Handwashing for All Time by Lorraine Triggs

When it comes to handwashing, the CDC has nothing on my mother.

As a child, I probably washed my hands at least 10 times a day as a matter of course. Routine handwashings included before and after meals, before reading books, (magazines were exempt), after playing with the cat or doing daily chores.

Then there were seasonal handwashings: after digging trenches in the sandbox in which to race small pet store turtles, after any game played in the street, after poking any critter—dead or alive—and after eating grape popsicles in the summer or caramel apples in the fall. My mom's one-size-fits-all advice for anything that ailed us summed up her philosophy: Wash your hands and face and you'll feel better. (She was right.)

My mother came from a long line of handwashers that began with the tabernacle priests who washed their hands at the basin before and after entering the holy place. A symbol of the need to present oneself clean in God's presence.

Over and over in the Old Testament, that simple act of handwashing and clean hands is a picture of righteousness and a pure heart. And when David sinned, he pleaded with God to "wash me throughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!" (Psalm 51:2) No amount of soap and water would do the trick. David needed to be totally disinfected from sin. As much as we are into handwashing, it takes more than these good habits to get rid of sin's infection.

People say that cleanliness is next to godliness, and maybe there is some basis for that thought in traditions like these. But what do we do with Jesus, who seemed sometimes to go out of his way to get his hands dirty in the filth of human everything.

Ironically, the One who came to cleanse us from sin didn't always remember to wash his hands. Or, if he started off with clean hands, he was always getting them dirty. Like when his writing in the dirt made accusers fall away. Think of him touching the man with leprosy or making mud from his saliva and—gasp—touching the blind man's eyes.

In a display of love so amazing, so divine, Jesus' bloody, dirty, wounded hands embraced our sins, gathered our filthy rags and washed us thoroughly from the inside out. Jesus beckoned Thomas, the one with doubts, to touch, to reach, to feel where the nails pierced into the divinely human flesh, yes, to touch his side, torn and scarred for all eternity by our self-actualized dirt that no soap but the sinless blood of our dying God would or could ever wash away. But wash it did, and does and will forevermore.

“My Lord and my God!”

Alas and Did My Savior Bleed

By Erik Dewar, pastor of worship and music

On this Saturday between Good Friday and Easter, we wait.

Our waiting feels more profound than usual this year as we sit in our homes much like the sheltering disciples.

We of course know the rest of the story so we have hope, remembering Jesus’s promise that he would rise tomorrow morning.

Until then, we wait.

And until this pandemic ends, we remember his many other precious promises to us - that he will not leave us or forsake us. He is coming again.

Whether looking ahead to promised grace or looking back at his past faithfulness, today is a good day for reflection.

Remember his sacrifice for us last night with this setting of Isaac Watts’s Alas and Did My Savior Bleed.

As you reflect, consider this interesting factor regarding the poetry and music. Some poet’s themes don’t always fit cleanly within the musical structures in which they’re later set. For instance, sometimes one poetic idea is expressed across multiple stanzas of music. An example of this can be found in verses three and four of Luther’s A Mighty Fortress:

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure.
One little word shall fell him

That word above all earthly pow'rs, no thanks to them, abideth.
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth.
Let God's and kindred go, this mortal life also.
The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still.
His kingdom is forever.

The “word” referenced at the end of verse three is the same “word” in the beginning of verse four.

Similarly, verses four and five of Alas and Did My Savior Bleed both refer to tears. These two verses are dependent on each other (so you can imagine the disappointment when verse four is left out of many hymnals)! This musical setting uses a shorter interlude and modulation after verse four to spill over into the rest of Watts’s idea in verse five:

Thus might I hide my blushing face 

While his dear cross appears

dissolve my heart in thankfulness 

and melt mine eyes to tears. 

But drops of grief can ne'er repay 

the debt of love I owe; 

Here Lord I give myself away

'Tis all that I can do.

May this be our response of worship as we consider Christ’s sacrifice for us last night.

Jesus Paid it All

By H. E. Singley, organist

Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.  Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. (Matthew 18:32-34, NLT)

The verses above are part of a section of the Gospel of Matthew that is entitled “Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor” in the New Living Translation. The main point of the passage is forgiveness, particularly forgiveness on the horizontal, human plane—one person to another. (I do not in any way want to detract from that emphasis in this passage, if for no other reason than its pertinence to my own reality!)

Nonetheless, I would like to think about the king who, at the outset of the story, had forgiven an incalculable debt held by the unforgiving debtor. This merciless individual’s obligation made the pittances he was owed seem infinitesimal when compared to his own unpaid account which, in the words of the NLT, was “millions of dollars.”

It is the debt which every redeemed child of God has to our heavenly Father that I wish to bring into the forefront. We can imagine that “millions of dollars” to a servant in biblical times could have seemed like trillions of dollars would appear to us in our day—a figure that no one could fathom, much less repay (probably not even the government of the United States!).

 I once heard of an admittedly insufficient approximation between a single grain of sand on any seashore in relation to all the sand on all the seashores in all the world and all of time in relation to eternity. Similarly, any parallel between a trillion-dollar debt and what forgiven sinners owe to our loving, merciful Heavenly Father only begins to reckon the measure of our indebtedness due to our condition as sinners by nature and sinners by choice.

King David understood his sin.

Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins.
My guilt overwhelms me—it is a burden too heavy to bear.  My wounds fester and stink    because of my foolish sins. I am bent over and racked with pain.    All day long I walk around filled with grief.

(Psalm 38:3-6) 

The apostle Paul expresses his—and our—frustration:

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right,

I inevitably do what is wrong.  I love God’s law with all my heart.

 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind.

This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

 Oh, what a miserable person I am!

(Romans 7:21-24a)

There is desperation in this expression of John Donne, a 16th-century Anglican priest and poet:

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,

Which was my sin, though it were done before?

Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,

And do run still, though still I do deplore?

When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won

Others to sin, and made my sin their door?

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun

A year or two, but wallow’d in, a score?

When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

For I have more.

I have a fear of sin, that when I have spun

My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;

But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son

Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;

And, having done that, thou hast done;

I fear no more.

 The final stanza of Donne’s poem, “A Hymn to God the Father,” turns us toward the only hope we have for our interminable, seemingly irresolvable debt, the finished work of His resplendent Son.

I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small,
Child of weakness, watch and pray, find in Me thine all in all.”

Refrain:
Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I whereby Thy grace to claim--
I’ll wash my garments white in the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb. (Refrain)

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,
"Jesus died my soul to save," my lips shall still repeat. (Refrain)*

All to Him we owe!

“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

(Isaiah 1:18, NLT)

IDEAS FOR LISTENING

• Listen for the melody of the hymn-tune throughout.

• The music reflects three of the original four stanzas, all in a different key, all with a different stylistic approach.

• Think of the three stanzas above as you hear the music.

•  Sing the hymn–words AND music–even if you’re by yourself!

* “Jesus Paid It All” (All to Christ). Text by Elvina M. Hall, Music by John T. Grape. Both poet and composer were from Baltimore, Maryland and were members of a local Methodist church.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

By H. E. Singley, organist

I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!

(Psalm 121:1, 2, NLT)

When our family lived in Ecuador in the 1970s and 1980s while involved in missionary service, we lived in what some would call a paradise. Quito, Ecuador’s capital, is located in a valley at an altitude of 9,350 feet (2,850 meters), surrounded by enthralling, majestic mountains. Those mountains are part of the range known as the Andes which looks like a spine extending along the west coast of South America. In Ecuador, the mountains run mainly through the middle of the country with tropical rainforests to the east and indescribable coastlands to the west.

By some counts, Ecuador (which, incidentally, is about equal to the state of Colorado in size) has fourteen mountains which are perpetually snow-capped. Ten of the peaks are over 5000 meters (16,000 feet) high! From our apartment in Quito, we could see five of the snowcaps almost every day of the year. (This Texan loves snow when I can see it off in the distance.)

I’ve come to think of those imposing mountains–each quite different from the others–as another demonstration of the ineffable beauty and grandeur of God’s creation. I’ve also realized that they were a kind of metaphor when we looked out to see them at the beginning of the day and realized that they were still there. I believe we gazed at them to remind ourselves–assure ourselves–that there are at least some things that we can count on virtually every day.

Thus for our family, the words of Psalm 121 have rich significance. They drive all of us to think about what we see in any context that offers confidence and certitude. If we’ve trusted Christ–and Christ alone–for forgiveness of sin and eternal life, then, in the words of the hymn we’re exploring, we have “turned our eyes upon Jesus.”

The writer of the hymn, Helen Lemmel, was born in a pastor’s home in England and came to the United States as a child. She was a singer of some renown and taught voice at Moody Bible Institute and the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (Biola University). She wrote the words and composed the music for the hymn.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?

No light in the darkness you see?

There’s light for a look at the Savior,

And life more abundant and free!

Thro' death into life everlasting,

He passed, and we follow Him there;

O’er us sin no more hath dominion--

For more than conqu’rors we are!

His Word shall not fail you--He promised;

Believe Him, and all will be well:

Then go to a world that is dying,

His perfect salvation to tell!

Refrain:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

As is sometimes the case, the refrain can be detached from the three stanzas (verses) and stand by itself. (Some hymnals have done that.) The stanzas, however, strengthen the refrain by:

• Asking if we might be weary and troubled (perhaps a rhetorical question?)

• Reminding us that His Word will not fail us

• Urging us to tell of His salvation to a dying world

There’s a summons here for all people, no matter where we find ourselves in our spiritual pilgrimage!

May we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, knowing He is always there!

Let all the world look to me for salvation!

    For I am God; there is no other.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses

to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down,

especially the sin that so easily trips us up.

And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus,

the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

(Isaiah 45:22; Hebrews 12:1,2a, NLT)

IDEAS FOR LISTENING

• Listen for the melody of the hymn-tune throughout.

• The music begins and ends with the refrain.

• Two different interpretations accompany the melody of the “verse part” of the hymn. (You might think of the first and final stanzas.)

• Sing the hymn–words AND music–even if you’re by yourself!

Only Christ

By Erik Dewar, pastor of worship and music

It’s good to sing God’s Word! Psalm paraphrases and Scripture songs are perhaps the most obvious examples of the Bible set to music. Many hymns are also based on Scripture, though often woven into the poetry in a more subtle way.

For a deeper dive into the story and themes of Passion Week, here are the passages of Scripture that shaped the lyrics of Only Christ:

Verse 1: 

“…though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Isaiah 1:18b

But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:26b

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 (CSB)

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22

Verse 2:

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Acts 2:23

And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” Mark 15:39

And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” John 1:51

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world… John 3:17a

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:17-18

…but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:17b

Verse 3:

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:14

And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:7

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” John 18:38

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; Isaiah 53:5a

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Matthew 27:51a

Verse 4

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 1 Corinthians 15:17-19

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Matthew 28:1

He will swallow up death forever; And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, Isaiah 25:8a

At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’” Matthew 26:60b-61

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matthew 12:40

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Revelation 1:17

Verse 5

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Hebrews 4:14

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

…making peace by the blood of his cross. Colossians 1:20b

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Revelation 19:9a

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

Except Romans 5:1 printed above, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Kids Harbor Resources For At Home Part 2

Stay-at-Home Witness

As each of us grapples with our homes, neighbors, families and work at this time, God is working for his glory.

Luis Orellana, one of our members, was disheartened as he went through his mail to find an invitation to virtual services from a local Jehovah’s Witness service. Even before the pandemic, Luis was inviting people to our Sunday services. Now he’s kicked his efforts into virtual high-gear with the following video encouragement for us all.

Jim Vanne used our current stay-at-home circumstance to reach out to his neighbors with the following note which he delivered to the porches of their neighbors:

“To my neighbors during the Coronavirus Pandemic 

“We are the gray house at [address] and wanted you to know that, if the COVID19 virus hits your family and you are housebound, we would be honored to get groceries for you, pop over to the drug store to get prescriptions, or similar errands, and leave it at your front door. Or once the grass starts growing, I could also pop by and mow your lawn or similar (e.g., snowshovel if we have a late snow). 

“As Christians, it would also be our honour to pray for needs you may have, in addition to the practical things noted above. We are both working out of home offices, so we might not be able to turn things around immediately, but certainly could after work hours (and also assuming we, ourselves, don’t get sick, of course!) 

“We’ll stick together as a neighborhood, and make it through! 

“Blessing to each and every one of you.  Please let us know if we can support you in any way!

“Jim and Janet Vanne (with cellphone and email included)”

Another one of our members, Kathy Burke, created a Facebook watch party and viewed Pastor Moody’s Q & A with facebook friends—which included fellow College Church members, but also a surpising collection of other people: a current neighbor, a neighbor from when she lived in Holland, Michigan, old high-school friends, an old boyfriend from college, relatives including a cousin she has never met, and people who used to attend College Church but have moved away and others she has not had contact with for years. After the Q&A ended, Kathy is following up with online discussions. She’s going to continue doing this with some of our other services as well.

Kids’ Harbor has created a yard sign for Kids’ Harbor families to share a verse of Scripture to neighbors. Encourage your neighbors and open doors to the gospel with this colorful yard sign. You can order a sign and a Kids' Harbor team member will deliver it in eight-ten days. Cost is $7.50 and supplies limited.

Are you reaching out in a way that we can pray for or be encouraged by? If so, tell us your story at by emailing connections@college-church.org.

Psalm 122