Rules of Civility # 19 - "Let your countenance be pleasant but in serious matters somewhat grave."
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 First,
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of
your faith is being reported in all the world. - Romans 1:7-8
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank my God for you because of God’s grace given to you in Christ Jesus, 5 that by Him you were enriched in everything—in all speech and all knowledge. -
1 Corinthians 1:3-5
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. -
2 Corinthians 1:2
15 This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength. - Ephesians 1:15-19
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I
am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it
on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. - Phillipians 1:3-6
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints 5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. - Colossians 1:2-6
Grace to you and peace.
2 We always thank God for all of you, remembering you constantly in our prayers. - 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We must always thank God for you, brothers. This is right, since your faith is flourishing and the love each one of you has for one another is increasing. -
2 Thessalonians 1:2-3
2 To Timothy, my dearly loved son.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, when I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day. -
2 Timothy 1:2-3
To Philemon our dear friend and coworker, 2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your home.
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank my God when I mention you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and faith toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. 6 I pray that your participation in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for the glory of Christ. 7 For I have great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. - Philemon 1:1-7
To my dear friend Gaius: I love you in the truth.
2 Dear friend, I pray that you may prosper in every way and be in good health physically just as you are spiritually. 3 For I was very glad when some brothers came and testified to your faithfulness to the truth—how you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in the truth. - 3 John 1:1-4
Grace to you and peace! I thank the Father of the heaven that is being prepared for the saints of this world, as I get to write to you each week and pray for your faith to grow and your life to be encouraged. Welcome to Tuesday and the 118th edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes! What started out as a weekly e-newsletter (118 weeks ago) to a few friends has, with encouragement from those friends, expanded into its 2nd year (57 editions strong) of blogs about songs and spirituality, rhymes and religiosity, beats and The Book, and jams and Jesus. We thank you for reading and hope that you are encouraged each week in The Way. Our goal here at The Notes is to offer you similar encouragements to those of the New Testament letters that you see above. You may notice that there are 10 passages quoted above. That means that 37% of the New Testament begins with a greeting that is encouraging. Do you greet people with encouragement that much of the time? Or perhaps they want to say to you....
"Don't Bring Me Down" - Electric Light Orchestra
This song was a neat Discovery in 1979. The Electric Light Orchestra had released 7 albums up to this date with singles bouncing all over the charts. In fact, ELO has the distinction of being the band with the most top 40 hits in Billboard's Hot 100 without every having a #1 single. The closest they ever came was 1979's "Don't Bring Me Down". It went as high as #4. The disco influenced, last minute addition to Discovery, immediately had people talking. Was it a song about coming down from a drug high? Was it a song about unrequited love? What exactly is the word that has the long "s" sound at the end? It wound up being a song that Jeff Lynne said was
| “ | It's a great big galloping ball of distortion. I wrote it at the last minute, 'cos I felt there weren't enough loud ones on the album. This was just what I was after. | ” |
|
—Discovery remaster (2001), Jeff Lynne
| ||
Despite its many interpretations, "Don't Bring Me Down" is one of the songs that launched us into the decade of the extravagant '80s where it seems, in retrospect, that nothing was brought down. A resurgence of '60s peace, prosperity, and love was abounding.
Why is it that Christians don't send greetings like the New Testament writers? Aren't we commanded by The Master to first love God and then love others? The World English Dictionary defines the word greet as a verb that means "to meet or receive with expressions of gladness or welcome". When you encounter others, how glad are you to see them? Does it depend upon who it is? Exactly who does Jesus refer to when He speaks of "others" that we are to love? The Notes once again confesses that we don't live up to the expectations of our Savior in the manner of loving others or greeting others as we should. Think back to this past weekend. (cue flashback music...) We would like to pose a few questions about Sunday. Did you love others enough to want to interact with them in a small group setting? Did you love others enough to want to encourage them by worshiping the One True God together? Did you love others enough to invest in a moment or two to get to know them better? What expression of love were you able to provide the "others" that God put in your path this past Sunday? Hopefully, you were surrounded by those who had faith in Jesus as a common denominator, at the very least . Were greetings of grace and peace abundant? Perhaps you were met with a teasing "They will let just about anyone in here!" or maybe you were the "encouraging"one to say that to someone else. How do we expect to treat a preChristian in a loving manner when teasing, cynicism, or "humurous" put downs are how we treat our brothers in Christ? Perhaps we should take notes from this encounter:
An Atheists Encounter With A Christian - Penn Teller
In conversations with people, do we show love? How many times do the words "I" or "Me" come into our sentences? This is a display of selfishness which shows antipathy towards the things of God. Ours is a time where encouragement is needed. Ours is a world that is oppressed by the sin that so easily besets us. Everyday we encounter people who need to be lifted up from where they are and elevated to a Father that loves them. As Christians, we do not have time to spend on "cute" insults to cause a cheap laugh. We have a world full of people begging us....."Don't bring me down....no, no, no, no, no...."
'Til Tuesday
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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