Psalm 3 [St. Columba]

This was the first of the Revenant Psalms I worked up in 2021.  It became Track 2 on the initial volume. Hopefully having the text before you will make it more singable. Meanwhile, this series of videos showing the capo arrangements, chord shapes, fingering, etc., may perhaps have the same effect watching a friend play his snappy technique had on me way back in 1993. It only took me 28 years (from 1993 to 2021) for me to actually put my pick down and do this, but I'm glad I did. I find this style of rhythm guitar much more fun to play and enjoyable to listen to than the more common strumming style that is ubiquitous among worship leaders. [Not even sure I could do it if I tried.]

"Deliverance [An Interlude]"

Here's a new video for the instrumental 12-string piece that opens Disc 2 of Revenant Psalms, Vol. V.

The track is so titled both for the mood, but also because it inhabits a place among several psalm settings that all seem to cry out for deliverance. Like many of the tracks on Vol. V, it makes use of odd time signatures: 5/4 has such a lilt, I use it a lot, but 11/8 gets a good workout here. 

Volksfaßliche Vorträge über den ersten Brief Johannis

Dies ist die beste mir bekannte Bibelauslegung, die die Grundlagen des Christentums in kompakter Form vermittelt. Der Schweizer Reformator bezeichnete den Ersten Johannesbrief als Schrift, die „das reinste Evangelium“ enthalte. Luther sagte Ähnliches über den Römerbrief, doch der Erste Johannesbrief umfasst nur fünf Kapitel, und der Prediger behandelt dieses Buch gründlicher als jeder seiner Vorgänger, einschließlich Augustinus. Diese Predigtreihe erfreute sich bei ihrem ersten Erscheinen außerordentlicher Beliebtheit. Sie prägte die Predigtpraxis in Basel über Generationen hinweg und war zweifellos auch Calvin wohlbekannt; er ließ die erste Ausgabe seiner „Institutio“ in demselben Haus drucken, in dem zuvor schon Oekolampad an so vielen seiner eigenen Übersetzungen und sonstigen Publikationen gearbeitet hatte. Wer nach einer frischen Darlegung des Wesens des Christentums sucht, nach einer gehaltvollen und konsequent biblischen Erklärung des Evangeliums, nach einer Besinnung auf das, was letztlich zählt, oder nach einem fundierten Text für den Konfirmandenunterricht oder die Einführung neuer Gemeindeglieder – für all das ist dieses „Handbuch für das christliche Leben“ genau das Richtige.

 

Revenant Psalms, Vol. V, is on Spotify

Here is the latest and last album in the series — a double! — on Spotify. That's full 1 hour and 38 minutes, nearly two Carnegie (50 min) hours! 

And here is the whole series of Revenant Psalms on Spotify. That would amount to four additional, or a total of six, class hours.

Sorry, I can't actually offer you class credit for listening, but in the grand scheme of things, I am sure it will edify and pay spiritual dividends. By all means, set up a playlist and share it with those you love, including the churches in your network. Let the God of heaven know that we, his church on earth, find his psalms worth singing, and worth singing to him in the name of Jesus, because we love and trust him. 

Blessings and peace in Christ.

Good.

TX can require the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools. 

So can, and should, every other state.

Preaching on the Ninth Commandment

When I said a long while back that I had a dream that one day preachers across the country would all preach on the Ninth Commandment, this was the sort of thing—one of many such—that I had in mind: organizations that take advantage of people's best intentions by alleging with false accusations and psychological projection the very hatred they purport to stand against. Lex talionis, BTW, means that false accusers are meted the same sentence they attempt to call down on others. 

Christians, before they rush to strike a moral pose, need to practice self-awareness and ask themselves whether their attitudes toward other people—family, (former) friends, neighbors, people of the opposing party—arise from what might boil down, in the eyes of God, to a false witness. I have seen some of the most lionized theologians on social media pronouncing certain public figures non-Christian because of how they pray or what they pray for in public, never mind the courage it takes to pray in public, never mind bothering to ask what biblical texts the prayer might have in view. Paul teaches a better way when he tells us to consider others as better than ourselves. That is the positive corollary to the negative prohibition in the Ninth Commandment.

Related.

Also related.

Very important poll

 ... that concerns medical freedom, therefore, freedom generally, which is a matter of not only the human body, but also the mind and spirit. "Where the Spirit is, there is freedom."

Because Year D is concerned with making the Word of God fully known — for the glory of God and for the well-being of his beloved world — I am linking this here. 

"House Lights Up [Postlude]"

Here is the final, final track from the Revenant Psalms project.