Psalm singing is not a natural or first choice for human nature. Our nature likes songs that put ourselves central, but the Psalms put God central. Singing about rich human faith experiences is much nicer than singing about our sins, God’s justice and salvation, God’s wrath, or the unrest of …
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Some time ago, a discussion after church raised the topic of silence, as we usually donโt have music when the elders distribute the elements of the Lordโs Supper. The question was, “Why we canโt have music to break the silence?” And it gives people something to listen to while they …
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๐๐ก๐จ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ? You may have heard, โGood people have a good influence, and bad people have a bad influence.โ Parents often recognize and acknowledge this. Researchers have identified that the โ๐๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญโ (or โSocial Baseline Theoryโ) plays a role in influence. People who hang around smokers or drinkers …
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In our communities, many churches have generic names, such as Fellowship, Community Church, or just Christian Church (๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ “๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ”…). Why do our churches have โReformedโ in their name? Dr. Michael Kearney makes valuable remarks in the Nov/Dec 2024 edition of Outlook: โIt is fascinating …
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Despite the low number of members, our neighboring church in Surrey decided not to close its doors earlier this summer. When things donโt look good church-wise, we tend to take our logical conclusion, perhaps cutting our losses. However, our logic is not Godโs logic, as our thoughts are not Godโs …
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The Israelites sang Psalms. For example, when going up to Jerusalem, they sang the Psalms of Ascent (120-134). And Jesus and his disciples sang “a hymn” at their last Passover celebration: Psalm 118. The early church continued singing of the Psalms. And then the Reformation restores Psalm singing by the …
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What is the difference between a School of Business and a School of Divinity?ย These are completely different studies – but what about a course with the same title, like โLeadershipโ? How is leadership in a church different than in a non-religious organization? Organizational strategy and vision are a good …
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Last night, I submitted a paper titled: โHOW DO THE PSALMS PROVIDE LIFE-LONG SPIRITUAL FORMATION AND GROWTH?โ Some brief thought below. Dallas Willard describes spiritual formation as follows: …the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such as way that it becomes like the inner …
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“Worship is like no place else in this world. But there is one place that it does resemble, and that is heaven” Just before AD 1000, Grand Duke Vladimir of Kiev was interested in selecting an appropriate religion for his new nation. His emissaries investigated the main religions of the …
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