Hope and Joy

  • June 9, 2015
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  • Park Forum

June9

Psalm 100.1-2
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! 

In the late 1860’s Charles Feltman replaced the pie wagon he had pushed through the sand on Coney Island for years with a new one that could serve his latest creation: sausage wrapped in a pastry bun. 

People were skeptical of what would become known as the hot dog, but the idea took off and Feltman built a restaurant that expanded rapidly. The Coney Island History Project reports that Feltman’s, “covered a full city block and consisted of nine restaurants, a roller coaster, a carousel, a ballroom, an outdoor movie theater, a hotel, a beer garden, a bathhouse, a pavilion, a Tyrolean village, two enormous bars, and a maple garden.”

Even after his death in 1910 the restaurant continued to expand — with over five million patrons in 1923 alone. If ever there was an institution that looked like it could last it was the dime-a-hotdog restaurant that could serve 8,000 people at a time and sat not far from the beach and newly-opened subway. But in less than a decade the Great Depression set in and business dried up quickly. Feltman’s family was soon faced with the task of closing the venues and selling off the land. 

We strap our hopes and dreams to what looks most successful and trustworthy. Yet ventures succeed and fail — taking entrepreneurs, investors, employees, and families along with them. Far too many people end up wrought with strife and brokenness because they invest everything they are into things which are exposed as unworthy.

Psalm 100 is the closing Psalm in a series of psalms (starting at Psalm 93) that renders praise to God because he is sufficiently worthy of our praise, affection, and hope. Those who praise God are full of joy because worship centers their life in God’s presence — and better is one day in his presence than thousands elsewhere.

Our work on this earth might carry on beyond our lives — last month a Coney Island man opened a Feltman’s pop up — and is worthy of our time and energy. At the same time, we should guard ourselves from allowing vocation and success to become the object of our affection or the source of our hope and joy. 

Prayer
Lord you are unchanging and eternal. Let us rejoice in you. Let us rest in your arms. Give us clarity and energy for our work. Give us hope and joy in you — both now and for eternity.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 13-14 (Listen – 6:35)
Psalms 99-101 (Listen – 2:49)

Life and Eternity
Part 2 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

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Why We Want Objective Good

  • June 8, 2015
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  • Bethany Jenkins

June8

Psalm 97.10
O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 
Our post-modern culture may teach that there is no such thing as an objective good or an objective evil, but no one really wants to believe that this is true. For when there is no objective standard, then “might makes right” — and that is unacceptable.
When there is an objective standard, John Piper says, “the simplest peasant in Russia, the simplest Jew in Germany, the simplest slave in Georgia or the simplest Christian prisoner in Rome can say to the most powerful Stalin, the most powerful Hitler, the most powerful plantation owner or the most powerful Caesar, ‘Excuse me. No, sir, this is wrong. Your power does not make it right. There is a God above you and there is a right and a wrong outside of you and your might does not make it right.’”
God defines objective good and objective evil. Good is that which honors Him and helps others, and evil is that which dishonors Him and hurts others. And He calls us to conform our emotions to this reality.
Yet loving an objective good and hating an objective evil – although somewhat easy to talk about when it comes to international injustices – gets complicated when we start talking about our own hearts.
In the Gulag Archipelago Alexander Solzhenitsyn reflected, “Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts … even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.”
Prayer
Lord, Jesus himself is the ultimate objective good. There is nothing better for us than him. In light of this reality, we beg you to give us your mercy for the miracle of new affections. Help us love good and hate evil, especially the evil in our hearts. Lift our eyes to Jesus, who died at the hands of evil to bring us the ultimate good. Let us not merely reject evil and choose good; let us hate evil and cling to good. Change our affections and, thereby, change our lives. Amen.
Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 12 (Listen – 5:11)
Psalms 97-98 (Listen – 2:11)
Life and Eternity
Part 1 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

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All of Life: Enshrouded in Mystery

  • June 5, 2015
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  • Bethany Jenkins

June5

Psalm 92.5-6
How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep! The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand. 

Ironically, one thing that we can know about God is how little we can know about Him. In large part, he is a mystery – not because he chooses to withhold himself, but rather because he is God and we are not.

As A.W. Tozer puts it in The Knowledge of the Holy, “Exactly what He is He cannot tell us. Of what God is conscious when He is conscious of self, only He knows. ‘The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.’ Only to an equal could God communicate the mystery of His Godhead; and to think of God as having an equal is to fall into an intellectual absurdity.”

In Psalm 92, the Psalmist sings praise to God and rejoices, “How great are your works, O Lord!” Then he continues by describing those things that the fool cannot understand—namely, the ways and judgments of God.

When we approach the Lord, how often are we conscious of his “deep thoughts”? Even his personhood is mysterious! 

Tozer continues, “Our sincerest effort to grasp the incomprehensible mystery of the Trinity must remain forever futile, and only by deepest reverence can it be saved from actual presumption. Some persons who reject all they cannot explain have denied that God is a Trinity. Subjecting the Most High to their cold, level-eyed scrutiny, they conclude that it is impossible that he could be both One and Three. 

“These forget that their whole life is enshrouded in mystery. They fail to consider that any real explanation of even the simplest phenomenon in nature lies hidden in obscurity and can no more be explained than can the mystery of the Godhead. Every man lives by faith, the nonbeliever as well as the saint; the one by faith in natural laws and the other by faith in God.”

Prayer
Lord, like the Psalmist, we look upon your creation and see your mysterious glory. Our world is full of the visible and the invisible, the material and the spiritual. It is a wonder that we are not constantly overwhelmed by even the simplest phenomenon in nature. We marvel in your presence. Fill us with wonder for knowing you. Let us not be arrogant or presumptuous for we live by faith. Amen.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 9 (Listen – 5:06)
Psalms 92-93 (Listen – 1:28)

Investing With Your Life
Part 5 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

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This Weekend’s Readings

Saturday: Deuteronomy 10 (Listen – 3:12); Psalm 94 (Listen – 2:08)
Sunday: Deuteronomy 11 (Listen – 4:38); Psalms 95-96 (Listen – 1:09)

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What it Means to Trust in God

  • June 4, 2015
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  • Park Forum

June4

Psalm 91.1-2
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 

TBT: What it Means to Trust in God | by Thomas Lye (c. 1675 C.E.)

To trust in God, is to cast our burden on the Lord, when it is too heavy for our own shoulder; to dwell “in the secret place of the Most High,” when we know not where to lay our heads on earth. It is to “look to our Maker,” and to “have respect to the Holy One of Israel;” to lean on our Beloved; to stay ourselves, when sinking, on the Lord our God. 

In a word, trust in God is that high act or exercise of faith, whereby the soul, looking upon God, and casting of itself on his goodness, power, promises, faithfulness, and providence, is lifted up above carnal fears and discouragements, above perplexing doubts and disquietments. These acts are either for the obtaining and continuance of that which is good, or for the preventing or removing of that which is evil.

More particularly, there are three ingredients of trust in God:

1. A clear knowledge or right apprehension of God, as revealed in his word and works. Knowledge of God is of such necessity to a right trust, that it is put as a synonym for trust: “I will set him on high, because he hath known,” that is, trusted in, “my name.”

2. A full assent of the understanding, and consent of the will, to those divine revelations, as true and good, wherein the Lord proposes himself as an adequate object for our trust.

3. A firm and fixed reliance, resting, or recumbency of the whole soul on God. Or a firm persuasion, and special confidence of the heart, whereby a believer particularly applies to himself the faithful promises of God, and certainly concludes and determines with himself, that the Lord is able and willing to make good to him the good promises he hath made. This indeed is the very formality of trust; one of the highest and noblest acts of faith.

Prayers from the Past
Lord Jesus Christ, you created heaven and earth; you never forsake those who put their trust in you. Thanks be to you: you have made us fit to live in your city in heaven and share your kingdom.

Give your servants rest; turn the violence of their enemies to me.

Give your church peace; deliver it from the tyranny of the devil.

— Theodotus of Ancyra, prior to his martyrdom c. 302 (excerpted from a longer prayer).

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 8 (Listen – 2:58)
Psalm 91 (Listen – 1:39)

Investing With Your Life
Part 4 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

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Morning Rhythms

  • June 3, 2015
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  • Park Forum

June3

Psalm 90.14
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 

A recent study reveals it takes 90 minutes for the average Londoner to transition from bed to walking out the door each morning. The average resident of Shanghai invests just 9 minutes grooming for the day, while two thirds of Parisian women apply makeup and perfume each day.

On the other hand, only fifty six percent of New Yorkers shower each day (rush hour subway, anyone?). For those who do, showering and grooming averages 30 minutes each morning.

Few people practice ideal morning rhythms. Looking at New Yorkers alone, 59% say it’s important to exercise in the morning — just 16% do. For those with children, 77% say morning playtime is important — only 21% engage in it. 

The number one place for New Yorkers to self-reflect is the shower (let’s face it, it’s the only place we’re consistently alone), but stress, problem solving, and scheduling too easily consume reflection time. If we’re honest it’s far too easy to invest a disproportionate amount of time in the morning focusing only on ourselves.

Psalm 90.14 records a simple and beautiful prayer, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love.” The Psalmist longed for a joy that would be present in the good and bad of life. He knew this kind of transcendent joy could be found in one source alone: satisfaction in the love of God — every morning. 

Scripture reading, prayer, and reflection on the character and nature of God each morning is time well invested. Morning rhythms rooted in Christ move us beyond ourselves opening up time to pray for people who may not have anyone else praying for them, and centering our lives on the only source that delivers what we need most.

Prayer
God, satisfy us with your love — let us long for nothing else, as you are what we need the most each day; may everything in our life be what you want. Provide what we truly need today. Give us your wonderful grace and allow us to extend that grace to those who hurt us. Lead us in your ways, God, and remove evil from our heart, mind, and life.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 7 (Listen – 4:13)
Psalm 90 (Listen – 2:03)

Investing With Your Life
Part 3 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

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