Memory verse week 3

Leviticus 3:22-24: the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. 'The lord is my portion' says my soul 'therefore I will trust in him.'

Yay! Two verses down! And here is this weeks verse:
Romans 5:1-2 "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

I just think the hope and promise of this verse is incredible! Yay!

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The Progression of Life

I've been thinking lately about how we get to where we are in life. If you had asked me 5 years ago if I would be living in Buffalo, NY, married, and a student in a Master's program, I would have laughed at the thought. But, here I am. How did I get here?


I can trace back the series of big decisions that we faced. And the decisions start with me personally, and then they turn into cooperative decisions with my now husband. Where to go to college, who to build friendships with, when to pursue a relationship, when to move where, graduating early, when to start my masters program...and now I can look back and see those decisions, but when you are making them they don't seem to be so life altering. Or maybe it is just looking at an individual decision that might change things now, but I don't really think about how it will change my life in the future (or more than 2 years into the future). And this, of course, excludes the decision to get married.


I just think it is interesting how each decision we make shapes our life so much. And one decision, like the decision to graduate early, leads to new decisions, like getting a full time job, that wouldn't have come so soon or even in the same city. So strange.


And that leads me to think about the decisions I am making today. What to focus on in my course load next semester, what to do over the summer, turning down or accepting offered positions. How will those decisions effect me now, and how will they shape my life over the next 5 years? 10 years? It will be interesting to see. I look forward to looking back in 10 years and seeing the decisions that got me to where I will be.


I pray that those decisions will allow me to glorify God to my fullest potential and that they continue to shape me into the person I want to be.


- Erica

"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD" Isaiah 1:17-18

Memory verse week 2

Hebrews 11:6 "without faith it is impossible to please God because whoever seeks to grow closer to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." That was from memory! Pretty close!

This week's verse was part of the reading that I did at my grandmother's funeral this weekend.
Lamentations 3:22-24
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness 'the lord is my portion' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him'." A great verse to remember each and every day. I especially like the phrase 'the lord is my portion' because it reminds me of my Bible study last semester. We talked about inheritance and how God is our inheritence and a portion of that is the holy spirit that lives within us. Praise God for that!

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Fight or Flight?

Well, after dinner I got sucked into watching the majority of The Patriot with Mel Gibson...well, watch and half fall asleep to. Don't get me wrong, it's a great movie. I was just tired :)

In the movie there is a scene where they are trying to round up militia and a woman stands up and basically calls out all the men in the town, claiming how she has head them speak of the cause of the war, but now when they have the opportunity, they refuse to act.

"Dan Scott, barely a week ago I heard you railed for two hours about independence. Mr. Hardwick, how many times have I heard you speak of freedom at my father's table? Half the men in this church, including you, Father, and you, Reverend, are as ardent patriots as I. Will you know, when you are needed most, stop at only words? Is that the sort of men you are? I ask only that you act upon the beliefs of which you have so strongly spoken and in which you so strongly believe." - The Patriot

This sentiment, of talk more than action, rings a little too true to me, and to our society in general. We talk so much and have such hardened opinions on things such as social justice and welfare and taxes, but we are so quick to point at another group and say it is worth it that they suffer so that the rest of 'us' can benefit. But I suppose that is more of the tirade of a moderate than anything else.

What I am getting at is that we need to act on the things that we say we believe in. Whether in faith or politics or our jobs, we need to support our opinions by acting in accordance with them and taking every opportunity to promote what we think is best. This comes, of course, with interacting with others who have conflicting opinions or simply don't care and don't want to change things because it takes effort, time, and potentially money. While interacting with others can mold your view and give you new perspectives, whatever you decide keep working at it!

This includes you, Christians! "A shepherd must tend his flock. And at times, fight off the wolves."

If you feel so strongly, do something! Or when the fight comes to you, how will you respond? Fight, or flight?

Okay, tirade over.


- Erica

"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD" Isaiah 1:17-18

Memory Verse Week 1

A new year's resolution that I semi-stole from my husband. Memorize one Bible verse a week. Here comes the first one, provided by the sermon this morning at the Chapel at Crosspoint.

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6

We talked today about building character and as Christians, building our character into the likeness of Christ. We also talked about those who don't believe in Christ and still have good character. While they do better society and good character is much better than the alternative, this verse was one of the examples from scripture of how those who don't believe still do not please God despite their good character. To see the whole sermon, check out the website www.thechapel.com.

" The drink would not satisfy. Food turned to ash in our mouths. And all the pleasurable company in the world could not slake our lust." - Captain Barbosa, Pirates of the Caribbean

I'm not really sure how to communicate what I've been feeling. It is a feeling has been with me for almost 10 years now. Maybe I'll just tell you the times when I truly notice it, and it basically has slapped me across the face.

Last night my husband and I were watching Interview with a Vampire. Now, this is kind of a weird fantasy, fiction movie. As we were watching the movie, my mind starts to wander. My internal dialogue sounds something like this "What are we doing? What is the point of watching this movie? It's all fantasy, it has little implications for real life and it has no effect on our behavior..." Maybe I'm just getting to practical, but what is the point of watching movies or even creating movies like this? They create this alternate reality and these fictional characters and qualities, but to what end? There is a reality all around us. It leads me to believe that this is created simply for people to escape their reality. I can definitely believe that. But then the questions comes around should we, as Christians, engage in such things? The reality we have around us is where God is. Where God works. The people we have around us are the ones God wants to interact with and touch. They are real.

I think I need to ponder this concept a little more before I post about it. But basically the idea of escaping into a parallel reality,through movies, games, tv shows, books, or whatever media, is it a good idea as Christians? Is that how we should be spending our time? More to come on this!

- Erica

"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD" Isaiah 1:17-18

Thoughts on Worship

So I recently had a conversation with a non-Christian, but very spiritual person, who attends church every once and a while. We were talking about worship songs and how she rarely sings in the church services she attends because she wants to know and agree with exactly what the song is saying. This brought up a topic I have thought about for a long time: corporate worship.

Just for specifics, when I use the term corporate worship, I mean any music that is done in a group setting within a church. For example, Sunday services, woman's group services, etc. My thoughts on this subject come from previous bad experiences or at least frustration for the largely global "direction" of music within worship services. Having experienced everything from contemporary to traditional services, I hope that my opinion will hold a little weight on the subject, though it is only an opinion. (Further research on the topic will be explored, a.k.a. I will look at examples in the Bible)

So, to get to the point, my frustration comes from the focus of worship songs. Many popular Christian songs are focused on the individual (examples: Let Your Light Shine by Bethany Dillon, Amazed by Lincoln Brewster, The More I Seek You by Kari Jobe, just to name a few). While there is nothing wrong with these songs, they are often used for corporate worship. That is where my frustration comes in. To sing songs specific to an individual makes the power of standing in a group of people all worshiping God almost obsolete. I might as well be standing in my living room. Many of the songs are personally focused, but even more so songs that express a common meaning, for example, Everything by Tim Hughes, uses the words 'I' and 'my'. This song is on my mind because we sang it this morning in church. Wouldn't it be a thousand times more powerful if instead of singing "God in my waking, God in my sleeping, God in my working, God in my speaking" we sang "God in our waking, God in our sleeping, God in our working, God in our speaking,"? How much more connected and unified would the church feel singing these songs together. It is the idea that not only is this my heart, but the thousand other people around me feel the same way towards the same God. How cool is that!! But instead, this morning we sang a line from another song that stated "Though none go with me, still I will follow." None go with me? What about the other thousand people in the room around me? While that song does have a place, and I'm sure every Christian has experience that emotion of being the only one striving after Christ, I don't think it's place is in a room of Christians all perusing Christ together.

My second point of frustration is the directionality of worship songs. So often I am singing about myself, and what God has done for me. Don't get me wrong, this is super important and very touching, but again, I don't think it belongs in the arena of corporate worship. I would much rather be singing about who God is, His qualities, and His effects on us as a church body. I don't want to sing about how God has personally impacted my life, again bringing my worshipful focus back to me as an individual. I want to sing about who God is and how we all corporately feel about him. I much prefer worship songs that sing of God than refer to us.

This might come from a deeper urge. The concept of unity within the church, though it sounds like an insurmountable task, is burned into my heart. To think of the power and impact of a church body that displays God love to the world is an amazing thought, even to the point where secular acts of unity bring me to tears (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3NPNM4xgo). So to think of the possibility of what worship as a corporate church body could be. Well, anyway, I think that's where this stems from.

And again, songs of worship that sing about God's impact on my life personally, and that address the changes He has made in me are very important, just look at some of the Psalms. But again, the arena of corporate worship has such potential to be unifying and invigorating, and I think one of the ways that can happen is through changing the focus and direction of the songs that we sing as a church body.

Off to spend some time with my hubby. Happy New Year everyone!

- Erica

"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD" Isaiah 1:17-18