I am nearing the end of Justification by NT Wright. What an amazing read! I cannot tell you, in a short space as thought for the day, how important this book is, but I can give you snippets of its importance and let you decide for yourself. Here’s a wonderful, beautiful snippet of delight:

But the great story of Scripture, from creation and covenant right on through to the New Jerusalem, is constantly about God’s overflowing, generous, creative love–God’s concern, if you like, for the flourishing and well-being of everything else. Of course, this too will redound to God’s glory because God, as the Creator, is glorified when creation is flourishing and able to praise him gladly and freely. And of course there are plenty of passages where God does what he does precisely not because anybody deserves it but simply ‘for the sake of his own name.’ But ‘God’s righteousness’ is regularly invoke in Scripture, not when God is acting thus, but when his concern is going out to those in need, particularly to his covenant people…God’s concern for God’s glory is precisely rescued from the appearance of divine narcissism because God, not least God as Trinity, is always giving out, pouring out, lavishing generous love on undeserving people, undeserving Israel and an undeserving world (NT Wright, Justification, 70-71).

There’s more to it than that, of course, but I promised a snippet.

I agree with him. There is a big-arch to Scripture and we do well to notice it, preach it, and live it. Oh Happiness! There is grace enough for us and the whole human race! And He wants us to know it.**

**disclaimer: that is not, in any way, intended to be a plug for ‘universalism’ of any stripe. so please, please, don’t go there.

I’d like to share a thought or two with you about worship this morning. Specifically I’d like to share a couple of thoughts with you about a special time of the worship that Christians refer to in various ways—communion, the Lord’s Supper, Eucharist. It is a most special time during the worship and one that I have participated in regularly since sometime in 1983.

In the tradition I used to belong to, the Christian Church/Church of Christ, communion is a weekly part of the worship. Sometimes it is offered near the end of the worship and sometimes it is offered in the middle of the worship just before the sermon—it depends upon the local church’s tradition. When my wife and I were looking for a new church to belong to and worship with it was essential to us that, regardless of where in the worship it was offered, communion be offered on a weekly basis. It is important to us and it is one of those essential aspects of worship we were unwilling to part with.

The church we now belong to, an Anglican Church, offers communion on a weekly basis and we are glad for it. That’s where today’s post was created (but not in six, literal 24-hour days). It was a moment not written in the scheduled liturgy. Thus I am certain it was a Holy Spirit moment—an unwritten moment of pure joy.

You see the denomination I used to belong to is very serious about the Lord’s Supper and maybe rightly, absurdly, so. One is not allowed to have communion until one has been properly baptized and gone through all sorts of other hoops (made the right confessions, given the secret handshake, and participated in three or four years of mandatory pot-luck dinners). This is probably generally true of most denominations; whatever.

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This just in; the real Jesus has opened a twitter account. His first five tweets…

@WomanatWell “Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

@ManontheRoad “”Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

@FishingSimon “”Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

@FastingPharisee “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.”

@TaxingTree “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

No sinners prayer, no repent, no you’re a sinner????? I’m not to sure that this Jesus is the real Jesus.

Tags: Jesus, twitter, words

HT: Instapundit

I don’t like to do a whole lot of talking about Rob or Mars and the like here in the blog world. I’m going to bump up against that line with this post and tell you that I think you should go and listen to the podcast from 11.15. Dan Allender spoke and as that Sunday was also the first day of gun season I did not attend. I was just able to listen to the podcast today. It is phenomenal. You can find it here if you’re not a regular subscriber.

One of the nice Thanksgiving traditions in my household (followed more, I think for Zan’s benefit than mine) is that it is officially the first day it’s OK to play Christmas music around the house/in the car.  As such, I spend a little bit of time browsing through my Christmas music, checking out the set lists I’ll be accompanying at church in the next month, and creating some play-lists for the car.

I also got to wondering what everyone else listens to in the way of music for this season in which we celebrate Christ’s birth (even though his actual birth date was more likely in September).  In that spirit, I’m sharing some of my favorite songs/albums in the hopes you’ll share yours with me (including links to check them out, if available).

Albums:

1. Andrew Peterson: Behold the Lamb of God:  By far, this is my favorite Christmas album, and it’s the only one that is exempt from the “Only between Thanksgiving and Dec. 25″ rule (above).  BtLoG, itself, aside from a couple of instrumental pieces, is not traditional Christmas music, but is all set around the story of the coming of Jesus – from the birth of Moses, through the kings of Israel and the writings of Isaiah, and into the events told in the Gospels.  In many ways, the music is one continuous 45-minute work that builds and tells a story, building on the emotion and yearning of the people involved.  Andrew (and a number of Nashville musicians) travel each December, performing this piece, along with some of their own music.  If they’re stopping near you, I’d highly recommend them!  [If you're interested, you can also listen to the entire thing - legally - here.]

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