Number Our Days

My family recently had the pleasure of taking a vacation to the beach with some dear friends.  It was especially meaningful because these days, with both our sons working and doing the college thing, it can be hard to get us all in to the same place for 30 minutes, much more so for several days.  I'm grateful for every such opportunity we have.

Because our trip spanned a Sunday, we did as we've done for years in such situations and planned to have our own Sunday worship session.  Usually one of us Dads will prepare and share a devotion, and we spend a little time in prayer and musical worship.  This time around, I volunteered the lead the devotion, and set about praying and considering what might be of particular relevance to our families in this season.  "This season" is more than just another milestone along the course of our collective aging.  We've recently endured quite a bit of heaviness between our families, including the death of a mother/grandmother and the wildly destructive Hurricane Helene (which is what brought us to the beach in the first place, since the mountain vacation we'd already planned became a non-option).

It's a bit challenging to convey all that went into my consideration of a text to focus on, but there were several key things.  It started, of course, with the weight and near reminder of how close death can be.  But beyond that, I'd had recent conversations about how the more melancholy worship songs (some of which are musically lovely!) always feel out of place in a Sunday morning service, at least in my denominational context.  The book of Psalms has such songs, so songs of sorrow are completely relevant and legitimate for congregational worship.  I recalled that the Church has had for many years a mechanism for touching on all the various valid emotions of the Christian life:  cyclic, planned liturgies.  On a whim, I looked up the Anglican liturgical calendar to see what readings were scheduled for our Sunday away.  Almost unsurprisingly, they were all readings focused on sorrow.

Two other things happened while at the beach that narrowed my search into a decision.  While walking in a beach souvenir shop, the overhead radio program (featuring John Tesh) was musing about midlife crises.  I was only half paying attention, but I heard Tesh saying something about age 40 being the halfway point of the average lifespan.  Then the following day, I took a solo side quest up to Southport, where I spent some time poking around an interesting cemetery.  (In a fun plot twist, I later went off to find a multi-stage geocache that led me around town picking up clues, and the final destination turned out to be none other than that same cemetery.)  There I noted the ages on many of the headstones — people dying at age 60. 40. 21. 18. 7. 1. Even a trio of three-month-old children laid in a row.  My thoughts kept returning to just how fleeting life is for us.  And that was all I needed to secure a text for our Sunday morning devotion.  Without yet knowing where the study would lead, I chose Psalm 90.

I won't attempt to recount the whole devotion here, but as I studied the text over the next half-day, I couldn't avoid seeing phrases and themes that reminded me of the Genesis accounts of Creation and the Fall.  Themes of toiling, day after day; literary hints such as the morning and evening cycle; an eventual return to dust — all point to Genesis 1-3.  A Psalm that at first glance might appear to picture an arbitrarily wrath-filled God is reminding us that because of the first sin, the earth and its inhabitants are under a curse.  God hates sin.  It was sin that introduced death into Creation in the first place.  And the Psalm (with a bit more authority than Mr. Tesh) reminds us that life is roughly 70 years long — 80 if you're lucky.

After reading and commenting a bit on the Psalm that Sunday morning, I employed an unconventional analogy in order to help our families consider what "80 years" looks like.  If life is a pizza with eight slices, our family members' ages fell pretty neatly into clean "slice counts".  My daughter is 10 — one of her slices is already gone.  The older boys' ages hover around 20 — two slices gone.  Jason and Cassandra (the parents in the other family) have consumed half of their pizza.  And Amy and I are down to just three slices left.  This is a sobering thought, and is surely why Psalm 90's final section asks of God, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."

Father in Heaven, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.  Have pity on us.  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  Amen.

Ten Commandments of Dating

Some years ago, as my sons were approaching the age at which words like "girlfriend" and "dating" were being used more often, I began thinking through what a biblical framework for dating might look like. This is not the most obvious enterprise because the Bible was written to a culture wildly different than our modern western society, with patterns and norms for establishing relationships of this sort that look nothing like those we experience today. Still, I was convinced that the Bible carried principles that reflect the character of God and His intention for all people across all of time, so I turned to what I felt was the most obvious place – the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments are of course pretty widely known, and are both respected and recognized for what they are: brief summary statements that encapsulate many deep layers of thought and consideration.  From these ten basic commandments would flow another 600+ more detailed laws given to the Israelites through Moses, which would then give way to countless codified interpretations and applications over the years as the nuance and complexity of society would give rise to such a need.

What follows here is my attempt to apply the basic principles of the Ten Commandment to the realm of pre-marital romance.  The document carries a heavy Christian slant (for which I make absolutely no apology) and is written from a first-person perspective, as if each party in the relationship was speaking his or her commitment to these principles to the other party.

Hammock Camping With Aidan

This past weekend, I was able to bring to completion some plans long held.  Looooong held.

With this being the first weekend after the completion of the Spring soccer season, I found on my hands a rare substance — free time.  Saturday morning I woke early, grabbed my hiking pack, and headed out to the Uwharrie National Forest.  I picked a trailhead that I'd visited once before (for just long enough to eat a granola bar and before making the return hike) but had never started at.  From the Tot Hill Farm Trailhead, I marched south on the Birkhead Mountain Trail toward Hannah's Creek.  But I made a last-minute decision to veer off and take a loop side-trail which was marked only as "Camp 3".  I'd not hiked this segment before.

It was a pleasant hike on a clearly less-traveled trail, but the most interesting bit for me was actually finding the camp site(s, plural, as there were two).  One particular site stood out immediately as the perfect spot for a hammock camping stay.  It featured a nice-sized clearing with an established fire pit just yards away from a natural creek (water means fire safety!) and with several mature trees perfectly spaced for at least six hammocks.  I popped up my own hammock and enjoyed the breezy day for a while before continuing my hike.  When it was all told, I'd hiked over 7 miles and felt like I'd found the hammock camping spot for which I'd been searching since Fall 2021.

And that's (at least in part) what I mean by "plans long held".  Nine months ago, my son Aidan and I started talking about camping somewhere with hammocks.  We bought the gear we needed and started scoping out locations.  But life got super busy with Fall soccer.  Then life got super chilly with Winter.  Then Spring soccer, and now AJ has his first job, and the world is rushing to fill everyone's time as an over-response to a slow pandemic year, and....  So the story of over-committed lives seems to go.  We had the gear and the inclination, but no time.

After Saturday's hike, I came home with a renewed sense of possibility.  Sunday was Father's Day, and I had intended to drive out to Denver, NC to hang out with my own dad after church.  But my girls both tested positive for COVID-19, which meant that it wasn't such a good idea to interact in person with my parents.  I enjoyed a 3-mile light local hike immediately after church with a friend.  But the timing seemed right (my company gave me Monday off in recognition of the Juneteenth holiday) and the weather was great, so I asked Aidan if he'd be okay with trying the hammock camping thing that evening.  And to my surprise, he was all in.

We packed up our gear and by 6pm were parked at the Tot Hill Farm Trailhead.  We repeated the hike I'd made the day prior, except we went clockwise around the camp loop instead of counter-clockwise.  By 7:15pm we'd reached the site (which I was thrilled to find empty) and started setting up camp — hanging the hammocks, gathering firewood, etc.  To my wonder, my fire started effortlessly, and as darkness started to close around us we sat by the fire and talked about a variety of things.  One feature of the site I'd noticed the previous day was that there was zero cellphone signal availability.  So in an age where we are constantly interrupted by technology, we found ourselves truly alone together.

It was about 10:30pm when we doused our fire and climbed into our hammocks.  We learned first-hand how challenging it is to wrestle with sleeping bags when trying to sleep on a curved surface.  (There's probably some trick to it; we just didn't know it!)  We learned how exposed one can feel sleeping in a hammock versus inside a tent — how you can hear absolutely everything yet see almost nothing.  We were super grateful for the built-in bug nets our hammocks offered.  We were amazed at how incredibly bright fireflies appear in the dark woods.  And eventually, we drifted off to sleep despite being hyper-aware and over-stimulated.

We woke early (as tends to happen outdoors), having each stirred multiple times through the night to adjust a sleeping bag or shift positions.  The sun had not yet lighted on our location when we climbed out of our packs, munched on Pop-Tarts and reflected on the evening.  But as we started packing things up again, the daylight intensified and aided visibility.  We hit the trail again around 6:30am, and arrived back at the trailhead around 8am, having successfully completed the mission we'd set for ourselves some nine months prior.

Long held plans.  But longer still for me.  This weekend brought parity that I needed to assuage a bit of parenting guilt.  You see, I'd taken AJ's older brother camping at Pilot Mountain a decade prior, and ever since that time it had bothered me that I wasn't able to offer the same one-on-one experience with Aidan.  This year — on Father's Day even — the combination of a lovely day, available time, a global pandemic, and an adventurous son resulted in some personal achievement, imbalances balanced, and valuable memories made.

"Gracious and Holy"

Over the past month, the Student Pastor at our church (and a dear friend) Evan Smith has been filling the pulpit on Sunday mornings as our senior pastor enjoys some much-deserved vacation time. (You might have noticed, but 2020 was a rather hard year for folks, and perhaps especially pastors.) Evan chose to deliver a cohesive, four-part sermon series, and settled a couple of months ago on the theme of God's presence. Over the four weeks, he planned to illuminate the thread of God's desire to dwell with His people that runs through the whole of Scripture: from Eden (where God walked with Adam and Eve), through the Exodus (where God "tabernacled" with the Israelites), to the Embodiment (or Incarnation, where Jesus — the Word who both was with God and was God — became flesh and dwelt among us), and into the promise of Eternity (where the people of God will enjoy the immediate presence of God forever). And if you were paying close attention, you noticed that those four waypoints were alliterative — such a good Baptist pastor! But between the lines of this story runs the equally deep and powerful truth of God's nature as both perfectly holy — such that imperfection in His presence runs the risk of eradication — and immensely gracious.

These were some of the many thoughts swimming around in my head on July 4, 2021. I was hiking alone the Robbins Branch Loop Trail in the Uwharrie National Forest, and trying to enjoy a calmness of mind. Irritatingly, though, my brain just seemed frantic — jumping from thought to thought across all the various roles I play (husband, parent, employee, worship leader, etc.). At one point, I actually yelled aloud in the forest in frustration, "Why is it so noisy in here?!" And then a strange thing happened. In what seemed like no time at all, the melody and opening words of the chorus of a new song were in my head, coalescing around the themes of Evan's sermon series. I spent the next several hours (and about 8 miles of hiking) developing the skeleton of the song. I was super-grateful to be alone in the woods, not least because it's really embarrassing to be tripping over tree roots whenever I turned my attention to my phone's voice recorder app or tried to type into it some lyric ideas!

Once home, I spent the next week or so putting meat on the song skeleton. Friends I shared the concept with seemed more supportive of this song than usual, so it felt like effort well-invested. And this past Sunday, Amy and I — along with other members of our church's worship team — shared the song with our church family. God be praised for using such an unworthy vessel to encourage His Church in song. Gracious and holy He truly is.

"Gracious and Holy" You made the Earth and the heavens. Spoke words to form them and fill them. So all that we have is by Your hand. Gracious and holy You are. You gave us freedom and purpose. We chose rebellion and curses. But hope lingered under the surface. Gracious and holy You are. Gracious and holy You are. You are here, always with me, Nearer than sacred to naked should be. You speak promises over my shame. I know that I'll never be the same. You came to dwell with Your people; Strengthen the downcast and feeble; And rescue us from every evil. Gracious and holy You are. Humbly you gave Your life for us. Hope is reversing our curses, Restoring our freedom and purpose. Gracious and holy You are. Gracious and holy You are. You are here, always with me. Nearer than righteous to wretched should be. You speak promises over my shame. I know that I'll never be the same. Now you are seated in Heaven, So, by the Spirit You've given, We will proclaim, "Christ is risen!" Gracious and holy You are. Gracious and holy You are. You are here, always with me, Nearer forever than failure could be. You poured righteousness over my shame. Called me Your child and then gave me Your name. You are here, always with me, Nearer forever than failure could be. You poured righteousness over my shame. I know that I'll never be the same. I know that I'll never be the same. ©2021 C. Michael Pilato; License: CC-BY-3.0

Here also is a demo recording that I made as a reference for our worship team (with many thanks to my son Aidan for lending his percussive skills):

C. Michael Pilato · Pilato - Gracious And Holy (demo)

Finally, you can get lead sheets (including the source MuseScore file) for the song from my GitHub repository.

My custom Planning Center Services plan report. You're welcome.

To all my fellow Planning Center Services jockeys out there, I thought I'd share with you a custom Plan report that I created (using one of the built-in reports as a baseline, mind you) and have been using for years now. Now, before you assume that all I've done here is fiddle with colors and fonts and page layout, hear me out. There are some features of this template that I want you to know about.

First—and the primary reason that I love this template so much—is that it handles Plan and Item Note categories dynamically. Unlike the built-in templates, this report template doesn't have to be modified just because you use different Notes categories than the default Planning Center ones. In fact, it doesn't care what specific Notes categories you have at all. Rather, it examines the Plan and its Items and dynamically determines which Note types are actually employed. This means two things: that it doesn't waste any page/screen real estate on unused Note categories, and you can use the same template for entirely different Service Types with entirely different categories defined!

The second, admittedly minor, thing that I like about this template is that it adds a column for icons that appear next to certain Item types. So Songs show up with a music notes icon (♫) next to them; Media items show a "play" triangle (⏵). It's a little thing, but it draws the eye to certain Item types quickly.

Finally, the template itself allows some quick customization of the features it employs via a collection of boolean variables at the top.  This allows you to use the same basic template for multiple custom Reports, but with little easy tweaks to goven the feature set for each one.  So, for example, I have a Report that shows everything that I distribute to my A/V operators and band members.  But I have another one using this same template that I use for our Ushers and Greeters where the variables show_plan_people, show_plan_notes, and show_item_notes have been set to false.

So, without further ado, my template. Please feel free to copy, use, and modify this thing to better suit your church's needs!

<!-- QUICK CUSTOMIZATION: {% assign show_plan_notes = true %} {% assign show_plan_people = true %} {% assign show_item_times = true %} {% assign show_item_length = true %} {% assign show_item_description = true %} {% assign show_item_notes = true %} --> <html> <head> <title>{{ plan.ministry.name }}:: {{ plan.dates }}</title> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Roboto:ital,wght@0,400;0,600;1,400;1,600&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"> <style> body { padding: 0; margin: 5px; color: #222; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; } h1 { font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: normal; text-shadow: 0 -1px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); } h2 { font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: normal; padding: 20px 35px; margin: 0; line-height: 1em; text-shadow: 0 1px 0 white; } h3 { font-size: 0.9em; text-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); } pre { margin: 0; padding: 0; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: .9em; } table#plan { width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom: 15px; font-size: 10pt; } table#plan tr { border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; } table#plan thead { display: table-header-group; } table#plan th { color: white; background: #444; font-weight: bold; padding: 0.5em 1em; vertical-align: middle; } table#plan td { text-align: center; padding: 0.5em 1em; } table#plan .icon { padding: 0; } table#plan .preservice .time, table#plan .preservice .length { color: #aaa; } table#plan .time { width: 3em; text-align: center; } table#plan .length { width: 3em; text-align: center; } table#plan .note_column { text-align: left; background: #f8f8f8; border-left: 2px solid white; } table#plan .header { text-align: left; font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #ddd; } table#plan .note { font-weight: bold; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle; min-width: 1in; } table#plan .element { min-width: 3in; text-align: left; } table#plan .element .description { font-size: 0.86em; color: #444; font-style: italic; } table#header { width: 100%; border: none; padding: 0; border-collapse: collapse; } table#header td { padding: 2px; vertical-align: top; } .artwork { float: left; margin-right: 15px; height: 40px; } .note_content { background: yellow; padding: 4px 8px 0; border-radius: 0.3em; } #header { padding: 5px 20px; background: #000; color: white; line-height: .8em; margin: 0; } #header img { float: right; height: 60px; margin-right: -15px; } #titles { color: #333; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: normal; padding: 10px 20px; margin: 0; line-height: 1.1em; text-shadow: 0 1px 0 white; min-height: 45px; } #plan_title { font-style: normal; font-size: 0.8em; display: block; color: #666; margin: 4px 0 0 0; } #plan_notes, #plan_people { background: #f8f8f8; margin: 1em 0; border-left: 4px solid black; padding: 0.5em 0 1em 2em; } #plan_notes { font-size: 0.8em; background: #ffffd0; } #plan_notes .plan_note { margin-top: 1em; } #plan_notes .plan_note_category { font-weight: bold; } #plan_people { font-size: 0.9em; } #plan_people .person { font-size: 0.7em; margin-right: 15px; display: inline-block; } #plan_people .person_status_U { opacity: 0.5; } #plan_people .person_category { clear: both; padding-top: 1em; } #plan_people .person_category p { font-size: 0.8em; margin: 0; } #plan_people .person_position { font-style: italic; } #plan_people .position { font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body> <!-- If showing item notes, first build a list of item note categories in use. --> {% if show_item_notes %} {% assign used_item_note_categories = '' | split: '' %} {% for item in plan.items %} {% for note in item.notes %} {% assign category = note.category.name | split: '|' %} {% assign used_item_note_categories = used_item_note_categories | concat: category %} {% endfor %} {% endfor %} {% assign used_item_note_categories = used_item_note_categories | uniq | sort %} {% endif %} <div id="header"> <h1>{{ plan.ministry.name }} - {{ plan.dates }}</h1> </div> <div id="titles"> <img class="artwork" onerror="this.style.display='none'" src="{{ plan.series_artwork_url }}" /> <div id="series_title">{{ plan.series_title }}</div> <div id="plan_title">{{ plan.plan_title }}</div> </div> <!-- If showing plan notes, first build a list of plan note categories in use, then iterate. --> {% if show_plan_notes %} {% assign used_plan_note_categories = '' | split: '' %} {% for note in plan.notes %} {% assign category = note.category.name | split: '|' %} {% assign used_plan_note_categories = used_plan_note_categories | concat: category %} {% endfor %} {% assign used_plan_note_categories = used_plan_note_categories | uniq | sort %} {% unless used_plan_note_categories == empty %} <div id="plan_notes"> {% for plan_note_category in used_plan_note_categories %} <div class="plan_note"> <div class="plan_note_category">{{plan_note_category}}</div> {% for note in plan.notes %} {% if note.category_name == plan_note_category %} <div>{{note.note}}</div> {% endif %} {% endfor %} </div> {% endfor %} </div> {% endunless %} {% endif %} <table id="plan"> <thead> <tr> {% if show_item_times %} {% for time in plan.plan_times %} <th class="time">@{{ time.starts_at | date: '%I:%M' }}</th> <!-- {% increment colspan %} --> {% endfor %} {% endif %} <th class="icon"></th> <!-- {% increment colspan %} --> <th align="left">Element</th> <!-- {% increment colspan %} --> {% if show_item_notes %} {% for category in used_item_note_categories %} <th class="note">{{ category }}</th> <!-- {% increment colspan %} --> {% endfor %} {% endif %} {% if show_item_length %} <th class="length">Length</th> <!-- {% increment colspan %} --> {% endif %} </tr> </thead> <tbody> {% for item in plan.items %} {% case item.item_type %} {% when 'Header' %} <!-- Header rows --> <tr> <td colspan="{{ colspan }}" class="header">{{ item.title }}</td> </tr> {% else %} <!-- Non-header rows --> {% assign item_class = ''%} {% if item.is_preservice or item.is_postservice %} {% assign item_class = 'preservice ' %} {% endif %} <tr class="{{ item_class }}"> {% if show_item_times %} {% for time in plan.plan_times %} <td class="time item {{ item_class }} {{ item.item_type }}"> {% for item_time in item.times %} {% if item_time.time_id == time.id %} {{ item_time.actual_time | date: '%I:%M' | downcase }} {% endif %} {% endfor %} </td> {% endfor %} {% endif %} <td class="item icon"> {% if item.item_type == "Song" %}&#9835;{% endif %} {% if item.item_type == "Media" %}&#9205;{% endif %} </td> <td class="item element {{ item_class }} {{ item.item_type }}"> {{ item.title }}{% if item.song %} [{{ item.arrangement.music_key }}]{% endif %} {% if show_item_description %}<div class="description">{{ item.description }}</div>{% endif %} </td> {% if show_item_notes %} {% for category in used_item_note_categories %} <td class="item note note_column {{ item_class }} {{ item.item_type }}"> {% for note in item.notes %} {% if note.category_name == category %} {{ note.note }} {% endif %} {% endfor %} </td> {% endfor %} {% endif %} {% if show_item_length %} <td class="item length {{ item_class }} {{ item.item_type }}">{{ item.length }}</td> {% endif %} </tr> {% endcase %} {% endfor %} </tbody> </table> {% if show_plan_people %} <!-- If showing plan people, first build a list of person categories in use, then iterate. --> {% assign used_person_categories = '' | split: '' %} {% for plan_person in plan.plan_people_not_declined %} {% assign category = plan_person.category.name | split: '|' %} {% assign used_person_categories = used_person_categories | concat: category %} {% endfor %} {% assign used_person_categories = used_person_categories | uniq | sort %} {% unless used_person_categories == empty %} <div id="plan_people"> {% for plan_person_category in used_person_categories %} <div class="person_category"> <p><strong>{{ plan_person_category }}</strong></p> {% for plan_person in plan.plan_people_not_declined %} {% if plan_person.person.name != null %}{% if plan_person.category.name == plan_person_category %} <div class="person person_status_{{ plan_person.status }}"> &bull; <span class="person_name">{{ plan_person.person.name }}</span> <span class="person_position">({{ plan_person.position }})</span> </div> {% endif %}{% endif %} {% endfor %} </div> {% endfor %} </div> {% endunless %} {% endif %} </body> </html>

As of a few minutes ago, I've submitted this report template back to the fine folks that develop Planning Center Services so that they may consider integrating its enhancements into the core product itself.

"O For a Thousand Tongues"

Way back in January 2016, I was working to create a modernized arrangement of the Public Domain hymn, "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" by Charles Wesley.  I'd hope to preserve the original melody and lyrics, and maybe just add a bridge or something.  I ended up adding a sort of bridge for each stanza.  Unfortunately, while I was really happy with my additions, they never really paired well with the feel of the original hymn.  So I shelved the idea, revisiting it from time to time over the years in further failed attempts to shoehorn together two incompatible ideas.

On June 30, 2020, however, I gave up trying to make fit what never would, and instead restructured the whole song around my additions.  I heavily edited the original hymn lyric and melody while still trying to preserve the essence of what it said.  After all, to wish that one had a thousand tongues to sing God's praise all the louder is a beautiful sentiment!  So that, as well as the general message of the hymn's stanzas, remain the core of what is now essentially a brand new song.

As I intend to share the song with my local church, I needed to whip up a demo of it.  Last night I spent about an hour tracking acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and bass guitar.  After my son Aidan finished watching a movie with his friends, I asked him to come upstairs and lay down a drum track.  Then this morning, I was able to get my wife Amy in front of a microphone to track the lead vocals, with me laying down some harmonies immediately thereafter.

The result of those three-and-a-half hours of recording and mixing are available on my SoundCloud page:

C. Michael Pilato · O For a Thousand Tongues (demo)

I've licensed the song under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.  And as part of my commitment to reducing barriers to adoption for music truly written for the church (rather than for a paycheck), I've posted the sheet music for the song to my GitHub repository.

And here are the lyrics for the song:

O For a Thousand Tongues All-gracious Master, glorious God, Give me the words to proclaim. Spread thru the whole earth, here and abroad, The honor of Your holy name. Father, You give me the choice, But Your grace compels me to lift up my voice. If I was mute, I'd still make joyful noise to Thee. O, for a thousand tongues to sing! Jesus, your name calms the deepest of fears. You bid every sorrow to cease. Your mercy is music in this sinner's ears— Your love is the source of my peace. Savior, You knew all along That you'd trade perfection for all I'd do wrong. Lord, may my life make a beautiful song to Thee. O, for a thousand tongues to sing! O, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise! Sing of the glories of my King; the triumph of His grace! Jesus you've broken the power of sin. Your blood sets the prisoners free. Dying you saved us, then rising again Accomplished supreme victory! O, for a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemer's praise! Sing of the glories of our King; the triumph of His grace! Your church in heav'n and earth below, this sacrifice we bring! O, for a thousand tongues to sing. O, for a thousand tongues to sing. O, for a thousand tongues to sing. Spirit of God, fill this place. Write on our hearts songs of mercy and grace. Oh, God, we're desperate to give every praise to Thee. O, for a thousand tongues to sing! O, for a thousand tongues to sing! O, for a thousand tongues to sing!

Ambassadors for Christ?

Ugh. Today, besides feeling physically subpar (hello, tick bite!), I feel spiritually defiled. In a moment of weakness and morbid curiosity, I made the mistake of reading some of the Facebook feeds of a handful of people in my church. I think we might have a problem.

The Word of God tells Christians that they are citizens of a new kind of Kingdom. This Kingdom is not one with physical, geographical boundaries, a two-party political system, checks and balances, and a (merely) 200-year-old governing document. It's God's Kingdom, existing outside the physical Universe and governed by God Himself:

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. [Phillippians 3:20-21 ESV]

One cool thing is that when we become citizens of that Kingdom, God leaves us in place, planted in the physical realm to serve His purposes. Our job? To be His ambassadors:

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. [2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV]

But as I read post after hate-filled post on Facebook, it became crystal clear to me that either the Kingdom has fewer citizens than I'd hoped, or those citizens grossly misunderstand their roles as ambassadors. Were I to judge by what I saw (and have heard), I would calculate that "ambassador for Christ" has come to mean "culture warrior". We Christians line up on political, sociological, idealogical, racial, or any other "-al" line we can find, dig in our heels, crane our necks and bend our ears for the sound of the charge!

What if we revisit the idea of ambassador-ship with a new objective: to make—by our every word, thought, and deed—the Kingdom of heaven and the God who governs it so glorious and attractive that its opponents simply emigrate to it. No need for blood shed. No anger. No insults. Just love and faithful representation—ambassadorship—of the King of Kings.