Lots of preachers out there telling it like it is without speaking to anyone present. Paul’s call to Timothy to preach the word in-season and out is a word to remind the gospel proclaimers that the gospel is always relevant to the life of men and women, to sinners of all stripes, and we can’t live in a world where the Church is full of the white lie. We must do all things in spirit and in truth.

Howdy,
With all the talk here recently about truth it seems like a good time of the year to think about where we are as a country, and as a church. Many of y’all have heard me tell the story that my parents had me convinced until I was about five years old that all the rigamoral and fireworks was being held in honor of my birthday. We’d go down to the waterfront in Charleston, West Virginia and hear the state symphony blast out the 1812 Overture while the national guard thundered their cannons and I’d start to thank people for coming once it was over. Most folks played along and thought is was cute, others just kind of stood there shocked and confused. I was probably a little bit of both when I finally realized it was the Fourth of July for America, not necessarily for me alone. Some people might say my mom and dad were lying to me. However, I think more about how cool it was, and what kind of honor it is to share a birthday with the greatest nation ever made in God’s blessed providence.
A little fun every now and then never hurt anyone.
These so-called white lies are defined by the google machine as untruths that don’t intend to harm. In other words it means that there is no malice involved. That brings up the question as what makes a difference between a fib that brings fun and a rib that brings pain. It’s probably one of those things that former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart would say that he knows it when he sees it. Most of the time though it probably has a lot more to do with the person saying it and the person receiving it. We can joke and josh with a friend, or at least guys can. In today’s prayer and worship help we are going to think through a little bit about what the Bible has to say about the question, and moreso why it is the truth matters a whole more when we mean it.
I had a fellow I used to visit with in Mississippi say to me that he told one story so that he could tell me another one. At about the same age I was when my parents were telling me about the real reason for 1776 my dad was involved in some meetings related to the merger that took place in the early 1980s between the PCUS (the old Southern church) and the UPCUSA (the old Northern church), which is now the PCUSA. The three of us and my youngest sister at the time had grown up PCUS in the Greenbrier Presbytery, and still were at the time. I can remember my dad coming home from these merger meetings frustrated and mad. Now, that’s not too surprising for a Glaser, we have a tendency to 1) Be involved in meetings, and 2) Be frustrated with them. It’s part of the reason why we make such good Presbyterians.
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So much of what we spend our time with is at best just passing time. One of the things we will find when we make right use of the Lord’s Day is that we will be spending so much time spiritual feasting and resting in the works of mercy and grace we won’t have time for those things which can take us away from God’s blessed worship.

As noted last week for today’s prayer and worship help we are going to look at one of the modern criticisms given towards what our forefathers in the ARP understood about the Christian Sabbath. The primary issue is that there are those who teach that there is no, or only a conceptual continuing application of the Fourth Commandment in the life of the believer. The particular concern on the docket this morning is the question of whether or not some of the things we traditionally were told not to do on the Lord’s Day, in keeping with the moral law of God, are actually true to the word, or are they just legalistic Phariseeism run amok?
However, rather than spending time going through a litany of “am I allowed to do x on the Sabbath?” questions we instead will be talking through what a normal Sunday would (does) look like for a Sabbath-keeping Christian. The purpose of speaking through this in a positive way is so that instead of only having a negative association with the Sabbath we might see as believers the goodness of God’s commandments and the reasons why He would have us maintain their purpose in the new covenant church.
To do this let’s go back to the Bible and take a look at a set of verses that will help reason our way towards a workable liturgy of life on Sunday. Getting started we are going to head to the book of Exodus and bring forward Exodus 16:4-5, 22-26:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” . . . And so it was, on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’” So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
One of the reasons why I chose to start with this portion of God’s word is that a critique of how us ARP folks traditionally understood the Fourth Commandment is centered around the idea that the Sabbath is a Mosaic institution.
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God’s calling on his people to be salt and light and to bear witness to Jesus has not changed. Our mission remains intact. We are still here to multiply maturing disciples of Jesus and healthy churches for the glory of God and the good of the world. All that has changed are the circumstances and contexts where God is calling our congregation to execute that mission.

Dear Sanibel Church Family,
It’s Sunday morning, Oct 2, 4:30 am. I’m writing this from a hotel bathroom so as not to wake my wife. I couldn’t have imagined a week ago that this is where I would be today.
Normally on a Sunday morning, I would be waking up around 5:30 am or so and head out for a beach walk with my poodle to pray and think through the sermon I had spent all week preparing. This Sunday in particular would have been the beginning of a new sermon series in Daniel, followed by the Lord’s Supper in our last one-service gathering.
But instead, I’m sitting in a hotel bathroom.
I don’t have a house. My earthly possessions can now fit in my truck. I can’t go to my favorite beach. I have no idea when I will preach again in my pulpit on Sanibel to my beloved congregation. And no, I didn’t get around to studying Daniel much this week.
Where are you this morning?
Some of you are also in hotels on the east coast. Some are staying with family and friends, wondering how long the arrangement will work. Others are up north watching this disaster from a distance, filled with more questions than answers, and plagued by a vexing sense of helplessness. Some are in the Ft Myers area without power or internet or consistent cell service. They can’t even read this email. Some are stuck in shelters at Shell Point because the storm surge wiped out most of the cars there. Some … I don’t know where they are.
Is it sinking in yet or are you still in shock? The feelings and thoughts come in waves.
I haven’t had much time or capacity to reflect on the events of the past week. Most of my mental energy has been spent on trying to coordinate efforts, solve problems and find people. But this morning, sitting in my bathroom office unable to sleep, I find myself in a rare moment of contemplation. I’m thinking about Psalm 46:
God is our refuge and strength,a helper who is always found in times of trouble.Therefore we will not be afraid though the earth tremblesand the mountains topple into the depth of the sea,though the water roars and foamsand the mountains quake with it turmoil.
The Psalmist meant the roaring sea as a metaphor for turmoil and danger, particularly the danger of hostile nations around Israel. But this week we saw the literal referent for that metaphor. We saw the sea rise up and swallow homes, cars, bridges and lives. The storm cut the causeway islands in half. The incredible power of the sea flung boats and cars all over Iona. Ft Myers beach is completely devastated.
The Psalm describes an earth-shattering ocean storm. These verses will never again be an abstraction for us.
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