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"We Thank You for Your Constant Care..." - 4 January 2026

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  We thank you for your constant care for us personally, in our families, and as a congregation, loving Father. We thank you for how you have been pleased to bring many people into this congregation’s life, and enriched our catechism and Sunday School classes, and more. And we thank you for bringing us to a new year. Look upon your Church throughout the world, and Oklahoma, this congregation, First Christian Church, Shepherd Street, The Well, and Britton Christian Church. Bestow your preserving care on your people. Guide us in the paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. Build up our resolve in tenacious faithfulness to you and the Gospel of Christ no matter the cost. We are concerned for our nation, Lord God. We are concerned that the citizens of our country are losing their way and becoming trapped in the snares of pleasure, ease, covetousness, envy, personal peace and affluence. We are concerned that the people in this land have gotten too easily caught up in the moral relat...
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"Holy, Holy, Holy" - 28 December 2025

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  We add our voices to the 4 living creatures and the 24 elders who worship you, saying: “ Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come ! … “ Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created ” (Revelation 4:8b, 11). Glory to you, Lord God, Most High! Lord Jesus, who loves your church, and cherishes each local, particular congregation; we pray for your church in all places, including this fellowship, and all of our sister churches in Oklahoma: Redeemer-Edmond, City Pres., Christ the King, King’s Cross, 1st Presbytery in Minco, Grace in Stillwater, Shawnee Pres., Christ Presbyterian in Tulsa and Claremore, Grace and Peace, Three Rivers, RiverOaks, and Trinity-Owasso. Bring us ever closer to you, draw us ever upward that we may always reach outward. Through us bring to light what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in you who created all things; and may...
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"Glory Be to God on High" - 21 December 2025

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  Glory be to God on high: and on earth peace, good will towards men. We praise you, we bless you, we worship you: we glorify you; we give thanks to you for your great glory! Great King and Sovereign look upon our country and the peoples of this world; watch over the plans and intentions of our Oklahoma State Senators and representatives, our national legislators, President and his wife, Vice President and his family, magistrates elected and appointed, and every world leader. May all come to know your peace on earth by becoming men and women of goodwill. O God of armies send forth your angels to preserve and protect our greater Oklahoma City area firefighters, police officers, Sheriffs, deputies, and Troopers, and our military members, particularly those who are close to danger, at home or abroad. O Yahweh rapha, Lord our healer, sustain and direct our doctors, PAs, nurses, First Responders, and specialists – especially those who are on call or working through Christmas. Thank you...
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"Crisis of Confidence" by Carl Trueman. A Review

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  Back in 2012 – gasp! So long ago! Carl Trueman wrote “The Creedal Imperative” which has now been updated and repackaged in this 216-page hardback, “Crisis of Confidence: Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity.” In classic Trueman-Esque fashion, it can be a bit wordy, but these are not words to fill up pages and columns for higher sales value. It takes ink and space to bring out clear and clarifying thoughts and rationale. For a book thoughtfully arguing that “creeds and confessions are consistent with biblical teaching,” that their existence and use are “strongly implied” in Scripture, and that the church’s long history “demonstrates that they have frequently been of great help in the maintenance and propagation of the Christian faith” (pg. 143), it takes some time, space and verbiage. Trueman hits the target repeatedly, making this a respectable manuscript for those who care about creeds, confessions, the Church, their congregations, ...
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"Blessed Are You..." - 14 December 2025

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  Blessed are you, O Sovereign Lord, God of our ancestors: to you be praise and glory forever. You called the patriarchs and matriarchs to live by faith and to journey in the hope that you are the God of your word. May we, similarly, be obedient to your call, be ready and watchful to receive your Son and live forward in hope-filled trust and joy. Thank you that in the fullness of time you sent your Son, born of a woman, born under the law, born into a low condition, who underwent the miseries of this life. Therefore, we implore you to look in on those who find this time of year a grief and hardship due to painful memories, sorrowful losses, adversarial family relations, broken promises, and impending privations (…). May the Gospel-hope ricocheting and resounding in the Christmas carols, lift their hearts and faces to look up to you and rejoice in Spirit-birthed confidence. As your Son was born in a time of great conflict, of oppression, of “might-makes-right,” of faith and religion...
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Joy - An Advent Reflection Pt 2

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  In last week’s letter I began talking about joy, drawing from Psalm 43:4, “ to God my exceeding joy ” (Psalm 43:4). That then led us to Augustine and his prayer in his “Confessions”. After I wrote that last week, I began thinking: Since God himself is that joy itself, then how do we enter into the solidarity of that joy? The answer is that having the joy that is God himself, comes from God. As Paul declared when talking about laying down our rights for the good of one another, “ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit ” (Romans 14:17). The kingdom of God is not about us flaunting our expressive individualism, asserting our prejudiced self-priorities – “ eating and drinking. ” Rather, the reign of God is exhibited, displayed, experienced, and made clear by three virtuous qualities: righteousness, peace and “ joy IN the Holy Spirit .” The location or address of joy is the Holy Spirit himself (thus th...
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"O Lord God, Unlike Us, Unlimited, Unrestrained, Unmarred" - 7 December 2025

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  O Lord God, unlike us in your very being, unlimited by space, unrestrained by time, untouched by mortality, and unmarred by sin; yet you made us to bear and reflect your image in some way so that we might have warm communion with you! And even more, after our open rebellion you sent your Son who became as full-bloodedly and full-bodily human as we are to bring us back into communion with you! What an astounding thought! O Lord, we adore you and thank you! In grateful communion with you we plead with you for the world and the Church. Look upon the nations of this world, including our own country. See all of the spite, uprisings, commotions, mayhem, wars, droughts, flooding, wild-fires, government-approved barbarity, orchestrated impoverishments, socially sanctioned human-sex-and-drug trafficking, as well as tribal and racial bigotry. Therefore we implore you to steer, steady and stabilize all nations; restore and renew sound justice; bring substantial relief; provide help to the o...
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