URCNA Synod Escondido 2024: The Synod on Synodality

While the URCNA was gathering for synod in Escondido, California (June 17 – 21, 2024), the Roman Catholic Church was also meeting in synod, the so-called “Synod on Synodality.” These two synods don’t have a lot in common… the Roman Catholic synod has already lasted three years! Yet, without irony, URCNA Synod Escondido 2024 could likewise bear the title, “The Synod on Synodality.” 

I say this because one of the highlights of Synod Escondido was a discussion about how the churches should be represented at synod. Overture 6 proposed that the URCNA move to a classically delegated synod, wherein each classis would select twelve delegates, six elders and six ministers. Currently, synod is made up of two delegates from each church. Among other things, this proposal would result in a smaller gathering (96 vs. 240 delegates), savings in cost, and greater flexibility in which churches could host the gathering.

This discussion of this overture — ultimately defeated — gave birth to a rather profound conversation about the character of synod, and of our federation, and the important function that synod serves in knitting us together as a body of Christ. In my opinion, the most moving part of synod was when a number of elders rose and spoke about how meaningful synod is to them, and the contribution they make. It became clear that our current synod serves as a training ground of sorts, where first time delegates — including many elders and young ministers — learn about the common interests of our churches and grow in appreciation for our united labors. Almost a third of delegates in Escondido were attending their first synod.

Likewise significant was a discussion that resolved some lingering disagreement over the manner in which individual members of URCNA churches can appeal decisions with which they disagree. This debate was triggered in part by the adoption of a new Appendix 7 to the church order in 2018. Synod agreed to affirm the traditional understanding that individuals may appeal decisions of their own consistories when they are wronged (CO Article 31). However, synod rejected the view that every individual has a right to appeal any consistory or classis anywhere in the URCNA. Synod instead affirmed the view that assemblies, not individuals, are best equipped to evaluate the decisions of other assemblies and appeal if necessary (CO Article 29). Synod affirmed that every individual member may play an important role in this process: 

If an individual member alleges error(s) in a decision of a consistory, classis, or synod regarding a matter pertaining to the churches in common, he shall bring the matter to his consistory, urging it to appeal the decision of synod the assembly in question (Newly revised Appendix 7, 4.c).

While this issue inspired some passion among proponents on both sides, the discussion reflected the high degree of civility and charity that characterized all the proceedings at this synod. It was beautiful to see brothers contending for the truth, expressing distinct visions, yet also speaking from a common love for the unity we share in our federation.

Seemingly far more prosaic, but promising far reaching consequences, was the formation of a committee to explore the establishment of a URCNA Building Loan Fund. Such loan funds currently exist in a number of sister NAPARC churches, where they enable individuals and churches to invest their savings (with a market rate of return) in a fund that provides capital to sister churches for the purchase, construction, and expansion of their properties.

As usual, Wednesday evening’s presentations from foreign and domestic missionaries was once again a highlight of synod. It was encouraging to hear directly from many of our missionaries, to see the fruit the Lord has granted their labors, and to be reminded that God calls the church into a wide range of unique circumstances in which we may bear witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ. On an important and practical note, Synod also decided to create a new part-time position to serve as a domestic Missions Clerk, selecting elder Paul Lawton of Salem URC of Bowmanville, Ontario.

Synod also created a new Synodical Organizing Committee (The SOC?), to provide organizational assistance for consistories which convene future meetings of synod. The formation of this committee reflected a desire to bring greater order and efficiency to the planning of synod, and to assist churches in finding the most suitable and convenient venues for synodical gatherings. Interestingly enough, even this somewhat mundane logistical discussion raised interesting issues related to the very nature and being of our assemblies, thus Synod Escondido was to the end concerned with its own “synodality.”

One informal proposal floated over lunch in the dining hall was a future “Synod at Sea,” during which meetings would be conducted on a cruise ship, potentially lowering costs and attracting greater family participation. Perhaps the new Synodical Organizing Committee can report back on that when synod next meets in Western Canada — or Glacier Bay.

An edited version of this article appeared in Christian Renewal magazine.

What is a Psalm Paraphrase?

This Sunday’s worship at Christ Reformed DC is something of a case study on psalm paraphrases.

[Full disclosure, I’m not musically trained, and I’m not an historian of music. I’m just a pastor who loves congregational singing, and celebrates the psalm singing element of our Reformed tradition. These are my reflections as a worship leader and song selector in a Reformed church.]

Our sermon text this week is Psalm 79, and we’ll be singing two different settings of this psalm from the Trinity Psalter Hymnal (TPH). For our Psalm of Confession we’ll be singing “Remember Not, O God” (79B), which is a parphrase, and for our Psalm of Response we’ll be singing “God, the Nations Have Invaded” (79A), which is a literal rendering of the psalm in meter.

We’ll also be singing “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” which is found in the hymn section of our psalter hymnal, but which is in fact a paraphrase of Psalm 87, as the scripture index in the back of the book makes clear.

What is a Psalm Paraphrase?

So, what’s a psalm paraphrase? And why does it mattter?

To paraphrase, obviously, is to restate a text in a different form. Psalm paraphrases are loose translations of psalms that restate them in different terms. They can be close paraphrases, or extremely broad. Often, paraphrases are also partial, which means, they only paraphrase a certain part of a psalm.

Why do they exist?

Well, when you set a biblical psalm to music, you have a few choices.

You can chant it, which requires little or no alteration of a standard translation of the Hebrew text. Chants don’t have to rhyme, and they don’t have to conform to a particular rhythm or meter. These are, arguably, points in favor of chanting psalms.

Much psalm singing since the Protestant Reformation, however, has been metrical. “Meter” is a number that refers to the number of syllables in each line of a hymn. Psalm 79A is set to the meter 8.7.8.7.D, which means that each line of a stanza consists of 8, then 7, then 8, then 7, then D, which is short for “Doubled,” so do it again, i.e., 8.7.8.7.8.7.8.7.

Needless to say, English translations of the psalms don’t consist of a regularly alternating number of syllables in each line. Sometimes the Hebrew text itself has a particular meter, but, depending on who you talk to, this is rather inconsistent through the Psalter, and it doesn’t ranslate into English.

So when we marry a psalm to a hymn tune for the purposes of singing, we have to standardize or regularize the meter. I’ve attempted this once in my life, with mediocre results. I set Psalm 43 to the same meter as the tune Genevan 42, so they could be sung together. It’s not too difficult, but you have to substitute words and syllables to synchronize them with the lines of the tune.

All of which is a rather long way of saying, any psalm sung to a standard hymn tune has been altered somewhat. All English metrical psalms are, to some degree, paraphrases. However, since this process became widespread in the Protestant Reformation — notably, Calvin was an innovator in Geneva — different strategies have been pursued. Some have sought to set psalms to meter with the fewest possible departures from a literal translation, while others have been quite loose and free in this process.

A Case Study on Psalm Paraphrases: Psalm 79

Which brings us to this Sunday at Christ Reformed DC.

My personal bias is toward singing more literal settings of the psalms. A big argument in favor of singing psalms is that you are actually singing the inspired text of Scripture, and thereby familiarizing yourself with it. It is a very practical way of letting “the word of Christ dwell in you richly… singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16). The closer the text of the metrical psalm coheres with the biblical text, the more this benefit is enjoyed.

This brings me to one of the great advantages of the TPH. The TPH includes a literal setting of every single one of the 150 psalms in the psalter, and this isn’t necessarily true of all psalm collections available today. If there is a single setting of a psalm, such as Psalm 96, it is always a literal setting. If there are multiple settings of a psalm, such as Psalm 22, then the first setting is always a literal setting. So Psalm 22A, “My God, My God, O Why Have You Forsaken Me,” is a complete, literal setting of the psalm. Psalms 22B, 22C, and 22D are each “partial” settings, which may be more or less literal as well.

In the case of Psalm 79 this week, 79A is a new setting drafted by the OPC/URCNA committee in 2016, which is indicated clearly by the copyright in the lower left corner of the page. The production of the TPH triggered the resetting of a number of psalms, and a great deal of effort was invested in the production of texts that were both faithful to the Hebrew original and wedded to appropriate musical accompaniment. It is quite fitting, indeed, to sing Psalm 79A to the same tune as the hymn “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted” (O MEIN JESU, ICH MUSS STERBEN).

Normally, if we sing the literal setting of a psalm, we won’t also sing a paraphrase of the same psalm in the same service. That’s a bit much even for a psalm junkie such as myself, when there’s so much other great music to sing. But in the case of Psalm 79B, “Remember Not, O God,” this paraphrase zeroes in on the second half of the psalm, 79:8 and following: “

Do not remember against us our former iniquities;
    let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
    for we are brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
    for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
    for your name's sake!

These words are well suited to be sung during our confession of sin, which is a regular feature of our liturgy. Furthermore, this paraphrase is appropriately set to a beautiful and moving tune by Beethoven. According to hymnary.org, The Psalter of 1912 set these words to GORTON, a tune derived from the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23, Opus 57, written in 1807.

According to my (mostly complete) records, in fifteen years of singing a psalm of confession in our service, we have only sung this setting of Psalm 79 once. This is a shame, and reflects the fact that I am a relative neophyte to psalm singing. Hopefully, it will now enter our regular rotation. This is one of the benefits of preaching through the psalter! Listen to these beautiful words that lead us in confession:

Remember not, O God,
the sins of long ago;
in tender mercy visit us,
distressed and humbled low.

O Lord, our Savior, help,
and glorify your name;
deliver us from all our sins
and take away our shame.

In your compassion hear
your pris'ner's plaintive sigh,
and in the greatness of your pow'r
save those about to die.

Then, safe within your fold,
we will exalt your name;
our thankful hearts with songs of joy
your goodness will proclaim. 

While I have a large personal bias toward singing literal settings of the psalms, this is an excellent application of the paraphrase approach, and it illustrates why the editors of the TPH wisely included both. Furthermore, many of these paraphrases are traditional and beloved in our churches. By including both literal and paraphrased psalms, the TPH helps unite multiple generations of our church around a common songbook.

Hymns and Psalm Paraphrases

This brief blog post has already expanded beyond its original scope, but I would be remiss if I failed to mention another song we are singing this Sunday, “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” TPH #403, a hymn credited to John Newton. This “hymn” is largely a paraphrase of Psalm 87, and illustrates how fluid these categories are, especially in the 18th century hymn writing of the likes of the Wesleys and Newton.

Normally, I would rather sing a literal setting of Psalm 87, rather than a paraphrastic hymn, in keeping with our church order that gives psalms “priority of place” to psalms in our congregational singing. I look to the psalms first, and to hymns later, in selecting appropriate songs to sing in our corporate worship. However, in this case, neither of the tunes of Psalm 87A nor 87B are familiar to our congregation. Nor are they particularly pleasing to my ear — de gustibus nils disputandem! This is a personal disappointment to me, as I love Psalm 87! However, Newton’s hymn is a wonderful alternative, and a classic hymn that we delight to sing.

Psalm 79 is in large part a lament for the destruction of Jerusalem. The temple is in ruins, the bodies of God’s servants are given to the birds for food, their blood runs in the streets, and there is no one left even to bury them. This is a tragic picture of a dark battle day in the spiritual warfare that God’s pilgrim people are called to engage in. The promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ is, after all, also a promise that they will continually try to do so.

As Jeremiah lamented for Jerusalem, fallen, often we are called to lament for the church, wounded. And at the heart of this is a lament for our sins, which so often lead the church astray. So we confess, with Psalm 79B. We lament, with Psalm 79A. And, as members of the church of Jesus Christ, we celebrate, with Psalm 84B “O Lord of Hosts How Lovely,” and “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” (Psalm 87), and “The Church’s One Foundation.”

Paraphrase, Psalm, Hymn. What a privilege for the saints to sing within the gates of God’s temple, wherein one day excels a thousand hence.

Top 5 Reasons to Celebrate Ascension Thursday

Join us For Ascension Thursday, @ 6PM

Christ Reformed DC is celebrating its first Ascension Day service this Thursday. Since this is a new practice for us we thought it would be wise to give the top five reasons to celebrate the Ascension in worship.

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1. The Ascension of Christ is Neglected Today

If you, like me, did not grow up in a Dutch Reformed context, I would wager you have a 4/5 experience of celebrating the Evangelical Feast Days (see #3 below). Not only is this Christ Reformed DC’s first Ascension service, but it will also be the first Ascension worship service for many, if not most, of our members. As a correction to this imbalance we should follow the emphasis of our Savior in his Word, as Michael Horton noted:

“Jesus Did not downplay his ascension, but comforted his disciples with the promise of the Spirit and his Word.”

— The Christian Faith, 534

We should not downplay Christ’s ascension but rather “play it up” in our churches. And an Ascension Thursday service is one traditional way to do so.

2. The Ascension is a vital Part of Christ’s Work as summarized in our Creeds and Confessions

Out of our Creeds and Confessions, all but the Canons of Dort mention the Ascension. This distinct point was codified in the creeds. The brief creeds, short enough for recitation in worship at Baptism or Communion, all include the Ascension. It was not omitted from a single one in deference to brevity. Again Michael Horton is helpful:

“The Ascension is not merely an exclamation point to the resurrection, but a distinct event within the history of redemption.”

— The Christian Faith, 533-34.

Part of being a Confessional and Creedal church is to recognize that the Ascension is its own distinct event, and that it has a place in the Reformed tradition.

The Catechism has four questions on the Ascension of Christ. The Ascension is, and always has been, a part of the life and teaching ministry of the Church. To neglect it now is to our detriment. As C.S. Lewis said,

“Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.”

— Introduction to "On the Incarnation"

If I may apply Lewis’ observation to ascension Thursday: Ascension Thursday is a chance for us to challenge our modern assumptions about what is important about Christ’s work and see afresh what the scriptures and the church have seen as vital.

3. It is one of the Evangelical Feast Days

It is important to remember that the Reformation was a reformation of worship and practice, no less than it was a reformation of doctrine. Yet the Reformed churches on the continent retained five evangelical (read, gospel) feast days: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. We readily grasp the other feasts days and their importance. And many churches, even from traditions that at one point eschewed these days, recognize 4/5 (see #1 above). Ascension Thursday is retained because there’s Gospel in it, because it is a biblical event. Ascension Thursday is no “feast of Saint X,” it is no procession of relics. It is a celebration of a gospel event.

4. Ascension Thursday is a Chance to Sing Psalms and Hymns

Like reading old books, Ascension Thursday gives us the chance to sing old ( though sometimes new to us) songs through a new lens. We can sing Ascension Psalms like 47, “God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.” (v. 5, ESV) 68, “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.” (v. 18, ESV) and others that might be appropriate.

If you use the Trinity Psalter Hymnal Hymns 370-373 are for the Ascension. You can sing old Latin hymns, like one from the Venerable Bede “A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing.” Or the Anonymously penned “Christ, above All Glory Seated” When we (and our Children) sing Psalms and Hymns celebrating the Ascension, it reminds us that the Ascension of Christ is important enough to ring out in the church’s praise.

5. Having more worship services is a good thing

Unlike some of our reformed and presbyterian brothers and sisters we believe in celebrating worship services on days other than Sunday. We also believe this is a good, beneficial, practice. While we are more restrained than Anglican, Catholic, and Lutheran communions in the amount of days celebrated, we nevertheless believe it is important to mark the historic works of Christ in Worship.

While we typically preach continuously through one book at a time(lectio continua), we also preach through the catechism in keeping with our church order in the URCNA. This is a type of doctrinal or topical preaching. As an extension of the commitment to both models, our services honoring the “evangelical feast days” provide an opportunity for us to preach through the significant events of the Christian faith. Because Christ was, born, died, was raised, ascended, and poured the Spirit out on the church on real days in history. By his work he bridges the spiritual and eternal with history.

Given the above, you are invited to Church this Thursday to hear the Good News Proclaimed about our ascended Lord. We’ll meet at 6PM.

A Poem for Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday

by Rev. Brian Lee

God in a grave

Creator destroyed

Divinity dead

The Word silent.

Human flesh lifeless

True God True Man True Death

Still. Dark. Cold.

For us.

I AM the Resurrection and the Life

A sermon on the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11),
preached By Rev. Brian Lee October 19, 2008
AUDIO

Death is an awesome power in our lives. Mortality — the certainty of our physical death — hangs over each and every one of us, just as it has hung over every man and woman that has ever walked the face of the earth. It is a true universal fact of human existence.

From the first, man has fled death with a dread fear, but in the modern world, we have become more adept at suppressing our mortality. Even the energy and resources we invest in trying to forget, to ignore our mortality testifies to its continued fearful power. We have banished the bodies of the dead from our homes, from our churchyards, and more and more, even from their own funerals. We have pushed our mortality further and further over the horizon of the future, all but eradicating the pervasive death of infants, the pervasive death of mothers in childbirth, the pervasive death of the ill. Indeed, a serious illness that did not lead to death was a relative rarity before the last century.

While death has receded from our day to day existence, it is useful, and most Christian, to name the name of death. The catechism teaches us that we must know how great our sin and misery is in order to enjoy the comfort of the Gospel — the only true comfort afforded us in this world. We are not instructed to love our lives, to live joy-filled lives, or to have our best lives now. We are instructed to know our sin and misery, to know how great, how powerful, how awesome a thing it is. At the end of the day, all the little fears, wants, and uncertainties that infest our modern existence are masking one great fear — the fear of death. Men seek power, wealth, fame, to ward off death. Women seek security, possessions, relationships to ward off death. Even our children seek our affection, our proximity, our care, to keep away death.

The Good News, brothers and sisters, is that Jesus came to conquer death. His victory over sin was not a clinical exercise. This victory was achieved through a most gruesome battle. It may have resulted in the forensic, courtroom verdict of “not guilty” — a verdict that by law is our very own possession —  but that verdict was the judgment of a referee raising the hand of a bloodied and beaten, though victorious, boxer. In our text today, on the very eve of that fateful Passover when he would do battle, our champion is confronted with his foe. As Calvin noted on this text, “Christ does not come to the sepulcher of his friend Lazarus as an idle spectator, but like a wrestler preparing for a contest. Therefore no wonder that He groans yet again, for the violent tyranny of death that He had to overcome stands before his eyes.”

Death, stinking, wretched death, is on display for us in this text. Dear Christian, behold your death in this text. See your fear in the fear of the sisters: “Lord, hurry, the one you love is ill.” Death is creeping even now upon our loved ones. See your fear in the fear of the disciples: “Lord, the Jews are seeking to stone you… don’t go to Judea… if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” See their resignation in the face of death: “Let us also go with Him, that we may die with him.”

But the most remarkable picture of death’s dread power is found in our Lord himself. It has been remarked that this text portrays the emotional life of our Lord like no other, even, if possible, more starkly than that dread night passed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Neither the translation before us nor our prevailing, romantic view of Christ allows us to fully grasp the picture that this text is painting. When Jesus sees the weeping of his friend Mary, and the weeping of the mourners — and we should picture here the ululating howl of middle-eastern mourners that you have perhaps seen on television news — when Jesus sees this weeping, our text says he was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled,” but these words barely capture what could more accurately be described as a visceral rage and anger of our Lord in the face of death. The greek word here is used outside of the bible for the snorting and whinnying of horses, it is an expression of indignation, even disgust.

In the history of the church, many have effectively stripped Jesus of human emotion, under the influence of the classical view that the passions were inherently uncontrollable and therefore sinful. If our Lord did indeed “suffer” in his passion, as the word implies, then he did so stoically, impassively, as one whose knowledge of the greater good to be gained allowed him to coldly calculate the benefits of that suffering. And fear, certainly, would be unseemly to the divinity of our Lord. Yet Jesus is fully human, and he experienced all those emotions that are so characteristic of our humanity, yet without sin, and he did so “in his spirit,” that is, with a proper degree of self-control and appropriate outward expression, and outward expression which included tears of great lament. Indeed, regardless how measured or controlled the expression of his grief and rage may have been, it was noted by those Jews who observed him: “See how he loved him!”

Note that this reaction of our Lord is not primarily an outburst of sympathy, though that is doubtless on display here as well. But it is not ultimately the grief of his loved ones that drives our Lord to grief; it is death itself. John notes emphatically that our Lord again was deeply moved when he came to the tomb, a cave which had been covered by a stone. This cave contained a dead man, a man four days dead, and it probably stunk. Jesus confronts, and is enraged by, death and the destroyer who brings it. The emotion is further expressed in his loud exclamation, “Lazarus! Come out.” Again, this is no polite request, but the dread scream of a parent whose child is toddling into the path of oncoming traffic. It is the emotional scream that empties ones lungs before you know what has happened. Lazarus! Get out of there!

Not only does this last and greatest sign that Jesus performed on the eve of the Passover prefigure his own resurrection, but it graphically portrays our own salvation. Jesus, moved by love, turns toward the grave on our behalf, he breathes in the stench of our death, and breathes out the very breath of life upon us. We are dead in our sins and trespasses, but he calls us forth; the power of his voice — no touch is required — creates anew life in us, and we are bidden to unbind ourselves from all that keeps us in the grave. He rages against our foe, and in his victory he swallows death whole, swallows it down, removes the sting of sin and its power in the law, tearing up its dread curse against us, setting it aside. And this connection between the resurrection of Lazarus and Christ’s own death and resurrection is emphasized by the reaction of the chief priests and Pharisees, who not only plot in concrete to kill him as a result of this sign, but also prophesied unknowingly in their councils that Jesus would die for the nation and to gather up all the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Now, if the climax of this story is Jesus’ emotional encounter with death on the eve of his own death, all of the tension and narrative advancement of the story is bound up in the matter of Christ’s delay, and the glorification of God through Lazarus’ death and resurrection. Mary and Martha send for Jesus when Lazarus falls ill, and his delay is explained by his knowledge that the sickness is not unto death, but unto the greater glory of God and the Son of Man. His eventual decision to finally go to Judea… Bethany being a short walk from Jerusalem, is misunderstood as a death wish by his disciples, and triggers another discussion of the necessity of laboring while it is daylight. Both sisters come to Jesus with the same expression of faith wrapped in a complaint: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Why did Jesus delay?  He tells his disciples, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.” Once again, Jesus signs are performed so that we may believe, and they are recorded for us by John for this same reason. The death and resurrection of Lazarus present for us the belief, and unbelief, of his disciples, whose own faltering faith is only gradually coming to full expression. Even Martha’s expression of confidence “…but even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you,” is undermined by her doubting of Jesus’ knowledge of the situation, and his power to save him even by remote command, as he had demonstrated elsewhere. The ambiguity of Martha’s faith is heightened by Christ’s claim, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha’s confidence in the final resurrection on the last day is not the final expression of faith that Jesus is looking for. The death of Lazarus is ultimately the opportunity for Jesus to reveal himself as something far more than a prophet of the coming Day of the Lord: “I am the resurrection and the life.”

Indeed, this is the central teaching of this text, another great “I Am” statement of Jesus where he expresses the deep truth that he not only brings with him resurrection and life, but he IS resurrection and life. Jesus, the long-expected Messiah, brings the resurrection, brings life, in a way that no Jew could comprehend.

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live

And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this?

This is Jesus’ question for Martha, and it is his question for us. Note these two parallel statements both affirm the same truth, though from different perspectives. The believer who dies, yet shall live; the living believer shall never die. There is a future resurrection, yes, and Lazarus’ resurrection is a token and guarantee of that. Even more, Jesus’ own resurrection. But Jesus power is far greater than that. The one who believes will indeed die a physical death, but in a far more important sense the believer shall never die. The sickness unto death — the sickness of sin that haunts us every living moment from the grave that awaits us — the sickness unto death has been defeated. Lazarus sickness physically killed him, yet it was not unto death, it was not irreversible, for his sickness of sin had already met its match, the great physician had conquered it. In his apocalypse, John writes of this second death, the death that swallows the damned as they go down to judgment, and he writes that this death has no power over us.

Jesus was delivered up because of our transgressions, but he was raised because of our justification, according to the Apostle. Because of our justification. Because of his victory over sin, the grave could not hold him. Because of his victory over sin, the grave could not hold Lazarus — our Lord’s command was undergirded by the power of the creator, yes, but more importantly by the power of the redeemer. Lazarus, you must come forth. Lazarus, the grave clothes do not, cannot, bind you.

Dear, Beloved, Christian:

Death — horrible, stinking, wretched death — rightfully grieved and feared, is no match for your Lord.

Preaching The Nicene Creed

This Past Sunday we began a new series in our catechism service on the Nicene Creed. We are proud to be a creedal and confessional Church at Christ Reformed DC (you can find our Creeds and Confessions at threeforms.org). When the Churches of the Reformation sought to reform and restore the Church they turned to Scripture as the only infallible rule, but they turned also to the Church Fathers and the creeds as faithful summary of Scripture. You can see this respect for history in the Belgic confession where it commits to willingly accept the Ecumenical Creeds: Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian. It does this because they are faithful to Scripture and summarize it well. 

““And so, in this matter we willingly accept the three ecumenical creeds—the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian—as well as what the ancient fathers decided in agreement with them.” ”

— Belgic Confession, Article 9

We also have in our tradition, from the time of the reformation, the practice of catechetical preaching. Ordinarily, this service is an evening service. We believe that viewing catechesis, doctrinal teaching and preaching, as worship is a strength of our tradition. The ordinary practice is to teach through the Heidelberg Catechism, which is fittingly divided up into a year.

“At one of the services each Lord’s Day, the minister shall ordinarily preach the Word as summarized in the Three Forms of Unity, with special attention given to the Heidelberg Catechism by treating its Lord’s Days in sequence.
”

— Church Order of the URCNA, Article 40

We just wrapped up a year through the catechism which you can find (here). In the catechism we teach through the Apostle’s creed (Lord’s Days 7-22). And in addition, a few years ago we did a series through the Athanasian Creed at Advent. Now we are beginning a new series through the Nicene Creed. 

The Nicene Creed, like other creeds, has been used in conjunction with the sacraments. Whereas the Apostles’ Creed was developed from Baptismal creeds, the Nicene came to be used by some communions in connection with the Eucharist as a full statement of faith before communing members of Christ’s Church.

“in the East it incorporated the earlier baptismal Creed, and so became itself a baptismal Creed, it is more properly a Creed for the matured Christian, and has been used in the West as well as in the East as the appropriate Creed for the Eucharist. The Apostles’ Creed was a Creed the acceptance of which was necessary for baptism and incorporation into the Christian Church. The Nicene Creed was a test of orthodoxy, and necessary for full communion in the Church.”

— Charles Augustus Briggs, The Fundamental Christian Faith

Whenever we turn to our church’s creeds and confessions, we are mindful that they are not divinely inspired scriptures, but human documents produced as a result of particular historical controversies. Understanding this context is important for understanding not only what we confess, but why we confess it. In our series we will seek to be mindful of the long story that begins in Alexandria, Egypt, early in the fourth century, runs through Nicea, in 325, and reaches a climax of sorts at Constantinople in 381. Characters in this story include the Presbyter Arius, who believed that there was a time when the eternal Word did not exist, the Emperor Constantine, and Athanasius.

The Nicene Creed has much to teach us about who God is and what the scriptures teach when carefully considered. Join us Sunday mornings at 9:30 as we dive deeper into the Christian faith and into the message of a Trinitarian God who saves.

"If A Puppy Were Born There Would Be Some Little Stir..."

Martin Luther’s has some fine sermons on Christmas, and some of his finest are collected in Martin Luther’s Christmas Book, edited by Roland Bainton.

This passage about the Wise Men coming to Jerusalem jumped out to me this morning, perhaps because we have a new puppy in the house:

When the Wise Men received the divine revelation that the king of the Jews was born, they made straight for Jerusalem, for, of course, they expected to find him at the capital in a lordly castle and a golden chamber. Where else would common sense expect to find a king? But because they were so sure of themselves, the star left them. Then they were sorely tried, and had they relied solely on human wisdom, would surely have said: "Confound it! We have come all this way for nothing. The star has deceived us. The devil has led us by an apparition. If a king had been born, would he not be in the capital and in a palace? But when we come, the star disappears and we find no one who knows anything about him. Can it be that we foreigns should be the first to have news of him in the royal city? Everyone is so cold and unfriendly that no one offers to go with us and show us the child. They do not believe themselves that to them a king is born, and shall we come and find him? How desolate for the birth of a king! If a puppy were born there would be some little stir, and here a king is supposed to be born and everything is so still. One of our shepherds makes more fuss over the birth of a babe, and when a cow calves more people know about it than have heard of this king. Should not the people be singing, capering, lighting lamps and torches, bedecking the streets with roses and mayflowers? What a miserable king we are seeking! What fools we have been to let ourselves start on this quest!"

Nature wants to feel and be certain before believing, but grace will believe before she feels. Faith steps gaily into the darkness, trusting simply in the Word.

—Martin Luther's Christmas Book, p. 50 - 51.

The Old Testament Background to Christmas

Please join us for our 15th Annual Festival of Lessons and Carols
December 12th at 5:00 pm

Since 1918, it has been the tradition to hold a festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at Kings College Cambridge, on Christmas Eve.

It is a service of surpassing beauty and power. This is due in part to the setting of Kings College Chapel, an architectural gem with perhaps with the finest stained glass and choral acoustics known to the world. It is due in part to the glorious singing of the choir, which is likewise world-renowned.

But it is finally due to the surpassing power of the service itself, a power that is derived from its simplicity. Nine lessons are read straight from the scriptures, four from the old testament, five from the new, with appropriate carols interspersed, and a simple opening and closing prayer. 

Listen to the classic lines of the opening prayer, which capture the force of the event:

Belovèd in Christ, be it this Christmas Eve our care and delight to prepare ourselves to hear again the message of the angels: in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and with the shepherds and the wise men adore the Child lying in his Mother's arms.

Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child; and in company with the whole Church let us make this chapel, dedicated to his pure and lowly Mother, glad with our carols of praise, etc. 

The Nine Lessons are powerful, because they underline the simple truth that the story of Christmas begins in the Old Testament. We understand the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ as Good News — the Gospel — only when we enter into the experience of those longsuffering Jews who had been waiting so many generations for their deliverer, when we hear the message of the angels as Mary heard it, as Zechariah and Elizabeth heard it, as the shepherds heard it. 

When Christmas is untethered from the Old Testament, from the covenantal promises it fulfilled, is when it is most susceptible to the empty, romantic notions that typify the holiday celebration of not only our broader culture, but of far too many Christmas sermons. You know the list of themes that are comfortably conveyed in Christmas cards: Joy, Peace, Love. It is not enough to insist that Jesus is the reason for the season, if all he is merely a symbol of love, peace, and joy. Yet, in a day of great and growing biblical illiteracy, even in the church, this is what we are too often left with.

That the story of Christmas — the Gospel itself — begins in the Old Testament is abundantly clear from each of the Four Gospels, which each present the coming of the Son of God as the fulfillment of the Old Testament in their own, distinctive way.

• John begins his story of the incarnation of the Word “in the beginning,” establishing his roots in the opening verses of Genesis.

• Mark announces “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” by quoting the prophet Isaiah, and describing the ministry of John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness preparing the way of the Lord.

• Matthew begins with a genealogy, which causes the eyes of many modern readers to glaze over with the likes of Amminadab, Nahshon, Jeconiah, Shealtiel, and Eliakim. But to the Jew, or the knowing Christian, this genealogy of the Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham conjures in a few quick penstrokes the entire sweep of Old Testament history, and more importantly, the tale of the loving purposes of God as expressed in the covenants made with Abraham, and David, and kept by the Lord through the exile, and through the many generations. Count them, three groups of fourteen, six sevens, with the seventh seven, the sabbath of sabbaths, coming in Christ.

• And likewise, Luke, the researcher, the chronicler, the historian. A gentile convert, Luke’s Gospel leaves little doubt that he was catechized into a thorough understanding of the Old Testament, and that the Apostle Paul, with whom he traveled, proclaimed Jesus as the righteous seed, long ago promised to Abraham.

Luke’s telling of the birth of Christ is both more historical, and more narrative and lyrical. After his prologue, Luke’s opening verse sets the birth of Christ in its historical context, and then immediately introduces us to Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, and her husband Zachariah, a priest who we meet ministering before the altar in the temple of Jerusalem.

Both Elizabeth and Zechariah are of the priestly tribe of Aaron, and both of them, as well as the temple itself play a prominent role in the opening scenes of Luke’s Gospel — one thinks of the prophecy of Malachi, “and the Lord, whome you seek, will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you deligth, behold, he is coming, says the lord of hosts.”

Their names are not insignificant: Elizabeth means “God is an Oath,” and Zechariah means “Yahweh remembers.” Immediately upon being introduced to them, one wonders what it is that Yahweh remembers, what oath has been given that reveals god’s presence with his people. This name, Zechariah, is an extremely common one in the Old Testament, occurring 29 times, and reflecting the same reality we find in Matthew’s geneaology, that generation after generation had celebrated the Lord’s faithfulness to his covenant promises, and looked forward to the day of their fulfillment. 

This post was taken from a sermon by Brian Lee, “Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord?”, originally preached on November 30, 2008.

Our 15th Annual Festival of Lessons and Carols

All are invited to join us
for our 15th annual Lessons and Carols service
on Sunday, December 12, at 5:00 pm
at the Capitol Hill Adventist Church, where we hold our Sunday Services.

Since our founding in 2007, Christ Reformed Church has celebrated the Advent season with a traditional “Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols,” which is patterned very closely on the annual service held at King’s College Chapel in Cambridge since 1918. We read the same nine texts, but substitute congregational singing instead of choral performance.

Over the course of the next five Sundays, we will be preaching through the nine traditional scripture readings from this service in a series called “Why Lessons and Carols”? In this series we’ll explore not only the rich pattern of promise and fulfillment that these Old and New Testament lessons illustrate, but also consider how the Reformed tradition exhibits a unique grasp of the unity of the scriptures around the covenantal promises fulfilled in the birth of Christ. We’ll also spend a bit of time considering the unique view of the church calendar held by the continental Reformed tradition, and defend it as a via media between the extremes of Puritanism and superstition.

A number of years ago I wrote an article at The Federalist in which I described this service in greater detail and explained its value called, “Keeping Christmas in Christianity: A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols”:

The Lessons and Carols service reminds us of a basic interpretive key: Jesus is the center of the whole Bible, and that truth should guide how we read and apply these texts. Promise and fulfillment is the basic pattern of the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible. Jesus and his apostles viewed his coming as the fulfillment of centuries of promises delivered to the people of God, and the New Testament was written in support of this case. In an age of biblical illiteracy, we mustn’t underestimate the value of this simple lesson.

Lessons and Carols is a service of nine scripture readings, or “lessons,” interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols. (You can get more background and examples here). The carols typically vary each year, but the nine readings are fairly well fixed, with some small variety. The first four are drawn from the Old Testament, the last five from the New.

Each reading is prefaced with a brief explanatory rubric, something which we desperately need in our current dark age of Bible reading. Thus we begin by reading Genesis 3, with this introduction: “God tells sinful Adam that he has lost the life of Paradise and that his seed [offspring] will bruise the serpent’s head.” The lessons proceed to speak of this promise of a coming “Seed” as it was extended to Abraham in Genesis 22, with the expansion that “in this Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

In the final two Old Testament readings, we are reminded that the basic outlines of the Christmas story derive in the Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah (drawn from chapters 7, 9, or 11), that a coming Savior would be born of a virgin, in the town of Bethlehem, and would bring in his train a universal peace not just for the people of Israel, but for all the earth.

New Testament lessons focus on how these Old Testament promises of a coming redeemer are fulfilled in the birth narratives of Christ, with readings drawn from Luke 1 and 2 and Matthew 2. Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds, and wise men, all of these are not merely random characters in the Christmas play. They each are instrumental to teaching us that in the birth of this human child, Jesus, God has fulfilled his promise of the ages and “saved his people from their sins.”

Finally, the closing reading is always drawn from John 1, reflecting on the theological significance of the eternal Word becoming flesh. The famous prologue makes explicit the deep theological truth implicit through the prophecies: This is no ordinary child, this is the divine Word made flesh. (read more)

The reception after our Lessons and Carols service has always been something of our annual Christmas party and celebration, and we have welcomed may wonderful visitors and guests over the years. We hope you will join us on December 12th. Click here for more information.

Catechism Preaching and Psalm Singing

The Reformed Church prominently features in its worship two things that seem odd to American Christians. First, we have a catechetical worship service where teaching and preaching our catechism and doctrinal standards is ordinary. Second, we sing primarily Psalms in our services. This is not a new thing, but as old as the reformation itself, if not older.

As a pastor, this creates an interesting challenge. It might be easy to name a hymn for a given doctrine or Lord’s day, but what about Psalms? Enter this index from Het Boek der Psalmen nevens de Gezangen bij de Hervormde Kerk van Nederland (Amsterdam, 1773). What follows is a keyed index to help a minister, parents, and others choose fitting Psalms to sing with Catechism lessons, when teaching on Doctrinal topics, or when studying through the Apostles’ Creed, Ten Commandments, or Lord’s Prayer.

(Note that in the following historical list, decimals such as “73.2” or “119.4” don’t refer to verse numbers. They refer, instead, to different stanzas or parts of the psalms. The precise reference in modern psalm settings is difficult to determine, but the numbers can still be a rough guide to the section of the psalm that addresses the relevant topic. In general “.2” refers to the second half of the psalm, and decimals for Psalm 119 refer to stanzas in that long acrostic poem.)

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• Lord’s Day 1 “What is Your Only Comfort?”— Psalm 73.2

Part 1: Misery

• Lord’s Day 2 “Our Knowledge of Misery out of the Law”—Psalm 19.2

• Lord’s Day 3-4 “The Source of Our Misery”— Psalms 51; 5; 49

Part 2: Deliverance

• Lord’s Day 5-6 ”The Mediator”— Psalms 25; 36; 130

• Lord’s Day 7 “What is True Faith?”— Psalm 2.2

Beginning of the Apostles’ Creed

• Lord’s Day 8 “Doctrine of God”— Psalms 139; 145

  • “Trinity”— Psalms 33

• Lord’s Day 9 “The Creation of All things”— Psalms 115.2; 136

• Lord’s Day 10 “The Providence of God”— Psalms 33; 104; 147

• Lord’s Day 11 “The Name Jesus”— The Hymn of Mary

• Lord’s Day 12 “The Name Christ”— Psalms 2; 89

  • “The Name Christian”— Psalms 45.2; 72.2

• Lord’s Day 13 “God’s Only-begotten Son”— Psalms 2.2; 45.2; 72.2

• Lord’s Day 14 “The Savior’s Conception and Birth”—The Hymn of Mary

• Lord’s Day 15 “The Savior’s Suffering”— Psalm 42

• Lord’s Day 16 “The Savior’s Death, Burial and Descent to Hell”— Psalm 22

• Lord’s Day 17 “The Savior’s Resurrection”— Psalms 16; 118.3

• Lord’s Day 18 “The Savior’s Ascension”— Psalms 47; 68.3

• Lord’s Day 19 “The Savior’s Sitting at God’s Right Hand”— Psalm 110

  • “The Savior’s return in judgment”— Psalm 96.2

• Lord’s Day 20 “The Holy Spirit”— Psalm 119.3

• Lord’s Day 21 “The Church”— Psalm 48

  • “The Communion of Saints”— Psalm 133

  • “The Forgiveness of Sin”— Psalm 32

• Lord’s Day 22 “The Resurrection of the Body”— Psalm 49.2

  • “The Life Eternal”— Psalm 73.2

End of the Apostles’ Creed

• Lord’s Day 23 “Justification”— Psalms 32; 103; 130

• Lord’s Day 24 “The Insufficiency of our good works before God”— Psalms 19.2; 143

• Lord’s Day “The Sacraments”— Psalm 111

• Lord’s Day 26 “Baptism”— Psalm 51

• Lord’s Day 27 “Infant Baptism”— Psalms 71.2; 87

• Lord’s Day 28 “Lord’s Supper”— Psalm 23

• Lord’s Day 29 “The Rejection of Transubstantiation”— Psalm 119.4

• Lord’s Day 30 “The Popish Mass”— Psalm 115

  • “The Requirements of Lord’s Supper participants”— Psalms 25.2; 26.2

• Lord’s Day 31 “The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven”— Psalms 15; 24; 65

Part III: Gratitude

• Lord’s Day 32 “The Necessity of Good Works”— Psalm 119

• Lord’s Day 33 “Conversion or Repentance”— Psalms 119.9; 119.22

Beginning of the Ten Commandments

• Lord’s Day 34 “God’s Law”— Psalm 1

  • “The First Commandment”— Psalm 81.1

• Lord’s Day 35 “The Second Commandment”— Psalm 115

• Lord’s Day 36 “The Third Commandment”— Psalm 145.2

• Lord’s Day 37 “Oaths”— Psalm 24

• Lord’s Day 38 “The Fourth Commandment”— Psalms 63; 84; 92

• Lord’s Day 39 “The Fifth Commandment”— Psalms 34.1; 78

• Lord’s Day 40 “The Sixth Commandment”— Psalm 5

• Lord’s Day 41 “The Seventh Commandment”— Psalms 50.2; 51.2; 119.5

• Lord’s Day 42 “The Eighth Commandment”— Psalm 62.2

• Lord’s Day 43 “The Ninth Commandment”— Psalm 120

• Lord’s Day 44 “The Tenth Commandment”— Psalm 131

  • “The Necessity of Preaching the Law”— Psalm 19.2

Beginning of the Lord’s Prayer

• Lord’s Day 45 “The Necessity of prayer”— Psalms 65; 145.2

• Lord’s Day 46 ”The Address of Our Prayer”— Psalm 103.2

• Lord’s Day 47 “The First Petition”— Psalm 89

• Lord’s Day 48 “The Second Petition”— Psalm 72

• Lord’s Day 49 “The Third Petition”— Psalm 119

• Lord’s Day 50 “The Fourth Petition”— Psalm 145.2

• Lord’s Day 51 “The Fifth Petition”— Psalm 51

• Lord’s Day 52 “The Sixth Petition”— Psalm 141.1

  • “The Close of Prayer”— Psalm 5.1

Psalm and Hymn Sing || Thursday the 22nd

Psalm and Hymn Sing

Thursday, 7PM

This Thursday, the 22nd, we will host our first midweek event at our new location (Capitol Hill SDA—914 Massachusetts AVE NE). To celebrate God’s faithful provision of a new place of worship and to inaugurate what we hope to be a regular practice, we will have a Psalm and Hymn sing in the evening from 7-8. The doors will be open at 6:30. We look forward to seeing you there. Don’t forget to tell your friends who like to sing.

25 Reasons to Buy the Trinity Psalter Hymnal App

I never buy apps for my iPhone. I’ve probably purchased fewer than five total over the last ten years. 

But it took me all of three seconds to open my virtual wallet and spend $9.99 on the app version of the Trinity Psalter Hymnal (TPH) app. Buy it now.

I didn’t have to run through reasons pro or con on whether to spend the ten bucks. But maybe you do. So here is a list of the reasons I’ve come up with since the app has resided on my phone. Hopefully one or more of them will nudge you to purchase the app if you haven’t already done so. 

And in addition to buying the TPH app, you should also share it on social media, and encourage others in your church to buy it. And for those of you who are not on an Apple device, the Android version should be out this summer. 

1. It fits in your pocket. A portable hymnal is awesome. Having a worship song handy when the mood or the need strikes you is a huge benefit. Ideally, you’d have some songs memorized, so you could sing at crucial moments without a crutch — like the Reformation martyrs who sang psalms as they were burned at the stake. Sadly, few today have more than one or two songs down by heart. Over my first two weeks owning the TPH app, I’ve probably sung a song from it every day or two at unplanned moments. 

2. The app helps you sing more at home. We should sing more worship songs in the home, throughout the week. Modern worship has been professionalized, it has become performance-driven with worship leaders who overwhelm the congregation’s voices in gathered worship. Sadly, this can make singing at home seem even more awkward and lame. The TPH app is a great tool to encourage more singing outside of public worship.

3. The app includes musical accompaniment. We encourage every member of our church to keep a hymnal in the home. But most of us aren’t musical enough to enjoy the sound of our own voices singing a cappella, nor are we musical enough to play an instrument and sing. As a result, I’m willing to guess that the vast majority of print hymnals in the home are under-utilized. The TPH app solves that problem by providing professional piano accompaniment for every single song in the book. 

   You can also set the music to repeat, so it will play for all the stanzas in a song.

4. …and full sheet music. There are two views for each song, either lyrics only, or full sheet music. If you are viewing the lyrics and turn your phone to landscape, the app switches automatically to the sheet music, but you can toggle back and forth. I haven’t yet had a chance to view the app on an iPad, but if it scales well I should think you could use the sheet music for playing a keyboard. 

5. Psalms. There, I said it. The Psalter is an inspired songbook that has been sung by believers for the last three thousand years. It is the definition of intergenerational worship. It is the most chronologically and geographically catholic songbook around. It is great to sing scripture as praise and prayer to the Lord. Yet the psalms are woefully neglected in worship today.

   You don’t have to be a hymn hater to be a psalm singer. The TPH is proof that you don’t have to sing songs exclusively to sing psalms well. By owning a virtual hymnal that incorporates both psalms and hymns, and by reaching a broader audience, the TPH app can contribute to a revival of psalm-singing.

6. Search. The TPH has a search feature that provides a keyword search of every lyric, title, tune name, or composer or author. If you’ve ever struggled to remember the name of that familiar hymn, this search feature is a great way to quickly find the song you’re looking for, even if you can only remember a snippet of a line. And it is a far more comprehensive tool than the subject index in the back of the print hymnal for finding songs that address particular themes. Searching the word “prayer,” for instance, turns up scores of hits. 

7. It helps worship leaders select songs. The TPH Hymn Tune page is the most trafficked page on our website, and I’m sure that much of that traffic is worship leaders trying to decide what songs to sing on any given Sunday. In recent weeks, I have found myself using my TPH app instead, and the combination of the search feature, the navigation, and the music has made it an indispensable tool for selecting songs for worship. Buy it for your pastor today, or share it with him. 

8. Bookmarks. Every church sings a subset of its songbook. At Christ Reformed, we have a psalm of the month, which we sing repeatedly to learn and familiarize ourselves. The bookmark feature in the app makes it easy to keep track of the top 10 or 50 songs in your repertoire and pull them up in a moment. 

9. The app is cheaper than a print hymnal. I love print hymnals, and print media in general (and I have about 80 boxes in storage to prove it). If your church uses a hymnal, you should own a home copy. But the print TPH costs $23.00 from Great Commission Publications (and it’s currently out of stock). 

   The app is much cheaper than six print hymnals. Because the TPH app supports “Family Sharing” on iOS, it can be used by up to six connected accounts with a single purchase. So even if you have a print hymnal in the home, the TPH app makes it easier and more cost-effective for your whole family to sing together. At $9.99, it is 93% cheaper than owning 6 hymnals. 

10. Better yet, it’s FREE for URCNA pastors. OK, so this is kind of inside baseball, but if you are a pastor in the URCNA, a kind donor has offered to reimburse the $10 purchase price. If you want the details, contact us. 

11. It’s also FREE to all members of OPC and URCNA churches. OK, technically, this isn’t true. But it can be if your deacons agree to subsidize the purchase price for anyone who wants to download it. If your people aren’t singing at home and don’t own hymnals, this might be a reasonable investment for a local church to make. 

12. The TPH is ecumenical. The TPH is a joint publication of the United Reformed Churches of North America (URCNA) and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). Working with a sister church requires compromises, and a few were made. But there is always wisdom in many counselors, and this worship tool was greatly enriched by bringing together the strong psalm-singing tradition of the URCNA and the English language hymnody of the OPC. The print version is perhaps the first hymnal ever printed to include the confessions of both traditions in one volume, the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards. The app makes the best music of these two traditions to a huge audience of folks who would never attend one of these churches.

13. The TPH is not just for the OPC and URCNA! I know of one local Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) congregation that uses the TPH in their worship (and since writing this post I’ve heard of a few more). It is the prayer of our songbook committee that this hymnal will be a resource to other churches as well, and by creating a lower-cost, virtual version, we increase the chances that the use of the TPH will spread. 

14. Buy it for your children. By creating and promoting the TPH in our churches, we are building a shared tradition of reformed worship. The more the URC and OPC adopt and promote a shared songbook  — and sing from it at home — the greater the odds are that our kids will find a familiar and faithful place of worship when they go off to college or move away to take their first job. The songs we sing in worship unify us and bind us together, and singing the songs of the TPH is a beneficial part of catechizing and raising our kids to be faithful church members in the future. 

15. It’s evangelistic. Lex orandi, lex credendi — The law of prayer is the law of faith. It is our prayer that by exposing believers to a rich worshiping tradition, new believers will seek out and join biblical, confessional, Reformed churches such as the OPC and URCNA (and others). When members of OPC and URCNA churches invest in the TPH app, promote it, and share it with their friends, they help grow the brand of these faithful, confessional churches. 

16. It’s green. Singing from an app reduces paper waste.

17. The app encourages singing in-home study groups. Every Wednesday night we close our weekly study by singing a psalm or a hymn, but to do so requires us to leave a bunch of hymnals at our elder’s house. This is far more convenient if members all have the apps on their phones. 

18. It’s great for the mission field. If you are a part of a church plant or other mission work where folks have access to phones or iPads, it is an easy way to introduce the songs of the church to your group before it is feasible to purchase or store hymnals — or ship them around the world.

19. It’s available offline. While the music doesn’t currently play when your device is offline — perhaps in a future upgrade or premium edition, it will? — the lyrics and the sheet music are available offline. 

20. The app bridges the gap to our virtual world. Let’s face it, hymn singing is passé. It’s even more passé if the only way you can do it is by holding a big fat print hardcover in your hands. The TPH app can introduce great church music to churches and individuals who are not inclined to use hymnals. 

21. Be prepared for the next pandemic. Sadly, many of us have been locked out of our houses of worship over the last year. It may happen again. Having a songbook in your pocket is a great encouragement during times of isolation, and aid in maintaining family worship or streaming services. 

22. TPH brings great worship music to a broader audience. Contemporary worship music is abysmal, with a few exceptions. And there are a lot of believers interested in being broadly reformed who will never pick up a hymnal. The TPH app is a way to expose this massive audience to 500 years of great worship music.

23. Paying for the app is better than getting it free. Ten bucks is a good investment in a lasting resource. The committee overseeing the hymnal invested significant resources in building a top-notch resource for both Apple and (in time) Android, and the proceeds from the sale will help maintain and improve the project over time. I have already submitted feedback to the creators of the app and received a reply indicating that work is underway on an update. Updates and maintenance that ensure the TPH remain a lasting resource are well worth the investment. 

24. Redeem the time. Ever pull out your phone and look at social media to fill a few minutes while you’re standing in line or waiting for a bus? Maybe you play a quick game. Why not pull up the TPH app and sing a psalm or a hymn instead? No, you don’t have to sing out loud — that could be weird. But you can still worship by singing a song silently in your head. 

25. You too can be shouted down for singing church music at your next party! We found out the TPH app was released during a recent church cigar night. We all quickly downloaded it and proceeded to sing a few boisterous songs. Perhaps it was a little too late for singing, and perhaps the singing was a little too boisterous. We were promptly shouted down by a neighbor in the apartment building, presumably the same neighbor who posted the note below the following day. 

    What could be more counter-cultural than singing hymns at your next gathering? 

With the TPH app, you too can upset your neighbors with a late-night hymn sing at your next party.

Thanks to Kyle Lee and Luke Gossett for their contributions to this list.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Trinity Psalter Hymnal Official Website

• Trinity Psalter Hymnal Tunes

Prayer for Good Friday

Good Friday provides an opportunity to meditate on our need for Easter. When we survey the wondrous cross, we pour contempt on our pride, and come with sharpened hunger to the festal table the risen Christ spreads for us on Easter morn.

If you are in the Washington, DC, area during Holy Week, you are welcome to join us for our Good Friday service, which is usually held at 6:00 pm. Please check our website to confirm service times this year (2021 Good Friday service details here). 

Prayer for Good Friday

Included in the Liturgical Forms and Prayers of the URCNA is a prayer for use in a Good Friday service. Though intended for public worship, this prayer is also commended for personal or family use as well:

Our Father, who so loved the world that You gave Your only begotten Son, we acknowledge and marvel at Your mercy. Even while we were enemies, You reconciled us; even while we were strangers, You made us fellow heirs with Christ of all eternal blessings; even while we stood condemned, You redeemed us; even while we were imprisoned, You delivered us from the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil. On this solemn occasion, we loathe our miserable estate and celebrate Your marvelous grace. Beneath the cross of Christ, we come to know that ours is the guilt, but Yours the forgiveness; ours the condemnation, but Yours the gift of justification; ours the bondage, yet Yours the freedom of adoption and new obedience. Even the faith with which we confess our dear Savior’s sacrifice was won for us by His death. Therefore, we cry out to You in sorrow for our sins and in thanksgiving for Your gift. Give us the grace, we pray, to receive again this word of the cross, which alone can refresh us on our pilgrim way, and send us out again into the world as witnesses to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Amen.

Many American Christians tend to be a bit allergic to written prayers, but they are an important part of the Reformed tradition on the European continent. While such prayers are for voluntary use — our Church Order doesn’t require them — they are a valued resource. While they are suitable to be read in the home or for a service, they can also serve as useful outlines for more extemporaneous prayers.

What follows is a brief commentary on our Good Friday prayer.

Commentary

Our Father, who so loved the world that You gave Your only begotten Son, we acknowledge and marvel at Your mercy. 

Our prayer opens by addressing God as Father, as Jesus instructed us in Matthew 6:9, and acknowledging the great mercy he showed us by sending his Son to die for us on the cross. Our Heidelberg Catechism reminds us that the Creator God “is my God and Father for the sake of Christ his Son.” The death of Jesus secured our adoption as sons and daughters so that we pray to God as our Father. 

Even while we were enemies, You reconciled us; even while we were strangers, You made us fellow heirs with Christ of all eternal blessings; even while we stood condemned, You redeemed us; even while we were imprisoned, You delivered us from the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil. 

The first petition, as it were, is a confession of sorts acknowledging the fallen state we find ourselves in apart from God’s mercy: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God sent Jesus to die for us while we were enemies, strangers, condemned, imprisoned, and under the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil. By beginning our prayer with this humble approach, we acknowledge the magnitude of God’s gift given on Good Friday.

This is always a wonderful way to start our prayers to a holy God, and this form provides an excellent model for us.

On this solemn occasion, we loathe our miserable estate and celebrate Your marvelous grace. Beneath the cross of Christ, we come to know that ours is the guilt, but Yours the forgiveness; ours the condemnation, but Yours the gift of justification; ours the bondage, yet Yours the freedom of adoption and new obedience. Even the faith with which we confess our dear Savior’s sacrifice was won for us by His death. 

Next, the prayer moves to the particular occasion for which it is offered, Good Friday.

Good Friday is one of the “evangelical feast days” that celebrate the saving works of our savior. Reformed Christians don’t hold to a church calendar, per se. We desire our worship to be biblical, and we do not believe the New Testament teaches us that keeping a calendar of feast days is a useful pattern for the people of God in the new covenant (Colossians 2:16). Rather, we hold that the weekly rhythm of the Lord’s Day is the most important liturgical rhythm for saints under the new covenant and that Christians should celebrate the resurrection every Sunday. 

And yet, we acknowledge that it is reasonable and permissible to regularly, even annually, acknowledge key anniversaries in the history of redemption. Good Friday is one such “solemn occasion.” We should “preach Christ and him crucified” in every sermon, but on Good Friday we are able to dwell on the weighty message of the cross. Thus, on Good Friday the purpose of the cross of Christ, in particular, is highlighted, namely, our great sin which required such a great sacrifice. 

The special services Reformed Christians mark are called “evangelical feast days” because they are based on the crucial gospel (evangelical) events in our Savior’s life. We believe Christ’s birth, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the spirit may be celebrated with annual services that focus on Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. Reformed Christians preserved these ancient celebrations because they were not man-made or man-focused, unlike the medieval church calendar’s celebration of saints’ days and other feasts.

One of the benefits of marking Good Friday is that it allows for a robust celebration and focus on the resurrection on Easter Sunday. There is no Easter joy without Good Friday sorrow — the story of the cross and the tomb are intertwined. But celebrating both of these radical extremes in a single service can be quite difficult. As a result, Easter in the modern church often skims over the bad news of the cross. We believe there is wisdom and richness in given each moment in Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection its due attention.

Therefore, we cry out to You in sorrow for our sins and in thanksgiving for Your gift. Give us the grace, we pray, to receive again this word of the cross, which alone can refresh us on our pilgrim way, and send us out again into the world as witnesses to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Amen.

Again I say: Good Friday provides an opportunity to meditate on our need for Easter. Confess your sin, pour contempt on your pride, and come with a sharpened hunger for the festal table the risen Christ spreads for you on Easter morn.

We hope you’ll join us for our Good Friday service at Christ Reformed Church.

New Wednesday Study || God's Pattern of Creation, by W. Robert Godfrey

God’s Pattern For Creation

New Study, 7PM on Wednesday

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This Wednesday we’ll begin a new study. We’ll be reading and discussing Robert Godfrey’s book God’s Pattern For Creation: A Covenantal Reading of Genesis 1. You can pick up a copy here. This coincides with our ongoing sermon series through Genesis 1-11.

There has been a glut of books on creation. So why are we reading this one? There are a handful of reasons. One is that Dr. Godfrey is writing to a group just like ours, reformed Christians comprised mostly of lay people. He is writing for an astute reader, but not a trained theologian.

Another is that Dr. Godfrey is writing constructively. His book builds a case for a particular reading of Genesis 1 by looking primarily to scripture. His work is not seeking to settle any debate, or to serve as a rejoinder to any other work. Instead, Godfrey wants us to look closely at scripture, and leads us there again and again. Many books among the gallons of ink spilled on this topic are quite polemical. They are seeking to prove their case against some other case. Dr. Godfrey avoids this pitfall by focusing on scripture and treating other views both generously in tenor and sparingly in practice. His focus is on understanding the written word of God, not on the debate of the age.

Lastly, we’re working through this book so that we might all pay closer attention to Genesis. Dr. Godfrey connects Genesis 1 to the rest of the book, and helpfully draws out principles for interpreting Genesis 1 that will serve all of us as readers of the whole of the Bible.

What is in it?

The book is brief and simple. There’s an introduction and three chapters. The first chapter covers days one through three, the second days four through seven, and the third chapter and conclusion draw the threads of the close interpretation of Genesis 1 into what it is and isn’t teaching us.

Calvin on Christmas

It is good to set aside one day out of the year in which we are reminded of all the good that has occurred because of Christ’s birth in the world, and in which we hear the story of his birth retold…

which will be done Sunday.

From John Calvin’s sermon preached on Christmas day 1551 in John Calvin, Sermons on the Book of Micah, trans. Benjamin Wirt Farley (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2003), 302–04. (H/T R. Scott Clark at The Heidelblog).

Top Nine Reasons for Christmas "Lessons & Carols"

You are invited to join us for our
Lessons & Carols service on

Sunday, December 13th

5:00 pm.

In years past I have written about the importance of keeping Christmas in Christianity. For those who don’t aren’t interested in reading the full article at The Federalist, I have distilled below the Top Nine Reasons for celebrating a “Lessons & Carols” service this holiday season, in countdown style à la Letterman.

9. Lessons & Carols reminds us that the story of Jesus is at the center of the Bible.

8. Because due to COVID the public can’t attend Lessons & Carols at Kings College, Cambridge.

7. You can’t understand the Christmas story apart from the Old Testament prophecies of Christ.

6. Where else do you get to sing the fourth stanza of “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”:

Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display Thy saving power,
ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.

5. The best carols remind us that Jesus was born to die:

Good Christian, fear; for sinners here
the silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear, shall pierce him through;
the cross be borne for me, for you;
hail, hail the Word made flesh,
the babe, the son of Mary.

4. To remind romantics and moralists that Christmas is not about our charity, but God’s work of salvation

3. Eggnog.

(Not technically a part of the Lessons & Carols liturgy.)

2. To brush up on your Latin by singing “Adeste, Fideles.”

And, the Number 1 reason to celebrate “Lessons & Carols” this Christmas:

1. To annoy the puritans among us.

(I’m joking… some of my best friends are puritans.)

A Guide to Thanksgiving Day Prayer

It is good to acknowledge our limits, and all of us have endured a mediocre prayer or two before digging in to our Thanksgiving Day feast.

Of course, the Lord welcomes all faithful prayer, and the Spirit interprets our groanings. But leading a group in public prayer is a skill that is developed through practice, Scripture study, and theological reflection. Not all of us are equally gifted, and it can be nerve-wracking to be called upon to pray when you are unprepared.

 One of the great benefits of being a member of a confessionally Reformed church is the ability to draw on a rich liturgical tradition, including a Book of Forms and Prayers that dates to the sixteenth century reformation. The United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA) have made their book available in full online at www.formsandprayers.com, so a theologically rich prayer is never more than a few screen taps away. These prayers can profitably be read verbatim, or used as a model or guide, providing an outline for a beautiful prayer. 

Our book includes liturgical forms and prayers for the Lord’s Day worship, as well as additional prayers for special services such as Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. There are also prayers for ecclesiastical assemblies and for personal and family use.

Here are a few thoughts on the Thanksgiving Day Prayer:

Our Sovereign God, who created all things for Your pleasure and who gives to all life, breath, and every good thing, we thank You for our creation, our preservation, and all the blessings of this life. 

 The doctrine of creation is the foundation of much biblical thanksgiving. Our prayer opens by reminding us that all things were created for God’s pleasure, and that his work of creation continues in his current work of preservation. All good things come to us from God.

For rain and sunshine, in abundance and in lack, we acknowledge that our times are in Your hands. You supply all of Your creatures with Your good gifts, the just and the unjust alike. 

 We thank God not only for good things and abundance, but for his supervision of our lack. Our comfort in all circumstances comes from the knowledge that “our times are in His hands.”

Nevertheless, we especially give You praise for the surpassing greatness of Your saving grace, which You have shown to us in Christ Jesus our Savior. For our election in Him before the foundation of the world, for our redemption by Him in His life, death, and resurrection, for our effectual calling, justification, sanctification, and all of the blessings of our union with Him, we give You our heartfelt thanks. 

 While creation may be the foundation of our thanksgiving, God’s redeeming work is deserving of special mention. Apart from redemption our hearts would be darkened and we would not be able to truly thank God for anything. This work of redemption started in eternity past, and continues until his return in glory.

Often, at Thanksgiving Day celebrations we find ourselves in mixed company. It is a national, secular holiday. Reading a prayer is a helpful way of articulating a doctrine of redemption in a fashion that might be slightly less personally offensive in mixed company, if it is introduced as a prayer used by the church in thanking God.

Sometimes we also find ourselves praying with extended family who nominally express faith in God but aren’t actively a part of a worshiping community. This prayer enumerates specific blessings of God’s saving work, and we should be prepared to reflect further on them if they become a point of dinnertime conversation.

And we look with great anticipation toward that day when You will raise us to life everlasting, glorified and confirmed in righteousness, so that we may sing Your praises without the defilement of our present weaknesses, distractions, and sins. 

Americans can sometimes slip into the error that the fullness of God’s blessings are known here and now in the U.S. of A. Our prayer reminds us that we look forward in “great anticipation” for God’s greatest blessings, and this confidence in future blessings is perhaps our greatest blessing.

Also, this prayer reminds us of the importance of confessing our sins, even in a prayer of thanksgiving. 

As You have given us these gifts, we ask that You would give us grateful hearts, so that we may serve our neighbors in love. 

Our gratitude is a result of God’s saving work in our hearts, and this saving work results in a grateful response toward God and neighbor. May this thanksgiving holiday serve as a spur and a reminder of how we are called to share God’s blessings with those around us.

This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, who taught us to pray, saying: 

Our Father Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.
Amen.

Closing a prayer with the Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful way to invite all members of your Thanksgiving Day celebration to join their voices together. It is an invitation to pray to God.

Here’s a pro tip: you can give your group advanced warning that you’ll close with the Lord’s Prayer and prepare them to join you. Sometimes it’s worth mentioning whether you go with “debts” or “trespasses” to avoid a brief moment of awkwardness. 

By closing with the Lord’s Prayer, you may give a struggling sinner the opportunity to take their first stumbling steps to calling out to God for forgiveness. 

I still remember a number of years ago when I was praying at an ordinary family dinner. My father was not a churchgoing man, and I don’t think I had ever heard him pray. But when I closed with the Lord’s Prayer, he joined in, for it triggered a deep memory he had from his youth. It was one of the few times I ever heard him pray. 

Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  

Amen.

Discipleship and Discipline: The Most Distinctive Mark

This article was originally published in two parts in Christian Renewal magazine, December 2019.

It is perhaps a silly question to ask what is the most distinctive among the three marks of the true church that are set forth in Article 29 of the Belgic Confession.

After all, we are not living in a golden age of preaching, and the sacramental theology of the Belgic confession has rarely held sway in the Reformed churches, much less broad protestant Christianity. The pure preaching of the gospel and the pure administration of the sacraments are surely distinctive marks in our day. 

Yet I think I can make a case that church discipline may be the most distinctive, and perhaps the most overlooked, of the three marks. It may also be the most poorly understood, even among members of Reformed churches that are formally committed to its practice. 

Discipline and Discipleship

Recently, I’ve had a reason to think long and hard about church discipline here at our church in Washington, DC, and I’d like to spend a few columns sharing those thoughts with you. 

No, I haven’t been thinking about church discipline because we are in the middle of a messy discipline case or have a greater than usual need for “correcting faults” at the moment. Rather, I’ve been thinking about discipline as I wrestle with the challenge of recruiting, training, and retaining church officers at our church in DC, particularly elders. As I’ve reflected on the role of elders and their necessity in a Reformed church, I keep coming back to the mark of discipline.

Like virtually every small church I know, Washington DC has struggled to ordain a sufficient number of men to serve as elders. We organized with a single elder in 2016, and in 2018, when this elder moved away, we were able to ordain three new elders. That lasted less than eighteen months, and now two more elders are moving away. The standard challenge of a small Reformed congregation is exacerbated in an urban context. With very few stable residents, and few older retired men, and very few members who grew up in a Reformed church, the challenge is severe. 

So why does it matter? Why do we need elders, anyway? If elders are just a governing board for the church, as a non-profit board, why can’t anyone serve in this capacity? 

Well, one answer to that question is the Reformed conviction that “church discipline” is a mark of the true church. 

One of our elders put it best when he noted that the shepherding role of elders is ultimately much more powerful when it functions in a proactive, formative fashion, encouraging and nurturing praiseworthy behavior. This is far more effective than punishing errant behavior, responding to faults among God’s people in a reactive and corrective fashion. As the old adage goes, you catch more flies with honey, and as every parent knows, positive feedback that praises good behavior is a far more effective manner of formation than negative feedback that seeks to correct faults. Like water flowing over a rock, positive encouragement shapes God’s people gradually, consistently, and effectively over time. 

Another way to say this is that discipleship — walking daily with God’s people — is the positive side of discipline. Discipline and discipleship are thus two sides of the same coin, the one positive and the other negative. The close relationship between these two concepts is reflected conveniently in the close relationship of the two words. 

Now, in saying this I’m sure I’m not saying anything in the least novel or radical. Any elder worth his salt would say that this is obviously the case. However, it is a basic point that isn’t very often taught and explained to God’s people, which is unfortunate. While discussing church discipline in a recent officer training session, someone mentioned that they typically thought of discipline as the bad or negative mark. And anything that is perceived as being negative will naturally not attract our attention or our affection. 

What church wants to be known as the discipline church? None, really. But, in contrast, what if you said that you were a church that took discipleship seriously? That committed serious efforts and training to this positive, pastoral, and formative practice?

The Nature of the Relationship Between Discipline and Discipleship

When we understand that discipline and discipleship go hand in hand — that the one is the positive expression and the other the negative expression of the same reality — this opens up new perspectives on the distinctively Reformed understanding of the work of the elder in the true church.

Positive discipleship as a daily practice is the essential building block of faithful church discipline. You see this when you consider what Matthew 18 teaches about church discipline. The familiar steps of discipline emphasize the importance of discipleship: First, take your offense directly to your brother; second, take trusted, neutral witnesses to confront your brother; third (and only third), tell it to the church. 

When “church discipline” is understood merely as the formal, churchly matter of step three, it is overwhelming in a negative, and often a punitive, matter. By the time it has gotten to that stage, the sinner has been confronted with the ugliness of his sin on at least two occasions. He’s dug in his heels over his offensive behavior, which was serious enough in the first place to deserve a loving rebuke. 

But properly understood, “church discipline” also includes the first two steps. Church discipline includes the first faithful act of going and telling a brother his fault, keeping matters “between you and him alone.” This act is premised upon a relationship, upon the faithful daily prayer and practice of forgiving debts as they have been forgiven. This requires a vital and trusting relationship between two members of the body of Christ — be they friends, spouses, parent and child, or mere acquaintances. Church discipline requires eschewing gossip and griping. It requires courage to confront. It requires daily practice of repentance, daily confession of sin.

This first step of discipline — telling your brother his fault — is closer to our idea of discipleship, than our traditional concept of “discipline.” Think about it in terms of frequency. Church discipline, in this sense, should occur daily in your church, not once a year or once a decade. When church discipline is understood holistically, including the first step with the third, it becomes a mark of the church that should be on display each and every day. 

Elders, Discipleship, and Discipline

So where do the elders fit in with this first step of discipline? 

First of all, this first step of discipline requires the presence of the gospel, and the elders are the front line in assuring that the gospel is the heart of the church’s pulpit ministry. Believers can only confess and confront one another with their sins when they have a healthy sense that God justifies the wicked, that they are sinners saved by grace. Every preacher, even the best preacher, needs the regular oversight and accountability of faithful elders. Reminding him when he hits the mark, warning him when he veers off into moralism or topical preaching that obscures Christ and him crucified. When our preaching reminds us all daily that we are “simultaneously sinners and saints,” we will be more inclined to hear and receive the loving rebuke in joy. Elders must take seriously their role in ensuring the pure preaching of the word. 

Second, this preached word needs to be subjectively applied in the church, which is a related but distinct task to overseeing the objective content of the word. Elders are the key eyes and ears of the body of Christ, as they engage in relationships with God’s people. Ask any pastor, it can be very difficult to get a clear read on how effective your preaching is: “Great sermon, pastor!” Faithful elders, however, can discern through conversation exactly what pulpit message is cutting through the haze and being received by God’s people. They can only do this when they have established vibrant, discipling relationships with the flock under their care. Not only does this provide feedback to the preacher in his pulpit ministry, it allows the elder to himself magnify and apply the message to the flock. 

The third aspect of the Elder’s role in discipline is hospitality. You are only going to feel free to confront, and to confess, your sins to a brother when a close and intimate relationship has been established. It is necessary that believers come to know one another as family, as brothers and sisters in the Lord. And that bond is ultimately forged in the radical practice of Christian hospitality.

Rosaria Butterfield describes Christian hospitality as making space for outsiders and insiders alike to enter into a uniquely Christian community, to be vulnerable, and to share our burdens with one another. I do not mean by this to exclude the pastor from the practice and modeling of hospitality, but as a simple matter of scale, the elders are required to extend and model this ministry throughout the body of the church. Thus, all faithful under-shepherds become the hands and feet of our Lord, modeling the loving, caring relationships in the church that are willing to cut through the superficial relationships of our entertainment age. This happens over the breaking of bread and through the shedding of tears. It is largely in the practice of hospitality that the preached word is embodied and carried and applied in the life of the church. 

Think again of the subject of frequency we addressed above. When we think only of the third, or extreme, phase of discipline, it is an infrequent and occasional practice in the church. How important can that be to the daily life of the church? But when we incorporate the first phase of discipline, it is a regular practice of the church. It is in the elders that the congregation sees mature believers receiving the preached word and putting it into practice in their daily life. The pastor, a preacher, cannot daily model that receiving and enacting behavior. 

The Most Distinctive Mark

How faithfully is the first step of discipline — daily confrontation, confession, and forgiveness — practiced in Presbyterian and Reformed churches? How distinctive is this discipline, when it is faithfully practiced? How self-consciously do our elders understand the nature of their task as the hands and feet of the Lord, receiving God’s gospel word, putting it into practice, and through Christian hospitality and discipleship creating the space for repentance and forgiveness?

In my view, this is a radically overlooked, and under-appreciated mark of the church. But connecting discipline with discipleship, and teasing out the elder’s role in this work, is really only the first step in restore discipline to its rightful place alongside word and sacrament. 

In the remainder of this article, we’ll explore the vital connection between the first step of discipline, and the final or extreme step. Perhaps our weakness in attending to the first phase of discipline explains why the third phase isn’t often practiced in our churches and often doesn’t go well when it is. We’ll also see how the mark of discipline is also properly entailed in the mark of pure sacraments, and how the Lord’s Supper is the manifestation of the church’s discipling and disciplined relationship with her people.  

Private Repentance is Also a Manifestation of Church Discipline

The URCNA Church Order teaches us that Christian discipline is spiritual in nature. When properly exercised; God is glorified, sinners are reconciled with God, neighbor, and church; and the offense is removed from the church of Christ. These are spiritual blessings, wrought by the Holy Spirit through the power of the gospel applied to God’s people through the preached word and the sacraments (Article 51).

Subsequently, we are taught that in the case of private sins, the rule taught in Matthew 18 shall be followed. This passage is well known among believers, but it is worth quoting the key portion in full:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (Matt 18:15 – 17)

I think we tend to think of church discipline as only the final phase of Christ’s instruction when the sin of an obstinate brother is told to the church. In the Reformed tradition, the consistory represents “the church” in this proceeding. Perhaps it might even be the case that we only think church discipline is occurring when someone receives the sanction, i.e., “is disciplined.” But this is too negative a view. We should understand “discipline” to be everything up to and including the sanction, when necessary.

I think a plain reading of both Matthew 18 and our church order should acknowledge that the private interaction between a sinner and his offended brother is a part of church discipline, as well as the case where one or two witnesses are involved. Indeed, it is impossible to reach the ultimate phase of discipline without first working through these first phases. Furthermore, when successful, these first two phases are indeed accomplishing the ultimate goals of discipline: God is glorified, reconciliation takes place, and the offense is removed from the church of Christ. All of this takes place without the consistory even being aware (CO Article 53).

How then might we know it is happening? Well, it is far more likely that we will know when it is not happening, and often it is not. Christ’s instructions for addressing private sins are simple, but that doesn’t mean they are easy. Indeed, this is the fruit of much gospel ministry, when victims of sin respond not in anger but in love, humbly and lovingly seeking repentance. It is a miraculous work of the Spirit every time a sinner receives a reproof in love and repents of his sin. These simple acts — which, given our great sinfulness, should occur frequently — are incredibly difficult. They are fruits of the Spirit… not fruits of our own efforts.

Indeed, in my last column, I pointed out the importance of Elders as faithful under-shepherds in cultivating these regular acts of discipline in the church. Often, I think pastors and elders will need to model and encourage private discipline among their flock. Preaching alone may drive some of this activity, but a great deal more will occur through the faithful guidance of Elders discipling the church in the work of private discipline.

Private Discipline and the Ultimate Phase of Discipline

It should be obvious that a church that regularly practices private discipline among its members will in all likelihood experience the ultimate phase of discipline — excommunication — less frequently. Little sins do give birth to bigger ones. The more aware we are that sin is ever crouching at the door, the more faithful we can be in repenting from it and averting its advance.

Perhaps not as obvious is that church discipline will likely go much better at the consistory level when the preceding steps have faithfully been attended to. It may in fact be the case that more matters are reported to the Consistory if more private confrontation is taking place. The more private sins that are dealt with, the more private sins will eventually make their way before the elders of the church. 

Let’s take an example from church history. We possess the rather copious minutes of the Genevan Consistory during Calvin’s tenure as pastor, and Reformation historians often chuckle at some of the cases that made their way before consistory. For instance, the man named his dog after Calvin. By our standards today, this seems like a rather petty matter, and perhaps it seems a bit invasive that the church should become involved in such a case. But in context, this matter was a rather public offense, meant to humiliate an officer of the church precisely because of how he was exercising the spiritual authority of the pulpit. When conflict like this is tolerated or excused, greater offenses, greater disparagement of the church’s authority are sure to follow. 

Perhaps if we addressed conflict more faithfully, more regularly, even when it seems a bit petty, we could avoid some of the full-flowering of this conflict when it develops? Perhaps faithful discipline, in both the earlier and later phases, could soften hearts and reconcile sinners.

Discipline and the Sacraments

Faithful church discipline — private and public — is crucial to reaping one of the central benefits of the sacraments, namely, their ability to seal the gospel promises unto us.

Our confessions teach that sacraments are “visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible” (Belgic Confession Article 33), they help us understand the promise of the gospel and seal that promise (Heidelberg Catechism 66). In my experience, it’s pretty easy to grasp the “sign” aspect of the sacraments. They are pictures of God’s gospel: the washing away of our sins in baptism by the blood of Christ, the broken body, and the shed blood in the supper portray the work of the cross.

But sealing is another matter. I think the key to understanding the sealing function of the sacraments is their particularity. The preaching of the gospel is general; it is heard far and wide. Anyone can hear it, a passerby on the street (if the church door or windows are open), or a family visitor or guest attending a relative’s baptism. 

In contrast, the sacraments are particular — they literally touch particular individuals. They come in physical contact only with those covenant members who properly receive them from the hands of Christ’s ministers. The sacraments thus discriminate, and the ministers of the church are called upon to apply the discriminatory criteria of Christ our Lord in determining who should receive them. Herein lies the sealing function of the sacraments.

When you receive a sacrament — most frequently the Lord’s Supper, but also one’s own baptism, even if primarily in the recollection of the thing — you are receiving not only the elements themselves but also the pledge and blessing of the church. The sacramental recipient is told through the rite that he is a member of Christ, a member in good standing of the covenant community. 

Do you ever doubt the gospel? Of course. Do you ever doubt that the preached word applies to you? Perhaps. Can it really be true? Can the Father really love me that much, would he, if he knew my darkest sins? 

The sacraments come to us in all their particularity and tell us “this gospel is true of you, this spiritual reality has touched even you.” That is the sealing function of the sacraments. They function like an embossed seal on a birth certificate that ensures that it is an official government document, which proves that this piece of paper has come in contact with a certain government official, namely, the one who wields the seal and has authority to make the document official. Thus, the gospel touches us, is authenticated in us, in the sealing of the sacraments.

That is a beautiful, profound, and comforting truth. God knows the weakness of our faith and gives sacraments as crutches to support it.

Do you see now how the sealing function depends in large part upon the faithful exercise of discipline in the church? The ministers of Christ church administer the sacraments faithfully, and in a trustworthy fashion, only insofar as the church exhibits the mark of discipline. For their application of the sacrament to this sinner to truly seal the sacramental blessing it is necessary that they know that this sinner has been born in a covenant home (in the case of baptism), or has made a credible profession of faith and is living as a repentant sinner in the sure hope the grace of Christ (in the case of the supper).

In other words, for the sacrament to seal, discipline and discipling must be taking place in the church. So in our Reformed understanding, the ordinary fencing of the table is an essential element of a well-disciplined church, and it is important for the sacraments to accomplish their aim. Also, the extreme sanction of discipline — exclusion from the supper and even excommunication — is to the benefit of both the unrepentant sinner and of those who come faithfully to the supper. They thus know the pledge of the church concerning their faith is sincere. We may have healthy disagreements about how we fence the table, but Reformed churches must remain committed to doing so.

Conclusion: The Virtuous Cycle of Word, Sacrament, Discipline

When the promises of the gospel are sacramentally sealed to sinners on a regular basis — and when this sealing function is empowered by the faithful discipline of the church — sinners are in a much better position to regularly confront and repent of sins, both their sins and the sins of other. They know they are sinner-saints, covered by the blood of Jesus, and grow in this confidence. The word preached resonates more strongly. Thus our Lord’s Supper form says, 

“As the Word has promised us God’s favor, so also our heavenly Father has added this confirmation of His unchangeable promise. So come, believing sinners, for the Table is ready. “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” ”

— URCNA Forms and Prayers, “Celebration of the Lord’s Supper: Short Form 1”

The promises proclaimed by the word preached are confirmed by the sacrament and applied in our lives by both private and public discipline. Forgiveness is heard, felt, and experienced. It is given and received, first from God in Christ, and then among the members within his body.

Our flocks should be encouraged to practice discipline by confronting offenses from a brother, by repenting when confronted, and by forgiving one another. This is a mark which they, as much as the officers of the church, must pursue in their daily lives. Would that the Lord would give us the grace to practice this kind of discipline in our churches. Then our churches would truly be distinctively places where the Gospel is known, through this most distinctive mark.

Election Day and The Lesser of Two Weevils

Four years ago, when many Christians were first considering whether or how they could justify voting for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, I wrote an article at The Federalist addressing the vote: “9 Reasons Christians Don’t Need to Vote for the Lesser of Evils.” I revisited that article this week, given the considerable back and forth over John Piper’s recent article on the 2020 election: “Policies, Persons, and Paths to Ruin.”

What obligations do Christians have in the voting booth?

A common assumption behind all of these arguments is that Christians have a duty to vote, and that the failure to exercise this duty makes one responsible for the results. Not voting, or voting for a third-party candidate, is morally equivalent to positively voting for the other team. (Footnote: Christians in Germany could have stopped Hitler’s rise if they weren’t so submissive.)

This argument fails to grasp that the morality of a Christian’s vote is upstream of “Clinton versus Trump.” While the New Testament doesn’t directly address the question of how a Christian should vote, it does nonetheless present a uniquely Christian approach to civic engagement. Over the coming weeks, as we make our long, slow march to the polls, Christians should take this opportunity to reflect upon their unique callings in this world, and the deeper meaning and morality of the act of voting.

To wit, here are a few theological reflections on Christian duty at the ballot box, and why we need not vote for the lesser of evils.

This article isn’t a rejoinder to Piper, nor is it an affirmation of his views. But I do think it is interesting to see two different approaches to Christians and the state and our engagement in politics.

One key difference is perhaps a different view of Christian Liberty:

As a pastor, I often emphasize this “Christian liberty” in matters where God’s word is silent, such as voting. Christians are free to wrestle with their consciences in this matter, yet as a minister of God’s word, I have no authority to bind their conscience, other than to urge them to walk in love, which “does no wrong.”

Christian liberty keeps us humble. It reminds us there isn’t necessarily a proper “Christian way” to do everything. Our duties as followers of Christ are specific, limited, and mostly local. Very often, the way of love is the way of not doing harm.

Christian leaders should recapture the humility and wisdom of Christian liberty before they give counsel on how to vote.

God calls us to faithfulness as citizens, but our primary duty is submitting to those rulers God puts in charge. All authority is from him. This should be a great comfort as we face the great unknowns of the coming days (and weeks?):

The Bible tells us God used revolutions, poisonous mushrooms, and loyal secretaries to get his man (or woman) in office. The Apostle Paul wrote to Christians living in the eternal city during Nero’s reign, telling them that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”

God is in charge. Today in America, he uses votes. It might seem more civilized to us, but it is no different. The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

God is in charge. Praise God.

(You can read the entire article at The Federalist.)

On a lighter note, the “lesser of two evils” always reminds me of one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite literary works, Patrick O’Brian Aubrey-Maturin series of novels (which was well-captured on screen in the movie, Master and Commander):

“Two weevils crept from the crumbs. 'You see those weevils, Stephen?' said Jack solemnly.
I do.'
Which would you choose?'
There is not a scrap of difference. Arcades ambo. They are the same species of curculio, and there is nothing to choose between them.'
But suppose you had to choose?'
Then I should choose the right-hand weevil; it has a perceptible advantage in both length and breadth.'
There I have you,' cried Jack. 'You are bit - you are completely dished. Don't you know that in the Navy you must always choose the lesser of two weevils? Oh ha, ha, ha, ha!”

Whether in the British Navy, or in the voting booth, remember that you need not always choose the lesser of two weevils.

Celebrating Reformation Day: The Affair of the Sausages

Reformation Day is traditionally celebrated on October 31st, marking the date in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed the “95 Theses” on the door of the church in Wittenburg, sparking a theological debate that continues to this day.

Luther was most influential due to the way that his ideas spurred many diverse reform movements across Europe, including that of Huldrych Zwingli in Zurich. A number of years ago I wrote about Zwingli’s initial reforms as it related to the observation of Lent:

Ironically, it was the preaching of Martin Luther that inspired one of the most famous incidents of Lenten non-observance, almost 500 years ago. In 1522, the “Affair of the Sausages” launched the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland. Huldrych Zwingli, Pastor in Zurich, attended and later defended, even blessed, a Lenten feast of meaty sausages, verboten vittles during the obligatory fast.

Zwingli’s concern was twofold: Christian liberty, and Christian sanctification. Regarding liberty, since the Scriptures did not command fasting, Zwingli felt a Christian was free to fast, or free to not fast.

Jesus himself had declared all foods to be clean: “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him” (Mark 7:18). For a church to forbid the eating of foods without biblical warrant was to play the Pharisee, to lay a burden upon a man’s conscience that God himself had not commanded. This would be in direct violation of Paul’s injunction to “let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath” (Colossians 2:16).

Through the rediscovery of the Gospel, Luther and company reminded the church of the great blessings of Christian Liberty. Freed from obedience to the Law as a source of righteousness, believers are no longer bound to observe the regulations of man to attain righteousness before God. Christ alone is the true source of our righteousness before the divine throne, his obedience alone — credited to our account by faith alone — passes muster before the divine bar. As a result, our only comfort in life and death is based upon the fact that Jesus has paid for all our sins with his precious blood.

Christian liberty doesn’t mean we are free to live as libertines. It means that because Christ has satisfied God’s justice for us, we are now free to love others as he has loved us:

Christians are called to suffer as Christ suffered, that is, with the same purpose. We are called to suffer not for ourselves, but for others. When we engage in fasting in his image, but for the purpose of purifying ourselves, we invert that image. Such penitence is ultimately focused on self, not on the other.

Jesus’s passion was an act of love for us: “We love, because he first loved us.” We needn’t invent any obligation not laid upon us by the Lord, who summarized all the Law and Prophets (and ceremonies and fasts) of the Old Testament with this simple command: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” The most powerful reminders and signs and seals of that love, are the ones Jesus gave us: The preaching of Christ crucified, and the water and bread and wine of his holy sacraments.

Reformation Day is a day to remember these gospel truths with the Protestant Reformation clarified and called forth again to the forefront of the church’s consciousness.

Happy Reformation Day!

(You can read the full article at The Federalist, where it originally appeared: “Repent of Lent: How Spiritual Disciplines Can Be Bad for Your Soul.”)