Hey there folks! Here is a challenge for all my Sunday readers. Every Sunday I will post one quip or quote that struck me during the week. You can join along in the quipping and quoting. Here is what to do:
Publish a post of your own, using one quip or quote that grabbed you during the week. You can add a picture to it if you like or even photograph the quote from it’s source.
Link back to my post
You can include the Pastor Wrinkle’s Q& Q photo in your post if you think my mug worthy of your blog.
This week I had so many great quotes to choose from I had a hard time narrowing it down to one, but the quote that has kept resonating in my soul all week is from my lead pastor Barry Risto.
“Sometimes serving God can be a painful privilege.”
Sacred Sundays is about finding those great hymns of the faith that have resonated throughout the centuries.
If you have a sacred song you wish to share post it in the comments section. This is about creating a culture of worship.
~The Love of God (1)
Frederick M. Lehman, author and composer, wrote a pamphlet, in 1948, entitled History of the Song, The Love of God. It tells about the origin of this beloved hymn—
While at camp-meeting in a mid-western state, some fifty years ago in our early ministry, an evangelist climaxed his message by quoting the last stanza of this song. The profound depths of the line moved us to preserve the words for future generations.
Not until we had come to California did this urge find fulfillment, and that at a time when circumstances forced us to hard manual labor.
One day, during short intervals of inattention to our work, we picked up a scrap of paper and, seated upon an empty lemon box pushed against the wall, with a stub pencil, added the (first) two stanzas and chorus of the song.
Since the lines (3rd stanza from the Jewish poem) had been found penciled on the wall of a patient’s room in an insane asylum, the general opinion was that this inmate had written the epic in moments of sanity.
Actually, the key-stanza (third verse) under question as to its authorship was written nearly one thousand years ago by a Jewish songwriter, and put on the score page by F.M. Lehman, a Gentile songwriter, in 1917.
—Selected
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The Love of God
(1) The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star, And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled, And pardoned from his sin.
CHORUS:
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall for evermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.
(2) When years of time shall pass away, And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray, On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure, All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race-The saints’ and angels’ song.
(3) Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.
~The Love of God (2)
The beloved hymn The Love of God had its roots in a long Jewish poem written in the eleventh century in Germany.
The Jewish poem, Hadamut, in the Aramaic language, has ninety couplets. The poem itself is in the form of an acrostic. It was composed, in the year 1096, by Rabbi Mayer, son of Isaac Nehorai, who was a cantor in the city of Worms, Germany.
The Hadamut poem also speaks of a certain miracle. There are three opinions as to the contents of this miracle.
The first opinion is that the miracle was the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. Incidentally, it is for this reason that the poem is still read on the first day of the Feast of Shavuot before the reading of the Ten Commandments.
The second opinion simply states that we really cannot know with certainty, from the references, what the actual miracle was.
The third opinion believes that the miracle took place in the city of Worms, home of the rabbi-poet. It is thought that there was a medieval, German priest who once spoke evil of the Jewish community.
The king called upon the Jews of the city to produce a representative to argue and defend themselves against the priest. If the Jewish spokesman was successful, then the Jewish community would be spared mass genocide. But if the anti-Jewish priest proved successful, then all of the Jewish community of Worms would be put to death.
The story has a happy ending, as the Jewish representative was successful in the defense of their faith, and the community of Worms was spared.
Throughout the poem, the theme of God’s eternal love and concern for His people is evident. One section of this poem, from which the present third stanza of The Love of God was evidently adapted, reads as follows:
Were the sky of parchment made,
A quill each reed, each twig and blade,
Could we with ink the oceans fill,
Were every man a scribe of skill,
The marvelous story, Of God’s great glory
Would still remain untold; For He, most high
The earth and sky Created alone of old.
—Kenneth Osbeck
Shared from http://www.tanbible.com/tol_sng/sng_theloveofgod.htm
After seven days the Lord gave me a message. He said,17 “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, warn people immediately.18 If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death,’ but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths.19 If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me.
20 “If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths.21 But if you warn righteous people not to sin and they listen to you and do not sin, they will live, and you will have saved yourself, too.” Ezek. 3: 16-21
Is there someone you need to have a hard conversation with?
Join the Weekly Smile Campaign by clicking the underlined link.
My weekly smile came from our monthly concert at Lifeskills Dayhab.
Sometimes I just can’t believe that I get the privilege of making music for the world to sing along with and that someone would consider paying me to do it.
Shoutin’ Saturdays is all about the praise songs that just make you want to shout “Hallelujah!”
Have you got one of those? If so post it in the comments section. After all, this isn’t just about me praising God this is about creating a culture of praise.
My sister’s campaign is moving along. Here is an update.
THE LOVE OF GOD Campaign day 11!!!
3 more days left…
The Need: $1000/month-WOW!!! GOD IS SO GOOD!
Join my sending Team today at: http://www.tinyurl.com/brendalillie
Did you know: The Dutch love their coffee!
After Scandinavians, the Dutch are the world’s biggest coffee drinkers. They drink no less than 140 liters of coffee a year on average. That’s 3.2 cups a day!
1 On July 31[a] of my thirtieth year,[b] while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.2 This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity.3 (The Lordgave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians,[c] and he felt the hand of the Lord take hold of him.)
4 As I looked, I saw a great storm coming from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light. There was fire inside the cloud, and in the middle of the fire glowed something like gleaming amber.[d]5 From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human,6 except that each had four faces and four wings.7 Their legs were straight, and their feet had hooves like those of a calf and shone like burnished bronze.8 Under each of their four wings I could see human hands. So each of the four beings had four faces and four wings.9 The wings of each living being touched the wings of the beings beside it. Each one moved straight forward in any direction without turning around.
10 Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back.11 Each had two pairs of outstretched wings—one pair stretched out to touch the wings of the living beings on either side of it, and the other pair covered its body.12 They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they moved straight forward in any direction without turning around.
13 The living beings looked like bright coals of fire or brilliant torches, and lightning seemed to flash back and forth among them.14 And the living beings darted to and fro like flashes of lightning.
15 As I looked at these beings, I saw four wheels touching the ground beside them, one wheel belonging to each.16 The wheels sparkled as if made of beryl. All four wheels looked alike and were made the same; each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it.17 The beings could move in any of the four directions they faced, without turning as they moved.18 The rims of the four wheels were tall and frightening, and they were covered with eyes all around.
19 When the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. When they flew upward, the wheels went up, too.20 The spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. So wherever the spirit went, the wheels and the living beings also went.21 When the beings moved, the wheels moved. When the beings stopped, the wheels stopped. When the beings flew upward, the wheels rose up, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.
22 Spread out above them was a surface like the sky, glittering like crystal.23 Beneath this surface the wings of each living being stretched out to touch the others’ wings, and each had two wings covering its body.24 As they flew, their wings sounded to me like waves crashing against the shore or like the voice of the Almighty[e] or like the shouting of a mighty army. When they stopped, they let down their wings.25 As they stood with wings lowered, a voice spoke from beyond the crystal surface above them.
26 Above this surface was something that looked like a throne made of blue lapis lazuli. And on this throne high above was a figure whose appearance resembled a man.27 From what appeared to be his waist up, he looked like gleaming amber, flickering like a fire. And from his waist down, he looked like a burning flame, shining with splendor.28 All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day. This is what the glory of theLord looked like to me. When I saw it, I fell face down on the ground, and I heard someone’s voice speaking to me.
Do you see God in the middle of your storm? What is His voice telling you?
