No More Death to Die

We sang Crown Him With Many Crowns a couple of weeks ago at church. I remember it well, because it was just after my grandmother's funeral, and the following stanza struck a particular chord and stuck with me.

Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed o'er the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save.
His glories now we sing,
who died, and rose on high,
who died, eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.

At Grandma's memorial service, we were given the opportunity to say something. I decided to try to find something from or about a Scripture passage on death, and after doing some research, I found what I wanted in a sermon from Charles Spurgeon, quoted in the book We Shall See God: Charles Spurgeon's Classic Devotional Thoughts on Heaven, by Randy Alcorn. (If that book sounds familiar, you may have previously read this review.)

Preaching on 1 Cor. 15:3-6, Spurgeon said this:

In the heathen part of the catacombs of Rome, the inscriptions over the place where their dead were buried are full of grief and despair. Indeed, the writers of those inscriptions do not appear to have been able to find words in which they could express their great distress, their agony of heart, at the loss of child or husband or friend. They pile the mournful words together, trying to describe their grief. Sometimes they declare that the light has gone from their sky now that their dear ones are taken from them.

"Alas! Alas!" says the record. "Dear Caius has gone, and with him all joy is quenched forever, for I shall see him no more." But when you come into that part of the catacombs which was devoted to Christian burial vaults, everything is different. There you may constantly read these consoling words: "He sleeps in peace." There is nothing dreadful or despairing in the inscriptions there; they are submissive, they are cheerful, they are even thankful. Frequently they are victorious, and the most common emblem is not the quenched torch, as it is on the heathen side, where the light is supposed to have gone out forever, but the palm branch, to signify that the victory remains eternally with the departed one. It is the glory of the Christian religion to have let light into the grave, to have taken away the sting from death, and in fact, to have made it no more death to die.

Our dearly departed loved ones who have died in Christ now have no more death to die, and it is all thanks to the Lord of life.

Hymn for Sunday - Crown Him With Many Crowns

Crown Him with Many Crowns

Text: Matthew Bridges, 1800-1894, and Godfrey Thring, 1823-1903
Music: George J. Elvey, 1816-1893
Tune: DIADEMATA, Meter: SMD

Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon his throne,
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing
of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless King
through all eternity.

Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed o'er the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save.
His glories now we sing,
who died, and rose on high,
who died, eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.

Crown him the Lord of peace,
whose power a scepter sways
from pole to pole, that wars may cease,
and all be prayer and praise.
His reign shall know no end,
and round his pierced feet
fair flowers of paradise extend
their fragrance ever sweet.

Crown him the Lord of love;
behold his hands and side,
those wounds, yet visible above,
in beauty glorified.
All hail, Redeemer, hail!
For thou hast died for me;
thy praise and glory shall not fail
throughout eternity.

Lyrics obtained from Hymnsite.com

Trying To Be More Trinitarian

One thing that I have been challenged on recently is my overall lack of Trinitarianism.

It's Carl Trueman's fault. The guy is an absolute menace to a comfortable pew-sitter like me. I was listening to his lectures on medieval church theology (which are worth listening to, despite the audio problems, which I think are due to a less-than-successful transfer from cassette), and he mentioned on several occasions that a pet peeve of his is the functional unitarianism of the evangelical church.

And doggonit if he isn't right. I mean, when was the last time you included all three members of the Trinity in your prayers?

I think prayer is where the whole thing intersected for me, because I was already feeling the weight of not praying as I should, and then to have this added to it, was really the tipping point for me.

There's more that could be said--more that I could go into--but now isn't the time. Instead, I'll just say that I'm working on all of those things, and a part of my inspiration is by looking at published historical prayers.

The Book Of Common Prayer is one of the most obvious, but not the only one by any means. But there are other things as well, like this book on Presbyterian Liturgy (I'm currently reading through Calvin's prayers), and this book of prayers and meditations by Anselm (that last was recommended by Trueman in his lectures, BTW).

The point is this: I'm trying to make progress in thinking Trinitarian, so that I will pray more Trinitarian.

What about you?

Prayer for Afflicted Persons

This comes from John Calvin's Liturgy of the Church of Geneva.

God of all comfort! We commend to you those whom you are pleased to visit and chasten with any cross or tribulation; the nations whom you do afflict with pestilence, war, or famine; all persons oppressed with poverty, imprisonment, sickness, banishment, or any other distress of body or sorrow of mind: That it may please you to show them your fatherly chastening them for their profit; to the end that in their hearts they may turn to you, and being converted, may receive perfect consolation, and deliverance from all their woes.

(Taken from Eutaxia, or the Presbyterian Liturgies: Historical Sketches by Charles Washington Baird, which is in the public domain. Spelling is slightly modernized.)

A Prayer for Today

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Your Spirit, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever.

Amen

Adapted from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, which is in the public domain.

Listen Through the Bible in 2012

The read-through-the-Bible reading plans at ESV.org are available as free daily audio podcasts. Search "ESV" on iTunes, & make it thru the Bible this year.

Considering Copyrights

While I was mulling over copyrights today (for an update of my blog copyright statement), I was also considering adding a Creative Commons license.

Anyone used that, or decided not to? And does anyone know what happens if I lawfully quote from a copyrighted source (like a Bible), can I legally license others to lawfully use the work that I lawfully used?

Calvin for Christmas

For Christmas, I'm posting this excerpt from John Calvin…


And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
(Luke 2:8-11 ESV)

It would have been to no purpose that Christ was born in Bethlehem, if it had not been made known to the world. But the method of doing so, which is described by Luke, appears to the view of men very unsuitable. First, Christ is revealed but to a few witnesses, and that too amidst the darkness of night. Again, though God had, at his command, many honorable and distinguished witnesses, he passed by them, and chose shepherds, persons of humble rank, and of no account among men. Here the reason and wisdom of the flesh must prove to be foolishness; and we must acknowledge, that “the foolishness of God” (1 Corinthians 1:25) excels all the wisdom that exists, or appears to exist, in the world. But this too was a part of the “emptying of himself,” (Philippians 2:6:) not that any part of Christ’s glory should be taken away by it, but that it should lie in concealment for a time. Again, as Paul reminds us, that the gospel is mean according to the flesh, “that our faith should stand” in the power of the Spirit, not in the “lofty n words of human wisdom,” or in any worldly splendor, (1 Corinthians 2:4,5) so this inestimable “treasure” has been deposited by God, from the beginning, “in earthen vessels,” (2 Corinthians 4:7) that he might more fully try the obedience of our faith. If then we desire to come to Christ, let us not be ashamed to follow those whom the Lord, in order to cast down the pride of the world, has taken, from among the dung of cattle, to be our instructors.

Results of NaNoWriMo 2011

So, the official final count for this year was 22,610. And even though "we're all winners," in someone's book, in my book I'm bummed that I couldn't do it.

Still, I attacked an interesting idea, and got a little traction, and that was something. I figured out that I'll never finish 50,000 if I worry about spelling and spacing, and that was something. And one of the kids hit her word goal this year, so that was something, too.

Almost a real post...

Well, I was hoping to get something done for this month, but this will have to suffice. Too many things going on…among them NaNoWriMo.

More about that soon, I hope.