So, You Don’t Sing Psalms, Eh!

Psalm-singing is strange. At least, that’s what they tell me. And that stops people from doing it. Of course, they don’t say it is wrong. They can’t say that. It isn’t wrong. It’s right! The Bible demands it. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs… The Bible calls for Psalm-singing. The Bible also allows some of the other. But Psalm-singing is required. Weird or not. So, they don’t say it is wrong. Just that it is “strange”.

But that is a strange argument to me. We are Independent. That is strange. We are “fundamentalists”. That is strange. We are Baptists. When did Baptists ever shy away from doing something because it is strange? They call us extremists – IFB-“X”, they say. They think we are strange. Our ladies wear culottes. That is strange. Did strange ever stop us before? Then what’s the problem?

Strange. Strange that we don’t sing Psalms. But then, we do. We sing Psalms. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head (I know, it’s Isaiah). This is the day that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. We sing Psalms. We sing the nice ones. But not the whole thing. We sing the nice parts of some of the Psalms. But we skip the hard stuff. After all, its strange (to sing, at least).

But we’ll say it. We’ll say all of it. All of the Psalms. We preach them. We love them. They make us feel good. We’ll even shout the Psalms. We’ll pound the pulpit while we do. But we don’t sing Psalms. Singing it is too, well, that is strange. It doesn’t fit with our tradition. We sing Mac and Patch. Psalm 109 wouldn’t work in any of their arrangements. We’ll stick to our traditions. And in our tradition, we don’t sing Psalms.

It’s too bad, really. Because Psalm-singing is “strange”, good people miss out on singing about crushing heads and chopping arms. They have to sing Christianity according to Frank, and miss out on Christianity according to David, the giant-slayer, the warrior-harpist.

Psalm-singing is strange, but only because we haven’t done it in years. We’ve forgotten how. We’ve forgotten about all the bloodshed. But we shouldn’t let our amnesia last forever. Nor should we let our traditions stop us, no matter how steeped in them we are. Get out a good Psalter, and praise the Lord like men. It will do you good, even if you aren’t one. But then, we encounter something else that is strange. Praising the Lord like men. That is strange. Maybe we’ve been singing In the Garden for too long.

Our HEAVENLY Father

Psalm 68:5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

Our holy God, whose throne is in the heavens, who makes a footstool of the earth, and measures the oceans in the palm of his hand, our great and terrible God calls himself a father of the fatherless. God Almighty takes in the orphans, and appoints Himself protector of the widows.

I know what it is to be fatherless. God took my father when I was a small boy. I remember the pain of it, the insecurity of it, the hunger for a father. I was the same age as my oldest when I was fatherless. I remember how I longed for a father. I remember when my mother remarried. My new dad not only married my mother, but he married her three children as well. And he took me in and made me his child. I’ll never forget that.

One of the greatest blessings of that man, my dad, was that I could go to him, I could talk to him, he would listen to me, he would answer me, and he would give me what I needed.

Of all the names of God, it seems that we use the name of “Heavenly Father” the most. I think it reminds us that our God is approachable. When we pray in that name, we are reminded that he is not a distant God ruling from an unreachable throne. He is father. He is our Father. A father of the fatherless. He is the father of all that believe. He is our Father, which art in heaven.

I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Think of the blessing in that name. As Father, he is available to us, and he is accessible to us, so long as we approach him through Jesus Christ. As Father, he feeds us, provides for us, pities us, protects us, chastises us, and forgives us. As Father, he loves us as only a Father can.

This Father’s Day, be sure you praise and thank your heavenly Father. Worship him, and give him gifts: the fruit of your lips giving thanks to his name.

Where Y'All Been?

Shouldn't you be asking me that? Where've I been? Well, everywhere I go, there I am. But everywhere I go, my keyboard ain't always. I been gone. I'll be gone some more. Camp starts Monday. That means, of course, that I am losing readers. Gone. Outa here. Losing 'em by the bucketful. What to do?

Well, first, let me suggest that you check out some of the new comments and add some of your own. That would be neat! Second, check back with me in a bit. I might surprise you with something.

Finally, I won't worry too much. You'll both be back regularly soon as I am.

Gotta go. See ya!

I Don't Understand

We rejoice that we can understand God, that he has revealed himself to us. He has shown himself unto us and to our children. He hides himself from the wise and prudent, and has revealed himself unto babes. We are privileged to know him, and our hearts yearn to know him better. Praise the Lord for understanding.

But we must not pride ourselves in what we understand. Our knowledge must not be an idol to us. It is good to say, "I understand", but even better to say, "I don't understand". We are privileged to understand, but even more privileged that we do not understand. We are privileged because we have a God so infinite that man cannot fully know him or explain him. We feel sorry for the poor slaves who worship a god that is just like themselves, that once was what they are. We pity those who worship a god that can be explained, like a carved stone or a block of wood.

Our God is infinite. Only by grace can finite man know the Infinite God. We gratefully confess that we cannot fully understand Him. We admit that we cannot understand how the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Spirit, and yet the Father and Son and Spirit are but One God. We acknowledge that we cannot understand how the Father begat the Son in eternity, so that the Son has no beginning and has no end. We concede that we cannot explain this, and it is our glory to confess it.

God knows all, and we know God. Yet we do not know Him. Therefore, in worship we seek knowledge and wisdom. He gives understanding to the simple, and wisdom to those who lack. In worship, we seek the Lord. We seek to know him. We seek him, knowing that the more we know about him, the more we find that we do not understand.

What a God we serve!

Announcing the IFB X-Games

With so much attention being focused on the so-called “IFBx” crowd, especially in the blogosphere, really, the idea is way past due. Just as the Olympics are designed to unite, so IFBx’s wish to offer up their own version, in order to promote peace, harmony, and EXTREME unity. We EXTREMELY want to just get along. We EXTREMELY hope you’ll join us. This will be EXTREMELY fun and you will EXTREMELY enjoy it, or you just aren’t saved, Brutha!
Announcing the IFB “X” Games. Inspired by the vast amount of commentary on IFBxers, and by xIFBxers, we thought it would be appropriate to invite everyone to come together for a fun time of EXTREME games. The IFB “X” games will feature events for all stripes. Please pay attention to the following guidelines.

FIRST, all are welcome (certainly appropriate for a church/gathering). Seriously, in fact EXTREMELY seriously, the following may participate:

All EXTREME IFB’s are welcome to participate.
All “X” IFBx’s are welcome to participate.
All “X” xIFBx’s are welcome to participate.
If you have an even number of x’s before IFBx, you are welcome to participate.
If you have an odd number of x’s before IFBx, you are welcome to participate.
If you are an “X” reader of mine, you are welcome to participate.
If you are an “X” reader of an “X” reader of mine, you are welcome to participate.
If you are an “X” reader of xIFBxers, you are welcome to participate.
So, come one, come all, and come just as I am. SOMEBODY SAY AMEN!

SECOND, participants may participate in the following EXTREME events:

In the fencing category, participants may enter the EXTREME backstabbing competition.
Also included in the fencing category will be fences. Real fences. Fences separating the IFB’s from the IFBx’s, and the xIFBx’s from the xxIFBx’s.
Also included in the fencing category will be fence straddling, splinters and all.
Sorry, but there won’t be any fence hopping, unless of course you are an xIFBxer wishing to become an xxIFBxer. Or if you are an IFBx wishing to become an xIFBx. Of course, if you are an IFB wishing to become an IFBx, that too can be arranged.

There will be EXTREME text stretching held under the big top. The EXTREME text stretching competition will feature competitions in stretching texts out of shape. Context? Who needs context? Shoot, we don’t even need the exact words of Scripture. If the exact words don’t fit with what we wanted to preach, we’d just pretend it says something else.

In the EXTREME text stretching competition, points will be awarded for stretching the meaning of a single word, of a phrase, or of an entire verse. Extra points will be rewarded for reshaping the entire passage, inventing new doctrines, re-inventing old ones, or simply quoting your favorite author in the place of Scripture. Points will be deducted for quoting any preacher on the banned list, including… (please see the banned list).

As part of the EXTREME text stretching competition, there will also be a super-sized standards competition. This competition will feature an intense, one-on-one competition between left-wing legalists and right-wing legalists. You won’t want to miss this one, participant or not. IFBxers will be proclaiming everywhere, “We have standards, yes we do! We have standards, how about you”. To which xIFBxers will reply, “We have none, none, none”.

The IFB “X” games would be incomplete, of course, without showcasing some of our EXTREME egos. The ego competition will not take place under the big top. There isn’t room there. Participants will instead please make their way to the hot air balloon field, where they will be given their own opportunity to see who can fly theirs the highest. After all, God is not impressed with mediocrity. Or at least, that’s what they tell us. (But what about Gideon?)

Not wanting to leave xIFBxers out, there will also be a category for EXTREME sarcasm. Be sure to select the tongue-in-cheek competition, the irony man competition, or the EXTREME mocking division. Participants may also enter this category as a biathlon or as a triathlon.

Of course, the final event of the “X” games will be the EXTREME hockey. It will be IFBx taking on xIFBx. Plain old IFB’s will be refereeing the fight (oops! I mean game). Don’t worry, they won’t make any bad calls. In fact, they probably won’t make any calls at all, not being judgmental and all. Of course, there will be plenty of heavy hitting. Who is bringing the puck, did you say? Puck? Who needs a puck?

Hope you enjoy?