The fellowship of the Lord's people is truly marvelous.

We ate a meal at church sort of a potluck style today, how delightful...I love eating with my family. Eating with people is a special way of sharing fellowship. It comes in at the Lord's Supper, too. In some way or other we are eating with the saints in heaven and our Lord, too. We're definitely aren't just saying, "here's to Jesus!" or, "I remember Jesus." We eat the meal served, I suppose I should say, by Christ. It's like a big Christmas dinner, I eat with my real family, my brothers and sisters in Christ. That may not be particularly new or profound, but it's true.

Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain?

"Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." -Exodus 20:7

I saw a billboard while driving through/past Des Moines or Ankeny (they're all the same in my mind), which read "If you're going to swear, use your own name -God" Or something to the effect. I'm sure that whoever put up that builboard meant well, but it would appear to be in itself a violation of the 3rd commandment. (it is actually the third, right? God, idol, name, day, honor, murder, adultery, steal, lie, covet...yep) So hmm. I wish I knew what "in vain" meant exactly, or a little more specifically anyway. It was definitely using God's name in a frivolous and therefore unseemly manner.

Comfort in God's Knowledge

Psalm 139

1O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
19Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

When people talk about God's knowledge they often mean the way He knows everything that will happen, and understands everything. What I find most amazing about God's knowledge is not the extent of it (though I am always in awe of that), but the depth or the intimacy of it. "Thou understandeth my thought afar off." Wow. Can that be said about anyone? Can you even say that about your own thoughts?

But perhaps we should be frightened. After all, this is the Most High we are talking about. Frightened doesn't begin to describe it, terrified, petrified. The Holy one knows us and we are not holy. Fortunately God is looking at me through the "lens" of Christ. When I read this psalm I am frightened at first, but I lift up my Ebenezer, Jesus Christ and say "God! Remember me!" And he does, because Christ is the new Moses, interceding for us to His Father.

"14Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." -Hebrews 4:14-16

And therein is my surety. Were I to stop with the knowledge of God I would be right to be terrified. But Christ was "in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." So He knows our temptation and has ransomed me with His submission to the Father.

But I'm not done, oh no. Roman Catholics believe (or used to anyway) that for a sin to be forgiven it must be confessed. People (like Martin Luther) lived in terror of forgetting some sin and not confessing it. But my joy and hope is that I am known so completely by God and washed so completely by the blood of His Son, that it is merely necessary (merely, ha!) to be penitent and ask him to wash me. How could we ever hope by our own ability to escape the knowledge of God? But His knowledge should not be a curse and a terror to Christians, but a blessing and a joy. To have no secrets is truly marvelous to the redeemed and remade man, it is only fallen, rebellious man who should fear the knowledge of the Almighty.

Secrets make young people old and can destroy relationships. But imagine having another human know your innermost thoughts, you would be lonely, for who but Love Himself could love the miserable wretched creatures we are when fully disclosed. But He knows us and loves us, what grace!

A humongous, thoughtful post vanishes into oblivion. Ashes to ashes.

Spikenard and chocolate or All to Jesus I surrender

"3And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
4And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?
5For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
6And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.
7For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.
8She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
9Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." Mark 14:3-9

It would appear that I copy my sister. But the pastor did preach about this on Sunday. People look at me funny when I say that I gave up chocolate for Lent. After all, what good would it do? But this woman poured spikenard on Jesus' head, which practically speaking, was folly. Whatever seems precious or valuable has no value until we break it and give it unto Jesus. He makes it whole and better than before. "For lo, He makes all things new" (that is probably way out of context, it's just what came to mind.

Anyway, this Easter, chocolate will taste so much sweeter than ever before.

I wonder...

Will anyone ever read this? I might be glad if they don't, after all I am planning on being serious when I use this blog so...I wouldn't want anyone to see that side of me would I?

The ball (officially, the Winter Wonderland Ball) is just about all I can think of so...on dancing:

My dad is found of speaking of dancing as in, for instance, contra-dancing, as being a Trinitarian activity and so it is. In fact, it is a wonderful example of it. Trinitarianism mainly concerns the one and the many. Dancing is about both the individual (and the couple) and the group as a whole. The Trinity is fellowship as is dancing. To dance in such a way is to be more than an individual, it is to become a part of a whole.

Man created in the image of God was created for fellowship. God loves fellowship; the Father is in fellowship with the Son, the Son with the Spirit, etc. To dance is to fellowship and to fellowship is what we were created for. Now if I could only learn how to dance....

The modern man (as witnessed in the philosophy 'I think therefore I am') measure everything by the self. The only reliable source of knowledge is yourself, your very being is determined by your own ability to percieve it. It must be incredibly lonely to be 'Enlightened'. When you dance in a group what you are doing is recoginizing the 'I'-ness of the person across from you, or holding hands with you. Maybe dancing isn't so pointless after all.

This is my third or fourth blogspot blog. I always forget my sign in name.

As to the serpent crusher thing, don't think me unfeminine, but...Yeah, like Jael. But I don't smash no one's heads in (double negative! Yay!), at least not physically. But I'm a serpent crusher, or trying to be. Whenever I turn away from the temptation to sin, I am crushing the serpent, Satan. The fact remains that I'm terrible at it, but God will aid me. (thank goodness, by myself I'm nothing or worse than nothing)

Frankly, I'm bored and tired and so I got me another blog. Hopefully I won't forget about this one. I may post, I may not.