All Things New

Red Mountain Church has just released a new collection of hymns, called All Things New.  While I haven’t heard the album in its entirety, the couple of tracks I have heard are outstanding.  Red Mountain continues to breathe new life to powerful, yet obscure hymn texts.  The production of their music continues to get better with each release, while maintaining a simple, understated vibe of folk and indie sound palettes.  You can order a copy of All Things New, here.

To thee I come, a sinner poor | and wait for mercy at thy door | Indeed, I’ve nowhere else to flee | Oh God be merciful to me

To thee I come, a sinner weak and scarce know how to pray or speak | From fear and weakness set me free | Oh God, be merciful to me

~To Thee I come, from the new collection of Hymns at Red Mountain Church, All Things New.

Reckoning the Future through the Past

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”           - Galatians 4.4-5, esv

God’s redeeming acts in Salvation History give us an opportunity to marvel at what he has done on our behalf and give us surety of what is yet to come.  It is the dual nature of Advent that makes it a profound and compelling season for the church.  In celebrating what God has done (through the incarnation) we look forward to what God will accomplish at the Last Day (the Consummation of the Kingdom of God).  This looking back to look forward is not new for the people of God.  The Passover and Exodus in the Old Testament was the key moment of redemption that every Israelite looked to as an anchor point of God’s redeeming love and faithfulness.  The Exodus demonstrated God’s utter commitment as Israel’s Covenant Lord and provided a surety for what God would do on behalf of his people to bring them to the Land of Promise. 

The Israelites could remember the Passover and rejoice that their future with God was rooted in his faithfulness.  Is it any wonder that God commanded his people to celebrate the Passover with regularity?  Is it any wonder that Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper and commanded his people to celebrate it with regularity.  It is a grace to his people to remember his atoning sacrifice through the signs and seals of the new covenant.  Bringing to mind what God has done points the way to God’s sure future.  The same God who delivered his people from the hand of Pharaoh is the same God who would bring a Messiah who would deliver Shalom to his people- once and for all. 

Why should God’s people be joyful, thankful and enduring in faithfulness?  The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and the accomplishment of our redemption through his shed blood is why!  How can we remain hopeful in a world filled with tragedy and loss?  Through the stunning love of God, who at the “fullness of time” took on flesh and offered himself as a ransom for many.  The incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus the Son of God demonstrate the faithfulness and power of God to fulfill his Word and to live up to all his decrees.  Because we can look to Jesus in his first appearing, we can look with confidence toward the future, with joy and surety! “Christ has died, Christ has risen,  Christ will come again.”

Michener's Chesapeake

I am just finishing the late James Michener’s sprawling epic, Chesapeake, in which the author paints the historical development of the Chesapeake Bay region across four centuries. It is long, but richly rewarding. Michener introduces the reader to a myriad of characters along the way. These characters, some fictional, some factual, all fit into the integrity of the historical sketch. It spans the history of the regions development from before colonization all the way through the impact of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s. Michener does a masterful job of tracing the lives of several distinct families and their ancestors as time unfolds in the region.

At one point, Michener inserts the great Methodist Bishop, Francis Asbury. In this sketch, he renders a fictional, though likely realistic, entry to one of Asbury’s journal recordings. Here he describes his evangelistic efforts in the Chesapeake region of Patamoke and his impression of one of the families traced in the novel, the Turlocks. What ensues is a description of the utter waywardness of the town in general and of this Turlock, in particular. Writes Michener (fictionally, as Asbury),

"I arrived at Patamoke, a fair town on a fair river, on fire to save the souls

of these rude men who fished the bay as the followers of Jesus fished the

Gallilee, but the first man I fell in with was one Turlock, who annoyed the

patrons of our tavern by his noisy eating, his loud drinking, his smoking and

his riotous behavior. He appeared as forgetful of eternity as if he had been

at the most secure distance from its brink. The reprobate had the effrontery

to tell me in a loud voice that his father had lived to be 109 and had never

used spectacles.

Having been greeted by a man so steeped in sin, I was eager to get about the

business of saving this place, but I found that Satan has arrived before me,

diverting the good people of Patamoke with a play, which they attended

noisily and with apparent delight. I was sore distressed."

Epic. Classic! Read this book.

Children's Worship Project

Finding great worship music for kids is not easy. Whether you are a parent looking for something to play in the car or someone who works in children's ministry, The Village Church, near Dallas, TX, has produced an excellent album of songs for kids. With topics focusing primarily on the doctrine of God, creation and sin, The Village has given the church a valuable set of songs that are well crafted and deliver the gospel faithfully. Most of the songs were written by Isaac Wimberley and Jeff Capps. You can order the disc here and get downloadable chord charts too.

New Beginnings 2010 Video

We recently had a Middle School Student Retreat themed, ONE. Based on Ephesians 4.2-7, students egaged the realities of one God, one Life and one Mission. My friend, Marshall Head, of Studio Say So fame, was kind enough to join us for the weekend and put together this great little video. Enjoy.

Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge, a poem

Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge
em moulton Christmas 2006


The Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge stretched out
across the Ohio this morning looking heavy
with the weight of rain soaked into the pours of
its concrete piers and dripping down
from its minted steel forms as morning commuters
inched across with lights on and wipers on and
AM radios on leaving a trail of exhaust
to join the tang of rain and river
of road-top and rusted iron


I too felt heavy walking the bridge
beneath wet clothes imagining the men who cut the roads
from the foothills across the river
and raised the bridge beneath my feet and bolted
the truss-work overhead in the fabrication yard just
downstream and I thought about the time it takes
to make something right to do something well and
to make a way like the span of redemption
taking long its course and how God must glory
in that time and is glorified yet still and
stopping momentarily fixed only on the
river below I traced a log
drifting on the waters
floating quietly toward
release