Pastoral Musings, Church and Worship
Partying Towards Holiness
by Tim Lien
Parties matter. How people party can tell you quite a bit about them. One of the most surprising aspects of our series in Leviticus was how God goes about changing an entire people group towards himself. Or put another way: How does God enact a massive melting of hearts across communities of family and nation?
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Pastoral Musings
Fat and Happy
by Tim Lien
The source of true contentment:
A carnal heart reads the promises, and reads them merely as stories, not that he has any great interest in them. But every time a godly man reads the Scriptures (remember this when you are reading the Scripture) and there meets with a promise, he …
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Pastoral Musings
Ambition and Place
by Tim Lien
Ask our Elders: one of my re-occuring struggles has been understanding ambition. What is it? Am I doing it? what is sin and what is doing something to the best of my ability? I think it has to do with “placement.”
Erik Raymond of Ordinary Pastor has a great little …
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Pastoral Musings
Not Your Homeboy
by Tim Lien
Popular conceptions of Jesus are everywhere. Every sitcom or show must lampoon (at least once) him into silliness.
Ask anybody. “Why was/is Jesus important?”
And their words invariably start out this way: “I think that…”
That’s the problem. Most people begin with their opinions. Our new series in …
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Pastoral Musings
All Atwitter
by Tim Lien
Twitter people: you can follow me @1517Brew.
“But I don’t understand what it means.”
1517: Year Martin Luther nailed it.
“But it looks like a BEER label!”
Kate Luther brewed some of the best.
“But your tag line seems possibly grumpy…and arrogant”
Common sense brewed to be slightly …
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Pastoral Musings
Thrice Separated
by Tim Lien
Leviticus: Where people stop when they read thru the bible.
This Sunday, we will begin Leviticus. No, no, please don’t stop reading. Hey, seriously, don’t click away. This will be good. Most people make the case for Leviticus this way: “Oh, you have to know that Jesus is …
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Pastoral Musings
If Galatians Were Published in Christianity Today, Today
by Tim Lien
Oh, this is fantastic. Just fantastic.
My favorite part has to be the “letter-to-the-editor” that exposes this: Christians freedoms are always called “secondary,” or relegated to the nit-picking Christian ethicist. The importance of these issues cannot be overstated. As soon as they are linked to what a Christian must do …
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Pastoral Musings
Even A Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut
by Tim Lien
My wife sent me a “>great video this morning. IrishCalvinist calls it Benny Hinn’s finest 10 minutes of his life.
Was I not paying attention, or did Benny suddenly get converted?
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Pastoral Musings
No Needy Among Us
by Tim Lien
If a month happens to have five Sundays, Riverwood has traditionally used that 5th Sunday to collect an offering we have dubbed “The Deacon’s Fund.” These monies are used outside of our general budget to address the needs of those within our church family, and specific acts of mercy …
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Pastoral Musings
The Strength to Be There (All Rights Reserved)
by Tim Lien
The Company: AIG
The Motto: “the Strength to be There”
The Headline: “AIG Booted out of DOW”
The Critical Response: “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing”
Enjoy some of AIG’s commercials below:
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Pastoral Musings
Long-Jumping the Grand Canyon
by Tim Lien
Just recently, the Calumet Village Police (Calumet, Michigan) heard from a lawbreaker who had evaded justice for 32 years. The criminal enclosed a $20 bill, a parking ticket from 1976, and a small note. Investigator/patrolman/spokesman/Police Chief David Outinen noted that the envelope did not have a return …
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Pastoral Musings
Just the Beginning
by Tim Lien
The tendency to exclusively understand the Gospel in light of my own sin exposes my weakness and my own immaturity in the Gospel. But Saint Paul has something else in mind: (Ephesians 3:1-13ff)
You do not even understand the Gospel fully for yourself, until you understand it for someone …
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Pastoral Musings
Does Membership Have Any Privileges?
by Tim Lien
Another great group of people joined Riverwood recently. However, according to the Association of Religious Data Archive, less and less people view actual membership as vital, necessary, or spiritually significant.
And although, this is substantially less-than-scientific, I have compiled a â??Top 10 Listâ? of popular objections to official membership …
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Pastoral Musings
Profundity
by Tim Lien
Two weeks ago, baby Addie Elizabeth Crawford was baptized on Sunday morning. Although I am not much of a sensationalist or an experientialist, upon reflection, I was struck with the grand significance of the occasion. There was only one part of that holy sacrament that was interchangeable. You could not …
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Pastoral Musings
Diminishing Marginal Gratitude
by Tim Lien
Intro
Every year around Thanksgiving, we hear pretty much the same thing, â??We should be grateful for everything we have.â? And, that statement is correct: We should be grateful for the abundance of blessings that we possessâ??if itâ??s wealth, health, or relationships. However, another question has …
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Pastoral Musings
Sunday Morning Confession
by Tim Lien
An early Sunday morning confession: Father, I want to appeal to as many people as possible. I want to seem relevant, hip, cool, sophisticated, and modern. Father, forgive me. An early Sunday morning fear: Those who are young, will be bored from the worship service, and will dismiss me quickly …
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Pastoral Musings
Feigned Deference
by Tim Lien
Recently, one of our elders took me to his place of business for the grand tour of the facilities and to meet some of his employees. After checking out the premises, he introduced me to a coworker, â??Hey, Iâ??d like you to meet a friend of mine. So-and-so …