Pastoral Notes for Sunday, January 27, 2019

I was gutted this week when I heard that the New York State Senate passed the Reproductive Health Act, giving women the right to abortion up to the point of birth. I welled up with grief imagining the thousands of boys and girls who will be killed as a consequence of this expanded abortion law.

Why am I experiencing such grief over this? The answer is simple. I believe in the sanctity of human life. I believe that human life is carefully fashioned by God as a reflection of Himself (Genesis 1:26-28) and is to be treated with dignity and respect—and that dignity and respect extends to the baby in the womb.    

The historic Christian perspective of life beginning at conception has been the position of the church throughout the centuries. Why has the church believed this? Because the Bible teaches it. No place is this more clear than in the Psalm 139. David writes, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:13-16).

Notice how David speaks of his preborn self as being personally and intimately formed by God Himself. Before he was born, God was intimately acquainted with all his ways and days. Even when he was an “unformed substance” (i.e. embryo), he speaks with the personal pronoun “me.”

The prophet Jeremiah uses similar language. Jeremiah writes, “Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:4-5). Remarkably, before he was formed in the womb, Jeremiah was known by God and set apart as a prophet. His life and calling as a mouthpiece for God were in place before Jeremiah took his first breath.

These words from Jeremiah remind me of that wonder filled moment in Luke 1 when Mary visits Elizabeth. In utero, John the Baptist leaps at the presence of Jesus Christ, who is also in utero. It’s as if preborn John is already fulfilling his prophetic mission by preparing the way of the Lord with that leap inside Elizabeth (see Luke 1:39-43).

Behind David’s words, Jeremiah’s call, and John the Baptist’s leap is this settled biblical conviction: life and personhood exist before birth. And since that’s the case, every child in the womb deserves the respect and dignity of being treated like a human being made in the image of God.

Before I close, something needs to be said. I realize that for some readers, the topic of abortion is no mere morality issue or a piece of legislation. It’s a very personal part of your story. If that’s true for you, please don’t think I am condemning you for having an abortion. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s remember that the Apostle Paul was once named Saul. He was a persecutor of the church and responsible for Stephen’s murder in Acts 7. He wrote these words: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). No matter what you’ve done, if you are in Christ, those words are true of you. Walk in the freedom of knowing that your abortion is no match for the atonement won for you in Christ’s blood. Rejoice in knowing that your sin has been nailed to the cross, and you bear it no more. And let’s together praise the Lord.

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, January 13, 2019

At the Cornerstone Family Meeting last Sunday, we gave several mission critical church updates. There is at least one update that I want to make sure you’re all up to speed on as we enter 2019. It concerns a staff change in our elementary education ministry area.

Eighteen months ago, we hired Mrs. Martha Brooks as our Elementary Education Director. In the past year and a half, Martha has taken our children’s ministry to a whole new level. From a full curriculum review and new curriculum implementation, to researching and writing a new child protection policy, Martha has done more than anyone to ensure that we disciple and care for the children of Cornerstone in a way that pleases our Lord.

As some of you know, in addition to her work at the church, Martha became the librarian at New Hope Academy this past year. Originally, she hoped to manage both the workload of both positions, but as the fall weighed in, she realized it was too much and decided to step down from her position as Elementary Education Director. We’re so sad to see Martha leave this post, but we’re consoled by the fact that the Brooks aren’t going anywhere. They will still be in their normal pew on Sunday morning in the early service and will be actively involved in the life of Cornerstone. We love you, Martha, and we thank God for all you’ve done to advance our children’s ministry and make Cornerstone a better place!

As we say goodbye to Martha, we say hello to our new Elementary Education Director, Meredith Suits. Many of you know and love Meredith already, but for those of you that don’t know her, I asked Meredith to tell us a little bit about herself. Here’s what she wrote:

My husband Matt and I moved to Middle Tennessee shortly after college over 8 years ago so that I could pursue a graduate degree in education. After living in Nashville for several years, we moved to Franklin and became members at Cornerstone two years ago. We have two (mostly) sweet children, Sam (3) and Charlotte (7 months), and in addition to learning how to be a parent, I’ve spent the last five years teaching English to high school students. Teaching is my calling, and while I’ve taken a break from the classroom for now, God has given me the opportunity at Cornerstone to use some of my gifts to serve the church as the Elementary Education Director. With two little ones of my own, I have a more ardent interest in the ministries that equip children to serve the Lord than I ever have before. I’m looking forward to continuing the fabulous work Martha Brooks has done and working with parents and the leaders of our church to teach our children the wondrous love of Christ.

If you’re a parent with elementary age students, please take time to get to know Meredith personally in the weeks ahead. Drop her a line or catch her at the information desk on Sunday morning. She would love to see and hear from you!

Finally, please pray for her. She is tasked with overseeing the care and discipleship of our covenant children. That’s a big job! She needs our prayers and support as she learns the ropes and leads us into the next season of children’s ministry at Cornerstone.

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, January 6, 2019

With the start of the new Sunday School term, we have new adult classes starting on January 13. One of these options is a short overview of Church Music History with Greg Wilbur. I asked Greg to give us a preview of the class as well as why this is a relevant topic.

Part of the beauty of tradition is the opportunity to connect with the past and our history, to benefit from the wisdom of others, and to celebrate with the “great clouds of witnesses” that have gone before. However, tradition can also be a hinderance, or too easily cast aside, if we do not continually remind ourselves of why we do what we do. This fact is especially true with regards to worship and music.

Over the past few decades, we have walked through what has been called “the worship wars” in which various people advocated either hymns or “contemporary” music for use in worship. However, both sides in this discussion were arguing about music in a way that, for the most part, ignored what has commonly been considered the purpose and power of music for thousands of years. How has thinking about music changed over time?

The purpose of this upcoming Sunday School class is to provide context and understanding about music in the Church—how the Church has used music and how the Church has thought about music. Why do we sing in worship? Where did hymns come from? Where did contemporary Christian music come from? Does musical style matter? What does it mean to be reverent, joyful, and relevant?

I believe that if we take the time to increase our understanding of where our traditions and practices come from, we can more readily appreciate them and respect them. I also believe that we can more easily separate the principles of why certain practices originated or developed from the actual practices themselves. In other words, the goal is not to duplicate the past but to understand the biblical principles that formed the foundations for decisions in the past and to apply those same principles in the time and place that God has placed us.

As such, the study of the role, development, and practice of music in Church history is a fascinating and lively exploration that has particular application to what we do in worship on a weekly basis. The topics will be:

1.    January 13—From Synagogue to Early Church

The Role of Music in Early Worship, pt 1

2.    January 20—Codification of Church Music: Gregory the Great

The Role of Music in Early Worship, pt 2

3.    January 27—The Advent of Harmony and Polyphony: The Music of the Spheres

4.    February 3—Reformation and Worship in Leipzig under Bach

5.    February 10—Rise of Hymnody

6.    February 17—Untune that String

Come join us in the Chapel for this quick overview and discussion of Church music. And, yes—we may even sing a bit.