My Baptist Hymnal Favorites

Lifeway recently released the list of songs to be included in the new 2008 Baptist Hymnal.

(They publish a new hymnal about ever 15 years or so.)

My top 10 favorites are:

Agnus Dei
And Can it Be (preferably with Indelible Grace's latest retuning)
Be Thou My Vision
God Moves in a Mysterious Way
Grace Greater Than Our Sin (This is perhaps my very favorite.)
How Deep the Father's Love for Us
It is Well with My Soul
Speak, O Lord
To God Be the Glory (with Andre Crouse leading it, of course)
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Songs on my "What where they thinking?" list include:
O Canada!
The Star Spangled Banner
My Country, 'Tis of Thee
In the Garden
In This Very Room
I've Got Peace Like a River
Morning Has Broken (Am I the only one to think of Cat Stevens on this one?)

I can't imagine an occasion to sing songs on this second list in Christian worship gatherings. But there are hundreds of other great songs and hymns included in the new Baptist Hymnal. I look forward to singing many of these 674 songs in worship to our great God. Thanks to all those who wrote the songs and to all those who helped compile this new Hymnal. It is a fine gift to the Lord's church.

Book Review: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

Now this is a man versus nature story.  Bear Grylls' Man v. Wild on the Discovery Channel is pathetic by comparison. (We all know that the safety crew is there, just beyond the field of view of the cameras.)

In 1959, Alfred Lansing wrote this well researched account of Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated attempt to be the first to cross the Antarctic continent.  Shortly after departing South Georgia Island in December 1914, the Endurance found itself stuck fast in pack ice, due to a freak summer storm.  For the next 11 months, Shackleton and his men lived on the ice-bound ship, until it was finally crushed by the pressure of moving pack ice.  

Shackleton and his men then survived by camping on ice floes for more than 5 months, killing seals for food and fuel, until the ice floes they were camping on split and melted.  Tenaciously clinging to life and hope, they navigated through icebergs and stormy seas until they reached Elephant Island.  There 22 men were marooned while Shackleton and a small crew attempted to sail across the deadly Drake Passage back to South Georgia Island in a 22 foot life boat named the James Caird.  And this is where the story starts getting good! Amazingly, none of the men aboard the Endurance perish during their long ordeal.

I am astonished and inspired by this true story of human endurance.  Sometimes I get tired in my ministry and I get tempted to slow down or quit.  Shackleton's example of leadership and endurance is one that I want to follow.  

Alfred Lansing, Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, New York: Carroll & Graf (1959), 282 pages, paperback.

Pray for Snow!

My girls are going to be disappointed when they wake up this morning.  It was snowing when they went to bed, and the weatherman said it would likely snow all night, with a total of 5-10 inches by morning.  But now there is only about an inch of snow in my yard.  And what little snow we do have is only on the grass.  They say more snow is on the way this morning.  Pray for snow!

Favorite Verses from Isaiah 46-52

Later this morning I will be preaching at Christchurch. My sermon text is Isaiah 46-52. Here are a few of my favorite verses in this long passage.

Speaking of Jesus and his body, the church, God says through the prophet Isaiah that "It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation my reach to the end of the earth." (Isaiah 49:6 ESV)

Speaking comfort to his sometimes doubting people through the prophet Isaiah, the LORD says: "Behold, I have engraved you on the palm of my hands." (Isaiah 49:16 ESV)

"Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the moth will eat them up like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations." (Isaiah 51:7-8 ESV)

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news..." (Isaiah 52:7 ESV)

"The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." (Isaiah 52:10 ESV)

"...for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard." (Isaiah 52:12 ESV)

Have a great Lord's Day!

2 US Skiers are World Cup Skiing Overall Champs!

Congratulations to Lindsey Vonn & Bode Miller for winning the overall alpine skiing championship this year. Visit www.fis-ski.com.

Book Review: Archaeology & the New Testament

Bible students who want to know more about the backgrounds of the New Testament will find John McRay's Archaeology & the New Testament to be a great reference. This book gives readers a broad and accessible survey of cities mentioned in the New Testament and the archaeological digs in those sites. Even though literary sources provide the most detailed information about culture and daily life in the 1st century, archaeological sources also provide material evidence that Bible students can correlate with the literary sources.

Here are a number of items that will affect my understanding of the New Testament.

1. The discovery of a Latin inscription referencing Pontius Pilate in the steps of the theater in Caesaria Maritima has strengthened my confidence in the historical reliability of the New Testament’s record of Pilate being procurator during the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.

2. McRay’s argument for Khirbet Kana being the site of Jesus ministry & miracles recorded in John 2 (rather than Kefr Kenna) has increased my awareness of my need for careful research when teaching others the historical and geographical context of the New Testament (as well as to be careful about what tour guides I might hire if ever I visit Israel).

3. The chapters on Jesus life and ministry, which discuss both the burial tomb of Jesus and the Shroud of Turin has reminded me how easily the line between exegetical historical study of New Testament backgrounds can be crossed and quickly turn into the improper adoration of religious relics.

4. The background study of Antioch has increased my awareness of the importance of the early church in that city. “...with the exception of Jerusalem, Antioch in Syria played a larger part in the life and fortunes of the early Church than any other single city of the Greco-Roman Empire.”

5. The archeological evidence for the self-financed rebuilding of Laodicea after the earthquake in A.D. 60 helps me to understand the context of Revealtion 3:17 better. “Such a proud, self-sufficient attitude is indicated in the Book of Revelation, where the Laodicean church is depicted as saying, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’” (McRay, p246)

6. Again my confidence in the historicity of the New Testament has grown through the background study of inscriptions at Thessalonica that prove the rule of politarchs there. “Critics of the New Testament asserted for many years that Luke was mistaken in his use of the term ‘politarchs’ for the officials of Thessalonica before whom Paul was taken (Acts 17:6). An inscription using this term, however, was found on the Vardar Arch at the west end of the modern Odos Egnatia Street (once known as Vardar Street). The first-century A.D. arch was torn down in 1867 to be used in the repair of the city’s walls. The inscription from the arch, which was subsequently found and is now in the British Museum, begins ‘In the time of the Politarchs...’” (McRay, 295)

John McRay, Archaeology & the New Testament, 1991, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 432 pages, paperback.

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