Betty Bristol was, and still is, a great gift of God to Redemption Hill. Not only that, but we recognize that we are but one piece of the legacy that she leaves behind after her promotion to glory. Tomorrow, as family and friends, we will gather to remember and celebrate the grace of God shown to us in Betty Bristol.

Here are some details regarding the services tomorrow:

The Bristol’s will have a graveside service at Hollywood Cemetery tomorrow at 2:00 PM. Everyone is invited to attend this service. Please remember to arrive early as parking is not abundant in Hollywood Cemetery and you will most likely have to walk to get to the gravesite. MAP LINK

After the graveside service, at 3:30 PM, there will be a celebration of life service followed by a (in Betty’s words) party at The 400. Please be reminded that all parking at The 400 is street parking. For those among us who are younger and don’t have kids, please consider parking at the Patrick Henry School and walking to the the 400. Also, carpooling is a good idea for those who can. MAP LINK

Finally, we are in need of some men and women who can serve the Bristol family tomorrow. In particular, we are in need of greeter/ushers and parking attendants. If you can serve in this manner, please let me know as soon as possible (ryan AT redemptionhill DOT org or message me on the city).

Enjoy Grace.

Since the Bible does not directly address these questions, Christians and churches are free to recognize and celebrate the arrival of newborn children in any way that does not violate what is expressly commanded in Scripture.

At Redemption Hill we do not perform infant baptisms. Nor do we, in the strictest sense, dedicate anyone’s baby to the Lord; we leave that privilege and responsibility to our parents. In fact, the practice of churches dedicating babies to the Lord is usually supported from Luke 1:22, which says:

…When the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, [Mary and Joseph] brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord…

Notice, though, that it was Mary and Joseph who presented Jesus to the Lord, not the priests or the other officials in the Temple. In the same way, we acknowledge the right and the responsibility of our parents to present their own children to the Lord, and we intentionally create a few opportunities per year for them to do so in front of the entire church.

So what does Redemption Hill Church do?

As our parents come forward to present their children to the Lord, Redemption Hill Church commissions its parents to “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4), just as Paul commissioned the parents in Ephesus. That’s why we refer to this event as a Parent Commissioning.

So, for those of you who have recently experienced the blessing of a newborn child, we look forward to commissioning you as parents while you present your child to the Lord.

Our next Parent Commissioning will be Sunday, February 26, 2012. Please register below if you are interested in participating.

photo credit

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever! – Psalm 30:11-12

Last Sunday we introduced a song to our Sunday gathering entitled 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) by Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin. It is featured on the 10,000 Reasons album by Matt Redman. Inspired by Psalm 103:1-22, this modern hymn speaks of how there are (even much more than) 10,000 reasons for our soul to bless the Lord, and encourages us to respond greatly to the greatness of our God. If this passage of scripture sounds familiar, it’s because we looked in depth at Psalm 103:1-22 this past summer when we sang Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, by Joachim Neander. 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord), like the Psalm it is based on, reminds us of the joy that comes from encouraging our souls to praise the Lord:

This encouraging of ourselves was seen before in Psalm 103:1-22 as David encouraged his soul to speak wonderful things about the Lord, and to meditate on all of the great benefits that He had bestowed upon him. Our aim in worship must be the same. We should always be striving to exhort our souls to enjoy God with all that we are, and to meditate on His goodness and the benefits that He has given to us. Our praise to the Lord should be total – giving God our all in our worship. May our thoughts meditate on His goodness; may our mouths speak of His grace towards us, and may our hearts enjoy the rest and satisfaction that only He can give to our souls. – Rayshawn Graves from Praise to the Lord, the Almighty: Amen: Verse 5

Here are the lyrics:

Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before, O my soul
I’ll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning
It’s time to sing your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

You’re rich in love, and You’re slow to anger
Your name is great, and your heart is kind
For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near, and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

For further information on the story behind the album 10,000 Reasons, and the song 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord), check out the video below by Matt Redman. You can also purchase and download the song by clicking here. I pray that thinking and singing about the benefits of God’s goodness toward us will make us eager to bless his holy name!

Next Saturday, December 24th, Redemption Hill will be coming together to celebrate, sing, read, and respond to the very good news of Immanuel, God with us. This service will be based on the Service of Lessons and Carols, which was first drawn up by E.W. Benson, later Bishop of Canterbury, for use in the Cathedral at Truro. It was later adapted from early sources as a Christmas Eve service and was first celebrated on Christmas Eve in 1880, and was later modified for use at King’s College in Cambridge, in 1918, by its then Dean, Reverend Eric Milner-White.

The service will consist of God’s revelation to us of God’s purpose (the lessons), followed immediately by our response to God’s word (the musical portions of the service, our offering of praise back to God). The first four lessons are passages from the Old Testament which look forward to the Day of the Lord; the day when God will finally establish God’s purpose, reject all that is contrary to it, and affirm whatever belongs to it. The fifth lesson which is taken from the Gospel of Luke directly assert that in Christ, the long-awaited day has come.

As you have meditated on Jesus’ coming with your family this Advent season, we would invite you to celebrate with us on Christmas Eve as we look to Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the death and resurrection. He is the beginning and end of all things. He is Heaven and earth reunited. He is the salvation that the prophets told us about from ancient times. He is the only way out of death. He is the only way that death can ever die. He is the Savior of the world, the one who takes away all the sins of the world, and all of that is offered to us.

Our Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols service will be Saturday night, December 24th, at 6:00 p.m., at the Redemption Hill office. If you are planning on attending, please RSVP here and share the event with your friends, family, and neighbors. After the service, stick around for warm drinks and yummy sweets in the parlor. No childcare will be provided, but that’s on purpose. This is a perfect service for families with children of all ages to sing and celebrate together.

As Christmas day approaches, the Murphy family has been getting reacquainted with some of our favorite Christmas tunes. Some of these include albums by Bifrost Arts, the Boston Pops, Ella Fitzgerald, and of course, Bing Crosby; in addition to all the Christmas music that we hear on the radio this time of year. However, the one Christmas song that we can never seem to escape from is Joy to the World. Funny enough, this perennial Christmas favorite didn’t start out as a Christmas song at all.

Joy to the World was written by Isaac Watts, a famous 18th century preacher turned hymn writer. For a number of year’s prior, Watts served as the pastor of a congregation in London, but a violent and continual fever from which he never fully recovered forced him to leave the pastorate. Watts continued to write though, and in 1719, published his most famous book, a hymnal entitled Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. In it, Watts diverged from the traditional church practice of strictly adapting Scripture to song, by adding his own lyrical reflections to Scripture inspired hymns, making him not only the father of the modern hymn, but the pace-setter for contextualizing the gospel for the people of God.

These poetic paraphrases of the psalms were adapted by Watts for use by the Church, and made David speak “the language of a Christian.” Some of the more popular hymns from this collection include Watts’ paraphrase of Psalm 72:1-20 entitled Jesus Shall Reign Wher’er the Sun, his Psalm 90:1-17 paraphrase O God, Our Help in Ages Past, and his Psalm 98:1-9 paraphrase The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom, known to us today as Joy to the World.

In this song, Watts connects a Davidic joy in the Lord to its prophetic fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Its aim was “to show David as a Christian” by revealing the Christ-centered character of the Psalms. Using the larger story of scripture as an interpretive guide, Watts locates “the joy of the world” among the various themes of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation (Genesis to Revelation). He manages to weave a redemptive thread through the song that begins with Adam’s fall, and finishes at the future return of Christ:

No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found

In his first advent—Christmas—the Second Adam relaxes the curse by redeeming human hearts. In his second advent, all of heaven and nature will join the song of redemption. The joy of salvation is for both creature and creation:

Joy to the World, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing

Every person and nation will be called to account for their response to the gracious gift of God’s son, Jesus Christ. But while God is gracious, He is also just. Those that respond to his grace will be spared his judgment and enter into an everlasting joy to the world that forever glories in his righteousness.

He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love

Besides over 600 hymns, Watts published 52 other works, including a book of logic used in the universities, books on grammar, pedagogy, ethics, psychology, astronomy, geography, three volumes of sermons, and 29 treatises on theology. After his death in 1748, a monument to Watts was erected in Westminster Abbey. His greatest monument, however, are the hymns to his God still used by Christ’s church.

May our hearts receive Jesus as King with fresh joy and exultation this Season, as we join the chorus of all creation singing: “Joy to the World, the Lord is come!”

This is a question that I asked myself a few months ago as I was sitting down to dream about what the next two years of Music and Arts at Redemption Hill might look like. It’s was easy to dream about some of the cool things we might be able to accomplish, especially considering the immensely talented artist and musicians in our church. But the more I reflected on this, the more I became reminded of just how fleeting and vain these cool things are. And as I reflected on what God has done for me through his son Jesus, and where he has providentially placed me and family, I was reminded that we don’t need to pursue the arts for the gospel to be cool, or relevant, to our culture, we need to participate in God’s work of transforming people’s lives for the power of the gospel to remain relevant to us.

I believe the Arts are vital and necessary for sharing the gospel. God created art, and uses art to teach us about Himself, our own hearts, and our world. It is a gift that allows us to move past purely rational expression and glimpse God’s truth and beauty – a way to more fully understand the nature of our own humanity and means of experiencing His divine nature that extends beyond what our minds can comprehend. It engages our imaginations, exposes us to new ideas, and allows us to experience life more fully.

Here at Redemption Hill, we are committed to learning together how to think, do, and be distinctively Christian in everything we do, particularly the culture that we live in, and interact with, daily. This means learning: What in our culture is good and can be enjoyed and celebrated? What in our culture is anti-Gospel and must be rejected? What in our culture can be renewed and adapted for good?

To this end, we are resolved to have a knowledge and appreciation of the culture here in Richmond, whether that be movies, books, music, or the local performing and visual arts scene. We do this that we might understand the culture’s hopes, dreams, stories, and fears; and then show people that only Jesus can fulfill their greatest desires. We have started this with our Film and Theology series, and are now looking to branch out into other cultural havens. Enter The Green Room.

The Green Room is traditionally defined as a transition space in an arts venue which accommodates performers not yet required on stage. It is also a space that accommodates both artist and patron, where they can gather together and discuss meaning behind a particular medium. Beginning next month, Redemption Hill will be starting a new series called The Green Room, where we provide opportunities to learn about and experience the range of arts events that Richmond has to offer. We do this not only to benefit the church and our city, but to lead and encourage us to mindfully engage with the arts in Richmond and with its artists, for the purposes of exalting Christ, and advancing the kingdom of God in Richmond, Virginia.

Our goal is to regularly provide opportunities to attend a performance, exhibition, film, or other arts event, with an artist from Redemption Hill who can knowledgeably speak of the artistic discipline and history of the event, as well as speak to the worldview presented and how that lines up with a biblical worldview. Attending cultural events with an artist whose heart has been transformed by the power of the gospel will allow us to experience not only the inherent beauty in whatever cultural event we may be attending, but also the beauty of the artist’s gift as it speaks with clarity from the heart of God.

Plan on joining us Saturday, November 12, as we kick off The Green Room and host an evening with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.

The Real God for the Real World
(based on the Nicene Creed)
9.11 The necessity of belief for a suspicious world
9.18 The triune God for a fragmented world
9.25 The sovereign God for an anxious world
10.2 The creator God for a material world
10.9 The person of Christ for a hurting world
10.16 The sacrifice of Christ for a guilty world
10.23 The reign of Christ for a rebellious world
10.30 The justice of Christ for a self-justifying world
11.6 The life of the Spirit for a powerless world
11.13 The community of the Spirit for a lonely world
11.20 The hope of the Spirit for a hopeless world

For more information on Citylight Church, click here.

Announcements:
Before we begin, here are a few announcements.

Continuation of Worship:

Please have someone read the following passage of scripture aloud:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 46:1-11

Spontaneous Prayer:

Take a moment and pray, consecrating your gathered time to the Lord.

Worship through Singing

Words can be found below the player

O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing by Charles Wesley

O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise
The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace

I felt my Lord’s atoning blood close to my soul applied
Me, me He loved, the Son of God, for me, for me He died

Glory to God, praise and love are forever given
By saints below, saints above, the church in earth and heaven

He speaks, and, listening to His voice, new life the dead receive
His spirit leads us to the choice, and brings us to believe

He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free
His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me

Look unto Him, you nations, own your God, you fallen race
Look, and be saved through faith alone, be justified by grace

My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim
To spread throughout the Earth abroad the honors of your name

Responsive Reading:
Have one person read the plain text and all read the italicized text together.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

Spontaneous Prayer:

Take a moment and pray, asking the Lord to open hearts and minds to hear and receive the Good News this morning.

Sermon: Am I Really A Christian

If you are a member of Vimeo, then you can download the video by clicking here.

Prayer and Reflection:

Take a minute or two to reflect and pray about what you heard in the sermon. Since you are likely watching this with a small group, a time of corporate prayer, confession, and prayer for one another may also be appropriate.

Communion:

Should you have bread and juice (or wine) available, take time to serve communion to one another, reminding each other of the gospel truth that Jesus body was broken and his blood was shed for us.

Response of Grateful Praise:

Let us respond with grateful praise that the God who watches over even the smalles sparrow, is the very God who causes us to be born again to a living hope.

Hie Eye Is On the Sparrow by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel and Civilla Durfee Martin

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Prayer of Benediction:
Adapted from “Valley of Vision.” Have someone prayerfully read the following:

Thou art the blessed God, happy in Thyself, source of happiness in Thy creatures, our maker, benefactor, proprietor, upholder. Thou hast produced and sustained us, supported and indulged us, saved and kept us; Thou art in every situation able to meet our needs and miseries.

May we live by Thee, live for Thee, never be satisfied with our Christian progress but as we resemble Christ; and may conformity to His principles, temper, and conduct grow hourly in our life. Let Thy unexampled love constrain us into holy obedience, and render our duty our delight. If others deem our faith folly, our meekness infirmity, our zeal madness, our hope delusion, our actions hypocrisy, may we rejoice to suffer for Thy name.

Keep us walking steadfastly towards the country of everlasting delights, that paradise-land which is our true inheritance. Support us by the strength of heaven that we may never turn back, or desire false pleasures that will disappear into nothing. As we pursue our heavenly journey by Thy grace let us be known as a people with no aim but that of a burning desire for Thee, and the good and salvation of our fellow men.

AMEN.

Now, go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

Giving:
Our giving is a response to grace, not duty. It is a part of worship, a response to who God is and what He has done. Giving is a way that God invites us to participate in His work. If you would like to give a tithe or offering today, you can do so online by clicking here.

We are currently working to provide a video sermon online for Sunday morning and will post on the website, Twitter, Facebook, and the City to let you know when it is available. Should you have power on Sunday morning (praying you all do) you are welcome and encouraged to gather your family, friends, and neighbors to come together to sing, pray, and listen to Pastor Raymond preach his message, “Am I Really a Christian?”

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact ryan AT redemptionhill DOT org