News

Pastor Uri Brito of Providence Church in Pensacola, Florida, recently released a new hymn tune with words by Charles Wesley which we are making the hymn of the month. Pastor Uri named this tune “Strawbridge” in honor of the late Gregg Strawbridge who Uri noted in a post introducing this tune was, “friend, pastor, musician, and scholar.” and that he missed his dear friend. It’s a moving tribute and one that caught our eye.

The music has a wonderful Celtic lilt and it is in a minor key which fits nicely the mood of the text. It puts us in mind of our suffering Savior and calls us to glory in His cross and to bear our burden joyfully. The 4th verse is particularly poignant, reminding us that we have been bought by Christ’s shed blood and we are sealed and confirmed as heirs of heaven.

And whether you consider yourself a good singer or not, remember, as verse 3 instructs us, that His power is shown in our weakness. So take heart today as we begin learning this wonderful hymn. God accepts your praise as you earnestly put in the effort.

As always, the practice tracks are available to members and friends in the members area of the website. May the Lord bless us all as we seek to hone our singing and bring our best before Him.

One of the things that identifies God’s people is song. That’s because we are commanded to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The Bible details many times when God’s people sang. And of course, there’s God’s hymn book right in the middle of our Bibles.

Recently in episode 558 of The Theopolis Podcast titled, “Singing the Future,” Dr. Trevor Laurence expounded on the hope found in the psalms. If you ever wonder why we sing and chant so many Psalms, why every Wednesday during prayer, Pastor Joe reads from the Psalms, this episode is highly recommended. The Psalms shape our outlook on the world and show us the world as God made it to be — as it really is. They counteract the incorrect views we get by dwelling on our human perspective, or from the godless philosophies around us. Reading the psalms is like putting on glasses to correct the blurry vision we have. Suddenly we have eyes to see.

At the hymn and psalm sings hosted by the Drapers, and now the Mullenaxes, you’ll notice quite quite a few psalms here, too. While some hymns are selected to be more familiar, the psalms are also sung that we might bring more into focus the worldview God has for us in his song book. So as you sing the psalms, let it shape what you see and show you God’s world as it really is, and give Him the glory!

On Tuesday, July 19, 47 U.S. House Republicans joined their votes with all the House Democrats in voting for a bill titled, “Respect for Marriage Act.” The name is, as you might expect, something of a misnomer because it formally overturns the, “Defense of Marriage Act” of 1996 and requires the recognition of same-sex marriages deemed legal in the state in which they were preformed.

None of the aforementioned Republicans are from TN, so there are no action items for you on the voting front. There are, however, action items for you on the prayer front. Having been granted a victory in Roe v. Wade, it could be easy to become complacent in other areas. We must recognize that this codifying into human law of that which God abhors is also an important battle to wage. One does not have to be a theonomist to recognize that you cannot avoid legislating morality on some level. The question then becomes, who’s morality will man legislate? Mankind can legislate righteously or he can legislate unrighteously. Recognizing as marriage that which is not and which God in fact says is an abomination is very much the latter.

Continue to pray for moral victory in our country. Pray that God would strike down this bill and those who would put forth such evil. Pray that the hearts of our leaders would be inclined toward our good God!

Come one, come all. The Gallants have issued their yearly invitation and you are invited! At 3:00 on Saturday, July 30th the Gallants serve us hamburgers, hotdogs and all manner of fixins for such items. If you haven’t been to one of their picnics yet, it’s a lot of fun for the kids (with an obstacle course and everything) and plenty of food, fellowship, and drinks for the adults.

One of the things that marks us saints is our love one for another, and our desire to fellowship together is one of the ways we show love for each other. And this very type of casual fellowship is sometimes missing in the lives of modern believers. Often the conception of the church in the modern western sensibilities is to show up on Sunday for an hour, maybe two and, “put in your time,” and then head out to watch some game on television or nap. But as we read throughout the Bible, and certainly throughout the book of Acts, and glimpsed in the epistles, believers form community and then live the out-workings of community. We taste and see each Lord’s Day that He is good as Jesus breaks bread with us. And this is the example He sets. As he breaks the bread of peace with us so likewise we dine with each other — not in a sacramental way, but in fellowship, sharing but a dim foretaste of the glorious fellowship that is to come.

July 4^th has come and gone, and it reminds us of our liberties and how thankful to God we should be for them. But some of those liberties seem to be up for debate. You may have heard of Coach Joe Kennedy. But then again, maybe not. Perhaps the good news of his religious liberty victory was lost amidst our (rightful) jubilation of overturning Roe v. Wade.

Joe Kennedy was a football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington State. Initially, he lead his team in prayers after games. When the public school asked him to stop because they thought it could violate religious convictions (or lack thereof) of students, he changed to praying briefly and quietly on his own instead. The school fired him and he decided to take it to court. This case went all the way to the Supreme Court where the decision was reached that his termination was wrongful and Joe Kennedy could, indeed pray after games.

This should put to rest the idea of neutrality. In apparently trying to reach religious neutrality, the school stepped all over the liberties of Coach Kennedy. Their worldview shaped what they did and what actions they took. Our values and even our ideas of liberty come from our own worldviews. The real question is, what worldview is employed in the shaping of public and private values. May we turn to Christ and the scriptures for such answers.

This past Wednesday evening at the prayer meeting, we read Psalm 85, which is very relevant to us as we consider the victory God granted in overturning Roe v. Wade. Here are verses 1-4:

Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!

That God is abundant in mercy has been made clear to us anew. Many in our nation are drunk on the blood they’ve shed and we justly deserve God’s wrath. God instead answered our prayers by beating back the powers of darkness. This is the way He operates. And He did promise in Matthew 16:18b, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

In the wake of this victory, let us not forget that our call to life was not first issued in 1973. Christians have always been called to the issues of life: to care for the poor, the helpless, and the unwanted. We are to press on. Pray for and support crisis pregnancy centers, encourage those who do this work. And continue to seek to meet the needs of mothers in distress who would rather turn to abortion. We now have all new opportunities for ministry. Praise be to God!

The Supreme Court released the leaked opinion from May, overturning Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood. When the leak happened, Politico.com called it, “a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights.” To hear many on the left tell it, the court just banned abortion in all 50 states but that is untrue. This ruling is but one step in the battle, but an important one to be sure. This ruling removes the federal requirement to allow abortion. States now determine their own laws and punishments and how they deal with it — just as they already do for other instances of murder.

While some states allow for abortion, many states, including our own, have banned abortion. So this is a victory in a battle of a larger war. That is why we celebrate today! We must, of course, continue to pray and to work to shape hearts and minds that abortion might not even be thought of and that it continues to remain illegal in our state.

We can be encouraged by all that the Lord is doing. As Dr. George Grant said in response to the ruling, “Aslan is on the move!” Our good God has granted us this victory and called us to appear before him today. And that is why we lift our thunderous refrain, Thanks be to God!

As announced last week, nominations for elder and deacon were received by the session. Jeff Kernodle and Randy Sadler accepted their nominations, were examined by the session and are heartily recommended to you for election to office. The election for these officers will be held on July 17.

The installation of additional officers is a needed step considering the growth with which the Lord has blessed us. As we grow, so does the officer workload.

To that end, Jeff is recommended as a ruling elder to come alongside Joe as minister, and Abe as a ruling elder, who constitute the session. Ruling elders differ from ministers of the word and sacraments, though their duties overlap when it comes to shepherding and oversight of the congregation.

Randy is recommended as deacon to come alongside Brian and TJ. Deacons act as assistants to the session, operating under their oversight. Deacons lead in service to the church, care of the poor, and encourage and engage in hospitality (among many other things).

In this past week’s email, Pastor Joe linked to the portion of our website that describes the various officer roles. We hope you’ll take a moment to prayerfully read through those in preparation to vote for these officers on the 17th of July.

As we sing psalms and historic hymns today, both in our hymn sing and worship service, it is helpful to reflect on what many in the modern western church might consider our “odd” choice in musical style. Can we not simply “get with the times?”

Music and musical style reflects very much our view of worship and the God whom we serve. What does our music say about our worship? What does it say about God? Who is the music for? While worship music can certainly be a benefit to us and lift our spirits or console us in times of sorrow, it is primarily music for God — it is something which we offer to Him. How we feel about it apart from that line of thinking is not very relevant. And this is but one of the reasons we don’t croon modern worship lyrics.

The hymns and psalms we sing are robust, designed for congregations, connect us to the history of our faith, and have permanence to last the ages. We also emphasize singing the psalms — God’s song book. The psalms were written by those who came before us in the faith like David, Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and more. We worship the unchanging God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we worship robustly, and we worship as a congregation, lifting up our voices as many parts, but one voice. As you sing with your brothers and sisters today, do so as an offering of worship to God, recognizing you sing with the saints through the ages.

The shooting at Uvalde elementary school is a tragedy. We grieve with those who grieve. We mourn with those who mourn. For many of us, it is almost impossible to contemplate what fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters of those who lost their lives are facing. As we try to understand this tragedy, one of the most important things we can do is pray for them and our nation in general. Many who are not of our persuasions nor believe in prayer will tell you that prayer is a futile, even undesired effort. But as those who believe the word of God, we have a very different picture. The Psalms give us language for our grief and uncertainty. Certainly, verses from Psalm 44:13-16 come to mind as the Psalmist dwells on the reproach of a people.

While our nation looks for answers in the aftermath of a shooting, the clamor for the limitation of weapons reaches a fever pitch. But few ask the questions about what formed and shaped the thinking of the one responsible for pulling the trigger. Few want to face the fact that as society becomes more and more unmoored from the moral framework provided by the creator for His creation, the more the uptick in such serious crimes. The real solution is not one they want to hear: repent and return to Christ! He is the only solution to these problems.

Here’s an exercise in contrasts: Elizabeth Amy Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA (the liberal Lutherans) Tweeted this past week, “While the leaked court draft does not represent the Supreme Court’s ruling in its final form; nevertheless, it contradicts this church’s teaching. This church teaches that abortion and reproductive health care, including contraception, must be legal and accessible.”

This past Lord’s day, we at St. Mark had the privilege of welcoming the Godinhos into membership, and baptizing their 4 precious little children. One of those little children, Eli, had a few warning signs during pregnancy and the doctor asked them if they were considering terminating the pregnancy. Of course, as you know, they chose instead to trust and obey God instead and the Godinhos, as well as our congregation, are so much richer for it.

While the false church of the liberal Lutherans teaches that the right to murder babies must be legal and accessible, we instead follow the ways of the Lord of life and are blessed beyond measure.

Proverbs 1:15–16 seems applicable, “My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path; for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.” While they make haste to shed blood for their own comforts, we uphold the law of the Lord!

Fifteen years ago, in the spring of 2007, Pastor Rich Lusk presided over a Lord’s Day service, during which six charter families took vows and were received into membership of the newly formed St. Mark Reformed Church. In God’s providence, for various reasons having to do with jobs, moving to new areas, etc. we have one remaining family of those founders: The Goolsbys.

Of course, the Goolsbys are a great blessing to our congregation, and Abe has now been ordained as an Elder at St. Mark. And if you’ve spent any time around Abe, you know what a great blessing this also is to our congregation.

And from the vantage point of 15 years, it’s also now wonderful to see the hand of providence in placing us in the CREC; a denomination now poised to hold the course as many churches and denominations look to compromise. We have the privilege of helping to strengthen this community of churches as we stand fast in the faith together against the advances of worldliness.

It wasn’t long after the initial forming that Pastor Thacker received and accepted the call to ministry at St. Mark the same year. His commitment to liturgy, sacrament, and preaching has been a great blessing these 15 years. Praise be to God for his goodness!