A Motif Of God's Glory

On Monday night, Mr. and Mrs. Newton (long time Jacobsen family friends) stopped by on their way to visit family in New York. After dinner, we all went to Ault Park to enjoy a warm summer evening; walking through the many flower gardens that are maintained by members of the community. As we walked along, reminiscing about old times, I was amazed by the color, life, and beauty that surrounded us. A very, very small, picture of the glory of God. But, what an amazing picture it is!

"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise

because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the starts, which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;

you put everything under his feet:

all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

~Psalm 8~

WHAT IF?

Today at church, the message was on the need for unity in the church. With the prayer being, "Father, make us one" just as Jesus prayed in John 17:20-25: "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. My they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." And as it was reconfirmed in Ephesians 4, "....Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all..."

As the pastor correctly pointed out, we are called to unity and not uniformity. The church is not required to be uniformed in its service, music, or even its names; but it is called to be united and the world may know the Head of the Church - Christ. So what would happen if the Church (with a big "C") was united with Christ at the center? The pastor answered this question by saying this: on Monday, we (the church) would abolish world hunger, on Tuesday we will provide lasting clean drinking water for everyone in the world, on Wednesday we would provide medical aid to every person who needs it, on Thursday we will see the end of poverty, on Friday we will take care of every orphan and provide for their needs, by Saturday every person in the world will know the name of the Jesus and see him (His glory), and on Sunday, we will worship as a Church like we have never worshiped before.

What do you think would happen if the Church was unified?

July 4th - On The River

It rained practically all day here, but right about 8 o'clock the rain let up, and after a short discussion, we grabbed a blanket and headed out. First stop was the grocery store for a rhubarb pie and vanilla ice cream (of course). Then we went to Eden Park, which has a lovely overlook with a view of the Ohio River and Kentucky. We enjoyed lightning bugs, fireworks all up and down the valley, thunder, a bunch of little kids next to us who at each big explosion exclaimed, "dang!", our pie and ice cream (and part of a cheesecake that jumped into the basket), and a few mosquitoes. A lovely evening, and a wonderful way to celebrate.

The largest fireworks lasted well over an hour, and probably went on longer, but we decided to call it a night close to 10:30 because John had to work this morning.