Channels of Adoration

By On July 2, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In From the Pastor

The gift of water, air, children, a spouse.  Health, walking, holding a baby, etc etc.  They are channels of adoration.

Clive Staples Lewis: “Pleasures are shafts of glory as it strikes our sensibility. . . . But aren’t

there bad, unlawful pleasures? Certainly there are. But in calling them

“bad pleasures” I take it we are using a kind of shorthand. We mean

“pleasures snatched by unlawful acts.” It is the stealing of the apples

that is bad, not the sweetness. The sweetness is still a beam from the

glory. . . . I have tried since . . . to make every pleasure into a channel of adoration.

I don’t mean simply by giving thanks for it. One

must of course give thanks, but I meant something different . . .

Gratitude exclaims, very properly, “How good of God to give me

this.” Adoration says, “What must be the quality of that Being whose

far-off and momentary coruscations are like this!” One’s mind runs

back up the sunbeam to the sun. . . . If this is Hedonism, it is also a

somewhat arduous discipline. But it is worth some labour.”

 

 

Surely, God Is Good

By On July 1, 2011 · 1 Comment · In Worship

We take communion together every first Sunday of the month. This week as we experience the mystery of the sacrament together, we will also dwell on these words of Asaph. As Christians, we claim God’s promise to be good to the pure in heart – to those vested in his son’s death. As we live out our daily lives, though, truly believing it can prove much more difficult, especially when those around us are benefiting from a life free from the burdens each believer carries. Consider the words of Psalm 73 and God’s work in your life as you approach this Sunday.

73:1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.

Kevin Twit, founder of Indelible Grace Music and author of many of the songs we use in corporate worship, co-wrote a simple song reflecting on this Psalm. Preview it here.