And His Mercy

"And His mercy is on them that fear him"...  Magnificat


     Last weekend was our church's choral evensong service. It's a sung evening Easter service by the choir. It's an unusual blessing in this day and age. We sang both the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimitis by Herbert Howells. It struck me as we practice since Christmas and stand full throttle on Saturday what it was that I was actually singing. "And His mercy is on them.." What a comfort! He is a merciful God, full of compassion and long suffering. "Through out all generations..." He remembers His people as He has commanded His people to remember Him.

 But what is this? "His mercy is on them that fear Him." His mercy rests on those that keep His commands, that fear His judgement. Not on those that worship idols, that steal from God and their neighbor, that kill sweet innocents... His mercy is not with them. And He will visit the iniquities of the fathers on the children, for a thousand generations.

A Saturday Project

This chair , which was a dumpster dive find, has needed some help ever since the seat detached itself from the frame. Well, a small guest nearly fell through it and I knew I couldn't procrastinate any longer.



$4 matte cream spray paint from Michaels made the first transformation.




I stapled the fabric around the chair seat, pulling it tight and trying not to ripple it too much. Next time I need to add more filling to the cushion since it is rather flattened from so much sitting. Since I had cut the fabric so short I taped down all the edges with duct tape.




I eye balled where I wanted the piping to go and I stapled it in place. This was tricky since the staple gun was heavy duty and the piping was not so heavy, nor duty. A little overkill, I think. But I got the staple gun from my parents, may they live forever, after I borrowed my Dad's so many times in a row. I was bound and determined to staple something in honor of them even if it was over kill.




Here is a shot of the fabric, piping and chair frame. I think the piping makes it looks that much more professional - or at least to me.




Finished computer chair! I love the look of the cream and blue!

Expecting the Difficult

"The Spirit gives the followers of Jesus super powers including abilities such as loving small tribes of kids and doing dishes cheerfully."

~from my brother in law. Oh, and he's my pastor too.

And this is good too: The Littleness of Motherhood

My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord - Sunday Posts

Every Sunday I'm inspired to mental flossing by a verse in a song or by something that is read or by something the pastor says. And every Sunday I come home thinking deep thoughts and boy, I am very holy. But of course, this only lasts for about 3 hours. In a vain attempt to remain holy (at least through Monday) I'll be posting on Sunday afternoons my deep mental inspirations. Not that this will save me or anything...

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Palm Sunday

Hymn for Communion (Cantus Christi p. 202)
Music - Orlando Gibbons, 1623
Lyric - William Bright, 1874

And now, O Father , mindful of the love
That bought us, once for all, on Calvary's tree,
And having with us Him that pleads above,
We here present, we here spread forth to Thee.
That only offering perfect in Thine eyes,
The one true, pure, immortal sacrifice.

Look, Father, look on His anointed face,
And only look on us as found in Him;
Look not on our misusings of thy grace,
Our prayers so languid, and our faith so dim;
For, lo! between our sins and their reward,
We set the passion of Thy Son our Lord.

And then for those, our dearest and our best,
By this prevailing presence we appeal;
O fold us closer to Thy mercy's breast!
O do Thine utmost for their souls' true weal!
From tainting mischief keep them white and clear,
And crown Thy gifts with strength to persevere.

And so we come; o draw us to Thy feet,
Most patient Savior, Who canst love us still!
And by this food, so awful and so sweet,
Deliver us from every touch of ill:
In Thine own service make us glad and free,
And grant us nevermore to part with Thee.


When we hear the word reward, what does it mean to us? [Reward - noun, something given or received in return or recompense for service, merit, hardship, etc.] We think of a reward as a prize. Because I did something good, I got an ice cream cone. And yet this hymn says "our sins and their rewards" - what are the rewards for sin? The wages of sin are death, but when we hide the cookie we took out of the jar without asking mom, do we think "I'll die for this." No, we look to the immediate reward - eating the cookie. All sin is lovely and we grasp for it's reward. It's always a lie - "Boy, everyone will think I'm so great if I do ....", "He'll really love me if I ...". What we think we are grasping for is the reward of sin. And we shall have it.

Sin is deceitful and treacherously so. And we must, as the hymn says, put Christ between our sins and death. Christ, our Saviour, died the death of atonement so that we may not die. "What then? Shall we sin that grace may abound?" While we fight the good fight, we fail. We fall short of the glory of God. We cannot stand in His presence and, just as Moses veiled his face from the Israelites because of his shining glory, we cannot have the Lord look on us with our sinful, muddied up faces.

Father, look on His anointed face and only look on us as found in Him. Amen.