8.22-23, The Message
7/21/2006
JOB, GUILDER AND THE JUDGE
NUMBER 154
Job, Gilder and The Judge.
Once upon a time, God bragged to Satan on a man named Job:
“Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning from evil.” (Job 1.8)
Satan suggested Job was in it for the good life it got for him—“he serves you for the stuff. Take away the stuff and he will curse you.”
“I don’t think so—take his stuff, just don’t touch him.”
Satan did his best and in one day Job lost all his stuff: his herds and servants and children. He did not curse God, he worshipped.
Later, God brought it up again. Satan argued that as long as a man has his health, he has hope. God agreed to another round—“Do what you will to his body, but spare his life.”
Satan lost the second round too. Job was reduced to a miserable pile of boils and sores, sitting on the ash heap, scraping himself for relief. His wife was not very supportive either, but he did not curse God.
Soon three friends arrived from a distance to comfort and counsel him. Everyone was convinced Job must have done something to deserve all this suffering. After an extensive dialogue with many speeches and an additional friend’s extended comments, God finally stepped in to settle the dust.
God did not do what we might expect. He did not explain to Job why this has happened. He did not tell Job what good may come of it. He did not straighten out Job’s friends on their misdiagnoses of Job’s problem.
What does He do? He takes Job on long, Socratic walk in the garden of His creation. He asks Job a whole string of rhetorical questions, intended not to intimidate or embarrass Job, but to instruct him. God speaks of the light and the darkness, the sea and the rain, the constellations and the clouds. God talks about the lion, the mountain goat, the ostrich, the crocodile, the hippopotamus, the eagle--and other things he originally called “very good” and clearly still takes great delight in.
Job came out of this walk in the Garden with a new understanding of God and of himself:
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.”
Therefore I retract, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42.5-6
Job was sorry for presuming to question the Sovereign Creator on the way He runs his shop—but he had suffered for God’s honor and maintained his integrity and God was vindicated before the Accuser. God’s final judgment on the matter vindicated Job before his friends.
What got me thinking on this was an article in the July 17th National Review (Evolution and Me) by George Gilder. Gilder is a student of science and technology, among other things, and his article is an essay on the deathblow to Darwinian materialism dealt by recent advances in microbiology.
In my mind’s eye I saw John E. Jones III, the gullible federal judge in central Pennsylvania who earlier this year went to great lengths to purge Intelligent Design from public education, standing before the Creator and being asked about the kinds of things Gilder describes in these paragraphs:
“No evolutionary theory can succeed without confronting the 'cell' and the 'word.' In each of the some 300 trillion cells in every human body, the words of life churn almost flawlessly through our flesh and nervous system at a speed that utterly dwarfs the data rates of all the world’s supercomputers. For example, just to assemble some 500 amino-acid units into each of the trillions of complex hemoglobin molecules that transfer oxygen from the lungs to bodily tissues takes a total of some 250 peta operations per second. (The word “peta” refers to the number ten to the 15th power — so this tiny process requires 250x1015 operations.)”
“Interpreting a DNA program and translating it through a code into a physical molecule, the cells collectively function at almost a thousand times the processing speed of IBM’s new Blue Gene/L state-of-the-art supercomputer. This information processing in one human body for just one function exceeds by some 25 percent the total computing power of all the world’s 200 million personal computers produced every year.”
The “words of life” that “churn almost flawlessly through our flesh and nervous system” are nothing less than the words of Him who is The Word, who “upholds all things by the word of His power.” (Hebrews 1.3)
Sadly, God will not confront the good Judge and his ilk with their arrogant foolishness in this life and in this way. I guess what it comes down to is a reminder that we who are Ambassadors of the King and who are commissioned to press for His crown rights wherever and whenever we have opportunity have a job to do.
So write a letter to the editor today! Even at the Herald Leader, our local liberal rag, one person has to read the letters. Once in a while they even print one that speaks the truth.
Job, Gilder and The Judge.
Once upon a time, God bragged to Satan on a man named Job:
“Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning from evil.” (Job 1.8)
Satan suggested Job was in it for the good life it got for him—“he serves you for the stuff. Take away the stuff and he will curse you.”
“I don’t think so—take his stuff, just don’t touch him.”
Satan did his best and in one day Job lost all his stuff: his herds and servants and children. He did not curse God, he worshipped.
Later, God brought it up again. Satan argued that as long as a man has his health, he has hope. God agreed to another round—“Do what you will to his body, but spare his life.”
Satan lost the second round too. Job was reduced to a miserable pile of boils and sores, sitting on the ash heap, scraping himself for relief. His wife was not very supportive either, but he did not curse God.
Soon three friends arrived from a distance to comfort and counsel him. Everyone was convinced Job must have done something to deserve all this suffering. After an extensive dialogue with many speeches and an additional friend’s extended comments, God finally stepped in to settle the dust.
God did not do what we might expect. He did not explain to Job why this has happened. He did not tell Job what good may come of it. He did not straighten out Job’s friends on their misdiagnoses of Job’s problem.
What does He do? He takes Job on long, Socratic walk in the garden of His creation. He asks Job a whole string of rhetorical questions, intended not to intimidate or embarrass Job, but to instruct him. God speaks of the light and the darkness, the sea and the rain, the constellations and the clouds. God talks about the lion, the mountain goat, the ostrich, the crocodile, the hippopotamus, the eagle--and other things he originally called “very good” and clearly still takes great delight in.
Job came out of this walk in the Garden with a new understanding of God and of himself:
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.”
Therefore I retract, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42.5-6
Job was sorry for presuming to question the Sovereign Creator on the way He runs his shop—but he had suffered for God’s honor and maintained his integrity and God was vindicated before the Accuser. God’s final judgment on the matter vindicated Job before his friends.
What got me thinking on this was an article in the July 17th National Review (Evolution and Me) by George Gilder. Gilder is a student of science and technology, among other things, and his article is an essay on the deathblow to Darwinian materialism dealt by recent advances in microbiology.
In my mind’s eye I saw John E. Jones III, the gullible federal judge in central Pennsylvania who earlier this year went to great lengths to purge Intelligent Design from public education, standing before the Creator and being asked about the kinds of things Gilder describes in these paragraphs:
“No evolutionary theory can succeed without confronting the 'cell' and the 'word.' In each of the some 300 trillion cells in every human body, the words of life churn almost flawlessly through our flesh and nervous system at a speed that utterly dwarfs the data rates of all the world’s supercomputers. For example, just to assemble some 500 amino-acid units into each of the trillions of complex hemoglobin molecules that transfer oxygen from the lungs to bodily tissues takes a total of some 250 peta operations per second. (The word “peta” refers to the number ten to the 15th power — so this tiny process requires 250x1015 operations.)”
“Interpreting a DNA program and translating it through a code into a physical molecule, the cells collectively function at almost a thousand times the processing speed of IBM’s new Blue Gene/L state-of-the-art supercomputer. This information processing in one human body for just one function exceeds by some 25 percent the total computing power of all the world’s 200 million personal computers produced every year.”
The “words of life” that “churn almost flawlessly through our flesh and nervous system” are nothing less than the words of Him who is The Word, who “upholds all things by the word of His power.” (Hebrews 1.3)
Sadly, God will not confront the good Judge and his ilk with their arrogant foolishness in this life and in this way. I guess what it comes down to is a reminder that we who are Ambassadors of the King and who are commissioned to press for His crown rights wherever and whenever we have opportunity have a job to do.
So write a letter to the editor today! Even at the Herald Leader, our local liberal rag, one person has to read the letters. Once in a while they even print one that speaks the truth.
7/12/2006
ETERNITY
NUMBER 153
Eternity
God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3.11 NLB
On a good day, enjoy yourself;
On a bad day, examine your conscience.
God arranges for both kinds of days
So that we won’t take anything for granted.
Ecclesiastes 7.14 The Message
7/06/2006
CAMELS
NUMBER ONE-FIFTY-TWO
Camels
What goes around comes around.
In the summer of 1995 we began a house church with two other families. We spent a considerable amount of time deciding on a name. It had to mean something at first glance and had to mean more when it was explained—it had to be something that could be preached. We ended up calling ourselves The Pilgrim Bible Assembly.
We chose "Pilgrim" because we thought of ourselves as a caravan—as described by Vernard Eller, “a group of people banded together to make common cause in seeking a common destination. The being of a caravan lies not in any signed and sealed authorization but in the way it functions. Its validity lies not in its apparatus but in the performance of its caravaners -- each and every one of them. A caravan is only a caravan as long as it is making progress -- or at least striving to make progress. Once the caravaners stop, dig in, or count themselves as having arrived, they no longer constitute a caravan.” (from Outward Bound )
We chose "Bible" because this is the written revelation of the Eternal God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice, and should be at the heart of every local expression of the Body Of Christ.
We chose "Assembly" for two reasons. First to describe what the local church is and second, to communicate to persons familiar with the Plymouth Brethren church polity and history that they might feel at home with us.
This was all just fine but I am a graphically oriented person. After a good deal of additional discussion (I think I finally wore them out), the other two families finally agreed that a picture of a camel caravan would graphically complement our written materials.
From 1995 until 2002 we grew to about 120 persons. We moved out of the home into one storefront, outgrew that and moved into a larger storefront. We lived a pilgrim existence. My wife and I left the group at that time, they did fine without us.
Last week one of the Elders called me to tell me a story. Their lease and options on their present facility are finished in August. They have been looking unsuccessfully for a suitable place.
He remembered a space that another church had used and drove by it to find it empty with a “For Lease” sign in the window. He called the owner and discovered the owner was a client of his brokerage firm—he knew the man.
When they got together the owner was apologetic—wished he had known earlier but he had a small company who wanted the space. But the owner decided he would show it and it was perfect in every way.
To make a long story a little shorter, the other company decided not to take the space and when the Elders were seeing it as a group they met in the owner’s office. There was a stack of Beanie Babies on the shelf. The owner handed one to one of the Elders as a remembrance of the way the owner said, “God seemed to be putting this whole thing together.”
The Elders stopped outside in the parking lot and considered the Beanie Baby—it was a camel!
Camels
What goes around comes around.
In the summer of 1995 we began a house church with two other families. We spent a considerable amount of time deciding on a name. It had to mean something at first glance and had to mean more when it was explained—it had to be something that could be preached. We ended up calling ourselves The Pilgrim Bible Assembly.
We chose "Pilgrim" because we thought of ourselves as a caravan—as described by Vernard Eller, “a group of people banded together to make common cause in seeking a common destination. The being of a caravan lies not in any signed and sealed authorization but in the way it functions. Its validity lies not in its apparatus but in the performance of its caravaners -- each and every one of them. A caravan is only a caravan as long as it is making progress -- or at least striving to make progress. Once the caravaners stop, dig in, or count themselves as having arrived, they no longer constitute a caravan.” (from Outward Bound )
We chose "Bible" because this is the written revelation of the Eternal God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice, and should be at the heart of every local expression of the Body Of Christ.
We chose "Assembly" for two reasons. First to describe what the local church is and second, to communicate to persons familiar with the Plymouth Brethren church polity and history that they might feel at home with us.
This was all just fine but I am a graphically oriented person. After a good deal of additional discussion (I think I finally wore them out), the other two families finally agreed that a picture of a camel caravan would graphically complement our written materials.
From 1995 until 2002 we grew to about 120 persons. We moved out of the home into one storefront, outgrew that and moved into a larger storefront. We lived a pilgrim existence. My wife and I left the group at that time, they did fine without us.
Last week one of the Elders called me to tell me a story. Their lease and options on their present facility are finished in August. They have been looking unsuccessfully for a suitable place.
He remembered a space that another church had used and drove by it to find it empty with a “For Lease” sign in the window. He called the owner and discovered the owner was a client of his brokerage firm—he knew the man.
When they got together the owner was apologetic—wished he had known earlier but he had a small company who wanted the space. But the owner decided he would show it and it was perfect in every way.
To make a long story a little shorter, the other company decided not to take the space and when the Elders were seeing it as a group they met in the owner’s office. There was a stack of Beanie Babies on the shelf. The owner handed one to one of the Elders as a remembrance of the way the owner said, “God seemed to be putting this whole thing together.”
The Elders stopped outside in the parking lot and considered the Beanie Baby—it was a camel!
