Worship is not to be thought of primarily as an experience, after which we can say that we felt worshipful. Rather, worship is an act, after which we can say, or not, that we were obedient.
When experience is sought after in worship, we destroy the very thing we mistakenly exalt. When obedience is rendered in worship, we do have an experience -- the experience of obeying.
When you shoot at a target, you look at it afterwards to see if you hit it. If after a worship service, you look at your heart to see if you "hit it," you are aiming, shooting, and checking in almost complete covenant confusion.
But this does not mean that you should receive nothing from the worship, or that you should try to worship like a Stoic. Much of what passes for Reformed "God-centered" worship is actually nothing more than a proud stoicism. This pride says, "I come to give glory to God, and not to receive. I expect to be promoted to the ranks of the seraphim any day now."
No. Worship is a service in which actions are exchanged -- God calls us, we come, we confess, He forgives, He teaches, we listen, He invites, we sit down and eat, He blesses, and we go forth. Should we feel good about this? Of course. Is feeling good the point? Of course not. Glad obedience to the Word is the point.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Act Accordingly
This post was taken from Doug Wilson.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Rolling Relief
The hills, they comfort my eyes.
They beckon for me to call them my home.
Trees attempt to reach the sky
They pull the earth as they grow.
The water, it tickles my ears.
It finds it’s way through the woods
(hills are sad when you see the tears)
being pulled by a force misunderstood.
The rocks, they complete my hands;
As if my hands need the work.
The fence is hanging to the land,
a bygone wonder which only to lurk.
The smell, my nose rejoices!
Sweet bliss of rotting trees.
You chuckle, I hear your voices.
Ignorant of smells pointing heavenly.
They beckon for me to call them my home.
Trees attempt to reach the sky
They pull the earth as they grow.
The water, it tickles my ears.
It finds it’s way through the woods
(hills are sad when you see the tears)
being pulled by a force misunderstood.
The rocks, they complete my hands;
As if my hands need the work.
The fence is hanging to the land,
a bygone wonder which only to lurk.
The smell, my nose rejoices!
Sweet bliss of rotting trees.
You chuckle, I hear your voices.
Ignorant of smells pointing heavenly.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Shivering Timbers
The following are a list of nautically derived sayings that deserve to be described. I'm sure you, like me, have used these divorced of their true meaning. Now you know mate.
By and Large - By means into the wind, while large means with the wind. By and large is used to indicate all possible situations "the ship handles well both by and large".
Bitter end - the anchor cable is tied to the bitts, when the cable is fully paid out, the bitter end has been reached. The last part of a rope or cable.
Clean slate - At the helm, the watch keeper would record details of speed, distances, headings, etc. on a slate. At the beginning of a new watch the slate would be wiped clean.
Devil to pay(and no pitch hot) - 'Paying' the Devil is sealing the devil seam (qv). It is a difficult and unpleasant job (with no resources) because of the shape of the seam (closest to the hull).
(Devil seam - The curved seam in the deck planking closest to the side of the ship, next to the scuppers. A sailor slipping on the deck would be "between the Devil and the deep blue sea".)
Fly by night - A large sail used only for sailing downwind, requiring little attention.
Know the ropes - A sailor who 'knows the ropes' is familiar with the miles of cordage and ropes involved in running a ship.
Let the cat out of the bag - To break bad news (the "cat o' nine tails" being taken out of the bag by the bosun was bad news).
Loggerhead - An iron ball attached to a long handle, used for driving caulking into seams and (occasionally) in a fight. Hence: 'at loggerheads'.
Over the barrel - Adult sailors were flogged tied to a grating, but boys were beaten instead with a cane, while tied down over the barrel of a gun.
Pipe down - A signal on the bosun's pipe to signal the end of the day, requiring lights to be extinguished and silence from the crew.
Rummage sale - A sale of damaged cargo (from French arrimage).
Slush fund - The money obtained by the cook selling slush(qv) ashore. Used for the benefit of the crew (or the cook).
Slush - Greasy substance obtained by boiling or scraping the fat from empty salted meat storage barrels, or the floating fat residue after boiling the crew's meal. In the Royal Navy the perquisite of the cook who could sell it or exchange it (usually for alcohol) with other members of the crew. Used for greasing parts of the running rigging of the ship and therefore valuable to the master and bosun.
Son of a gun - The space between the guns was used as a semi-private place for trysts with prostitutes and wives, which sometimes lead to pregnancies.
By and Large - By means into the wind, while large means with the wind. By and large is used to indicate all possible situations "the ship handles well both by and large".
Bitter end - the anchor cable is tied to the bitts, when the cable is fully paid out, the bitter end has been reached. The last part of a rope or cable.
Clean slate - At the helm, the watch keeper would record details of speed, distances, headings, etc. on a slate. At the beginning of a new watch the slate would be wiped clean.
Devil to pay(and no pitch hot) - 'Paying' the Devil is sealing the devil seam (qv). It is a difficult and unpleasant job (with no resources) because of the shape of the seam (closest to the hull).
(Devil seam - The curved seam in the deck planking closest to the side of the ship, next to the scuppers. A sailor slipping on the deck would be "between the Devil and the deep blue sea".)
Fly by night - A large sail used only for sailing downwind, requiring little attention.
Know the ropes - A sailor who 'knows the ropes' is familiar with the miles of cordage and ropes involved in running a ship.
Let the cat out of the bag - To break bad news (the "cat o' nine tails" being taken out of the bag by the bosun was bad news).
Loggerhead - An iron ball attached to a long handle, used for driving caulking into seams and (occasionally) in a fight. Hence: 'at loggerheads'.
Over the barrel - Adult sailors were flogged tied to a grating, but boys were beaten instead with a cane, while tied down over the barrel of a gun.
Pipe down - A signal on the bosun's pipe to signal the end of the day, requiring lights to be extinguished and silence from the crew.
Rummage sale - A sale of damaged cargo (from French arrimage).
Slush fund - The money obtained by the cook selling slush(qv) ashore. Used for the benefit of the crew (or the cook).
Slush - Greasy substance obtained by boiling or scraping the fat from empty salted meat storage barrels, or the floating fat residue after boiling the crew's meal. In the Royal Navy the perquisite of the cook who could sell it or exchange it (usually for alcohol) with other members of the crew. Used for greasing parts of the running rigging of the ship and therefore valuable to the master and bosun.
Son of a gun - The space between the guns was used as a semi-private place for trysts with prostitutes and wives, which sometimes lead to pregnancies.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Cues are Sticks
Dr. Leithhart has an interesting post on slavery. I've been wanting to read up a little bit on that considering all the 'hubbub' on the issue lately. However, as I'm sure Leithart would agree, America did get it's cues from ancient history. Unfortunately, though, it's too easy to be cruel.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Pleasant Destinations
The following is an article I wrote for our church newsletter a few months ago. Thought I'd post it here for all to read.
Just a Word
I don’t know where the phrase ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’ came from, but it’s obviously not correct. To be sure, it’s a playground mantra used to squirm out of a bad situation by youngsters ever since playgrounds have been around. But what’s interesting about this phrase is that we want it to be true. We only wish words didn’t hurt.
How is it that such a thing as mere words, movements of vocal cords, can be so powerful? Treaties signed and broken, friendships started and ended, marriages happy and divorced, all by words. God used words to speak to Abraham and Moses, Pastors employ words to encourage and admonish congregants, we use words to speak to each other and we teach our children words as a primary means of communication. As a matter of fact, God spoke before he wrote.
As sure as water is wet, everyone has said words they wish to take back. Impossible. Never. Too late. Fools are quick to speak says Proverbs. What is there about speaking quickly that the Bible calls foolish? I believe there are two major areas where what we say gets us into trouble. First, we say things we shouldn’t, and second we don’t say what we should.
Do you know anybody who has an opinion on everything, and isn’t afraid to let you know it? The self-proclaimed expert is really everything but that. It is said that the Greek painter Apelles was one day painting a warrior but he was uncertain on how to render his sandals. He asked the advice of a cobbler, but after a time the cobbler started offering advice on other parts of the painting and was rebuked by Apelles with this phrase: Sutor, ne ultra crepidam "Cobbler, no further than (your competence on) the sandal". The simple question is, ‘why do we talk so much!’. Partly, it’s because we want to appear smarter than we really are. We want to impress people with our supposed intelligence and wisdom. Although the Bible says, ‘…he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.’.
We can also say things we don’t mean when we employ the age-old tactic of flattery. Flattery should be despised by Christians everywhere. This insincere praise to further one’s agenda was first used by the Devil in the Garden. ‘You shall be as gods’ he said while wringing his hands. Surely, he was more subtle than any creature. Those who flatter actually hate the recipient of such talk. (Pr 26:28) Flattery will get you nowhere pleasant.
However, saying what should be said is also wrong. Moses refused to say what God commanded based on an assessment of his own skills. We haughtily look at Moses’ disobedience and exclaim we would do whatever God equipped us for. Do we? Or do we stutter and stammer and make excuses for ourselves? Are we swift to spread the Gospel of peace to those who are dead in sins?
James says that mere words are so powerful they can be likened to the rudder on a large ship. Or a like a small bit in a horses mouth. It’s no coincidence that horses and ships are images of both conquest and peaceful commerce. In the same way, our tongue can be harmful or helpful. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Pr 25:11
Si decem habeas linguas, mutum esse addecet. -- "Even if you had ten tongues, you should hold them all."’
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Jms 3:9
Just a Word
I don’t know where the phrase ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’ came from, but it’s obviously not correct. To be sure, it’s a playground mantra used to squirm out of a bad situation by youngsters ever since playgrounds have been around. But what’s interesting about this phrase is that we want it to be true. We only wish words didn’t hurt.
How is it that such a thing as mere words, movements of vocal cords, can be so powerful? Treaties signed and broken, friendships started and ended, marriages happy and divorced, all by words. God used words to speak to Abraham and Moses, Pastors employ words to encourage and admonish congregants, we use words to speak to each other and we teach our children words as a primary means of communication. As a matter of fact, God spoke before he wrote.
As sure as water is wet, everyone has said words they wish to take back. Impossible. Never. Too late. Fools are quick to speak says Proverbs. What is there about speaking quickly that the Bible calls foolish? I believe there are two major areas where what we say gets us into trouble. First, we say things we shouldn’t, and second we don’t say what we should.
Do you know anybody who has an opinion on everything, and isn’t afraid to let you know it? The self-proclaimed expert is really everything but that. It is said that the Greek painter Apelles was one day painting a warrior but he was uncertain on how to render his sandals. He asked the advice of a cobbler, but after a time the cobbler started offering advice on other parts of the painting and was rebuked by Apelles with this phrase: Sutor, ne ultra crepidam "Cobbler, no further than (your competence on) the sandal". The simple question is, ‘why do we talk so much!’. Partly, it’s because we want to appear smarter than we really are. We want to impress people with our supposed intelligence and wisdom. Although the Bible says, ‘…he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.’.
We can also say things we don’t mean when we employ the age-old tactic of flattery. Flattery should be despised by Christians everywhere. This insincere praise to further one’s agenda was first used by the Devil in the Garden. ‘You shall be as gods’ he said while wringing his hands. Surely, he was more subtle than any creature. Those who flatter actually hate the recipient of such talk. (Pr 26:28) Flattery will get you nowhere pleasant.
However, saying what should be said is also wrong. Moses refused to say what God commanded based on an assessment of his own skills. We haughtily look at Moses’ disobedience and exclaim we would do whatever God equipped us for. Do we? Or do we stutter and stammer and make excuses for ourselves? Are we swift to spread the Gospel of peace to those who are dead in sins?
James says that mere words are so powerful they can be likened to the rudder on a large ship. Or a like a small bit in a horses mouth. It’s no coincidence that horses and ships are images of both conquest and peaceful commerce. In the same way, our tongue can be harmful or helpful. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Pr 25:11
Si decem habeas linguas, mutum esse addecet. -- "Even if you had ten tongues, you should hold them all."’
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Jms 3:9
Thursday, August 11, 2005
A Hairy Subject
I was out to a farm this morning over in Newark Valley. The farmer was an older fella with two bad knees. He has a herd of 25 cows and was selling out to a farmer up north, contingent upon low SCC. So I was there taking individual milk samples of all the cows for analysis.
When I go to farms, the mostest funnest part is the first 15 minutes. Usually neither of us know each other, so both the farmer and myself ask quite open ended questions. This morning we talked about Iraq, Molson Ice, DHIA, and bST.
When he was talking about bST, I was quite alarmed. He milks with 3-65# DeLaval buckets (most of which were full) and I've never know a bucket milked herd to use bST. Well this fella says he uses it all winter long. Just then he pointed over to a curry comb hanging on the wall and said, "there it is now, my Back Scratching Tool! I use it on every cow."
When I go to farms, the mostest funnest part is the first 15 minutes. Usually neither of us know each other, so both the farmer and myself ask quite open ended questions. This morning we talked about Iraq, Molson Ice, DHIA, and bST.
When he was talking about bST, I was quite alarmed. He milks with 3-65# DeLaval buckets (most of which were full) and I've never know a bucket milked herd to use bST. Well this fella says he uses it all winter long. Just then he pointed over to a curry comb hanging on the wall and said, "there it is now, my Back Scratching Tool! I use it on every cow."
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Hodge Podge and doesn't Dodge
Dear Heathen:
The Lord Jesus Christ hath promised that the time shall come when all the ends of the earth shall be His kingdom. And God is not a man that He should lie nor the son of man that He should repent. And if this was promised by a Being who cannot lie, why do you not help it to come sooner by reading the Bible, and attending to the words of your teachers, and loving God, and, renouncing your idols, take Christianity into your temples? And soon there will not be a Nation, no, not a space of ground as large as a footstep, that will want a missionary. My sister and myself have, by small self-denials, procured two dollars which are enclosed in this letter to buy tracts and Bibles to teach you.
Archibald Alexander Hodge, and Mary Eliz. Hodge,
Friends of the Heathen.
(June 23, 1833. A letter to the "heathen" from ten-year-old A.A. Hodge and his sister Mary Elizabeth, given to J.R. Eckard, a Princeton Seminary graduate who was to go to Ceylon. Quoted in Princeton Seminary: Faith and learning 1812-1868, v. 1, p. 193).
The Lord Jesus Christ hath promised that the time shall come when all the ends of the earth shall be His kingdom. And God is not a man that He should lie nor the son of man that He should repent. And if this was promised by a Being who cannot lie, why do you not help it to come sooner by reading the Bible, and attending to the words of your teachers, and loving God, and, renouncing your idols, take Christianity into your temples? And soon there will not be a Nation, no, not a space of ground as large as a footstep, that will want a missionary. My sister and myself have, by small self-denials, procured two dollars which are enclosed in this letter to buy tracts and Bibles to teach you.
Archibald Alexander Hodge, and Mary Eliz. Hodge,
Friends of the Heathen.
(June 23, 1833. A letter to the "heathen" from ten-year-old A.A. Hodge and his sister Mary Elizabeth, given to J.R. Eckard, a Princeton Seminary graduate who was to go to Ceylon. Quoted in Princeton Seminary: Faith and learning 1812-1868, v. 1, p. 193).
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