In my weekly Works & Wonders column, I combine a brief devotional with other interesting and uplifting bits and pieces I gleaned throughout the week. I hope you enjoy this week’s collection! It includes:
- Devotional: Not Only the End, but Also the Means
- Earth Music Theater
- Small World in Motion
- Voices
- The Bayeux Tapestry Story
- BingeBrowse
- One Bedroom Apartment
1.
Not Only the End, but Also the Means
As Christians, we praise God for his marvelous grace in saving us—in setting his love on sinful people and then drawing them out of darkness and into life, out of the grave and into glory. But God displays his wisdom not only in the end, but also through the means. While for all eternity we will praise God that he saved us, we will also praise him for how he saved us. For what love but God’s could have reached out to people who had blasphemed his name and declared him an enemy? What mind but God’s could have conceived of a means to salvation that came by grace rather than works? What wisdom but God’s could have understood that the one who bridges the infinite chasm between divinity and humanity must be both God and man? Who else would have been willing and able to send his very own Son into this world, to add a human nature to his divine nature, to live a perfect life, to die an atoning death, to take the sin of humanity upon his own shoulders, and to give them his own righteousness? Who else but our all-wise God? This is the God we delight to worship this Sunday and every Sunday.1
2.
Earth Music Theater
The Association of Space Explorers, which includes astronauts from forty-three countries, has been archiving the images its members photograph from the windowed bay in the International Space Station. Earth Music Theater has now combined some of that footage with music. This lets you enjoy a British Baroque ensemble singing Bach over stunning images of the earth, or Maestro Seiji Ozawa conducting an orchestra performing Beethoven while the earth rolls by. It’s great to watch actively or to put on in the background, perhaps on that always-present second screen. There are all kinds of performances and scenes to choose from.
3.
Small World in Motion
I’ve said repeatedly that I’m convinced that many of God’s greatest wonders are in the microscopic world, and Nikon’s Small World in Motion competition seems to prove it! Through 5 winners and 26 honorable mentions, you can see the world as you’ve never seen it before. From jellyfish larvae to synchronized cell division, you’ll delight in the beauties of God’s creation.
4.
Voices
I enjoy the band His Estate (formerly known as 20 Schemes Music), which exists to “serve the local church with songs that equip and spur on Christians by expressing our joy and certain hope amidst the dangers and brutal realities of the Christian life as we long to grow more like Jesus.” Uniquely, the ministry is rooted in Scotland’s housing estates and that is reflected in some of its themes (e.g., addiction). His Estate recently recorded a live album and I especially enjoyed “Voices.”
Give us wisdom, understanding
Give us hearts of reverent fear
In our weakness walk beside
In Your mercy draw us near
5.
The Bayeux Tapestry Story
I’m sure you’ve heard of the Bayeux Tapestry before, and maybe you’ve even seen it, but you probably haven’t been given a guided tour to it. Let’s remedy that! “This video tells the Tapestry’s story in full, using Charles Stothard’s early colour reproduction, presented here as a seamless scroll for the first time. We follow Harold Godwinson’s fateful journey from Edward the Confessor’s court to Normandy, his later seizure of the Crown, and William the Conqueror’s invasion. Beyond its political messaging, the Tapestry is also bursting with medieval history, including jokes, fascinating technical details, and a warning for those who break their promises.” Watch: The Bayeux Tapestry Story in Full.
6.
BingeBrowse
BingeBrowse is a bit of a throwback, so you may need to be 30 or more to really enjoy it. Do you remember visiting the local video store on a Friday night and browsing the racks to try to find something to watch? BingeBrowse captures that experience by formatting your streaming services as an old-school Blockbuster store. It’s kind of silly, but kind of fun as well.
7.
One Bedroom Apartment
This weekend Nate and Abby moved out of their one-bedroom apartment and into a house. But this song from Gable Price still seems fitting: “One Bedroom Apartment.”
As for me and my bargain
One bedroom apartment
We will serve the Lord
In the famine and harvest
I know where your heart is
We will serve the Lord
- Inspired in part by this quote from William Gurnall: “God will not only be admired by His saints in glory for His love in their salvation but for His wisdom in the way to it. The love of God in saving them will be the sweet draft at the marriage feast, and the rare wisdom of God in effecting this as the curious workmanship with which the cup shall be enameled.” (William Gurnall) ↩︎
