How Can I Keep From Singing: Episode 4

Emerging from their own Reformation saga, the Anglican Church initially focused on Psalms and developed their own Psalters, much in the spirit of Jean Calvin’s musical reforms. While there are a few examples of hymns from the 16th and 17th centuries in England, in the early 1700s Isaac Watts steps into the fore and contributes well over 600 hymns. Disgruntled with only the emphasis on Psalm singing of the times, Watts promoted hymn singing to such a degree that many have called him the “Father of English Hymnody.” Since Watts preached and served in a non-conforming Congregational Church at the time, he was more free to experiment with the concept of hymn singing. 

Despite his initial reaction to Psalms, Watts never-the-less adapted many Psalms into hymns, such as “O God, Our Help in Ages Past,” based on Psalm 90. He was also known for “Christianizing” Psalms by including a more overt Christian perspective into particular Psalms, and often boldly cast his hymns into the present tense. When I survey the wondrous Cross for instance forces the singer into the presence of Jesus on the cross. Other Watts favorites still in common use include: “Joy to the World,” “I’ll Praise My Maker While I’ve Breath,” “From all that Dwells Below the Skies,” I Sing the Mighty Power of God,” Alas, and did my Savior Bleed,” Am I a Soldier of the Cross,” “Come We that Love the Lord,” and many more. Watts’ emphasis on hymn singing paves the way for the hymn explosion fostered by the Wesley brothers’ Methodist movement.

How Can I Keep from Singing: Episode 3

Episode 3: Reformation Hymns

The Reformation arrives and congregational hymn singing bursts forth from a long hibernation. Not only did Martin Luther’s 95 thesis send shockwaves through the Catholic Church on doctrinal and theological matters, but eventually he and his followers ushered in some of the great hymns of the Church. Drawn from many musical sources, the Lutherans over time contributed such memorable hymns (or chorales as they called them) as: “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” “Out of the Depths I Cry to You,” “Now Thank We All Our God,” “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” and many more.

On the heels of Martin Luther came John Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland, who took a more Augustinian approach and approved of singing in a more limited fashion, specifically the Psalms. Creating metrical paraphrases of the Psalms combined with newly written tunes, Calvin both renewed and revolutionized Psalm singing in the era of the Reformation. So influential were these new “psalters” that nearly every reformation movement translated and adapted Calvin’s and musical psalter. 

The most iconic tune that originated with Calvin’s musicians and later manifested in England as “The Old Hundredth.” 

Over time, many more break-away movements contributed to a growing and robust Protestant hymnody.

How Can I Keep From Singing: Episode 2

Episode 2: Biblical Songs & Ancient Hymns

The people of God are a singing people, and the Bible is replete with songs in both the Old and New Testaments. The early Christians drew on the Judaic heritage of music and worship, and grafted onto it principles of music and notation developed by the Ancient Greeks and Romans, contributing to a new body of hymns for the early Church.

We briefly mention Old Testament Songs, and then we move on to the Psalms, the hymnbook of the old testament if you will, designed to be sung.

There are numerous types of Psalms (laments, praise, prophetic and royal, thanksgiving, etc.), and we discuss the range of authentic emotion they display. 

We also briefly mention of New Testament Canticles – Mary (Magnificat), Angels (Gloria), Simeon (Nunc Dimittis), Zechariah (Benedictus).

Some Early Church hymns in our hymnal:

• O Gladsome Light (UMH 686)
• O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright (UMH 679)
• Of the Father’s Love Begotten (UMH 184)
• The Day of Resurrection (303)
• O Come, O Come Emmanuel (211)

How Can I Keep From Singing: Episode 1

Episode #1: Why We Sing

“When religious texts are sung well, greater devotion is inspired: souls are moved…and with warmer devotion kindled to piety than if they are not so sung.” – Augustine

“It could not be otherwise but that Christianity be a singing faith. The Founder sang. He learned to sing from His Father. Surely they have been singing together from all eternity… When He speaks, galaxies come into being. And when He sings for joy, more energy is released than exists in all the matter and motion of the universe. If He appointed song for us to release our heart’s delight in Him, is this not because He also knows the joy of releasing His own heart’s delight in song? We are a singing people because we are children of a singing God.”

Why do we sing? How many of us could imagine worship without a substantial measure of music? What is it about singing that seems to resonate so powerfully with both our individual and corporate expressions of faith? Today, we dive into these questions and more, as we begin to learn the intrinsic nature of God’s gift of music to his people, and our return of that gift to him in the form of hymns and other congregational songs. 

• Why do we sing? 
• What is a hymn? 
• Why is it that some hymn texts have different or multiple melodies associated with them? 
• What is the role the music plays in the hymn and its meaning? 

Colossians 3:16 reminds us, "Let Christ’s word dwell in us richly!"

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT JESUS: ALPHA & OMEGA

 

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT JESUS (NAMES OF JESUS)

April 6

Alpha & Omega (Revelation 22:13)

Based on Ann Spangler’s Praying the Names of Jesus

 

The Key Scripture

Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” 

 

The Name

·      Alpha & Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. 

 

·      The title “Alpha and Omega” appears only 3 times in the Bible. All three are in the book of Revelation. 

·      These verses allude to passages in Isaiah where God identifies himself as being both the first and the last. (Isaiah 44:6, 48:12)

 

·      Jesus revealed Himself as “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

 

·      Jesus was present at the world’s beginning; Jesus will also be present at the world’s end, when He and His work are finally and fully revealed. 

 

·      When you pray to Christ as the Alpha and the Omega, you are praying to the One who is, who was, and who is to come. 

 

·      He is our all-sufficient Lord, who will not fail to complete the good work He has begun in us. 

 

Questions 

·      Can you imagine a human claiming to be the A to Z?

·      How does this title relate to Christ’s identity?

·      Think of how this title relates to Jesus’ role in both creation and in world history. What do you think that means?

·      How is Jesus first and last in your life? 

 

Reflections

·      If Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of the world’s painful but hopeful story, it is vital that we not only listen, but that we respond, letting Christ weave our own small stories into the greatest story ever told. 

 

·      Let us fix our eyes on Christ, who is God forever. He is the One who is, who was, and who will be. He is the One who banishes our fear because He holds the past, the present, and the future in His all-powerful hands. 

 

·      May He be the beginning and the end of everything we believe, everything we strive for, everything we trust in. May He be the first in our families, the first in our relationships, the first in our businesses, and the first in the days that lie ahead for us. Our lives are in the hands of the only One able to save us both now and forever. 

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT JESUS: NAMES OF JESUS - MESSIAH

 

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT JESUS (NAMES OF JESUS)

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Christ/Messiah (Colossians 3:15, John 4:25-26)

Based on Ann Spangler’s Praying the Names of Jesus

 

The Name

·      Did you ever think that “Christ” was just Jesus’ last name?

·      Like “Messiah”, “Christ” means “anointed one.” This means someone who has been set apart for a special mission. 

·      As Israel’s Messiah, He was the greatest of all kings, the one called and empowered to destroy God’s enemies, and extend His kingdom throughout the earth. 

·      Jesus’ mission was to put an end to our deepest troubles – to rebellion, sin, and death. 

·      His mission now is calling the world back to God through the power of His love. 

 

The Key Scripture – Acts 2:36

 

Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

 

 

Understanding the Name

·      Oil was a staple of life in Biblical times. It served as a symbol of wealth & joy. An abundance of oil was evidence of God’s pleasure. Oil was also used for scared purposes – consecrating altars & vessels for worship – indicating they had been set apart for the Lord’s purposes. People could also be anointed. Samuel anointed David as king…

·      Oil became a symbol for the Holy Spirit, who imparts divine favor, power, & protection. 

·      The English word christen (“to anoint”) comes from the Greek verb chrio (“to anoint”).

·      The New Testament identifies Jesus as Christ, “The Anointed One”, 530 times. 

·      Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit at His baptism. 

·      Jesus was the Messiah – called to heal the rift between God and his people. 

·      He avoided this title through much of His life. Right before His death, Jesus answered the high priest’s question: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One” with the startling confession, “I Am.”  

 

Questions 

·      What does it mean to say that Jesus was anointed or set apart for God’s service? 

·      Why does Acts 2 speak for the need of repentance and being baptized in the name of Christ?

·      What do you think it means for believers to be anointed or set apart for Christ’s service?

·      What do you think it means to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?

 

 

Take Aways

·      Christ was willing to suffer…for us. Because of Him, we can endure difficulty. 

·      Christ promises us eternal life…if we believe. 

Let us turn over our tendency to rely on our own strength, and depend on His power.

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT JESUS: NAMES OF JESUS - CORNERSTONE

 

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT JESUS (NAMES OF JESUS)

March 2

Cornerstone/Capstone (Psalm 118:22)

Based on Ann Spangler’s Praying the Names of Jesus

 

 

The Name

·      Stones were used for building altars, homes, palaces, and temples

·      The cornerstones held two rows of stones together in a corner: one that stabilized the structure at the foundation; one that formed the keystone over an arch or at the top of a roof. 

·      The cornerstone had to be perfectly fitted for the task, both strong & well-shaped

·      A flawed stone would compromise the structure’s integrity. 

·      Jesus is the Cornerstone to which we are joined as living stones. 

o   Together we form a spiritual house in which God dwells. 

·      Jesus is the foundation stone on which God is building His kingdom; Jesus is strong enough to hold everything together. 

·      When we pray to Jesus as the Cornerstone, we are praying to the One on whom we can base our lives. 

 

 

Understanding the Name

·      Psalm 118:22 says, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”

·      Jesus quoted this scripture in Luke 20:17: 

 

The Key Scripture – Luke 20:17

Jesus looked directly at them & asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.’?”

 

·      When Jesus said this, He was pointing to His rejection by the Jewish nation and its leaders. Despite their rejection, God’s purposes could not be thwarted. 

·      The Master Builder (God) would make Jesus, through His death and resurrection, the cornerstone on which He would build. 

·      The NT portrays the whole community of believers as a holy temple in which God dwells. 

·      To those who reject Jesus and his saving message, He will not be a cornerstone, but a stone of stumbling, because rejection of God’s chosen one inevitably brings judgment. 

 

Questions 

·       Read Luke 20:9-19. Why do you think Jesus’ comments about “the stone the builders rejected” immediately follows the parable of the vineyard?

·       What do you think it means to build your life on Jesus as the Cornerstone?

·       What does it mean that Jesus is a stone that people will fall on?

 

Take Aways

·      Read Romans 9:30-32. God did not give up on us. Jesus’ plans and purposes endure forever. 

·      Jesus dwells within us; He is a refuge for us. We must throw away our patterns for self-reliance, and rely fully on God. 

·      Sing the old hymn, “How Firm a Foundation”.

Things We Wish Jesus Had Never Said: Love Your Enemies

 

Things I Wish Jesus Never Said – Love Your Enemies

Matthew 5:43-48

 

It was a beautiful day in Capernaum. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the smell of falafel and hummus filled the air. Off in the distance, the Sea of Galilee was so still, it looked like a glass mirror. The fishermen were casting their nets, and the women were preparing for the shabbot, the Sabbath dinner.

 

There had been talk of a Rabbi, a Teacher, who had been traveling throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of Heaven. He healed every kind of disease and illness. People from all over were bringing their sick and hurt. Everyone desperately wanted to meet this man. 

 

That morning, there was a lot of scuttlebutt. Hundreds of people were walking through the village to the mountain. And then, there He was. The Teacher. The Rabbi. Jesus. Everyone dropped their flatbread and followed the crowd. He stood high on the mountainside, a group of twelve men standing closest to Him. The crowd stopped further down the mountain, toward the Sea, His voice bellowing into hills that formed the shape of an amphitheater. He began to teach. The crowd hung on every word. 

 

He spoke the Beatitudes, and then about salt and light. He taught on the Law of Moses, and then about anger, adultery, and divorce. He spoke with such authority, as if He was God. And then He said this: 

 

But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! 

Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. 

Pray for those who hurt you. 

 If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. (Luke 6:27-29)

 

 

Things I wish Jesus had never said. Things I wish Dr. Steven Bell had never asked me to preach on… Number one. Love. Your. Enemies. 

 

Each time I read this portion of the Sermon on the Mount, my eyes squint, my ears perk, and I do a double-take, thinking, “I’m sorry. What did You just say? Love your enemies? Turn the other cheek? You have got to be kidding me. Is there any way I can get out of this, and still be considered a follower of Christ? Give me a loophole!” 

 

The insensitivity of Jesus is all the more striking when you hear His follow up suggestions, or commandments: “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” 

 

Wait, we not only have to love our enemies, but now we have to pray for them? And I suppose this doesn’t mean the sort of prayer that says, “Dear Lord, change my enemy’s heart, so he’ll stop being so mean to me!” That’s a prayer for ME, not my enemy. When Jesus commands us to pray for our enemies, we’re meant to ask for God’s blessing for them. Yes, you heard that right. Jesus wants us to ask that good, not evil, fall on our enemies. 

 

I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t want to love my enemies. In my worst moments, I want to hurt them, gossip about them, undermine them, and generally make them pay. In my better moments, I simply want to ignore them, sideline them, or ostracize them. If I can’t retaliate, maybe someone ELSE will, and then I can enjoy the warm satisfaction of knowing that they’ll finally get what they deserve!

 

But no… Jesus said none of that behavior is an option for His followers. And even more than that, none of those DESIRES are an option for His followers. If we want to follow Jesus, we cannot hate others - even others who hate us.

 

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to twist and turn this passage. I try to justify it and butcher it to make it fit nicely into my ideology. I love it because it sounds like a utopia; I hate it because I know that if I were to live out this command to “love my enemy”, I will likely get hurt in some way. Honestly. Why would Jesus say such a thing? 

 

I think it may begin with that first word - love. The word love appears 551 times in the Bible. Love the Lord Your God. Love your neighbor. Love one another. Love your enemy. The Greek word for love here is agape.  

 

Agape is unconditional love. It’s the kind of love that translates to mercy and charity. It’s the love of God to man and of man, for the good of God. One scholar explained agape love this way: “to will the good of another.” Will the good of your enemies. Will the good of those you do not like. Will the good of those who speak against you. Will the good of those who want what you want or take what you have. Will the good of those who seek to harm you. Will the good of those who persecute you. 

 

How do we do this? How do we will the good in others? I often tell people that if you spend more than five minutes with me, I’ll likely work 1 of 3 things into the conversation: Jesus, Missions, & Quakers. Today, friends, is your lucky day! You’re getting all three!

 

A year ago, I was standing in Ramallah, Palestine. This is a place I had been dreaming of going since I was a child. You see, in Ramallah, there is a school. A Quaker school! 

  

The Quakers began serving in Palestine in 1869. And the school has withstood the test of time - through the Ottoman empire, the British Mandate, the Jordanian Rule, the Israeli Occupation, and now the Palestinian National Authority. It’s even withstood yearly rockets and bombings… which begs the question, how has this school endured over 150 years of conquering and conflict? The answer: it has made “loving its enemies” its number one testimony. 

Ramallah Friends School is a beacon of light in the rubble of its community. Its leaders and teachers seek to will the good of those around them by cultivating an oasis of hope; a sacred space of transformational love and resilience.

 

As we walked down the hallway, touring the school, we heard personal testimonies of how the teachers had been treated, especially as they cross the border to and from Israel. We listened to story after story of turning the other cheek and loving those who hate them, simply because of their home zip code and their school address. 

 

How can they possibly extend agape love? How do they will the good in those who hate them? Each time I asked the question, the answer was the same… SPICE. Yes, you heard me right - SPICE. 

 

We Quakers have an acronym – SPICE – to remind ourselves of the life Christ calls us to imitate, especially when loving our enemies. Let’s unpack this acronym!

 

S - Simplicity

I don’t know about you, but I tend to complicate things. I hear the commandments to love God and to love others, and I look for a chart, or a handout. It can’t be that simple! There has to be more! 

 

Our memory verse for the week, which is printed in your bulletin, is from Romans 5:8. Paul writes, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I love this verse because it simply reminds me that love is from God. He revealed His love by sending His Son into the world, so that we can live through Him. 

 

There is nothing we can do to earn God’s love. I am a sinner. In my sin, I separate myself from God. And through that sin, I become God’s enemy. But instead of condemning me, God welcomed me and sent His Son to die for me. This is the greatest gift I have ever received. 

 

If God so lavishly loves us, then the least we can do is love each other. It’s that simple. 

 

My favorite author, Henri Nouwen, coined the phrase, “The Christ in me sees the Christ in you.” Or as Ashley would say, “My brokenness sees your brokenness.” Love and forgiveness go hand-and-hand. What if I loved my enemy with this same grace and forgiveness that God offered? What if we gifted and blessed our enemies with love? Each day, I wonder, how can we seek to love others through the eyes of Christ? 

P – Peace

Everything that Jesus taught was grounded in the teachings of the Old Testament Law. The Torah required the Jews to treat ALL people, even the foreigners that lived in their land, as they would treat their fellow Israelites. The golden rule was taught by all the great rabbis, because to treat others as you would like to be treated is nearly a universal law. The idea behind this is: 

·      If I don’t extend peace, who will? 

·      If I don’t start living my life by willing the good of another, who will? 

·      If every moment of my life is dedicated to getting the best for only myself, 
where does that leave the rest of the world?

 

In 2011, I was living in Haiti and installing solar-powered clean water systems. My home was a monastery in the mountains, south of Port Au Prince, and I would take week-long trips from the monastery to check on our water systems around the country. This particular time, I was staying in a small village up north, and I was saddened to find the community living in fear of a voodoo priest. Every night, I went to sleep listening to loud, banging drums and a lot of chanting. 

 

One morning, I woke up to the sound of roosters. (Oh, those roosters cock-a-doodled-do all night long!) I opened my bedroom door to the courtyard and stumbled over a dead chicken. Come to find out, the voodoo priest had killed the chicken, spilled its blood over my door, and written a curse. Now, I had never seen anything like this before, and I was more than a little freaked out, and ready to give this voodoo priest a piece of my mind!

 

The pastor where I was staying, though, taught me a valuable lesson. In that same Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” 

 

Because of the fall, we live in a divided, conflicted, hate-filled world with angry and broken people. But… we each carry the stamp of God’s creation. And because of this, we are called to promote peace - peace with our enemies and our neighbors. We are called to acknowledge in our lives, those emotions, attitudes, and prejudices, which lie at the root of destructive conflict. We are challenged to pave a path that brings peace, dignity, and respect to all. 

 

So, what did we do? Instead of retaliation, we surprised that voodoo priest with love and peace. 

 

We fried up that chicken, said a blessing over the priest and his family, and served a meal to the whole community. 

 

I - Integrity

Paul writes to the Ephesians, “Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way, more and more like Christ. So, stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth.” Quaker integrity translates this, “Let your word be your word.” Our words and actions must reflect our Christian testimony, even when it’s hard. 

 

One of the lessons I have learned in traveling over the world is that in many cultures, it is very acceptable to mislead your enemies, and even your friends, in order to come out on top. It is justified with the thought, “Oh, I don’t want to offend you, so I will just tell you what you want to hear.” Because of this mindset, I’ve spent too much time in Uganda, Ecuador, Haiti, and the United States of America discussing cultural norms versus the Gospel message. Yes, I want to be sensitive to understanding your culture and your context, but yes, I alsowant to be authentic to biblical teachings. 

 

So, I continue to pose the question, “At what point does the Gospel message trump cultural norms?” Living with integrity is not easy, but Jesus did not die on the cross for us to live comfortably and easily. As disciples, we’re called to live authentically, truthfully, and honestly, and to integrate our values into our actions. Jesus taught us to live counter-culturally in the upside-down world of the Gospel. When the world tells us otherwise, we are challenged to love our enemies. This is what agape love is all about… to will the good in others. 

 

C - Community

In John 15:12, Jesus says: “My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you.” 

 

A few years ago, in the midst of my dissertation research and writing, I was attending a worship service at Desmond Tutu’s church in Capetown, South Africa. The priest used a Zulu term – ubuntu – in his sermon. U-B-U-N-T-U. Of course, after the service, I had to ask what ubuntu means, and the priest explained it this way: “I am because we are. My humanity is inextricably bound up in yours. A person is a person through other persons.”

 

A lightbulb went off in my head. I was neck-deep in writing about cross-cultural partnerships, and this one word – ubuntu - seemed to explain everything I was missing. Community is at the core of who we are. We were created to be in relationship with God and relationship with others. Christ gives us the example to do everything for mutual benefit, not just for ourselves. I think it’s within relationships that we learn about who we are as individuals, as we see our love and action through the eyes of another. Because of this, we need each other – to learn, to grow, and to live in authentic community. God uses different people every day - our friends, and our enemies – to teach and mold us throughout all seasons of life. This includes the celebrating the joy-filled times, and it especially includes walking through tension and bringing reconciliation with our enemies. 

 

E - Equality

Each of us are important, not only to God, but to each other. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created mankind in his own image; in the image of God He created them.” We are all children of God. Every person is equally beloved by God, regardless of gender, creed, culture, color, or social status. When we begin to think that we are more important than another, we begin to participate in that continuous cycle that leads to death and destruction. Yes, some have different abilities, and yes, some have different gifts, but as the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, all of us, together, are Christ’s body, and each of us are a part of it. We are instructed to will the good in others, to live our lives in such a manner that all around us are better off because we are here. 

 

When Jesus says love your enemies, He is encouraging us to find ways to change the direction of life. He is encouraging us to stop looking at those around us as enemies. That includes… loving people who don’t look like us, act like us, have the same zip code as us, or even think like us; people who annoy us, poke at us, and persecute us. 

 

As the director of Ramallah Friends School said, “I realized that we really are not enemies; we are just people. People with hopes and dreams. People that want a better life for ourselves and our children. We are all human beings loved by God. To love an enemy is to hope for mutual good.” 

So, friends, how do we do this? How do we love our enemies? 

How can we love those around us, 

who continue to do the very things that infuriate us? 

We, of course, can bathe ourselves in Quaker SPICE – 

Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community & Equality. 

But how can we endure, when we have tried everything else we can possibly think of? 

 

I’ll leave you with one final thought. 
When I think I can take no more, 
I think of Jesus’ words on the cross: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

 

Even at the end of His life, in His final minutes of agony, Jesus extended this grace. 

He asked the Father to forgive His enemies and love them all the more.

He asked the Father to love & forgive me. He asked the Father to love and forgive you. 

 

When you feel your enemy has you on the cross, 

pause for a moment to think about Jesus himself 

and His greatest act of love. 

Jesus forgave everyone, not just the people He liked, 
and not just the ones who believed He was the Messiah.

He showed us that forgiveness is the deepest gesture of love and mercy; 

forgiveness wills the good to those around us. 

 

When you have done all that you can to love your enemies, imitate Christ. 

May you turn to God and ask Him to love and forgive them, 

until they, too, can see the light and "pay it forward" in their own lives.  

 

Amen & Amen.