Entering Ephesians (1:3-14)

Posted on by
1

ephesians_logo

I found inspiration recently by a post on Chelsey’s blog. It was a reflection from the book of Ephesians, and it led me back to those pages too. (For the record, I have NO IDEA why the print coming up is so small!  Grab your bi-focals if you need.)

This morning I read this from 25-cent version of the J.B. Phillips NT…

Praise be to God (“Why?”, we ask.)

for giving us through Christ every possible spiritual benefit as citizens of Heaven! (We–you and I–have been given every benefit that would befit a citizen of heaven. God HAS held, and He WILL CONTINUE to hold, NOTHING back from us.)

For consider what he has done –

before the foundation of the world
he chose us to become, in Christ, (To become what?)

his holy and blameless children (Good people to be.)

living within his constant care. (Good place to live.)

He planned, in his purpose of love,(Always God’s purpose.)

that we should be adopted as his own children through Jesus Christ –
that we might learn to praise that glorious generosity of his which has made us welcome in the everlasting love he bears towards the Son. (The love that the Divine Father has for the Divine Son… THAT is what WE are invited into!)

It is through the Son,

at the cost of his own blood,

that we are redeemed,

freely forgiven

through that full and generous grace (That’s the kind of grace I need.) which has overflowed into our lives (That’s the kind of flood I need.) and opened our eyes to the truth. (And I could use that sight too.)

For God had allowed us to know the secret of his plan, and it is this:

he purposes in his sovereign will

that all human history shall be consummated in Christ (Consummated=achieved, perfected, completed.),

that everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall find its perfection and fulfilment in him. (Jesus brings to the table what you and I–along with the rest of creation–need to be perfected and fulfilled.)

And here is the staggering thing (Because nothing staggering has been said yet!) –

that in all which will one day belong to him

we have been promised a share (What’s His is ours! This isn’t to promote greed; it’s to get it straight in our heads that being part of God’s Kingdom is to be part of the ONLY Kingdom.)

since we were long ago destined for this by the one who achieves his purposes by his sovereign will, so that we, as the first to put our confidence in Christ, may bring praise to his glory!

And you too trusted him, when you heard the message of truth, the Gospel of your salvation.

And after you gave your confidence to him (Great way to describe faith.)you were, so to speak, stamped with the promised Holy Spirit as a guarantee of purchase,

until the day when God completes the redemption of what he has paid for as his own (What a day that will be! The ultimate consummation of Lover and Beloved, and the grand fulfillment of all that the Creation–and you and me–are intended to be!);

and that will again be to the praise of his glory. (I’ll bet it will be!)

Deliver Us

Posted on by
1

All right, the same Andrew Peterson album I just mentioned has one of my other favourite “Christmas” songs too.  Oddly enough, it isn’t actually sung by Andrew either.  (Sorry Andrew, don’t read too much into that.)

This one’s sung by Derek Webb, and it’s been on me since I posted back HERE apparently.  The video below is a “raw-er” version than the polished CD track, but it’ll get you the basics.

Deliver Us

Our enemy, our captor is no Pharaoh on the Nile.
Our toil is neither mud nor brick nor sand.
Our ankles bear no callouses from chains,
Yet Lord, we’re bound.
Imprisoned here, we dwell in our own land.

Deliver us, deliver us.
Oh Yahweh, hear our cry,
And gather us beneath Your wings tonight.

Our sins,they are more numerous than all the lambs we slay.
These shackles, they were made with our own hands.
Our toil is our atonement and our freedom Yours to give.
So Yahweh, break Your silence if You can.

‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem
How often I have longed
To gather you beneath My gentle wings.’

Labour of Love

Posted on by
1

This has been one of my favourite Christmas songs the past couple years. It’s from an Andrew Peterson album called “Behold the Lamb of God”; the song’s titled “Labour of Love”.


It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David’s town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother’s hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David’s town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

Wipeout

Posted on by
Reply

Every so often, I catch this show “Wipeout” on one of the channels near the end of our list. This one event (the Big Balls) always makes me laugh. The sheer number of ways that people can “bite it” on those things keeps me amused for hours.

Here’s a few minutes worth…