It did my heart good when, a couple of Sundays ago, I asked what repentance was, and several of you said shuv, the Hebrew word that means to repent or to turn around. I was surprised you remembered it! 

You made me so happy! Now I can die in peace! Sooner or later. Hopefully later! 

In the meantime, let’s learn some more! Here are three Hebrew words, a little phrase that you can use for all sorts of situations. It could be a short prayer on its own; it could be a word of hope for someone who’s having a difficult time; it could be an expression of gratitude to God woven into any prayer. However you use it, it’s a good little phrase to keep in your heart. 

I sincerely believe that those who attend Christ Church do so because God called them here. 

Called. 

Last week I wrote about the Greek word we translate as “Church” meaning the “gathering of those summoned,” or the “called-out ones.” In Greek politics, these were citizens of a city who were called out to gather for a civic meeting. The translators of the Old Testament used that word, ekklesia, for the assembly of God’s people, and the believers in the New Testament used to describe the people (not the building) who made up the body of Christ. 

I read a “tweet” the other day that said the Church of England, which split from the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of King Henry VIII, is finally agreeing with the Catholic Church that it’s not a church after all.

What? I had to do some digging . . . 

It seems the Church of England is moving away from using the term, “church”! As they start new . . . whachamacallits (I guess I shouldn’t call them “churches” since they don’t) the Whatsit’s leaders refer to these new . . . whatevers not as “churches” but congregations or communities in an attempt to “sound relevant or modern sounding.” 

I’ve had several questions about one of the crosses we use in worship. I can see how, at first glance, you might ask what on earth is going on with it! Contrary to some, that is not Buddha in the middle! 
 
It is actually the Celtic Cross of Muiredach at Monasterboice.  And what is that? 

Up the coast from Dublin, Ireland,  is Drogheda, where you can see the historic ruins of the monastery, Monasterboice. The monastery itself dates to the 5th century and was a center for intellectual learning. Today, it is most famous for its stone Celtic crosses. The crosses are decorated with scenes from the Bible and, like stained glass windows, were used to teach Christ’s teachings to those unable to read. It may also have been a devotional aid, helping the monks or maybe the pilgrims who visited the monastery to reflect and think more deeply about their faith. 

One of the hardest lessons for a young person to learn is that people make choices and choices have consequences. I have to remind my young friends of this principle (and, to be honest,  myself as well) all the time.

Of course, we usually think of this in a bad way (i.e.: Choice: smoke; Consequence: lung cancer).  And one bad choice can spiral into a series, if not a lifetime, of bad consequences. 

But what about good choices? What about a LIFETIME of good choices? What are the consequences? 

When I was in Athens, Greece, the hotel we were staying in had a spectacular view of the Acropolis, especially at night when the Parthenon was lit up. I couldn’t wait to get up to my room, throw open my window and take in the sight of that ancient wonder! I dropped my bags at the door, walked directly to the big picture window, swept open the curtain and drank in . . . the block wall of the building across the alley. 

The point of a window is to look outside. And, of course, there needs to be something outside to see!

symphony  /ˈsɪmfəni/ noun
A long piece of music that is usually in four large, separate movements, that is performed by an orchestra

prayer  /prer/noun 
An act of communication by humans with the sacred or holy.

A Symphony of Prayer. A service in several movements, interweaving scripture, music, drama, offered by God’s people as a prayer. 

I’ve lived long enough to witness quite a few of our national tragedies (and, no, contrary to anything Dorene might tell you, I was not present when Lincoln was shot).

My folks always said I was too young to remember it, but I think I remember watching JFK’s funeral. I definitely remember when Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy were killed. My brother was draft age in the late 60s, so I vividly remember the coverage of the Vietnam conflict and the riots during the chaotic National Democratic Convention in Chicago. 1968 was a hard year for our country.

When I decided to spend Camp Meeting Days preaching through Romans 8, I didn’t realize just how deep we’d be getting! 

And what sort of frustrates me is that even though we’re doing a “deep dive” (one of those catch-phrases that came up Sunday) into Romans 8, there are still all sorts of things I end up skimming over because Paul’s writing is so dense!

 I wrote a Pastor’s Note about Tom a couple of years ago. I ran into him again when I was in New Orleans last week. 

This was not the same man I first met some 6 years ago! The Tom I met back then was mentally unstable and angry - all the time. He was a constant dark cloud whom the residents of the French Quarter dreaded, and they would walk across the street to avoid him. 

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Why did God save me?”

Our automatic answer is because He loves us — which is, of course, absolutely the truth. God loves the whole world — we all learned that in Sunday School: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Some 30 years ago, I stopped by a convenience store owned by a couple I went to church with when I was a little boy. The wife was a perfect example of what I preached about on Sunday. I told her about the church I was serving at the time and how loving the people were. She was not impressed. She patted the mass of hair piled up on her head and asked me, “But do they have the hair standard?”

Reading the Bible, studying the Bible . . . it’s something we talk a lot around Christ Church, and it’s one of the reasons we came into being. God has given us one tangible object as a witness to God’s loving work, and if we’re going to be the people of God, we need to know as much about it as possible. 

Through studying and reading the Bible, we seek to know Jesus Christ, and learn how to be like him, and how to do the things he said to do. We can only accomplish this by spending time in God’s word. 

It isn’t easy to read the Bible with an open mind. We all bring to the Bible what we’ve heard or been taught, and it is difficult to lay that aside and let the Bible speak on its own.

I had a professor in seminary who used the example of a template. A template is a pattern made of metal, plastic, or paper, used for making many copies of a shape or to help cut material accurately. If you wanted to cut a toy car out of wood, you’d place the template over your block of wood and cut around the pattern. The result? A little wooden car in the exact (depending on the person doing the cutting) shape of the template.

Going through a box the other day, I found a program from a Kentucky camp meeting where I played the piano back in 1986. I used to do a lot of that. Every summer for decades I either led the singing or played the piano at some camp meeting or revival not only in Kentucky but also in Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Alabama. 

Those were exciting, inspirational days! Depending on your location, there might be 1,000 or more people taking time out of their summer to attend a camp meeting at places with names like Zion’s Hill, Silver Lake and Chula Vista. 

There was a time back in the 70s to early 80s when there were more restaurants on one stretch of University Drive than in all of Birmingham! Darryl’s 1817, Steak & Ale, the Fogcutter . . . all celebration destinations . . . all big deals at the time . . . and all gone.

For decades, I always celebrated my birthday at Red Lobster, which was farther east on University Drive. I say “was” on purpose, because it, too, is gone!  March, my birthday month (as if you could ever forget), is always “Lobster Fest,” and even if my family didn’t go out any other time of the year, we went to Red Lobster for my birthday. But when I went there this past March for my birthday, it was closed for remodeling. So they said.

I have new neighbors! They’re  foreigners (well, they’re from the West Coast). 

Last week they were initiated into Alabama culture by experiencing their first tornado warning. I’ve explained to them that, historically, the tornadoes in our area have followed the same paths, and that, historically, the storm paths go south of us or go north of us.

“Please do what God tells you to do!” So says the sign stuck to a pine tree at an exit of I-65 somewhere between Cullman and Birmingham (I shared a photo of it Sunday - it hangs over my desk at home). 

For me, it’s a good reminder of what I’m to be about. In John 15, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments,” and “this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Pretty simple, isn’t it? Love God . . . Love Others. It always comes down to that. 

Church was and is about coming together to see “on earth as it is in heaven” actually happen. Yes, we come together to worship, but the focus of that worship is on God and what God has done and is doing to redeem his lost creation. And then, we leave to serve - feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison – and by serving this way, we do the Father’s will.

One of my favorite parts of Easter is singing He Lives! The last line of the refrain says it all: “You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart!”

That really is the ultimate evidence. When that testimony is multiplied in the hearts of multitudes of other believers, and you see the evidence in changed lives, to quote one of the skeptics, “at the least you have to admit something happened.”