Sunday, March 06, 2005 AD Happy Anniversaries Today marked two special anniversaries for me:
One Year Ago: On the first Sunday of March 2004, I visited Christ Reformed Evangelical Church for the first time. The dear saints there have been a tremendous blessing over the past twelve months. I’ve been well fed—body and soul—by the outstanding hospitality of the congregation, by the solid preaching of the pastor, and by the weekly observance of the Lord’s Table.
Five Years Ago: In late February 2000, in the midst of writing a discussion forum post entitled, “Why I Am Not a Calvinist,” I paused to look up a Scripture reference only to discover that it pretty much made the exact opposite point of what I was hoping it might say. Be careful while wielding the sword of the Word...you may cut your own legs out from under yourself! (But don’t worry—’twas merely a flesh wound.) I went ahead and posted what I’d written, with a “(Yet?)” appended to the end of the title, but I knew my arguments against Calvinism had been done away with. A couple weeks later, on March 6, I publicly announced that after four and a half years of choking on the TULIP bulb, I had swallowed it. Unfortunately, I made the announcement in a lengthy thread of all the forumites introducing themselves to a passel of newcomers, and it went largely unnoticed. In fact, I think the only person to acknowledge the event was, ironically, an Eastern Orthodox fellow who wrote to congratulate me.
A few weeks later, I wrote this song based on Ephesians 1:3-14. I wish I could post the tune, too. It’s quiet and contemplative, befitting the disposition of a heart that had finally stopped waging war against the truth about its God.
Blessed be the Father, who has blessed us In Christ with every blessing from above; Who chose us to be holy and be blameless; Whose pleasure was adopting us in love; Who planned before the world began By His good will that we should stand Before Him face to face To the praise of the glory of His grace.
Blessed be the Son, who has redeemed us; Whose blood, for our forgiveness has been spilled; Who lavished grace so rich and free upon us; Who showed to us the mystery of His will; Whose kind intent made wisdom known; Who's made us heirs of all He owns; In whom our hope is placed To the praise of the glory of His grace.
Blessed be the Spirit who sustains us; The promised One in whom we have been sealed; Who tuned our hearts to hear salvation's message; By whom the Gospel's truth has been revealed; Whom God gave as a guarantee That what He owns, He will redeem; Who stirs our hearts to faith To the praise of the glory of His grace.
Blessed be the Father who has blessed us. Blessed be the Son who shed His blood. Blessed be the Spirit who sustains us. Blessed be the Lord our God.
Blessed, indeed, is the God who has blessed me so richly and deeply through the fellowship of the saints and by the renewing of my mind with sound doctrine! Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 3/06/2005 09:00:00 PM
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