Deus Misereatur

  [My letter to the congregation, sent out today - 16 October 2024] Many years ago I stumbled on this ancient prayer (4 th Century) written by Ephraim of Syria, a Christian thinker. I have found it increasingly valuable, especially as it becomes progressively simple these days to fault others and spread fault-finding (the darker side of social media, 24/7 media, and the ease of the internet). But the prayer settles in where our blame-games should almost always start. Every time we point a finger, there are three more pointing back at us. And that’s how the prayer works, so to speak.   It has three section: (1) take away these faults; (2) give me those virtues; and (3) help me. It goes like this:   O Lord and Master of my life, Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk; But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Your servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my b...

  Some of you have asked for this passage I quoted last Sunday in the sermon. John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards added their own “Amen” to Augustine’s statement in their day. And it really is a special statement. I have been pondering it since last week. Augustine wrote a letter (Letter No. 118) to Dioscorus, a young Greek scholar. In that dispatch Augustine upholds humility as the condition and foundation for Christian living. He wrote: “To [Christ) ... I wish you to submit with complete devotion, and to construct no other way for yourself of grasping and holding the truth than the way constructed by Him who, as God, saw how faltering were our steps. This way is first humility, second humility, third humility, and however often you should ask me I would say the same, not because there are no other precepts to be explained, but if humility does not precede and accompany and follow every good work we do, and if it is not set before us to look upon, and beside us to lean upon, and ...

Rediscovering Humility by Christopher Hutchinson My rating: 5 of 5 stars (NB: I have just completed a second reading of this fine book today (4 January 2024). I heartily agree with everything I said below that I wrote in 2018. I'm so convinced in the quality of this book that I have purchased copies for all of my deacons and elders and will lead them through this book in the first half of this new year). "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble," and synonymous statements, echoes through Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. It shows up in Proverbs, comes forth from the lips of Jesus, spills onto the page in James and 1 Peter, and even floats to the surface in Revelation. Humility is an important subject, and a difficult quality. Christopher Hutchinson, Senior Pastor of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Blacksburg, Virginia, has given us some help in thinking about the virtue of humility in his new 252 page paperback, "Rediscovering Humility: Why...

One morning recently I was prayerfully reading through a portion of Luke 5, and I got engrossed in verses 12-13 for some funny reason. Here is the portion of the passage that caught me up: “While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.” Two aspects of the Leper’s request are what involved my attention, which made our Lord’s response stand out even more. Humility : This person with a life-long, possibly life-threatening terminal skin disease was an untouchable, in the literal sense. And when he comes to Jesus he throws his body into his begging and his posture into his plea : “ he fell on his face and begged him. ” His verbal request flows along with his physical arrangement. He is bodily displaying his humility. But more to the poin...

Vanhoozer states, “ Humility is the manner of life worthy of the gospel, the key feature of Christian citizenship, the way a disciple enacts the mind of Christ” ("Pictures at a Theological Exhibition," 211). This is crucial, not only with regard to truth and Christian love , but especially to worship . The modern notion of worship evidenced all around us seems skewed. Presently it looks as if we moderns strut about before God and demand he pay homage to us. At heart we seem to think that God’s chief end is to glorify us, and enjoy us forever. But there is a better and more fitting way. “ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you ” (James 4.10). These words help to put everything into proper perspective with regard to Christian worship. Even the rock group, U2, says, “If you wanna kiss the sky, you gotta learn how to kneel.” That’s the God-designed pattern of Christian living, and even more, the God-formulated model of Christian worship. This pattern ...