SEX AND THE SUBURBS

Yesterday morning we concluded a seven week journey into the depths of our being as males and females created in the image of God. It's been an amazing process, draining yet energizing. A number of people questioned my sanity - "seven weeks on sex, what are you going to talk about for all those weeks?" Believe me, I just scratched the surface. If you would like to listen to any of the messages, check out our podcast site, Thinking Out Loud.

Special thanks to Rob Bell for turning me on to a great book, "The Holy Longing" by Ronald Rolheiser. These words served as a center piece for our series:

"Sexuality is the energy inside of us that works incessantly against our being along…Sexuality is a beautiful, good, extremely powerful, sacred energy, given us by God and experienced in every cell of our being as an irrepressible urge to overcome our incompleteness, to move toward unity and consummation with that which is beyond us. "

Here are the six books I leveraged in my study and preparation. If you are interested in delving deeper into the topic, I would encourage you to take a look at any of them. You'll be glad you did.

Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity (Laureen Winner, 2005, Brazos Press)

Winner writes not as a theologian or a Biblical scholar, but as a female follower of Jesus (read her journey through Judaism to Christianity in her book, Girl Meets God) living in the midst of a sexually saturated society.
Sexual Ethics: An Evangelical Perspective (Stanley Grenz, 1990, Westminster John Know Press)

Stan is one of the most important theological voices in the missional and emerging church movement. While his earthly work was completed with his unexpected death last year, his writings continue to shape the mind and heart of the community of faith. Stan was my theological mentor during my doctoral studies and his pursuit of sound theology was always to the glory of God and in service to the Church.

The Unauthorized Guide to Sex and Church (Carmen Renee Barry, 2005, W Publishing Group)

Barry’s book includes a historical sketch of the development of the community of faith’s perspective on sexuality from Old Testament times, through Jesus’ ministry and the evolution of the Church in Western civilization. As she discusses issues that at times have divided the church she writes, “Our responsibility as maturing Christians is to learn, to think, to ponder, to pray…and to allow the Holy Spirit to change us into more exact likenesses of Christ through the process.”

The Holy Longing (Ronald Rolheiser, 1999, Doubleday)

What can a single, celibate, Catholic priest teach Protestants about sexuality? Quite a bit actually. The primary purpose behind the book isn’t really about sexuality but rather the search for an authentic Christian spirituality. There is a great chapter on sexuality and spirituality near the end of the book but I would encourage you to read it all!

Sex for Christians (Lewis Smedes)

A classic book written in 1970’s in the midst of the sexual revolution by an evangelical psychologist, ethicist, and theological thinker (who was also one of John Ortberg’s primary mentors). While you may not agree with all of Smedes’ conclusions (and the language is a bit dated), this is an important contribution to the literature.

Sexual Character: Beyond Technique to Intimacy (Marva Dawn,1993, William Eerdmans Publishing)

Dawn is a reformed theologian with a Ph.D in ethics and the Scriptures from Notre Dame. She is a prolific author and her journey includes numerous physical challenges. In this book, Dawn explains the difference between social sexuality and genital sexuality and discusses the forces in our technological society that jeopardize true intimacy. Thoroughly biblical and yet very practical - the book raises questions that apply to issues like friendship, marriage, divorce, dating, homosexuality, and abortion.

Stay Connected...

THE GOAL IS SOUL

Yesterday afternoon we launched our first Soul Cafe at Aldo Coffee in Uptown Mt. Lebanon. To borrow a phrase from a large coffee company based out of Seattle, our “venti dream” is to take worship outside the walls of the church and move it into the marketplace - to develop a coffee house liturgy you might say. We were pumped to fill the place up with people and even more to fill the place up with soulful music and conversation. The 90 minute experience was a mixture of music, guided discussion around the tables, a brief message on soul and more music.

Anybody out there doing this kind of thing? I would love to dialogue with you about the possibilities. “For what does it profit a person to gain the whole world but lose their soul?” (Jesus).

Stay connected…

WORSHIP LEADERSHIP AS AN ART FORM

“I believe being a worship leader is the highest of all art forms, to worship and call people into the presence of God.”

-- U2 frontman Bono, discussing Christian and secular music with a small group of reporters after the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday February 2

What do you think about this statement?

Stay Connected...

INDESRCRIBABLE

Ok, truth be told - Chris Tomlin is one of my favorite worship leaders. I know he is missing from my list on the right side of this page, but that will be fixed shortly. This past Sunday about 30 of us from Christ Community Church trekked to the North Hills of Pittsburgh to spend an evening with Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and Louie Giglio for the Indescribable Tour. When an amazing evening of worship. Scripture, music, a huge sound system, captivating visuals, and a powerful message from Giglio, all guided and directed by the Holy Spirit, formed a beautiful mosaic of devotion to our God.

Here’s why Chris is one of my favorite worship leaders: he writes memorable songs. He is masterful at crafting a melody that quickly becomes a part of you, freeing you to bring your song of worship before the Lord. When we put our worship set together for last Sunday’s worship gathering, we decided to do a bunch of Tomlin songs in honor of his visit to Pittsburgh (we did the same with Matt Redman songs the week before). As I reviewed our catalogue of songs, I was amazed at how many of Chris’songs we actually sing.

I thank God for songwriters and worship leaders like Chris and Matt; they are indeed true gifts to the Church. Join me in raising a prayer of thanksgiving to our great God. “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good - His love endures forever!”

Stay Connected…

DEVOTION

Well, we are into week two in our early morning study of Michael Slaughter's book, "Momentum for Life." There are about a dozen of us gathering on Wednesday mornings at 6:30 AM to discuss what we are reading and learning about self leadership. Slaughter says, "if you can't lead yourself, you won't be effective in leading others. Self leadership precedes strategic leadership." While the early hour is just about killing me physically, it truly is time well spent with my sisters and brothers.

Yesterday we talked about devotion. Slaughter defines devotion as, "a focused time of being fully presence to God's presence." I struggle with this understanding on a couple of levels. One, I'm not sure that I have ever been fully presence to God's presence, in fact I'm not sure I could even handle that. Maybe I am lowering the bar, but my hope and prayer is day by day I will learn to become more present to God's presence.

The other point for me is the tension I find in Slaughter’s writing compared to another book I have begun reading, Michael Frost's "Seeing God in the Ordinary: A Theology of the Everyday." While I understand the value and importance of a focused time period of Scripture study and prayer, I don't want my devotion of God to be put into the box of a daily quiet time. My deep desire is to become more aware or to use Slaughter's words, more present to God's presence in every single moment of the day.

There is a recurring line in the movie Vanilla Sky, a haunting voice that implores "open your eyes..." May it be so.

Stay connected...

JOINING CHRIST IN THE WORK OF RECONCILIATION

Tonight and tomorrow, our Gulf Coast Team members will be preparing for their experience by gathering together at Jumonville Conference Center outside of Uniontown. They will be learning, praying, and building connections with one another that God will leverage as they travel to the Gulf region on February 11. Even as you read these words, would you please take a moment to pray for their time together?

While I will not be traveling with them to the Gulf region, I do feel like I am a part of the team and have a role to play in partnering with them. So tomorrow morning I will arise early and trek to Jumonville (ascend the hill of the Lord) to spend time with them vision casting, encouraging, and sharing what I hope and pray will be empowering words from God.

Here's the word I am stuck on today; it's from Colossians 1:

We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels; everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and is leading the resurrection parade; he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe, people and things, animals and atoms, get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross. (Colossians 1:15-23, The Message).

The reason our team is headed to the Gulf region is to join the work that Christ is already doing putting together the broken and dislocated pieces of that part of the world. How cool is that?!

And you know what - the more I think about it - we can join Christ wherever and whenever He is about His reconciling work. How cool is that?

Stay connected...

PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE)

For Dr. King...

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

Stay Connected...

SEX

Tomorrow morning our community of faith begins a seven week series on sex. It's entitled Sex and the Suburbs: Discovering God's Design for Our Sexuality. The past couple of weeks I have been very busy preparing for the series (so that's why I haven't been posting - not true) and I have to admit I am pretty pumped up. As we kick this off, let me share two thoughts, one from Scripture and the second from an awesome book by Ronald Rolheiser.

There's more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, "The two become one." Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever--the kind of sex that can never "become one." (1 Corinthians 6:16-17, The Message).

"Sexuality is the energy inside of us that works incessantly against our being alone. Sexuality is a beautiful, good, extremely powerful, sacred energy, given us by God and experienced in every cell of our being as an irrepressible urge to overcome our incompleteness, to move toward unity and consummation with that which is beyond us" (Ronald Rolheiser, A Holy Longing)

I hope you will take a moment and pray for our community as we enter this holy space. Let's all take off our shoes because the ground we are standing on is indeed holy ground and sacred space.

Stay connected...

WHO ARE YOU BECOMING?

I’m pretty energized as 2005 comes to a close. You see I’m wired up with a future orientation – what was happened doesn’t interest me nearly as much as what will happen. Possibilities and potential – the what could be(s) of life – that gets my heart pumping. I think that is why these words from the prophet Isaiah resonate with me:

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

Now you may be thinking that I have an addiction to the new, new thing; I lovingly like to call it spiritual ADD.

The reality is that all of us are in a state of becoming. The big question is, “what kind of person are you becoming, spiritually, physically, emotionally, relationally, and intellectually?” Check out what the Apostle Paul said to the Christ community in Philippi:

“…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

We are people in process.

Alex McManus at Into the Mystic, turned me on to a site that I will be utilizing over the next couple of days as I move into 2006 (BTW - next week I will be taking four days of solitude at a friend’s river house to read, pray, study, make music, commune...). Here’s what Alex wrote:

“If you could send an email to your future self 1 year from today, what message would you send? What message would you send to your future self in 5 years? 20 years? Whatever your message, you can send it to your future self via futureme.org. As the New Year approaches, and we think about who we’ve been in times past and the people we want to become, try this exercise: what email message would you send not only to yourself but to those you love? Your spouse or your kids?”

As the curtain is drawn on 2005 and the New Year begin why not take some time and prayerfully write a letter to your future self. Ask God to guide you through the process and to help you answer this question, “what kind of person are you becoming?”

Stay Connected…

GETTING CHRISTMAS RIGHT...

It was just about a month ago when I raised this question before our community of faith – “what would it take for you to wake up on December 26 to be able to say to yourself, ‘this Christmas, I got it right?’” Well, it is December 28, I thought it would be good to share some of my thoughts and invite you to join in as well.

One of the things I shared with my congregation was the fact that our goal should not be a perfect Christmas; that is simply setting oneself up for failure. A more realistic goal was to find movement toward getting it right, a more Christ-centered and Christ-honoring celebration. Believe me, I certainly didn’t get it perfect (not even close); I had my moments of anxiety, self-centered thinking, irritation with people, counting the days until it would all be over…but in the midst of it I did discover some movement.

One of the biggest movements for me this December was the fresh realization that I have control over very little and that indeed much of what is going on around me is a part of the cosmic spiritual battle between the forces of the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God. I shared a talk entitled, “Peace on Earth?” which centered on the world into which Jesus was born, a world ruled and dominated by the Roman Empire. The peace of Rome was fueled by violence, oppression, and injustice and the Prince of Peace came to confront, disarm, and dismantle this evil empire. The implications and reverberations from this event are still being felt today.

A friend of mine shared some wisdom with me (via John Ortberg’s book, “If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat”). She reminded me that we all need God-sized challenges, the kind of challenges where only God could bring the victory. Otherwise, we become very confident on our own abilities to stay in control and make things happen. One night lying in bed I realized that one of the situation I am facing is indeed a spiritual battle; the best of my ability has failed to produce any real, substantive change. Break-through will only come as the result of God’s power sweeping in and saving the day. Now sure, I have a part to play, but really what’s needed most is the power and peace of God to come into this situation and reign (reminds me of Jesus words, “this one will only come out through prayer and fasting”).

This Christmas I gave fewer wrapped gifts; I gave a number of costly (life giving kinds of gifts through world Vision) and had some fun giving symbolic gifts to a few close friends. Most of all I tried to give more of myself. On Christmas Day, my wife Patty had to work the 3-11 PM shift which left me alone with my in-laws at Christmas dinner; not the most comfortable place for me. I made the conscious decision to give the gift of my presence to two of my nephews. I don’t see them very often and seldom really speak with them. I spent some quality one-on-one time with each of them where I tried my best to become present to them, to listen and learn what’s going on in their lives. It blessed me and I pray it touched their lives in a small way as well.

What about you? Did you discern any movement toward getting Christmas right this year? I would love to hear some of your stories.

Stay Connected…

WHICH CHRISTMAS STORY ARE YOU READING?

Over the past week I suggested that there are some alternative readings of the Christmas Story in the Scriptures. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ, let me raise a question: which Christmas story are you reading?

Will Willimon is a United Methodist Bishop, pastor, and prolific author. In his book, "Watch for the Light," he writes:

“We love Christmas because, as we say, Christmas brings out the best in us. Everyone gives on Christmas, even the stingiest among us, even the Ebenezer Scrooges. Charles Dickens’ story of Scrooge’s transformation has probably done more to form our notions of Christmas than St. Luke’s story of the manger. Whereas Luke tells us of God’s gift to us, Dickens tells us how we can give to others. A Christmas Carol is more congenial to our favorite images of ourselves. Dickens suggests that down deep, even the worst of us can become generous, giving people.

Yet, I suggest we are better givers than getters, not because we are generous people, but because we are proud, arrogant people. The Christmas story—the one according to Luke not Dickens—is not about how blessed it is to be givers but how essential it is to see ourselves as receivers.”

I pray that this year you receive the wonderful gift of God in Jesus Christ.

Stay Connected...

ALTERNATIVE READINGS OF THE CHRISTMAS STORY

This past week I have been thinking about and reflecting upon alternative readings of the Christmas story. Last week our worship design team dialogued about the Christmas story as it is found in Revelation 11-12. Check out Marlaena Cochran's blog for some great thoughts on this in light of the Chronicles of Narnia film.

Today I have been thinking about Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 9 concerning generosity and especially verse 15 when Paul declares: "thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"

I ran across these words from Bill Denton:

"There is One who has come through with the greatest gift of all. When God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to die for our sins and to rise from the dead to give hope of eternal life, it was the gift of all gifts. No gift-loaded Christmas tree has ever secreted a gift as loving, as desperately needed, as beautiful, or as magnificent. We may struggle to give appropriate gifts, but God has come through for us with a gift for all time, for all eternity. It's an indescribable gift!"

This week as you reflect upon Luke 2 and Matthew 1, I pray the words of Paul will serve as a backdrop for the birth of Christ in your heart afresh. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Stay Connected...

BETTER DAYS?

Are you an optimist or pessimist?

Have you ever run across followers of Jesus who continually speak of the evils of this world and pray without ceasing that Jesus would come back and rescue them out of this mess? Now I realize that we live in a broken world, marred and flawed by sin, injustice and oppression and that every one of us experiences the consequences of the fall each and every day. But man, that think of thinking, praying, and living really depresses me.

It’s been interesting that over the past couple of months that God has been using two songs to renew my spirit, one by the Goo Goo Dolls and the other by the Robbie Seay Band – both interestingly enough entitled “Better Days.” You can watch the Goo Goo Dolls perform the song at Rockefeller Square and and listen to the Robbie Seay song at their site.

First of all thanks for listening to our song We hope this finds you driving in your car or where ever you are breath out and breath again know that life is hard, but its worth it in the end, listen to me now for the love, oh love, It's waiting for you just to say here come better days here come better days,better days, and a better place I know.Secondly I'm all screwed up so royally I stumbled my way here, but wait, oh wait grace has found me shaken up my soul, grace will follow where ever you may go, listen to me now grace, oh grace, is calling for you just to say here come better days here come better days, better days, and a better place I know.

(Robbie Seay Band)

Faith calls me to be a realistic optimist –yes sin is a reality and brokenness is all around but while we are here on earth we have the opportunity to bring real help and hope to people in real need. And in fact isn’t that what the message of Christmas is all about?

What do you think?

Stay Connected…

A GENEROUS CHRISTMAS

Yesterday during our worship gathering I spoke from Matthew 2:1-12 and the visit of the Magi. In their own way, the Magi invented the tradition of giving gifts at Christmas time. When they came into the presence of Jesus, the One born King of the Jews, they opened up their treasures and presented gifts. I have been thinking quite a bit about this story this week and hope it will inform my own gift giving this Christmas season.

At Christmas time we typically shower our family and friends with gifts. Trust me – I am not anti-gift giving. In our best moments we do so as a demonstration of our love for others – however, in our worst moments it can become little more than obligatory giving with very little heart or intention behind it.

This year the Timm family is going to try something different – we will include in our practice of gift giving, a costly gift given to those in great need, with the hope and prayer that it will make a real difference in someone’s life. We will be partnering with World Vision, utilizing their opportunities to give a gift that will help widows and orphans who have been impacted by the AIDS pandemic in Africa.

Perhaps you or your family would like to join with us this year. Take a couple of moments to check out the opportunities that World Vision provides through their Caring for Widows and Orphans site. There is a sobering reminder of the real need in our world as you immediately read these words: “By the time you have finished reading this page, another four children will be orphaned – joining the 14 million children around the world who have already been lost one or both parents to AIDS.”

What do you think? I’d love to hear your ideas.

Stay Connected…

WORLD AIDS DAY - KEEP THE PROMISE

This past summer my daughter Abby and I visited with my parents in northern Wisconsin. This was the place where they both were born and raised. One beautiful afternoon we took a walk through a small town cemetery. It was fascinating to read the names on the tombstones and I was amazed at how many names I recognized. Grandparents, uncles, and aunts – I paused to stop and give thanks for their lives. But one stopped me in my tracks – it was the grave site of one of my cousins, a man just a few years older than I – and a life cut short by HIV/AIDS.

Today is World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day is a yearly, global event started in January 1988 to promote awareness and action in the fight against HIV/AIDS. According to UNAIDS estimates, there were 37.2 million adults and 2.2 million children worldwide living with HIV at the end of 2004. During the year 4.9 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35. Around 95% of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world. In Africa alone, more than 17 million people have died from AIDS and another 25 million are infected with the HIV virus, approximately 1.9 million of whom are children. Every day in Africa, HIV/AIDS kills 6,300 people. 8,500 people are infected with the HIV virus and 1,400 newborn babies are infected during childbirth.

This year, the theme of World AIDS Day is "Stop Aids: Keep the Promise" which reminds us that our government leaders need to be held accountable for their commitments to the fight against AIDS and act in order to delivered the promised results. (taken from the ONE website).

I invite you to take a few minutes today to listen to the "The World AIDS Day ONEcast" which features former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, Bono, U2 lead singer and co-founder of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade for Africa), Chris Martin of Coldplay, and author and Christian leader Tony Campolo.

Stay Connected...

THE GOAL IS SOUL

If the goal is soul, how do we get there? Well for me, a huge part of the journey to soul is music, both playing it and listening to it. Music is a powerful soul force in my life. So I thought I would highlight a couple of artists and recordings that are nurturing my soul right now.

First up - Jeremy Camp. Right now I am listening to his latest release, "Live Unplugged." It is my favorite (plus you get a bonus DVD of the concert - what a deal). Jeremy has quite a faith story. Camp experienced a major loss in his life as very early in his marriage, his wife was diagnosed with cancer and shortly after died. After losing his newlywed wife, Jeremy fueled the pain and hurt into his songwriting as a testimony of unwavering faith in God's comfort and the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. One of the things I love most about his music is the message of hope that is born from real pain and heartbreak. If you would like to learn more about his story, follow this link to an interview from the March 2003 issue of Christianity Today.

Camp rocks! In fact some of his other releases may be a bit much for some of you. That's why I recommend the "Live Unplugged" release. Think Creed meets Jars of Clay with the a string quartet and an awesome percussionist thrown in for good measure.

My favorite tracks - Understand (track 1):

Every time I fall down on my face
I see the one who bore all my shame
Well to know that you are everything I need you to be
You're my ever present help in time of need
I know you understand it all
So why don't I get back on my feet again...

And Empty Me (track 6):

Holy fire, burn away my desire
For anything that is not of You and is of me
I want more of You and less of me
Empty me, empty me
Fill won’t You fill me with You, with You…

What a great prayer – may it be so!

Stay Connected…

GENERATIVE FRIENDSHIPS - PART 2

For two Sundays during the month of November, my good friend Terry Mann and I partnered together in a non- traditional pulpit exchange. I had a blast hanging out with the people of Fountain Park Church and you can listen to the message I shared with them based upon Ephesians 3:14-21 and 1 Corinthians 13 entitled, "Gong."

Terry did a great job opening up Genesis 41 and the Joseph story to our congregation and you can listen to his message, "What's in a Name?"

Thank God for generative friendships!

Stay Connected...

AN AIDS TEST EVERYONE SHOULD TAKE

What do you know about AIDS, the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time?

Find out by taking the World Vision AIDS Test now. This interactive test—which takes just a few minutes to complete-could change the way you think about AIDS forever.

Stay Connected...

THE GOAL IS SOUL

My favorite poet, prophet, and Irish rock star has a saying (you might even call it a life mantra) “the goal is soul.” That resonates with me, especially as I think about the great commandment of Jesus, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, soul and strength.” Many of us have some handle on the heart, mind and strength stuff (passion, intellect and muscle), but when it comes to loving the Lord with soul, things tend to get a bit fuzzy.

Lately I have been reading a great book by Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing - The Search for a Christian Spirituality. He talks quite a bit about soul. Here is a brief except to get the conversation started:

“A healthy soul, therefore, must do two things for us. First, it must put some fire in our veins, keep us energized, vibrant, living with zest, and full of hope as we sense that life is, ultimately beautiful and worth living. Whenever this breaks down is us, something is wrong with our souls. When cynicism, despair, bitterness, or depression paralyzes our energy, part of the soul is hurting. Second, a healthy soul has to keep us fixed together. It has to continually give us a sense of who we are, where we came from, where we are going and what sense there is in all of this. When we stand looking at ourselves, confusedly, in a mirror and ask ourselves what sense, if any, there is to our lives, it is this other part of the soul, our principle of integration, that is limping.” (14)

What comes to your mind when you hear the word soul? Is there anything in Rolheiser’s description that resonates with you? Anything you question or disagree with?

Stay Connected…

ETERNAL GOD

Recently I have found myself reading, reflecting upon, praying and singing the words of Moses, the man of God as they are recorded in Psalm 90. This Sunday in our worship gathering we will take time to do so communally and we will introduce a powerful song by the Robbie Seay Band called, "Eternal God."

Perhaps God has something to say to you this day through these ancient words:

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You turn people back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, you mortals." A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death— they are like the new grass of the morning: In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered. We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Relent, LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands" (Psalm 90, TNIV).

Stay Connected...