A Fresh Translation of the Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed (Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan) We believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten son of God: the one begotten from the Father before all the ages, light of light, true God of true God, begotten not …

Review of Beale, We Become What We Worship

G. K. Beale. We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2008. 341 pp. $26.00. Paper. Published in The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 14.4 (2010): 121–22. G. K. Beale is well known for significant contributions to biblical scholarship in general and biblical theology in particular. His commentary on Revelation, …

God Is Known Among His People (Psalm 76)

My brother in law sent me the lyrics to this hymn last night. He said it sings God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment. I have to agree. Hear the tune here, and a version with a chorus added is here. God is known among His people, Every mouth His praises fill; From of old He …

Ten Thousand, by John Mark McMillan

Josh Philpot introduced me to this song by John Mark McMillan, “Ten Thousand,” from his album, The Medicine. Matt Damico sang this at the close of the sermon linked in the previous post. He knocked it out of the park. This is what Josh wrote to Matt when he introduced him to the song: “It’s …

Jayber Crow on Silence in Worship

Jayber on those beautiful moments of silence when the congregation stills itself before the living God: “I liked the naturally occurring silences—the one, for instance, just before the service began and the other, the briefest imaginable, just after the last amen. Occasionally a preacher would come who had a little bias toward silence, and then …

Jayber Crow on Prayers and Hymns

I love this passage on the hymns of the faith. This paragraph, particularly what Jayber says about “Abide with Me,” wrenched my heart when I read it, and its hold on my mind brought me back to this book to type up these thoughts of Jayber (whose conduct, honestly, I found to be a little …

“Merciful to Me” from Reformed Praise

I’ve noted before that I think Eric Schumacher is one of the best poets at work on the craft in this generation. He writes to help the people of God praise the name of God, celebrating God’s saving mercy in Christ by the power of the Spirit. Eric writes of the new album from Reformed …

Dever’s Preface to It Is Well

If you haven’t already done so, you really should check out the Preface to Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence’s book, It Is Well. Here’s a snippet that puts worship into words and describes how the cross is central, even if there isn’t a physical cross on the wall: “This is never truer than when we …

Douglas Wilson on Worldview and Preaching

Douglas Wilson makes an offhand comment that is worth further thought regarding: what makes up a worldview in the first place (dogma, narrative, symbol, and liturgy), Narrative–biblical theology; Dogma–systematic theology and catechesis; Symbol–art, architecture, etc; Liturgy–the expression of dogma, narrative, and symbol in worship. More to think on here. In the previous post, Wilson prescribes …

Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder

We were introduced to this song by John Newton (recent tune by Laura Taylor) at a worship night at Kenwood recently and have sung it a few times in worship. We’re now enjoying it in our family devos at night. I especially love the fourth verse: 1. Let us love and sing and wonder Let …

David Reimer on Learning Biblical Languages

David Reimer is one of three filling in for Justin Taylor this week, and I have found him to be an invariably stimulating person. Linking to another article, he had this to say about the learning of the biblical languages: Meanwhile, one of my jobs as a teacher of biblical languages is to get the …