sermon stuff

I was recently blessed with an opportunity to preach the first word at a Good Friday service here in brooklyn. "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" was the word for which i was responsible.

My sermon was on forgiveness - 15mins.

I started with a story about a time that my mom had forgiven me for an egregious offense that I had committed against her. I then spent the remainder of the sermon talking about how an understanding of the offense committed will help us to better appreciate forgiveness received.

Prayerfully i will get more opportunities to preach.

If given an opportunity to pick a topic for the next sermon I preach, I will probably cover something around a "wider view of worship" - addressing the fact that "worship" isn't just singing a ballady sounding gospel song...you know?

One of the applications that would come from that sermon would be to forgive others since we have been forgiven much. Another would be to love others since we have been loved much. The funny thing about those applications is that I need to take some time to apply them directly to my life - specifically to a relationship with a family member.

Please pray that the gospel would inform how I relate to others. Returning anger for anger is sin - and it does not reflect how the Lord relates to me. Crazy that i'm dealing with this after preaching a sermon on forgiveness...

courtship

as much as i loathe the fact that our local stations are making big news of it, such consistent coverage of the royal wedding has led me to question exactly how our culture defines courtship. Everyone keeps referring to the period of time prior to the prince's and kate middleton's nuptials as a "courtship".

Isn't courtship the act or period of seeking the love of another with the intent to marry? Should it still count as courtship if the people have been in a relationship for the past 8 years (with cohabitation comprising 5 of those years)?

It's kinda weird to see a word like "courtship" being used to describe the very recent (past 20-30 years or so?) cultural phenomenon of what i think is best described as probationary marriage.

I call it probationary marriage because it looks JUST LIKE marriage, but it lacks the accountability that marriage brings along with it (kinda).

Maybe it is the case that marriage is seen as less and less relevant in our culture. Maybe it is because we have all seen how terribly marriage can end. Maybe we place high value on variety and fail to see how such a thing can be achieved when we will be waking up next to the same person every day for the rest of our days. Maybe the emphasis that our culture places on education, career and achievement has relegated marriage to 4th place.

That fact (4th place marriage) plays itself out weekly in the lives of my peers. Not many of my peers (outside of church) are married and not many of them live their lives as though they would like to be married (though they may verbally express a desire to do so).

let's face it: casual romantic encounters will not lead to the kind of relationships that lead to marriage.

but now i'm off topic.

thoughts?

Justice

Things are not looking good for the police officers that have been accused of raping a drunk woman over here in new york city.

One officer had sex with the woman, the other officer served as a lookout. The officer accused of rape is saying that whatever happened between them (he's denying sex) was consensual. The woman was saying she was raped - and if they did have sex, the law would be on her side since excessively drunk people cannot give consent.

The officer accused of rape is saying that he's innocent.

what bothers me the most is the evidence of the officers covering things up (returning to the scene on multiple occasions, filing fake complaints with 911 to justify another trip to the building, ignoring other pressing crimes to return to the scene). The complainant also recorded a conversation with the cop outside a police station where he admits to having sex with her and also admits to wearing a condom.

Since this is the case, why is dude on the stand acting like he's innocent?

why lie?

why not just man up, tell the truth and deal with the consequences (no matter how harsh they may be)? I would have so much more respect for dude if he just said "ok, here's what happened..."

"respect" wouldn't mean that i would want for him to not go to jail, but respect, would mean that i would hope that he would receive maybe a year off what the judicial matrix recommends for a sentence for not wasting people's time.

psalm 90

"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom"

Lord, please grant me godly wisdom. Help me to make decisions that will glorify you. Help me to see and believe that my life is as a vapor that appears for a little while. Help me to see and believe that living for myself and my gain is sinful and meaningless...it is nothing more than a chasing after the wind.

"Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days"

Lord help me to value and worship that which is valuable and worthy of my worship. Help me to treasure you as I ought. Help me to see that I will only find satisfaction in you. Lord, help me to consider your steadfast love. Help me to see that your steadfast love endures forever! And Lord, may the intimate knowledge of your love for me produce rejoicing and gladness in my heart. What a wonderful thing it is to be loved by you; To be chosen, predestined, called and justified. Help me to know that your love is wonderful.