Writing

So far I'm really enjoying my Creative Non-Fiction class this semester. Writing is always something that I've always wanted to do and felt that I'm decent at, but never had the patience to sit down and do in a quality manner. The class so far has really stretched me, showing me that the quality of writing mostly lies within hard work in revisions. And it's nice to have an outlet for creativity, which sometimes I don't realize I have.

Our first writing project was a personal memoir. After all the revisions and reworkings, the professor actually chose my work as the top in the class, which is pretty cool for a newbie! If you would like, you can read that work here. The second one we wrote was a biography and/or character sketch, which I wrote on my grandpa. This one I felt rushed to turn in and didn't do the greatest quality effort on, so I'm not as proud of. But we'll see what the revisions can make of it. I'm hopeful that when I graduate I'll have more time to just do some writing on my own and see where that takes me.

If this guy qualifies, then I definitely do...

A Prayer

This is a prayer I wrote last week on our Spring break road trip. We were on the way to California and I all of the sudden just felt like writing this down. It's long and kind of scattered in places, but I really like it. 


LORD God, King of all Your Creation, Lord of all land and see, all trees and grass, all deserts and rainforests, all bird and beast--all these cry out to You giving You all the glory and honor and praise as You are worthy of. For all of Your creation is a reflection and messenger of Your glory, crying out in a language unknown by any ear but understood by all hearts, and telling of Your majesty and Your eternal reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Glory to You, O Master of all, and holy, holy, holy are you Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! The powerful angels surround You and submit to You, singing Your praises without ceasing forever and ever. All kings and rulers of the earth are humbled before You, laying down their crowns - their power and authority - before You, Triune God. For on that Day when all things are revealed, no one will be able to stand before You, let alone boast in our own power or claim any control for themselves. Your Power and Authority will bring the claimed powers and authorities of this world to nothing. Because You, O God, are the Source and the Sustainer of all things. In You all things live and move and have their being, and to You goes all the glory for our mere existence.

Glory be to You, Holy Father, who sits upon the Throne of Heaven. You are the Creator and Sustainer of all things and over all things You are exalted as Lord. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End of all things. All things that exist exist for the purpose of glorifying You. You are holy, and You reign forever.

Glory be to You, Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of the Father. You, as the eternal Logos, were present at the very beginning of creation, and all things were created through You. In Your incredible grace, You were united to man, becoming like us in order to pay the debt of our sins and redeem us from the inevitable power of death. In Your death, You took the weight of our sins, and in Your Resurrection, You proved Yourself to be Master over Death, bringing us into new life and inaugurating Your Kingdom among us, to slowly but surely take over this world. You are holy, and You reign forever.

Glory be to You, Holy Spirit, the Giver of life. You are the very Breath that was placed in all the creation to bring about the miracle of life, and You are the very Breath that brings new life into the creation that has been called according to Your purposes, day by day renewing the face of the earth and empowering Your people to do good works. You are the Bringer of Truth, our Advocate and Counselor who is the very presence of God with us, Your people. You are holy, and You reign forever.

Holy Trinity, we are Your servants, and we submit ourselves fully to You for Your purposes. We are Your ambassadors to this world and the messengers of Your Gospel, by which You are making Your Kingdom come here on earth and redeeming all Your creation.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. You are holy, and You reign forever.

Amen.

Come, O LORD, and Breathe Life into Us

Ezekiel 37:1-14

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out 
by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; 
it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very 
many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, 
“Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: 
O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to 
these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 
I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you,
 and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; 
and you shall know that I am the Lord.” So I prophesied as I had been 
commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, 
and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were 
sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered 
them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy 
to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the 
Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these 
slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the 
breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast 
multitude. Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house 
of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are 
cut off completely.’Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the 
Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your 
graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 
And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and 
bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within 
you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then 
you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.

Taxing a Political Church

I came across a really interesting article from the Indianapolis Examiner calling for a revoking of the tax-exempt status of churches, because of the large amount of political influence they wield and preach. While some would argue that preachers have every right to preach whatever they want from the pulpit (I would disagree though--the Bible makes it pretty clear what we should be preaching), this article points out "when [churches] use their tax-free money and the pulpit to influence policy, they are no better than a lobbyist." Because of this, the article argues, churches should have their tax-exempt status removed, if they want to play such a role in the politics of our country. 


You should go read the article rather than just reading my summary of it, but I found myself agreeing with it. If we use the church to be a political instrument, then it should be taxed as such. And, from the biblical perspective, I think the Church has a much larger agenda than trying to influence the policies of a single government. We, the global Church, are called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be working for the coming of the Kingdom of God to this earth. We preach a message of love, not one of politics. We the Church need to start asking ourselves some serious questions:

•  Are our actions serving our purpose of preaching the Gospel and bringing about the Kingdom of God?
• Are we being faithful stewards of the resources God has given us?
• As a part of the universal Church, what is our relation to the politics of one nation?

What are your thoughts? Have churches forfeited the privilege of tax-exempt status? Are we really being faithful to our divine calling? Please share.