Thinking about the "Son of God"

Peter's confession at Caesarea Phillipi is "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." When our modern ears hear this, we tend to think according to mature categories of full-blown trinitarian theology. "The Son of the Living God" translates for us as "God the Son", second person of the eternal trinity.

Is that what Peter had in mind? Almost certainly not. At the time, "Son of God" was a kingly title, much the same as "Messiah" (which is the first half of Peter's confession). The King is called the Son of God: he is the man on earth who rules by God's appointment. God says of David "You are My Son, today I have begotten thee." And of David's seed, God promises "he will be a Son to me." So "Son of God" means "king."

The thing about human kings, however, is that they keep dying. There can be no ultimate Son of God whose kingdom shall have no end until there is a man who does not die. That might have been Adam, who was God's Son; he would have lived and ruled for centuries over all his descendants, guarding the way to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil until the day God finally gave it to him to eat, that he might die, and lead the way through death to resurrection for all his race.

Well, that didn't happen.

So God the Son became the Son of Man (son of Adam) and the Son of David that he might rule as the Son of God, and after dying be raised to rule forever as both David's Son and David's Lord.

When the High Priest questions Jesus he asks "are you the Christ, the Son of God?" -- the same kingly language as Peter's confession. Had Jesus admitted to that charge only, he would have been in enough political trouble to push the case to Pilate for treason, but Jesus added, "But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." That moved the case from kingship to divinity, and the High Priest was able to jump to a blasphemy charge that he hadn't been looking for. The council also could dismiss all the false witnesses they had recruited, because the council were all witnesses who had heard Jesus' words.

At that point the High Priest tore his robes. I know it was customary for folks to tear their clothing as a sign of crushing grief. But this is the High Priest. His robes were the covering of glory and beauty, sprinkled with blood at his investiture, that allowed him to enter the holy place on the day of atonement. Seems like this High Priest, in calling for the death of Jesus, is tearing his robe of office and ending his right to function. The new High Priest is standing there before him, his robe soon to be blood-spattered that he might enter the heavenly sanctuary, once for all.

The Language of Parable

The Bible is written in Symbol, according to Jim Jordan. He has written a book Through New Eyes that walks through the way the Bible introduces and then builds on its Symbol vocabulary of water, light, fruit, trees, mountains, and bread.

The modern academy has been shy of making much of Symbol in favor of the historical-critical principle of hermeneutics. That approach is favored in part because of the fanciful abuses of symbolic interpretation practiced in much of the early church. That, plus the rationalism of the enlightenment; historical-critical sounds so professional and scientific.

But Robert Weber points out that our post-modern world is much like the world of antiquity (multiple truths, no exclusive claims allowed, ethical disconnect between belief and behavior...), and our preaching today will have diminishing resonance if we keep doing the "evidence that demands a verdict" kind of thing. Rather, the key to preaching in a post-Chistian world is using something like the hermeneutic of the early church fathers. Typology, symbol, parable.

The disciples forgot to bring bread. Jesus said beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. The disicples used a literal hermeneutic. Jesus rebuked them for not thinking in Symbol.

My roommate this week asked me how I would define "abide" for a 6-year-old. He was reading the Bible to some younger children and they asked what "abide" means. He had looked up the definition somewhere and didn't find anything helpful. As we talked about it, we concluded that the Bible itself gives us a picture of abiding: the vine and the branches. You have to stay connected or you die. That's the language of Symbol, and we should look there first instead of going to systematics, which has its uses, but explaining "abide" to a 6-year-old -- or a post-modern -- is not one of them.

Wednesday

The difference between being in the mountains of Colorado and being in the mountains of New Mexico is that when you get to the bottom of the canyon in Colorado, there's water in the stream.

The mountain air is best in the morning. Most cool, most fragrant, most clear. As the day wears on and the sun gets up, open spaces heat up, and you start getting a mix of cool and warm. Like sitting next to a funace vent and the blower keeps switching on and off.

I hiked up to Broken Arrow point today. Once I found the trail head, that is. The signage is not fool-proof, and my first start let me to the camp's horse area. I said good morning to about 20 curious horses and went back.

Once I got going, this trail was easy to follow; very well marked. At the summit there was an open space surrounded by trees and I thought of Weathertop. I did some poking around and found a place with a view for the comfy chair.

Spent a long time going through Matthew today. I started thinking about bracketing elements: 1: Birth -- 28: Resurrection. 2:King Herod wants to kill Jesus and fails -- 27: Pilate wants to release Jesus and fails.

There's also an interesting John the Baptist / Temptation / Kingdom block at both ends.
3: John the Baptist,
4: Three Temptations in the wilderness
5-7: The Kingdom Given. Blessed are ... House on the Rock

At the other end it's
21: By what authority/John's baptism
22: Three Questions in the temple
23-25 The Kingdom Taken Away: Woes ... House left desolate.

Notice that in the slot corresponding to the devil's temptation in the wilderness, you get the Pharisees and Sadducees in the temple. I'd like to think about just how satan's three temptations correspond to the 3 questions in the temple.

I also noticed that when the mother of James and John asks for right- and left-hand places for her sons, Jesus asks if they are able to drink the cup that he is to drink. And as it works out, James is the first of the 12 to be martyred. And John is the last.

I also wonder about Andrew. Jesus called two sets of brothers: Peter & Andrew, James & John. But then it's always Peter-James&John as The Three. I suspect Andrew was fine with that. But still.

Tuesday

Oh.

Our dorm has wireless. Five bars. I don't have to sit in the main hall trying to sit at the right angle.

I was all set to drive a van for the whitewater kids this morning, but as it worked out they didn't need me. So I hiked up the "Glorieta Lookout" trail, which is not very ambitious, but affords a nice view of things. I was concerned that there might be squads of campers coming and going, but I was undisturbed.

In the direct sun, you get hot. In the shade it is cool. In the breeze, it is practically chilly. I set my comfy chair facing west on the extent of the rock outcrop at the top. As the morning progressed, the breeze picked up, scooping up that western face; in spite of two long-sleeved tee shirts, I got chilly. I had to go stand in the sun once in a while to warm up.

Then I got a phone call from some of our Zion kids who did not go with the rafting group. How about an afternoon excursion into Santa Fe?

I took some more photos. (Flickr uploader is stalling for some reason ... don't know if I'll get them up or not ...) I also sat on a bench in front of the public library and read. Then I found a really sweet hotel lobby and read there. This hotel is adobe style (isn't everything) and uses lots of skylights in the interiors. Very nice. Their atrium restaurant has such pretty light, you'd forget to eat.

Monday

Got up early.
Took some pix of the campus.
Had breakfast.
Hiked to Pulpit Point.
Kept hiking. Farther in, father up.
Spent the day in the mountains, at high altitudes.

I have a goal of reading the Gospel of Matthew as many times in a row as I can in a month. Someone suggested a useful project is to read the same book of the Bible all the way through every day for 30 days. I won't get the whole book of Matthew every day, but I am making a modifed attempt at that project. And this morning I did read the whole thing.

Then I read in Ancient Future Evangelism. I'm about half through. Some very good stuff, with some uneven spots, of course. I liked his opening paragraph in Part One:

"... conversion happens within community. We encounter Jesus through the church as it embodies truth. Conversion is not merely embracing an intellectual idea: it is taking one's place within the body of people who confess Christ and seek to live out the kingdom of Jesus. Thus one does not merely know intellectually, but one knows holistically in community.

More on Weber anon.

And by the way, it was a beautiful setting. I am a mountain air junkie. No birds. No chipmunks. No fauna of any kind. A few flies. I killed one mosquito during an early hike breather.

And as I sat in the quiet surroundings ... my cell phone rang. Got a call from a Sunday School teacher. Then I called Jana. For some reason I didn't expect to be in coverage, but I don't know why not. I-25 is just over there, line of sight.

Today the Baptist campers arrived in force. There are now over 1500 on campus, and it is busy. And kinda noisy, actually. And the kids either walk around in insecure clumps, or get enough critical mass and start acting like they're away from home. The dining hall was full tonight.

The wireless internet in this main hall is all but worthless. I'm composing offline. I wonder if I'll ever be able to connect. Maybe if I go stand right next to the router.

The game room is next door. Thump, thump, thump the video game bass. Upstairs the TV is on: Georgia in the College World Series. (Now, why are we at camp again?)

Tomorrow we breakfast early and drive to the whitewater rafting site. I'm not going on the rafts. I'll have some time to explore.

Mountains

Okay, so what's the deal with mountains? I was climbing one this morning, and I thought 'what a fine thing a mountain is', enjoying the surroudings as I was. On the other hand, mountains are generally unusable. Oh, you can harvest their trees every few decades, and maybe you can dig in and find useful minerals and such, but most mountains are wasted space. Trees and rocks and brush. Some wildlife, okay. But what do you DO with a mountain? You don't grow crops. It's an out-of-the-way place for a house ...

The real value of a mountain is that it is just so unarguably beautiful. And inviting. You see a mountain, and you wonder what it's like up there. I consider how a feller would go about climbing up there. And for what? You take in the sweep of things, you see the world, you get a larger view. It's quiet. You are away from the things of man. And then you come back down.

Moses was a mountain climber. One day I counted how many times he went up and down Sinai in Exodus.

Jesus was a mountain climber. Once for a famous sermon. Often to be alone to pray. Once for his transfiguration.

As I climbed this morning, I kept turning to look across the valley. On one of the peaks across the way, the Baptists have erected a cross. No doubt there's a hiker's trail up to it.

And that made me think that Jesus climbed another mountain. And there he saw the world, again.

Sunday

Six wonderful things, and I'll describe those anon, but I must say that the outdoor concert on the grounds this Sunday afternoon is not something I would have chosen. They are using those top-of-the-line speakers and amplifiers, and I must say the sound fills the whole campus and then some. You almost can't hear the trucks on I-25. Like somebody playing the Contemporary Christian Radio station really loud in the next room wherever you go.

But the six wonderful things are stronger.

Being on Nebraska time, I was up well before the 8 a.m. Dining Hall opening, so I started a walk around the campus that turned into a hike up the mountain. The camp is at 7000 feet, and well among the mountains. These are not the towering Rockies of Colorado, pressing in close on every side, but these are the mountains. I started my hike on a horse trail, then picked up a hiking trail that is marked with some flagging from a season or two ago on the occasional tree. I eventually came to a wire fence that marks the end of the Baptist property and the beginning of the National Forest. Not much farther to the top of this minor ridge where there was a nice outcropping of rock that afforded a reasonably unobstructed view back towards the camp. (Later from the road below, I think I picked out the outcrop; it's not as high as I thought it was.) The sun was just breaking over the ridge, and the camp buildings were just beginning to catch the light. I also identified several places along the way suited to a lawn chair and a guy with some reading material.

I got back down in plenty of time for breakfast. Ate at a table with some Baptist volunteers. The place seems to be staffed largely with Baptists of early retirement age who volunteer for a month or two. They all seem to be having a blast.

One of the guys at my table was with our PCA group, and he knew about Christ Church Santa Fe. He showed me on my map where their new building is, though he did not know if they were moved in yet. Their web site says "June" and "check back" -- understandably vague given the way construction schedules are.

So after breakfast I hopped in the old 11-seater and drove the 16 miles down to Santa Fe. Found the new Christ Church building without a problem. But they are not moved in yet. It's still a construction site surrounded by chain link, but the gate was open, so I drove in. This is an older church site that Christ Church bought from another group and have renovated in a m.a.j.o.r. way. It is gorgeous. There was a door open, so I walked in. A worker was inside; I think he had been sanding the hardwood floors in the worship hall. I said 'hi' and made sure it was okay to walk on the floors.

Gorgeous place. Amazing design. Every place you stand, the eye finds neat stuff to look at. Makes me want to move to Santa Fe, just to go to church there. Their web site presents the church as targeting the large arts community. From one look, it feels like they're on target.

After a while, I kinda needed to find a Visitors Center or something, so I continued in the direction of the city center. Yes, I found a well-appointed Visitors Center. And wow, when they say Santa Fe is a fine arts city, they ain't kiddin. The streets are narrow and old and bend around every which way, changing names on a whim. They are all lined with adobe-style shops and restaurants and galleries and shops and old churches and a park on the square. I gave up the idea of finding a church to attend and joined the tourists.

I got back to Glorieta in time for lunch. Now I'm here in the New Mexico Hall, which has wireless. Outside in the sun it's pretty warm, but anywhere in the shade it's nice. If I can get through the afternoon without a nap, I will. After I get some photos on Flickr, maybe I'll finish my morning walk around the campus. Then I'll find a spot to read.

The music still fills the air from the concert pavilion. Not the kind of serenity one goes to the mountains to find.

Travel

It took just 13 hours, and since we gained a time zone, it was 12 on the clock. The old church van purred along, firing on all cylinders. We found gas and food when needed. We saw mountains. We finally drove up into them. Found the camp. Checked in. Found our rooms. Just no adventure to speak of.

The camp is pleasantly situated. I'm on an outside deck behind the main building, which has wireless, which reaches even to here. The sun is setting. The air is decidely cool. It smells of the mountains, though not quite as much as Colorado smells of the mountains. There are ducks in the campus lake. Birds flit about. The prospect is pleasant.

I think I'll drive in to Santa Fe for church tomorrow morning. See if I can find Christ Church Santa Fe, a sister PCA congregation that looks very interesting from the web site.

I have no real schedule until 6 a.m. Tuesday, when I drive our van for the whitewater rafting excursion.

I wonder if I sit out here for a long time as it gets dark if there will be mosquitos?

Reading Week

Tomorrow at 5 a.m. I drive away in the church van with seven of our kids for Glorieta, New Mexico; site of the PCA's youth leadership camp. I am acting only as chauffeur, and will be irresponsible youth-leadship-camp-wise speaking during the week, so I am intending to use the week for reading and planning and, well, goofing off, too.

One of the books I'm taking caught my eye at a book table in the exhibition hall at GA: Ancient-Future Evangelism: Making Your Church A Faith-Forming Community, by Robert E. Webber. I know nothing about it other than it sounds contra-modern, and that calls to a deep place in me.

In the Introduction, Weber writes

Note that I have placed the practice of making disciples first and the theological reflection second. This is in keeping with the principle that experience preceeds reflection -- an ancient principle that was reversed by modernity.

Now that sounds promising, and it is an apt observation about the modern church, where the idea seems to be "teach life principles first, and then send them out to do." Rather perhaps it should be 'teach them to obey all that I have commanded, and your theological understanding will be added.'

And Then the Screens Went Black

I came home from a week in Texas and powered up my computer at Zion. Windows Vista says there are some updates. Okay?

Okay. I did the updates, rebooted the computer.

And the monitors were completely dark.

At the old day job, I got completely spoiled by working on a computer with dual monitors. Side by side, two screens, one large desktop. Drag windows back and forth between them in a continuous motion. You can spread your work out, instead of piling it up. Do you want to do your homework at a card table or at the dining room table?

So I reeeeally neeeeed my two monitors, and when the Vista update blanked them BOTH, I became discouraged. It was not long before I could get one working -- or the other working -- but never both together. I finally found a Microsoft tech page that explains that under Vista, you can do dual monitors only if they both run off the same video driver. Which is funny, because I had been using two video cards and two video drivers before the Darkness came.

But the Vista update fixed that.

Okay. Office Max had a $74 video card with support for two monitors on the same card. Do you want PCI, AGP, or PCIE? Okay, PCIE.

And there was light.

Please exits

?"Please exits all other applications ...?"

Does not inspire confidence.

Tickle Games

When the kids were little and I was young, on occasion I would hold one of them in my arms and say something like this:
"It is a Father's duty
to love his children (and I love you)
and to take care of his children (and I will always take care of you)
and, to TICKLE THE TAR OUT OF HIS CHILREN ...
I... MUST... DO... MY... DUTY!!

This came to mind as the members of the Standing Judicial Committee were taking their vows to fulfill their duties for the year.

The Thrill of Victory ...

This was hanging in a corner of the hallway to our room in the hotel. It pictures the winner and the first runner-up at a pageant of some kind in 1971.

One in Six

GA is like a series of living brochures about the stuff going on in the PCA. As a relative newcomer, I'm glad of the exposure.

Covenant Theological Seminary is the denominational school. Many of our pastors go through other good schools, too, but CTS is the only school that has direct governance from the PCA.

So yesterday the president of the seminary gave a report. There are many good things going on at that school. CTS has determined to be a school for pastors, rather than academics. Their goal is to emphasize preparation for pastoral ministry, rather than further academic study. Those are not exclusive goals, of course, but the product they want is pastors not Ph.D's.

Anyway, one of the things that struck me was the statistic, if I heard it right, that if you take the entire roster of PCA churches, one of every six was started by a CTS graduate.

What a school. One in six.

Show

The opening song this morning was Psalm 100 with the Doxology as a final stanza. They have a really big electronic organ in this hall ... full cathedral pipe organ model. The organist has full command of the instument. Nice full organ sound on the stanzas of the Psalm. But then on the Doxology stanza, the organist really took off. I'm sure the idea was to offer a climactic and glorious accompaniment to support the voices in full-voiced song.

He completely lost everyone. So many flourishes and unconventional harmonizations. I've never heard a more extreme case.

By the second line, no one was singing. He finished alone. After the big final chord and everyone sat down, the moderator said quietly, "wow." After an appropriate pause, he added "I'm sure the Doxology was in there somewhere."

There was something that seems related this showy style at the opening worship service Tuesday night. One of the worship leaders had something that comes under the general description of a "theatrical" style. You don't hear it so much these days, but somehow there survives a stream of speaking with a droning kind of song-like speech, especially in scripture reading and preaching, often accompanied by a serious kind of half-scowl. It may be that the idea is to use an elevated style that distinguishes liturgical speech from the ordinary. That may be something to that, but the effect is ... can be ... well, okay, it's usually just cheesy. It doesn't work in this day. It doesn't sound natural and genuine.

GA - Tuesday

This morning after breakfast in the atrium cafe, we went to the colloquim on sacraments. Four PCA guys addressed the question "what do the sacraments do in their proper observance" or something like that. I happened to sit beside a guy who turned out to be Eric Green, a pastor from Mississippi known to me from the online BH list. Likewise I stumbled across an online acquaintance named David Cassidy. Pastors Rob Rayburn and Jeff Meyers did mighty swell work in their presentations. Will Barker, a church history professor, gave an historical review of how the sacraments were understood during the Reformation. Lig Duncan also spoke. He came at things very systematically. At one point he said something like "the Bible has nothing to say about how sacraments effect any who are non-elect." I wonder how 1 Corinthians 10 fits with that. Once you frame the discussion with a claim like that, your discussion has no place to go. Jeff Meyers made a good point about the Lord's Supper: the *way* it is observed probably determines how often it is observed. If it is done with funereal sobriety and intense self examination, well, no wonder people don't want it every week.

Anyway, there were probably 200+ in attendance. For the range of opinions represented, it was good. I don't think everyone in the PCA will agree on these matters. But a colloquim like this reminds us that there should be room for all of us anyway. The papers can be downloaded somewhere, and the audio is for sale.

After lunch we attended a seminar by Kevin Twit, "Is There Still a Place for Hymns in the Church." Kevin is an RUF guy associated with the Indelible Grace efforts to rescue old hymns by giving them new music. He is impossible not to like. He absolutely brims with confidence, knowledge of his subject, conviction, and enthusiasm.

Did a little browsing of the exhibit hall. Bought a few books. Saw Brad Anderson at the CTS booth.

Tonight we'll attend the opening worship service in the Big Hall. There is an opening business session from 9-10 following. I think we elect a moderator or something.

Soooo glad Jana and I got a room at the Hyatt. We haven't been outside since.

Room 917

After church, after lunch, after packing, we drove to Wichita on the first leg of our trip. Janet and Tom and Henry were excellent hosts, and it was a very nice stopover.

After breakfast Monday morning, we drove to Dallas. It rained practically the whole way. All the way through Oklahoma, and it was heavy, constant, pouring rain. The drainage along the sides of the interstate had little whitewater rapids much of the time. The world was soaked. The rain pounded the car. It didn't stop.

Jana read some from Madeline L'Engle's Walking on Water, which is very good in many places, and also from an old Reader's Digest condensed version of Nicholas and Alexandria, which is interesting (though I lose track of the players).

The rain let up before we got to Dallas. We came down and found the Hyatt Regency center. When I registered for GA in, what, March or April, the GA's block of rooms was already filled, so I was reduced to looking for off-site accommodations. Knowing nothing about downtown Dallas, I eventually settled on what seemed like a likely hotel that is basically across the street from the Hyatt Regency. Easy, convenient access, you know.

Jana and I rolled up to the front door, and started to get a sinking feeling. I mean, in it's day, I'm sure it was a nice place. And the current owners have not just let things go, either.

Still, a cramped little elevator, narrow hallways, small rooms. ... Jana was a trooper.

We found a way to walk over to the Hyatt to register for GA. You go into the Train Depot, down some stairs, through an underground walkway (under the tracks) and then up into the Hyatt. About all you could wish for. But we had decided to go to the hotel desk and see what would be possible. A very able and friendly host helped us with an available room and even got us the conference rate (almost 50% off). So we checked in, registered for GA, and then walked back across the street and checked out of the other hotel.

So here we are in room 917. It is more than twice as big as the other; comfy, modern, great view, and ON SITE. When I'm in a business session or something, Jana can go up to the room to read or rest without making the journey.

We are soooooo thankful.

This is my first PCA GA. Only one other guy from Nebraska is coming this year. I haven't been in the PCA all that long, and I didn't go to the denominational seminary, so I was surprised to go down to the cafe in the hotel atrium and run into two guys I know from Kansas.

This could be an okay deal.

Quite a Show

Wonderful display tonight.

Totally. Choked. Up.

Today was the first summer Story Reading day for the young elementary kids at Zion. I was the first story reader, and I selected some of my favorties. I really love The Three Trees and also The Selfish Giant, but I have a hard time reading them aloud without choking up. (I am vulnerable to certain strong sentimental emotions that can be ... hm... hard to contain.)

I (barely) got through The Three Trees. Knowing it would be futile to start The Selfish Giant, I picked up the Little Golden Book Who Comes to Your House, which I had in the stack for an emotional breather.

But I was not to get off so easy. Faced with all those cute little faces listening, I was so reminded of my own kids when they were small, I just totally choked on the wonderful

THE BABY-SITTER

The baby-sitter will come to stay
Whenever your mother goes away.
You'll have some stories and other things
Out of the bag he always brings.
After your lunch and your nap are done,
He'll start a game that's lots of fun.
And when your mother comes home again,
The sitter will tell her how good you've been.

Gad.

Reading Day

So now that I'm full-time at Zion, and Tuesdays are sort of the pastor's day off, I' m thinking I'll use Tuesdays as a reading day. The challenge is to find a place that will work. If I stay at home, I'll get distracted by chores and naps and things. If I go to Zion, well, there's plenty to distract there, too. So I decided to look for a location downtown. The desired attributes of this location: (1) I can have a mug of frosty diet coke at my elbow; (2) it is a public space; (3) it has wireless internet (optional and of dubious value, actually: aide or distraction?); and (4) I don't feel like I have to buy anything.

Finding a place downtown lets me meet with the Tuesday guys for our noontime small group, and it also lets me bring the car to the garage for service.

So this morning I dropped off the van at Firestone, and I began my investigations. First stop was the Embassy Suites. Way cool atrium space with comfy chairs and tables. However their WiFi is for guests only, so the laptop can see the network and log on, but your browser opens to the hotel gateway page where you must enter a room number to proceed. Almost as bad a London. Plus the TV at the bar was a little loud. I sat outside at their sidewalk tables and read till noon. Just enough public distraction and noise to help boost the focus effort.

I looked at Scooters, the coffee shop at 11th and O, but they don't sell any real soft drinks, and I'd feel funny sitting there as a non-customer.

I went to UNL to check out the Union and the Library. But not only is UNL a subsidiary of PepsiCo, their wireless network wasn't friendly. Maybe you need a student account or something.

Now here I sit at the Cornhusker Marriot. The lobby has public wireless and comfy chairs. Just two blocks from Firestone. I'm sitting on the upper level with a bannister view of the main desk.

This could work.

I'm reading From Silence to Song, a book I've looked at a couple of times before. I have reading marks on several pages, but I don't think I ever read it straight through. In it, Peter Liethart makes observations about David's liturgical revolution. After bringing the ark into Jerusalem, David appointed and organized squads of musicians, which was a new thing in the worship of Israel. Big implications for the worship of the church.

Surely someone has done this ...

It occurs to me that after a person is baptized, the minister could address the new Christian something like this:

Welcome to the church.
These are now your fathers and brothers, mothers and sisters.
Let her saints show you how you must live.
Let her martyrs show you how you must be prepared to die.
Her book is your book.
Her promises are yours.
Her history is your history.
Her future is your future.

Her Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ the Son of God
has named you for his own.
Now follow him,
Believe his word,
Kneel at his cross,
Live in his grace,
Serve in his living temple,
Feed at his table,
And confess his name before men
That he may confess yours before his Father in heaven.
...

I don't know. Surely there is something like this out there. Somebody tell me what you've seen.