Yes, that’s a ‘b’ instead of an ‘m’ up there because that’s how I sound when I talk with this cold.

Colds are so unfair…nobody considers that you are truly sick like when you are running a high fever or breaking out in spots, but it can really take the pluck out of you.

Today was typical Saturday stuff…catching up with everything that piles up all week. Unfortunately, while I’m busy cleaning up the piles, my family is busy making more piles in another place.

It helps if I list all the things I have accomplished in a day because sometimes life feels like two steps forward, one step back.

Today I made whole-grain pancakes for breakfast, changed the sheets on my bed, put away laundry, moved my little guy’s clothes into a dresser, discussed our remodeling project with my husband, weeded and cleaned up the back yard, did three loads of laundry, read for a class I’m teaching next month, supervised my son making dinner, cleaned a bathroom, hung a shower curtain, gave baths to my three little guys, vacuumed, swept out the laundry room, scrubbed the kitchen sink and updated my weblog. I’m sure there’s more, but I’m too tired to remember.

Well, I am grateful to have this sweet family to keep me busy and out of trouble. What would I do with my day if I didn’t have them to help fill it up?

Today I took ALL my children to the library. It’s more fun for me to go alone because I can actually look at the books, but I love to see my children excited over all the books and checking them out on their own cards.

Here are some of the books I managed to grab:

The Rise of Islam by John Child
The Other Alice: The Story of Alice Liddell and Alice in Wonderland by Christina Bjork and Inga-Karin Eriksson
Beyond Khyber Pass by Lowell Thomas
The Cupcake Cafe Cookbook by Ann Warren and Joan Lilly
The Remarkable Voyages of Captain Cook by Rhoda Blumberg
Lie Down With Lions by Ken Follett (set in Afghanistan)
Henry and Mudge books for my little boys

The recent tragic events in New York City and Washington, D.C., after the first few days of unity, have led to some discord between people who want to show uncritical support for our country and government and those who are angry about what happened but see some problems with the official responses of the last few days.

I am torn, but I find myself in the latter category.

Last week, after the numbness and disbelief wore off, I began to reflect on what had happened. I saw the attacks as stemming from total evil and wept at the loss of innocent lives. But I also firmly believe that God’s word is true, including Deuteronomy 28:15:

“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you…” Then a multitude of curses are pronounced on God’s people, very unpleasant things listed in great detail.

God tells Solomon in II Chronicles 7:13-14:

“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Our nation, unhindered by the visible Church, has turned its back on God with its support of abortion on demand, homosexuality, stem-cell research, robbing each other through government “social programs” and many other rejections of God and His law. Why are we surprised when calamity befalls us, and why is our response to wave flags and have ecumenical services extolling our goodness? Wouldn’t a better response be to fall on our faces before a holy God, seeking His mercy and forgiveness?

This was essentially the message which Jerry Falwell gave the other night on Pat Robertson’s “The 700 Club”. As he conveyed his concern for America’s moral condition, Robertson nodded his head, said, “I concur” and “Amen.”

The secular media jumped all over them.

And they caved.

Falwell, in response to the criticism, apologized for his remarks. Robertson, who so heartily “concurred”, later said that he had not fully understood the remarks made by his guest.

I appreciate that Falwell said that God’s judgment would be for all sinners including himself. But in his apology, he watered down the message that we all need to consider. I know that this is a time of national mourning, and I believe this message is one to give guardedly, but the forum of a Christian talk show was very appropriate for what he said. While the images of the destruction are still fresh in our minds, we need to turn to God both for comfort and forgiveness. That is the message of the cross. If some of the most visible evangelical “leaders” in this country are too wimpy to stick up for this message, we are certainly in terrible trouble.

Tonight I read a wonderful article by Rev. Steve Schlissel, a reformed pastor in Brooklyn, New York. He was not afraid to state what the real issues are. Here is a prayer he would like to see being prayed at those memorial services:

Lord, we have not believed as your people should believe. We have not behaved as your people should behave. We have not confessed as your people should confess. Despite all this, our Father, we are your people. When our terrorist enemies train for war, they shoot down cut-out figures with Christian crosses painted on their chests. If we were to fall, the nations would surely say, “Those who were called by the Name of His Son have perished.” Do not let our sins become the occasion for dishonor to fall upon the Name of our Savior! O Lord, forgive us! Have pity on us and sustain us. Have mercy on us, God of our Fathers, and strengthen us. We have gone far from our founding, but we have not wandered entirely out of your sight. Look upon us now in your infinite compassion and restore us to Yourself, O God. Use us to crush the enemies of Christ. Use us to build and extend the Kingdom of God. In the Name of Christ our only Savior and Lord we pray. Amen.

Amen.

Ecclesiastes says that to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.

When we go to church on Sunday to meet with God and worship Him corporately, bouncy choruses are not what I consider appropriate music for worship on the Lord’s Day. These songs do not have the depth of meaning or the reverence of hymns. I don’t believe that there is no place for choruses, it’s just a matter of appropriateness. Just as it would be inappropriate to sing campfire songs at a wedding, it is not appropriate to sing certain types of music during the worship of our Holy God. Look to the Book of Revelation for an example of a heavenly worship service and the Book of Psalms for examples of great hymns of the church.

One of my favorite saints, the late David Chilton, said it well (in Days of Vengeance), in reference to imprecatory prayer. Explaining why this type of prayer is so distasteful to modern Christians he said,”That this blunt cry for vengeance strikes us as strange just shows how far our pietistic age has degenerated from the Biblical worldview. If our churches were more acquainted with the foundational hymnbook of the Church, the Psalms, instead of the sugary, syrupy, sweetness-and-light choruses that characterize modern evangelical hymnals, we would understand this much
easier.”

I say all of this to give you a hymn written by one of my favorite writers, G.K.Chesterton (1874-1936). The music was arranged by one of my favorite composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams. I came across this hymn tonight, and the words spoke so well to what our country needs to consider in the light of this week and as we face an uncertain future.

O God of earth and altar,
Bow down and hear our cry,
Our earthly rulers falter,
Our people drift and die;
The walls of gold entomb us,
The swords of scorn divide,
Take not thy thunder from us,
But take away our pride.

Tie in a living tether
The prince and priest and thrall,
Bind all our lives together,
Smite us and save us all;
In ire and exultation,
Aflame with faith, and free,
Lift up a living nation,
A single sword to thee. Amen.