We got back on Saturday from a week on the Warm Spring Reservation. The team was able to share about their trip last Sunday. We also showed a video that the Sacred Road team put together of the week. Here it is for those who missed it (or just want to see it again).
Sorry this is late. Here is the video we showed in Sunday School of our week at Warm Springs in June. Enjoy!
We’ve had a great few days at Warm Springs. We have two teams going. One is working on building a wheelchair ramp at a home and the other is doing clean up at a few places.
We spend the afternoons with kids doing activities, crafts and leading a Bible time.
Wednesday evening we went and watched the sunset overlooking a canyon lake.
People are often looking for ways to hear the tunes for hymns in our hymnal. There is a great little app that came out a while ago to help you with that.
iPhone
ANDROID
It’s available for both iPhones and Androids. It costs $10, but it well worth it. It has every Psalm and Hymn in the new hymnal.
It has the words for each Psalm and Hymn.
And it has a piano accompaniment for each Psalm and Hymn. That can either be played once to get the tune or once for each verse in the song.
Check it out and enjoy. You can download it from the iPhone Appstore or the Google Play Store.
Every piece of Scripture, every prayer he’d prayed
had brought him to this moment of this particular day.
(Paul Stookey, in the song, “John Henry Bosworth”)
When Vince Lombardi kicked off the Green Bay Packers training camp in 1961, he began a tradition of starting from scratch. He held out a football and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” He took nothing for granted. I think that—especially during “the present distress” (1 Cor. 7:26)—we should take nothing for granted. We need to go back and rehearse the basics of walking humbly with our Lord. “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him …” (Col. 2:6). Of all times, now is a time to humble ourselves before the Lord, to examine ourselves, to repent of ways we’ve compromised, to “re-form” our thoughts, attitudes, priorities, and lifestyles according to God’s Word.
The 16th century Reformation was another time of “present distress.” People needed to learn and relearn those basics. The bubonic plague was the pandemic of that day. Martin Luther wrote a pamphlet on how to respond. Christians were reacting to the plague in a variety of ways. (They sound strikingly comparable to the various ways Christians are reacting to COVID-19). Luther marshaled gospel doctrine to address these various reactions. Among other things, he said:
Use medicine. Take potions that can help you. Fumigate house, yard, and street. Shun persons and places wherever your neighbor does not need your presence …. And act like someone who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the epidemic but a fire that, instead of consuming wood and straw, devours life and body? You ought to think this way: ‘Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison and deadly offal. Therefore, I’ll ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I’ll fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I’ll avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God wants to take me, he’ll surely find me. I’ve done what he’s expected of me and so I’m not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I won’t avoid his place or person. I’ll go freely, as stated above.’ See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God. (slightly edited)
The fact that Luther had to muddle on through his “present crisis” with a medieval ignorance of germs, etc. didn’t change the fact that he gave some biblically wise advice that helped the people he addressed.
Alas, now we’re called to muddle on through our own “present crisis”—and no one really knows how best to handle it. Our congregations are providentially hindered from gathering together for worship in the near future. The COVID-19 pandemic is an evil in itself. Add to that its social and economic consequences. But this “dark providence” gives us an opportunity to examine ourselves.
Let’s go back to the basics of knowing and walking humbly with the Triune God of grace. Let’s examine ourselves honestly in trust and contrition before our Lord. Let’s reassess and reorder our priorities in light of what really matters. Let’s renew our zeal for the public means of grace and for Christian fellowship. Let’s pray not only for the wisdom to see opportunities to serve our neighbors and tell them about Jesus, but also for the courage to seize them. Let’s listen humbly not only to each other but also to fellow Jesus-followers of varying stripes—for it’s only “with all the saints” that the Spirit will enable us to comprehend Christ’s love and be filled with God’s fulness (see Eph. 3:18–19). Let’s muddle on seeking the all-importance of Jesus as best as we can.
Relying step-by-step on our Father’s gracious acceptance and enabling in Christ, then, we need to keep muddling on, as best we can, concretely loving believers and building up the body of Christ. We need to keep muddling on, as best we can, concretely loving our neighbors and serving them in the name of Christ. Do we dare to hope that the Lord is answering the many prayers that he’ll revive true religion and reform his church? That he’ll discredit harmful counterfeits? I pray so. But that means that maybe we need to be asking additional searching questions before our Lord. Are we really doing the right thing? How long should we keep doing it? Is our Lord preparing us for even greater tribulation, and are we submitting to and learning the lessons he’s teaching us now? Shouldn’t we be crying out to him in humiliation and recommitment? We find it easier to think of ways the world needs to change than of ways that we need to change. If our Lord does re-form his church, then we shouldn’t expect to go back to “business as usual” on the other side of “the present crisis.” We should expect things to be different — for us as well as others. So, let’s make sure to practice the basics. “Brothers and sisters, this is a Bible.”
Larry Wilson is a retired minister.
He’s serving as stated supply at Grace OPC in Wasilla, AK.
This morning our youth group, partnering with the youth from Timberline Baptist Church, worked on a mobile home with City Gates Ministries. City Gates works with less fortunate families who are trying to make a new start. One of their projects is mobile home renovations.
Read MoreWorship can sometimes feel like a chore, that’s why so many of us don’t show up on Sundays to church. But worship is not like taking out the garbage. Our feelings are too fickle to be the basis for going to worship. They change with a drop of a hat. They are always in flux according to what kind of day we’ve been having. Depending on the day, we either feel high or low when it comes to praising God. What we need is a bigger picture of worship to sustain us when our feelings are betraying us.
Read MoreThere’s no place for lowliness in a world that values glory and prestige above humility and long-suffering. But at the heart of the Christian Gospel is the truth that God dwells with the lowly, with those who are humble and those who suffer.
Read MoreSin will always entice you to feel free to address evil elsewhere but not in your own heart. We find a strange comfort in speaking piously and critiquing others, because it gives us a sense that we care about what is good and right and true. But God calls us to look deeper and see if our hearts really beat with his... if we are willing to ask whether or not we meet the standard that we so freely impose on others.
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Our annual campout was held at Eastcreek Campground in Mineral this year. It was a beautiful setting for a little time away and some great fellowship.
Read More
Evangelism is not a solo sport, something we do on our own as individuals, but something the church does as a body—“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6)
Read More
It is important for every Christian to be able to understand the Gospel, the Christian message, in such a way that you can readily and easily summarize it for someone. It is the message of salvation—how sinful people can have peace with God and spend eternity with him in heaven. The Gospel answers four questions...
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The church campout will be July 20-22 at Eastcreek Campground in Mineral.
Eastcreek does not have a group site, but we have reserved seven sites close to each other (3, 10, J, K, P1, P2, P3) that can form a group area and will mean more than one RV and more than one tent in each site. We have space for up to 4 RVs and 16 tents, which will mean sharing sites. If you would prefer, you can reserve your own private site through the campground. Check in is at a 2pm on Thursday. We have reserved the sites through Saturday night so that we can stay as long as we want to on Saturday.
Reservations will be on a "first come, first served" basis. The cost is $43 / night for RVs and $27 / night for tents. Please be aware that each assumes (4) people and there may be an extra charge for larger families. You can sign up here.
This is the third of three posts responding to a request made at the Annual Congregational meeting for a tutorial in subscribing to the church blog and podcasts. In the first post, we discussed the church blog. In the second post we looked at how to subscribe to the sermons podcast. This last post will cover much of the same ground as the second, but specifically look at how to subscribe to the Sunday School podcast.
As mention in the second post, a podcast is used to distribute digital content—such as audio or videos. While we have no video content, we do make audio recordings of sermons and Sunday School classes available. These can be accessed directly from the website on the Sermons page and the Sunday School page. However, a more helpful way to access these on a regular basis is to use a podcast application (app) on your smart phone or tablet.
There are several apps available on Android phones and tablets such as PocketCasts, DoggCatcher, and Stitcher. iPhone has it's own built in app simply called Podcasts. Two others apps that are very good are Overcast and iCatcher. If you have not already done so, you will want to find the app already installed on your phone or install one of these.
Once you have the app installed, you can subscribe to the Sunday School podcast either by searching for Reformation Presbyterian Olympia or by entering the the address of the podcast (http://www.ropcolympia.org/sunday-school/?format=rss) directly. Once you have done this it will check for updates regularly and let you know when a new sermon has been uploaded. You can listen to it right in the app.
It is also possible to subscribe to a particular Sunday School series. On the Sunday School page, you will notice a bar on the far right (or the very bottom if you are on your phone or tablet). This has a list of sermon series at the top and Sunday School series below that. To the right of each one, you will find RSS. Typically on a phone or tablet you want to press and hold on RSS and you will get the option to copy the link or link address. Press copy and then paste it in your podcast app under subscribe by URL. On a desktop computer simply right click on it and select "Copy Link Address."
If the app says that the link is invalid, try resubmitting it. Sometimes it takes a few times to work. We have covered many things in Sunday School and this is a great way to visit (or revisit) a book or topic. You will find classes on Esther, Job, Daniel, Jonah, 1 Peter and the Beatitudes. You will also find topical studies on the Five Solas of the Reformation as well as parenting, marriage, evangelism, the church, and a few other topics. We also have had classes going through the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Shorter Catechism and we are currently studying the Heidelberg Catechism.
We hope that the Sunday School recordings will be helpful to you and that, by making them available as podcasts, they will be more readily accessible.
At the Annual Congregational Meeting this year, the request was made that we put up a tutorial on how to subscribe to the church blog and sermon and Sunday School podcasts. To that end, this will be the second of three posts giving a brief "how-to guide" to subscribing to these on your phone or tablet. In the first post, we discussed the church blog. Now we will look at the sermons podcast.
A podcast is much like a blog, except that it is used to distribute digital content—such as audio or videos. We have two main groups of audio files—one for the sermons preached at Reformation and one for the Sunday School lessons taught. These can be accessed directly from the website on the Sermons page and the Sunday School page, or you can use an application on your smart phone or tablet to access them when they become available.
Android may come with a built in podcast app, but, if not, there are several available such as PocketCasts, DoggCatcher, and Stitcher. iPhone has it's own built in app simply called Podcasts. Two others apps that are very good are Overcast and iCatcher. The first thing you will want to do is find the app already installed on your phone or install one of these.
Once you have the app installed, you can subscribe to the Sermons podcast either by searching for Reformation Presbyterian Olympia or by entering the the address of the podcast (http://www.ropcolympia.org/sermons/?format=rss) directly. Once you have done this it will check for updates regularly and let you know when a new sermon has been uploaded. You can listen to it right in the app.
It is also possible to subscribe to a particular sermon series. On the Sermons page, you will notice a bar on the far right (or the very bottom if you are on your phone or tablet). This has a list of sermon series. To the right of each one, you will find RSS. Typically on a phone or tablet you want to press and hold on RSS and you will get the option to copy the link or link address. Press copy and then paste it in your podcast app under subscribe by URL. On a desktop computer simply right click on it and select "Copy Link Address."
If the app says that the link is invalid, try resubmitting it. Sometimes it takes a few times to work. If you are looking for an old series, this is a great way to get just those sermons.
The sermons page is there to help you. Podcasting is a simple and helpful way to access the many sermons we have up on our webpage. We hope this little tutorial is helpful to you to get started in making use of what is available.
At the Annual Congregational Meeting this year, the request was made that we put up a tutorial on how to subscribe to the church blog and sermon and Sunday School podcasts. To that end, this will be the first of three posts giving a brief "how-to guide" to subscribing to these on your phone or tablet. First, we will cover the church blog.
The church blog is intended to serve as a place to share information that we think may be of interest to the congregation. This may be as simple as an update on what is going on at church or something more substantive such as follow up to a sermon or a book review or some thoughts on an issue in the Christian life.
However, it is not a daily blog, but occasional in nature. You will not want to check it daily—so it is easier if you are notified when a new post is made. To help with that there are apps for smart phones and tablets called RSS (Really Simple Syndication) readers.
Currently the most commonly used service is Feedly. You can create an account and then subscribe to the sites that you want to follow. Feedly has apps for Android and the iPhone/iPad. There are other RSS readers available—this is just one solution that is pretty easy to use for beginners. If you already use another RSS reader, you can use it with the church blog as well.
Once you have downloaded and installed the RSS app and logged in with your account, you can just tap the magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner and paste or type the address of the church blog (http://www.ropcolympia.org/blog/?format=rss) into the search field and hit search. It will find the blog (called "Blog - Reformation Presbyterian"). Click on that and you will be subscribed.
We hope that the blog is an encouragement to the congregation and that these instructions are helpful to notify you when it is updated.
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