REMEMBERING MOTHER
By Betty O'Ffill
I don't remember the first time I met Mother. It seems as though I have always known her. It may have been at the college when the family came up to see their son Dick or to attend a workers' meeting. It may have been on one of the booster trips Dick and I occasionally made around the Columbia Union. Whenever it was, I was impressed. She was friendly, kind, efficient, expressive, and pretty.
When I did finally visit in her home, I was made to feel comfortable and welcome. Her home was clean, efficient, and industrious. Dick was the eldest, and there were three younger brothers and sisters. The family was a business, and everyone had his or her job to do. Their work ethic was then, and remains today, very impressive.
Mother was a good cook. Not necessarily complicated or gourmet, she prepared good, basic food in an attractive way. To this day I cannot match her pumpkin pies, Spanish rice, or bisquits and gravy. She was my inspiration for home canning. I was never at her house during canning season, but I tasted the results and determined that was what I wanted to do someday. As things turned out later, necessity in the form of overseas living and a strained pocketbook was the mother of invention, and I was obliged to make good on my intentions. During my first few visits, Mother learned I was fond of her homemade vegetarian bologna; and although it was a long and complicated process, she liked to surprise me with it whenever she could. She also learned I liked chocolate cake, and even on what turned out to be our last visit to her home and she was beyond the ability to cook and be the hostess, she apologized she didn't have a chocolate cake for me.
Mother was a good seamstress. She loved pretty patterns and well-made materials. When we went shopping, she would point out what cloth would wear well and what would drape nicely and feel comfortable. She taught me about nap and bias and seam allowance. When I was pregnant with our second child, she helped me make three or four maternity outfits. She delighted in anything well made and knew the differences in quality. Proof of that is a red-black-and white sweater that to this day hangs in my closet and which she gave to me on a Christmas at least 35 years ago.
Mother was my idea of what a grandmother should be. For a number of years our children were her only grandchildren, and she was unceasingly delighted just to be in the same room and watch them play. When our first child was born, we were at the seminary. On many a Friday we would make the long trek down from Berrien Springs to her home in Lima, Ohio. We were usually always given use of the master bedroom for the weekend. I remember Mother tiptoeing in early in the morning when the baby would just be waking up. She would take the little one and keep her entertained while I caught a few more minutes of sleep. Never did I see her too tired or too busy to enjoy her grandchildren. She would laugh at their antics, comfort them when they were fussy or hurt, and bounce them on her knee with her little rhyme, "Trot Along, Trot Along, Go to Town." Her grandchildren could do no wrong.
Mother exhibited her consumate grandmotherness to the ultimate when she agreed to take on the responsibility of receiving our four little children alone and straight from the mission field and caring for them while Dick and I followed two weeks later. What a tremendous sacrifice and labor of love that was. Only now as I have grandchildren of my own do I more fully appreciate what that responsibility must have cost her. She said later that her reward was when she took those little foreign-raised children to a supermarket for the first time in their lives. Disney World could not have been more exciting to them.
Mother was unselfish and kind. I am embarrassed every time I remember the Sabbath we brought our firstborn to their church to be dedicated. We were in the seminary at the time and extremely cash poor. Those were the years when wearing a hat to church was considered mandatory, and I had no hat. Sabbath morning I simply went to Mother's closet, selected a nice white one, and was off to the dedication without even asking or considering that she might have planned to wear that very hat. Mother, bless her heart, never said anything to me about it. Another example of her unselfishness was when our family was home on furlough from South America. Furloughs, as wonderful as they are for the missionary family, can try the patience of the host family. Mother's days were already busy caring for several elderly patients in her home, but she took on our displaced family with good humor and grace and uncomplainingly put up with the six of us for eight long weeks.
Mother was practical. Whereas I tend to be excitable and dramatic, Mother was to me the example of calmness and logic. If this doesn't work, try that. If the children are ill, don't worry, they will be better tomorrow. If the toast burns, just scrape it. If you don't have this, try substituting that. If everything in your life isn't pleasant, look for something else that is. If you are low on money, use your head and don't be afraid to work hard. She often told about living through the Great Depression and arriving to study at college with just two or three dresses. She was determined that her daughters would not suffer as she had. It could be said her faults were in her excesses as a compensation for all she had done without. She prized the fine workmanship of handmade quilts and cross- stitching. She appreciated the uniqueness of designer dolls. She marveled at the luster of crystal and the beauty of fine place settings. She enjoyed setting a beautiful dinner table. She loved well-made, comfortable shoes and elegant dresses. She delighted in flowers and plants and took pleasure in the iris garden Dad maintained for years. She was a devoted animal lover, always keeping a cat or dog or two over the years. She taught me the fine art of dog grooming. But in the end she loved most of all her home in Virginia.
Mother and I, although neither of us great communicators, were good and loyal friends all through the years. In most discussions and debates, I took her side, not because I was intimidated or obligated but because I believed her reasoning to be correct. I believe she knew I understood her. Mother never totally lost her sense of humor. She loved it when friend would take her shopping, even attempting to drive the motorized carts in the large supermarket. Mother enjoyed a short period of independence when she was able to take Tuesdays off and drive into town to shop at leisure or have her hair done.
Toward the end, life began to grind rather heavily for her. She survived two knee replacements and suffered through a broken hip and arthritis. Much of her last years were painful. She is free from that now. No more pain or sadness or loneliness, no more disappointment or misunderstandings. She was and always will be an inspiration to me. The weaknesses of old age may have altered her personality a bit and exposed a few rough places here and there. But I knew that was not really Mother. I remember when she was who she really was. And I will miss her.
The Queen Who Gives Her All
by James and Priscilla Tucker
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of god, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Acts 20:28.
When a queen ant falls to the ground from her marriage flight, she begins a life of dedicated giving that has seldom been equaled. First, she rids herself of her wings. She will never fly again, and flight muscles will be needed for food, since she will get no food for many months. She must live and feed her first young on her own body reserves.
After losing her wings, the queen begins to dig a burrow. She can afford to dig only enough to get her out of sight of possible predators. The queen ant enlarges the end of the burrow to create a small chamber, and then seals off the exit, imprisoning herself within. She can no longer secure food by foraging and therefore ceases to eat.
Now the queen waits for the eggs that her body will produce. There will only be a few at first- too many eggs the first time would overtax the reserves, and the queen would die. When the eggs hatch, the queen feeds the ant larvae from her own mouth with a substance manufactured in her body. As the ant grubs grow, they need more and more of the queen's food. The queen is now feeding her young with the very last of her reserves. But her only hope of survival is in making sure that the little ants make it to adulthood, when they will be able to feed her for the rest of her life by putting food into her mouth. Amazingly, these first grubs are able to go into the pupa, or resting stage long before the normal time for ants. If they did not then their need for food would starve the queen to death.
At last the young emerge from their cocoons and begin immediately to serve the emaciated queen, who gave her last gram of energy and food reserves for them. Without her they would not exist, and now without them, she cannot live.
Strange Foreign Customs
by William H. Smith
"Lord, Now lettest thy servant depart in perplexity, for he thinketh he hath not yet seen thy salvation, and if this be it, he thinketh, he cannot adjust."
I wrote that "prayer" after a particularly difficult cross-cultural experience. It happened in a foreign country, but it was not the culture of that country which challenged me. It ws the culture of late 20th-century American evangelicalism exported to that country that created a cultural barrier I could not cross. I had attended a dance during which I witnessed dancers jitterbugging to the lyrics of a song blaring over speakers: "Get up, get up, get up, get up in Jesus' name!"
My perplexity rose from "cognitive dissonance" -the incompatibility between what I witnessed at the "evangelistic dance" and what I know were the mission methods of the greatest of all evangelists -the Apostle Paul. When I read in Acts how Paul evangelized and planted churches, I can't imagine his using -in,say, Thessalonica or Corinth -first-century equivalent of country line dancing as a means to attract unbelievers and the context in which to make his preliminary presentation of the gospel. I am convinced that the Apostle who wrote, "in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God" (2 Corinthians 2:17), would have rejected such a method as trivializing or obscuring his message.
When I returned home from my overseas experience, one of my church members handed me a brochure announcing the start of a new congregation belonging to one of the traditional "holiness" denominations. The brochure is filled with cute pictures of a little child. It promises those who come that they will "find people just like you," "hear positive practical messages," experience "upbeat contemporary music in a relaxed atmosphere," and, most important,"be loved" and "be accepted." Give the brochure's author credit. It is a textbook "church growth movement" approach to the unchurched.
But, if you believe Paul sets the church-planting pattern that we should follow (which I do), this brochure and the gospel jitterbug are almost totally disconnected from his pattern. What would Paul say about the people you might meet in one of the congregations he founded? "You may find a lot of people very unlike you because Christ has torn down the dividing barriers. You may find Jews and gentiles, slaves and freemen, men and women -all brought near to God and to one another by the cross."
What might the Apostle say about his message? "I never preached a positive, practical message in my life. I'm not interested in telling you how to be a better friend or to get more out of life. I preach the sin caused human predicament. I preach the saving acts of God in Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension. I preach doctrines, especially justification by faith. My ethic is to declare the indicative (what you are by union with Christ) and then give the imperative (what you must be and do as a result)."
And what about music? "We sing the Old Testament psalms to which we added New Testament songs strong on doctrine. We sing from our hearts to praise God and to build each other up in the faith."
But what about love and acceptance? "I preach God's unconditional love and his total acceptance of all those who believe the gospel, but his rejection and condemnation of all who continue in rebellion. I teach Christians to love and accept each other in Christ, but not to the exclusion of mutual accountability."
It has frequently been observed that evangelicalism today is a mile wide and an inch deep. That kind of evangelicalism is not worth preserving into a new century or propagating in another culture. It cannot stand up under the pressure of "trouble or persecution because of the word" that may result when a country's economy collapses or its unity is destroyed by civil war. Nor can it stand up to "the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth" that are so characteristic of prosperous America. We need to re-dig the channel even at the cost, if necessary, of temporarily narrowing the river, so that the gospel message can flow freely using gospel methods. There is no other way to do that than by adopting Paul's practice: "We do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Corinthians 4:2).
Thoughts from a Friend
Dear Dick,
Here are a few thoughts re: worship, and music in worship.
I find Isaiah 6 a wonderful template of what a Worship service can be.
I don't go to the worship service of the church to be entertained. I go to the worship service of the church to worship God. I go to church to have an Isaiah 6 experience. I go to church to be drawn to see God in all Hismajesty. To see, in my "worshippers eye" the awe inspiring sight of the Lord" sitting on a throne, high and lifted up and His train (of His robe) filledthe temple." To hear the chorus of Seraphim singing "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts!" To hear the answering chorus singing "The fullness ofthe whole earth is His glory!" By seeing and hearing this, to be convicted of my sinful state and saying with Isaiah, "Woe is me, for I am undone!Because I am a man of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts."
Ellen White comments on this in the Review and Herald of Dec. 22, 1896...
"Isaiah had denounced the sin of others; but now he sees himself exposed to the same condemnation. He had been satisfied with a cold lifeless ceremony in his worship of God. He had not known this until the vision wasgiven to him of the Lord. How little now appeared his wisdom and talents as he looked upon the sacredness and majesty of the sanctuary. How unworthy hewas! How unfitted for sacred service. His view of himself might be expressed in the language of the apostle Paul, 'O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death!'"
Then to have the purifying experience of the seraphim coming from heaven with a "live coal in his hand, which he had taken off the altar." To have him touch my mouth with it and assuring me that "Thine iniquity is takenaway, and thy sin purged!"
Again, Ellen White says in the Review and Herald of Dec. 22,1896.
"But relief was sent to Isaiah in his distress. The vision given to
Isaiah represents the condition of God's people in the last days. They
are privileged to see by faith the work that is going forward in the
heavenly sanctuary. 'And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of his testament.' As they look by faith into the holy of holies, and see the work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary,they perceive that they are a people of unclean lips, a people whose lipshave spoken vanity, and whose talents have not been sanctified and employed to the glory of God. Well may they despair as they contrasttheir own weakness and unworthiness with the purity and loveliness of theglorious character of Christ."
Having gone through this experience of seeing an awesome God, realizing my sinful state, being purged of my sin and forgiven, I am then ready to answer God's call to service, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" I amready to say, "Here am I; send me." I would wish to leave the service of worship ready and willing to go into the world as a messenger of my God,ready and willing to serve Him in any capacity He would ask of me.
Again, Ellen White in the Review and Herald of Dec. 22, 1896.
"But if they, like Isaiah, will receive the impression the Lord designs
shall be made on the heart, if they will humble their souls before God, there is hope for them. The bow of promise is above the throne, and the work done for Isaiah will be performed in them. God will respond to the petitionscoming from the contrite heart."
The following is an entry in my Journal of 3/27/99
The "worship" service at both these churches is an offense to me. Probably not to God, for I think He "winks" at the "worship" services in churches, mostly, and these more than most, they are "man to man" services...certainly not "man to God."
To me, worship is basically ascribing "worthship" to God. It is man
directing his thoughts upward.... not horizontally, and most certainly not downward. In a worship service I feel that music and the word should be directed towards God, not towards my fellow man. I do not worship my fellowman. Thus a worship service, in my way of thinking, should be between theindividual (me) in the pew and his (my) God. Man directing all his thoughts and words upward to God.
Directing my thoughts to my fellow man, describing my religious experiences, and teaching him just are not worship. So have a religious meeting....just don't call it a worship service. It most certainly is not. Sabbath school,Prayer Meeting, Young People's Meeting, Evangelical Efforts, all the "extra"religious meetings of the church are the places for music and words of "witness." They are very valid and vital to the religious health and advance of the church body...and for the evangelical outreach of the church. Butwhen they are thought of, and used as and in the worship (so called) of God, I find them at the best inappropriate, and at the worst offensive.
Further, I find the chord progressions, rhythms, and philosophy of the
contemporary "gospel" type of music offensive in the worship service. I am a firm believer in the separation of the sacred and the profane. Just as I would not do Palestrina or Bach in a nightclub show, neither do I believe inplaying the Beetles or their imitators in church situations. This includes all religious programs and ceremonies so far as I am concerned. "One goes tochurch to save ones soul, not to rock and not to roll," Steve Allen wrote in Downbeat after the first production of the Beaumont Mass (the first "jazz" or"folk" mass). Bill Loveless said "Glenn, you should hear this! It's wonderful!" Steve Allen said "it is an offense!" Am I missing something here? I think not. I see no reason to mix the sacred and the profane. Schizophrenia in the making!
I have the feeling that our concept of God is too small. We seem to always want to pull God down to our level, not to working at raising ourselves, with His help, up to His level. "Forever Friendship" and Forever Friend" arefine "buzz" phrases.... and to some certain extent, true. I do have somefriends with whom I am totally and completely in awe. I don't worship them. But I certainly respect and defer to them. God is in a very different class.Love exists...both ways. But in my love of God I find little room for "familiarity." I cannot conceive of coming up to Jesus and nudging Him in the ribs and saying, " Hey there Jesus ol' buddy. How yuh doin' pal?" Love of God is not "puppy love!" Nor is God's love of man. After all, theultimate manifestation of His love was sending His Son to die on the crossfor us.
This just does not equate with "cocktail music" selection of chords for whatever music is used in a church situation, and with a quasi nightclub, dance hall, MTV choice of rhythms and instrumentation. Some choices of chordprogressions are cheap, chosen merely for their impact (shock) value. These choices of chords and their progressions are exceedingly self conscious. They become an end in themselves. They are very egocentric, crying, "Look atme! Aren't I clever!" The downright truth of the message of the words is overshadowed by the performance. The flash and "glitz" becomes more important than what is said. Some choices of instrumentation and rhythm and their performance practices appeal to the baser senses. It is not only whatyou say (play). It is how you say (play) it. I firmly believe that the use of such in a religious situation is not in the best interests of the spiritualwell being of the individual member of the church. I frankly believe that these things are contributory to the "Laodecean" condition of the church in these last days of earth's history.
I have been criticized many times for ideas that are over the head of the average person in the pew. Many times I have answered, "If you feel something is over your head, with God's help, raise your head!" I have the firm conviction that "leadership" on the part of either pastor (or director of music) or laity is not to find out where the congregation wants to go, getting there first, and calling it leadership. Leadership is, with a greatdeal of prayer, study and soul searching, determining what is the proper course of action, turning one's head in that direction and without gettingover the hill out of sight of the flock, lead, as a "Good Shepherd."
Just as there are ethics in the practice of any field of endeavor and most certainly in the field of the ministry, just so there is an ethical nature of music. The ancient Greeks recognized this. In his "Republic" Plato established his Doctrine of Ethos which has been recognized and practiced down through the ages. Treatises have been written on the ethical nature of the modes and of certain instruments effecting men in predictable ways. The "affect" of the music "effects" the response of the man, appealing to his "baser" or "higher" nature. The habitual playing and listening to music which appeals to the "baser" nature of man develops a "baser" man. Thehabitual playing and listening to music which appeals to the "higher" nature of man develops a "higher" nature in man.
The Greeks thought that if you wished to develop a man who would be a warrior you played to him only the music of certain modes, using certain instruments. This would develop those qualities of the warrior. If you wouldhave a person be a governor, then you played only music in certain other modes and on other instruments. This would develop in the individual those qualities that would contribute to his ability to govern.
The ethical nature of music has been a fact since there was first music on the earth. How music effects man is a fact not a fancy. A whole field called Music Therapy has been developed with just this knowledge at its foundationand as its means of bettering the mental health of the patient. "Music hath powers to calm the savage breast," is an approved method of aiding not only the mentally disturbed, but the ill and dying, recognized and practiced for years.
Muzak has been used as the background music in stores, in elevators, in business establishments for years. It has proven its ability to influence subliminally in the purchase of all sorts of commodities. It has fulfilled its promise of speeding the production lines, aiding in the positive mindset of the workers, and contributing to a minimal amount of fatigue factorof laborers in the workplace.
So it is incumbent upon those who lead in the choice of music for the church to not only be aware of these qualities of music, but to put into practice this knowledge. If there is no one available to the church with this sort of training and discernment then it behooves the church to settle upon a person and see that he gets the training, that he can be delegated this very important responsibility.
This does not purport to be in any sense a definitive treatment of the
subject. This is merely what I wrote into my journal on one day... You did ask if I could write. You will have to be the judge of that.
Glenn Cole
The Discipline of Spiritual Tenacity
By Oswald Chambers
"Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10
Tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered. The greatest fear a man has is not that he will be damned, but that Jesus Christ will be worsted, that the things He stood for-love and justice and forgiveness and kindness among men-will not win out in the end; the things He stands for look like will-o'-the wisps. Then comes the call to spiritual tenacity, not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately on the certainty that God is not going to be worsted.
If our hopes are being disappointed just now, it means that they are being purified. There is nothing noble the human mind has ever hoped for or dreamed of that will not be fulfilled. One of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God. "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience."
Remain spiritually tenacious.
Catholics, Lutherans Sign Historic Agreement
(Fall 1999)
In a Reformation reversal, Lutherans and Roman Catholics will sign a historic agreement today in Augsburg, Germany, on the doctrine of justification-one of the key theological issues over which the Catholic Church split 500 years ago.
Catholics and Lutherans worldwide will celebrate the event with a joint services on Reformation Day, the Sunday in the Lutheran liturgical calendar closest to- or on- October 31.
On that date in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses, or points of disagreement with the Vatican, on the door of the church in Wittenberg.
The New Testament teaches that everyone sins but can be saved through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus-a process called justification.
The Protestant doctrine of justification declared that salvation comes by faith through God's grace, not by good works. This was mainly a response to the 16th century church's practice of selling forgiveness of temporal punishments for sin, and the Reformer's contention that the church placed deeds before grace.
The dispute set the stage for the division of Germany in the 17th century that sparked the Thirty Years War. Protestant princes and foreign powers battled the Roman Catholic empire of the Hapsburgs.
At the heart of the agreement to be signed today is a statement that faith is essential in salvation: "Together we confess By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we agree accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works."
The "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" is the result or three decades of theological discussions. The document attempts to explain salvation, faith and works in terms acceptable to both Catholics and Lutherans. The full text is available on the Web at www.elca.org.
To sign the agreement, Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will lead a Vatican delegation to the city where Luther and his followers drafted the beliefs and practices that became known as the Augsburg Confession, the foundational document of Lutheranism.
The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and six other leaders will sign on behalf of the 128 church Lutheran World Federation. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the second largest Lutheran body in the United States, is not a federation member and opposes the signing.
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