Global Affairs in the Ukraine: Scripture & Music

Greetings Pax Pres! As the news regarding Russia and the Ukraine continue to unfold in significant ways this week, I honestly do not feel that more words from someone like me are needed in this age of every pundit under the sun offering their analysis of the global matters at hand. 

 

Instead, it is a time such as this when the timelessness of God‘s Word is what is needed.

 

Acts 17:26-27 says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”

 

Psalm 46 says:

 "God is our refuge and strength,

    an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

    and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

    the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;

    God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done,

    the desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease

    to the ends of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

    he burns the shields with fire.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

    I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 

Romans 8 declares: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. …In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

 

Whether you are looking for hope in your own personal anxieties and uncertainties, or hope regarding the affairs in the Ukraine and its impact on civilians, military, missionaries for the Gospel, and the least of these - if that is the hope you are seeking in these tenuous days, then I point you back to Scriptures such as those above to guide your prayer and to fill you with God’s strength and hope. Not to remove us from caring about the affairs of the nations, but rather to deepen our perspective and the way we pray.

 

I also point you to a song that has meant a lot to me in various seasons of uncertainty in the last few years: “Ancient of Days” by Shane & Shane.

I admit I have shared this song in a previous church blog post, so if it’s already familiar to you, then listen again and be encouraged. The opening lyrics say:

“Though the nations rage

Kingdoms rise and fall

There is still one King

Reigning over all…”

 

May the word of Christ and the peace of Christ dwell richly in you as you look for ways to pray for global affairs and all those in need, and to do your part in showing the love of Christ to our neighbors.

Stillness in Motion (God is) by Kathleen Mead

 

Stillness in Motion (God is) by Kathleen Mead

 

Prologue:

 

Stillness in motion,

    both coming & going—

    a patient urgency

    of simultaneous division & peace,

    humbly exalted

    from death to life (no longer under wrath);

    He does, but most importantly,

    He is;

 

…

 

God is the God of stillness

    in how His seventh broke

    the rhythms of His creation

    while He rested to observe quiet beauty.

 

Stillness in the mountains,

    their glory found in stability;

    the silence of the evening

    that awaits the morning light & song.

 

God is the God of motion

    in the parting of the waters,

    the enemy’s plans frustrated

    since He’s already declared His victory.

 

Motion in the earth

    following gravity’s beaten path;

    wind’s power felt and yet unseen,

    rustling what was frozen.

 

God is the God of leaving

    behind the ninety-nine

    because He cares for the one,

    the lost, and the least of these.

 

Leaving behind the worries of tomorrow

    and the burdened weight of past mistakes;

    abandon the self of old

    to put on the one who gives before he takes.

 

God is the God of coming

    closer to His most precious love,

    the pursuit of His prodigal son,

    chasing whom He’s redeemed.

 

Coming toward the goodness

    which is lavished so greatly on us;

    the undeserved grace-filled breath

    which now fills our lungs to overflow.

 

God is the God of patience

    so that we may be led in the direction

    of having a repentant heart

    clinging to only Him.

 

Patience held when He died

    in the knowledge of our destiny;

    He saw us before our formation,

    never slow to fulfill His promises.

 

God is the God of urgency

    with His call to a holy rebirth

    for the sake of a clear sight

    of nothing less than His heavenly kingdom.

 

Urgency to be awakened

    to the truth of the light;

    it is coming soon

    so run away from fear to greet His safe radiance.

 

God is the God of division

    between righteousness and injustice,

    exposing darkness that hides in shadows

    to be replaced one day by fire.

 

Division that shows His holiness,

    our dissonance

    to be torn at His command

    since His presence is too bright to be friends with

    corruption.

 

God is the God of peace—

    demonstrated in who became flesh—

    through being fully reconciled,

    the earth to our creator, God.

 

Peace accessed though faith

    merely by floating upon the sea

    because no gift from Him is earned,

    rather, it can all be ours for free.

 

God is the God of exaltation

    on wings that charged the land with wondrous glory,

    awestruck at the mighty hand

    that holds eternal, sovereign power.

 

Exaltation of a king

    who reigns still to conquer sin;

    strength under perfect control

    as to rest once again on His throne.

 

God is the God of humility

    coming to bring salvation,

    the hope defeating any worldly despair

    delivered through virgin birth.

 

Humility that led to sacrifice

    of the meek coming not be served

    but to serve,

    revealing His humble heart divine.

 

God is the God of death

    to crucify Himself

    and the evil rebellion of us

    right alongside Him.

 

Death of our life before Him

    to abide in His resurrection;

    to take up the cross while the earth still turns

    is to be under obedience of His love.

 

God is the God of life

    to be made alive, restored, reborn—

    freedom in broken chains

    that teach me to be transformed.

 

Life that’s now worth living

    because I’m given a purpose amidst each problem;

    glorify Him in every thing—

    every increase giv’n to a planted seed.

 

God is the God of doing

    as we know His miracles so well,

    and He doesn’t leave it a mystery

    when He answers each whispered prayer escaping

    our lips.

 

Doing what only He can:

    opening our eyes to see He’ll be our help

    and offering wisdom with sacred comfort

    to sustain us with His Spirit .

 

But God is the God of being

    eternal, compassionate, true;

    why shall we turn away or insist our will

    when what is good is what He’ll do?

 

Being the only worthy of praise,

    He is our Passover’s spotless lamb;

    yet nothing tells us more of Him

    than how He’s the great I AM.

 

Praise be to God.

Encouragement for the New Year: Hope in the Darkness

As we celebrate Christmas and approach the end of 2021 and the start of 2022, I want to share a word of encouragement with you. One part of the original Christmas history that is not often given a lot of attention comes from the gospel of Matthew, Chapter 2: 13 …an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” The son of God was born and made flesh in the midst of horrible darkness and evil. So as you consider the global and wide scale sin and evil this year, and as you consider your own personal darkness and sin, whatever that may be, take hope the Emmanuel, God With Us was born in the midst of pain to redeem us from sin. A couple years ago I was lamenting a number of places of pain in the lives of people I loved and cared about during Advent. Out of that time, I wrote a song based on Matthew 2 called “Rachel’s Lament.” I pray that the words of this song give voice to your prayers to God this Christmas and into the new year. Rachel’s Lament (Come to Us) Music & Lyrics by Matt Pooley, December 2018 VERSE 1 The Savior of the world Born to a trembling little girl Within a week, the king will kill them all They must run or fall A voice heard in the streets Beneath the snow a mourning mother weeps The hand of Herod took her infant child How can this be Christmas time? CHORUS Emmanuel, Lord, come to us The songs of angels not enough Oh Jesus who was born in pain, To weary souls, Lord, come again VERSE 2 A father on the run Crossing borders just to save his son A frightened mother clutching baby boy How can this be Christmas joy? CHORUS BRIDGE We’re crying in the night To see your Christmas light Come and make things right VERSE 3 The night that Christ was born A massacre was coming on the dawn Though times have changed, we need Him all the same God, be born into our pain CHORUS

A Prayer from Rev. Matt Pooley, Pastor

Almighty God, You are the just, perfect, true, righteous, and eternal ruler over all nations. As one songwriter said it, Lord, “Though the nations rage, kingdoms rise and fall / There is still one King reigning over all / So I will not fear for this truth remains / That my God is, the Ancient of Days / None above Him, none before Him /All of time in His hands / For His throne it shall remain and ever stand / All the power, all the glory I will trust in His name / For my God is, the Ancient of Days.” Click here. 

Lord, this is our prayer, and this ought to be our prayer everyday. But today, following the most recent violence done in the city of Kabul, we cry out for your mercy. We mourn the loss of life of at least 13 U.S. service members and of at least 169 Afghani bearers of Your image, and the profound injuries to scores more. How long, O Lord?, we cry as the Psalmist cries (Ps. 13).

God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1), pour out Your comfort, mercy, and provision on the family members and friends of each of these men and women who have lost their lives in Kabul. As they process what for others is a “national headline” on a personal and private level, show them Your compassion every step of the way. Lord, pour out Your comfort, mercy, and provision especially on the fellow comrades of the service members - those who wake up today equipped and ready, but nonetheless shaken, in shock, and grieving, as they have to continue standing ready as soldiers. Lord, ultimately all grace, truth, strength, and comfort come through a saving knowledge of Your Son Jesus and His sending of Your abiding Spirit. We pray for these grieving family members, friends, and soldiers, that for any of them who do not know the abundant, saving grace of Jesus, kindle in their hearts a desire for repentance and faith in the good King Jesus. For those family members, friends, and soldiers who do call upon Jesus as Savior and Lord, grant them opportunity to sit beside the others who grieve - with a listening ear, compassion, and perfectly-timed words of hope.

Lord God, we confess and know that there is still more violence to come. In the free will You graciously granted us, we humans continue to fight for power, resources, and control; and we destroy one another’s lives, communities, and resources as a result. Father, in the mercy of Christ, let it be Your will that the violence would subside. No one wants peace more than the community members and soldiers who stand so vigilantly to defend and fight for peace. So Lord, let the peace of the good King Jesus come swiftly to the land of Afghanistan, as we long for His reigning peace to come to our own country and to all nations on earth. For those on the ground, grant them the calm and strength of Christ in the face of all fear. For those of us watching from a distance, and affected indirectly by military decisions, economic effects, and more, grant us the calm and strength of Christ in the face of all fear. For those of us watching from us a distance, Holy Spirit, inspire in us how we can sacrificially and best support our own service members as well as residents of Afghanistan who simply want their country restored and flourishing. Lord, watch over the chaotic fleeing of so many from Afghanistan in the days and weeks ahead, and bring your good order to a situation so rife with complexity at every edge.

Lord God, we also pray for the Church’s witness in Kabul and the surrounding regions. For foreign aid workers, for Christian missionaries, for local pastors, elders, and disciples of Jesus in Kabul and beyond, grant them all wisdom and knowledge of Christ so they can minister in the midst of devastation in the name of Christ. Praying to You from the U.S., Lord, show our churches in our own country how we best stand as witnesses to Christ to our service members and their families; how we best stand for the Gospel of Jesus without conflating it with any one particular political ideology. We confess, God, that all of our minds and hearts - no matter where we stand on the political spectrum - have been discipled for far too long by the machinations of an earthly government. And yet You call us to be witnesses not just to the hurt and the mourning, but also in the positions, decisions, and policies we vote for and support. We cannot wade through all this on our own - grant us wisdom, God; grant us courage. And grant your wisdom and courage to the leaders of Afghanistan, the U.S., and all countries involved, whose decisions have dire ripple effects on the citizens of Afghanistan and the service members who have sought to defend and support their self-governance for two decades. And for ISIS-K and for any other surreptitious parties and factions who will vie for power in the coming weeks, bring their hearts to Jesus through visions and dreams of Him in miraculous ways, so that perhaps more decades of violence in that region might be slowed by Your mighty hand.

God, your Psalmist declared: “Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

    he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our fortress. He makes wars cease

    to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

    he burns the shields with fire.” 

Come again, Lord Jesus, that this vision may come to pass. Amen.

The Powerful Testimony of Victoria Godfrey

Good morning church, my name is Victoria Godfrey, and I am a senior at Patuxent High School.

I would like to start off by reading a poem I wrote:

There Was a Day

There was a day before you began
Before the wind could blow your hair,
Before you could scrape your knee on the sidewalk
The pavement was black- and without concern of your care
 
A time before the hospital took your heart beat
And recorded it to get lost in files
God knew you before your parents could
He hid you away my child
 
All before the world could bend you
And try to make you its own
God knew the number of breaths you would breathe
And to Him He knows alone
 
When the leaves fall without your consent
And the day turns to night with little warning,
Your Father up in Heaven loves you
And always knew you were coming
 
Though it is not about you
It is special to think
The freedom of living in peace,
Because you and I struggle with numbering our days-
But it is not our plan He keeps.

Over the past year and a half, I have had joys and sorrows, testing of my faith, and the gift of seeing God’s working hand. For all of us this past year was not what we were planning, but God knew it was coming and for the believer He does not let trials go to waste (Romans 8:28). We do not get to pick and choose all the events that will come our way in life, we do not get to return an upcoming week to God and say, “yeah I'm just not feeling that." God keeps His plan- not ours, and I praise God that He knows so much better than me and uses my trials for good.

During Covid-19 I have been blessed with making many more friends who have supported me in my faith and cared for me. I've been blessed by being invited to Bible study and hangouts with people God has put into my life. But along with those blessings this time has been filled with pain.

I'm sure you will be able to relate to some things on my list:
Loss of loved ones, as my grandma passed away
Feelings of rejection
Mental health
Stress about college and a way to pay for it
Fear of getting sick
 
Your list and my list could continue, but with our well-rehearsed list of stresses, and complications, disappointments, and discontentment, God is further equipping us for the work he has planned for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). Our understanding of pain can help other believers and nonbelievers. Though no one will ever fully understand another's pain, going through hard times can help us see how to help others better, and in turn, be a light and more like Jesus to those around us.

Another thing we should do is count our blessings:
Count your blessings name them one by one
count your blessings see what God has done
count your blessing name them one by one
count your many blessings see what God has done.
(Johnson Oatman Jr. music by Edwin O. Excell)
 
Isaiah 43:18-19 says “But the Lord says, “Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago. Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already - you can see it now! I will make a road through the wilderness and give you streams of water there.”

Let us make it a habit; every day to thank God for 5 blessings in our lives. And if we are having a hard time counting to 5 or are sad, make that list 10. It can be as simple as thanking God for money to pay the electricity bill, or as big as God sending His one and only son to die for each of us.

I would like to close with another poem I wrote:

The Things You Shouldn’t Forget

The ungrateful heart turns to bitter storage
Of draining, hopeless glee
Only wanting what you think is better,
But forgetting how to see
 
You forgot about the nighttime drives-
For peaceful silence they succumb,
The way the water sparkles
from the fossette as it runs,
The way your child's hand
still fits lovingly in yours,
The friend ready to go on a walk
Waiting at your door.
 
So, with grateful hearts in pain will show
A deeper love for God,
Because it is easy to be thankful when things are good
But just as important when things are not.
 
Praise God for blessings in difficult times!
Amen

The Powerful Testimony of Katie Mead

Hello, my name is Katie; I want to start this off by saying that I don’t think I would have ever imagined that such good could come from a pandemic--from a time where everything was locked down: I couldn't go to school, I couldn't hangout with my friends, I couldn't go to church, and no one could even visit each other, let alone shake hands or hug. Let’s face it: for a while, the world’s deafening heartbeat went silent. But that’s the thing about silence: in it, you can hear the breath of God--consistent and never ending. 

Even before everything was shut down, I went to youth group, I attended services here regularly, and thoroughly enjoyed both of those activities. But if I’m being honest, the world’s voice had slowly gotten louder and louder, its influence becoming stronger and getting a tighter grasp on my mind. Because of that, for so much of my life, I defined myself by grades and academic achievements, and, being a junior in high school when this all began, school work was pretty much my top priority. But apparently, when the entire world stops and school gets shut down, I have no school work to prioritize. What would fill that void in my life? Now I know, that answer is Jesus. 

It was a slow progression as I started to attend youth group meetings held over zoom and watched online sermons that fed me exactly what I needed. Looking back, it is so clear to me how God used those things as well as the youth leaders (Steve, Robbie, and Amanda) along
with my friends (specifically Ava, Victoria, and Kyle) to guide me along my journey in faith. Every conversation we had, and every moment was ordained by God and helped me not just to know Jesus but to love him with all that I have. 

A relatively recent conversation with a friend helped me to know what it means to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. As a more logical thinker, it was easiest for me to love God with my mind, resting in the knowledge that God is real and loves me, but to know it with my heart? That’s a whole different story. For me, it came with the late night worship sessions alone in my room and developing a prayer life that was honest and true and devoted to Him and His kingdom. It came in reading my Bible in a way that would leave me different each time I read. It came in having a boldness about my faith. It came in humbling myself, submitting to His will, and putting all my efforts into bringing Him glory. It came in repentance. 

What I used to not understand was that if I loved Jesus, I would not be ashamed, nor would I want to do anything that would take away from His glory. For so long, I sought my own glory and prided myself in righteousness, and honestly, it’s still a struggle of mine that God is helping me work through, leaning on His strength as opposed to my own. But I thought that since I was “nice” to people, that I was good enough. But the truth is that none of us are good enough—for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But that’s the whole point of who Jesus is and what He did for each and every one of us. When I gave my life wholly over to Christ, my identity was no longer in my grades or anything else besides Him, and I am so
incredibly grateful that Christ died for me when I was still a sinner so that I could be redeemed through His blood and be reconciled to the Lord my God. And so I may boast in Him being my rock and my refuge.

I didn’t plan the immense amount of growth that has occurred this past year, to know what it truly means to love the almighty God, creator of the universe. I was just trying to get through
high school, I didn’t plan anything at all. But God did. Every word spoken was planned out to bring me closer to Him, because He chased after me. He pursued me. All this to say, that there is truth in my favorite verse, Romans 8:28. I know because I have witnessed it in my own life, through this pandemic. Through His prevailing purpose amidst a storm of isolation.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Praise be to God.