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 Wednesday, December 24, 2008
A FARMStrong Christmas!!!
posted by John David Walt | at 12/24/2008 10:19:00 AM | 4 comments

 

Monday, December 15, 2008
A Good Word for Writers of Worship Songs


comments?

Hat Tip to Chris Seay on this clip.
posted by John David Walt | at 12/15/2008 06:26:00 PM | 8 comments

 

Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Many Faces of Worship

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posted by John David Walt | at 12/13/2008 01:13:00 AM | 5 comments

 

Friday, December 12, 2008
Worship and Mission: Part 6
Previously on Worship and Mission. . . . . . .

Levitical Law revealed through Moses linking proper temple sacrifices and leaving grain in the field. . . . . . .Ruth, an (illegal?) alien widow gleans behind the harvesters outside Bethlehem in the field of Boaz. . . . . . Ruth lays at the feet of Boaz on the threshing floor and he later takes her as his wife, becoming her kinsman redeemer. . . . . . Boaz and Ruth give birth to Obed. . . . . who will sire Jesse. . . . . who will sire. . . . . . . David. 


David, now King, takes an ill-advised count of Israel's army. The Lord sends a plague on the land. 70,000 dead and the plague rages on. 

15 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family."


18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." 19 So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad. 20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?"
"To buy your threshing floor," David answered, "so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped."

22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 O king, Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May the LORD your God accept you."

24 But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.  25 David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped. 



to be continued. . . . . . . .

Scenes from the next episode

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posted by John David Walt | at 12/12/2008 08:08:00 AM | 2 comments

 

Thursday, December 11, 2008
Worship and Mission: Part 5

As you read the following texts from Ruth, keep in mind the Leviticus text in the prior post in the series. Stay with me.  It will take a few posts, but this is headed to an amazing vista of revelation.  

1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor."  Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter." 3 So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.

 4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" 
      "The LORD bless you!" they called back.  To read more of this fascinating encounter click here. 


[SIDEBAR:  that little exchange between Boaz and the harvesters-- that's a FARMStrong Farm!]


TRACK FORWARD NOW A BIT LATER:

1 One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home [a] for you, where you will be well provided for? 2 Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do." 5 "I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.  7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet. 
9 "Who are you?" he asked.  "I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer."

13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."   16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." 

And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

to be continued...........

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posted by John David Walt | at 12/11/2008 08:34:00 AM | 1 comments

 

Monday, December 08, 2008
The Many Faces of Worship


If you can't read this check it out at http://qwantz.com/. Look up December 8. This is fun-- a comic strip whose pictures never change one whit but the words do.
posted by John David Walt | at 12/08/2008 03:54:00 PM | 0 comments

 


Worship and Mission: Part 4

I want us to take a look at the following text and make some observations about the connections between worship and mission that emerge from the text. Don't be afraid of stating the obvious-- sometimes that's where the greatest insight comes. Get involved with this thread as it promises to unfold some potentially major epiphanies in the way ahead.

Leviticus 19

Various Laws

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
3 " 'Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.

4 " 'Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the LORD your God.

5 " 'When you sacrifice a fellowship offering [a] to the LORD, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. 6 It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned up. 7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted. 8 Whoever eats it will be held responsible because he has desecrated what is holy to the LORD; that person must be cut off from his people.

9 " 'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.

11 " 'Do not steal.
" 'Do not lie.
" 'Do not deceive one another.

12 " 'Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

13 " 'Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him.
" 'Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.

14 " 'Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.

15 " 'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

16 " 'Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
" 'Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the LORD.

17 " 'Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

18 " 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

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posted by John David Walt | at 12/08/2008 07:22:00 AM | 7 comments

 

Tuesday, December 02, 2008
A New Poem from FARMStrong
Pulled the Poetry Blog out of the ditch today. Check out my bi-annual tradition of writing a poem during the commencement ceremony here.
posted by John David Walt | at 12/02/2008 11:09:00 PM | 0 comments

 

Today...