Tuesday, November 24, 2009

And then she said...

Evil in our lives is like the color black in paintings. Our lives are as a canvas before the Lord, rebels and children alike. He is sovereign, he is good, and he does all things well. The black in our lives was no mistakes, every stroke is a part of the whole.

Some afflictions are caused by our own sins, some are not. Learn to distinguish these well... Because if it is the first, we must repent and learn our lesson lest we have to be taught it again. In either case and all the more in times of joy--wait upon the Lord, sing his praises, fear him--for this the the whole duty of humanity.

In Psalms 33, the psalmist sings a "new song" in the face of death and famine; in suffering that was not due to his sins. In Psalm 40, he again sings a "new song" as he is rescued from the miry bog that is his own unrighteousness. Yet in either cases, Yahweh is the cause of the new song that comes forth from his lips. We are to wait upon our deliverer, for he is faithful, good, and true.

Adoniram and Ann Judson lost their first child, nameless, at sea sailing to Burma as the first missionaries to the heathen land. Their second child, Roger, died at 17 months... When Roger died, Ann wrote,

"Our hearts were bound up with this child; we felt he was our earthly all, our only source of innocent recreation in this heathen land. But God saw it was necessary to remind us of our error, and to strip us of our only little all. O, may it not be vain that he has done it. May we so improve it that he will stay his hand and say 'It is enough.'"

O may I have that kind of faith in God's goodness and sovereignty. May our pains not be in vain and may we so improve for his glory.

But I never quite hear it right away.
I had to learn another painful lesson today.
Thankful your words had first tilled my heart.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

sat down and wept

By the rivers dark
I wandered on
I lived my life
in Babylon

and I did forget
my holy song
and I had no strength
in Babylon

by the rivers dark
where I could not see
who was waiting there
who was hunting me

and he cut my lip
and he cut my heart
so I could not drink
from the river dark

and he covered me
and I saw within
my lawless heart
and my wedding ring

I did not know
and I could not see
who was waiting there
who was hunting me

by the rivers dark
I panicked on
I belonged at last
to Babylon

then he struck my heart
with a deadly force
and he said, "This heart
it is not yours."

and he gave the wind
my wedding ring
and he circled me
with everything

by the rivers dark
in a wounded dawn
I live my life
in Babylon

tho' I take my song
from a withered limb
both song and tree
they sing for him

be the truth unsaid
and the blessing gone
if I forget
my Babylon

I did not know
and I could not see
who was waiting there
who was haunting me

by the rivers dark
where it all goes on
by the rivers dark
in Babylon


// "By the Rivers Dark," Leonard Cohen

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Advent longings... though it's not quite December.

You've been promised, we've been waiting... where Y'at??!

O You who heal us by wounding us! Who heal us from the madness of
totality, from the pestilence of invulnerability.
-Hans Urs von Balthasar

so wrap our injured flesh around You
breathe our air and walk our sod
rob our sin and make us holy
perfect Son of God


How long??

Were not it for Your hand rending and readying us, we could not soooo deplore this lack and so desire wholeness in that Other Place. For this now very painful and unpleasant grace, I thank You. You will harvest righteousness and peace. You will bring us home. We wait.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Be a part of God's system

"... I’m going to soon reach a breaking point, and I will want to throw everything down..."

Steve's tumblr post reminded me I've been meaning to share this awesome work of my dear friend Rebecca who I miss every day. For their IV-equivalent of Epiphany she and friends parodied Andy Samberg's SNL digital short "On the Ground"

(WES THROWS MATT'S PORN TO THE GROUND)
I was walkin' through the freshman dorm
And a man walks up to me, hands me the latest issue of porn
"More pleasure, your desire"
--MAN, I'm not gonna let you poison me

I threw it on the ground
You must think I like sin!
I ain't gonna be part of that system--
MAN! Pump that garbage in another man's face

(REBECCA THROWS MATT TO THE GROUND)
I go to my favorite SI session
An unbeliever says,
"I think you're mighty fine! You can have me for free..."
I said, "MAN! What I look like? Proverbs 7?"

I took him, and threw him on the GROUND!
--I don't need your temptations!
--I'm a royal priesthood!
Puh-leez. You can't buy me, unclean man!

(WES THROWS REBECCA'S BOOK TO THE GROUND)
At the bio lab with my so-called partner
She hands me her textbook, she says "OMG!"
--MAN, this ain't my God,
This is a TEXTBOOK!

I threw it on the ground!
What, you think I'm STUPID?
Idols ain't part of my system
My God's not a book--DUUH!!

(MATT THROWS PHARISEE-WES TO THE GROUND)
Some poser invites me to a worship party
Where's he at?
I'll check on him. What's this?

Hypocrite to the ground!
I threw the pillow on him, too!
Welcome to the real world, Pharisee!

Rebecca: So many things to throw on the ground
Matt: Like lust, and hate,
Wes: and fear, and even shame
All: I'm a POLISHED ARROW!

(REBECCA CONVERTS MATT & WES)--hits pamphlets out of their hands
Two atheist phonies try to feed me their religion
---GROOOOUUND!---
You can't have na world without God, phonies!

Then the two phonies got up
Turned out they lived in Glaser
And then I whipped out my Bible
Knees to the ground
The phonies didn't get up
I was preachin' bout Jesus over and over

They were repentin' and believin'
Their souls were on fire
The moral of the story is
ALL:
Be a part of God's system

... MAN!!


She's wonderful. :)