thoughts from a postmodern pietist pilgrim

The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale posted the following video.

I think the gist is more along the lines of “why shouldn’t it be preached today.”

I was poking around a hymn website when I noticed this:

 The main tune is ap­par­ent­ly named after Wil­liams’ home town of Llan­fair­pwll­gwyn­gyll­go­gerychwyrn­drob­wllllandt­ysil­iog­og­o­goch. In Eng­lish, the name means “church of St. Mary in the hollow of white ha­zel near the ra­pid whirl­pool of the Church of St. Tysil­lio by the red cave.”

If this is a joke it is funny, if it is real it is even funnier!  (original link, warning MIDI)

He it was who changed the setting into a rising, and crucified death into life; who having snatched man out of the jaws of destruction raised him to the sky, transplanting corruption to the soil of incorruption, and transforming earth to heaven. […] Let us obey God when He exhorts us; let us learn about Him, that He may be gracious; let us render Him (though he is in need of nothing) a recompense of gratitude for His blessings, as a kind of rent paid to God for our dwelling here below.

Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks (LCL vol. 92, p. 245.)

Greek is keeping me wicked busy.

I stumbled across this prayer from Johann Arndt, the great lover of God whose influence can be felt in Bach cantatas and the writings of the pietists (although he predates the movement by a hundred years.)

O THOU loving- and tender Father in
heaven, I confess before Thee, in deep
sorrow, how hard and unsympathising
is my heart ; how often I have sinned against
my neighbour by want of compassion and tenderness ;
how often I have felt no true Christian
pity for his trials and sorrows, have neglected to
comfort, help, and visit him, and thus have stood
apart in selfish isolation from my own flesh and
blood. Herein I have not acted like a child of
God, for I have not been merciful as our
Heavenly Father is merciful ; I have not remembered
Christ’s words of blessing, ‘ Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy ;’
nor that sentence of the last Day, ‘ Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire ; for I was an
hungred and ye gave me no food, naked and ye
clothed me not.’
O Father, forgive this heavy sin, and lay it
not to my charge. Avert from me the punishment
I have justly merited ; and let the tender
compassion of Thy Son make amends for my
hardness and coldness. Give me too a compassionate
heart, quickly moved to grieve for the
woes of others and to active pity for them, even
as our Lord Jesus Christ beheld our poverty and
hasted to help us. Give me grace ever to alleviate
the crosses and difficulties of those around me,
and never to add to them ; teach me to be a consoler
in sorrow, to take thought for the stranger,
the widow, and the orphan ; let my charity show
itself not in words only but in deed and truth.
Teach me to judge, as Thou dost, with forbearance,
with much pity and indulgence ; help me
to avoid all unloving judgment of others, and to
be anxious to moderate the sternness of strict justice
by the tenderness of sympathy. For mercy
rejoiceth against judgment, and Thou, O God,
lovest mercy more than sacrifice. So let me put
on cordial pity, kindness, humility, and patience,
that I may gladly forgive, as Christ hath forgiven
me. Teach me fully to recognise Thy great
mercy towards me, who am so unworthy of all
Thou hast done for me from my mother’s womb ;
for Thy mercy sought me out when I lay
in sin ; it waiteth for me till I come to Thee ; it
embraces me when I come ; it follows me through
all the days of my life, and will at last receive
me into the life eternal. Amen.
J. Arndt, 1555-1626.

From the book Prayers from the collection of Baron Bunsen, London:
Longmans, Green, and CO., 1871.

But it isn’t a translation if you start making the stuff up!

Pyromaniacs lets the world know about some <sarc>quality</sarc> Biblical scholarship going on out there!

*now back to my Greek textbook. Consonantal Iota 3rd Declension Nouns, here I come!

I’m taking a crash course in Greek this semester so I’ll likely have next to no time to post. I’m just giving fair warning. Peace.

Man therefore will be forever miserable, and remain eternally drowned and lost in these pollutions, unless there come to his help one that is able to succor; the treader upon the serpents head, the most might Lord over sin, death, and hell; by whose most divine virtue the defiled nature of man may be renewed, transformed, and perfectly purified.

——-
From True Chrstianity or, the whole economy of God towards man in four books, by John Arndt, translated by Anthony William Boehm in 1712, from a copy printed in 1809

“Worship” albums are a dime a dozen and the “christian” music world pumps them out like they are feeding an addicted population (with the same regard for spiritual quality that a street dealer has for his drug, that is to say, near none.) Sadly, the sheer volume of tepidness out there makes doubt the industry can sustain itself. Then, along comes an album that makes me really respect the heart behind the musician. Tim Hughes’ new album, Holding Nothing Back, seems genuine and real. Sure, there is a bit of gloss here and there, but his words reveal far more than any amount of post-production. His words cry out to God for renewal, for re-creation, and for realignment to the priorities of God.

It is refreshing to hear an album that emphasizes many aspects of the faith life, the CD starts with the glory of our salvation (Happy Day), while reminding us that that calling pulls us into a life of service (God Of Justice), and that the real meaning of all of this is God alone (Center of All.) This story arc closes with the final track, Take the World, that offers a counterpoint to all of the “noise” in the Church - the books, the CD’s, the cars, the fancy neckties, and all of the emptiness that pales, and that we need to cry out for God whether in voice, song, or silence.

Having been a worship leader off and on for a few years I would say that the song “Happy Day” would be a ton of fun to perform; the pacing, words, and style lead me to the believe that I could sing that song and pray it at the same time, which is what I need when leading worship. “Holding Nothing Back,” the title track, is a wonderful energetic push that could be an awesome song in the hands of a good worship team, it could certainly get people moving (if you are in that kind of church.) “Almighty God” is a great starter tune for a service it allows a leader to bring the congregation into the story of worship for the day; we must sing out today in worship, not just because it is Sunday, but because God requires, not by force, but by His own presence.

If your collection can fit one more album that you use to facilitate your personal worship or that you use to get ideas for corporate worship, this might just be an album worth shelling out a few bucks on iTunes to purchase.

It is not mere knowledge in which many of us are deficient. We have been instructed from our youth up in the word of God; we have read the Bible, we have heard so many sermons, attended so many meetings, and have associated with the pious, so that we are able to speak much of religion, of godliness, and divine things, and manifest great knowledge; but do we know as we ought to know? Do we know as to consider at the same time, what belongs to our peace? Have we experienced it in our hearts, or have we it only from reading an hearsay, and are, with all this, still ignorant of our inward state? O my friends! Let us consider what belongs to our peace! Those are not pronounced blessed, who know, but those who do. O how great will our responsibility for having known the will of the Lord, and not done it; for having taken his covenant into our lips, and yet hated reproof, having so often called God our Father, and yet not honoured him in our hearts; for having called him Lord, and yet not feared him in reality! Will it avail us that day, that we possessed an outward piety, and specious holiness? Will it avail us then to rely upon our outward religion, in which we have been born and bred, upon our going to church and sacrament, and such like merely external works?[…]Therefore let us reflect what belongs to our peace, and not continue longer in false security with our knowledge, but humble ourselves before him, who is now willing to come to us a a lowly monarch, as a king of peace, in order to make us happy subjects of his kingdom. Let us therefore submit and resign ourselves to him by a true and thorough conversion of the heart, and let ourselves be induced by the tears which he has shed, by the compassion with which he regards even us, and by the patience with which he still bears with us, to listen to his most gracious preacher of repentance, and obey his voice.
From Spiritual Crumbs from the Master’s Table by Gerhard Tersteegen, translated by Samuel Jackson, 1837.

A video montage to get you thinking about what it really is to cherish Jesus:

From Videos About Money via Desiring God Blog