Resources by Charlie Wingard
If there is one trial greater than another, it is the trial of being disappointed in those we love. It is a bitter cup, which all true Christians have frequently to drink. Ministers fail them. Relationships fail them. Friends fail them. . . . But let them take comfort in the thought, that there is one unfailing Friend, even Jesus, who can be touched with the feelings of their infirmities, and has tasted of all their sorrows. Jesus knows what it is to see friends and disciples failing Him in the hour of need. Yet He bore it patiently, and love them notwithstanding all. He is never weary of forgiving. Let us strive to do likewise. J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts…
Read MoreVain Repetition?
In public worship, our congregation recites the Apostles’ Creed and other historic creeds and confessions. Some worshipers express the concern that this ancient practice leads to the vain repetition of words. And it certainly can. Even worse, if the truths that we confess fail to engage our hearts and minds, then we take the Lord’s name in vain. If profanity is the most obvious form of taking God’s name in vain, then the meaningless use of God’s name is the most serious. Using his name in worship without consideration of his character, singing hymns to Jesus without a love for Jesus, flippant prayers, and the empty recitation of creeds all involve the vain use of God’s name. God’s name is…
Read MoreIn the later Middle Ages and through the first centuries after the Reformation, both Protestant and Roman Catholic writers produces literature on the ars moriendi, the art of dying. Recognizing that death is an event of great weight and everlasting consequence, these writers taught that dying well does not come naturally but is a practice that must be learned. Furthermore, they saw dying as a practice that must be learned throughout the whole of life if it is to be executed well . . . Many people today express the sentiment that the best death is a sudden death that involves no extended period of pain or suffering. While such a perspective is eminently understandable, we should appreciate why so…
Read More“We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations, to advance the church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the Gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man, or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else, for men are God’s methods. The church is looking for better methods, whereas God is looking for better men. This vital, urgent truth is one that this age of machinery is apt to forget and the forgetting of it is as baneful in the work of God as would…
Read MoreFrom the Heidelberg Catechism, for the Lord’s Day, October 6
The Sixth Commandment “You shall not murder. 105. What does God require in the sixth Commandment? That I do not revile, hate, insult, or kill my neighbor either in thought, word, or gesture, much less in deed, whether by myself or by another, but lay aside all desire of revenge; moreover, that I do not harm myself, nor willfully run into any danger. Wherefore also to restrain murder the magistrate is armed with the sword.
Read MoreO GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. – 1662 Book of Common Prayer
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