"The stage is set for potential pastoral tyranny"

At Ref 21, Dr. Trueman has a series on the importance of confessions for churches. In part 2 he considers "the way in which [confessions] bind elders and people together by setting the terms of their relationship and provide the necessary foundation of a relationship built on transparency and accountability." He explains, "If a church has no confession, or has a confession that is so minimal that it does not touch in significant ways on a relatively comprehensive set of topics covering Christian doctrine and life, [or, I might add, if a church has a solid, biblical confession and the elders choose to ignore it], the stage is set for potential pastoral tyranny. What Trueman writes is always worth reading, and both parts of this series ("I Confess") are valuable.

White as Snow

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:

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 1:18).

It has been a snowy February here in Grand Rapids. My heart sank just a little when I looked outside just now and saw the brick sidewalk that Jonathan and I cleaned off a couple of hours ago now dusted with snow. I've never been a fan of winter, and every year about this time as friends fly off to warmer temperatures, I find real challenges in fighting off the temptation to covet their sandy beach/fun-in-the-sun experiences. And this year, with my husband's new job as the systems analyst for a large local snowplowing company, snow has meant his staying up all night (for several nights in a row--whenever there is a "snow event") or setting the alarm for odd times like 3:00 am so that he can get up and send out the message to the plow drivers to get busy . . . again.

But those of us who live in snowy climates do have an advantage over those who live in places where mittens, ear muffs, and snow boots exist only in movies or picture books. Every winter, when the snow falls, we do get a lovely picture of what is described in Isaiah 1:18. Before that first snowfall, everything is dead. The grass is brown and lifeless, tree branches so recently arrayed in crimson and gold hang naked, and everything is ugly and brown. And then the blanket of white gently covers the grass, decorates the naked tree branches, and sometimes, when the sun shines, sparkles like diamonds on top of what must still be brown, lifeless grass and mud. But we forget about all the death and ugliness underneath, because everything is white as snow.

And then we pray, "Heavenly Father, thank you for sending the snow to remind us of what we look like to you when we are clothed in your Son's pure righteousness. Because even though once our sins stood out red, like crimson, impossible to be missed, they have become, in your sight, white as the snow that blankets the earth, white like wool. Thank you for the snow."