Letter to Clarion re Revised Psalms

I just got the new Clarion in the mail. They published a letter I sent some weeks ago.

Here is a copy of it.

Dear Editor

I have heard that some say that we may not sing the revised Psalms in the worship services because the Church Order says that only approved ones may be sung in church.

In a similar vein, Yarrow Church approached the last Synod with the same complaint about the Hymnary Augment.

You can find this in Article 149 of the Acts of Synod Smithers.

2.8 Yarrow considers that the churches should test the proposed new hymn section before it is provisionally adopted as per Art. 55 CO. Hence Yarrow recommends to not adopt the recommendation of the [Book of Praise] committee to "provisionally adopt the Hymns presented… for testing by the churches," and [Yarrow] further states that singing the proposed hymns should be done before the worship services, on music evenings or at various other occasions, but not during the worship services.

Synod responded with this consideration to that complaint:

3.8 re 2.8 – the last time hymns in our federation of churches were tested, they were sung in the worship services. Yarrow gives no reason for not following this practice again...

Ever since the CanRC's began developing the Anglo Genevan Psalter / Hymnary we have been singing from booklets produced by the Book of Praise Committee. I can remember the black book, the red book, the red supplement, the green supplement, the blue collection, the blue liturgical forms, the Three Forms of Unity. All of these were used provisionally for testing in the churches. We sang the songs, used the forms, and read the confessions, all in the services. Things finally got "nailed down" in 1983 in Cloverdale.

The recent Synod said: "Testing the hymns" means, "using them in the worship services." Thus also (mutatis mutandis) the revised Psalms. Testing means using them in worship.

We sing the revised Psalms, and use the Augment, in Fellowship Church throughout our worship services and the congregation (for the most part) is really enjoying the experience. We use PowerPoint, and a projector and screen to great effect.

I would urge all members of the churches to approach their consistories and request that the revised Psalms be used whenever possible in our worship services. This has been our practice since the 50s and 60s.

Moreover, Yarrow's suggestion that they be sung "before the service" rings hollow to me. How can you have an auditorium full of God's covenant people, gathered together on the first day of the week, and ask them to sing a hymn or Psalm, and not acknowledge that it is worship? Let's purge the words "pre-service (or pre-worship) song" from our vocabulary. There is no such thing on Sunday morning in church. When we raise our voices together we are worshiping the great and highly exalted God of heaven and earth!

John van Popta
Pastor,

Letter to PM Stephen Harper

Dear Mr. Harper

I was encouraged to hear reports about your comments on the HRC's (both provincial and federal). As a Pastor of a Christian Church, I am willing to stand up for the things I believe in. That might mean, however, that I am prosecuted by Ms. Hall and her team of commissioners. I believe that British common law and Canada's "hate-laws" provide sufficient protection for all, against libel, slander and "hate-crimes". It's time to "de-fang" the vipers in our midst and decommission the commissioners.

With respect ... and congratulations on your re-election.
May God keep our land, glorious and free!


John van Popta
Pastor
Fellowship Canadian Reformed Church
Burlington ON

Books worth Reading

A friend of mine (thanks Rob) alerted me to some reviews of Foster's book "Celebration of Discipline." Many reviewers have suggested that this book approaches spiritual disciplines from a very mystical point of view. It's been many years since I've read it so my recommendation comes with the caveat: reader beware.

Books Worth Reading

I attend a men's breakfast. This morning we were discussing what kinds of books we like to read. I mentioned a few that I had read over the years and was asked if I could make some suggestions. Here is a list of books selected in the topics of "Reformed Disciplines" and "The History of Math and Science." These two topics fascinate me and form a large part of my 'recreational reading'. I've linked the titles to amazon.ca

So, here is a rather eclectic stack, in no particular order. Four of them are books on exercising the spiritual life from a Reformed viewpoint. Six are history of math and science, and one is an historical anthology from the ancients to the present. One, the last, sort of defies categories. Perhaps we could call it "narrative philosophy."

1. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. Dana Sobel

A brilliant little book about how one man overcame all sorts of adversity and set backs and developed a reliable measure of Longitude in the great age of sail.

2. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Donald Whitney

A lovely book on personal training for godliness.

3. The Golden Ratio: The Story of PHI, the World's Most Astonishing Number. Mario Livio

An historical review of the non repeating number 1.6180339887... a number as interesting as (maybe more fascinating than) Pi. (The last chapter is entitled, "Is God a Mathematician?")

4. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (revised). Richard Foster

An examination of the Spiritual Disciplines from 3 view points: inward, outward, corporate. This book delves into the topic from a "too mystical" point of view. Reader beware.

5. Reformed Spirituality. Howard Rice

Chapter one begins with a full quote of Q&A 1 of the HC. This book is a self conscious look at the spiritual life from a Reformed perspective.

6. Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem: Simon Singh

350 years ago Fermat claimed in a margin note that he had solved this problem: There are no whole number solutions for the equation (x to the n) + (y to the n) = (z to the n) for n greater than 2. This book traces the chain of events from Pythagoras to Andrew Wiles who solved the problem in the mid 1990s.

7. Spiritual Disciplines within the Church: Participating Fully in the Body of Christ: Donald Whitney

A discussion defending the place of the church in a christian life and the Christian's place in the life of the Church.

8. Chaos: Making a New Science. James Gleick

A lucid and clear analysis of a new branch of mathematics which affects all of our lives.

9. The Book of the Cosmos: Imagining the universe from Heraclitus to Hawking. ed. D.R. Danielson

A readers anthology of short (85) readings in a book of 550 pages covering the history of cosmology from the ancients and arcane to the most contemporary writers. This book is an eclectic collection of philosophy, science, religion, literature, poetry, even sermons.

10. Zero, the Biography of a Dangerous Idea. Charles Seife

A book which recounts the history of the number Zero and all its philosophical and religious ramifications. (Is there in God's created world the possibility for the "existence" of nothing?)

11. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Robert Persig

One of the most influential (non theological, though philosophical) books of my life.

_____

The Shack

There is a very popular book being promoted by many. It's called "The Shack". It's main plot line is that a fellow named Mac gets a letter from God saying that he should go to "the Shack" which he does, and has a conversation with God. This book is not on my "recommended reading list."

Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle has a good review of the book here. Take 8 minutes of your day and watch this video.