Posts from 2019 (Page 3)
A Father’s Choice
On a Sunday in 1910 in Spokane, Washington, a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd was listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in church and decided that fathers needed a day of their own. Eventually, this day was set aside nationally to honor fathers in the same manner that Mother’s Day is set aside for mothers – at least theoretically, anyway. Fathers often seem to be an afterthought compared to mothers in terms of the respect they get for their role…
A Fountain Filled With Blood
You can buy just about anything on Amazon. That is a bit of a double-edged sword, because it means that people have a platform for selling just about anything. This week, I saw a listing for a book written by a fellow who styles himself anonymously as “Ex Preacher” to avoid “personal attacks” and “pointless debates and arguments.” The book is entitled Obsessed With Blood, intended to be the first volume in “The Crazy Things Christians Believe” series. The teaser…
How Long Has It Been?
Since our Singing with the Spirit workshop several weeks ago, I think many of us have focused more on the content of our hymns and the lessons they teach than we ever have before. One of my favorite songs is, regrettably, not in our book. And you might not even know it – I actually stumped Myron Bruce when I mentioned this one! It’s called, “How Long Has It Been?” by Mosie Lister. Consider the message it conveys: How long…
How Do You Want to be Remembered?
No one is entirely sure how Memorial Day got started. It is so shrouded in mystery that it is a little scholarly specialty; Columbus State University in Georgia even has a dedicated Center for Memorial Day Research. But whatever its origins in this country, whether in the Civil War or earlier, the fundamental practice of Memorial Day – decorating the graves of soldiers – is an ancient one. Human beings, across civilizations, continents, and millennia of history, have sought to…
How Useful Are We?
Someone once said, “Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires, but according to our capacities.” We can all see the truth in that statement when it comes to serving the Lord. When God told Jonah to go and preach in the city of Nineveh, Jonah did not care to go. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, hated enemies of Israel; he did not want those people to repent! So he decided quite literally to travel in…
Why I Attend Every Service
The following article is by Carroll Ellis and appeared in the Gospel Advocate January 1960. It’s still relevant today, and I commend it to your consideration. BP A man has just received a kind invitation. It was not an all-expense paid, deep sea fishing trip, neither was it free tickets to a basketball game. Rather, it was an urgent, pressing invitation to attend public worship. He was not annoyed, embarrassed, teased, but pleased, for he said: “I was glad when…
Why Sing?
Most of us are probably familiar with Martin Luther. When you hear the name, you probably think of him first and foremost as the spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation by nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. What you might not know about Luther is that, among all the changes he made, he was responsible for reintroducing congregational singing into worship. A Jesuit priest once complained he, “has murdered more souls with his songs than with…
For Christ’s Sake
I remember particularly as a boy, though occasionally still today, hearing people close their prayers with the phrase, “in Christ’s name and for his sake we pray”. Have you ever thought about that phrase? Have you ever really considered what we are saying with that expression? We are asking God to look on the face of his only son and to deal with us on his merits, to essentially treat us as if we were him. But that is only…
Work in the Vineyard Today
On the first day of the week before the Passover, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem in what has come to be known as the Triumphal Entry. He was greeted by crowds of people shouting Hosanna to the son of David – essentially, “God save the King” – and waving palm branches (Matt 21:8-9). In other words, he was greeted as a ruler. That did not sit well with the Jewish elites. The situation intensified when Jesus entered the Temple and drove…
Lazy Sunday
I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. –Proverbs 24:30-34 No…
Living Until We Die
On Friday evening, a memorial service was held for Ronnie Rubit in this building. I never had the pleasure of meeting Ronnie. But I know that many of you were close to him, and, not only in the church but out in the community, numerous people have told me what an inspirational figure he was. It reminds me again that we have experienced a great deal of loss recently in this church. It’s difficult sometimes in such situations to know…
Singing with the Spirit
I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. (1 Corinthians 14:15) Congregational singing is one of the most distinctive aspects of our public worship in churches of Christ. It’s certainly the one that stands out to visitors to our services because it is relatively unusual in contemporary Western Christianity; most religious groups over the last 150 or so years have moved to featuring various instruments in their assemblies. That immediately draws attention to…