Holy Week Thoughts - Wednesday

But now, God's message:
The God who made you in the first place, Jacob,
the One who got you started, Israel:
"Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you.
I've called your name. You are mine.
When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you.
When you're in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you're between a rock and a hard place,
it won't be a dead end -
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!That's how much you mean to me!
That's how much I love you!
I'd sell off the whole world to get you back,
I'd sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.So don't be afraid: I'm with you.
~Isaiah 43:1-5a in "The Message"

Someone well seasoned in many years of ministry said to me, "The grace of God is the gospel!" I agree. With all my heart, I agree. You can't separate God from His grace. You can't separate grace from the gospel, or the gospel from grace. You can't compartmentalize the atonement, justification, or the truth about the power of the Holy Spirit doing the works of God in and through the believer...it is all the gospel.

Because the gospel is many faceted, and the grace of God is, in Peter's words, "manifold", God raises up pastors and teachers who spend their lives for it...explaining it, living it, reminding everyone of it, at every opportunity.

Just because a limited, finite human vessel (like a pastor or teacher) has 45 minutes to an hour, once a week, to instruct and illustrate manifold "grace", does not mean grace has somehow been separated from the person of Jesus, or isolated from the other aspects of His nature. I'm sure there have been heretical antinomians who've done that, but I don't know them by name.

The "first things" that CS Lewis referred to? (see blog entitled "First Things") They are always all-of-a-piece. First things, (like the love of God), have no power apart from their source. You cannot slice and dice the Godhead. They dwell in an eternal, unchangeable state of unity amongst diversity. God is love. God is justice. God is wisdom and peace. God is grace. God is truth. Grace is the truth about God, and the truth about God is His grace.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (I Cor. 1: 30, 31)

Because of God, we are in Christ Jesus, who, because of God is our imputed wisdom, our imputed righteousness, our imputed (and ongoing) sanctification, and our complete redemption. That pretty much covers it all. The entire Trinity has conspired to make sure Jesus is our entire substitute, so that the only thing we can ever take credit for is His Finished Work.

To focus on any aspect of this gospel, such as grace, using Scripture as your authority - what seems like a singular focus will automatically put you in the rip-tide of the Holy Ghost. You will be pulled, inexorably, into all God is; you will be drawn into the depths of all that Christ has accomplished on your behalf. Why? Because "Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is one God." You might begin with grace, and you still end up with....GOD!


But until it becomes personal, until it becomes something we realize we desperately need, it is mere creed. The only thing that takes the gospel from creed to need is such a constant exposure to The Message of the New Covenant, that you begin to apply it to your day, not just your destiny. Ah, then you will discover a stark need for grace, because the Gospel is to be applied by all saints, at all times, to all of life.   More than a one-time "prayer of salvation", more than a doctrine; the more you see God, the more you become aware of your stark need of Him - his power, grace, and love.

Grace is the gospel. The atonement is the gospel. Righteousness is the gospel. The love of God is the gospel. He'd "sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you."

Holy Week Thoughts

image from the blog Na Da Farms...

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6)



Blatant New Covenant truth, up there, found smack dab in the Old Testament...grace is all over the place, from Genesis to Malachi, from the first Messianic prophecy, and the blood sacrifice to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve, to the Sun of Righteousness arising with healing in His wings.

But what reaches out and grabs me by the throat in these verses in Hosea is the phrase, "Then shall we know, IF we follow on to know the Lord..."

Some things pertaining to the Lord, I only get when I pursue them, persist in them, persevere in the quest. Follow on to know. I will not follow on to know with any sincerity if I think I already know. And in my limited experience, the manifold grace of God is one of the aspects of the gospel that I have had to follow on to know. It has been a stunning journey, so far.

There is much more about the Lord that I will need to follow on to know. I plan to search for all of Him, as for hidden treasure, a priceless pearl concealed away in a field. Because, you see, I don't know. I know nothing as I should know it - there is always more to be discovered.

I'm so glad. What sort of God would He be if even one aspect of His nature could be comprehended in a glance?

Art For Missions

Well, I can't figure out how to turn this picture back right side up...but if you tilt your head a bit to the right, you'll see one of our church's offereing envelopes, and this one was mine.  I designated my tithe and offering up above (you can't see that part), and down below I was able to put $100 in my designated fund - our teens mission trip to California!  I took a picture of it with my smart phone, and happily plunked the envelope into the plate this past Sunday.

All three of my canvases have sold, and about 6 prints, too! 

Today, I've been commissioned to paint my "In Christ Alone" canvas in shades of black and white, with gray tones as well...for a lady whose room is decorated in a modern style black and white color scheme.  She's also ordered my print "He Is Risen" in black and white, with that yellow flower giving it a bright splash of color.

Half of everything I make goes to missions, and half into replenishing art supplies.

These are exciting days for me!  If you see any canvas you'd like to have, feel free to commission me to paint it in the colors that best suit your decor.I can also, of course, print any 4x6 or 5x7 print (or larger)  you might like.  I send these matted, in a cellophane protective sleeve.

"Old School" Love - Congregation

congregate: to bring or come together into a group, crowd, or assembly; to gather.

 

I was part of a congregation today.  I realize that word, "congregation", is considered old school.  I think the word is more relevant today than it ever was.  It is a word that needs reviving.  It is a concept to be enjoyed.  If you are an integral part of a church congregation, you are blessed.  Stand a little taller, and lift that chin of yours. 

Today, if you are a member of a church congregation, you are counter-cultural. 

In our post-Christian society, to be a congregant is to be a celebrant, a reckless deviation from the norm.  The norm is to treat Sunday as though it is no different than any other day.  The norm is to fear/avoid/put down the organized church.  After all, it is so full of....people.  And it is so...organized. 

Like the whole universe and all of creation and our human bodies and our homes and businesses and libraries and neighborhoods and our pantries and our cleaning supplies are organized, for crying out loud.  (If your cleaning supplies are not at least loosely organized, please don't have my grandson over to your house.  Lack of organization can be dangerous, to cupboards and universes alike.)

When will someone have the courage to say that "organized" is not a bad word to describe the church?  When will someone get the gumption to say, "I am proud and blessed to be part of a congregation."

You know...I am part of the church - a group of people with names and addresses and histories and feelings and faults and failures and sins and quirks.  I assemble in an organized fashion, with a number of people who are hilariously UNlike myself.  We are diverse.  We disagree.  But we gather anyway...we assemble....congregate....get together...physically, in real time and real space....around a central theme:  the Gospel of the Finished Work of Christ.

I mean, really.  Some people can only come together over the central theme of  being anti-organized-church...but often, they have to do it together.  And then, it gets even stranger -  they organize!  They pick a day and a time to regularly be anti-organized in someone's livingroom.  That's a bit like the little elf-dentist in the Christmas stop-motion picture, when he said, "Let's be independent together."

It is so normal these days to be anti-organized church.  But normal is boring.

I am a congregant, a celebrant, a saint.  Deal with it.

Granny Chic - More Instagram Love

This is what adorns the top of the piano in my living room - completely unstyled, I give you my word.  This is how it looks every day, this is how it looks right now.

  And I love it. 

Art For Sale

I'm excited to tell you that two of my three canvases have sold  all three of my 9x9 and 10x10 canvases have sold!  Here is another look at the last available  (just sold) mixed media canvas:

$45, postage paid

SOLD

This canvas was done in acrylics, inks, gessos, stamps and a page from the Old English Catechism

I've also sold four photos!  Of course, the photos can be printed on demand, unlike the original mixed media paintings, so order as many as you like. 

After hours of post processing, I have some new offerings!  Half of everything sold will go to our teens for their mission trip this summer(My son-in-law Jonathan and daughter Sarah are leading our young people on a street evangelism trip to California in June), the other half will go to replenish my art supplies and printer ink.

Prices are the same, $10 for a 4x6 and $12 for a 5x7, postage paid. For now, until I can get my Paypal up, please email me to order anything you like:

"You Are Loved"

"He Is Risen"

"Hope In Sepia"

"Clear Blue Joy"

"Floral Joy"

"Hope Maketh Not Ashamed"

"Beautiful Day"

"A Bright Hope"

"Joy Cometh In the Morning"

Again, prices are $10 for a 4x6, or $12 for a 5x7. 

My daughter Hannah thinks I need to offer larger prints...which of course would cost more.  If anyone is interested, please email me, and I'll get back with you with a fair price for larger prints - perhaps matted for you. 

I'm so pleased with the money raised for missions and art supplies thus far!  Thank you so very much, for all the orders...and keep them coming!

Heart Stopping Cuteness

Doesn't my homeboy look big in this instagram photo?  Can you even stand it?   Because I can't.  This kid is cute enough to die for, a thousand times.  He's so "all that", I am tempted to become jealous of myself, because he's mine.  (My grandson!)  He makes coffee with his PopPop on most mornings.  He has tried to spank our teacup poodle, after being spanked himself for some major infraction.  His momma does the spanking - I haven't had to yet, and I loathe the day when I finally have to break down and pop that little leg.  For one thing, he gets furious.  For another thing, homeboy can hold himself a grudge, and I feel the need to hide the poodle.

Doesn't he just look like he could kick something's behind?  That manly little swagger of his. 

And he's not even a year and a half yet.

Grandmothering is, by far, the sweetest time in all of life.  You should hear this baby say, "Mimi...Mimi..."

...and biscuit...and bad dog....and mail...and bye bye...and PopPop...and bottle...and no no...and "Heeeeeey!"...and coffee (that one's a little hard - you have to know what he's saying to know what he's saying)...and turtle...and George (the monkey)...and basketball...and Aunt RahRah...

I'll stop now.