Vineyards and Temples

Terms of endearment are deeply rooted in Scripture. Two terms God calls us are his "vineyard" and his "temple." We are plants and stones stacked together into a royal dwelling place!

In the OT, Israel was God's beloved vineyard (land). Land was the symbol for the nation. God loved the land . We (the church) are God's tender vineyard. (1 Cor 3:9) Keep your roots watered and planted in fertile soil so that you may grow and produce a good crop. The means of grace God gives us to water and nourish our roots are prayer, His Word and His Sacraments...use these helps and grow.

In the OT, God resided in the temple most holy place....now, we are his temple...he resides in us individually and corporately. Temple and mission are deeply connected. In the beginning Solomon had a universal vision that all nations would come to the temple and worship. "The nations shall flow into it (the temple)." Isaiah 54 tells us to enlarge the temple, "stretch out your tent"---make it bigger--the nations are coming in. The church is a house of prayer for all nations.

Mission: What might God be calling me to do to "pull up the cords" and expand the kingdom? By God's grace we are going to do something about the brokenness in the world. Find places where God' love is needed, go and be the temple shekinah glory there. Be the temple presence "organically" as well. Constantly keep your eyes open for need. We are launched out into the world to extend the borders of God's tent.

Community: We are stones stacked on one another...God's temple stones builded together. The rule for church life is let all thing be done for "edification" of the body. An edifice is an architectural term. We are to be building up one another...not tearing down. The greatest tragedy of the OT was the destruction of the temple. When you mistreat your fellow Christian you are sinning against the temple of the Lord. It is an act of sacrilege. We are being Babylonian invaders committing acts of sacrilege when we bite and tear down one another. God takes His church very seriously. The essence of sin is ME, ME, ME...the essence of love is OTHERS, OTHERS, OTHERS. Stay connected and involved in others' lives. No one is perfect, but we can walk alongside one another as we find a common purpose and live together in mission to advance the kingdom of our Lord.

We are God's vineyard and God's temple in worship, mission and community. Sunday is the first day of the week where we are prepared for the week ahead through participation in covenant renewal worship. God calls us, forgives us, feeds us and sends us out. We are to spring forth being intentionally missional, united in Christ and empowered by His Spirit. He is with us every step of the way.

Praise the LORD!

Sermon Notes from Sunday, May 8, 2010

Pastor Rich Lusk

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Remembering Monnica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo 4 May 387

We know about Monnica almost entirely from the autobiography (the Confessions) of her son Augustine, a major Christian writer, theologian and philosopher. Monnica was born in North Africa, near Carthage, in what is now Tunisia, perhaps around 331, of Christian parents, and was a Christian throughout her life. Her name has usually been spelled "Monica," but recently her tomb in Ostia was discovered, and the burial inscription says "Monnica," a spelling which all AC (Archaeologically Correct) persons have hastened to adopt. (On the other hand, it may simply be that the artisan who carved the inscription was a bad speller.)

As a girl, she was fond of wine, but on one occasion was taunted by a slave girl for drunkenness, and resolved not to drink thereafter. She was married to a pagan husband, Patricius, a man of hot temper, who was often unfaithful to her, but never insulted or struck her. It was her happiness to see both him and his mother ultimately receive the Gospel.

Monnica soon recognized that her son was a man of extraordinary intellectual gifts, a brilliant thinker and a natural leader of men (as a youngster he was head of a local gang of juvenile delinquents), and she had strong ambitions and high hopes for his success in a secular career. Indeed, though we do not know all the circumstances, most Christians today would say that her efforts to steer him into a socially advantageous marriage were in every way a disaster. However, she grew in spiritual maturity through a life of prayer, and her ambitions for his worldly success were transformed into a desire for his conversion.

He, as a youth, rejected her religion with scorn, and looked to various pagan philosophies for clues to the meaning of life. He undertook a career as an orator and teacher of the art of oratory (rhetoric), and moved from Africa to Rome and thence to Milan, at that time the seat of government in Italy. His mother followed him there a few years later. In Milan, Augustine met the bishop Ambrose, from whom he learned that Christianity could be intellectually respectable, and under whose preaching he was eventually converted and baptised on Easter Eve in 387, to the great joy of Monnica.

After his baptism, Augustine and a younger brother Navigius and Monnica planned to return to Africa together, but in Ostia, the port city of Rome, Monnica fell ill and said, "You will bury your mother here. All I ask of you is that, wherever you may be, you should remember me at the altar of the Lord. Do not fret because I am buried far from our home in Africa. Nothing is far from God, and I have no fear that he will not know where to find me, when he comes to raise me to life at the end of the world."

Prayer O Lord, who through spiritual discipline strengthened your servant Monnica to persevere in offering her love and prayers and tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine their son: Deepen our devotion, we pray, and use us in accordance with your will to bring others, even our own kindred, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

(copied from Mission St.Clare, Daily Office)

Notes from Sunday's Sermon

A person's relationship to Christ can be judged by his relationship to Christ's Church. What is so special about the church? Every Christian should have a high view of the church because the church is the bride of Christ. He loves His bride very much and we should love one another and be faithful to Him.

In the OT the temple was a microcosm of heaven and earth. The building of the tabernacle happened in 7 acts; the building of the temple was patterned after the creation.... God spoke, and it came into being. The temple was the center of life in the OT. We are God's temple We meet with God in a special way in the temple. This implies that what temple was to ancient Israel, the church should be to God's people.

Three aspects of the churchlife in which we are blessed when we participate are in her 1) worship, 2) mission and 3)community. This is a sketchy summary; if you want more details, go to www.trinity-pres.net and click on pastor's page, sermons. Enjoy and be blessed. It was a great sermon!

GLORIOUS THINGS OF THEE ARE SPOKEN!!!

Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God' he whose word cannot be broken formed thee for his own abode; on the Rock of Ages founded what can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded, thou mayst smile at all thy foes.

See, the streams of living waters, springing from the eternal love, well supply thy sons and daughters, and all fear of want remove; who can fain, while such a river ever flows their thirst t-assauge? grace which, like the Lord, the giver, never fails from age to age.

Round each habitation hov'ring, see the cloud and fire appear for a glory and a cov'ring, showing that the lord is near; thus deriving from their banner light by night and shade by day, safe they feed upon the manna which he gives them when they pray.

Savior, if of Zion's city I, through grace, a member am, let the world deride or pity, I will glory in thy name; fading is the worldling's pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show; solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion's children know.

Address to the Haggis

We enjoyed the St. Andrew's Society of the Middle South Spring party tonight. Morgan Murphy gave the address to the haggis.

Gie her a haggis!!!

When Gilbert was president of the society in 2005, he made the haggis for the event!

Robert Burns' Address to the Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

Aboon them a' ye tak your place,

Painch, tripe, or thairm:

Weel are ye wordy o' a grace

As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,

Your hurdies like a distant hill,

Your pin wad help to mend a mill

In time o' need,

While thro' your pores the dews distil

Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,

An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,

Trenching your gushing entrails bright,

Like ony ditch;

And then, O what a glorious sight,

Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn,

they stretch an' strive:

Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,

Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve,

Are bent lyke drums;

Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,

"Bethankit!" 'hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout

Or olio that wad staw a sow,

Or fricassee wad mak her spew

Wi' perfect sconner,

Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view

On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him ower his trash,

As feckless as a wither'd rash,

His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,

His nieve a nit;

Thro' bloody flood or field to dash,

O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,

The trembling earth resounds his tread.

Clap in his walie nieve a blade,

He'll mak it whissle;

An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned,

Like taps o' thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,

And dish them out their bill o' fare,

Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware

That jaups in luggies;

But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,

Gie her a haggis!

House and Garden

The house is repainted, Chatham Fog with white trim.

I have a pot of purple salvia at the back door.

And I've planted my garden. Look at the mint in the bottom right quad that sprang up from last year. I have planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, squash, and my herbs are cilantro, oregano, parsley, chives, basil and mint.

Taxed Enough Already Party in Trussville

Frances Wideman, Kathleen Duquette, Fay Shirley, Cindy Douglas, Pam Spivey and Carolyn Reich represented Republican Women of the South at the TEA Party. James Jr. knows that the real tax burden is the level of government spending, which is already spiraling out of control.

Pam Spivey helped a brand new citizen register to vote. He will vote for the first time in the June primary.

Sarah Palin said, "You betcha," she is supporting JOE!!! Joe Knight is running for Jefferson County Commissioner District 4.

District Attorney Brandon Falls and Jeff Co Republican Chairman Gilbert Douglas listen to the citizens.

Bye Bye Blue House...

Ever since we moved into our passive solar, board and batten, clear-story-window house in 1984, it has been painted blue....sort of a Williamsburg bluish-gray. Now we are painting the house a different color! The official Behr solid wood stain is called Chatham Fog...it looks a little like putty color to me. I'm told it's more "stylish" to go with these earth tones. Here's a preliminary photo..it's not finished yet; you can still see blue around the windows...I think we'll trim the windows in white and maybe change the shade on the door....what do you think? I miss my blue, but I like the fog! It's time for a change! I'll post an updated photo when we're finished.