Sad news: we received our 2nd rejection letter for adoption grants, one from God's Grace Adoption and another from Show Hope. I wonder how else am I going to go about raising this money? I suppose I could do it by saving but that would take years! We really believe we are doing the right thing by adopting: we would be helping a mother in crisis raise a child in a stable, loving Christian home. But maybe it's not the right time? Or maybe we should go through the county? Please keep us in your prayers.
How are you parents preparing for your children's teen years? Perhaps the best way to strengthen my girls for that often insecure-tumultuous-sensitive time known as puberty is by preparing them for the privilege of taking the LORD's Supper.
What better way is there to anticipate the shaky path of adolescence than by adding more grace? Not grace in the abstraction of favor undeserved nor grace as unmerited forgiveness but grace as a sacrament felt, touched, eaten. I know that bringing a child to the Table is not something to be taken lightly. The LORD is clear in His Word that a Christian must be able to examine himself rightly and be able to discern the Body and Blood of the LORD (1 Cor 11:27-34). This is so serious a matter that people in the Corinthian church were put to "sleep" for their serious mishandling of and misconduct with the LORD's body and blood (1 Cor 11:30). But let's say that as a parent we have seen evidence of true faith in a child and have trained him to know his faith catechetically. The parents then bring the child to the elders and they confirm what the parents have observed. Would the LORD's supper not be an excellent means to strengthen that little one's faith?
Now some of you might beg to differ and say that a child is too young to know his faith. Certainly many of the younger ages are in that category. They are not cognitively able to understand what is being taught and have the maturity of introspection to assess their own spiritual state. But as many of them pass into the elementary school years between 5 and 10 years, many of them do seem to be at that developmental state where they can comprehend their faith and their relationship to it. Even my own 5 year old (though she is definitely not ready to go before the elders yet) is actively thinking about what her faith means to her and how differently others practice it (we know many Roman Catholics and Lutherans). She is growing more responsive to the idea of God's wrath and her need for a Savior from that wrath. She can easily answer her catechism questions.
Assuming you've already brought them for baptism (another wonderful sacrament of grace), our children have received the sign and seal of God's covenant promises to them--as surely as the water sprinkled on their heads washed away dirt, so surely did Christ's blood wash away His people's sins (Heidelberg Catechism LD 26). Christ Himself corrected his disciples when they forbade the children of believers from coming to Him and even pronounced that the Kingdom of God belonged to them (Matt 19:13-15). Thus, we as covenant heads can assume our children are Christians in the making unless they show clear signs of covenant-breaking.
I am definitely not in favor of paedo-communion, one in which the children of believers are immediately granted access to the Table without a credible profession of faith. All I am saying is that perhaps there is something to actively promoting the LORD's supper to our children and starting the process of preparing for full membership much earlier than what is being done today. Many Reformed churches tend to expect communion later in their teen years than earlier. We have a plethora of Christian parenting books that talk about training their hearts, disciplining them according to Scripture, holding family worship at home and how to make our marriages stronger for the sake of our children. Those are all wonderful things to be sure which would behoove us in our sanctification. But what I am also saying is that perhaps we also should consider adding another aspect to our parenting arsenal by including something more powerful than what our own hands could deliver: the body and blood of Christ Himself as it is presented in the LORD's supper.
If you have any Spanish speaking friends, please invite them to tune into my husband's (Rev. Ruben Sernas) new radio show about the Protestant Reformation called La Nueva Reforma. It will air every Thursday night on radio station Nueva Vida KEZY 1230 AM at 6:30PM. He will be talking about the Belgic Confession, a document written by Guido de Bres in 1561 for the Protestant churches in what was then called the Belgic states (now known as the Netherlands and Belgium) as a response to cruel persecution by the Roman Catholic rulers under King Philip II of Spain who believed that the Protestant church was rebellious and unbiblical.
Many adherents of the Protestant faith were murdered for their leaving for the Protestant church because they were thought to be heretics. This document thus defends the fundamental tenets of the Protestant faith as being grounded and defined by the Word and nothing/ no one else (Popes, traditions, etc). You can read about it more here or aqui.
Listeners can meet and speak with Rev. Sernas this Friday night, when a new bible study in Spanish will also begin at our church at 7PM. Our church is located at the NE corner of Euclid and Philadelphia (off the 60 freeway and the Euclid exit) Visit: www.ontariourc.org for a map.
En Espanol: Revdo. Ruben Sernas va ensenar manana (el 15 de octubre) acerca de la Confesion Belga en la estacion de radio KEZY 1240 AM (Radio Nueva Vida) a las 6:30 PM. Habra un estudio biblico cada viernes a las 7 PM a nuestra iglesia.
Silence Trying to fathom the distance Looking out 'cross the canyon carved By my hands God is gracious Sin would still separate us Were it not for the bridge His grace Has made us His love will carry me
(Chorus) There's a bridge to cross the great divide A way was made to reach the other side The mercy of the Father, cost His son His life His love is deep, His love is wide There's a cross to bridge the great divide
God is faithful On my own I'm unable He found me hopeless, alone and Sent a Savior He's provided a path a promised To guide us Safely past all the sin that would divide us His love delivers me
(Repeat Chorus)
The cross that cost my Lord His life Has given me mine There's a bridge to cross the great divide There's a cross to bridge the great divide
~~ Granted, there are some theological nuances that need to be emended in this song. The mercy of the Father did not cost His Son his life per se, as if our sin necessitated the Son's death unconditionally. The Son was not made to suffer for us; rather, Jesus chose to offer Himself--the shedding of His own blood--as payment for the sins of His people, bearing the mortal curse resulting from Adam's (and our) violation of the covenant of works. In other words, He was not forced to die; rather, He chose to die. His death was voluntary: the Father did not subject Him forcibly as if He were abusing his child as some liberal theologians assert. The Son out of love for His Bride (the church), laid down His life for Her in love, which makes His sacrifice all the more glorious and undeserved.
And sin does not separate us from God, as if unpaid sin would actually lead us to eternal separation from God in hell as many Evangelicals believe. God is ominpresent and there is no place in heaven, earth or hell where He does not reside. Rather, in hell, people suffer His eternal wrath and anger justly, as their sins deserve. And this is where we all would be had it not been for the sacrifice of the Son which turned away and appeased the wrath of the Father. Atonement and propitiation are indeed sweet to a sinner's ear!
Nonethless, the harmonics in this song are unbeatable and the praising of God's mercy and love so heartwarming and uplifting. Christ as a bridge is a wonderful metaphor that helps us to understand that the only way to reach the Father is through His Son. A bridge is an engineering marvel that conveys the sense of people and vehicles trampling and exhausting its length to make it to the other side. And our sins exacted from Christ a life of poverty and suffering most acutely experienced in His being nailed to the Cross. But such a "trampling" of His life, the pouring out of His own blood into death brought us life and God. His death rendered the Holy Curtain asunder and brought us freely into the Holiest place of God. It is a sweet (however imperfect) blend of form and substance. I love this song!
We do not live on a farm but there are a lot of critters that board this house. Hence our following morning routine with husband, 2 children, 1 dog (the newest member, a border collie named Ike), and several seedlings and plants (and the occasional mice and local drunk vagrants):
6:30 AM: Let Ike go potty
6: 40 AM: Morning walk with Ike
7:10 AM: Water the seedlings (parsley, onion, green onion, cilantro and lettuce) in our indoor greenhouse.
7:20 AM: Feed Ike
7:45 AM: Water the plants, especially the pasote herb, Papi's new herb garden (R's dad planted some seeds recently outdoors), the boysenberry vine and the bougainvillea plants.
8:00 AM: Breakfast time with R and the girls; call Jesse for pests in the parsonage, the cops for the human pests on the front lawn or backyard!
Feeding, weeding, and sun-- this is the order of the day. The children complicate the process just a little bit if you know what I mean. But sometimes the plants give them a run for the money when they're overrun with weeds. That can just as much consume my time and energy. The dog is the sweetest thing since Twinkies was invented, so he has simply been a pleasure to care for. But I do try to avoid the common mistake of giving him affection more than the children. It is a temptation when the dog lives up to its title as "Man's Best Friend."
We may live in an urban jungle out here, our house being situated by 4 gasoline stations, 2 drugstores, 1 liquorstore and a daycare center. But walk north 1/2 a block, there's a rose farm teeming with ducks and chickens and a couple of goats. Drive 1 mile south, and you will see hundreds of cows grazing on pasture or feed. And come to our house and you will get to meet our little critters Sukipaki, Kikok, Ike (do we have an obsession with the letter K or what?), and the plants.
