Valerie is a 42-year-old, single, Reformed Christian lady who lives in Baltimore. She doesn't remember a time
before she knew and loved Jesus, but she does remember accepting John Calvin into her heart in March of 2000.
Valerie is a member of Christ Reformed Evangelical Church in Annapolis.
Though her career aspiration is to be a housewife, Valerie has not yet found anyone suitable who wishes to hire
her for employment in that field (or, more properly, anyone suitable has not found her), so in the meantime she
earns her daily bread working in communications -- editing, writing, print design and website management.
The Agony of de Feast
One of the things that delights me about our new pastor is his occasional use of one of the few things I miss from my PCUSA days. The old UPC/PCUSA communion liturgy contains the lovely line, "This is the joyful feast of the people of God." I hadn't heard those words, except echoed in my own head, in over a decade, and it has been sweet indeed to hear them from Glen. It is a joyful feast -- not a time for agonizing omphaloskepsis and autoflagellation.
This ties into my last post. If we get the supper wrong, we will think wrongly about the gospel. When we get the supper wrong, it's evidence we're already thinking wrongly about the gospel. Happily, I am in a church where we are getting the supper right, and it is one of the means God is using to chip away at my wrong thinking about the gospel, which is to say, my wrong thinking about His character. This is the feast of forgiven people with their risen Savior. What's not to be joyful about?
Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 5:42 PM
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1 Comments:
On August 4, 2007 10:41 AMnonnobis1wrote... One of my favorite bits from the old PCUS is during the reading of scripture. Such a small line, but so important (as it is with just about every line in any historic liturgy). Right before the reader begins the passage, he says: "Listen to the word of God." I still do it when I read in our PCA services. Interestingly, the current practice in the PCUSA ( I don't know if it's written down) is the modernist "Listen FOR the word of God.' Notice the difference? Amazing how one word can drive you nuts.
When I was in grad school I sang at a PCUSA church to make ends meet. It was quite a liberal congregation, but the pastor always ended his scripture readings with this quote from Christ's prayer: "Father, sanctify un in Thy truth. Thy word is truth." And for all of the liberal hooey that went on in that service, those four words "silently screamed." And so I use them too, to this day, whenever I finish reading in services.
