Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Deuteronomy 5&6

this is my attempt at a straightforward way to rhyme the 10 Commandments and the Sh'ma so my students can memorize them easily. my friend johnny cash helped me get started with his version. most of the other songs or videos i found were trite or complicated (a couple of them even seemed more like brainwashing than teaching!).

let me know if you've got some good (semi)original music to put to it. 
Listening is Freedom.


1 You shall have no gods before Me, that’s My first command
2 Do not make any graven image or idols by your hands
3 Do not take My Name in vain or speak of Me carelessly
4 Remember to keep the Sabbath Holy and to worship Me
5 Honor your father and your mother
6 You shall not kill
7 Do not commit adultery
8 Do not ever steal
9 Do not ever lie to others, but always speak the Truth
10 Do not covet your neighbor's stuff or want what doesn’t belong to you 
  
So Hear me now, O Israel, I will teach you how to stand:
Always Fear the Lord your God! Fall in Love with His commands!
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is forever One.
Love Him with all your heart, soul, and strength, with the breath inside your lungs.

These commands you’ve heard today must be written on your hearts.
Impress them on your children! Sing them in your cars!
Remember them when sit at home or you’re walking on the street,
When you lie down and when you get up and when you brush your teeth.

Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your heads.
Write them on your doorframes and on the ceiling above your beds.
And let your Fear and Love of God be equal and never cease,
May He Bless, Keep, Shine on and Face you, granting His Goodness and His Peace.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Numbers 13 & 14


Hear me, dear students of the UnderGround:
The Lord is One, but He is not proud;
Because of His Love, now hear the sound

So open your heart and wet your eyes,
This tragic tale should make grown men cry.
It’s the saddest story since the Serpent’s first lies:
It’s the tale of God’s Sovereign choice, denied.

We know that Father Abraham ended up with many sons,
But only by Faith – he saw only one.
Only Isaac was born as a down payment from
The Lord God who promised many more to come.

Nevertheless Abraham believed
That though God’s invisible, His Will can be seen;
Though the world’s a dark place, God’s Blessing redeems
All the homeless nameless orphans who approach Him in need.

Then Abraham’s grandsons to Egypt arrived;
And God Blessed the family to be multiplied,
And though Abraham didn’t see it with his own eyes
He knew God’s Word would never compromise.

But as we all know, the Egyptians were cruel,
Turning Abraham’s offspring into slaves used as tools
To build the abominable Empire of Fools
Who lust for God’s Riches, who hoard all His Jewels.

So in 10 straight shots God flexed Mercy and Justice –
10 plagues that turned Egyptian gold to rust,
And with every fierce blow God earned the Trust
Of the Israelite slaves whose lives were worth dust.

As Abraham had Trusted, God stooped to redeem
His descendants who with their own eyes could see
The invisible Power that their grandpa believed
As they walked on dry ground through the heart of the sea.

And whenever they hungered, and in response to their thirst,
God sent bread from the sky, and caused rocks to burst
With geysers of water, so that they could be the first
People on earth to be redeemed from the Curse.

And Old Humble Moses was God’s man of Choice
To lead with his staff and to raise his own voice,
“God’s making us Holy! It’s time to rejoice!
Let’s devote to Him our possessions, our daughters, our boys!

So Hear me, O children of Abraham’s Blessing:
The Lord wants your Fear and your Love, so don’t test Him!
Take heed to obey each command and every lesson,
Or you’ll wind up with His curse instead of His Blessing.”

And now, my dear students, comes the saddest of parts,
The piece of the story that shattered God’s heart;
So believe what i tell you, and never depart
From all the Wisdom in this story that the Scriptures impart.

As the Israelite people neared the Promised Ground,
Moses leaned on his staff, and looked around
For a Warrior from each tribe to explore what could be found,
And to scout out the land for which they were bound.

12 men of faith and courage, as far as they could see,
From Reuben, Dan, and Simeon, Gad, Asher, Naphtali,
Benjamin and Zebulun, Issachar and Manasseh,
But clearly the two bravest came from Ephraim and Judah.

Then Wise Old Moses looked each scout in the eye,
“Take courage, sons, we’ve nearly arrived!
For you have been chosen to go over and spy
God’s Promise-come-true, for Now is His time.

Now survey the land and bring back the report –
Is the soil rich or poor? Its People tall or short?
Are they warriors within castles, or do they lounge in resorts?
No matter either way – WE’VE got the Power of the Lord!

Start in the valleys, and explore the hills,
Climb a few trees, enjoy a few spills.
Bring back some fruit, but don’t plunder your fill
Until you return with some good news to tell!

So go now in confidence, do not fear the darkness!
YHWH is with us, and no power can harness
His unstoppable Mercy, His fury in Justice,
And we are His Chosen, His Beloved, His Promise!”

The next forty days the spies wandered and roamed
The beautiful land to which God called them home,
And amid the beauty they were chilled to the bone:
It was a land so fertile that giants had grown!

After forty days’ search they returned with a prize,
Some fruit and some figs and some grapes the size
Of your fist – a cluster so big the people rubbed their eyes:
The gigantic grapes were carried by two guys!

The 12 chosen men stood in front of the crowd,
The people grew anxious as they gathered around
To hear their report that they hoped would sound
Like a walk in the park, like an old lost-and-found.

Ten men spoke up, “We surveyed the whole place –
It’s not big, it’s HUGE! An unbelievable space!
It does flow with milk and honey so sweet to the taste
You’ll want to smack yo’ mama right in her face!

But just look at this fruit – these grapes on the pole;
The land is so big it will swallow us all!
These grapes represent just a part of the whole –
‘Cause there’s giants in the land, and they’re in control.

The legend of the Nephilim is real,
The descendants of Anak look like Shaq in high heels!
Nothing could stand in their way if they feel
Like smashing us grasshoppers beneath their wheels.


And they’re not alone: they’ve got neighbors so wicked
They make Darth Vader seem like he cares for kittens.
We’d be much better off just turning ‘round and kickin’
Our butts back to Egypt to be slaves in their kitchens.”


Then Caleb stood up as bold as a lion,
The scout from Judah who was part of the spying,
“Take heart! Don’t fear! We’ve got YHWH on our side and
If we hesitate now we’ll all surely die!”

And the other faithful scout who was Caleb’s best friend,
The man Moses called Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim,
Shouted fiercely against his company’s rebellion,
“Don’t listen to these fools! Silence! Ignore them!

The land we explored is exceedingly good!
It’s by the Lord’s power that in Egypt we stood!
If the Lord is with us, then He’ll shed the blood!
All we must do is to Trust that He’s good!

After all the great things that YHWH has done,
Do not rebel now, don’t cower and run!
God is with us, so their protection is gone;
We’ll swallow them up like old bubble gum!”

But it was too late, the damage was done,
The people were scared, the cowards had won.
And just like the fate of many brave men i’ve known,
They chose to kill Joshua & Caleb with stones.

That night the descendants of Abraham cried,
And grumbled against Moses and Aaron and sighed,
“What good will it be in the desert to die,
Or in a new land to lose our daughters and wives?

The 10 men are right – we shouldn’t have come,
YHWH doesn’t care, He’s blind, deaf, and dumb.
Now let’s choose a leader, whom to Egypt will run,
‘Cause we’d rather be slaves than have God’s Freedom.”

Now Moses was the humblest man on the earth:
He threw down his staff and his knees hit the dirt.
He knew good and well that God’s heart would be hurt
That His Chosen people would choose to revert.

Now before i go on with my story of woe,
There’s one thing from you that i’d like to know:
Up to now, when God to you His Goodness showed,
Did you accept it in faith, or just let it go?

When God heard the Israelites grumble and curse,
He gritted His teeth, His rage started to burst,
In a Pillar of Cloud His glory descended to earth,
To meet there with Moses as he wept in the dirt.

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people
Despise My Goodness, My Name, My Tabernacle?
In spite of every wonder, sign, and miracle
They still rebel and consider Me an imbecile!

All they ever do is complain, stomp, and pout –
Yet I’ve given them everything, left no room for doubt!
They’re done now – I’m going to wipe them all out!
I’ll re-start with you, Moses – a new nation Will come about!”

And with the masses still complaining and distressed,
Moses proved that he knew YHWH best:
When the moment came for Moses to pass the test,
He asked God not to curse, but rather to Bless.

Moses raised his empty hands to the Lord,
“Please don’t let the Egyptians have the last word!
They couldn’t kill the Hebrews by might of their sword
Because Your Power had Called every last slave forward!

Your Name is already revered in the Land,
Don’t give the enemy a reason to doubt your strong Hand;
They’ve heard that You’ve spoken face-to-face with a man
And they know You alone can make slaves to stand!

The nations will say, ‘See how YHWH failed!’
And they’ll laugh and mock You and they’ll pompously wail.
And then upon more enemies Your Name must avail
And there’ll never be an end to where the blood trails.

Now YHWH, my Lord, flex the true strength of Your Name,
‘My Name Is I AM, I’M ALWAYS THE SAME.
ABOUNDING IN LOVE AND FORGIVING EACH SHAME,
BRINGING THE GUILTY TO JUSTICE AND AVENGING THE LAME.’

The Cloud at the Tent in which dwelt the Lord,
Was big as tree and thick as a board.
God spoke like thunder about the faithless hoard,
For Wise Old Moses had struck the right chord:

God said, “I’ve forgiven them just as you asked.
But just as I Live not one of them will pass
Into the rich land of sweet fruit and green grass,
Because they doubted that My Goodness would last.

All of the people who saw My Great Signs
Are the same faithless cowards who deny Me as Kind.
For each of the plagues, they’ve tested Me 10 times,
Rejecting both Me and their land; so in the desert they’ll die!

Tell them I’ll do to them exactly what they said,
They won’t see My Promise since they’d rather be dead.
For the next 40 years they’ll wander aimlessly instead
Of entering the Land to which they were led.

Anyone right now ages 20 and more
Will die in the desert, by the spies’ bad report.
And all of your children whom you thought I’d ignore
Will prevail in the Land after you are no more.

And those wicked old scouts who led you astray
I’ll strike down right now, they’ll die by a plague.
Only Caleb and Joshua will be saved
Because they didn’t divide What-I-Do from What-I-Say.

Now turn around and leave this place,
The Promised Land is no longer safe.
The enemies you were supposed to defeat & replace 
Are now mortal threats to your entire race.

The Lord Has Spoken.” 

Wise Old Moses picked himself up off the ground,
Wiping spit, tears, and mud from his beard without a sound.
His heart full of sorrow, beaten down by the crowd,
Returned to camp to find the 10 faithless scouts struck down.

His knees shook hard as he leaned on his staff,
“You foolish people,” he choked out with a gasp,
And shouting above their sobs he began to say back
All God had told him about what they’d brought to pass.

They heard the bad news of their cowardice and crime,
How God spared their lives, but in the desert they’d die.
With bitterness and despair they started to whine,
“We were wrong then, Moses! We’ll obey God this time!

We’ve sinned, but we get it, we know now we can take
The Land that God Promised – we’re ready to make
This right!” And Moses just stared, and he started to shake,
“Even now you refuse to obey? You fools, it’s too late!”

Nevertheless, in their presumptuous haste
The Hebrews marched over and by force tried to take
The Land that God only gives by Grace.
And their enemies were waiting to turn them to waste.

They didn’t bother to consult either Moses or the Lord,
They left the Ark of the Covenant, only armed with swords.
And as surely as they didn’t heed any of God’s Holy Words,
Their enemies beat them down, crushing them all like worms.

Now for those of you still listening to the rhythm of my words,
I promised you the saddest story that you have ever heard.
Not because it’s the worst tragedy to ever have occurred,
But because it becomes your story when you reject the Lord.

This story is the Gospel, they are one and the same:
You too have been freed from slavery, and called by the Name.
You’ve been Made, Chosen, Loved upon to bring about the Change
That Abraham believed would come, though didn’t see in the Day.

And now One greater than Moses is raising up His voice:
“Hear Me now, you slaves of sin, it’s time to make a choice!
Follow Me into all My Promises, or return to the Land of Noise.
There is no in-between with Me, I’m the only Reason To Rejoice.”

So choose Today to bend yourself under the King Divine,
Or one day realize too late that you were never on His side.
He’s been very patiently waiting for you to cross the Line,
So if you want to follow Christ, come join me on this side


Monday, January 9, 2012

Celebrating Clay

These were my notes for Clayton Sivley's eulogy on Friday, January 6, 2012. may Christ's Grace be upon you, Clay.

"I met Clayton and became his Youth Pastor on March 13, 2009 in my living room. I remember the date because it was a “Friday the 13th” and i had invited my youth group over to watch some scary movies. Sean Hurd brought Clayton as his guest, and Clayton, who seemed to enjoy every minute without even flinching, stuck with our youth group from then on.


i joked with him and others at his hospital bed that i knew he was a keeper because we didn’t scare him off the first night.

Immediately he became a steady part of our Church family. Tuesday night Bible studies at my house, Wednesday night Youth Group at 6th Avenue Church of God, Saturday Sports at Delano Park, Sunday worship whenever me or his mom could wake him up in time. The early shyness that every young man hides behind quickly dissolved, and within just a couple months we got to know what made him laugh, what made him bored, what made him excited, or interested, or irritated, or talkative, or relaxed, or stressed, or clever – in short, we got to know Clay, his personality and his character.

Please don’t miss what i just said about that: “We got to know Clay.” To get to know someone and let them know you – to know the Person, not just who they pretend to be or who they wish they were, but who they are as God made them – that takes real Love. It’s simultaneously God’s greatest Gift, and humanity’s greatest Risk. It’s a Gift because we’re getting what we actually need: each other; each other’s compassion and forgiveness, our stories and laughter, our strength, company, honesty; our spirits need these things like our bodies need water, food, or sleep. But getting to know someone is also a Risk for the same reason – because  we need each other’s compassion and forgiveness, our stories and laughter, our strength, company, honesty, and if those basic needs are denied we wither like a body without food, water, or sleep.


But God, in His Wisdom, designed both the Gifts and the Risks of Love to go hand-in-hand, so that we cannot be taught to Love without practicing Courage. Courage is the unseen coil around which Love tightly wraps. Courage usually starts Love, and sees it to the end. Stop right now and think about how the people who Love you most would fight the most fiercely for you, would “follow you to the ends of the earth,” would tell you the Truth to your face, would die for you – all things that take great Courage. Why? For the same reason that you’ve never seen a tree blossom without the unseen sap stirring the leaves; without the sap, there are no leaves, and without a little Bravery to strike the match there is no Love. You’ve never been, and never will be, truly Loved by a coward


And from the time we got to know Clay, he was with us to many of the places we went. I mentioned already a few of the weekly activities we did when he was in my youth group. But i don’t want to give you the impression that Clay was “involved” in Church. In Truth, he was an important member of my Church Family. And Families get to do things together – from the common to the thrilling. 

Here are a few of the thrilling things i enjoyed doing with Clayton:

+When we went cliff-diving at the Bluffs near Somerville. He took the plunge with the best of us, and earned his man-card shortly after his 16th birthday.

+When i turned my office into a “hide-out” for an UnderGround Church, to teach the students about Christians who worship where Christianity is illegal. Of course, i made Clay the guard at the door, because, let’s be honest, if you were trying to invade the meeting you’d be crazy to attack a guy his size.

+Those Saturdays when we played football in Delano Park. When picking teams the other boys would pick him because, again, you’d be crazy to try and tackle a guy his size.

+Another thrill was anytime – however briefly or rarely it was – that i saw him behind the wheel of a car, even if he wasn’t driving.

+It was thrilling when we went White Water Rafting in TN, especially for Clay because he and Jake were the only 2 that got thrown out of the raft the entire trip. Clay bit a chunk out of the front of his lip on that spill, and, once again, earned his man-card.

+It was thrilling for other boys in the group when, at a concert in AYC 2010, Clayton tried to start a Mosh Pit. And i was thrilled that nobody lost any teeth.

+Miss Jane (and the rest of our Church Family) were thrilled on Easter Sunday, 2010 when Clayton showed up in a classy, stylish, blue suit wearing a … wait for it … a necktie, beaming like he’d just won the lottery. Unfortunately, that was the same Sunday that pastor ken decided that we’d worship outside in our Church’s front parking lot. As the sun climbed, Clayton felt every fiber of that thick blue suit and was glad to be rid of it once worship had ended.

+International Youth Convention (IYC) 2010 to Orlando was itself a thrilling trip, and Clayton had his share of adventures: an 11 hour van ride discussing everything from zombies to Harry Potter to his love for writing; and a Magic Show at which Clay himself got to stand on stage as the magician’s assistant as the magician bent rebar against Clay’s neck (i still have the rebar if you’d like to see it, by the way); and writing “Free Hugs” on his shirt with a marker so he and my other students could share the Love with everyone else at the convention. And we can’t mention that trip to FL without telling the ultimate thrill he got (with about 5 other guys in the group) when he failed to properly apply sun-block the entire day, despite my dear wife’s warnings. Remember that? Mr. & Mrs. Sivley, do you remember the sun-burned misery he suffered when we got him home?

+But of all thrills that Orlando brought, no other thrilled me more – and i mean none – than when Clayton Sivley joined me and just a few other students at the Young Leaders’ Meeting because he believed Christ was Calling him to some kind of ministry. i was so proud of him, among all the other students, because i knew what great Risks he had taken to get to this point; the Trust he had placed in Christ, and the willingness to obey despite the cost.

L to R: jacob, clay, jake, jose, daniel
You see, when Clayton had come to our Church Family that fateful March 13, 2009, he was leaving a life of isolation, and rejection, and loneliness. I’ve learned over the years that before we met, he felt that he had lost his place among his peers, felt for a time that he didn’t fit in, and so he had chosen the safe road (that so many of us choose) where he wouldn’t have to show himself, or fail, or Risk in relationships. And with just a little Love and Courage from Sean Hurd, then Daniel Moore, then Ben Callahan, then Zach Langford, then Patty Lyons, then Jacob Chapman and Taylor Rennick, and Jose Morales, and Jeremy & Jake Hardin, and Stephanie & Charles Simmons, and Matt Wilson, and pastors ken and Jeff, and Mary Alexander, and all the Church Families at 6th Avenue and 9th Street, and all the teachers of Decatur High School, and all the Students he shared class with, and all the people – to know who you are just remember him, just one thing you loved about him – with all the people who supported him, Clayton grew in the Faith, Hope, and Love of Jesus Christ.

And then shortly after Clay’s Senior year started – on August 13, 2010 (a Friday the 13, as a matter of fact), Clayton was taken to the ER, and there the doctor first suspected he had leukemia. I remember being there, the shock of it all, the denial that it could even be possible, and i saw the anxiety in his eyes. And with all the Love and Courage that God my Father has taught me, i looked at Clayton in the face and said, “Clay, do not be afraid. Whatever you do, don’t fear.”

As you know, he spent a good part of the next year & several months in Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The news went from bad to worse as “leukemia” turned into Histiocytic Sarcoma, which turned into blood transfusions, and medicine, and chemo treatments, and missed schoolwork, and 2 birthdays in the hospital, and more distance from family and friends, and the fight, the ever-present fight to keep his feet moving.

And over those months of needles and pain and nausea and fatigue, i saw something utterly beautiful and profound: i saw the older teaching the younger, the simple learning from the wise; i saw Donna, Clay’s mom, stand beside him with all the Courage and Love of Jesus Christ Himself. She put both her shoulders under his burden, sharing plenty of blisters. At times she pulled him and pushed him, encouraged him and corrected him, laughed and cried with him, spoke and listened with him; at all times she believed in him. In short, she truly got to know her son, and shared with him all of her Love and Courage.

I discovered over those difficult months why Clayton was able to bloom like he did when he joined my Church Family. You see, a flower in bloom must begin with a seed, must grow in good soil, and get the right kind of nurture. Clay’s family planted that seed, tended and nurtured the soil. The first night i got to visit him in Birmingham, i saw the care from his Aunt Veronnica from Mississippi who came shortly after hearing the news. I saw the support – the Courage and Love – from his Uncle Keith who stayed with him all night, and helped him laugh off the endless needle pricks. Over the months i got to know his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Sivley, their deep faith, compassion, and resilience, his Aunt Teresa and her tenderness, his sister Santana and her Appreciation of meaningful things, sister Gabi and her energetic Joy for Life, and brother Trenton, his Strength and tenacity. The family’s faith in Clay was the reason Clay had Faith in Christ. And the Joy we have in Christ is that one day you’ll all get to share the reward of that Faith forever, together.

Clay and Donna benefitted of course from an astounding support system of Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and other patients at Birmingham Children’s who, with the family and friends, continued not only to care for and heal him, but also to cheer him on and encourage him: “You can do it, Clay. You’ve got this. You have what it takes to see this through.”

And then just a few weeks ago, when we thought Clay had seen the last of it, that’s when he was dealt the biggest blow. The cancer took his lungs. He was placed on the ventilator, the doctors continued to seek and ask and puzzle over, the Church Families continued to seek and ask and puzzle over in our own way, and there was little more to do than to sit and wait.

And on the last day of his life – when even he seemed to know he didn’t have much longer in this world – that’s when Clay showed us all the Courage and Love that he was really made of.

I stand before you now to proudly report that he faced his final moments on this earth with dry eyes, with his sense of humor, and with the people he Loved on his mind ahead of himself.

And as he lay in that bed, i was more proud of him than i could have ever been by the sum of his past accomplishments. He was dignified, a warrior of God, and a true friend. He showed astonishing Courage, because when it mattered most, he Loved us all best, giving hugs, kind words, and laughter to us all (he blew bubbles in his water and it made us all laugh).

As CS Lewis said, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”

If you want lasting evidence of this Courage and Love, because in the days ahead you and i will also need our share, just get to know his family and friends who witnessed some of his last words, because he told us bravely, “This seems like a farewell, not a celebration.”


You’re right, Clayton, we should be celebrating, thanks for the reminder. See you soon, buddy."