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The son of a carpenter hung on a tree,
Condemned to the wood by a hateful decree.
He died on the cross that a woodworker made,
Brought low by the tools of His father’s own trade.

The Son of the Holy One died on the earth,
Brought low on the globe He had known from its birth.
The will of His Father had crafted the place
Where Jesus now perished in shame and disgrace.

The children of righteousness, saved by His life,
We follow His pattern through trouble and strife.
We die to ourselves as our Father has said,
Brought low by His will till we rise from the dead.

If you’re a member of the human race, you need to make sure the answer is “Yes!”  Come one, come all!

A week or two ago, when I wrote a post  criticizing a YouTube Video called “Chairs”, I also spent some time online reading everything else I could find by the creator, Rick Atchley.  Among other items, I discovered this fascinating interview.

According to Atchley, who has left the churches of Christ himself, the progressive movement among such churches is doomed.  He says,

Back in the 80’s you could go to any major city, especially in the South, and you could find a progressive Church of Christ — and if they would preach grace, and if they would put words on a screen, and if they would let divorced people place membership, they would grow.

The generation of Boomers has enough denominational loyalty that they’re going to find the least legalistic Church of Christ they can find, and that’s where they’re going to attend.

Well, we discipled the children of those progressive churches for a whole generation to grow past us Boomers. They never heard the sermons we heard. They never heard the rationale for a cappella music. We sent them to youth rallies and Church of Christ events with some of the finest Christian bands in the world. We discipled our children to leave our Movement!

This is particularly ironic, coming from a man who sneers at slippery-slope arguments.  Not only does he himself represent the slippery slope in action; he has observed the slippery slope in action on a brotherhood-wide scale.  Continue reading →

A hymn is not a poem. Even though hymns have an outward resemblance to formal poetry, they actually function very differently. A successful poem works because it expresses a unique individual viewpoint. A successful hymn works because it speaks for the congregation. Continue reading →

While it is true that every page of the Bible has something to say to us, sometimes, one part of the Scriptures is made particularly relevant by something about our circumstances.  I think this is the case with the book of Malachi.  Like the Jews of Malachi’s time, we live in a post-restoration existence.  Like them, we’re part of a community of God’s people that has been serving Him faithfully for more than a hundred years.

However, as Malachi reveals, being part of a faithful tradition is not enough to ensure that we personally are pleasing to God.  Malachi points out several areas in which the Jews, rather than asking how much they could give to God, had begun to ask how little they could get away with giving.  This was true with their marriages, it was true with their tithing, and it was true with their worship.  Because our spiritual position is so similar to theirs, we easily can fall into the same trap.  Let’s use a context in Malachi, then, to evaluate potential problems with our own worship. Continue reading →