The Nations

This morning my Bible reading included Revelation 21 and Psalm 117.  I was struck by the word nations in each reading.

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations;

extol Him, all you peoples.

For great is His love toward us,

and the faithfulness of the LORD endures

forever.

Praise the Lord.

Revelation 21:23-26

The city [speaking of the New Jerusalem] does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.  The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.  On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.  The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.

Early in Scripture we learn that God's promise is not only for Abraham's line, but for all the nations and peoples of the earth.  The verses above remind me that there are beautiful and glorious things in all cultures throughout the earth that honor God and reflect a little of who He is.  Around the world today, His people gather to worship.  What a day it will be when we are all gathered TOGETHER before the throne of the Lamb, in the New Jerusalem, worshiping rightly and in unison!

Have a blessed Sunday, friends, wherever you find yourself in the world today.

Let's worship and bow down!

Sabbath Preparations: inside and out

another work day
Saturday
home improvement
messes from the week
running errands
lesson plans
meal plans
in addition to
the usual day-to-day
tasks

tomorrow is different
no work
rest
can I trust
will I let go
He asks me to obey
I must let go
what is not done
on lists for Monday

my Father cares for me
my Father loves me
no condemnation
no abandonment
no fear

provision
love
repent
believe
worship
rest

Music Suggestion #3

Genre change, here!

JOHN REUBEN

This fellow is a hip-hop, rapper type of singer-songwriter. His lyrics are thought provoking and offer interesting social commentary; the music is up-beat and fun. I've not gotten his last two albums, mostly because I'm really good at getting behind in the music scene! This post has got me motivated to pick up those albums asap.

I like running to his music, keeps my mind busy and my heart pumping. And, by the way, if you click on the name of the artist in my "Music Suggestion" posts, you'll be directed to their sites.

Music Suggestion #2

Trying to post a picture with suggestion #1 didn't work out. So I guess these will be photoless posts. Sorry! Darn copyrights ... don't they know I could potentially be selling more of their music. Oh well. (I'm not actually upset about it and respect the rules.)

A-hem. Moving right along to #2!

ANDREW PETERSON

I sincerely hope some of you are already familiar with his music. Over the years it has been a pleasure to hear Andrew grow in his faith, as expressed through his music. Each successive album has greater depth and ministers even more to my spirit.

My two favorite albums:

1. Resurrection Letters, Vol II: I've talked about a song from this album here at Life in the Valley before. Other favorites are Hosea and All Things New.

1. Behold the Lamb of God: This album sweeps through the Biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation. There's even a song of the genealogy in Matthew! I'd never experienced an album like this before. Technically it's a Christmas album, but I listen to it year round!

I look forward to purchasing his latest, Counting Stars, soon!

Maybe you will too.

Music Suggestion #1

I wanted to share some musicians or groups that I enjoy. This will be a series, so I don't bombard you all at once. The list will come in no specific order and all are Christian.

I listen to a lot of Christian music; it helps me stay focused on things that are good, noble, trustworthy, praiseworthy, excellent, etc. (Philippians 4:8) I love to wake up in the morning humming a soul-nourshing tune - even if I only remember one line! I believe feeding our minds with good music is one way the Spirit can speak to us in quiet whispers, as a tune comes to mind at a random time during the day.

Without further ado ... here's #1!

INDELIBLE GRACE

Their purpose:

Our hope is to help the church recover the tradition of putting old hymns to new music for each generation, and to enrich our worship with a huge view of God and His indelible grace.

You can read more in the "about" section on the website.

The theology woven into old hymns of the church - many I never would have heard, but for Indelible Grace - is rich and powerful. Music (while I'm not much of a musician) has always spoken to me, being one of the easiest ways for me to remember important truths or memorize scripture. May you too be blessed by the words of the saints gone before us, set to beautiful contemporary music.

BONUS: If you live in the Pittsburgh area. Matthew Smith and Indelible Grace will be performing at Murrysville Community Church on Friday, October 15 at 6pm. Tickets are $9.

Worship

DISCLAIMER:

This post is a little wandering; brace yourself for a journey through

the many thoughts that have been swirling around in my head!

With the approaching Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, I requested some picture books from the library about Dr. King to read with Elizabeth and looked up activity ideas online. One suggestion was to make a paper chain using skin colored papers or the standard "red and yellow, black and white." Using an idea from Christmas, a wreath made from green paper hand prints, we made a wreath of different colored hands and I hung these verses from Revelation 7:9-10 in the middle:

After this I looked and there before me was

a great multitude that no one could count,

from every nation, tribe, people, and

language, standing before the throne

and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing

white robes and were holding palm brances

in their hands. And they cried out

in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,

who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb."

Another suggestion was to visit an alternate house of worship: if you're Methodist, attend a Baptist church or if you don't go to worship on Sundays, try a church. I thought this was a fascinating idea, there's a large African Methodist Episcopal church around the corner from ours I'd be interested in attending sometime. Unfortunately, this week I was helping out in a kid's class, so we couldn't miss being with our congregation. But I've got the idea in the back of my head for the future.

Yesterday as I was preparing to go to church, I was thinking about the idea of worshiping with other believers of different nations, tribes, peoples, and languages, reflecting on Revelation 7:9-10 and thinking about what Dr. King fought for during his short days walking the earth. And I was thinking about how we're often drawn to local congregations that have an order of worship and style of music that's comfortable for us, often influenced by what we grew up with. I don't think there's anything wrong with this, as long as you're not accusing the brother's and sisters up the street of being "wrong" if they do or don't use an organ, a band, or only sing a capella.* The reality is that none of it approaches the perfection that will be achieved in the worship of our Great God when we're all standing before His throne with all of the believers, from all of time, from all over the world!

This set me to wondering what it will be like, when we're before the throne of God. What will the tune be? Will we all be worshiping in the style that comes naturally to us and they'll create the most beautiful harmony, bringing great glory to God? Or will we all be worshiping in Spirit and in Truth in a blissful way we never even knew possible this side of heaven - more beautiful, more glorious, exactly as God would be and should be worshiped by His redeemed people?!

We don't know.

But we do know we will worship!

We will no longer be distracted by the things of this world, by the sin that so easily entangles, by the fears and doubts that prevent us from loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and loving our neighbor as ourself.

Hallelujah!

For the time being, we will continue to look to the Scriptures and the guidance of the Spirit to instruct our hearts and minds and guide our worship. We will repent of our sin and believe the Good News - Jesus died once for all, that we may be brought near to God. And, thinking about Dr. King and loving our neighbor, we can get to know believers of other nations, tribes, peoples, languages, ... and even denominations, and learn more about the depth, breadth, width, and height of God's love. We'll be spending eternity together, right? Might as well start getting to know each other now!

Even apart from Martin Luther King Day, the Spirit's been impressing upon me lately that Christians are bound together by Christ, no matter where they're from, what church they attend, what work they do, how smart they are, or what kind of car they drive. We are connected on a deep level and we need each other. It's worth saying a few embarrassing things and having our minds stretched a little, to get to know more of the heart of God and be bound together with fellow believers, with cords that cannot be broken. Without Christ, there's no other hope for this kind of connection. He is the great Reconciler, the great Healer, the Prince of Peace.

Dr. King and those who bravely would not accept the evil status quo amaze me! So much progress was made in such a short time. Today I'm thankful for God's work in and through Dr. King. But as we look at the state of inequality & injustice that is still prevalent in our nation, one can feel angry or hopeless or both. Thankfully, our God promises to make all things new (Isaiah 65:17 & Revelation 21.) Resting on this hope, we can move forward to bring a little more peace, a little more justice, a little more equality, as we, His people, focus on loving God and our neighbor, and we keep praying, "Come, Lord Jesus."

*I'm thinking here more about how we're divided my matters of preference, and not usually defending standards of worship clearly established in the Bible.