Ted “Tinker” Slocum: “The Ballad of Trinity”

Today is my 46th birthday. No, I did not sleep in.

This meditation is coming to you later than normal because I left Maine very early this morning and had limited wifi and tight connections en route home to Colorado. Thankfully, I am home now. This meditation will be longer than normal too, because I have had hours to sit with the Lord and think on my flights since 3:45am MT.

This is my birthday wish, or rather, prayer:

Father in Heaven, pour out your Holy Spirit on every church family that embraces the gospel of Jesus Christ, possesses a building, and opens their doors to the poor and homeless in the name of Jesus like Trinity EFC in Skowhegan, ME. Amen

Backed solely by the promises of God and the bold obedience of less than a hundred people, Trinity EFC has not one, but now, two shelters where hundreds have come to faith in Jesus since they opened the church doors to the destitute. As the gospel comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, many people left Trinity EFC through those same doors. But those who have stayed have witnessed miracles. Pastor Richard Berry is a modern day George Mueller.

Last night I met the first guy who asked Pastor Berry if he could sleep on the couch in the youth room instead of in his car one cold winter night in 2008. Today, the hurting and homeless and those who call this church “home” enjoy meals together like the early church. They have services daily and hundreds of baptisms annually. They don’t have to create community because all who enter there experience God’s love in Christian community.

Enough of my rambling!

Rather than tell their story, read these lyrics by Tinker, once a lost logger and a depressed drunk and now a godly leader at the men’s shelter. He sums their story aptly in song. Read them to the tune of the Beverly Hillbillies, and you will see why I invite you to join me in praying this birthday prayer. Or click to watch Tinker sing the song (I recorded this last night in the front row and Derek Soucy uploaded it).

“The Ballad of Trinity”

Come listen to a story about a pastor named Rick
He ministers a little church a way out in the sticks
He took some people in because they had no place to stay
And that’s when his congregation all moved away
(Left him broke, took their checkbooks that is)

Well the next thing you know, the town’s up in the air
They all screamed and hollered, “We don’t want those people here”
It was 25 degrees the day they said, “You gotta go!”
But Rick said, “I won’t put em out in in the snow”
(Not what Jesus would do, Un-Christian that is)

Well the church isn’t coded and the neighbors live in fear
The Fire Marshall said, “You gotta get ‘em outta here”
Police Chief said he would shut the whole thing down
And then run Pastor Rick straight outta town
(With torches and pitchforks, tarred and feathered that is)

Now the town had a meeting and they got in Pastor’s face
He said, “Cut me just a little slack and I will build a place”
They said, “you make progress and we’ll leave you all alone”
So Pastor Berry went to work to build us all a home
(A new home, “Shelter by Jesus” that is)

Well he got a crazy German to put four stakes in the the ground
Took a picture of it and they sent it to the town
The town said “That’s progress!” And they let the project go
And the seed that was planted really started to grow
(Good fruit, on the vine that is)

Now the good Lord has led us with His power and His grace
His mighty hand and Spirit have raised up this special place
The promise that He made to Rick has almost been fulfilled
To make this little ministry a beacon on the hill
(A light unto the world, for His glory that is)

Well now it’s time to say goodbye to Rick and all his friends
They really praise and thank the Lord for bringing you all in
You’re all invited back any time to this locality
To have a heapin’ helpin’ of our hospitality
(With open arms, Love that is)

Ya’ll praise god now, ya hear!

“Our God is a generous God. However, His kindness, generosity, and blessing do not exclude us from hard times, struggles, or injustices in this life. For many, faith is the coin you put into a ‘vending machine God,’ obligating Him to dispense your selection.

The hard truth is that the tendency toward suffering in this life is more normal for the Christian than the promise of perfect health and extraordinary wealth. There is a Proper Pursuit of Prosperity, but it bears little resemblance to the so-called ‘good news’ being hawked by many of today’s ‘purveyors of prosperity.’

In William Cripe Sr.’s inspirational and informative book, you will discover what the prosperity gospel is, what is wrong with it, and what is right with it. You will also find the answer to the question: Is there a legitimate expectation of prosperity this side of heaven?

There is a day of perfect prosperity promised to all who believe, but that day is not in this lifetime. We exist not for the pursuit of our own gratification but to do God’s bidding not the other way around. Dive into The Proper Pursuit of Prosperity and discover Cripe’s message of how God does not exist for us. We exist for Him.”

William Cripe, Sr., The Proper Pursuit of Prosperity (Mustang, OK: Tate Publishing, 2011), back cover.

I cited this book by my friend, Bill Cripe, today because I will be at his church, Faith EFC in Waterville, ME, this morning for meetings. I commend it to you for understanding this topic!

Later tonight, I have have the privilege of speaking at the celebration service for another Skowhegan Miracle Homeless Shelter at Trinity EFC in Skowhegan, ME. You read that right, another miracle! God has provided resources to acquire an adjacent property for pennies on the dollar so now they will have a shelter for women and children in addition to the shelter for homeless men. Check them out at www.shelterbyjesus.org and join me in giving thanks to God.

“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition…It is opposed to an unsettled and unstable spirit by which the heart is distracted from the present duty that God requires in our several relationships, towards God, ourselves and others…Contentment is soul business…”

Jeremiah Burroughs, (1600-1646), Puritan Preacher, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (1648; Edinburgh, Banner of Truth, 1964) 2-4.

Today is “Colorado Gives Day!” That means that all giving made to organizations through their website will receive an added blessing as they will get a portion of gifts given to motivate others to generosity.

It’s also the Christmas season, when carols like “Good King Wenceslas” are sung. Read the words, for therein you will find a message about the King’s generosity to the poor that may also shape your giving.

Good King Wenceslas looked out

On the feast of Stephen

When the snow lay round about

Deep and crisp and even

Brightly shone the moon that night

Though the frost was cruel

When a poor man came in sight

Gath’ring winter fuel
.

“Hither, page, and stand by me

If thou know’st it, telling

Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither.”
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather

“Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger

Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, my good page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.”

In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.

Music from Finland (c. 1500s)
Modern lyrics, John Mason Neale (1853)

“When told there was only 25 cents in the China Inland Mission’s bank account, Hudson Taylor said, ‘Praise God, 25 cents plus all the promises of God!’”

Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) British Christian missionary and founder of CIM, in Gregg Matte, Finding God’s Will: Seek Him, Know Him, Take the Next Step (Ventura: Regal, 2010) 252.

“How little is all we can do for so generous a God, Who died for us, Who created us, Who gives us being, that we should not think ourselves happy to be able to acquit ourselves of part of the debt we owe Him for having served us, without asking Him for fresh mercies and favours? I am loath to use this expression, yet so it is, for He did nothing else during the whole time He lived in this world but serve us.”

Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Interior Castle, translated by the Benedictines of Stanbrook: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, excerpt from the Third mansion, chapter 1, section 14.

“We may have little, but we do a lot when we use it in service to others.”

Gary Lauenstein in The Redemptorists of the Denver Province blogpost for 4 December 2013.

“The Bible gives a two-sided portrayal of wealth: It is good, but it can seduce us to sin. The solution, according to New Testament scholar Craig L. Blomberg, is to freely share it. In Christians in an Age of Wealth: A Biblical Theology of Stewardship (Zondervan), Blomberg who teaches at Denver Seminary, argues that sacrificial giving is an essential part of good stewardship.”

Craig L. Blomberg in Christianity Today: Interview. December 2013 69.

I just got my copy of Craig’s new book mentioned above and would commend it to everyone!

“When we faithfully remember and recite God’s acts of love and care we corporately re-live the experiences that have shaped our histories and identities. By remembering gratefully–whether special moments or overall trajectories–we see more clearly the ways in which we’ve been blessed. In this sense, gratitude is often a backward-looking practice–but it also shapes the future in that it allows us to build on the past in hope and confidence.”

Christine Pohl, Living into Community: Cultivating Practices That Sustain Us (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012) 43.

“Stewardship is not humanity’s way of raising money, but rather God’s way of raising people into the likeness of His Son.”

Doug Carter as cited on “The Stewardship Bookmark” developed by Chris McDaniel. Visit www.stewardshipbookmark.org to view it in PDF form and to order them for your congregation, small group or the constituents you serve.

On his site, McDaniel notes:

“Growing godly stewards is one of the most pressing issue facing the Church…The Stewardship Bookmark is designed to be a quick-reference tool that churches and ministries can give their constituents as a practical “takeaway”. Ideally, this new tool will compliment a stewardship series, class or workshop or can be given out in a regular mailing.”

I personally endorsed it and commend it to you!