A symphony that's been stuck in my head...

I've been listening to Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 6 a lot recently. By "a lot" I mean about 8 or 9 times over the past month. It's about half an hour long, so it makes good listening while I do the dishes or drive to Dearborn. (Music, praying, listening to NPR are great activities for that drive - although recently I've been listening to an ordination book because it's CRUNCH TIME! Praying is probably the best thing for that drive but it's hard to drive and pray on 10 Mile or Southfield even. But I should because I'm either going to or coming from the Arab Ministry Center).

It is intense! The first movement is a long "slow movement". It's about 17 + minutes. It's also very brooding and dark. But then the second and third movements are incredibly sunny - the second movement is fast and changes from light to meditative and back again, it's a great 'middle'. Then the third and final movement is a 5 minute gallop! It's bombastic and crazy!

I can't quite figure it out, and I don't know if anybody has, even the Russians who first heard it. It's never been a popular symphony, and if the composer was using it to protest Soviet oppression, he certainly never said anything.

But I love it.

Good Friday Outreach

Wondering what you can do on Good Friday? Do you have the day off and don't know what you're going to do? Why is it called "Good Friday" anyway?

Many people - even many "unchurched" people - have heard about Good Friday, and want to know what it's about. Here is a great event to invite your friends or family to!! Come watch "The Miracle Maker", a very dramatic movie about Jesus, as seen through the eyes of a young girl, suitable for all ages (in Lisa's words, "it's good for children, but it's NOT childish"). This will be followed by a potluck dinner - please bring a dish to share. We will have an object lesson on the meaning of Easter. Plus there will be an Easter egg hunt and crafts for children!

This will all be on Good Friday, April 6, from 4 - 8 PM at the church Fellowship Hall.

What are 'worship activities'?

Here is a great quote from James Packer on what worship is. His idea of worship containing 6 distinct activities is cool, and especially the way he describes them as "Lord, you are wonderful"; "Thank you, Lord"; "Please Lord"; "Take this, Lord"; "Yes, Lord"; "Listen everybody!". Here is the whole quote:

To worship God is to recognize his worth or worthiness; to look God-ward, and to acknowledge in all appropriate ways the value of what we see. The Bible calls this activity "glorifying God" or "giving glory to God," and views it as the ultimate end, and from one point of view, the whole duty of man (Ps. 29:2; 96:6; 1 Cor. 10:31).

Scripture views the glorifying of God as a sixfold activity: praising God for all that he is and all his achievements; thanking him for his gifts and his goodness to us; asking him to meet our own and others' needs; offering him our gifts, our service, and ourselves; learning of him from his word, read and preached, and obeying his voice; telling others of his worth, both by public confession and testimony to what he has done for us. Thus we might say that the basic formulas of worship are these: "Lord, you are wonderful"; "Thank you, Lord"; "Please Lord"; "Take this, Lord"; "Yes, Lord"; "Listen everybody!"

This then is worship in its largest sense: petition as well as praise, preaching as well as prayer, hearing as well as speaking, actions as well as words, obeying as well as offering, loving people as well as loving God. However, the primary acts of worship are those which focus on God directly -- and we must not imagine that work for God in the world is a substitute for direct fellowship with him in praise and prayer and devotion.

(from: James Packer, Your Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, July 1986, P. 15.)

How are we doing in our loving?

Two Sundays ago we looked at 1 John 2:7-11. God's command to us, the goal of the Gospel, is to bring us in line with love. We heard from John that LOVE is both an old command, part of what we first heard when we listened to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and also a new command.

We saw that John doesn't take a "gray areas" philosophy. You either live with an attitude of love and helpfulness toward other people, or you go through life indifferent to others, which 99.9% of the time means you're looking to help - you.

At the end of our teaching time, I asked us to write a prayer to God: "God, help me to love ___."

We were challenged by the Scripture - and I believe by the Spirit - to be active in our love and helpfulness towards others, and particularly one person, you might find annoying.

How's it going? Are we praying that prayer during the day: "God, help me to love X"? Are we finding new ways to love this person?

I was doing well at the beginning of the week, and overall, some of my active love continues, but I haven't been praying the prayer recently, and I need to. I need to make it part of my morning prayer time. It's not a long prayer - what - half a second?

How are you doing?

Being a light of love... (Mother Teresa quote)

Hi everyone... here is the Mother Teresa quote near the end of today's sermon...

"Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting."

And here's 1 John 2:8, may God use it to inspire you this week to greater acts of love:

"Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining." (NIV)

Is the light of Jesus' love seen in you?

Fasting & Prayer suggestions

What is the best way to do a day of fasting & prayer?
As we go through our "40 Days of Fasting & Prayer" for the lost, I really want to leave the answer up to the individual.
1) Most of us won't get a spare day to be able to go to a park or library, do a prayer walk, sit and pray some, write in a journal, or simply meditate. I've signed up for 6 days in this 40 days period - but I will probably spend the whole day like that only 1 time (maybe 2).
However, if you can, that's a great thing to do. A whole day talking to God, reading the Bible or other devotional material, taking a prayer/meditation walk can do wonders for the soul. God will often show you something you would not normally have thought of in the rush.

2) Simply fast for a 24 hour period, and any chance you get, you spend time praying and meditating. That's what I did on Wednesday, breaking the fast in the evening. On that day, I did a lot of driving (to Sterling Heights, back home, to Ann Arbor, back home) and spent that time praying or worshipping in song.

3) Fast for a meal and use the time you would be preparing food and eating it to pray. That's an easy way to do it, and you really grab the purpose of a fast - to pray when you would normally only care about food. It shows God - even for a meal - that you want and need Him more than any food. I suggest doing a time limit; for example, if you fast over lunch, promise yourself you won't eat between 9 and 4. That way, you're not skipping lunch but pigging out on fruit or chips at 2 PM.

There are other ways. I only mention these to provide everybody with some ideas. I'm sure you can come up with some of your own.

May God meet you in this time of praying for those who don't know Him -yet!