Deus Misereatur

In following a long and ancient tradition  [for example, the old 1552 Book of Common Prayer's Admonition before Communion ]  that flows back to 1 Corinthians 11.17-34, we Presbyterians “fence” the table every time we have the Lord’s Supper. Below is an example of something I will say this Lord’s Day. It may cause some to shudder, some to jerk back repulsed; but I would encourage all to stop and ponder. ------ “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2.16-17). God set before Adam and Eve two ways, and which way did our fore-parents go? 3.11-13 says they ate of the forbidden food. Eating is a refreshing, satisfying act of obedience; or eating is a smothering, life-depriving act of disbelief. The crucial point is, do you feast at God’s command, or in outright disobedience to His command? Do ...

Memorials are good things! Everything from regularly repeated national holidays every year to historical markers on the sides of dusty back highways. They place before our eyes and minds that there is something worth remembering, and thus something to be gained from remembering. The opposite of memorials and remembering is forgetfulness. It’s when we forget that we often stray off and lose our way. In Scripture, to forget is placed on the same level as despising God’s gifts, refusing to heed His words and outright unbelief. A quick perusal through Psalm 106, for example, makes this connection clear. The writer describes how YHVH delivered His people from Pharaoh and Egypt through the plagues and the Red Sea, and how the people of God responded to this great deliverance, “Then they believed His words; They sang His praise” (v.12). But then, with an almost breathless speed: “ They soon forgot His works ; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,...