A Little Night Music in November - A Feast of Your Faithfulness

A photo I took while hiking in the Wenatchee National Forest this Fall on our church women’s retreat.

Good morning on this foggy November day. It has been a full month in our corner of the world. Frost clings to the grass in the morning as we wake up groggy-eyed and prepare for the day as we take glimpses out the window of the sun ascending behind dense clouds that blanket our valley. I am sneaking this little post into November before the month slips away into memory. I hope these songs lift your gaze to the one and only true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of the ancient Scriptures. If you have not read these ancient Scriptures yet, I invite you to read the entire book of the Old & New Testaments. Read with openness and curiosity. Read with the skill of understanding and exegesis. Read with a desire to wrestle with these words and wonder. Wonder why a small group of followers of this person from Nazareth turned into a worldwide movement that has lasted 2,023 years and covers the globe. Wonder about who this Person of history was, is, and will always be.

This month I’m sharing recordings by a wonderful singer songwriter. These recordings combine both her music and her testimony during a very difficult season of her life. God has given her new songs born out of suffering, light out of darkness, diamonds in the dust of despair, pain redeemed, a harvest of beauty, goodness, and truth.

When we share about our weaknesses and struggles in life and the goodness that Jesus has brought out of it, God is glorified. The fragile façade of our perceived goodness and strength mercifully crumbles out of sight. Refined in the furnace of Truth, we are given new eyes to see Christ for who He truly is.

Bethany Barnard released these songs in 2021. In 2022, she released a follow up album of brief explanations of these songs to give the listener more insight into her story. I hope you will be refreshed and encouraged from listening to her music, and through these tracks as she discusses her heart… “behind the songs.”

Bethany Barnard on Apple Music, Youtube, and bethanybarnard.com.

A Little Night Music in September - Your Labor is Not in Vain

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) - Apple Harvest, Éragny, 1888, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art

I have a rare morning to myself. The weather is cooler today, the flies are not invading my home at the moment, and I’m sipping earl grey tea with oat milk and honey. I am beginning to think of sweaters, slippers and crafting, a few of my favorite Fall things. A friend gave me a couple of her acorn squash which are going to beautify our family table for now. Eventually we will roast them along with other contributions we have pulled from our church gleaner’s basket. The gleaner’s tradition started in our second year as a church plant. Gardens tend to grow very well in this fertile soil, and many have an abundance of produce. Sharing it with each other is a fun tradition and keeps us mindful in providing for others. At the beginning of each potato harvest, one of our church families brings bags of russet and yellow potatoes from their farm for everyone in our church. When there is a harvest, there is rejoicing.

When we moved into our house a few years ago, we were pleased to find a small, old apple tree. However, it looked tired, and we assumed it must be a leftover fruit tree that had run its course in some long-forgotten era of an orchard on this property. Perhaps we would keep it just for looks, for a little needed shade, and a climbing space. In that first summer, we found a bird’s nest in the tree. With many kittens being born the following spring, the birds must have found a new home to build a nest, perhaps higher up in our blue spruce.

I didn’t know how to take care of an apple tree. There were a few apples here and there, but they had holes and we threw them to the chickens. That year, I naively pruned the tree right back, in fact, right to the stubs. There were only about a dozen apples that year. "It must be old,” we assumed. But it gave a place of respite from the sun and was a good starting point for our garden. We would keep it, even if just for its beauty.

I didn’t prune it at all this past Spring. We were busy and tired, and besides, it was a tired, old tree. “It’s probably stopped producing,” we would say, accepting its fate based on our presumptions. As the spring and summer months continued their course through the calendar year, we saw little green apples growing on our poor old tree, a lot of them! I was thankful that we could at least use them for the chickens. It would save us money on buying chicken feed. The apples grew larger and more plenteous, and whenever I stopped to observe them, I was struck by how many were growing on the tree! “What is happening here?” I’d muse. In mid-summer, the middle to lower branches started to bend over from the abundance. And then, the apples started to drop! But, low and behold, they were actually delicious. Again, I was pleasantly and curiously surprised. But should I be? Someone at some time had planted a seed. We were pruning it as seemed good enough to us. We were cultivating a living thing. Why was I so surprised that something good had been produced?

Our apple tree, 2023

My first plan was to give all the apples to the chickens. We had not sprayed the tree with bug-defying chemicals, so most had at least some effects of other creatures trying to partake. But some of them were quite perfect. Soon after, I decided to do something with these apples, something for us humans. All in all, we gathered an estimate of probably one thousand apples from our vibrant and life-giving tree! One Saturday morning, we all contributed to the gathering, collecting, picking and pruning. My youngest was up in the branches, pulling at hard to reach apples, and reciting lines from the classic audiobook of Winnie the Pooh. Where there is a harvest, there is rejoicing.

As we worked, the line from the song A Thousand Shores by Leslie Jordan played through my mind:“You give and You give, and still there is more…” It struck my heart with the love and generous provision of our Maker, our King Jesus. It was a living picture of His abundant love, overflowing grace, and joyful willingness to provide.

A couple of ladies from church came and helped me process this abundance of apples. In four hours of work, we made 3 pots of apple sauce. On a different day, I made 2 other pots of apple sauce. Later, I made an apple pie at the request of my pie-loving son, and apple chips in my dehydrator. I was able to give away a few bags of apples as well. When I think of all the people these apples have blessed, I smile knowing God grew those apples for us, for them, for their families and little ones. This apple tree brought beauty, a small patch of shade, a respite from the scorching summer sun, a place to hang a hammock, a playground to climb, as well as nourishing us and our friends, providing conversation, laughter, and time to build relationship around good and hearty work.

The song I share with you this September is Your Labor is Not in Vain, a song for workers, a song for the planters and harvesters, the arborists, the gatherers, and the gleaners. Our God is with us, and even apple-picking is not in vain in His fruitful Kingdom!

“The vineyards you plant will bear fruit

the fields will sing out and rejoice with the truth,

for all that is old will at last be made new:

the vineyards you plant will bear fruit.”

Your Labor is Not in Vain, written by Wendell Kimbrough, Paul Zach, and Isaac Wardell

Summer Takes a Bow

The familiar sights and sounds of summer’s finale are upon us. Our apple tree, well-laden with abundance, has dropped delicious green apples that I have distributed to the hens; they get so excited for something special. I’m not sure what it meant, but when I dumped a pile of these apples into their coup the other day, one of them crouched down and started stamping her feet… perhaps in excitement or perhaps in frustration that I hadn’t brought them earlier! It is also fly season here. My youngest loads up his nerf gun and goes hunting. I am finding fly guts in random spots on my windows and walls these days. Tis the season of harvesting fruit!

Pencils, notebooks, and calculators have been stocked. The renovations at our church & school building have been artfully and intentionally designed by dear friends. Hand-crafted with beauty and meaning, the Lord works masterpieces from the loveliness of His mind, His guidance in every detail and the work of so many, many hands. We rejoice in all the Lord has done. Gardens of grace are being planted in places of despair, and the life of the Kingdom is bearing fruit with truth and beauty. As I look around our city, some leaves are beginning their faithful farewell, their one last act in their seasonal drama, as if taking a blushed bow before stepping off the stage.

Just a couple weeks ago, a precious baby was born in our church community and this weekend, I prepared a deliciously fun meal of homemade tortillas, smoked pork (thanks to my husband), rice, and all the mouth-watering garnishes for a scrumptious meal of tacos. We frequently bake our own tortillas - our kids won’t have it any other way. We live in a city that is over 50% hispanic, one of our favorite cultures to live in, so we have adapted to cooking Mexican food weekly! On a trip to Papalote ten years ago, we received a cookbook from the women of the church we were visiting, and now Maria’s Tortillas are our go-to recipe forever! I’ve attached it here if you’d like to try your hand at home made tortillas… but get ready to be committed. Once your children try it, they won’t ask for any other kind. I’m very thankful for a kind neighbor who taught me how to make authentic tortillas from scratch many years ago with a tortilla press! The Hermanas of Papalote use a one inch PVC pipe to roll out the dough, but they say a rolling pin would work too!

It is the beginning of a new school year for my precious ones. One is in her Freshman year, two are in the Middle School years and one is starting 4th grade! I’ve been goal-setting and making plans of all kinds including what to listen to on my many drives this Fall to and from our little classical school, to violin lessons, piano lessons, and football practice. I have audiobooks aplenty. I plan to share a list here soon of what I’m listening to and learning these days.

We enjoyed a special “back to school” Tea Time on the Patio last week. Each one of them got a personal tea party with me as we shared espresso, Scottish breakfast tea, and donuts. We chatted and laughed, and had meaningful heart to heart moments. I shared with each of them a scripture passage, Jesus’ words calling his disciples to abide in Him, the true vine. I prayed for each one. It was our little summer finale, a way to be thankful for this season God has given us with sweet treats and tea, and make way for Autumn joys to arrive.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

-John 15:1-17 ESV

Grapes from my father’s backyard vineyard

Praying Psalm 57 For Your City

Summer Sunflowers beside our church plant in Yakima, Washington

In the work of church planting is an ever-present awareness of one’s dependence upon God’s character and His desire to establish a new local outpost of His kingdom in a specific city. We are always in need of a conscious awareness of our utter dependence on God, to be sure, but there are specific seasons of life where the weakness of our human limitations and frailty is set on display, and one is absolutely aware of just how dependent we are on the sovereign plan and actions of God. We are made keenly aware!

I’ve been made aware of this fact once again while reading God’s Smuggler (by Brother Andrew with John & Elizabeth Sherrill) aloud to my teens and tweens. I read missionary books and Christian biographies to my children for many reasons: first, I love this genre! Second, I want them to learn the stories of Christians who were totally sold out to the Lord, completely committed to living for Him, abandoning everything else this world has to offer to lay their lives down for the sake of Jesus and how He calls them to live. My prayer and desire for them is to catch on to what the Holy Spirit is doing in their time and to be a light in this world for the gospel of Jesus. So I read these stories to them to show them that there have been many people, at all times and places in this world, who have lived purposefully to make Him known in their spheres of life and work. They have witnessed God’s mighty acts, provision, and intervention in their lives as they laid down everything to follow Him, wherever He would lead. Their stories always include prayer and an honest dependence on God.

The most important work of church planting is prayer: prayer for the church, prayer for the city, and prayer for evangelism efforts. So we pray. Sometimes we don’t know how to pray or what to pray specifically. There are many types of prayers: passionate heartfelt prayers, quiet and calm prayers of silence and waiting, prayers filled with knowledge of God and His work in this world that remind the person praying of God’s faithfulness and power and sovereignty. There are pre-written prayers that help us to pray things we wouldn’t think of on our own. There are ancient prayers and written prayers spoken by Christians all over the world.

As you think about prayer, consider praying Scripture. You may want to write down your prayers, specific prayers for individuals, a specific prayer for your community. Recently, I came across Psalm 57 in my regular Bible reading plan. As I read through it, I realized this is a wonderful psalm to pray for our family, for others, for our church, and for our city. Praying God’s Word back to him is like a well-choreographed dance with the Father as the very words He inspired to be written (God-breathed words) are the words we then use to pray the exact will of God and ask for His help, the help He desires to give us. Here is one example of how to pray Psalm 57 (ESV) for your city:

A Prayer Based on Psalm 57

Be merciful to the city of Yakima, O Lord.

Cause Yakima to take refuge in You 

Let Yakima take refuge in the shadow of your wings

till the storms of destruction pass by.

We cry out to you, God Most High,

You fulfill Your purpose for Yakima

You will send from heaven and save us.

God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness to Yakima.

We live in the midst of lions, among much brokenness in this city,

Among the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, 

Whose tongues are sharp swords.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!

Let your glory be over all the earth!

The evil things that are done in this city are too wicked to name.

The news headlines bring shock and despair.

My heart is steadfast, O God,

My heart is steadfast!

I will sing songs of praise to You as I drive through the city.

I will open the windows and declare Your praise in Yakima!

I will fill the streets of Yakima with your praises on my lips.

For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!

Let your glory be over Yakima and all the earth!

In the Name of King Jesus,

Amen.

Let us be ever watchful and aware to see how God will answer our prayers in this amazing adventure of faith!

A New Year to Abide in God's Word

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

John 15:1-5

In the time between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, many of us begin reflecting over and evaluating the past year. We scribble our last tasks in our current day planners and calendars to finish out the year, and prepare to open a fresh new calendar. I grasp this new dayplanner in my hands, carefully chosen from the ocean of planners available online. Every page is blank and clean, like a fresh start of possibilities. It is one of my favorite year-end activities as, one by one, the birthdates, anniversaries, camping trips, church events, daily tasks, and family reunions get jotted down.

This is also a season when gardeners and arborists begin planning out their pruning schedules. When I look at the raspberry canes covered in snow, I start to envision a future of neat and tidy rows of raspberries with healthy green shoots and plump red berries for smoothies and muffins. But there won’t be any good fruit if I don’t first prune the plant. What needs to be pruned? All the brown canes from last year’s fruits which are now dead and will not produce next summer; all the sick and diseased canes, and all the unhealthy weak ones that have shriveled up due to parasites or mold. Once pruned, the raspberry plant is protected and given a better chance at producing good fruit that will bring nourishment.

In many ways, that is what we are doing when we look back and evaluate the past year. Wisdom invites us to evaluate what in our lives needs to be pruned away, cut off, and thrown in the fire. We easily fall into habits that cause us harm instead of fruit. We often don’t want to go through the hard work of pruning and removing unhealthy habits that don’t produce any lasting fruit in our lives. There may be some habits in your life that God is asking you to prune away and burn in the fire of His sanctification. Consider for a moment what God can do in a life that is pruned by His gentle hands.

In the same way, God desires that we abide in Him and in His Word. The word “abide” means to remain and dwell in a state of continuous presence and endurance. There are many ways we abide in God’s Word, one of which is the weekly public reading of Scripture when we gather on the Lord’s Day. Other ways of abiding in God’s Word might be placing Scripture verses around our homes and work places, even in our vehicles, on the mirrors, or even tattooed on our arms! To know and live in God’s will, we must be feeding on the Word and allowing it to change us. Another way to abide daily in God’s Word is to set aside a portion of time or times each day to read Scripture. After 45 years of life, the past 5 years have been the most consistent for myself in this endeavor.

While we were still at seminary in St Louis, Craig told me about a Bible reading plan called Community Bible Reading/Seeing Jesus Together. I looked at the reading plan and saw that it only required two chapters a day from me. For me, at that stage of life and seminary and parenting little ones, I knew I had to keep it to a manageable and realistic-for-me amount of reading. I decided to give it a try. This January, I’ll start my 6th year of this reading plan, and it is a joy to look back on these years of God’s Word saturating my heart and mind, discovering so much more than I ever thought possible from the Word.

Habits take a lot of time to develop, and a regular act of the will to choose to accomplish. I’m not sharing this to boast about my Scripture reading habits. I am sharing this to show that it is possible to develop a regular daily habit of Scripture reading. It is possible, after so many failed attempts, to enact a structured plan for regular immersion in the Word of God. It is also possible to develop an appetite for God’s Word that cannot be quenched, that makes me long to get up in the morning, get my coffee and blanket, and sit alone with the Word, and experience the communion of hearing His voice in the Scriptures. I want the Lord to produce as much fruit as possible in my short, little life. But, like He says, “…apart from me you can do nothing.”

So let the Lord prune your habits, schedules, and priorities this new year. Ask Him to help you to read His Word, one chapter at a time, and let His Word nourish you that you may abide in Him and in His Word.

The following is a brief list to begin your search for a Bible reading plan that works for you:

CBR Journal/Seeing Jesus Together

Daily Grace Co.

Daily Prayer Project

The Daily Office Lectionary

Every Day in the Word

M’Cheyne Reading Plan

The Keeping of Advent

Thursday was all prepared. We had the turkey, the potatoes, the stuffing, the dinner rolls, a pie given from a friend, and green beans amandine. My kids had all come down with a stomach flu this week, but were slowly recovering. With my mom and dad visiting from Canada, our house was full of anticipation for the week of holiday celebrations and preparations to enjoy together. One day was down with several of the kids sick, but there was hope that all would be well. Around noon, while the kids and I were working on a puzzle, the nausea I had already experienced only grew. Alas, I missed the whole Thanksgiving dinner.

Friday was the day we would head out into the woods to chop down our $5 Christmas tree, a new tradition we absolutely love to do together. We bring hot cocoa in a thermos and enjoy the sips in the frosty snow-laden forest. If there’s enough snow, there’s sledding too. Its one of our favorite ways to celebrate as Thanksgiving feasts give way to Advent preparation. Alas, another cancellation due to this unanticipated illness.

In the hours of quiet, tucked away in my room, while the house was aflutter with happy voices and delicious smells, I was grateful and prayerful. My mother kept reminding me that there is a reason for all of this, pointing my heart to trust God, and she is a woman who has learned to trust God.

Traditions and holidays are a joyful and creative way for us to celebrate the meaningful events of our faith. But these things are also not meant to become forms of idolatry. When plans change and expectations are unmet, we can throw our hands in the air or we can choose watchfulness. In the many hours of rest and recovery, I was able to think (between waking and falling asleep again) plans for celebrating the season of Advent at home with our family.

We’ve been keeping the season of Advent ever since our kids were babies. Through the years, we added various traditions, homemade crafts, advent wreaths, homemade ornaments, festive activities, several devotional style readings, and of course our favorite chocolates. This year, the Lord led me to some new resources to add to our collection.  And while the advent season, or Christmas, or Easter, are not commanded by our Lord to observe, as He is all-sufficient and He indwells His people, still the rhythms of remembering help us to intentionally interact with the events of our faith and renew our hope and focus for His second coming.

I have been greatly inspired by this list of advent resources and am eagerly awaiting a few of these items to arrive in the mail. To be sure, none of our traditions are necessary, only Christ is necessary and fully able to satisfy our souls. But I look forward to the generosity of these sub-creators who have used their artistic and literary gifts bestowed on them from above to help our minds and souls engage with the stories of our faith, the meta-narrative of Scripture, the timeline of redemptive history. In keeping Advent, we are practicing remembering.

In the quiet of Saturday morning, with enough strength to brave the tree nursery down the road, my dad and I took my kids, while my mom and husband were the next to catch the virus. We picked out the Christmas tree and poinsettia, decorated the tree with Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown Christmas playing in the background. I prepared the mantel with clippings from the bottom of the tree, some acorns, and an old white window frame given to us years ago which I rediscovered in our garage storage room. I also had managed to dehydrate some sliced orange pieces I wanted to use to decorate our tree.

My dad was sitting in the chair nearest the tree, and I asked him if he was watching the game or reading, and he said quietly, “I’m just reading in 1 Corinthians.” My pastor-father, meeting with the Word made flesh, in the quiet of the early afternoon. I sat beside him and threaded my dried orange slices. We listened quietly to the mid-winter carols that would accompany my family through the watchful season. It was the beginning of Advent.

Welcome Autumn, Welcome Frost

Good autumnal morning! That seems to be the appropriate way to start this post this morning. When I took our dogs outside this morning, the joy of the first frost welcomed me into a new season, that of late autumn in the Pacific Northwest. In three weeks, we went from having 80 degree weather, a pleasantly long summer, to freezing temperatures. Our typical Fall was short this year, but the frost is a welcome change with sweaters and scarves and pumpkin scented candles, fires crackling in the hearth, and children donning their slippers I made for them last year.

Occasional seasonal posts seem to be all I have capacity for in this season of church planting. My days and weeks are joyously full. My husband has to remind me to slow down and rest. But I love to minister to others, and it gives me great joy to care for my home, light the candles before the guests arrive (or have guests light the candles for me when I forget), and have the kitchen ready for the next deluge of crockpots to be brought and plugged in. My kids set up the extra long table and pull chairs from around the house to seat as many as possible as other furniture is shoved to the sides of the room to make more room. I recently bought a beautiful yellow linen apron, quite inexpensive and simple, but it delights me as I prepare. The baskets of baby and toddler toys are pulled out so the littlest guests can play, and the board books from my kids’ earlier days are still being loved (and chewed) by the little ones in our church family. Recently, I decided to purchase a new front door mat as our old one (from only two years ago) has worn away with all the feet that have crossed our threshold in two years of church planting.

I will share in this post about two studies I am pursuing this Fall. The first is listening to the audio of a class on Hebrews to Revelation, by Dr Dan Doriani from Covenant Theological Seminary in St Louis. Together with a friend, we are listening to this series of lectures and once a week, discussing what we are learning in an hour long video call. This has been a great way to dig deeper into Scripture together. I love to listen to the audio while folding laundry, doing chores around the house, taking the dog for a walk, or driving to town for errands.

Reading This Beautiful Truth at Ohanapecosh, Mt Rainier, Washington, Fall 2022

The second study I am pursuing at the moment is an online book club called Book Girl Fellowship by Sarah Clarkson in England. Last year, her book, This Beautiful Truth: How God’s Goodness Breaks into our Darkness, was released into the world. I recently finished this book, and think that I may have to write a book review on it. It is a light shining in this world of deep darkness. I had to read just little bits at a time, to savor each section. I didn’t want to put it down, but I also didn’t want it to end. It means so much to me that she willingly wrote such a personal and vulnerable account of God’s goodness in mental illness. Because of this book, I wanted to hear more of what she has to share with the world and be one of those receiving the light of Christ she is reflecting through her words as she discusses great works of literature and theology.

And now I must be off to fold laundry and listen to the next lecture in the Hebrews study, while my children are at school today. May autumn leaves fall softly on your fields, and may the warmth of candlelight illumine your day. You are so beloved by the Good Shepherd.