Gathering as a church family for worship today, we praised our Lord and used James 3 to encourage a consistent use of our tongues. Here's how we did that.

We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise
Blessed Assurance
Welcome and Greeting

This Is How We Overcome

Prayer

Reading: Romans 15:5-6

We Will Glorify

Reading: Philippians 2:9-11

At the Name of Jesus

Reading: James 3:9-10

Love One Another

Communion: Renewing Our Commitment to Love

When My Love for Christ Grows Weak

Boundless Love

Offering

Children’s Sermon

Invitation to Children’s Church

How Sweet, How Heavenly

Sermon

A Common Love

Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer

We Are the Body of Christ

Cross Quotes

I love this quote courtesy of Heartlight.org.

We never move on from the cross of Christ, only into a
more profound understanding of the cross. - David Prior

The cross is such a deep and powerful image... one that has grown more rich over the years. I think my favorite quotes about the cross (other than scripture) come from songs. Here are a few:

Upon that cross, of Jesus,

Mine eye at times can see

The very dying form of One

Who suffered there for me;

And from my smitten heart, with tears

Two wonders I confess:

The wonders of His glorious love,

And my own worthlessness.

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Knowing all He would endure, He still came.

Disregarding ev'ry cost, from the manger to the cross.

He still came just for me, He still came.

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders.
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.

Heaven came down and glory filled my soul,

When at the Cross the Savior made me whole.

OK, those are a few of mine. What about you?

Assembling for Worship

Brice continued his "rubber meets the road" series from Galatians and James this morning by challenging us out of James 2 to love and serve all those around us, not just those like us.

Here's our order of worship for the morning:

Heavenly Sunlight
Firm Foundation

Welcome and Greeting
We Praise Thee, O God
Salvation Belongs to Our God
Prayer
What the Lord Has Done in Me
Reading: Deuteronomy 10:12-13
Hear, O Israel (1)
Reading: Deuteronomy 10:17-19

Hear, O Israel (2)
Communion: Responding to Our Savior’s Love
Surely the Presence
I Am Mine No More
Offering

Children’s Sermon

Invitation to Children’s Church

Shine, Jesus, Shine (refrain only)
Sermon
Let Us Be You
Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer
This Is How We Overcome

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And, totally unrelated but for any Trekkies out there, today is William Shatner's birthday. Now, aren't you glad you stopped by today's post! :-)

Quote of the Day

"Lawyers spend a great deal of their time shoveling smoke." - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

New Kaleb & Claire Pic

You can check out a few more pics here and two video clips of Claire dancing to the music here. Enjoy!

Entertainer or Legitimate Influence?

Media personalities have always had opinions about politics and the ineptness of the Congress and other national leaders.

• Mark Twain - "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."
• Will Rogers - "Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?"
• Bob Hope - "Carter wants to go to Washington. He'll feel right at home there - he was raised on a nut farm."

And, it continues to be true. Leno and Letterman and the other late night guys have plenty to say at the expense of politicians. Saturday Night Live has for years excelled at political satire and creating wonderfully humorous doubles of politicians.

They all have their opinions... they all make their points... they usually make us laugh and think... yet I know of nobody who seriously thinks of any of them as legitimate policy makers.

However, there is one exception: Rush Limbaugh. He has his opinions... he makes his points in creative ways and in very public venues... he tends to tell people what to think and laughs at those who disagree with him... and a scary number of people actually think of him as a serious policy maker. I just don't get it.

Yes, he's clever... yes, he's glib... yes, he has his own radio show... yes, he's become almost obscenely wealthy. However, when I'm looking for someone with good judgement about pretty much any topic (not to mention what should be done at a national level), the guy who is arrogant, always thinks he's right, enjoys bullying others, has failed at three marriages, and is a prescription drug abuser will not be at the top of my list. How about you?

Our worship assembly today was crafted around readings from the first four chapters of John using a fairly new translation called The Voice. We used 6 readers altogether in a readers' theater style, and everyone did a great job. One part was "what if here were actually here" commentary by the Apostle John as an old man, as if we were able to teleport him from the first century to our assembly this morning. Very insightful. Anyway, here's how the service unfolded.

Hosanna
Lord, We Come Before Thee Now

Welcome and Greeting
Nobody Fills My Heart Like Jesus
Prayer
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
John Reading: The Voice that Is the Light
Come, Let Us Worship and Bow Down

John Reading: The Liberating King
Majesty
John Reading: Water to Wine
Invitation to Children’s Church
Victory Chant
John Reading: A New Birth
In Christ Alone
Communion: Abiding in Jesus, the Liberator
Abide with Me
There Is a Redeemer
Offering

Jesus, Flow Like a River
John Reading: Living Water
Jesus, Draw Me Closer
Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer
This Is How We Overcome

A "Lofty" Weekend

Wow! This week has gone by fast. A week ago today we hopped a cheap SW flight down to Burbank to spend a couple of days with Jeremy and Amber, with the primary purpose of helping get Jeremy's office/studio moved from the second bedroom up to the loft. That bedroom will eventually be Baby Boy Johnson's room, but for now it was just important to get all Jeremy's stuff reset so they can take their time getting the room ready. Jeremy has a lot of music things going this spring, so this was the weekend to get it done.

The loft actually has two areas: the open loft area and a storage area. It originally just had a small crawl door access, but Jeremy and some of his friends added a full door and sheet rocked the walls inside. Sooo... it was ready to receive bookshelves, cabinets, and so forth.

In addition, Steve and Gail came Friday to help and to take some stuff back to their place for storage. It was a fun weekend, and... mission accomplished!

Looking up the staircase into the loft.

From the top of the stairs, looking at Jeremy's studio area.

Looking into the storage room.


From the door of the storage room back across the loft. Notice the opening behind Jeremy that overlooks their living/dining area.

And... the vacated room, now ready to be remade!

Bathroom Upgrades

Sometimes people remodel their houses because they just want a makeover; sometimes it's to repair damage of some sort; sometimes they want to be more green; sometimes it's just to replace something that's old and needs replacing.

We recently did some upgrades in our two upstairs bathrooms, and I guess you could say our reasons were the last two. The linoleum was over 30 years old, and was worn and ugly... it needed to be replaced. We also decided (because of a generous rebate through our water district) that it was also a good time to replace the old toilets with ones that use much less water... the green reason.

We love the new lino, and they did a good job putting it down. First they tore up the old flooring under the under the old lino and then put down new wood and floated it with a leveling compound before laying the lino. And it's amazing that the new toilets actually flush better than the old ones and use about 1/3 the water. How about that!

The shot above is the main bathroom off the upstairs hallway, although this "fishbowl" shot looks a little strange.

In our bedroom/bath area, we had them take out some carpet and extend the new flooring a little. The linoleum in the two areas is the same pattern, but the colors are different. That doesn't show up too well in the pics, but, trust me, it's true! :) We're enjoying the upgrades, and you can too... but you have to come visit.

Between illness and the inevitable fallout from "spring foward," our numbers were a little on the light side this morning. None-the-less, God blessed our time together.

Step by Step
Higher Ground

Welcome and Lord's Prayer

At the Name of Jesus

We Will Glorify

Prayer
Reading: Romans 8:1-2
I Will Praise You
Here I Am to Worship

Communion: A Response of Worship
In Memory of the Savior’s Love
O Sacred Head
Offering: Let Us Be You
Invitation to Children’s Church

Sermon
Lord, Take Control
Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer
Sing to the King

Sunday, 3/1

Brice was gone, so Kyle preached Sunday... great job, Kyle! Here's what our assembly looked like.

Footprints of Jesus
Hear, O Israel
Welcome and Greeting
We Have Come to Worship Him
Prayer
I Stand in Awe

Responsive Reading: From Psalm 46
Surround Us, O Lord
Reading: Philippians 3:10-11
How Deep the Father’s Love
Communion: Remembering His Love
He Still Came
Offering: Days of Elijah
Invitation to Children’s Church
Sermon
Here Is My Heart
Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer
Days of Elijah (short reprise)

Quote

The 17th century believer, philosopher, physicist and mathematician, Blaise Pascal, once said, "We are generally the better persuaded by the reasons we discover ourselves than by those given to us by others."

Sounds as if he is describing not only what he observed in the 1600's but also what he could not observe in our time. Perhaps just human nature?

Sooo... what are the implications for evangelism? Perhaps what we show others really is more important than what we tell them.

Truth

"The truth is always a compound of two half- truths, and you never reach it, because there is always something more to say." - Tom Stoppard

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” - Jesus

Sounds like the beginning of an interesting conversation.

Ron Howard

Yesterday Ron Howard celebrated his 55th birthday. Many remember him best for his Opie days on The Andy Griffeth Show (later Mayberry RFD) beginning at age 6. Others probably remember him best for his days as Richie Cunningham on Happy Days in the '70s and '80s. Perhaps you know him best as a really good movie director.


I have another memory of Ron Howard. Back in the '70s I worked at the Pepperdine gym for a little over a year, and for 2 or 3 years in a row Pepperdine hosted a competition between TV celebrities from the 3 major networks called Battle of the Network Stars. It was quite an event on the Pepperdine Campus the times we hosted it... TV cameras everywhere... TV stars everywhere... Lynnda Carter in street clothes instead of her Wonder Woman costume... the main locker rooms cleared of college athletes so the TV personalities could dress and shower.


Here's where my story gets interesting. We issued combination locks to the actors who were competing so they'd have a relatively secure place to store clothes, etc. if they didn't have their own trailer. Well, as things were getting started on the first day I was walking through the men's locker room, and there was Ron Howard trying to open his lock. My guess is, since he had been acting from age 6, he'd never had to open a locker or combination lock and just didn't know how to do it. He asked me to show him, and I did. He smiled, said that was pretty simple, and expressed his thanks. That's my memory... Ron Howard... a regular guy... a guy who smiled and said, "Thanks."


I have a specific memory of one more of the "stars" from that year, and, coincidentally, his birthday was yesterday as well. Robert Conrad (b. 1935) competed for the NBC team, and my memory is pretty much him acting like an obnoxious jerk and poor sport when his team didn't win a competition. Two guys... two totally different impressions on me. Happy Birthday to you both!

The Dance

When the Old Testament talks about dance, it is usually in the context of joyful celebration and/or worship. In 1 Samuel 18 David returns from a great victory, "the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes."

Years later as king, David brings the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David. As the Ark enters the city in 2 Samuel 6, "David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets."

In one of his well-known prophesies of the coming Messiah, Jeremiah describes it as a time when,

Then maidens will dance and be glad,
young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
and my people will be filled with my bounty,”
declares the LORD.

Dancing seems to have often been a spontaneous outpouring of joy in response to the blessings of God. Of course, the prophets of Baal also danced in their competition with Elijah on Mount Carmel, and you may remember that John the Baptist lost his head because of one young woman's lustful dance before King Herod.

A few posts back I wrote about VJ and I taking a ballroom dance class that was being held in our fellowship hall; I got some interesting reactions. :-) Well, we're still taking the class, and one of our teachers shared the following with us about dance as a metaphor for our walk with God.

Dancing With God

When I meditated on the word GUIDANCE, I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the
other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle
cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one
direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving
beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word GUIDANCE. When I saw "G": I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i". "God, "u" and "i" dance." God, you, and I dance. As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I
would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let
God lead. My prayer for you today is that God's blessings and mercies
are upon you on this day and everyday. May you abide in God, as
God abides in you. Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.

Now, I realize that learning a few ballroom dance steps and trusting God in the dance of life are not entirely the same, but I was touched and impressed by what Virginia wrote back to our instructor. I'll just close with her words.

Even though I try to keep my eyes open to God’s working in our lives on a day to day basis, I never expected to experience such a powerful application of how God leads us by participating in a dance class!!!

Thank you, Mindy and Mike, for sharing your gift and passion for the beauty of the dance with us. May we each be that connected and responsive partner to God’s gentle guiding as He displays His grace and love to the world through us.