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May 24 - June 18, 2019
At present in our society, the rebellious woman has the upper hand. If the world lasts, the male will again assert himself, overthrow the woman’s dominance, and rule her more tyrannically than before.”
I quote this text in full because it shows that in Christ anyone can have a good marriage.
Learning to be a Family
A happy family is not one where each member gets to do his or her own thing. A happy family fears God and strives for obedience.
These three texts together offer the central teachings of the Reformation.
When Christ is at the center of our marriage, our work outside of the home—our service in the community—is conducted with relevance, integrity, and courage.
Two distinct kinds of home-based ministry developed in our first year of marriage: ministry to those who know God (encouraging the fellowship of the saints through hospitality) and ministry to those who do not yet know God (developing a theology of the public, meeting the “stranger at the gate,” and finding intentional ways and means to bring the gospel to the outcast, the lost, and the lonely).
We encountered families who feared diversity with a primal fear. They often told us that they didn’t want to “confuse” their children by exposing them to differences in parenting standards among Christians. I suspect that they feared that deviation from their rules might provide a window for children to see how truly diverse the world is and that temptation might lead them astray.
We in the church tend to be more fearful of the (perceived) sin in the world than of the sin in our own heart.
believe that there is no greater enemy to vital life-breathing faith than insisting on cultural sameness. When fear rules your theology, God is nowhere to be found in your paradigm, no matter how many Bible verses you tack on to it. I think that as parents we would be more effective in our parenting if we leveled with our children, if we told them that some of our dearly held rules are not morally grounded but are made for our convenience.
They imparted to me in a firsthand way the serious dangers of isolating our children from real life.
Adult children can appear obedient when they are tuning out instead of acting out. College life tends to bring out all the fears and doubts and perceptions of contradictions and hypocrisies.
Sin—especially sexual sin—has a sneaky way of triumphing in an environment of secrecy and shame. Kent and I had our ministry cut out for us.
Real fellowship requires stepping outside of you, and our church community stretched us and enriched us.
Kent even had the privilege of baptizing the baby of one such couple.
Boooo dont baptize the babies.
AJ reminds me that too often our lofty goals for our children interfere with simply recognizing them.
A family that never opens its heart never feels heartbroken. A family that never welcomes in others never misses them when they leave. A family that never embraces life’s risks, never really lives.
But the note captures for me an often overlooked spiritual truth: betrayal and risk are at the heart of the gospel life.
One of God’s greatest gifts is the ability to see and appreciate the world from points of view foreign to your own, points of view that exceed your personal experience.
Anything worth doing will take time and cost you something.
Wanted or not, adoption always starts with loss. Adoption always combines ambiguous loss with unrequested gain.
Pastor Steve said, “Dear one, we all have to check the voices of our own sick mind with the Bible. Daily. You are no different.”
What a great answer.
a church needs to be in your community, not on your work’s commute.
Regulative Principle of Worship,”
Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches.
The Virgin Birth of Christ,
Dream My dreams, not yours! Currently, there are 7,000 children in Virginia who are waiting for adoption.
“The Lost Tools of Learning”).
Find and read
(Classical Conversations Foundations Guide,
sometimes the surplus of our lives prevents us from saying yes to those in need.
Compassion means “with suffering” and involves entering into the suffering of another in order to lead the way out.
It was the guide that I needed. Parenting the hurt child means always knowing that you are parenting your emotional better, a human being who survived against all odds.
Mercy ministry always comes down to this: you can help, but only Jesus can heal.
I think that what really happened is that God sanctified and then answered our prayers.
Beeke, Joel R. Parenting by God’s Promises: How to Raise Children in the Covenant of Grace. Sanford, Fla.: Reformation Trust, 2011.
Bortins, Leigh A. The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education. N.Y.: Palgrave MacMillan, 2010.
The Book of Psalms for Worship Called “a psalter for the 21st century,” this is a hymnbook comprised of all 150 psalms of the Bible, useful for singing in personal devotions, groups, and public worship.
Refuge and Communion (recordings) Selections from The Book of Psalms for Worship (above) sung by a choir of the Syracuse Reformed Presbyterian Church. Available as downloads or CDs.
The Gospel & Sexual Orientation This small book provides guidance on the subject of homosexual orientation, not simply about the scriptural, scientific and moral issues, but also guidance for care and counsel to someone who believes their identity is homosexual. It interacts with contemporary scholarship and holds the Scriptures in high esteem, but also presents a model of how to care for and walk alongside a person who is struggling with his or her sexual identity.
