After my time at General Assembly this week, I’m hopeful for the future of the PCA. There are differences in how we desire to engage in debate with culture and communicate to our world on the major issues of our day (human sexuality being the main item at this assembly). There was some disappointing discussion and debate that occurred late Thursday night around human sexuality and responses toward those who struggle in their sexuality that I had hoped would go better. And yet I’m still hopeful, because this is the Lord’s church, we are His people, and He is for us all.
It was during the course of reading the Daily Office readings for today that I read Psalm 77. Asaph has a struggle of confidence in the Lord within his heart causing him to waver, displayed here (man, have I been here before):
Psalm 77:4–9
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
“Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah (ESV)
Lord God, we worship You as the God who isn’t distant from us, but One who made Yourself near and accessible and known to us. In the very beginning, by Your Spirit You hovered over the face of the waters in creation, intimately involved in all You were making. By Your Spirit You made Yourself known to Moses at the burning bush, declaring yourself to be the Great I AM from all eternity. By Your Spirit You came and dwelt among Your people in the Temple, where only the High Priest could go once a year to make sacrificial offerings on behalf of the people. Your Spirit came upon King David, anointing and empowering him as Your chosen king, a man after Your own heart. All of the prophets, empowered by Your Spirit, spoke words of both blessing and judgment with the goal of repentance and faith in the hearers. And then finally when Your Son came, the perfect Prophet, Priest and King, He accomplished for us that which we could never accomplish: the very redemption of our bodies and souls and the Spirit dwelling with us now perpetually. And all of the writers of the Scriptures through which we have come to know all of this were carried along by Your Spirit and wrote precisely that which You intended us to know for eternal life and godliness. And on this day Lord we celebrate the outpouring of Your Spirit at Pentecost, promised long ago, upon all who call upon the name of Jesus. No longer did Your Spirit dwell in the Temple for now Your people’s hearts were the very temple where He dwells. No longer do we need to offer sacrifices to commune with You, for Christ has made a once for all time sacrifice, putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and tearing the curtain of the temple that You may dwell in the hearts of Your people. Your Spirit empowers us, gives us strength, convicts us, draws us, and ultimately points us and unites us to Your risen and ascended Son. Lord we praise You for this unfathomable gift as a church together. Would Your Spirit work in our hearts as a church, drawing and moving us to strive to know and be known in our life together. Would You create community and depth of relationships that center on Christ’s glory as the end goal of all things. We can’t do this in ourselves and our flesh Lord because we can too easily fall prey to the ways the world engages in relationships. We all need the humility Your Spirit provides and we ask for Your help.
God, who as at this time taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP)
Each year I find improvements to make my Sangria easier to make and more delicious. So far, this is the best of both. And it all changed once I started using Riunite’s Lambrusco sparkling red wine and Simply Limeade.
- 1 1.5 L Bottle of Riunite Lambrusco Sparkling Red Wine
- 1 Cup Bourbon or Brandy or (Vodka I guess) 😉
- 2 Navel Oranges
- 2 Apples
- 4 Limes
- 1 Bottle Simply Limeade
A meditation on Psalm 138:8, “The Lord shall make good His purpose for me.” (NRSV)
The Lord…
The omniscient, ever-present, almighty God from all eternity, never created, always there, the One through whom the universe came to be, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, the great Magnificence of all that ever was, is, or will be, the Great I AM, the omnipotent, all powerful, consuming fire of glory and power, yet whose mercy and love, compassion and gentleness are always and at the same time displayed in all His works, from generation to generation, unfolding throughout the Old Testament, fulfilled and brought to completion in the New through the Son, brought about by the love of the Father, accomplished in His life death and resurrection. This is the Lord.
Shall Make Good…
Habakkuk 3:17-18: Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.