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Responsive Call to Worship Reading from Colossians

In our church, we use a call to worship to emphasize the fact that it is God who seeks worshipers and invites us to fellowship with Him in worship.

Whenever I preach on a text from a book of the Bible, I like to include readings from other parts of the book in our liturgy.

This week’s sermon is taken from the book of Colossians. So, I searched the web for a responsive reading that compiled the main verses and themes from the book like this one from 1 Thessalonians.

I was not able to find one.

So, I put together my own based on the structure of the book that describes for us who Jesus is and what He has done for us and our response. The leader reads a statement about the blessings and benefits we have in Christ. The people respond with our duties from Colossians 3 that we are called to in light of what Jesus has done for us.

Leader: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
People: Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Leader: For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
People: So whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Continue reading “Responsive Call to Worship Reading from Colossians”

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A Few Suggestions for Reading the Old Testament

One of the greatest resources we have for our own personal growth is the Bible. Innumerable people have gone to it again and again for refreshment and guidance in their journey through life.

Still, it is an ancient book, and it contains many things that may be unfamiliar, strange, or difficult. How can we read it in a way that will help us grow?

Here are a few suggestions:

  1. Just get started. Almost everything worth doing is difficult at first. Just make a plan and stick with it. The Bible is a book, but it is made up of 66 books. Pick a book and start reading a chapter or two a day.
  2. Pray. It is God’s book. He wants you to read it. Ask Him to help you before you read.
  3. Ask: what does this teach me about God? Example: in the book of Judges, chapter 10, we read how the Israelites had forsaken God and turned to idols. The result is that God gave them over to their idol-serving enemies. In the story, the people ask God to help them. He refuses. They respond by destroying their idols. It then says, “And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.” This passage teaches how much God cares for us and that even if He allows suffering for a time, it is not something He “bears” easily.

    4. Continue reading “A Few Suggestions for Reading the Old Testament”

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The Influence of a Mother and a Mother’s Mother and . . .

My Great Grandmother Roberta McMillan is the little girl on the bottom left; her parents are Florence Maupin McMillan (middle) and Clyde McMillan (right) with Jairus McMillan, her Grandfather on the left
How much do our mothers influence us? Probably more than we think.

Being a mother is a position of influence in a family, and it is highly significant.

The Apostle Paul had a young apprentice named Timothy. When Paul sent him to the Philippian church, he commended him this way: “I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare” (Phil. 2:21).

Paul taught Timothy and trained him, but Timothy didn’t come out of nowhere. Paul recognized that Timothy was the product of generations: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Tim. 1:5). Sometimes people make a relatively clean break with the past, but in Timothy’s case, he was following the pattern of the generations.

Most of us tend to think of ourselves as our own person following our own ideas and preferences. We give little thought to how we may be following the patterns of the generations. The more I have learned about my family, the more I have realized that many of the patterns of my life are following patterns set by families long gone.

In my case, I am a minister. Now, I have never thought of that choice as coming out of nowhere.

My Father, Sam White, is a minister. Growing up, however, I never, to my knowledge, thought of being a minister. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I thought about going in that direction. I think, though, that because my Dad was a minister, it wasn’t a very big jump for me to think of doing the work of a minister.

This isn’t only due to my Father. My Mother, Muriel, is a deeply spiritual woman who talked to my brother and me regularly about spiritual things.

But it’s not too surprising that my Mother is a spiritual woman. Her Father, my Grandfather, David Livingstone Keith, is a minister as well. My Mother was born in South Africa because her Father was serving there as a minister/missionary.

My Great Grandparents Clarence and Roberta McMillan Keith
But it’s not surprising that David Keith was a missionary in South Africa. He was born in Swaziland in the middle of the Republic of South Africa. His parents, Clarence Keith and Roberta McMillan Keith, had left their homes in southern Indiana and gone there in the 1920s as part of the wave of Methodist missionaries that went to South Africa at the turn of the 19th to 20th century.

In 2014, I went to a family reunion with 100 of the descendants of Clarence and Roberta. I was shocked at how alive faith was throughout the family. But really, this is not surprising since all three of their sons served as ministers and three of their five daughters married ministers!

Until this year, I would have considered this strong faith connection as being due to Clarence, and Clarence was a great man whom I admire deeply. However, I now tend to think of Roberta being the major conduit. Continue reading “The Influence of a Mother and a Mother’s Mother and . . .”

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Return to the Battlefield

“I’d like to hike the Union line trail.” I told the rangers at the counter of the Visitor Center of the Chickamauga National Military.”

They looked at me like I had styrofoam cups on my ears and then began to show me hiking maps.

Oops. No Union line trail. Of course, there was a Confederate Line Trail but no Union Line Trail. This was Georgia, after all.

Since 2011, I’ve had a fascination with battlefields. They combine the history of our nation together with the study of strategy. Seeing the terrain of the battlefield always gives me a fuller perspective than just reading about a battle.

But this visit was going to be different.

Over the past year, I had researched my own family history and genealogy. What I had come to realize is that my own family history intersects the great points of our nation’s history at so many points.

I had identified 15 of 16 of my 3rd Great Grandfathers (in other words, my grandparents’ great grandfathers). I was amazed to find that 6 of these 15 were soldiers in the Civil War, all on the Union side (I thought for sure I had found my first Confederate ancestor when I discovered that 3rd great William Smith had served in the 1st Alabama Cavalry. Turns out it was Union and accompanied Sherman on his infamous “March to the Sea.” Not surprisingly, he moved to Kentucky from his Georgia home shortly after the war). Continue reading “Return to the Battlefield”

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The English are Celtic?

When you think of Celtic heritage, you may think of the Irish, the Scots-Irish, the Welsh, or the Scots.

You probably don’t think of the English because they are called Anglo-Saxons after the Germanic tribes that invaded at the end of the Roman Empire. They also don’t claim a Celtic heritage the like the Irish, Welsh, and Scots do.

That’s wrong, says Bryan Sykes, on the basis of his research into the DNA of the people living in the Isles today.

Sykes describes his research in his book Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland. If you like detailed stories of scientific discovery, then you will love this book. If not, here’s a brief summary of what he found.

There are two main questions that arise in considering the genetic history of the British Isles. First, are all of the people who were there prior to the Roman invasion of common descent?

To answer the first: there is a basic, common “Celtic” substratum that exists throughout the Isles.

In answer to the second: not very much.

The Roman invasion left almost no mark on the DNA of the British Isles.

It is difficult, according to Sykes, to distinguish the DNA of the Normans, Vikings, and Anglo-Saxons. They were all basically from the same Germanic people group. The Normans were simply Vikings that extorted the King of France into giving them Normandy and then ended up conquering England.

These groups left a minor impact on the genetic makeup of the isles. Sykes estimates that their DNA constitutes about 10% of the DNA in the southwestern part of England. Above the Danelaw line, the percentage rises to around 15% and to a high of 20% in East Anglia.

Americans who came from England are often called WASPs: White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestants. Based on Sykes’ research, they may need to be called WCPs: White, Celtic, Protestants. The English are much closer to the Irish and Scots than any of them would have believed.

For, according to Sykes, the English are basically Celtic.

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