Is this the greatest Easter painting of all time?

Les Disciples

Wishing you a very happy and meaningful Easter. In step with these wishes, I came across a 2017 post by Mike Frost that’s fitting and worth a read.  (link is here)

It's a tradition in some circles to greet one another on Easter Sunday with the phrase Christ is risen! The reply: He is risen indeed! Knowing the practice spans the centuries for more than 2000 years, I actually look forward to hearing it again today and knowing the rootedness of the tradition is millennia old sets the practice in the context of history and narrative that undergirds its meaning today. 

Yet, springing from a real place, real persons, and real time in history it's a helpful reminder to remember there was a day when the words were uttered for the first time. How incredible it must have been to hear in that day "He is risen!" - and to see again the Risen One - having "put death in its grave" - this side of the his cross and tomb!

Quoting the prophet Isaiah from more than 800 years before the birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ:

“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”

 So, to that end, may I say: Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

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We are seeking to accomplish what God himself wills to happen

It's been a very long while since posting here. Lot's of reasons -mostly good methinks. However, the following link merits chasing. Enjoy :-)

So all our missional efforts to make God known must be set within the prior framework of God’s own will to be known. We are seeking to accomplish what God himself wills to happen. This is both humbling and reassuring. It is humbling inasmuch as it reminds us that all our efforts would be in vain but for God’s determination to be known. We are neither the initiators of the mission of making God known to the nations nor does it lie in our power to decide how to the task will be fully accomplished or when it may be deemed to be complete. But it is also reassuring. For we know that behind all our fumbling efforts and inadequate communication the supreme will of the living God, reaching out in loving self-revelation, incredibly willing to open blind eyes and reveal his glory through the treasures of the gospel delivered in the clay pots of his witnesses.

- Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, p. 129, 130

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...with Feeble Fingers Cling

The following clip is worth the look.

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An Unpopular Message : A Needed Word

The Word of the Lord.

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:

Greetings.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:1-4; ESV)

Thanks be to God
Amen



Note: Sir Norman Anderson is mentioned by Dr Piper. Without the aid of context from the broader message, maybe the following link, offered for your information,is useful?: FYI here.

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A Sojourner's Birthday

Today is a day of contemplation. Why? A good friend is turning 50.

We've been through a lot as brothers in our common village and church community and I really can't let the event pass without speaking gratitude into his life.

We've watched our kids grow up together. He and his wife were at the birth of each of our three boys and we have taken part in the lives of their kids, too. And against the consumeristic tide of our day, we have persevered to serve in a community called the church (the same local body) for more than 22 years.

He was there when I met my wife. He was there when we married. He was there when we struggled financially and with broken health. He was there in the ongoing process of restoration in Christ. Truly, he is a friend. You know, it may not take a village but it certainly is good to be a part of one- and even better to have a friend.

So, what follows is an excerpt from birthday wishes to him.

Dearest Brother, with the Psalmist, we can say, "I am a sojourner on the earth." And, this is increasingly recognizable as we progress, live, labor, and love. In fact, we’re getting older. We know this and it is a good thing.

God has crafted us for communion with Himself and to take our place in the progression of His story-His work of redeeming, restoring, and blessing His creation. We are, in fact, partakers at his invitation and at His expense, in the eternal fellowship of the Trinity. Wow!

As a fellow laborer, partaker of life in Christ, and friend, I have to tell you that you are blessing and great encouragement to me. Please know that I genuinely delight in knowing you – my brother.

From another sojourner with a place in God’s redemptive history, we read:

So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands! (Moses; Psalm 90: 12; 14-17; ESV)

Blessings and peace and ....

Happy Birthday.

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