passion play

We’re embarking on a spiritual journey through the Psalms during the month of June. I’m stoked about it. We’re handing out booklets to all of the attendees, and in the booklets are 29 selected Psalms. We’ll be teaching through the 5 themes during our Sunday services, and then on the 29th, we will wrap up with a liturgical service. No teaching, it will be hymns, a choral response, communion, prayer, and dismissal. Should be fun. Want to use the psalm booklet, or go through it with us? Here you go: 2:9 Psalm Booklet

Let me know (comment here) if you decide to go through it with us. If you’re using it at your church, small group, or other setting, please let me know! I’d love to hear about it, and so I can pray for you. Grace.

Death, where is your sting?

It has been removed bythe glorious hands of Christ.

Death, you’ve been devoured.

By the precious blood of my God.

You are no longer efficacious.

instead rendered useless by marvelous grace.

I can now look you in the eyes

and laugh mercilessly in your face.

Sin, you’ve lost your power.

Hands handcuffed by the rising of Light.

Should you attempt to take me to the grave,

I shall brush you off as dust.

You are already destroyed

by the scarlet thread of my Savior.

You are no longer strong,

but are now bound forever.

• Church yesterday was good. Attendance was down from usual (students are gone), offering was up (students are gone ).
• Josh, the opening manager for yesterday, overslept. We got into the building at 10:55am. By the way, we start at 11am. Yesterday, we started around 11:20. We literally went unplugged. No equipment at all. Ian and I both had to project. Hey it happens in portable church planting.
• Ian’s set was pretty good, though we were both a little frazzled from the setup. Here’s the set list:
  • Prodigal by Ian Meeks
  • Love Song for a Savior by Jars of Clay
  • How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin
• Not a big fan of Tomlin, but Ian played it different (fingerpicking it). Sounded good, different, and really got the people singing, which is harder to do at an unplugged service. Ian’s song, Prodigal, was definitely cool too. I’m excited to have him writing. But we do miss Pablo.
• We had our first family yesterday! They were the Vicks, of heart art fame. They had two children, Aaron and Isaac (10, and 7 respectively). I met them at an Uptown Greenville social, and I’m stoked that they came! It was good to see kids in the service.
• Doug and April, a married couple who work on campus, came back. It was good to see them again. They are looking to move away from our beautiful city, but hey, to each his own. We’re glad to have them for the time being.
• Overall a great day!
• Next week should be awesome, with Matthew Lilley coming to lead us in worship. Should be great stuff. And his facial hair is infinitely cooler than mine…

Ed sat down in the car, and I asked him what he wanted to eat. He responded with “a hamburger.” Alright, and so we headed towards the nearest McDonald’s. We walk in, Ed’s limping on his prosthetic leg and carrying his crutch, and we head to the cash registers. He says “I’ll just take a hamburger”, and I ask him what he really wants.

“Man, I haven’t had a Big Mac in years.”

So I buy him a Big Mac combo, I order a Big and Tasty (no tomato, no mayo, of course), and we sit down to eat. As I’m talking to Ed, I find out something peculiar: this man knows the Gospel better than most Christians. He knows that he can do nothing in and of himself, and that in fact, without God, he is utterly useless. He describes his relationship with his parents, his addiction to alcohol, and his incarceration for disorderly conduct all in terms of God’s grace and providence. This man is definitely saved…yet struggling. He’s been clean from alcohol since January, and I encouraged him in that, and invited him out to church when he got a chance.

We conclude our lunch with a promise to try to meet once a week for lunch. I give him my phone number (he has a cell phone), and I take him back to the shelter and we part ways.

We are thinking as a church to pair up our people with homeless people for “lunch dates” in the fall. Any ideas?

Frustrated, I headed towards Circuit City. I was sick of this wild goose chase (sorry, Mark). I had been hunting for a 2.5″ SATA laptop hard drive enclosure for nearly an hour, without any luck. So I left Best Buy, and headed across the street to the big CC, which I dreaded. I hate walking into Circuit City. I parked the car, locked the doors, and turned towards the motion-detecting doors when I ran into a middle-aged, heavyset man with duct-taped eyeglasses who spoke softly, yet with a confident Southern drawl:

“I don’t mean to harm you sir, but I was wondering if you could spare a dollar so I could buy myself something to eat.”

I looked at him. Squared him up. He was obviously homeless. And hurting. The crutch and mended eyeglasses notwithstanding, the loneliness was evident on his face and in his demeanor. I responded.

“Sorry, but I don’t carry cash on me, sir”

At this his eyes softened and were cast downward, and his head nodded with a motion that I’m sure he had made many times before. But I hadn’t finished speaking…

“But I’d be glad to sit down with you and have lunch.”

At this his face, along with its five o’clock shadow, lurched upwards, and his steel-grey eyes bore into my face. And he stammered:

“R…r…really?”

I answered in the affirmative, asked him to get into my SUV, and this was the beginning of my Lunch With Ed.

To be continued.