Beauty

(Tim) Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, "The cruelest lies are often told in silence," and as I noted a week or so ago, it's been interesting to watch how the recent post about Emergency Contraception (sic) Pills, birth control, and abortion has been carefully avoided by men, but embraced by women. There are lessons here, one of which I think is that pastors today are about as concerned about the blood guilt of our sheep as the chief priests and elders were about the blood guilt of Judas when he came to them in anguish, confessing...

...but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

(Tim) Here in Bloomington, there were two sweet endings to a wonderful week among the People of God celebrating Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. Let me share them with you for the building up of your faith.

First, following the service, yesterday, a young man came up to me with a smile on his face. Accompanied by a friend, he said he had a sin to confess and told me of his quite-serious dishonesty in certain academic work. Today he will tell the authorities about his sin--confess it to them--and it could well mean the end of his plans for the future. He was ashamed, but joyful. Christ died for that sin and he is forgiven. Christ rose from the grave and because He lives, we also shall live.

What a precious gift this confession of sin is. Everywhere it goes, it lays waste the pride of man and glorifies Jesus Christ. We are less and He is more. It was the perfect end to Holy Week!

But wait, there's more...

Later on in the afternoon, as the sanctuary was being cleaned up after having been packed for several hours with people feasting on ham, potatoes, and green beans, four young men who attend our public high schools asked for advice concerning how they should respond to the Day of Silence that will be taking over their schools' classrooms this coming Friday.

But first, a word of explanation.

The Day of Silence held April 19th each year is a day of student advocacy of sodomy and other sexual perversions. But of course, those who love sexual perversion never admit they love sexual perversion, nor do they demand that others love it. That would be gauche...

(Tim) Here's a pic of a dragonfly taken in the fields behind our church, yesterday. Our glorious God's handiwork is shown by His universe--and His dragonflies.

A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”

All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.

Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him. Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes. (Isaiah 40:6-11)

(Tim, w/thanks to Kamilla) One young couple gave birth to their son. They held him and cooed over him and loved him and prayed for him and sang hymns to him until, two hours later, he died. They allowed their pastor to hold their son, too. The beautiful nurses dressed the couple's son in miniature baby clothes they themselves had knit for this and every one of their babies. This was their life--they spent each day in their metro-area preemie unit serving their babies and their babies' mom and dad as they fought, then gave in to death.

After two hours of love, their son died. Mom and Dad asked their pastor to take their son to the funeral home. The pastor took him in his arms. He was dressed in the nurses' homemade clothes and wrapped in a warm blue blanket. Down the stairs and out to the car.

The pastor laid him on the passenger's seat for the twenty-minute drive to the funeral home and wondered at the beauty of these nurses...

(Tim) Christmas has always been babies. It started with two babies in their mother's wombs, One with an eternal weight of glory and the other, recognizing that Glory, preparing His way by proclaiming His presence to the only one listening--His mother, Elizabeth.

Think of it! John the Baptist beginning to do the work of His calling when he was still in his mother's womb. What a man! What a child! A faithful prophet, he couldn't open his mouth and speak, so in his mother's womb he rolled and jumped and kicked and turned somersaults! His mother got the message...

Christmas Voices

by Joseph Bayly IV

Joseph

It’s cold and drafty. She’s cold. Why couldn’t the boy have been born while we were still in Nazareth, instead of here, alone, no one to help. Only me, and I’ve never delivered a baby.

Fear not, Joseph.

I do believe God. I take him at his word. A baby. But not mine.

Take unto thee Mary.

Mary—how I love her. I love you, Mary. Here. Hold my hand. I’ll see that nothing goes wrong. No, God will see to that, he’ll take care of you. He’s got to—it’s his baby. Don’t be afraid.

She shall bring forth a son.

He’ll work beside me, help me smooth a yoke, build a house. I’ll get him a little saw, the boy and I will work together...

(Tim) Our extended family came up to what we call the Michigan House to celebrate Christmas. We arrived in batches Wednesday and Thursday, and are leaving in batches yesterday and tomorrow (Saturday and Monday). The first pic is of Ben and Michal's youngest--Zion Bjorn. I tell them they spelled it wrong--that "this one is Zion Born"--but they don't listen.

The house bubbled with chidren. Here Joseph reads a book to four while the others are...somwhere else. Eating, taking a nap, in the bathtub, nursing, having their diapers changed, eating, having their nose wiped, eating, playing ping pong, eating, and asking questions--Josiah's specialty.

(Tim, w/thanks to Doug) This Sunday, Mary Lee and I will celebrate our thirty-fourth wedding anniversary. If we reach their age, I'm trusting God He will give us the grace and sweet spirit toward one another of Marlow and Frances Cowan. Take the time to watch this video, then the one on the next page which is much shorter and delightful.

(Tim, w/thanks to Lucas and our CGS musicians) Every church should celebrate Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday--and particularly Good Friday--if they're to be allowed to celebrate Easter. And a corollary: no believer should be permitted into Easter morning worship unless he's first been in attendance at a Good Friday service. But of course, who's making any rules in Protestantism, today?

Anyhow, yesterday we held our noon Good Friday service and, on the spur of the moment, I decided to record some of our worship liturgy on my iPhone to share with you. First, from Bach's St. Matthew's Passion, "Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben:"

We speak of worship and music often, here and on the ClearNote blog, and many of our readers are uncomfortable with our commitment to musical worship that's in the vulgar tongue. So I thought I'd provide a taste of what it looks and sounds like, admittedly on a more unplugged day in our congregational life...

(Tim) One of our Homeschooling couples was leaving church last Sunday morning and someone saw they were having an unusual moment of levity and he snapped this pic. At first when I saw it I thought the husband was pregnant, but then I realized he's just fat.

Sadly, this wonderful couple's tried and tried to open up their home for ministry, but every time they've invited someone over for one of their lutefisk dinners, they get turned down. It makes them very sad.

We think the people turning down their invitations do so at least partly because of their weird dress, but really it's not any weirder than the Pentecostals or Gothardites. If you have any suggestions, please send them to me privately. Thanks.

The first is by my brother, David; the second by our church's worship pastor, Jody Killingsworth; and the third by your faithful scribe...

(Tim) I've been privileged to attend several of the Ministers Conferences put on by Christ Church of Moscow, Idaho, and I commend them to you. So take a minute right now to go over to their web site and check out this year's conference. Speakers will include Doug Wilson, Ben Merkle, Toby Sumpter, and Nate Wilson--all speaking on the theme "The Institute of Awesome: Keeping Calvinism Sassy for the Next Fifteen Minutes."

And if you go, do as we've done and take an extra day to go up and hike in Glacier National Park, wondering at the beauty our Creator throws willy-nilly everywhere: the fall colors, the elk herds, and their bugling bulls.

(Tim) I don't know where this came from, but it's beautiful. And instructive.

When Christians (like one of my former elders who's a pharmacist) say they have no objection to abortion in the first few days or weeks of life; that there's no life or image of God in the first few days or weeks of the life of man, and thus they're willing to fulfill prescriptions for chemical abortifacients that kill the baby in the first few days or weeks of life; look very closely at this picture. This is the man they approve of murdering, or themselves murder.

Yes, 'murder' is the proper word. Anything less would further obscure the wickedness of our bloodthirsty nation.

Two days ago, Mary Lee was at the birth of another baby of our church who is the product of our congregation's faithful witness outside Planned Parenthood's abortuary here in Bloomington...

(Tim) This is to invite you to our Good Shepherd Band Christmas Sing-Aong next Saturday, December 11th, beginning at 7 PM sharp. After the sing-along, we'll give you cocoa and lots of cookies and the love of Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit has put in our hearts. Come one, come all! Here's a map.

From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding:
   Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
   To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.

                    -Sonnet I, Shakespeare

(Tim, w/thanks to Shelly) It disgusts me to have to direct Baylyblog readers to Roman Catholic sites as often as I do, but there's no helping it. Reformed men and women are so busy sinning so grace may abound that there's almost no comparable teaching in the Reformed world. And certainly not in the PCA--I defy you to show me one single article this spectacularly beautiful and sanctifying for women published anywhere under the auspices of the PCA. In fact, on any site having any affiliation to the PCA. Or rather, any site affiliated with any of the chest-thumping Reformed men: Together for the Gospel. Acts 29. Desiring God...

Brothers, if you want to do a more Biblical job of loving your wife, read this. Sisters, whether married or single, if you're willing to trade in your iPhone and laptop for the salvation 1Timothy 2:15 promises woman, read this.

There's nothing more foundational to godliness in Christ Jesus than your femininity.



ClearNote Church has gotten by without a sign ever since we moved into our new church-house. Why?

Don't ask. But if we were ever to get a sign, I'd like to copy this one. It's about as comissional as can be.

And here at ClearNote Church of Bloomington, it has the added benefit of accurately describing the origin of many cars in our parking lot...

Al and Amy Parker run a Christian camping and education program called Canoe Creation based in southeastern Ohio and I commend them to you. I've known Al and Amy and their children for almost twenty years now, and I can't think of a better place for you to send your children to learn about camping and God's creation.

This past week, two of our grandsons...

This announcement just went out to our church family from our daughter, Heather Ummel. I've regularly recommended Al and Amy Parker's work of outdoor discipleship, Canoe Creation, to readers of Baylyblog. You'd not go wrong using them for your Christian school, home school co-op, church youth group, father-daughter or father-son church canoe trip, or taking part in Canoe Creation summer camps.

Here is something that may be more convenient for you since the date and location have already been set. Think about it and let Heather know if you're interested. (TB)

Canoe Creation Summer Camp

Some of our church family will remember Al and Amy Parker, who lived in Bloomington and attended church with many of us years ago. If you were reading my dad's blog this summer in mid-July you would have seen pictures of a camp experience our boys had with their ministry, Canoe Creation. The wonderful news is that they're going to bring their camp to us this summer! They will be offering a 3-day, 2-night canoe camp right after this summer's ClearNote Conference (I Believe in God the Father). The conference will be Friday and Saturday, July 6 -7 here in Bloomington. Then worship with ClearNote Church, Bloomington Sunday, July 8, followed by you and your wife taking a couple days R&R while your chilluns are off on the water with Canoe Creations...

(TB: This post first ran on Baylyblog in 2004. It is a tribute to Mom Taylor and David's and my mother, Mary Lou Bayly. Both are mothers in Israel and we give thanks for them to our Heavenly Father. But of course, we also give thanks for our own wonderful wives! The tribute starts with a poem Dad wrote on the back of a Mother's Day card he gave to Mud just a couple years before his death. The reference to three and four at the end of the poem is Dad alluding to their three children who had already died and their four children who were still alive.) 

To M.L. (Mary Lou)

Mother’s Day, 1982

—to celebrate your creation of children

What a Holy Spirit calling:

To create an infant

within yourself

Your very inmost self—Nourish, protect, prepare

Then bring to birth

Nurse, feed

—run between stove and table in teenage—

Teach, discipline, hope, expect

Love

And all the while pray

with faith in God

Bring to safe harbor

through calm and storm

and monstrous waves

to wholeness

and useful life

on earth

in heaven

  That God should call

  three to live and serve there

  four to live and serve here

What a calling!

My mother-in-law studied for her degree in Home Economics during the late '30s and early '40s, graduating summa cum laude from Oregon State University. After marrying her childhood sweetheart, she gave birth to 10 children in 14 years. Her husband, engaged for most of the years when the family was young as editorial director of a religious publishing house, brought home low wages, so frugality was a necessity and the degree served this young mother and her family well.