Only His Death Matters

The following is a Christian parody of the Metallica song, “Nothing Else Matters.” Metallica’s song is

based on a relationship one of the band members had, but when that fell apart they dedicated the song to their fans. So, I decided to make a parody of their song, but with a Christian twist. My plan had been to post this on the church blog for Good Friday, but I forgot. Still, as my song/poem says, “Only His Death Matters.”

I don’t think the timing matters. Yes, it is no longer Good Friday, but the death of Jesus will ALWAYS matter. Please enjoy this song. If you need an instrumental version of this song to help you sing along, check out the Youtube cover of “Nothing Else Matters” by the Brooklyn Duo.

If you are not into that kind of music, then just consider a poem. I think of it as the journey of sinner to Jesus. It has a little bit of me and my journey in it. I hope it moves you!

So close, yet so very far

Need a circumcision of the heart

Never trusting the Son of God

And everything else matters

Never repented of my sins

Life is fun, but dying within

All these words, I can't win

And something must matter

Trust I need and surrender to you

Every creation needs to be new

God, open my mind to you

Only His Death Matters

Never cared for Christianity

Never cared for hypocrisy

But God knows

Your close now, not very far

It going to take a change of the heart

Forever trusting who You are

Only His Death Matters

Never cared for TV preachers

Only care for godly teachers

Now I know

I finally opened myself to Him

My faith is fit and trim

Jesus is my Lord, I just say

And nothing else matters

Trust I need and surrender to you…

Don't be a weed

By Deacon Greg

Matthew 13:24-30 (ESV)

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Jesus spoke to the people plainly, but because they did not always catch on, he spoke often in parables. He strove to give them all something but focused his time on his disciples because he knew that his time was short. He also knew that his disciples would have to carry on after him. Parables are short stories that have a moral and will stick with you.

So look at this carefully. God is the Master. His servants are the angels. God does not want to mistakenly lose one faithful person by starting to weed the garden (Earth) too early. That means if Jesus is your Lord and Savior, that you will need to live with weeds possibly all around you. We may have to live with weeds all around us for our entire life because we don’t know when the End of Days starts. But this is an opportunity because if we let God work through us, a miracle can happen, a weed can be turned into wheat. It might take some nurturing. It might take some pruning. I would put money on it taking some amount of pruning. Especially if you think of the things that are cut off as sin, pride, greed, lust….

But this is also a warning to the people who are weeds. God is not going to be quick to remove you and you might make you think that you are safe. You are not. He understands the Devil is spreading a counterfeit truth. When the time comes, he will send his angels who will be able to discern the weeds from the wheat, but then it won’t be pruning it will be harvesting. The weeds will be bundled up and thrown into the fire, which is essentially Hell.

So join me, put your work gloves on and let’s head into the garden.

Why Can’t We Be Friends?

By Deacon Greg Ventura

Ephesian 4:1-4

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

I think in light of the political division within the country that it is good to think about unity this Lent. Paul calls us to it. You would think that because of that, Christians would be good at it and for the most part we are, but there is always room for improvement. I know I can use a lot more patience. Maybe I am preaching to myself more than you, but that is fine, please bear with me. This is Lent and we should all be reflecting on our walk with God during this time. How can we improve our relationship with Him?

I will date myself with this reference, but the people around my age, probably know the song, “Why Can’t We Be Friends” by War. It is a funny take on a serious subject. The song talks about a variety of reasons why people don’t always get along. The refrain of “Why can’t we be friends,” is repeated throughout the song. Some problems are beyond the ability of one person to make significant, but there is one problem we can always solve. We can solve the problem of self. We can change our own behaviour. What better time to do that than Lent? Hopefully, we are spending a bit more time in prayer and with God.

So War in their song says the following:

“Sometimes I don't speak right

But yet I know what I'm talking about”

© 1975 War

Communication is important. We have all played the telephone game and know how important it is to communicate a clear message. There have been plenty of times, when I will start a conversation with Sharon, my wife, where I am already in the middle of a thought. She will give me a puzzled look and ask what I am talking about. Then I will have to backup mentally to the start of the internal conversation I have been having. My brothers and sister in Christ, at St. Georges, may have first hand experience of this with me as well. Good communication takes time. It also allows for plenty of grace, because we may not always speak right, even though on the inside we know what we want to say.

We need to communicate well if we are going to live in unity. Christians have coined a phrase for how we don’t live in unity with each other. It is called, “eating our own.” We have certain strong beliefs. We disagree with people that hold different beliefs. It is possible for that disagreement to become bitter and the unity ends. You may recall that we left the Espiscopal Church. We did so with good reasons. I don’t believe we can live in unity with them, which is the reason that many churches struggled for years in coming to that decision. Some churches in The Episcopal Church are still struggling with that. Maybe you recall Bishop Love and some of the people and churches in his diocese. Do we pray for those parishes still in the Episcopal Church? I know that I do not pray for them as often as I used to. Do we think they are not Christian anymore? I certainly believe that Bishop Love and many of those around him are, but what about the ones that have been labeled Revisionists? I hope we do continue to think of them as Christian, just not as orthodox as we are. Are they beyond the power of God to draw them to repentance? I know the answer to that is, ‘No.’

I know we are told to not cast pearls before swine, but have we reduced our enemies to that? I hope not. Maybe you are worn out by praying for something that has not changed? Hand it over to God. Ask him to put on your heart whom you should pray for and be open to praying for someone you might not really want to be praying for.

There are many ways we can be in unity with our fellow Christians. We can watch how we speak. We can pray for guidance on things that we might be able to do or say. Left us reflect on how we might strengthen the unity of the church.