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Talbot Davis March 26, 2010 at 4:59 am 2

Do NOT miss the opening worship element of the final Sunday of old. rugged. cross.

I can't tell you what we're doing, but I can tell you it will be good. Very good.

And then a message about which I am SO excited: "The Goat Has Left The Building."

old. rugged. cross. has been our most theological series in quite some time. This message adds some history to all that, with some twists even I haven't been expecting.

Sunday.

8:30. 10. 11:30.

Good Shepherd

A New Look At The Old Cross

Talbot Davis March 22, 2010 at 7:21 am 0

Each week during old. rugged. cross. we are presenting a version of that classic hymn. In the first week, Claude York, accompanied by Chris Macedo on acoustic guitar, sang it with all the Southern Gospel gusto of the original.

Yesterday, however, was different. With the stage bare except for a wooden cross (on which we focused a number of lighting combinations), we played this:

John Pavlovitz wrote it. Joey Hopper recited it. And Chris Macedo recorded & edited it.

It's the kind of creative element that again makes me grateful to work here.

Here's the text itself:

The old. rugged. cross.

On a hill, far away it stands.
From the past, like a faded photo memory
From centuries upon centuries.
Yet here, today, newly.
It came before me, yet it stands before me.
I take it in.
I survey it.
I mean, I look it over, but I cannot overlook it.
Gaze through the haze of myself.
I see it with ever-opening eyes.
and now I live this life "Cross-eyed"
See the One so despised,
The One who paid the greatest price.
The Perfect Lamb slain.
His blood leaving stains
deep in beaten wood grain.
and not a sin of mine, remains.

Upon this old, rugged, cross.
The place of such brutality
Pierced with the nails -
Nails that were meant for me.
Hangs a love so divine.
And such Glory from it shines
Like the noon sun beating down
Like the sweat upon His brow.
Like the jewel of a crown.
On one dead tree.
One man dead, though temporarily.
A world of slaves now free.
A loser's victory.
A sinner's reprieve.
That sinner? I am He.

I cherish the old rugged cross.
By that, I mean I treasure it.
Love it.
I place no one and nothing above it.
It is worth every reproach, every shame.
It is my joy now, to bear the weight of His name.
Just as he carried the Cross.
Just as he carried me.
I carry on.
In hope, in faith.
In love, in Grace,
No cost is too great.
Any price I would pay.
Here in this world.
In this moment.
In this day.
I grab hold of this old rugged cross.
I cling to it.
With straining hands.
hands that will someday-
Lay these earthly trophies down,
Exchange them all for a crown.
In the old, rugged Cross, I am freed.
At the old rugged Cross I am found.

Good Shepherd

Foolish Power

Talbot Davis March 19, 2010 at 6:00 am 0

I Corinthians 1:18 - 2:5 is an incredible section of Scripture.

You can read it here.

It's a section I've been yearning to preach on since my first semester in seminary back in 1987.

This Sunday, at long last, I get to do just that as we move to Week Two of old. rugged. cross.

I can't wait.

Sunday.

8:30. 10. 11:30.

Good Shepherd

old. rugged. cross.

Talbot Davis March 12, 2010 at 7:00 am 3

On a hill far away . . .

So begins one of the best-loved hymns of the faith, The Old Rugged Cross.

Yet have we considered what it really means that the central symbol of the Christian faith is an instrument of execution?

Can you imagine if church steeples were topped with guillotines or we wore small electric chairs as jewelry around our necks?

Stood an old rugged cross . . .

What is unique about this man executed in that way?

Did some sort of transaction involving God, the devil, and the human race occur on that dark day so long ago?

Or is there more to it than that?

. . . the emblem of suffering and shame.

And what does it have to do with us? Today? With how and why we live in the year 2010?

Join us for the next three weeks as we wrestle with these questions and more.

old. rugged. cross.

A series in which the far away comes very close.

Sunday.

8:30. 10. 11:30. (And remember to set your clock ahead one hour!)

Good Shepherd

WE Virus Spreads

Talbot Davis March 8, 2010 at 9:11 am 0

We showed this yesterday as a way of capturing how people catch and then spread the WE Virus at Good Shepherd:

carolyn update from Andy Weibley on Vimeo.

I'm grateful as always for the ways God harnesses all the talented people here to impact people's lives in meaningful, tangible ways.

Good Shepherd

Talbot Davis

The Heart of the Matter

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