Joe Phelps's blog

The most compelling statements about God’s Amazing Grace are straight-forward and unedited, like Stevie Davis’ email to me, which I share with his permission.  

For those of us who might take for granted the power of God’s Love to heal the human heart, Stevie’s words convey the transforming power of the Divine Presence to provide hope to the hopeless and strength to the weak.  Theological sophistication and erudite religious explanations gratefully take a back seat to the beauty of words like these:

Meet my new niece, Jennifer, fresh from Haiti.

Two years ago my brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Linda, fell in love with Jennifer while doing medical mission work in Haiti with their Florida church (Bob and Linda are both second-career nurses).  Their work connected them to an orphanage just outside Port au Prince where Jennifer lived.  

Bob and Linda began by sponsoring Jennifer, then felt led to adopt her.

Sunday’s performance of Rutter’s Magnificat teemed with sophistication as the basses and tenors chased sopranos and altos up and down the musical score, accompanied by a full orchestra.  This highbrow work was sung in Latin, which, like a British accent, makes anything sound more elegant and urbane.

But what we call the Magnificat, or the song of Mary, is as down-home as a labor union rally. “The big cats are going down because we’ve been oppressed far too long.  God has heard the cries of the poor, so you’d better get ready for change you can believe in.” 

I read a tough passage from Psalms this morning, at least for those of us who believe that faith calls us to non-violence, love, reconciliation, unity. From Psalm 149:
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
to bind their kings with fetters
and their nobles with chains of iron,
to execute on them the judgment decreed.
This is glory for all his faithful ones.
Praise the LORD!