The Hallelujah Line

The story is told of a man many years ago who used to disturb his Presbyterian preacher by shouting out "Hallelujah!" in the middle of every sermon. After a while, the preacher got rather tired of this so he came up with what he thought was an ingenious idea. He gave the hallelujah man an encyclopedia to read during the worship service. This kept the man quiet for many a Sunday until, during one sermon he once again let out a mighty "Hallelujah!" After the service, the minister asked for an explanation and the man, looking a bit sheepish, said, "Pastor, I could not help it. I was reading in the encyclopedia about the Pacific Ocean and its tremendous depth. I was thinking about this and remembered that the Bible says God has taken our sins and cast them into the depths of the sea. I just had to say "Hallelujah!"

Today we come to examine the hallelujah line of the Apostles' Creed: "I believe in the forgiveness of sins." Over the next few days, I invite you to examine several important questions with me. The first is simply: what is forgiveness?

One possible answer to that question is that forgiveness is a promise. The author of Hebrews 8:12 quotes Jeremiah 31:34 where the Lord says, "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." When God forgives us he goes on record saying that he will no longer hold our sins against us.

There is a popular saying that "when God forgives, God forgets". But is that really true? How can God forget anything? God is omniscient; he knows everything. God's memory never falters. In the verse just quoted God does not say he will forget our sins, he says: "I will remember their sins no more."

Now, you may be thinking: Aren't "forgetting" and "not remembering" the same thing?" Actually, they are different. Forgetting is passive. It is something frail human beings often do. But forgetting is not something an omniscient God can do. "Not remembering" is different; it is active; it is a promise whereby God says: "I will not bring up your sin, or hold it against you ever again."

The story is told of a poor orphan boy who was adopted. At the time of his adoption he was wearing an old, worn out pair of shoes with holes in them. Once he was adopted, his new parents bought him new shoes and new clothes, but the adoptive parents decided to save the boy's old shoes and so they tucked them away in a closet. During the ensuing years, whenever the boy complained or showed signs of ingratitude toward his adoptive parents, they brought out that old pair of shoes and thereby reminded the boy of all they had done for him. Naturally, each time this happened, the boy would get a shameful look on his face.

Thank God he is not like those adoptive parents. When God forgives us and adopts us as his children, he never brings up our past again. Here's an old saying I do agree with, heartily: "When God buries the ax, he doesn't leave the handle sticking above ground." When God forgives us he goes on record and promises never to hold our sin against us!

But how can God forgive sin? Does he just wink and say in effect, "Boys will be boys"? I do not think so. Scripture teaches us that God is holy as well as merciful. He cannot tolerate sin. So what is the foundation for forgiveness? On what basis can God forgive us? This is the question we will examine tomorrow....

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C. S. Lewis on Homosexuality

Arthur Greeves In light of recent developments in the United States on the issue of gay marriage, I thought it would be interesting to revisit what C. S. Lewis thought about homosexuality. Lewis, who died in 1963, never wrote about same-sex marriage, but he did write, occasionally, about the topic of homosexuality in general. In the following I am quoting from my book, Mere Theology: A Guide to the Thought of C. S. Lewis . For detailed references and footnotes, you may obtain a copy from Amazon, your local library, or by clicking on the book cover at the right.... In Surprised by Joy , Lewis claimed that homosexuality was a vice to which he was never tempted and that he found opaque to the imagination. For this reason he refused to say anything too strongly against the pederasty that he encountered at Malvern College, where he attended school from the age of fifteen to sixteen. Lewis did not rate pederasty as the greatest evil of the school because he felt the cruelty displa...

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The final two days of our C. S. Lewis Tour of Ireland & England were spent in London. Upon our arrival we enjoyed a panoramic tour of the city that included Westminster Abbey. A number of our tour participants chose to tour the inside of the Abbey where they were able to view the new C. S. Lewis plaque in Poets' Corner. Though London was not one of Lewis' favorite places to visit, there are a number of locations associated with him. One which I have noted in my new book, In the Footsteps of C. S. Lewis , is Endsleigh Palace Hospital (25 Gordon Street, London) where Lewis recovered from his wounds received during the First World War.... Not too far away from this location is King's College, part of the University of London, located on the Strand, just off the River Thames. This is the location where Lewis gave the annual commemoration oration entitled The Inner Ring on 14 December 1944.... C. S. Lewis occasionally attended theatrical events in London....

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On December 21, 2015, the following headline appeared in the International Business Times: “Bethlehem Christmas 2015 Cancelled”. To be fully accurate, religious celebrations of Jesus’ birth went forward last year in Bethlehem, but many of the secular celebrations of Christmas that usually surround it were toned down due to instability in the area. Looking back a decade, there was even one year when Christian Arabs canceled community celebrations of Christmas in support of the Palestinian uprising. However, the Jewish government would have no part of that, so the Israeli military sponsored its own holiday celebrations in the area. It is also interesting to note who celebrated the first Christmas and who didn’t. The first Christmas was not celebrated by the emperor Caesar Augustus, nor Quirinius, the governor of Syria, nor was it celebrated by the lowly innkeeper. But Christmas was celebrated by a few lonely shepherds along with Joseph and Mary and the angels of heaven. How ...

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A friend's blog written yesterday ( http://wesroberts.typepad.com/ ) got me thinking about C. S. Lewis's experience of the church. I wrote this in a comment on Wes Robert's blog: It is interesting to note that C. S. Lewis attended the same small church for over thirty years. The experience was nothing spectacular on a weekly basis. For most of those years Lewis didn't care much for the sermons; he even sat behind a pillar so that the priest would not see the expression on his face. He attended the service without music because he so disliked hymns. And he left right after holy communion was served probably because he didn't like to engage in small talk with other parishioners after the service. But that life-long obedience in the same direction shaped Lewis in a way that nothing else could. Lewis was once asked, "Is attendance at a place of worship or membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of life?" His answer w...

A Prayer at Ground Zero

Does the Bible mention treating animals with kindness?

When I solicited questions to be addressed in this series, a member of the congregation wrote this to me: “Animals are mentioned in the Bible as beasts of burden and sacrificial animals. Is there any mention of treating animals with kindness?” The short answer to that question is: yes. However, it is important to note that what the Bible says about caring for animals comes in the midst of a great narrative. It is a narrative of Creation, Fall, and Redemption. Let’s look at these three great acts in the narrative play of world history one by one. First, let’s look at creation. Creation At the very beginning of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 through 28, we read this: Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing th...

Christmas Day Thought from Henri Nouwen

" I keep thinking about the Christmas scene that Anthony arranged under the altar. This probably is the most meaningful "crib" I have ever seen. Three small woodcarved figures made in India: a poor woman, a poor man, and a small child between them. The carving is simple, nearly primitive. No eyes, no ears, no mouths, just the contours of the faces. The figures are smaller than a human hand - nearly too small to attract attention at all. "But then - a beam of light shines on the three figures and projects large shadows on the wall of the sanctuary. That says it all. The light thrown on the smallness of Mary, Joseph, and the Child projects them as large, hopeful shadows against the walls of our life and our world. "While looking at the intimate scene we already see the first outlines of the majesty and glory they represent. While witnessing the most human of human events, I see the majesty of God appearing on the horizon of my existence. While...

Glenmerle

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A good crowd gathered at the White Hart Cafe in Lynchburg, Virginia on Saturday, February 7 for a powerpoint presentation I gave on the life and work of Sheldon Vanauken. Van, as he was known to family and friends, was best known as the author of A Severe Mercy , the autobiography of his love relationship with his wife Jean "Davy" Palmer Davis. While living in Oxford, England in the early 1950's, Van and Davy came to faith in Christ through the influence of C. S. Lewis. Van was a professor of history and English literature at Lynchburg College from 1948 until his retirement around 1980. A Severe Mercy tells the story of Davy's death from a mysterious liver ailment in 1955 and Van's subsequent dealing with grief. Van himself died from cancer in 1996. It was my privilege to know Van for a brief period of time during the last year of his life. However, present at the White Hart on February 7 were some who knew Van far better than I did--Floyd Newman, one of Van...

Will Vaus

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