Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Friday, December 21, 2012
The Christmas Pageant
Reposting this again this year — because I love it so much! :)
“…work on the 1962 pageant commenced in August of that year with the formation of a Christmas committee and the scheduling of auditions for early September. Mr. Shelton wanted to provide himself with a half dozen wise men, three or four Josephs and angels, and a couple of Virgin Marys so as to protect against any unforeseen occurrences. In the latter part of October the reverend organized a building committee which saw to the construction of the stable and baby Jesus’ manger, both of which were made from shipping crates supplied by an appliance store in a shopping center near Draper. By the middle of November Miss Fay Dull had begun rehearsing the choir, and just after Thanksgiving the ladies from the Tuesday Biblettes set in to making costumes for the wise men out of old chair covers. The reverend’s schedule provided for two practice runs in December before the actual production on the evening of Sunday the twenty-third, and when Reverend Shelton addressed his congregation on the morning of the sixteenth he told them how the Christmas pageant would be an unforgettable affair. Momma said it surely was.
The animals normally used in the pageant were kept from year to year in the basement of the fellowship hall. They were made out of painted plywood and seemed very lifelike if you didn’t look at them anywhere but head-on. But the reverend didn’t think his pageant was suited for wooden animals; he thought it called for something a little more grand and spectacular. The Reverend Shelton had actual livestock in mind, livestock which he borrowed from local farmers who agreed to keep quiet about it until after the performance. He got hold of a half-dozen piglets, a pair of goats, three or four chickens, one goose, and Mr. Jip French’s old blind pony that his boys chased around the pasture and ran into fences. But when he tried the animals out at a full-dress rehearsal the reverend discovered that he couldn’t use the pony because it was given to breaking wind, not very loudly, Momma said, but in near lethal concentrations. So the reverend tried to get another pony but couldn’t and had to settle for Mr. Earl Jemison’s steely-grey hound, Mayhew, which was probably one of the biggest dogs in the county and which the reverend decided to transform into a camel by means of a couple of pillows and a brown rug.
Mayhew did not come easy, however. Mr. Jemison accounted himself a respectable actor and he bargained relentlessly for the part of the voice of God, a part Mr. Jemison said he had always wanted to play. Mr. Shelton had saved the voice of God for himself and he gave it up to Mr. Jemison with severe misgivings since he did not think God talked at all like Mr. Jemison, whose voice Daddy said could pass for an articulate doorhinge. But the reverend had somehow convinced himself he was desperate for a camel and he wasn’t about to lose the services of Mr. Jemison’s dog.
Momma said she and Miss Mattie Gunn did not know just what to think when they entered a sanctuary entirely darkened except for three railroad lanterns hung here and there on a fairly legitimate-looking stable up by the altar. And she said neither Miss Mattie nor herself noticed that the reverend had imported actual animals until the both of them caught a whiff of the chickens at about the same time. Unfortunately Miss Mattie suffered from an allergy to feathers and her eyes immediately teared up so that she couldn’t see past the pew in front of her and Momma had to tell her just how everything looked. Momma said the reverend and his committees had created a most impressive effect with just a few oven crates, some paint, a couple of bales of hay, a handful of livestock, and the accompanying barnyard aroma. Momma said the reverend had strewn hay across the altar, set the stablefront on top of it, hung a few lanterns, tethered the goats, caught up the piglets and the chickens and the goose together in a wire corral, and left the ammonia to drift where it would. Momma said she could have been out of doors for all she knew and every now and then she wished she was.
Momma did not know exactly when Miss Pettigrew made her entry into the sanctuary since the usher seated her a full two aisles over from Momma, who could hardly make out Miss Mattie as it was. But she suspected Miss Pettigrew arrived just after the reverend had presented himself from a niche beneath the choir loft and come forward onto the altar to greet the congregation. Along about then Momma heard a distinct buzzing off to her left that carried the length of the aisle and she said it was probably the sound of people asking each other if that was indeed Miss Pettigrew or telling each other it was indeed Aunt Willa, not because they could make out her features, not even because they could tell she was colored, but because even in the lanternlight they could detect the radical limp Aunt Willa got from being dropped onto a stone hearth as a baby. And Momma said the usher and Miss Pettigrew and Aunt Willa advanced to the front pew with the noise of their passing advancing just behind them. She said anybody knew whoever was with Aunt Willa had to be Miss Pettigrew.
She said the Virgin Mary, as played by Miss Alice Covens, seemed somewhat frightened of the goats and swung excessively wide of them on her way into the stable while Joseph, as played by Mr. Jeffrey Elwood Crawford Jr., lingered outside and delivered a little speech on starlight and poverty and the kindness of men. He concluded to a very short burst of applause that lasted only as long as it took for Mrs. Crawford to get hold of her husband’s hands. Then Joseph joined the Virgin Mary in the stable and the choir took over with Miss Dull’s arrangement of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Mr. Jemison’s big scene followed the music and began with Reverend Shelton playing a flashlight beam onto the angel of the Lord, who was perched a little recklessly on the choir-loft banister. But nothing happened right away, and Momma said the angel clung onto the railing and waited and the congregation waited and the Reverend Shelton coughed and cleared his throat until finally the voice of God exploded out of the darkness like a train whistle and nearly scared everybody to death. Momma said Mr. Jemison told his angel where to go and what to do when he got there, and then the angel sort of saluted, she said, and threw himself off the banister, which caused the entire congregation to suck air. But he was harnessed into a system of ropes and pulleys, and after he swooped back into the railing once, he descended more or less without incident to a point just over the stable roof where he could hover and wait for the wise men.
The Reverend Shelton threw a switch that activated a bulb in a Moravian star suspended somewhere above the angel of the Lord and somewhere below the choir loft, and almost simultaneously the three kings from the orient came forward out of the narthex wearing everybody’s old upholstery and beards made from cotton swabs and crowns wrapped in aluminum foil. One of them bore frankincense and another one bore both myrrh and gold since the one who was supposed to bear the gold had his hands full with the camel, who did not seem especially interested in witnessing the birth of the Christchild but showed a preference for sniffing shoetops along the aisle. Miss Fay Dull led the choir in four verses of “We Three Kings,” which served to carry the gift-bearing wise men on up to the stable but broke off a minute or two before the one with camel had a chance to make the altar. Only the angel of the Lord seemed at all perturbed by the delay, but then he had just grown somewhat harness-weary and thrashed around in an effort to relieve himself.
The baby Jesus had gotten born in the meantime and as the wise men closed in to adore him, the camel, who was supposed to be tethered up away from the goose and the piglets and the chickens and the goats, got loose into the back of the stable and sprawled on the hay where he licked himself through the better part of Miss Dull’s solo performance of “Away in a Manger.” Then came time for reverend Shelton to read a passage from the Book of Matthew, and Momma said that’s when the trouble started. When the reverend turned on his pulpit lamp so as to see the Bible, considerable light was thrown onto the front edge of the congregation, and best as Momma could figure it the Virgin Mary, who had the Christchild in her arms and was flanked all around by Joseph and the wise men, looked up long enough to get an eyeful of a colored woman in the front pew, which would have been a rarity in any pew, and then she looked again and saw it was Aunt Willa and since she knew wherever Aunt Willa went Miss Pettigrew might be, she looked off beside Aunt Willa and found Miss Pettigrew herself, who had already become a kind of local spook.
Momma said the sight of Miss Pettigrew must have simply shocked the Virgin Mary and in her agitation she lost her grip on the baby Jesus and dropped him onto the edge of the manger, where his porcelain head got jarred loose from the rest of him and fell onto the hay next to one of the goats, and Momma said the sound of the baby Jesus’ head hitting the floor startled the one goat, who bucked into the other one who lunged the length of his tether and jolted one of the lanterns off its peg, and Momma said when it hit the floor the glass chimney broke and the hay caught fire. The wise men bolted off in one direction, Joseph cleared out in the other, and the Virgin Mary crept backwards into the stable with her hands over her mouth until she stepped on the camel’s hindquarters, which caused him to jump to his feet and start barking. By this time the angel of the Lord figured things had pretty much fallen to pieces and he set up a fuss to be hauled in right away; he said the harness was making his legs blue. But Momma said he was left to dangle over the stable while two baritones came down out of the choir loft and smothered the flames with their robes before going to the assistance of the Virgin Mary, who had momentarily lost her wits. In a matter of minutes everything was back to order except for the camel who continued to bark and make threatening noises, but he cowed immediately when the voice of God shouted down from the rafters, “Mayhew, shut up!”
Momma said some one of the ushers finally showed the great good sense to turn the sanctuary lights up and everybody along the left aisle leapt bolt upright to see if that was indeed Miss Pettigrew in the company of Aunt Willa in the front row, and when they found out that yes, it was, they told the people beside them who told the people beside them who told the people beside them and the news shot through the sanctuary like electricity. Momma said nobody seemed to care that the reverend’s Christmas pageant had nearly burned the church down or that the reverend himself had fallen into a faint behind the pulpit or that the angel of the Lord had commenced to wail and sob and say how doctors would have to cut his legs off with a handsaw if somebody didn’t draw him into the choir loft straightaway. She said all people wanted to do was look at Miss Pettigrew since they’d been without the chance to in nearly a decade and didn’t know when the opportunity might present itself again. So everybody stood up, she said, and looked. Aunt Willa helped Miss Pettigrew off the pew, and Momma said she tried to lead her on out of the sanctuary but Miss Pettigrew held up and faced the congregation, not seeming at all mysterious or tainted or stern, but just a little wilted and sheepish and fairly human.
Momma said Aunt Willa’s cheeks were all puffy and swollen and her gums obviously gave her some pain when she snatched at Miss Pettigrew’s elbow and said, “Come on h’yer,” but Miss Pettigrew just stood where she was and worked her lips as if she might say something, as if she might say hello. Momma said folks looked at each other and looked at Miss Pettigrew and looked at each other again until Miss Pettigrew finally opened her mouth and said nothing whatsoever.
Then Aunt Willa took her by the elbow. “Come on h’yer Miss Pettigrew,” she said. “Come on h’yer to home.” And Momma said this time Miss Pettigrew let Aunt Willa have her way and everybody watched them down the aisle, watched them into the narthex, watched them even after the angel of the Lord unhooked himself from the rope and fell through the stable roof."
***An excerpt from an absolutely hilarious book by: Pearson, T. R. A Short History of a Small Place. New York: Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1985.
“…work on the 1962 pageant commenced in August of that year with the formation of a Christmas committee and the scheduling of auditions for early September. Mr. Shelton wanted to provide himself with a half dozen wise men, three or four Josephs and angels, and a couple of Virgin Marys so as to protect against any unforeseen occurrences. In the latter part of October the reverend organized a building committee which saw to the construction of the stable and baby Jesus’ manger, both of which were made from shipping crates supplied by an appliance store in a shopping center near Draper. By the middle of November Miss Fay Dull had begun rehearsing the choir, and just after Thanksgiving the ladies from the Tuesday Biblettes set in to making costumes for the wise men out of old chair covers. The reverend’s schedule provided for two practice runs in December before the actual production on the evening of Sunday the twenty-third, and when Reverend Shelton addressed his congregation on the morning of the sixteenth he told them how the Christmas pageant would be an unforgettable affair. Momma said it surely was.
The animals normally used in the pageant were kept from year to year in the basement of the fellowship hall. They were made out of painted plywood and seemed very lifelike if you didn’t look at them anywhere but head-on. But the reverend didn’t think his pageant was suited for wooden animals; he thought it called for something a little more grand and spectacular. The Reverend Shelton had actual livestock in mind, livestock which he borrowed from local farmers who agreed to keep quiet about it until after the performance. He got hold of a half-dozen piglets, a pair of goats, three or four chickens, one goose, and Mr. Jip French’s old blind pony that his boys chased around the pasture and ran into fences. But when he tried the animals out at a full-dress rehearsal the reverend discovered that he couldn’t use the pony because it was given to breaking wind, not very loudly, Momma said, but in near lethal concentrations. So the reverend tried to get another pony but couldn’t and had to settle for Mr. Earl Jemison’s steely-grey hound, Mayhew, which was probably one of the biggest dogs in the county and which the reverend decided to transform into a camel by means of a couple of pillows and a brown rug.
Mayhew did not come easy, however. Mr. Jemison accounted himself a respectable actor and he bargained relentlessly for the part of the voice of God, a part Mr. Jemison said he had always wanted to play. Mr. Shelton had saved the voice of God for himself and he gave it up to Mr. Jemison with severe misgivings since he did not think God talked at all like Mr. Jemison, whose voice Daddy said could pass for an articulate doorhinge. But the reverend had somehow convinced himself he was desperate for a camel and he wasn’t about to lose the services of Mr. Jemison’s dog.
Momma said she and Miss Mattie Gunn did not know just what to think when they entered a sanctuary entirely darkened except for three railroad lanterns hung here and there on a fairly legitimate-looking stable up by the altar. And she said neither Miss Mattie nor herself noticed that the reverend had imported actual animals until the both of them caught a whiff of the chickens at about the same time. Unfortunately Miss Mattie suffered from an allergy to feathers and her eyes immediately teared up so that she couldn’t see past the pew in front of her and Momma had to tell her just how everything looked. Momma said the reverend and his committees had created a most impressive effect with just a few oven crates, some paint, a couple of bales of hay, a handful of livestock, and the accompanying barnyard aroma. Momma said the reverend had strewn hay across the altar, set the stablefront on top of it, hung a few lanterns, tethered the goats, caught up the piglets and the chickens and the goose together in a wire corral, and left the ammonia to drift where it would. Momma said she could have been out of doors for all she knew and every now and then she wished she was.
Momma did not know exactly when Miss Pettigrew made her entry into the sanctuary since the usher seated her a full two aisles over from Momma, who could hardly make out Miss Mattie as it was. But she suspected Miss Pettigrew arrived just after the reverend had presented himself from a niche beneath the choir loft and come forward onto the altar to greet the congregation. Along about then Momma heard a distinct buzzing off to her left that carried the length of the aisle and she said it was probably the sound of people asking each other if that was indeed Miss Pettigrew or telling each other it was indeed Aunt Willa, not because they could make out her features, not even because they could tell she was colored, but because even in the lanternlight they could detect the radical limp Aunt Willa got from being dropped onto a stone hearth as a baby. And Momma said the usher and Miss Pettigrew and Aunt Willa advanced to the front pew with the noise of their passing advancing just behind them. She said anybody knew whoever was with Aunt Willa had to be Miss Pettigrew.
She said the Virgin Mary, as played by Miss Alice Covens, seemed somewhat frightened of the goats and swung excessively wide of them on her way into the stable while Joseph, as played by Mr. Jeffrey Elwood Crawford Jr., lingered outside and delivered a little speech on starlight and poverty and the kindness of men. He concluded to a very short burst of applause that lasted only as long as it took for Mrs. Crawford to get hold of her husband’s hands. Then Joseph joined the Virgin Mary in the stable and the choir took over with Miss Dull’s arrangement of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Mr. Jemison’s big scene followed the music and began with Reverend Shelton playing a flashlight beam onto the angel of the Lord, who was perched a little recklessly on the choir-loft banister. But nothing happened right away, and Momma said the angel clung onto the railing and waited and the congregation waited and the Reverend Shelton coughed and cleared his throat until finally the voice of God exploded out of the darkness like a train whistle and nearly scared everybody to death. Momma said Mr. Jemison told his angel where to go and what to do when he got there, and then the angel sort of saluted, she said, and threw himself off the banister, which caused the entire congregation to suck air. But he was harnessed into a system of ropes and pulleys, and after he swooped back into the railing once, he descended more or less without incident to a point just over the stable roof where he could hover and wait for the wise men.
The Reverend Shelton threw a switch that activated a bulb in a Moravian star suspended somewhere above the angel of the Lord and somewhere below the choir loft, and almost simultaneously the three kings from the orient came forward out of the narthex wearing everybody’s old upholstery and beards made from cotton swabs and crowns wrapped in aluminum foil. One of them bore frankincense and another one bore both myrrh and gold since the one who was supposed to bear the gold had his hands full with the camel, who did not seem especially interested in witnessing the birth of the Christchild but showed a preference for sniffing shoetops along the aisle. Miss Fay Dull led the choir in four verses of “We Three Kings,” which served to carry the gift-bearing wise men on up to the stable but broke off a minute or two before the one with camel had a chance to make the altar. Only the angel of the Lord seemed at all perturbed by the delay, but then he had just grown somewhat harness-weary and thrashed around in an effort to relieve himself.
The baby Jesus had gotten born in the meantime and as the wise men closed in to adore him, the camel, who was supposed to be tethered up away from the goose and the piglets and the chickens and the goats, got loose into the back of the stable and sprawled on the hay where he licked himself through the better part of Miss Dull’s solo performance of “Away in a Manger.” Then came time for reverend Shelton to read a passage from the Book of Matthew, and Momma said that’s when the trouble started. When the reverend turned on his pulpit lamp so as to see the Bible, considerable light was thrown onto the front edge of the congregation, and best as Momma could figure it the Virgin Mary, who had the Christchild in her arms and was flanked all around by Joseph and the wise men, looked up long enough to get an eyeful of a colored woman in the front pew, which would have been a rarity in any pew, and then she looked again and saw it was Aunt Willa and since she knew wherever Aunt Willa went Miss Pettigrew might be, she looked off beside Aunt Willa and found Miss Pettigrew herself, who had already become a kind of local spook.
Momma said the sight of Miss Pettigrew must have simply shocked the Virgin Mary and in her agitation she lost her grip on the baby Jesus and dropped him onto the edge of the manger, where his porcelain head got jarred loose from the rest of him and fell onto the hay next to one of the goats, and Momma said the sound of the baby Jesus’ head hitting the floor startled the one goat, who bucked into the other one who lunged the length of his tether and jolted one of the lanterns off its peg, and Momma said when it hit the floor the glass chimney broke and the hay caught fire. The wise men bolted off in one direction, Joseph cleared out in the other, and the Virgin Mary crept backwards into the stable with her hands over her mouth until she stepped on the camel’s hindquarters, which caused him to jump to his feet and start barking. By this time the angel of the Lord figured things had pretty much fallen to pieces and he set up a fuss to be hauled in right away; he said the harness was making his legs blue. But Momma said he was left to dangle over the stable while two baritones came down out of the choir loft and smothered the flames with their robes before going to the assistance of the Virgin Mary, who had momentarily lost her wits. In a matter of minutes everything was back to order except for the camel who continued to bark and make threatening noises, but he cowed immediately when the voice of God shouted down from the rafters, “Mayhew, shut up!”
Momma said some one of the ushers finally showed the great good sense to turn the sanctuary lights up and everybody along the left aisle leapt bolt upright to see if that was indeed Miss Pettigrew in the company of Aunt Willa in the front row, and when they found out that yes, it was, they told the people beside them who told the people beside them who told the people beside them and the news shot through the sanctuary like electricity. Momma said nobody seemed to care that the reverend’s Christmas pageant had nearly burned the church down or that the reverend himself had fallen into a faint behind the pulpit or that the angel of the Lord had commenced to wail and sob and say how doctors would have to cut his legs off with a handsaw if somebody didn’t draw him into the choir loft straightaway. She said all people wanted to do was look at Miss Pettigrew since they’d been without the chance to in nearly a decade and didn’t know when the opportunity might present itself again. So everybody stood up, she said, and looked. Aunt Willa helped Miss Pettigrew off the pew, and Momma said she tried to lead her on out of the sanctuary but Miss Pettigrew held up and faced the congregation, not seeming at all mysterious or tainted or stern, but just a little wilted and sheepish and fairly human.
Momma said Aunt Willa’s cheeks were all puffy and swollen and her gums obviously gave her some pain when she snatched at Miss Pettigrew’s elbow and said, “Come on h’yer,” but Miss Pettigrew just stood where she was and worked her lips as if she might say something, as if she might say hello. Momma said folks looked at each other and looked at Miss Pettigrew and looked at each other again until Miss Pettigrew finally opened her mouth and said nothing whatsoever.
Then Aunt Willa took her by the elbow. “Come on h’yer Miss Pettigrew,” she said. “Come on h’yer to home.” And Momma said this time Miss Pettigrew let Aunt Willa have her way and everybody watched them down the aisle, watched them into the narthex, watched them even after the angel of the Lord unhooked himself from the rope and fell through the stable roof."
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Christ Was Born For This
Christmas is almost here, but “peace on earth” certainly isn't. "Good will toward men" can be found in spots, I suppose. But like prosperity, "world peace" is just around the corner. And that corner is "the coming of the Prince of Peace" (Isa 9:6-7). When "the Lord of hosts" returns to earth to take David’s throne and bring peace to earth, "He will be a garland of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people" (Is 28:5-6, 16; 62:1-12).
He came to earth once and was crowned with many thorns. Instead of a throne of peace and glory, He went to a cross of shame and suffering. But there He made peace by the blood of His cross (Col 1:20). "Christ is our peace." He was born of Mary that He might taste death for every man and deliver us from the wrath to come (Heb 2:9; 1 Thes 1:10). Christ was born for this!
We have just finished up our Christmas concerts at church, and this song was one of my favorites that we sang and played (choir and orchestra). The words and music present so clearly the reason why Christ was born.
Upon a starry night,
By golden candlelight,
Love came down, a Rose so fair
And bloomed within a stable bare.
To the shadows Christ was born,
He came to earth once and was crowned with many thorns. Instead of a throne of peace and glory, He went to a cross of shame and suffering. But there He made peace by the blood of His cross (Col 1:20). "Christ is our peace." He was born of Mary that He might taste death for every man and deliver us from the wrath to come (Heb 2:9; 1 Thes 1:10). Christ was born for this!
We have just finished up our Christmas concerts at church, and this song was one of my favorites that we sang and played (choir and orchestra). The words and music present so clearly the reason why Christ was born.
Upon a starry night,
By golden candlelight,
Love came down, a Rose so fair
And bloomed within a stable bare.
To the shadows Christ was born,
A gentle Rose to bear the thorn.
Christ was born for this.
Christ was born for this.
And in this world of woe,
And in this world of woe,
This Child would learn and grow;
Teaching all the way of peace,
Reaching out to those in need.
Moving through the weary land,
Moving through the weary land,
He touched the sick with tender hands.
Christ was born for this.
Christ was born for this.
Bringing us hope,
Bringing us hope,
Bringing us life.
Christ was born for this.
Christ was born for this.
From heaven's glory Christ came down
From heaven's glory Christ came down
And laid aside His royal crown.
On the cross He paid the price,
And gave Himself a sacrifice.
Bethlehem to Calvary,
Bethlehem to Calvary,
He came to set His people free.
Christ was born for this.
Christ was born for this.
Bring us healing.
Bring us healing.
Bringing us hope,
Bringing us life.
Christ was born to bring us healing.
Upon a starry night,
Upon a starry night,
By golden candlelight,
Christ was born for this.
Christ was born for this.
Words by Joseph M. Martin
Words by Joseph M. Martin
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16).
Friday, December 14, 2012
Andes Mint Cookies
3/4 c butter
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2 tbsp water
12 oz chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
24 Andes mints
In medium saucepan, melt together butter, brown sugar, and water, stirring occasionally. Add chocolate chips and stir until melted. Add remaining ingredients and combine to form a dough. Chill dough about an hour. Then roll dough into balls and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet, leaving ample space between dough balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes. Remove cookies from oven, and top each cookie with half an Andes mint. Allow mint to melt and then swirl the mint over the cookie with a knife. Makes about 48 cookies.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Rejoice, rejoice, my soul,
Rejoice in sin forgiven;
The blood of Christ hath made thee whole,
For thee His life was given.
For thee His blood was shed,
On Him thy sins were laid;
To bear thy guilt He bowed His head,
And now thy peace is mine.
Rejoice in peace made sure,
No judgment now for thee;
Thy conscience purged, thy life secure,
More safe thou cannot be.
Thy Savior is the Lord,
Who died to set thee free;
Thy trust is in His faithful word,
He liveth now for thee.
Rejoice in joys to come,
The hope of glory near;
He’ll soon return to take thee home,
No cause for thee to fear!
Now, by the Spirit sealed,
Rejoice in God the Lord;
The mighty God is now thy shield,
And He thy great reward.
Thy song of triumph raise;
Exult with heart and voice;
Oh shout aloud His glorious praise!
Rejoice, my soul, rejoice!
Sir Robert Anderson
Rejoice in sin forgiven;
The blood of Christ hath made thee whole,
For thee His life was given.
For thee His blood was shed,
On Him thy sins were laid;
To bear thy guilt He bowed His head,
And now thy peace is mine.
Rejoice in peace made sure,
No judgment now for thee;
Thy conscience purged, thy life secure,
More safe thou cannot be.
Thy Savior is the Lord,
Who died to set thee free;
Thy trust is in His faithful word,
He liveth now for thee.
Rejoice in joys to come,
The hope of glory near;
He’ll soon return to take thee home,
No cause for thee to fear!
Now, by the Spirit sealed,
Rejoice in God the Lord;
The mighty God is now thy shield,
And He thy great reward.
Thy song of triumph raise;
Exult with heart and voice;
Oh shout aloud His glorious praise!
Rejoice, my soul, rejoice!
Sir Robert Anderson
Sunday, December 9, 2012
A word on the Beatitudes - 3
Isn't there any application in the Beatitudes for us today, then?
Of course there is — because "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 2:16-17). But in order to apply it correctly, we must first remember who the audience is, the circumstances of the particular portion of Scripture, AND that Scripture isn't always written directly to us or about us. For the Beatitudes, the audience is believing Jews who are still under the Law, and the circumstances are — the kingdom is at hand.
So keeping this in mind, let's look at the following beatitudes:
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:4).
We can apply this verse to ourselves in a general way. Remember, prophecy tells us that Israel will one day repent and turn to Christ and mourn for all the years they didn't, and that this particular verse is referring to that and how they will be comforted when Christ reigns in the earthly kingdom. However, we can apply this to when we were saved. We too came to a point when we realized and mourned our sinful state before placing our faith in Christ's finished work on the cross for us.
This verse does not, however, give us permission to constantly dredge up every sin we remember committing between now and when we go home to be with our Lord and mourn over it. Never does Paul tell us to beat ourselves up over our sinfulness after we're saved. In Romans 7 (cf. Gal 5:17) Paul acknowledges that he (and we) still sins — that a battle continues to wage between his "inmost self" and his "members" — but instead of mourning over it, he concludes that "I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin," and rejoices that "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1)." And though continually admonishing us to keep putting off the old self and putting on the new (Eph 4:21-24; Col 3:5-17), he still tells us to — "Rejoice ALWAYS!" (1 Thes 5:16; Phil 4:4; cf Heb 10:1-12)
This means that we shouldn't be mourning over our sins, then rejoicing, then mourning our sins, then rejoicing, etc. What a vicious cycle to be in! There is a difference, of course, between mourning temporarily about a sin we regularly fall into and mourning habitually about our sinfulness. The first is healthy, the second is not. Why? Because in Christ we have already been forgiven all our sins — past, present, and future. In Christ we are already clean! So rejoice always in Christ! (For more on this see "1 John 1:9" and "Complete in Him" and "I'm Clean!")
I like the way my late brother-in-law use to end his benedictions — "Leave Rejoicing in the Lord!" Comforting indeed.
Let's look at another beatitude:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matt 5:6).
We shouldn't assume that our Lord was speaking of imputed righteousness here, because the theme of Paul's epistle to the Romans was clearly not the theme of our Lord's message to the Jewish disciples.
Let's imagine again that we are one of these Jewish believers so that we can get a clear understanding of His message to them. Under the rule of Rome, the people of Israel had to bear a lot of injustice and unrighteousness. They suffered a lot of injustice and unrighteousness from their own religious leaders, too (Matt 23:1-7). This, of course, caused many to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and in this beatitude our Lord promised that in His kingdom their hunger and thirst will be satisfied.
Jeremiah 23:5 confirms this interpretation of the passage because it says that our Lord, in His coming reign, will "execute justice and righteousness in the land." Isaiah 11:4 tells us that He will "decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth." In other words, he will judge in their behalf. Isaiah 32:1 tells us that under His reign "princes will rule in justice," and Isaiah 26:9 that "the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness." In fact, Old Testament prophecy is full of promises and descriptions of the righteousness that will prevail on earth at that time.
But in Paul's epistles our Lord goes straight to the heart of the matter and explains that man's case is hopeless apart from redeeming grace. "Scripture," he says, "imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe" (Gal 3:22), since "none is righteous, no, not one" (Rom 3:10). In fact, he explains that the Law was given for the exact purpose of demonstrating man's unrighteousness (Rom 3:19) and his desperate need for a Savior.
BUT NOW the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:21-26).
"...not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith" (Phil 3:9).
Blessed for sure are those who hunger and thirst after this righteousness — righteousness that is not their own — for they will be satisfied!
Okay, last one:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Matt 5:9).
While the words "blessed are the peacemakers" apply to God's people in every age, the promise which follows certainly does not. Today peacemakers are by no means always, or even generally, "called sons of God." In fact, they're often called troublemakers.
But the whole passage does apply specifically to the kingdom which our Lord proclaimed "at hand" while He was on earth. The Messianic kingdom will be characterized by the peace that will prevail then. When our Lord returns to reign, "He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isa 2:4).
In Isaiah 9:6-7 it says that Messiah is "the Prince of Peace," and that "of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end..." But before international peace can be achieved there must be peace among God's people, and this is the theme of the Sermon on the Mount: the peace that flows from sincere love will one day flow from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
This peace we, as members of the Church today, should daily seek to foster (Rom 14:19), not in view of the kingdom being established, but as fellow members of the "one body" (Eph 4:3-6).
While there can be no international peace until our Lord returns to judge between the nations (Isa 2:4), the message that we have been commissioned to proclaim is one of "grace and peace," not peace among men, but personal peace with God, made possible by His grace.
The peace that men will enjoy under Messiah's reign will be largely destroyed again at its close (though the kingdom itself and His people will not be destroyed - Isa 9:7), as we read in Revelation 20:7-9. But the peace that Paul's epistles proclaim will never be disrupted, because it is the gift of God's grace through the finished work of Christ, "who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 4:25-5:1).
Not only do we by faith have "peace with God," but we also by faith have access to the "peace of God, which surpasses all understanding" (Phil 4:6-7).
May God help us to fulfil our commission to proclaim reconciliation and peace to a world at war with Him, so that many more may come to know "peace with God" and "the peace of God."
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:14-21).
Of course there is — because "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 2:16-17). But in order to apply it correctly, we must first remember who the audience is, the circumstances of the particular portion of Scripture, AND that Scripture isn't always written directly to us or about us. For the Beatitudes, the audience is believing Jews who are still under the Law, and the circumstances are — the kingdom is at hand.
So keeping this in mind, let's look at the following beatitudes:
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:4).
We can apply this verse to ourselves in a general way. Remember, prophecy tells us that Israel will one day repent and turn to Christ and mourn for all the years they didn't, and that this particular verse is referring to that and how they will be comforted when Christ reigns in the earthly kingdom. However, we can apply this to when we were saved. We too came to a point when we realized and mourned our sinful state before placing our faith in Christ's finished work on the cross for us.
This verse does not, however, give us permission to constantly dredge up every sin we remember committing between now and when we go home to be with our Lord and mourn over it. Never does Paul tell us to beat ourselves up over our sinfulness after we're saved. In Romans 7 (cf. Gal 5:17) Paul acknowledges that he (and we) still sins — that a battle continues to wage between his "inmost self" and his "members" — but instead of mourning over it, he concludes that "I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin," and rejoices that "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1)." And though continually admonishing us to keep putting off the old self and putting on the new (Eph 4:21-24; Col 3:5-17), he still tells us to — "Rejoice ALWAYS!" (1 Thes 5:16; Phil 4:4; cf Heb 10:1-12)
This means that we shouldn't be mourning over our sins, then rejoicing, then mourning our sins, then rejoicing, etc. What a vicious cycle to be in! There is a difference, of course, between mourning temporarily about a sin we regularly fall into and mourning habitually about our sinfulness. The first is healthy, the second is not. Why? Because in Christ we have already been forgiven all our sins — past, present, and future. In Christ we are already clean! So rejoice always in Christ! (For more on this see "1 John 1:9" and "Complete in Him" and "I'm Clean!")
I like the way my late brother-in-law use to end his benedictions — "Leave Rejoicing in the Lord!" Comforting indeed.
Let's look at another beatitude:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matt 5:6).
We shouldn't assume that our Lord was speaking of imputed righteousness here, because the theme of Paul's epistle to the Romans was clearly not the theme of our Lord's message to the Jewish disciples.
Let's imagine again that we are one of these Jewish believers so that we can get a clear understanding of His message to them. Under the rule of Rome, the people of Israel had to bear a lot of injustice and unrighteousness. They suffered a lot of injustice and unrighteousness from their own religious leaders, too (Matt 23:1-7). This, of course, caused many to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and in this beatitude our Lord promised that in His kingdom their hunger and thirst will be satisfied.
Jeremiah 23:5 confirms this interpretation of the passage because it says that our Lord, in His coming reign, will "execute justice and righteousness in the land." Isaiah 11:4 tells us that He will "decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth." In other words, he will judge in their behalf. Isaiah 32:1 tells us that under His reign "princes will rule in justice," and Isaiah 26:9 that "the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness." In fact, Old Testament prophecy is full of promises and descriptions of the righteousness that will prevail on earth at that time.
But in Paul's epistles our Lord goes straight to the heart of the matter and explains that man's case is hopeless apart from redeeming grace. "Scripture," he says, "imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe" (Gal 3:22), since "none is righteous, no, not one" (Rom 3:10). In fact, he explains that the Law was given for the exact purpose of demonstrating man's unrighteousness (Rom 3:19) and his desperate need for a Savior.
BUT NOW the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:21-26).
"...not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith" (Phil 3:9).
Blessed for sure are those who hunger and thirst after this righteousness — righteousness that is not their own — for they will be satisfied!
Okay, last one:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Matt 5:9).
While the words "blessed are the peacemakers" apply to God's people in every age, the promise which follows certainly does not. Today peacemakers are by no means always, or even generally, "called sons of God." In fact, they're often called troublemakers.
But the whole passage does apply specifically to the kingdom which our Lord proclaimed "at hand" while He was on earth. The Messianic kingdom will be characterized by the peace that will prevail then. When our Lord returns to reign, "He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isa 2:4).
In Isaiah 9:6-7 it says that Messiah is "the Prince of Peace," and that "of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end..." But before international peace can be achieved there must be peace among God's people, and this is the theme of the Sermon on the Mount: the peace that flows from sincere love will one day flow from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
This peace we, as members of the Church today, should daily seek to foster (Rom 14:19), not in view of the kingdom being established, but as fellow members of the "one body" (Eph 4:3-6).
While there can be no international peace until our Lord returns to judge between the nations (Isa 2:4), the message that we have been commissioned to proclaim is one of "grace and peace," not peace among men, but personal peace with God, made possible by His grace.
The peace that men will enjoy under Messiah's reign will be largely destroyed again at its close (though the kingdom itself and His people will not be destroyed - Isa 9:7), as we read in Revelation 20:7-9. But the peace that Paul's epistles proclaim will never be disrupted, because it is the gift of God's grace through the finished work of Christ, "who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 4:25-5:1).
Not only do we by faith have "peace with God," but we also by faith have access to the "peace of God, which surpasses all understanding" (Phil 4:6-7).
May God help us to fulfil our commission to proclaim reconciliation and peace to a world at war with Him, so that many more may come to know "peace with God" and "the peace of God."
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:14-21).
Thursday, December 6, 2012
A word on the Beatitudes - 2
In my last post I talked about how the direct audience of the Beatitudes was Jewish believers. Now I'd like to go into greater detail about why our Lord preached them. In Matthew 5:17, a mere few verses after the Beatitudes, He clearly states His objective:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Of course we now know that Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law for us in two ways: He obeyed the Law perfectly in His life, and He took all our sin upon Himself and thereby died as a sinner in order to pay the penalty of the broken Law for us in His death. Our Lord was most likely alluding to these truths when He told these Jewish believers that He had come to fulfill the Law, but I don't believe they were His main emphasis. Here's why:
1. It isn't until much later, in Matthew 16:21, that we read: "From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." So in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount (which includes the Beatitudes), He couldn't have been specifically speaking of His coming death for sin. Nor should we read into it what Paul later tells us of imputed righteousness, because we are clearly told that when Jesus began to tell His disciples about His coming death and resurrection, Peter rebuked Him for thinking He would be killed (Matt 16:22), and none of the twelve understood what he was talking about (Lk 18:34).
2. Matthew 5:17 corresponds to the message which He and His apostles had been preaching — "the gospel of the kingdom." This kingdom, long prophesied and graphically described in the Old Testament, will be based on the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, which was based on the Mosaic Law. When our Lord reigns as King, and His subjects follow the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, the Law and prophets will be fulfilled. Not only will God put His Spirit within them and cause them to obey His statutes and ordinances (Ezek 36:27), but the wonderful descriptions of Messiah's reign, called by Peter, "the times of refreshing," will also be fulfilled (Acts 3:19-21; Isa 32 and 35).
Comparing the Sermon on the Mount with Paul's epistles now, let's see what each contains and what each doesn't. In the first, we find a wonderful way of life on earth proclaimed, but nothing about God's plan of salvation from sin by grace through faith in Christ alone. In the latter we find the message of abounding grace to sinners, but nothing about social reform, equal rights, communal living or anything of that sort. Paul makes it clear that with the rejection of Christ this world was doomed to judgment, but that God in grace delayed the judgment of Israel and the nations so that individuals might find forgiveness and salvation through faith in Christ, who died for our sins (Rom 11:32-34; cf. Eph 1:7; Rom 3:24).
In other words, during the kingdom reign of Christ on earth — when the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes are fulfilled —righteousness will reign (Isa 32:1, 16-17; 61:11; Jer 23:5-6). But now — though the days are evil (Eph 5:16) and godlessness grows (2 Tim 3:1-9), though righteousness is trampled upon (Heb 10:29) and Christ remains an exile (Heb 1:13; 10:12-14) — GRACE REIGNS! This is not because He is being lenient, but rather righteous; i.e. the righteousness of Christ is paying the penalty for our sins, so that it is now a righteous thing on God's part to justify the believing sinner.
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:26).
To those of you who have not yet placed your faith in Jesus Christ's death on your behalf, there is still time to respond. God is patiently extending grace to all who will believe.
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (Rom 9:22-24)
He won't be patient forever, so please take Him up on His offer now while you still have the chance.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16).
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Of course we now know that Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law for us in two ways: He obeyed the Law perfectly in His life, and He took all our sin upon Himself and thereby died as a sinner in order to pay the penalty of the broken Law for us in His death. Our Lord was most likely alluding to these truths when He told these Jewish believers that He had come to fulfill the Law, but I don't believe they were His main emphasis. Here's why:
1. It isn't until much later, in Matthew 16:21, that we read: "From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." So in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount (which includes the Beatitudes), He couldn't have been specifically speaking of His coming death for sin. Nor should we read into it what Paul later tells us of imputed righteousness, because we are clearly told that when Jesus began to tell His disciples about His coming death and resurrection, Peter rebuked Him for thinking He would be killed (Matt 16:22), and none of the twelve understood what he was talking about (Lk 18:34).
2. Matthew 5:17 corresponds to the message which He and His apostles had been preaching — "the gospel of the kingdom." This kingdom, long prophesied and graphically described in the Old Testament, will be based on the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, which was based on the Mosaic Law. When our Lord reigns as King, and His subjects follow the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, the Law and prophets will be fulfilled. Not only will God put His Spirit within them and cause them to obey His statutes and ordinances (Ezek 36:27), but the wonderful descriptions of Messiah's reign, called by Peter, "the times of refreshing," will also be fulfilled (Acts 3:19-21; Isa 32 and 35).
Comparing the Sermon on the Mount with Paul's epistles now, let's see what each contains and what each doesn't. In the first, we find a wonderful way of life on earth proclaimed, but nothing about God's plan of salvation from sin by grace through faith in Christ alone. In the latter we find the message of abounding grace to sinners, but nothing about social reform, equal rights, communal living or anything of that sort. Paul makes it clear that with the rejection of Christ this world was doomed to judgment, but that God in grace delayed the judgment of Israel and the nations so that individuals might find forgiveness and salvation through faith in Christ, who died for our sins (Rom 11:32-34; cf. Eph 1:7; Rom 3:24).
In other words, during the kingdom reign of Christ on earth — when the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes are fulfilled —righteousness will reign (Isa 32:1, 16-17; 61:11; Jer 23:5-6). But now — though the days are evil (Eph 5:16) and godlessness grows (2 Tim 3:1-9), though righteousness is trampled upon (Heb 10:29) and Christ remains an exile (Heb 1:13; 10:12-14) — GRACE REIGNS! This is not because He is being lenient, but rather righteous; i.e. the righteousness of Christ is paying the penalty for our sins, so that it is now a righteous thing on God's part to justify the believing sinner.
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:26).
To those of you who have not yet placed your faith in Jesus Christ's death on your behalf, there is still time to respond. God is patiently extending grace to all who will believe.
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (Rom 9:22-24)
He won't be patient forever, so please take Him up on His offer now while you still have the chance.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16).
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