Yesterday evening I spent some time creating and updating a profile page to sample a bit of the design work I have done over the past few years. Currently there are only a handful of examples up. I hope to have some more posted before the week’s end.
There are also some projects that I am currently working on. When those are completed, I will put them up as well.
You can view my portfolio here: http://shawnmmay.com/portfolio
Q 96. What is God’s will for us
in the second commandment?
A. That we in no way make any image of God^1
nor worship him in any other way
than he has commanded in his Word.^2
^1 Deut. 4:15-19; Isa. 40:18-25; Acts 17:29; Rom. 1:22-23
^2 Lev. 10:1-7; 1 Sam. 15:22-23; John 4:23-24
Q 97. May we then not make
any image at all?
A. God can not and may not
be visibly portrayed in any way.
Although creatures may be portrayed,
yet God forbids making or having such images
if one’s intention is to worship them
or to serve God through them.^1
^1 Ex. 34:13-14, 17; 2 Kings 18:4-5
Q 98. But may not images be permitted in the churches
as teaching aids for the unlearned?
A. No, we shouldn’t try to be wiser than God.
He wants his people instructed
by the living preaching of his Word—^1
not by idols that cannot even talk.^2
^1 Rom. 10:14-15, 17; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:19
^2 Jer. 10:8; Hab. 2:18-20
http://www.crcna.org/pages/heidelberg_commandments.cfm#Day 35
Themelios
The Gospel Coalition just released the latest issue of Themelios. You can view it online here or download the PDF here.
Gospel-Centered Family on Sale at WTS Books
Tim Chester’s Gospel-Centered Family is currently on sale for $3.99 from Westminster’s bookstore.
“Many books aim to raise up competent, balanced parents and well-trained, well-rounded children. But Tim Chester and Ed Moll focus on families growing God-knowing, Christ-confessing, grace-receiving, servant-hearted, mission-minded believers-adults and children together.”
(HT: Tim Challies)
Discouragement and Faithfulness
John Piper shares his 30-year-old dream of faithfulness in ministry and conquering every attack of discouragement with God’s word.
Piper commends this powerful quote from Charles Bridges that offers us a reminder that success is not in our power.
“Our recompense is measured not according to ‘our success’ but ‘our labor’ and, as with our blessed Master, vouchsafed even in the failure of our ministration.” – Charles Bridges (d. 1869)
This sounds very promising.
Dr. Thomas writes:
Dan and Karen Vitco of Matthews, North Carolina, have produced this wonderful CD for young children based on the Shorter Catechism. With music that complements the text and some memorable melodies, this CD is bound to aid parents in the all-important task of Christian nurture. Check it it out, here.
(HT: Derek Thomas)
Beggars is one of my favorite albums from Thrice. It’s a close tie between Beggars and Vheissu. Here is the music video for the song In Exile from Beggars. Great stuff!
Q 92. What does the Lord say in his law?
A. God spoke all these words:
“The First Commandment”
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of Egypt,
out of the land of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me.
“The Second Commandment”
You shall not make for yourself an idol
in the form of anything in heaven above
or on the earth beneath
or in the waters below.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them;
for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
punishing the children for the sin of the fathers
to the third and fourth generation
of those who hate me,
but showing love to a thousand generations of those
who love me and keep my commandments.
“The Third Commandment”
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God,
for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless
who misuses his name.
“The Fourth Commandment”
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
On it you shall not do any work,
neither you, nor your son or daughter,
nor your manservant or maidservant,
nor your animals,
nor the alien within your gates.
For in six days the Lord made
the heavens and the earth, the sea,
and all that is in them,
but he rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day
and made it holy.
“The Fifth Commandment”
Honor your father and your mother,
so that you may live long
in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
“The Sixth Commandment”
You shall not murder.
“The Seventh Commandment”
You shall not commit adultery.
“The Eighth Commandment”
You shall not steal.
“The Ninth Commandment”
You shall not give false testimony
against your neighbor.
“The Tenth Commandment”
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,
or his manservant or maidservant,
his ox or donkey,
or anything that belongs to your neighbor.^1
^1 Ex. 20:1-17; Deut. 5:6-21
Q 93. How are these commandments divided?
A. Into two tables.
The first has four commandments,
teaching us what our relation to God should be.
The second has six commandments,
teaching us what we owe our neighbor.^1
^1 Matt. 22:37-39
Q 94. What does the Lord require
in the first commandment?
A. That I, not wanting to endanger my very salvation,
avoid and shun
all idolatry,^1 magic, superstitious rites,^2
and prayer to saints or to other creatures.^3
That I sincerely acknowledge the only true God,^4
trust him alone,^5
look to him for every good thing^6
humbly^7 and patiently,^8
love him,^9 fear him,^10 and honor him^11
with all my heart.
In short,
that I give up anything
rather than go against his will in any way.^12
^1 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 10:5-14; 1 John 5:21
^2 Lev. 19:31; Deut. 18:9-12
^3 Matt. 4:10; Rev. 19:10; 22:8-9
^4 John 17:3
^5 Jer. 17:5, 7
^6 Ps. 104:27-28; James 1:17
^7 1 Pet. 5:5-6
^8 Col. 1:11; Heb. 10:36
^9 Matt. 22:37 (Deut. 6:5)
^10 Prov. 9:10; 1 Pet. 1:17
^11 Matt. 4:10 (Deut. 6:13)
^12 Matt. 5:29-30; 10:37-39
Q 95. What is idolatry?
A. Idolatry is
having or inventing something in which one trusts
in place of or alongside of the only true God,
who has revealed himself in his Word.^1
^1 1 Chron. 16:26; Gal. 4:8-9; Eph. 5:5; Phil. 3:19
http://www.crcna.org/pages/heidelberg_commandments.cfm#Day 34
Yesterday evening I was able to spend an hour or so working on some graphic projects for my wife’s blog. While I was working I also had on a parenting conference DVD by Paul David Tripp. The DVD is part of a series entitled, Getting to the Heart of Parenting. Rachel and I had ordered the set last fall but hadn’t watched it until now. (We seldom sit down to watch DVDs.)
So far I have worked my way through the first three sessions and I have greatly appreciated the material covered in each. The following is a list of the sessions and the topics:
Session 1 & 2: What is a Family?
In this session Dr. Tripps provides a theological foundation and working definition for a family.
Session 3 & 4: Getting to the Heart of Behavior
Building upon the theological foundation laid for a family, in these sessions Dr. Tripp covers the heart of a child’s behavior and more importantly, how do we as parents, by grace, shepherd our children’t hearts.
Session 5 & 6: Ages 0-5
Session 7 & 8: Ages 6-12
Session 9 & 10: Ages 13-?
In all three sessions I have appreciated Tripp’s warm and pastoral approach to these deep, theological truths. I assume that in session five and following the principles will be applied to each specific age range. It goes without saying that I am very interested in sessions 5 and 6!
When discussing the heart of our children’s behavior, I greatly appreciate the way Dr. Tripp continually turns back to the mercy and grace of God and our children’s need to hear the Gospel preached to them. The reoccurring theme of grace is interwoven all throughout the three sessions I have listened to thus far.
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the DVDs (which include discussion materials and leader’s guide) you can purchase them through Westminster’s Bookstore or from Amazon.
This past Wednesday (August 17th, 2011) marked the 250th birthday of William Carey, born in Paulerspury, England on August 17th, 1761.
In honor of the man who has been now dubbed “The Father of Modern Missions”, Timothy George of Beeson Divinity School posted an excellent article on the Gospel Coalition blog reflecting on life and legacy of William Carey. George also offers seven principles from the Carey’s life which we may still glean upon today.
You can read George’s full article here.
If you have stopped by to visit the blog since the beginning of August you may notice that things look a little different. It’s been over a year since my blog received a major face-lift and that’s about as long as I can go before giving in to the urge to redesign the site.
Besides an update to the layout itself, this blog needed a fresh start. It has been almost four years since I created Common Places and much has changed since that time. What began as an avenue for sharing ideas and resources as part of my theological journey has morphed and diminished into something completely different.
For a short while, I changed the name of the blog to A Planter’s Progress, taking cue from the classic story by John Bunyan. At that time my hope was to chronicle the journey of both myself and my family as we pursued a call to plant a missional church community in Midland, MI. What at first seemed like a good idea proved to be a much more difficult task. The whole of the church planting process was taking much longer than we first anticipated. We also soon discovered that church planting in its infancy stage wasn’t filled with a lot of exciting details to blog about.
Beyond the frustration we were experiencing due to the overall length of the process there were other financial struggles we were facing along with difficulties with family, job loss, three moves, and a lack of formal education and training. None of which met my blogging criterion.
Finally, in the summer of 2010, I changed the blog name back to its original name of Common Places. Since that time, however, I feel as though this blog has lacked in direction and focus. If one were to look through the posts over the past year it would be readily apparent that in addition to lacking any continuity or focus, my posts have been few and far between.
In hindsight, it may have been better to share some of the frustrations and discouragements. I am confident that many church planters experience similar frustrations and set-backs. Perhaps it might even have been beneficial and/or encouraging for someone who was in the midst of a similar situation. For whatever reason, I chose to do what I most often do in a situation like that, internalize my fears, struggles, and insecurities. Whether it is because of pride, or fear of failure, or a combination of both, I found that level of vulnerability to be difficult except with a select few.
Even within these last few months, when things seemed the most bleak and I completely lost all desire to plant a church or serve in vocational ministry, I found it more difficult than ever to express my fears and struggles with others. I believe the cause was due in part to exhaustion, both immediate and residual and my own insecurities and sense of inadequacy.
Now I come to a new chapter. For the moment I have laid aside church planting / pastoral ministry. Needless to say this was a difficult and painful decision to make. Hoping to learn from my past mistakes, I hope to share more about this very personal decision, but that must wait for another time.
In the wake of all that has transpired I do believe that a fresh start is in order. This includes my blog as well. To what end I do not yet know. It is my hope and desire to recapture, to some degree, a bit of the inspiration and creativity that first motivated me to begin writing here four years ago. I also hope to rediscover the joy I once found in writing. Finally, I hope to again find a sense of purpose for Common Places.
From here I hope to begin posting as often as time allows. Sometimes there may be quite a few coming through; other times it will be pretty quiet. As often as I able I hope to actually write something to share. I will also continue to share links and resource along with questions and answers to the Heidelberg Catechism each Lord’s Day.
Please feel free to leave some feedback about the new look. It would be most appreciated. Also, if you would be willing to share any posts that have stuck out to you over the past four years, I would greatly appreciate that as well.
Thank you for following along!
Q 88. What is involved
in genuine repentance or conversion?
A. Two things:
the dying-away of the old self,
and the coming-to-life of the new.^1
^1 Rom. 6:1-11; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:5-10
Q 89. What is the dying-away of the old self?
A. It is to be genuinely sorry for sin,
to hate it more and more,
and to run away from it.^1
^1 Ps. 51:3-4, 17; Joel 2:12-13; Rom. 8:12-13; 2 Cor. 7:10
Q 90. What is the coming-to-life of the new self?
A. It is wholehearted joy in God through Christ^1
and a delight to do every kind of good
as God wants us to.^2
^1 Ps. 51:8, 12; Isa.57:15; Rom. 5:1; 14:17
^2 Rom. 6:10-11; Gal. 2:20
Q 91. What do we do that is good?
A. Only that which
arises out of true faith,^1
conforms to God’s law,^2
and is done for his glory;^3
and not that which is based
on what we think is right
or on established human tradition.^4
^1 John 15:5; Heb. 11:6
^2 Lev. 18:4; 1 Sam. 15:22; Eph. 2:10
^3 1 Cor. 10:31
^4 Deut. 12:32; Isa. 29:13; Ezek. 20:18-19; Matt. 15:7-9
Humble recipient of Divine-Sovereign grace, husband to my beautiful wife, father of our two children, student, artist, musician, and Reformed churchman.
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