How Sweet the Sound!

In 1779, the English poet and pastor John Newton first published the words to the hymn Amazing Grace.  Those words were put to a popular tune in the 1800s, and Amazing Grace, as we know it today, was born.  The song grew out of Newton's own conversion experience -- his coming to faith in Christ and his leaving his past life as a slave trader.  It's a song that has appealed to Christians across cultures and across generations.  What does the song say to you?  Do you hear your own story in Newton's stirring words? 

Here is U2 performing Amazing Grace as a lead-in to the song, Where the Streets Have No Name ...

 

Or perhaps you would like to hear the Harlem Gospel Choir's take on this spiritual ... 

Bluegrass great Ralph Stanley "lines" this great hymn, as folks did before written hymn books were common in churches ...

And let's not forget what the bagpipers have done with this classic tune ...

Finally, here is the Soweto Gospel Choir performing Amazing Grace ...

How sweet the sound, indeed!  Join us next week, on May 6, when we reveal the Wesley Award for the category of Best Saying of Jesus.  Until then, friends ... God Bless You

"Do You Believe In Miracles? Yes!"

It's a big weekend for ice hockey here in the Philadelphia area.  As I write this post, our beloved Flyers are battling the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.  So, with hockey in mind, I ask you the iconic question that Al Michaels asked and answered during the 1980 Winter Olympics as the clock ticked down to zero in an incredible game that pitted a bunch of college kids on Team USA against the seemingly unbeatable team from the Soviet Union:

"Do you believe in miracles?" I'm not talking about an upset win at an ice rink.  I'm talking about real, honest-to-goodness miracles.  The Christian author and thinker C.S. Lewis defined "the word Miracle to mean an interference with nature by supernatural power."  The New Testament is brimming with miracles, and today our Sunday school class is announcing the Wesley Award winner in the category of Best New Testament Miracle.

First, a word from the Rules Committee:  To make things fair, we have taken the Incarnation and the Resurrection out of the running for this week's award.  The Incarnation (God coming to us as the lowly baby Jesus) and the Resurrection (Jesus rising from the dead on that first Easter morning) form the foundation of our faith.  That's why these two miraculous events are hands-down winners; without them, there is no Christianity.  And you can't really separate them.  Each one of these two miracles takes on even more meaning because of the other:  Christmas means more when we realize that God made this Earthly visit for a purpose -- to redeem humanity from sin and death!  Easter means more when we realize that Jesus, who died and rose again, is more than a noble teacher.  Jesus is God in the flesh -- setting us free to live a new, abundant, eternal life!

     

So, after the Incarnation and Resurrection, what New Testament miracles do the Rolling Hills youth consider to be the greatest?

Nick, apparently having missed breakfast, nominated the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Jesus fed a crowd of five thousand men, plus women and children, from a mere five loaves of bread and two fish.  You can read about it in Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14, verses 13-21: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2014:13-21&version=TNIV

Paige chose the Raising of Lazarus -- an amazing miracle in which Jesus raised his dead friend Lazarus from the grave, foreshadowing Jesus' own resurrection.  You can read about it at John 11:1-44. This story includes my favorite verse in the King James version of the Bible: "Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days."  - John 11:39 (KJV).  You can watch how the great Franco Zeffirelli envisioned this miracle in the epic made-for-TV miniseries, Jesus of Nazareth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0M7vvX6__M

Jake selected the miracle from Mark 2:1-12, where we read that Jesus heals a paralyzed man.  This miracle is notable not only for the amazing healing that occurred, but also for the determination of the paralyzed man's friends, who got creative when the large crowd prevented them from getting close to Jesus.  They climbed up onto the roof of the building where Jesus was teaching, opened a hole in the roof, and lowered their friend down on his mat into the presence of Jesus!  Read it all here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%202:1-12&version=TNIV

And that brings us to our winner of the week, nominated by Wes: Jesus Walking on Water.  Read all about it at Matthew 14:22-36 :

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.  After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.
  
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 

 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Watch this spoof of the miracle, and see how surprised people act when they see a fake Jesus walking on the water ...

After you've had a little fun with it, just imagine the disciples experiencing the real thing! Imagine their surprise, their reactions, their worship, their realization that Jesus is the Son of God.  Truly, Jesus is the Son of God ... and our Redeemer!  Join us next week for a mystery post.  The following week, on May 6, we will unveil the Wesley Award winner for Best Saying of Jesus.

I Believe In Miracles - Old (Testament) School

This Sunday and next, the Rolling Hills Youth Sunday school class will be examining the miracles of the Old and New Testaments.  Is it hard or easy to believe in miracles as a 21st Century Christian?  Do you believe in miracles?

Physicist Max Planck once said, “Faith in miracles must yield ground, step by step, before the steady and firm advance of the forces of science, and its total defeat is indubitably a mere matter of time.”  The famous atheist Richard Dawkins also said, “The virgin birth, the Resurrection, the raising of Lazarus, even the Old Testament miracles, all are freely used for religious propaganda, and they are very effective with an audience of unsophisticates and children.”  How do you feel when you hear these remarks?  Do you think they're flat-out wrong?  Do you have a nagging doubt that they might be right?

Questioning miracles is nothing new.  People have been doubting miracles from the very beginning. For example, when God turned Aaron's staff into a snake to try to convince Egypt's Pharaoh of the power of the one true God, Pharaoh wouldn't believe it:
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,  “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.  (Exodus 7:8-13)



The German Rationalists were a group of Bible scholars in the late 17th and early 18th Century who couldn't bring themselves to believe in miracles.  They believed that the miraculous events described in the Bible happened, but that there must have been purely natural explanations for those events. These are the folks who brought us the "swoon theory" of the resurrection ... the idea that Jesus didn't really die on the cross but only was unconscious until he awoke later, appearing to have risen from the dead.   But let me get this straight: Jesus was beaten near death, was nailed to a cross, hung there for hours, had his side pierced by a spear, was declared dead by his professional executioners, was buried in a sealed tomb, woke up, had the strength to roll away the boulder that blocked the tomb's entrance, got past the Roman soldiers posted to guard his grave, and looked good enough to convince his disciples that he had risen to new life?  Really??  The problem with these rationalists is that their "natural" explanations for miracles often seem more far-fetched than the miracles themselves.

Later, a 19th Century Rationalist named David Strauss came along.  He believed miraculous events in Scripture were myth.  The events never occurred.  There’s no need to find natural explanations for them.  Strauss and the rationalists before him assumed that miracles are simply impossible.  But are they? 

Professor William Lane Craig points out:
“Does a person have to suspend their critical judgment in order to believe in something as improbable as miracles?  Only if you believe that God does not exist!  Then I would agree – the miraculous would be absurd.  But if there is a Creator who designed and brought the universe into being, who sustains its existence moment by moment, who is responsible for the very natural laws that govern the physical world, then certainly it’s rational to believe the miraculous is possible.”  

*      *      *

“Given the existence of God, miracles are not incredible.  For why should it be thought incredible that God should want to reveal himself in the natural world to men, and how could this be done without involving a miraculous element? "

If you're into reading philosophy and theology, you might want to check out this article by Professor Craig on the subject of the disbelief of miracles.  Warning ... It's not exactly light reading: http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/miracles.html

Dr. Craig is an interesting guy.  What did the famously combative atheist Christopher Hitchens think of Professor Craig?  See for yourself:

So, here are this week's nominees for the Wesley Award in the category of Best Old Testament Miracle:

Jake chose the miracle of Creation from Genesis 1.  What a great beginning to our nominations ...

Adrienne chose the story of Jonah and the Whale.  The whole Book of Jonah is only four chapters long.  Read it in your Bible, or read it here on this eBible:  http://www.gotquestions.org/eBible.html
It's a whale of a fish tale that some find hard to swallow ...

Nick nominated the God's miraculous appearance to Moses in the burning bush.  You can read about it in the 3rd Chapter of Exodus: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%203&version=TNIV  What a hot pick ...

And congratulations to Paige, who picked the winner of this week's Wesley Award, nominating the Parting of the Red Sea.  You can read about it in Exodus, Chapter 14, verses 5-31:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus%2014:5-31&version=TNIV

(A special thanks to Wes, who phoned in the tie-breaking vote this week!)  Join us next week when we select the Best New Testament Miracle.  Have a great week, everyone!

A Close Encounter of the Third Day Kind ...

HAPPY EASTER!  We all know the story of Easter morning ... how the women went to anoint Jesus' body and found an empty tomb ... the stone was rolled away!

But do you know the story of Easter evening, when Jesus appeared to two of his followers who were traveling to Emmaus?  You can find it in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 24, verses 13-35.  Here's the story, along with some beautiful art by HE Qi.  

¹³ Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing him.

¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

 

²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

³³ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴ and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” ³⁵ Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

May our hearts burn with the same excitement those two followers of Jesus experienced when they realized that they were face-to-face with the Risen Lord!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Have a Blessed Easter ...

If you enjoy the artwork, you can find more at HE Qi's gallery: http://www.heqigallery.com/index.html

The King Is Coming!

Happy Palm Sunday, everyone!  We had planned to announce the Wesley Award winner for Best Old Testament Miracle today, but other events intervened ... A donkey named Dolly came to our church today to help us celebrate Palm Sunday.  Here's some video from her special visit:

If you haven't read the Palm Sunday story lately, you can find it at Mark 11:1-11.  Here's the text, illustrated with photos of Dolly the Donkey:

¹ As they approached Jerusalem, near the towns of Bethphage and Bethany, they came to the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of his disciples on ahead ²with these instructions:
Go to the village there ahead of you. As soon as you get there, you will find a colt tied up that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³And if someone asks you why you are doing that, say that the Master needs it and will send it back at once.

⁴ So they went and found a colt out in the street, tied to the door of a house. As they were untying it, ⁵some of the bystanders asked them,
What are you doing, untying that colt?

⁶They answered just as Jesus had told them, and the crowd let them go.

⁷They brought the colt to Jesus, threw their cloaks over the animal, and Jesus got on. ⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches in the field and spread them on the road.

⁹The people who were in front and those who followed behind began to shout,
Praise God! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰God bless the coming kingdom of King David, our father! Praise be to God!

¹¹Jesus entered Jerusalem, went into the Temple, and looked around at everything. But since it was already late in the day, he went out to Bethany with the twelve disciples.

Happy Palm Sunday, and may you all have a Blessed Holy Week!  On Easter Sunday, we will have a special Easter post on the Rolling Hills Youth Bible Blog; then, on April 15, we will resume the Wesley Awards with the winner of Best Old Testament Miracle!