Made Alive

I like this song and this group. The drummer, Adam Skatula, was the drummer at our church when he was in high school. He's very talented and a nice person as well! If you like this song, please share it on Facebook or other sites to let others get to know this young group.

What I Believe

APOSTLES CREED

I believe in God, the Father almighty,  

creator of heaven and earth. 

I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,  

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit,  

born of the Virgin Mary,  

suffered under Pontius Pilate,  

was crucified, died, and was buried;  

he descended to the dead.  

On the third day he rose again;  

he ascended into heaven,  

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,  

and he will come again to judge the living and the dead. 

I believe in the Holy Spirit,  

the holy catholic church,  

the communion of saints,  

the forgiveness of sins,  

the resurrection of the body,  

and the life everlasting. 

AMEN.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just so you know, that's what I believe.

Aaron Shust - My Hope Is In You

My hope is in God. In this life, I know I will face trials. People I love will die. I will die. Someone who is not a Christian may look at this video and have a hard time understanding how it goes with this song about hope. They may think their hope was in vain. I don't think so. I believe their hope is in God, in their faith that this life is only a tiny part of our existence and when we go to be with him, our hope will be fulfilled.



Did you notice the song in the hymn book?  I thought you might like to hear it also. These guys are truly talented and listening to this song really has the power to bring me to a state of peace. Music can do things like that, you know. I hope you will listen all the way through.

Baptism

This week our church secretary sent out an e-mail to congregation members to let us know there is a young boy who is getting baptized tomorrow. To Christians, baptism is a very big deal, a very happy big deal. At our church, if we know about it ahead of time, we do something special.

First of all, there are men in our congregation who make these beautiful baptismal chests.

Isn't that pretty? I know they try to keep ahead of the demand as it would be rather tough to whip one of these beauties out at the last moment. I don't know how long this has been the tradition in this congregation, but I think it is really special.

The rest of us bring gifts, then, to place in the chest. When we arrive at church tomorrow one of these chests will be right up front. As people arrive we will see some of them going up front to deposit a gift for the young boy who is getting baptized.  At the end of the service he and his family may gather around the chest for photographs, marking the special occasion. When they go home tomorrow, the chest and gifts go with them. Won't that be a special reminder to him, perhaps a lifelong reminder, of the day he was baptized?

Baptism is done many different ways within Christian Churches. Some of the differences are based on traditions. For example, giving this baptismal chest and gifts is a tradition within our congregation. It isn't something we've read about in the Bible; it is just something we do to celebrate a joyful event. Some of the differences are based on varying theological understandings of Biblical accounts of baptism.  This accounts for such differences as sprinkling versus immersion and infant versus someone old enough to make the decision for themselves.  Mike and I spent hours and hours discussing these differences, even when we were dating, as we come from different denominational backgrounds. 

Most Christians agree, though, that baptism is very important and very special. I've heard baptism compared to adoption. People have said that the day you are baptized is the day you are adopted into God's family, the day you become a Child of God. It isn't quite that simple, I suppose, given that we believe everything, including ourselves, belongs to God in the first place. However, I think it is a fairly good way to explain baptism to someone who is new to Christianity.

I am not a theologian. Although raised in the church, I have never attended a Bible College or Seminary. I do have a theologian in residence as my husband has both a Bible College and Seminary degree. As I write this post, he is sitting right here in the same room with me, easily accessible. However, I am recklessly tackling this subject without his help. As far as he knows, I am furiously typing out cute granddaughter stories. So, if you landed here by googling "baptism" and were hoping for some deep theological insights, you may be disappointed.  I can tell you a few things, though.

Baptism is done in obedience to God's Word. That is to say, the Bible tells us we should do this so we do.  

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19 (NIV) 

That is one of the verses that tells us to do it. To be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (we'll talk about the Trinity another day) is a command. We who are disciples of Christ, meaning His followers, want to do this out of obedience. We don't do it in secret, either. We want others to know that we are His followers.

“But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” I Corinthians 6:11 (NIV) 

Baptism is also a washing away of our sin. Do people sin even after they are baptized? Yes, of course. With our human understanding of time you may think we are to be baptized over and over again, each time we sin. Nope. As children of God we are able to repent and claim this forgiveness of sin over and over and over. I would think that must get so tedious for God, but his love for us is big enough to handle it.

Baptism points to the fact that we are to die to ourselves. Our will is no longer paramount. It is so hard to remember and to live this way, but Christians really do want God's will to be what matters, not our own. We love our Lord and he loves us. HIS love is so pure, so complete, we are overwhelmed by it. Dying to ourselves is not a sad thing, it is a great thing. This next verse means a lot to me.  

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”Galatians 2:20 (NIV)  

My firm belief is that as a baptized child of God, I have Christ living within me. What could be better than that? This is a great heritage to claim!

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The Beauty of Simplicity

 The Beauty of Simplicity 
                          (by Telecast)

It's the beauty of simplicity
that brings me down to my knees
I'll praise You for eternity
and Lord I love You
Because You
You first loved me
It's the beauty of simplicity
that fills me with eternity
I've tasted Your divinity
and Lord I love You
Because You
You first loved me

Chorus:
And all God's people say:
We, we love You
we love You Lord
we love You
And we, we love You
we love you Lord
we love You
We love You

It's the beauty of simplicity
that brings me down to my knees
I'll praise You for eternity
and Lord I love You
Because You
You first loved me

Bridge:
You gave Yourself away
just that I could stay
You took my place in death
and rose that I could say
That You are Holy
and You alone deserve my praise

(CLICK ON TITLE TO HEAR SONG)

Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit

It's Good Friday.  Today I am thinking about a friend I met and worked with years ago.  Her name was Laurie and she was Jewish.  We were friends for a couple of years when we lived in the Seattle, WA area.  We lost track of one another after a few moves but for a time, we were close friends.  Laurie and her husband were hoping to one day live in Israel.  I wonder if they ever made that move?

Laurie taught me some things.  One day she was telling me how hard it was to be a little Jewish girl with little Christian playmates.  I was horrified when she told me that one year, around Easter, the other kids were angry at her and accused her of killing Jesus.  She said she was so upset; she didn't even know Jesus!  How could they think she killed anyone?  My heart hurt for the sweet little girl that faced those angry accusers.

Laurie's little friends were a bit confused, likely because their parents were confused.  At the very base of the Christian Faith is the belief that we are ALL responsible for Jesus' death.  We have ALL sinned.  We ALL needed to be redeemed.  Jesus and only Jesus was pure and because of this, he was the one who could manage to take on all our sin and take the punishment for it.  For that sacrifice, I am grateful.

(photo from Google Images and lakecitybaptist.net)

As Jesus died he said he was committing his spirit to God's hands.  What a perfect thing to say at the time of one's death.  I want to think I will say that as well.  Having a job where I attend deaths, though, I am aware that I may not be awake enough or strong enough to speak those last words at the time of my own death.  So, I'm saying it now.  God, please keep my spirit safe in your hands.

Hospice Musings

I think I am getting more wise just by working at hospice.  Ok, that may not be true but I do think it helps to build a more realistic perception of life.  The truth is, we are all terminal.  That shouldn't be bad news, though. 

I think of our lives as being on a timeline.  On the left end of the timeline is a little teeny dot that represents our lives from conception to death.  To the right of that dot, as far as you can see, is our life in eternity.  That means that the time we are separated from our loved ones is such a tiny speck, it is almost no time at all.

For the patients who are not believers of eternal life, I understand how death could be a frightening prospect.  For Christians, though, it should be thought of as a a time when we get to open the best present ever.  We're human, though, and the unknown can be scary.  I understand that. 

I've already received a lot of comments from people who are very curious about how I can work daily with people who are dying.  I will tell you that it is an honor and a pleasure to do this work!  I feel very grateful for this opportunity and wish everyone had this chance. 

Working with the patients is not the hardest part of the job.  The part that is hard is working with the families.  They are the ones for whom I have the most sympathy.  Their pain is what I don't know how to treat.  Their tears are the hardest to see.

I try to remember to wear a cross to work every shift.  The reason I do this is so that the person who is dying, or their family and friends, will know that I am a Christian.  If they want to talk about Jesus, I want them to know that I will make time to listen.   Perhaps that is the most important part of my job...listening.


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Question From an Opera Singer

I hope by now you've all gone to http://www.thenuttersisters.com/ to meet some of my new Twitter friends.  I follow their blog and am very entertained by it.

Another friend I met on Twitter is a young woman living in Madrid, Spain.  She studies microbiology AND she sings opera.  I've known people who've studied microbiology before, in fact I took one microbiology class myself and the instructor was one of my best friends.   But I've never known an opera singer!  I can't wait until her CD is ready.  I'll buy it and when I play it I'll just casually brag, "Yea, that's my friend the opera singer."

At one point, through our conversations, my new friend asked me if I was a believer.  Of course I answered "yes" I am a believer.  It was a simple question and a simple answer was all that was needed.  On Twitter, simple answers are a necessity since you only get to write 140 characters or less at a time.

I kept thinking about her question, though, and realized I couldn't remember anyone ever asking me that before.  Maybe some don't ask because they don't really care.  Maybe others don't ask because I wear a cross so often, it is pretty obvious.  I suppose being married to a pastor also leads to the assumption that I am a believer. 

This train of thought made me think about early Christians who had to fear for their lives if they were identified as believers.  Think back to Peter, fearing for his life and denying he was a believer after Jesus was taken captive.  Later, Christians were killed in a variety of horrible ways, just for being believers.  There are places on this Earth where people are still tortured or killed just for being Christians.

I remember hearing a story about the Christian fish symbol.  I don't even know if the story is true but I've remembered it for many years so I'm going to share it.  What I was told was that in the early years of the church, when two people met, one would casually draw one side of the fish symbol with their foot in the dirt.  If the other person was not a Christian they'd just see it as foot doodling.  If they were a Christian, they'd draw the second half.  In this way they'd both know they were safe to discuss their faith. 

I have a fish symbol necklace that Mike gave me more than 30 years ago. 

I also have that symbol on my Bible cover. 

Like I said, I don't know if that is true but I've liked the fish symbol more since I heard that tale.  It helps me remember those who've travelled this path before us.