Category: Devotionals

Apparently there's a 'color of the year.' If 2021 had a word of the year, what would it be? Join me as we begin an exploration of anxiety, and how God and his Scripture can lead us from anxiety to hope.

Application: Paul Tautges, pastor and counselor, in his devotional 'Anxiety - Knowing God's Peace' suggests making a 'care list' - all those things that weigh on our minds and hearts - and turning it into our 'prayer list.' A good, practical idea!

.

Music Today: 'The Road, the Rocks, and the Weeds', John Mark McMillan. One of last year's finest CCM songs, this is one of the few I know that draws on the Parable of the Sower and points us to the One who is able to walk through the thicket of cares to reach us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcAazEpsUJY

'A Million Stars', IonaThis Scottish band produced a number of classic albums, my favorite being 'An Open Sky', based on the life and ministry of Columba. My favorite music for late night driving, and a reminder of God's peace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1f8Uovm8vM

Jesus has dozens of titles through Scripture. What is the very last one he uses? Join me for a few minutes as I wrap up our devotional series on the Book of Revelation.

Music Today: The Afters, 'Wait'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccWQSo9f9Yw

JS Bach, 'Dona Nobis Pacem' (Grant Us Peace), B Minor MassJust as Jesus recapitulates some of his titles at the end of Revelation, so Bach brings back this melody to complete what I believe is the greatest musical composition in history. The melody has a combination of strength and joy that I find incredibly beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffrsc3wdBt4

'O Beautiful, for patriot dream, that sees beyond the years. . . ' toward what? A bigger tidal wave? Join me for a jolt of hope from the beginning of Revelation 22.

Music Today: 'Higher' by Creed.Long ago in a band far, far away, I could cover U2 songs in a passable fashion. Those days are long gone, but my Scott Stapp imitation still held up. One of my favorite worship band memories from a few years back was preparing a cover of this for a youth retreat when several members of the NA chapter meeting in the church came up to check it out. Also memories of shouting this out with the roof down in the Eclipse with my then high-school aged daughter. It's that kind of joy - and much more! - we're headed for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erFoLBcNyKI

'Shadowfeet' by Brooke FraserIf I had to put a list of 20 songs to encourage my Christian walk together, this would be one of them. Fraser takes an idea from CS Lewis' classics on heaven and hell 'The Great Divorce' and 'The Weight of Glory' and marries it to Revelation 21-22. A far more important question than 'What's in your wallet?' is 'What's in your eternity?'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc2L-ak1y9g

Revelation puts us neck deep in some of the scariest and most challenging calls to faith in the entire Bible. That's what makes the final turn to the closing chapters so exhilarating. Let's take a few minutes together with the 'wedding day' of God with his people in 21:1-5

Music Today: "I Will Move On Up a Little Higher", Mahalia Jackson. Any musical selections for this letter that don't include the greatest gospel singer of all time would be a mistake. Here Mahalia - the woman who exhorted Martin Luther King to drop his notes and 'tell them about the dream' to create his most famous speech - sings of 'trading her cross in for a crown' as she moves toward glory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgqcADtkSwY

Les Miserable - Finale
One of the most famous 'heaven meets earth' endings comes with Les Mis, where 'swords are turned into plowshares' (Isa. 2:3-4). Les Mis also reminds us that trusting in Christ for our salvation is necessary to rejoice 'when tomorrow comes.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88T3elu2wfE

if you were to die tonight, and find yourself standing before God, and God were to ask you, 'Why should I let you enjoy eternal life with me?' what would you say? Revelation 20 directly faces this most important of questions with the most important of books. P.S. While we still have the original communion table of the church, the original communion plates are enjoying a new round of service in two new church plants: among the Susu and Kuranko tribes in Sierra Leone. God is good!

Music Today: 'Dies Irae' (Day of Wrath), Verdi RequiemThe most riveting 2 1/2 minutes of live music I've ever experienced, with the Pittsburgh Symphony. All the air in the hall was sucked out and compressed into the bass drum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up0t2ZDfX7E

Phoebe Bridgers, 'Chinese Satellite'. Perhaps Larry Norman's 'I Wish We'd all Been Ready' should go here, a 1969 classic song of the end of the world from a pre-millennial reading of this chapter, and a song that launched the Contemporary Christian Music movement, but this 2020 song from a outstanding debut songwriter describes a young atheist hoping she can discover belief in God. A verse about 'screaming at the evangelicals' provides some thought on our skill - or lack of it - in pointing accurately to the Lamb of God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8Wr14jBnfQ

Andrew Peterson, 'Remember Me'. Faced with eternal separation from God in the lake of fire, and faced with our sins and shortcomings, perhaps even as Christ-followers, what remedy do we have? Let's join in with the words from the thief on the cross at Jesus' side. Christmas and Easter are never far from each other theologically.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzt8fZr-T1E