CR at University Carillon

    Read Psalm 14 Psalm 14 NLT - Psalm 14 - For the choir director: A - Bible Gateway   Psalm 14:7- Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel? When the Lord restores his people, Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.   Everyone chooses worships either God or gods. Paul Tillich said whatever is Ultimate Concern is what or who we worship. In other words, atheists still have a god before them, but they may not be able to identify their god. Here David points out the deep mistake worshiping and serving anyone or anything less than the living God. That being said verse 3 (Paul quotes this verse in Romans 3:10) reminds us that it's important to acknowledge that none of us is walking so well with God that we can brag about it. None of us are worthy of God's mercy, grace, and love, and yet He pursues us and seeks to welcome us home when we seek Him.    I'm always struck by how much the Old Testament has to say about idolatry. Newsflash: it's not good! The...

    Read Psalm 8 Psalm 8 NLT - Psalm 8 - For the choir director: A - Bible Gateway   Psalm 8:3-5- When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers- the moon and the stars you set in place- what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.   Here David shouts his thanks and praise to God with an opening and closing refrain: "O Lord, our Lord, Your majestic name fills the earth!" He considers the beauty and complexity of creation- with every aspect of it belonging to God- and he marvels that God gives it to us to care for and manage for His glory and our delight.   What do you think of when you are blessed to witness an incredible sunset, a glorious sunrise, a view from a mountaintop, or take a walk on the beach? It is good and right for us to have eyes to see God's glory at work all around us in creatio...

  Read Psalm 1 Psalm 1 NLT - BOOK ONE (Psalms 1–41) -Psalm 1 - Oh, - Bible Gateway   Psalm 1:1-3- Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.   The Psalms were written for the people of God with worship in mind, and they come in many different styles- thanksgiving, lament, enthronement, wisdom, etc. God's Word declares that all of us sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), so how does one grow in righteousness and enter into the process of learning how to sin less and less? We get to do our part in cooperating with God by being firmly rooted in God's Word and connected to the living God in personal, living connection. Jesus declared, "Remain in me, and I w...

  Read John 17 John 17 NLT - The Prayer of Jesus - After saying all - Bible Gateway   John 17:17, 21- Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.   In John 17 Jesus is praying for His followers and all who will come after them to claim the name of Jesus as their Lord and Savior in the future as well. In one breath He asks the Father to make us holy by His truth, and in the next breath Jesus desires a unity between His followers that is so close that it reflects the unity between the Father and His very own Son., who offered Himself up as a sacrifice on our behalf.   I think it's really important to keep these two verses together. Truth without a desire for genuine unity can easily become a battering ram that does more harm than good, but unity for the sake of unity alon...