June 3, 2016
Religion’s necessity and relevance is up for grabs more than ever
with the religiously unaffiliated (“nones”) now the second largest
religious demographic in North America. According to National
Geographic, U.S. nones have overtaken Roman Catholics, mainline
Protestants and followers of non-Christian faiths over the past decade.
This has had a major impact on how people see the world and live their
lives.
But all is not lost.
Several recent studies have cited the benefits of living a religious
life, including one from the Pew Research Center that said 40 percent of
religious U.S. adults say they are “very happy,” compared to 29 percent
who are less or not religious.
How can religion and happiness be connected, what are the benefits of
living a religious life and what influence does it have on people? With
more people saying “no thanks” to religion, Living Lutheran took a look
at the potential benefits for those who have kept the faith.
While the relationship between well-being and religion is dependent
on how religious experience is understood, Thomas S. Taylor, an ELCA
pastor and certified psychoanalyst and clinical social worker with the
Lutheran Counseling Center on Long Island, said positive correlations
between the two are “no accident.”
“Think about it,” he said. “How many other social groups and
institutions are involved in someone’s life from cradle to grave? For
many, religious experience is unique, maybe with the exception of
family, among social institutions and groups in having the potential for
a lifelong involvement and influence.”
Taylor said those who are introduced to religion at a young age start
to build faith at a key developmental phase—often when they are at the
peak of seeing their parents as all-knowing and caring. This creates a
space for idealized authority and caregivers.
“This early childhood foundation of believing in an idealized and
gracious caregiver—God—stays with us as an anchor throughout our
lifespan,” he said. “But as our faith life develops, it expands in our
realization that just because I’m a person of faith, I am not immune to
bad things happening to me and my loved ones.”
Taylor said recognizing that reality can determine if someone
continues to mature in their faith life. “When religion is seen as a key
element to health and sustained happiness throughout life, it’s because
it isn’t a static type of faith life, but one that is in flux, adapting
and expanding to integrate the slings and arrows life offers.”
Tori Saunders, a member of Our Savior Lutheran Church, Milwaukee,
knows firsthand about having a faith in flux. Before her son’s birth,
Saunders and her husband struggled for seven years to get pregnant. The
situation was painful and challenged their marriage, but their faith
kept them strong.
“Throughout my struggles to get pregnant, I never stopped praying to
receive a child in God’s time and in [God’s] way,” Saunders said. “When I
found out I was pregnant, the struggles made me appreciate what a
blessing I truly have been given with my son. But the years of
struggling to get pregnant caused a slow breakdown of communication and
affection between myself and my husband.”
The couple found a Christian counselor to help them work on their
marriage, Saunders said, and they started a daily devotional so “God was
part of our individual healing, as well as healing our marriage.” She
credits her faith and the power of prayer for helping them strengthen
their marriage and find themselves in a good place with a healthy
toddler.
“It surprised both of us that by asking God to take the lead in
healing our marriage and rebuilding trust how quickly strides were made
in both areas,” Saunders said. “Without prayer and faith in God being
there and directing our steps, we would be a long way from where we are
now.”
Power of prayer
Saunders isn’t alone in exalting the practice of prayer, as the Pew
Research Center reports that 55 percent of Americans pray every day.
Prayer is so prevalent in the U.S. that the government has recognized a
national day of prayer since 1952.
Taylor said prayer and other practices that accompany living a
religious life can have positive benefits for one’s mental health. This
is good news for people who already incorporate prayer into their
everyday life.
“There are many spiritual practices, such as prayer, meditation and
mindfulness, that nurture our ability to better redirect our energy
outside of ourselves,” Taylor said. “When any of us become depressed or
anxious, we tend to withdraw and become preoccupied with ourselves and
default to survival mode. Directing our preoccupied energy outward
interrupts depression’s downward spiral and anxiety’s escalation.”
Kevin Massey, vice president for mission and spiritual care at
Advocate Health Care, Chicago, has witnessed the power prayer has for
hospitalized patients. “People request prayer perhaps more than any
other single thing,” he said. “It’s a verbal presence of God that helps
them cope with their situation. People feel God’s presence closer when
they’ve had the ability to hear and experience prayer.”
People of faith can also have a foundation and perspective beyond
themselves that can provide comfort, strength and peace during times of
crisis. Taylor said the identities of people of faith are grounded in
teachings and understandings of Scripture and mission in the world.
“For Lutherans, this is based on our baptismal proclamation that we
are ‘reborn children of God, made members of the church, the body of
Christ,’” he said. “Remembering who and whose we are, especially when we
find ourselves lost, confused or uncertain in our daily life, can be a
key guidepost to navigating through life’s twisty pathways.”
Christians commit to believing in a presence that is neither material
nor observable. This practice and acceptance of believing in something
that can’t be seen can make people of faith well-equipped to cope with
challenges because they can imagine a future beyond a crisis.
“The active component in faith that supports coping in a difficult
time is the capacity of faith to kindle hope,” Massey said. “Hope is an
anchor that you can throw into the future and faith is the chain on the
anchor you can use to pull yourself toward the future.
“People who lack faith might lack [the understanding that the] future
can hold promise. The present moment is only the present moment. The
God who lives in the present also lives in our future and faith,
therefore, can be a bridge to a future and enhances the ability to
cope.”
Community of faith
Sometimes what benefits someone most from living a religious life is the connection to a faith community.
“In mental health we see that there are imbalances that are present
in the neurology of a person, but what seems unique is that being part
of a community can transform that neurology,” Massey said. “When one is
part of a community, the particular senses of satisfaction and
belonging, the experience of emotions can attest itself in physical
ways.”
In addition to offering socialization and a sense of belonging, faith
communities are characteristically known as sanctuaries of support, and
this is likely most exemplified during times of crisis. Massey, who has
served as a parish pastor and chaplain, said people often seek out
spiritual support when they are hospitalized. While health-care
chaplains play an important role for people who lack a faith community,
he said a visit from someone’s congregation is superior.
Anita Marth, a member of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, Granite
Bay, Calif., sustained life-threatening injuries in a small airplane
crash in 2015. She doesn’t know where she and her family would be today
without the support of their faith and church community.
“I have witnessed faith in action within and through the members of
Lutheran Church of the Resurrection,” she said. “They showered us with
prayers, cards, phone calls, visits, hugs, and offers of meals and
support. I know my recovery was made possible by the love and prayers
poured out to us.”
In March, Marth was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent
surgery and has several months of chemotherapy and weeks of radiation
treatment ahead of her. Again, she quickly credits her faith for helping
her stay strong.
“My faith has remained growing and centered on Jesus Christ, my
savior,” she said. “My faith family has rallied around my family and me
once again. I am known affectionately as ‘God’s miracle.’ During my
hospital stay and the cancer diagnosis, I have literally been carried by
the power of healing prayer and can attest to God’s abundant grace
through faith. I know God has a remarkable purpose for me.”
While there is no guarantee that a secular community that meets
regularly wouldn’t have the same socialization benefits that a faith
family provides, Taylor thinks religious communities have a “head
start,” so to speak, because they have traditions and practices that
have been passed down from generation to generation.
“Our communities of faith have centuries of practice offering
support,” he said. “Crystallized in the Sermon on the Mount,
Christianity’s tradition places charity and the care of widows, orphans,
the sick, the imprisoned and the poor at the center of our faith’s
action in the world. Our communities of faith have, as a tradition and
out of conviction, committed ourselves to being specialists in providing
support to those in need.”
So what is religion good for? While that answer varies depending on
one’s religious tradition and experiences, the more one’s faith life
develops and adapts, the more possibility it has to enhance someone’s
health and contribute to sustained happiness throughout life.
Can singing hymns be good for your heart?
Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of
Gothenburg in Sweden found that choral music has a calming effect on the
heart—especially when sung in unison, according to a National Public
Radio (NPR) article. Their research was based on a study of high school
choir members’ heart rates.
“When you sing the phrases, it is a form of guided breathing,” Bjorn
Vickhoff, a musicologist who led the research project, told NPR. “When
you exhale, the heart slows down. The members of the choir synchronize
externally with the melody and the rhythm, and now we see it has an
internal counterpart.”
With music and singing being an important shared experience in
religious cultures, this study could explain the calming effect singing
favorite hymns in church can contrive in people of faith.
“Singing one’s faith [has been] an important part of being Lutheran
from the very beginning,” said Scott Weidler, ELCA program director for
worship. “The ELCA Principles for Worship says, ‘In the church, the
primary musical instrument is the human voice, given by God to sing and
proclaim the word of God.’ Our tradition recognizes that even if it
isn’t perfect, there is something really important in congregations
coming together to sing.”
Brandsrud is an associate editor of Living Lutheran.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Why Millennials Long for Liturgy
Is the High Church the Christianity of the future?
America’s youth are leaving churches in droves. One in four young
adults choose “unaffiliated” when asked about their religion, according
to a 2012 Public Religion Research Institute poll, and 55 percent of
those unaffiliated youth once had a religious identification when they
were younger. Yet amidst this exodus, some church leaders have
identified another movement as cause for hope: rather than abandoning
Christianity, some young people are joining more traditional, liturgical
denominations—notably the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox
branches of the faith. This trend is deeper than denominational
waffling: it’s a search for meaning that goes to the heart of our
postmodern age.
For Bart Gingerich, a fellow with the Institute on Religion and Democracy and a student at Reformed Episcopal Seminary, becoming Anglican was an intellectual journey steeped in the thought of ancient church fathers. He spent the first 15 years of his life in the United Methodist Church, where he felt he was taught a “Precious Moments” version of Christianity: watered down, polite, and unreal. His family joined a nondenominational evangelical church when Gingerich was 16. Some of the youth he met were serious about their faith, but others were apathetic, and many ended up leaving the church later on.
While attending Patrick Henry College in Virginia, Gingerich joined a reformed Baptist church in the nearby town of Guilford. Gingerich read St. Augustine and connected strongly with his thought—in class from Monday to Friday, Gingerich found himself arguing for ideas that clashed with his method of worship on Sunday. Protestantism began troubling him on a philosophical level. Could he really believe that the church “didn’t start getting it right” till the Reformation?
The final straw came when a chapel speaker at the college explained the beauty of the Eucharist in the Anglican service. Gingerich knew this was what he was looking for. Soon after, he joined the Anglican Church.
For high-school English teacher Jesse Cone, joining the Orthodox Church fulfilled a deep yearning for community and sacramental reality. Cone grew up in the Presbyterian Church of America, heavily involved in youth group and church activities. While attending Biola University, an evangelical school in southern California, Cone returned home over the summers to help lead youth-group activities. He was hired as a youth pastor and “even preached a sermon.” But at Biola, Cone struggled to find a home church. There were many megachurches in the area that didn’t have the “organic, everyday substance” Cone was seeking.
He began attending an Anglican service, drawn to its traditional doctrine. He was a “perpetual visitor” over the next few years. A Bible study on the Gospel of John pushed him further towards the high church. Reading through the book with a group of friends, Cone began to notice the “conversational and sacramental” way Jesus related to people. “There’s a lot of bread, and wine, and water,” he says. From Jesus’s first miracle—turning water into wine—to telling his disciples “I am the True Vine,” the mundane, communal ways in which Jesus connected with people “confirmed in me a sense of sacramentalism—that everyday aspects of life are important, in a way the modern mindset doesn’t share,” Cone says. “I started looking at the world with more sacramental eyes.”
Cone became engaged to a woman who was also raised Presbyterian. In the weeks leading up to their marriage, they sought a church together, but none seemed to fit. Fundamental questions lingering in Cone’s mind—about church history, the importance of doctrine and dogma, what it means to live a full Christian life—came to a head. He told his wife, “I don’t think I’m comfortable being Orthodox, but I want to at least see one of their services, see what it’s like out there.” The next Sunday, they decided to attend an Orthodox Church with another young couple. By the end of the service, Cone says, “We were just blown away. Just blown away.” The worship, doctrine, and tradition were exactly what they had been looking for. “We were shell-shocked. And we haven’t stopped going since.”
For CreedCodeCult.com blogger Jason Stellman, joining the Catholic Church was an act of religious and intellectual honesty. Brought up in a Baptist church, Stellman became a missionary in Europe for Calvary Chapel after college. When he began studying and accepting Calvinistic theology, he was dismissed from Calvary’s ministry and moved back to the U.S. He joined the Presbyterian Church of America and enrolled in Westminster Seminary in 2000. He and his wife helped start a Presbyterian Church in Southern California some time later.
In 2008, Stellman was introduced to serious arguments for the Catholic faith. He studied scriptural passages on church authority, the early church fathers, and St. Augustine’s writings on justification. The more Stellman read, the more he was drawn to the Catholic Church. While in Europe, he had attended mass at a cathedral in Brussels and discovered it possessed a liturgical beauty he hadn’t encountered before. Last year, he announced to his church that he was leaving to become Catholic.
Leaving one church for another is not easy. For Gingerich and Cone, the decision was difficult on a family and community level. Many in their old churches expressed confusion and hurt, and some asked rather ignorant, if well-intentioned, questions: “Do you worship Mary?” or “Do you still believe in Jesus?” There began a process of rebuilding trust that continues to this day. Stellman had to tell his church—a church he planted and ministered, and which his family still attends—that he could no longer serve as their pastor.
Yet all three say the high church has presented them with a sense of community they would not have experienced otherwise. For Gingerich, the seasons of feasting and fasting taught him to suffer and celebrate with the church in a way he had never experienced. “I was re-taught compassion,” he says. Cone’s Orthodox family now stretches from coast to coast and has supported him and his wife as they raise their three children. Their priest drives an hour to their house for confession, knowing how difficult it is for them to make the drive. “He leaves the 99 to get the one,” Cone says.
Many Protestant churches have noticed these congregational trends and their loss of numbers. Some are adopting a more liturgical style to draw in younger audiences: the new book Gathering Together, by Christian theology professor Steve Harmon, describes a Baptist denominational move towards a greater liturgical focus. “It represents an increasingly widespread Baptist recognition that our tradition by itself is not sufficient,” Harmon told ABP News.
Gingerich argues that such stylistic treatments dodge the real question: the issues of church authority behind the traditional liturgy. Cone says he sees “a sincere expression of gratitude and study” from his Protestant friends. But, he adds, “When I look at a Protestant service, it lacks the mystery and power of the body of Christ. … The whole life of the church, the prayers of the desert fathers, the blood of the martyrs, is more intimately connected in the Orthodox life than a mere stylistic change that a Protestant church can do.”
Yet Lee Nelson, Co-Chair of the Catechesis Taskforce of the Anglican Church of North America, is hopeful that if evangelical churches begin adopting elements of liturgical worship, some of the Christianity’s larger schisms might dissipate. One must wonder, he admits: are churches becoming liturgical because it’s cool or because it’s right? But when a church’s intention is truly worship-motivated, Nelson thinks such changes can lead “closer and closer to Christian unity, and that’s the best part.”
Nelson believes a sacramental hunger lies at the heart of what many millennials feel. “We are highly wired to be experiential,” he says. In the midst of our consumer culture, young people “ache for sacramentality.”
“If you ask me why kids are going high church, I’d say it’s because the single greatest threat to our generation and to young people nowadays is the deprivation of meaning in our lives,” Cone says. “In the liturgical space, everything becomes meaningful. In the offering up of the bread and wine, we see the offering up of the wheat and grain and fruits of the earth, and God gives them back in a sanctified form. … We’re so thirsty for meaning that goes deeper, that can speak to our entire lives, hearts, and wallets, that we’re really thirsty to be attached to the earth and to each other and to God. The liturgy is a historical way in which that happens.”
For Bart Gingerich, a fellow with the Institute on Religion and Democracy and a student at Reformed Episcopal Seminary, becoming Anglican was an intellectual journey steeped in the thought of ancient church fathers. He spent the first 15 years of his life in the United Methodist Church, where he felt he was taught a “Precious Moments” version of Christianity: watered down, polite, and unreal. His family joined a nondenominational evangelical church when Gingerich was 16. Some of the youth he met were serious about their faith, but others were apathetic, and many ended up leaving the church later on.
While attending Patrick Henry College in Virginia, Gingerich joined a reformed Baptist church in the nearby town of Guilford. Gingerich read St. Augustine and connected strongly with his thought—in class from Monday to Friday, Gingerich found himself arguing for ideas that clashed with his method of worship on Sunday. Protestantism began troubling him on a philosophical level. Could he really believe that the church “didn’t start getting it right” till the Reformation?
The final straw came when a chapel speaker at the college explained the beauty of the Eucharist in the Anglican service. Gingerich knew this was what he was looking for. Soon after, he joined the Anglican Church.
For high-school English teacher Jesse Cone, joining the Orthodox Church fulfilled a deep yearning for community and sacramental reality. Cone grew up in the Presbyterian Church of America, heavily involved in youth group and church activities. While attending Biola University, an evangelical school in southern California, Cone returned home over the summers to help lead youth-group activities. He was hired as a youth pastor and “even preached a sermon.” But at Biola, Cone struggled to find a home church. There were many megachurches in the area that didn’t have the “organic, everyday substance” Cone was seeking.
He began attending an Anglican service, drawn to its traditional doctrine. He was a “perpetual visitor” over the next few years. A Bible study on the Gospel of John pushed him further towards the high church. Reading through the book with a group of friends, Cone began to notice the “conversational and sacramental” way Jesus related to people. “There’s a lot of bread, and wine, and water,” he says. From Jesus’s first miracle—turning water into wine—to telling his disciples “I am the True Vine,” the mundane, communal ways in which Jesus connected with people “confirmed in me a sense of sacramentalism—that everyday aspects of life are important, in a way the modern mindset doesn’t share,” Cone says. “I started looking at the world with more sacramental eyes.”
Cone became engaged to a woman who was also raised Presbyterian. In the weeks leading up to their marriage, they sought a church together, but none seemed to fit. Fundamental questions lingering in Cone’s mind—about church history, the importance of doctrine and dogma, what it means to live a full Christian life—came to a head. He told his wife, “I don’t think I’m comfortable being Orthodox, but I want to at least see one of their services, see what it’s like out there.” The next Sunday, they decided to attend an Orthodox Church with another young couple. By the end of the service, Cone says, “We were just blown away. Just blown away.” The worship, doctrine, and tradition were exactly what they had been looking for. “We were shell-shocked. And we haven’t stopped going since.”
For CreedCodeCult.com blogger Jason Stellman, joining the Catholic Church was an act of religious and intellectual honesty. Brought up in a Baptist church, Stellman became a missionary in Europe for Calvary Chapel after college. When he began studying and accepting Calvinistic theology, he was dismissed from Calvary’s ministry and moved back to the U.S. He joined the Presbyterian Church of America and enrolled in Westminster Seminary in 2000. He and his wife helped start a Presbyterian Church in Southern California some time later.
In 2008, Stellman was introduced to serious arguments for the Catholic faith. He studied scriptural passages on church authority, the early church fathers, and St. Augustine’s writings on justification. The more Stellman read, the more he was drawn to the Catholic Church. While in Europe, he had attended mass at a cathedral in Brussels and discovered it possessed a liturgical beauty he hadn’t encountered before. Last year, he announced to his church that he was leaving to become Catholic.
Leaving one church for another is not easy. For Gingerich and Cone, the decision was difficult on a family and community level. Many in their old churches expressed confusion and hurt, and some asked rather ignorant, if well-intentioned, questions: “Do you worship Mary?” or “Do you still believe in Jesus?” There began a process of rebuilding trust that continues to this day. Stellman had to tell his church—a church he planted and ministered, and which his family still attends—that he could no longer serve as their pastor.
Yet all three say the high church has presented them with a sense of community they would not have experienced otherwise. For Gingerich, the seasons of feasting and fasting taught him to suffer and celebrate with the church in a way he had never experienced. “I was re-taught compassion,” he says. Cone’s Orthodox family now stretches from coast to coast and has supported him and his wife as they raise their three children. Their priest drives an hour to their house for confession, knowing how difficult it is for them to make the drive. “He leaves the 99 to get the one,” Cone says.
Many Protestant churches have noticed these congregational trends and their loss of numbers. Some are adopting a more liturgical style to draw in younger audiences: the new book Gathering Together, by Christian theology professor Steve Harmon, describes a Baptist denominational move towards a greater liturgical focus. “It represents an increasingly widespread Baptist recognition that our tradition by itself is not sufficient,” Harmon told ABP News.
Gingerich argues that such stylistic treatments dodge the real question: the issues of church authority behind the traditional liturgy. Cone says he sees “a sincere expression of gratitude and study” from his Protestant friends. But, he adds, “When I look at a Protestant service, it lacks the mystery and power of the body of Christ. … The whole life of the church, the prayers of the desert fathers, the blood of the martyrs, is more intimately connected in the Orthodox life than a mere stylistic change that a Protestant church can do.”
Yet Lee Nelson, Co-Chair of the Catechesis Taskforce of the Anglican Church of North America, is hopeful that if evangelical churches begin adopting elements of liturgical worship, some of the Christianity’s larger schisms might dissipate. One must wonder, he admits: are churches becoming liturgical because it’s cool or because it’s right? But when a church’s intention is truly worship-motivated, Nelson thinks such changes can lead “closer and closer to Christian unity, and that’s the best part.”
Nelson believes a sacramental hunger lies at the heart of what many millennials feel. “We are highly wired to be experiential,” he says. In the midst of our consumer culture, young people “ache for sacramentality.”
“If you ask me why kids are going high church, I’d say it’s because the single greatest threat to our generation and to young people nowadays is the deprivation of meaning in our lives,” Cone says. “In the liturgical space, everything becomes meaningful. In the offering up of the bread and wine, we see the offering up of the wheat and grain and fruits of the earth, and God gives them back in a sanctified form. … We’re so thirsty for meaning that goes deeper, that can speak to our entire lives, hearts, and wallets, that we’re really thirsty to be attached to the earth and to each other and to God. The liturgy is a historical way in which that happens.”
The millennial generation is seeking a holistic, honest, yet mysterious truth that their current churches cannot provide. Where they search will have large implications for the future of Christianity. Protestant churches that want to preserve their youth membership may have to develop a greater openness toward the treasures of the past. One thing seems certain: this “sacramental yearning” will not go away.
Gracy Olmstead is associate editor of The American Conservative.
Standing Strong Through the Storm - THE BIBLE
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by
the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will
of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20-21
Daniel, a Chinese brother from Singapore, sat in the chair still shaking his head in unbelief. He had just returned from his first extensive visit to the People’s Republic of China. Now in the freedom of his home city, he was trying to assimilate and communicate all the impressions and messages he had received.
“How would you summarize what you learned on your visit, Daniel?” I asked him. He continued to shake his head and smile. Finally he began to speak.
“Probably by my visit to one particular house church,” he slowly replied. “It numbers several hundred believers who have had a lot of persecution over the past years. I asked them how they had been victorious and even grown in numbers during such terrible experiences. They quickly replied, telling me three things,” he continued. “First, obedience to the Word of God; second, communication with God, that is, prayer. And third, love for the brothers and sisters.”
This group memorized one chapter of the Bible every week. They began doing this because of a lack of Bibles, but continued doing so after they realized the blessing it brought to their lives.
The Bible is God’s written revelation of Himself and His desire for a relationship with people. It is more than just a revelation of God’s character. It is also a revelation of His intricate plan for the world. We could never have understood our great God if He had not chosen to reveal Himself.
His greatest revelation of Himself was when He came to live among us in a human body and was known as Jesus Christ. But even our knowledge of that revelation depends upon His written Word, the Bible.
Satan has conducted a massive propaganda campaign in the last century in an attempt to discredit the Bible. He would love to see Christians lose faith in the Word of God. In spite of his efforts, however, no one has ever been able to disprove its reliability. It remains the only absolute truth known to humankind.
The Bible is our God-given basis for faith, doctrine and practice. Many times Christians have knowingly departed from its teachings and suffered because of doing so. Many times when Christians depart from the Word, it is because they do not know or understand it.
The church can only be true to the revealed Word of God when its people know what it teaches. Study of God’s Word is an essential part of the Christian life. When Christians doubt, ignore or fail to understand the teachings of scripture and depart from its principles, they lose their spiritual power.
RESPONSE: Today I will recommit to the daily study and application of God’s Word, the Bible.
PRAYER: Pray for believers in many parts of the world who still yearn for a copy of the Bible.
Daniel, a Chinese brother from Singapore, sat in the chair still shaking his head in unbelief. He had just returned from his first extensive visit to the People’s Republic of China. Now in the freedom of his home city, he was trying to assimilate and communicate all the impressions and messages he had received.
“How would you summarize what you learned on your visit, Daniel?” I asked him. He continued to shake his head and smile. Finally he began to speak.
“Probably by my visit to one particular house church,” he slowly replied. “It numbers several hundred believers who have had a lot of persecution over the past years. I asked them how they had been victorious and even grown in numbers during such terrible experiences. They quickly replied, telling me three things,” he continued. “First, obedience to the Word of God; second, communication with God, that is, prayer. And third, love for the brothers and sisters.”
This group memorized one chapter of the Bible every week. They began doing this because of a lack of Bibles, but continued doing so after they realized the blessing it brought to their lives.
The Bible is God’s written revelation of Himself and His desire for a relationship with people. It is more than just a revelation of God’s character. It is also a revelation of His intricate plan for the world. We could never have understood our great God if He had not chosen to reveal Himself.
His greatest revelation of Himself was when He came to live among us in a human body and was known as Jesus Christ. But even our knowledge of that revelation depends upon His written Word, the Bible.
Satan has conducted a massive propaganda campaign in the last century in an attempt to discredit the Bible. He would love to see Christians lose faith in the Word of God. In spite of his efforts, however, no one has ever been able to disprove its reliability. It remains the only absolute truth known to humankind.
The Bible is our God-given basis for faith, doctrine and practice. Many times Christians have knowingly departed from its teachings and suffered because of doing so. Many times when Christians depart from the Word, it is because they do not know or understand it.
The church can only be true to the revealed Word of God when its people know what it teaches. Study of God’s Word is an essential part of the Christian life. When Christians doubt, ignore or fail to understand the teachings of scripture and depart from its principles, they lose their spiritual power.
RESPONSE: Today I will recommit to the daily study and application of God’s Word, the Bible.
PRAYER: Pray for believers in many parts of the world who still yearn for a copy of the Bible.
Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz
Today the church remembers Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz, Missionary to Germany, and Martyr, 754.
One
of the great achievements of the Anglo-Saxon Christians was the
conversion of their cousins in Germany. The trail was blazed by
Willibrord (see November 7) but the man to whom most credit is due was
Boniface of Devonshire, England. His real name was Wynfrith. Boniface
("good deeds") was a nickname that stuck.
In spite of some disappointing efforts in Frisia (Holland), the
missionary Boniface proceeded
into the Germanic heartland. In Bavaria, Thuringia, and Hesse he won
many converts to Christ. In an act of extraordinary boldness, he chopped
down the sacred Oak of Thor at Geismar. With the felling of this tree,
Germanic confidence in the old gods fell. From then on Boniface's work
progressed rapidly. He soon organized eight German dioceses, founded the
famous abbey at Fulda, and was himself consecrated the first Archbishop
of Mainz. Boniface always kept in close touch with England, writing
many letters to friends at home who supplied him with books, vestments,
and recruits for the work in Germany.
Help us to strengthen your church, O Christ, that we may do your work in the world. Amen.
Read the Wikipedia article here.
Almighty God, you called your faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and a martyr in Germany, and by his labor and suffering you raised up a people for your own possession: Pour out your Holy Spirit upon your Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many your holy Name may be glorified and your kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Daily Readings for June 5, 2016 - Third Sunday of Pentecost
1 Kings 17:17-24
After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?" Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again." The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."
Psalm 30 Exaltabo te, Domine
1 I will exalt you, O LORD, because you have lifted me up and have not let my enemies triumph over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried out to you, and you restored me to health.
3 You brought me up, O LORD, from the dead; you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.
4 Sing to the LORD, you servants of his; give thanks for the remembrance of his holiness.
5 For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, his favor for a lifetime.
6 Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning.
7 While I felt secure, I said, "I shall never be disturbed. You, LORD, with your favor, made me as strong as the mountains."
8 Then you hid your face, and I was filled with fear.
9 I cried to you, O LORD; I pleaded with the Lord, saying,
10 What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit? will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?
11 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me; O LORD, be my helper."
12 You have turned my wailing into dancing; you have put off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy.
13 Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing; O LORD my God, I will give you thanks for ever.
Galatians 1:11-24
For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy." And they glorified God because of me.
Luke 7:11-17
Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!" The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!" This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.
Continuous Reading Track
1 Kings 17:8-24
Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you." So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, "Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink." As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." But she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth." She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah. After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?" Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again." The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."
Psalm 146 Lauda, anima mea
1 Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
2 Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, for there is no help in them.
3 When they breathe their last, they return to earth, and in that day their thoughts perish.
4 Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! whose hope is in the LORD their God;
5 Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; who keeps his promise for ever;
6 Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger.
7 The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
8 The LORD loves the righteous; the LORD cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.
9 The LORD shall reign for ever, your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!
After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?" Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again." The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."
Psalm 30 Exaltabo te, Domine
1 I will exalt you, O LORD, because you have lifted me up and have not let my enemies triumph over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried out to you, and you restored me to health.
3 You brought me up, O LORD, from the dead; you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.
4 Sing to the LORD, you servants of his; give thanks for the remembrance of his holiness.
5 For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, his favor for a lifetime.
6 Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning.
7 While I felt secure, I said, "I shall never be disturbed. You, LORD, with your favor, made me as strong as the mountains."
8 Then you hid your face, and I was filled with fear.
9 I cried to you, O LORD; I pleaded with the Lord, saying,
10 What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit? will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?
11 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me; O LORD, be my helper."
12 You have turned my wailing into dancing; you have put off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy.
13 Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing; O LORD my God, I will give you thanks for ever.
Galatians 1:11-24
For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy." And they glorified God because of me.
Luke 7:11-17
Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!" The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!" This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.
Continuous Reading Track
1 Kings 17:8-24
Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you." So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, "Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink." As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." But she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth." She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah. After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?" Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again." The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."
Psalm 146 Lauda, anima mea
1 Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
2 Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, for there is no help in them.
3 When they breathe their last, they return to earth, and in that day their thoughts perish.
4 Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! whose hope is in the LORD their God;
5 Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; who keeps his promise for ever;
6 Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger.
7 The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
8 The LORD loves the righteous; the LORD cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.
9 The LORD shall reign for ever, your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!
The Forward Day by Day Meditation for June 5, 2016 - Third Sunday of Pentecost
Psalm 146:7 The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down.
There is an anger that can destroy us when we consider the worst kinds of human behavior. Depression can sink in. Oppression and suffering feel overwhelming to our souls—common themes in the psalms. But there are also verses that tell of a God who delivers. The passion for God’s justice isn’t precisely like the anger we typically know. It is more powerful, like a white-hot holy light that burns with the sacred justice of God.
Verse of the Day - June 05, 2016
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV) Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Read all of 1 Thessalonians 5
Read all of 1 Thessalonians 5
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