Jesus Shall Reign!
May 22, 2009
Another Hymn post for Friday.
Words by Isaac Watts Music by John Hatton
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
Behold the islands with their kings,
And Europe her best tribute brings;
From north to south the princes meet,
To pay their homage at His feet.
There Persia, glorious to behold,
There India shines in eastern gold;
And barb’rous nations at His word
Submit, and bow, and own their Lord.
To Him shall endless prayer be made,
And praises throng to crown His head;
His Name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning sacrifice.
People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song;
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His Name.
Blessings abound wherever He reigns;
The prisoner leaps to lose his chains;
The weary find eternal rest,
And all the sons of want are blessed.
Where He displays His healing power,
Death and the curse are known no more:
In Him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.
Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honors to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud amen!
Great God, whose universal sway
The known and unknown worlds obey,
Now give the kingdom to Thy Son,
Extend His power, exalt His throne.
The scepter well becomes His hands;
All Heav’n submits to His commands;
His justice shall avenge the poor,
And pride and rage prevail no more.
With power He vindicates the just,
And treads th’oppressor in the dust:
His worship and His fear shall last
Till hours, and years, and time be past.
As rain on meadows newly mown,
So shall He send his influence down:
His grace on fainting souls distills,
Like heav’nly dew on thirsty hills.
The heathen lands, that lie beneath
The shades of overspreading death,
Revive at His first dawning light;
And deserts blossom at the sight.
The saints shall flourish in His days,
Dressed in the robes of joy and praise;
Peace, like a river, from His throne
Shall flow to nations yet unknown.
All Creatures of Our God and King
May 22, 2009
Friday is a good day to praise the Lord!
When we worship the Lord just imagine, if you will for a moment, that all creation joins us in ceaseless praise of the Lord Jesus Christ! Imagine as the Hymn writer does that we are inviting creation to join us in worshiping the King!
Why do we have so many scenes of the creation during worship? My friends its because God designed the creation to worship Him! We are pleased to sing to God in the backdrop of creation because that’s the Lord’s intent. That we join with creation in ceaseless praise!
When we join the creation in worshiping the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit our hearts become tender. As we worship the Lord in spirit and truth we cannot but help to forgive others their sins. It is in the worship and praise of His Highest where we cast off our cares and place our reliance in the one who made us from the dust.For who are we before God but his most blessed and loved children. We should carry our faith is though it were pure gold, made of the sweetest substance and honey. We should carry our faith not as a burden but as our glory.
The end of the hymn calls us to worship the Lord with creation in humbleness. May we humble our selves before Christ this day and join the resounding chorus that never ceases in worshiping the King.
All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam!
Refrain
O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in Heaven along,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou rising moon, in praise rejoice,
Ye lights of evening, find a voice!
Refrain
Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
Make music for thy Lord to hear,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou fire so masterful and bright,
That givest man both warmth and light.
Refrain
And all ye men of tender heart,
Forgiving others, take your part,
O sing ye! Alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
Praise God and on Him cast your care!
Refrain
And thou most kind and gentle Death,
Waiting to hush our latest breath,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou leadest home the child of God,
And Christ our Lord the way hath trod.
Refrain
Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship Him in humbleness,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One!
Refrain
As we learn to love and value the Kingdom of God we learn to love and value the King and to love and value what the King has instituted and made for his purposes.
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pour out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them and there is nothing hidden from its heat” Psalm 19-1-6 (ESV).
J.I. Packer on Creation: God is the Creator
May 11, 2009
The following is an excerpt from Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs by J.I. Packer
Knowing that God created the world around us, and ourselves as part of it, is basic to true religion. God is to be praised as Creator, by reason of the marvelous order, variety, and beauty of his works. Psalms such as Psalm 104 model this praise. God is to be trusted as the sovereign LORD, with an eternal plan covering all events and destinies without exception, and with power to redeem, re-create and renew; such trust becomes rational when we remember that it is the almighty Creator that we are trusting. Realizing our moment-by-moment dependence on God the Creator for our very existence makes it appropriate to live lives of devotion, commitment, gratitude, and loyalty toward him, and scandalous not to. Godliness starts here, with God the sovereign Creator as the first focus of our thoughts. Knowing that God created the world around us, and ourselves as part of it, is basic to true religion. God is to be praised as Creator, by reason of the marvelous order, variety, and beauty of his works. Psalms such as Psalm 104 model this praise. God is to be trusted as the sovereign LORD, with an eternal plan covering all events and destinies without exception, and with power to redeem, re-create and renew; such trust becomes rational when we remember that it is the almighty Creator that we are trusting. Realizing our moment-by-moment dependence on God the Creator for our very existence makes it appropriate to live lives of devotion, commitment, gratitude, and loyalty toward him, and scandalous not to. Godliness starts here, with God the sovereign Creator as the first focus of our thoughts.
All Creatures Here Below
May 8, 2009
I am continually struck by the rich tradition of Creation Care affirming lyrics in the hymns of the past—and often in the praise songs of the present. Rarely a week goes by at my conservative evangelical (and hardly “green”) church without God’s creation being invoked either as a reason for or means of praise. Take, for example, what may be the most widely sung four lines in English speaking Protestant Christendom—The Doxology.
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow
Praise Him, all creatures here below
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
While the Creation Care message may not be as apparent as, say, in St. Francis’s “All Creatures of Our God and King,” it is there.
Though many unconsciously view this as a song from “us” (i.e. humans on earth) to the Trinity, the song’s message is that we are part of, but not the center of, a much larger chorus of praise.
“All creatures here below” means a lot more than just “people.” St. Francis draws this out further and includes “inanimate” objects like the Sun, Moon, fire, water, and all the Earth in this canticle of delight. (Perhaps we should read Jesus’s exclamation that even “the rocks would cry out” more literally than we usually do.)
But while all creation has a part in praising the Triune Creator God, mankind has a special role in making sure the rest of “the world” that “God so loved” is healthy enough to sing joyfully.
We also tend to forget the “heavenly host” of angels and those awaiting the Resurrection in Paradise. In so doing, we forget both our limited stature as “creatures” and our connection to history. Those who have gone before have an interest in the preservation and rejuvenation of this Earth, as do generations yet to be born.
So, rather than just going through the motions as the offering plates make their way to the front, let us “Praise Him, all creatures here below” both in the sanctuary and in the world that has been entrusted to our stewardship. The trees long to clap their hands in praise, but we must first leave them standing.
(See Isaiah 55:12) (See this too.)
John Murdock is a natural resources attorney in Washington D.C. You can read his blog at http://republicantreehugger.blogspot.com
Plant With Purpose
April 9, 2009
On this Maundy Thursday, it’s important to remember that our Lord exhorts us to refrain from building cheaply. On this day we are reminded that the Lord requires more of us than we are often willing to give.
The reason for this sort of introduction, is to help us get into the mindset of what I might actually mean to help those in extreme poverty around the world break free from their chains of hunger and be transformed at a very practical level. The most basic level, the ability to have access to food, water, basic services.
What if there was an organization that could marry their expertise in building and development with their depth of biblical understanding.
Well my friends, I am here to tell you that there is at least one organization running that race Floresta USA.
Yesterday announced a new online initiative Plant With Purpose. You can view an introduction video here.
Plant With Purpose is a bold approach to capture the groundswell of interest in addressing environmental and social justice issues worldwide. The new online community offers visitors a closer connection with nearly 200 villages being served around the world.
“People today are becoming more aware of the urgency involved in restoring our environment, and they feel empowered to make an impact that will last for generations to come,” said Scott Sabin, Executive Director of Floresta. “Plant With Purpose provides an immediate opportunity for people to transform the lives of the rural poor by restoring their land and offering them economic opportunities.”
One of the programs, Grow a Village, allows donors to support a share of a village for only $30 a month. Additionally, people can shop for program needs such as water cisterns, environmentally safe stoves and latrines, and livestock. Web site visitors can virtually tour communities, donate to a need, and then automatically view the impact of their contribution as the Web site tracks the program’s funding.
“Grow a Village allows people a more tangible way to get involved,” said Doug Satre, Floresta’s Director of Outreach and Development. “Donors are able to view pictures of the rural farmers, the indigenous program staff, and descriptions of the villages so they feel connected and become more educated on the challenges these people face. Alternatively, visitors have the option to make a general donation.”
Floresta has planted 4 million trees and made over 6,500 small business loans worldwide since 1984. The organization currently has programs in six countries, including the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Tanzania, Burundi, and Thailand.
Book Review of Green Revolution (by John Murdock)
April 8, 2009
With Green Revolution, Ben Lowe, fresh from Wheaton College and now the co-coordinator of the Renewal student movement, brings a Millennial Generation perspective to the growing genre of creation care starter books. Readers of works like Serve God, Save the Planet, penned by Lowe’s friend and fellow eco-missionary Dr. Matthew Sleeth, will hear much that is familiar. (Sleeth even provides an afterword.) Lowe admits, “Very little—if anything—in these pages is truly original.” Nevertheless, as C.S. Lewis said, “[I]f you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.” Lowe’s voice is original and worth hearing.
Green Revolution is part ecological, theological, and political primer, part road warrior for the planet memoir, and part how-to book. Perhaps Green Revolution tries to do too much, but a generation raised on fragmented communication will likely find the dozen self-supporting chapters and their associated one page vignettes (guest written Uplinks and Dispatches) to be easily digestible but with thought provoking passages that are sure to linger.
Personally, Lowe’s image of the prodigal son stayed with me. The “church today, like the prodigal son is returning [to creation care] for imperfect reasons” but “God welcomes us back with open arms of forgiveness and celebration.” Lowe also weaves a powerful reconciliation theme into much of the work. Lowe’s college adviser and Uplink contributor Fred Van Dyke notes, “As Ben began to realize that people need to be reconciled to God, to one another, to themselves and to the physical world around them, he began to understand why such a [creation care] ministry could have a vocational calling on one’s entire life.” Lowe is true to that call as he writes with blunt honesty and hopeful enthusiasm.
Having practiced what he preaches by living simply in community, Lowe boldly proclaims a stewardship ethic that is more than just a nice hobby. “The gospel is not revenue neutral, and it will often cost us time, money, or other resources to do the right thing.” Doing the right thing can also open up avenues of witness to those who are environmentally minded but “rarely hear [Jesus Christ’s] name unless someone is cussing.” The author’s accounts of working with mainstream greens reminds us of the evangelistic opportunities (and responsibilities) that come with caring for creation, a creation that includes beloved people for whom Christ died.
Although likely to resonate best with teens and twenty-somethings—those who like Lowe apparently have no memory of the agricultural “green revolution” and for whom Billy Joel’s Piano Man is now an “oldies song”—there is something here for people of every age. Pastors especially would benefit from reading this fresh, transparent, and evangelically orthodox account written by a member of the generation that is often not sitting in their pews. Healing the world and solidifying the church are not mutually exclusive goals. Ben Lowe offers a holistic vision for creation care, one that does not place this task above other aspects of the Gospel, but rightly includes it in the work of bringing God’s shalom to all the earth.
John Murdock is a natural resources attorney in Washington D.C. You can read his blog at http://republicantreehugger.blogspot.com
Getting Dirty with Jesus
April 7, 2009
by Nancy Sleeth, www.blessed-earth.org
It’s spring, and once again my fingernails are a wreck. I’ve got a quarter-inch gash hanging slanted off my pointer finger cuticle, like a bloody Q sign. My left thumb looks like it got into a fight with a mallet and lost. (It did.) The dirt under my fingernails is about to sprout mushrooms.
Yeah, I admit it. I love getting dirty with Jesus.
From Adam to Abraham to Jesus, I come from a long line of gardeners. The first commandment to humanity was to take care of the garden. Abat and shamar.
Serve and protect. From Genesis 2:15 to third millennia America, our first duty is to be good stewards of God’s creation.
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, “made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them” (Ecc 2:5-6), in reverence for God, the Eternal Gardener. The Lord also commanded us to care for our neighbors, particularly the least among us. My husband and I have a particular heart for finding places where these two mandates—to care for and tend the Garden, and to care for our poorest neighbors—intersect. So we were excited when a woman came over after a creation care workshop to share an idea that I had never heard before.
She belongs to a garden club. Immediately, the stereotype of an upper-middle-class woman with a penchant for peonies and antique roses came to mind—a woman much like me before my husband Matthew quit being a doctor and we began our spiritual and environmental journey. But this woman shattered my preconceptions.
A friend of hers is involved with an inner-city ministry for women. They run a home for about twelve recovering addicts. These women are separated from children and family, without hope—exactly where so many of us finally find Jesus. The director of the recovery center had a dream to transform the patch of ground out back, enclosed by a dilapidated metal fence, into a place for rest, restoration, and renewal—a peace garden—but she did not have the knowledge or resources to make her vision a reality.
That’s where my new friend came in. Recognizing a need and a chance to serve, this woman approached her garden club. The group, which had never considered any project like this before, embraced the idea with enthusiasm. And now, as they prepare to design, plant, and tend a beautiful garden space, her hope is that this project will serve as a model for others who want to garden with Jesus.
Imagine if we all found ways to use our God-given passions to care for the earth while caring for the poor? A minister friend just told me that his congregation is planning a community garden right on the church grounds to serve two neighboring low-income projects. They also want to build a nature path around the perimeter of the property for the community to use.
Another group of friends has tilled an abandoned inner city lot next to an old Episcopal graveyard. One hundred years ago, African Americans were barred from being buried in that cemetery. Now people of all races are working the earth together, sharing some of their produce with an afterschool program in this economically challenged neighborhood where unemployment hovers around thirty percent.
A friend in Texas is helping schools in her low-income neighborhood xeriscape their grounds with indigenous plants and natural landscaping. A California minister has helped plant over a million saplings in Madagascar. Our friends at A Rocha in England turned a dump into a model garden where they teach inner city kids about God’s green earth.
These servant-gardeners remind me of one of my favorite passages in the resurrection story. When Mary goes to pay her respects at the tomb and finds it empty, she turns around and sees a man. It is Jesus, but at first glance she mistakes him for a gardener (John 20:15).
Rembrandt immortalized this mistake which is not a mistake—for Jesus is indeed the new Adam—in a painting of Mary at the tomb. Jesus is depicted wearing a floppy gardener’s hat with a shovel in hand and knife in his belt. I feel certain that if Mary looked very carefully, she would have seen that Jesus the Gardener had dirt under his fingernails.
Isn’t it time we all started getting a little dirty with Jesus?
Getting Started
Follow Jesus’s advice in Matthew 7 and get the plank out of your own eye before worrying about the speck of dust in your neighbor’s eye. Here’s some ways to become a better steward in your own backyard.
At home:
- plant a vegetable garden—the average piece of food travels 1500 miles to our plate
- only water the lawn and garden in the morning or evening
- compost lawn and food waste
- mow the lawn higher and less frequently
- can, freeze, or dry locally grown fruits and vegetables
- use reclaimed water (bathwater, dishwater, rainbarrel) to water plants
- integrate native plants into landscaping and gradually reduce lawn size
- stop using chemicals in the lawn and garden
- trade in your gas-powered lawn mower for a manual reel or solar-powered mower
- care less about what others think about your lawn and more about what Jesus sees
In the community:
- organize a church or community garden
- work with your neighborhood association to help tree-line streets
- plant trees in ecologically and economically devastated countries through contributions to www.floresta.org or www.edenreforestation.org
- start a plant exchange board at your church
- transform urban roofs into green spaces that improve air and water quality and save energy
- share your skills: teach children or marginalized teens the miracle of gardening—and the miracle of all God’s creation
Adapted with permission from Go Green, Save Green: A Simple Guide to Saving Time, Money, and God’s Green Earth, Tyndale (2009). To read more, visit www.gogreenthebook.com
Nancy Sleeth is Program Manager of Blessed Earth, a faith-based environmental nonprofit. After a spiritual and environmental conversion experience, Nancy and her family radically altered their footprint, reducing their electricity use to one-tenth and their fossil fuel use to one third the national averages. Along with her husband, Matthew (author of Serve God, Save the Planet), Nancy now travels throughout the U.S. speaking and writing about faith and the environment. She and Matthew are the parents of Clark (20) a medical student at University of Kentucky preparing to serve in missions medicine, and Emma Sleeth (18) a junior at Asbury College and author of It’s Easy Being Green (Zondervan, Spring 2008). Nancy is the author of Go Green, Save Green (Tyndale Publishers, spring 2009).
Artic Sea Ice Low Coverage in 2008
April 6, 2009
NASA is reporting that artic sea ice coverage has reached its low extent for the year and the second-lowest amount in the satellite era (going back to 1970).
Before last year thse second record low was set in 2005. Perennial ice has fallen from its usual 50 to 60 percent of the Artic to down to less than 30 percent.
You can see NASA’s animations and graphics for the 2006 ice season here.
We will have to wait until October for a comprehensive analysis of this data set from the National Snow and Ice Data Center. You can find more about the Center’s previous reports at their website.
“All Creatures of Our God and King” (Hymn Origins)
April 6, 2009
Writen in 1225, one year before his death, by St. Francis of Assisi “All Creatures of our God and King” is from a group of writings “Canticles of the Sun” .
The English translation of this text was made by William Draper, a village rector in England, who prepared this paraphrased version for a children’s choir festival at some time between 1899-1919.
Author: St. Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226
English Translation: William H. Draper, 1855-1933
Scripture reference: Psalm 145
“All Creatures of Our God and King”
All creatures of our God and King,
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam,
Refrain: O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in Heaven along,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou rushing morn in praise rejoice,
Ye lights of evening find a voice,
Thou flowing water pure and clear
Make music for Thy Lord to hear
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou fire so masterful and bright
That givest man both warmth and light,
All ye men of tender heart
Forgiving others take your part
O sing ye! Alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
Praise God and on Him cast your care
Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship Him in humbleness.
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son
And praise the Spirit, Three in One
(guitar cords and songbook sheets can be downloaded here)
George Whitefield on Creation Care
April 2, 2009
This is an excerpt from “Method of Grace”
There are many poor souls that think themselves fine reasoners, yet they pretend to say there is no such thing as original sin; they will charge God with injustice in imputing Adam”s sin to us; although we have got the mark of the beast and of the devil upon us, yet they tell us we are not born in sin. Let them look abroad into the world and see the disorders in it, and think, if they can, if this is the paradise in which God did put man. No! everything in the world is out of order. I have often thought, when I was abroad, that if there were no other argument to prove original sin, the rising of wolves and tigers against man, nay, the barking of a dog against us, is a proof of original sin. Tigers and lions durst not rise against us, if it were not for Adam”s first sin; for when the creatures rise up against us, it is as much as to say, You have sinned against God, and we take up our Master”s quarrel. If we look inwardly, we shall see enough of lusts, and man”s temper contrary to the temper of God.
