Unbind us Lord...

Seemed appropriate, given the attitude of so many lately...

Happy in God...

When people find that you're a Christian, are they surprised? Can they tell by your words and deeds that you have found joy in your life or do you follow the "I'm a Christian so I can't have fun" stereotype? Do you spend all your time thinking of the things you cannot do?

The happiest people on earth ought to be those of us in God's service. And we ought to look like it. We have every reason to smile more than anyone else. Even though our work is terribly serious, we ought to have more fun and have a better time doing it than anybody. Why would we not enjoy life? For whom do we live it? 

 

Those who look as if they've just finished their last piece of bread do not minister very effectively. We really don't need to spend all our time on the negatives of life; there are enough heart-breaking experiences to go around for all of us. Who wants to follow a God who is perceived to be standing over us hand on His hip, shaking His finger? If God does not want us to be happy creatures, why would He have provided us with food, drink, books, music, friends and all the beauty in the world?

On top of all the wonderful things to be found in our world He also offers us the opportunity to be in communion with Him? One on one. We can't allow ourselves to get so wrapped up in daily life that we forget the gifts.

I don't mean to sound like life is always easy if you're a Christian...we do not have an easy calling. God holds us to a higher standard but He is also a loving guide who is always there to help us through the hard times and offer us joy, His joy. What more could we want?

Praise!

As I've mentioned, we've had an illness in the family that has been serious enough to totally disrupt life as I know it...thank God, we've reached a turning point and can see progress toward health! With this wonderful news, I hope to be able to be more attentive to the blog from this point. 

In honor of God's good grace:

Jeremiah 17:8
"They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

A relic?

From time to time in Christian history there have been those who claim to have different relics associated with Jesus. Collectors have gathered together items like the Shroud of Turin, the alleged crown of thorns worn at Christ’s crucifixion, or have found the crypt, used to hold our Lord’s broken body. 
 
Emperor Constantine’s mother first claimed to have found the true Cross of Jesus more than 1700 years ago. Since then, so many claim to have fragments that if they were all put together they would make an enormous cross! If it could be proved that someone had found an authentic relic of Jesus, people would line up for miles to see or touch it. But to what purpose? 

Obviously, many believers want to experience something real that is associated with Jesus. Those who seek Jesus have a real faith, a real desire, real conviction and they want to prove that Jesus is real.

But when we begin to doubt the reality of Jesus, relics are not the answer. Taking time to read the gospels again tells us His story. He was born poor and lived in poverty all His life. His friends were from the lowest castes of society. He experienced all there is in this human life. No one writing propaganda would ever reveal a character so real, so human, so earthy. He understands, because he has been there himself. And he is still here.

For anyone who has ever felt the sting of rejection, the heart-break of disloyalty, the tears of shame and humiliation, for anyone who bears their own disgrace and failure, Jesus says, “I understand. I am with you. You can trust me; you can cast your cares upon me, because I have been there myself.”

“By sending Jesus as a man," Clarence Jordan says, "God is refusing to take humanity’s ‘no’ for an answer, and places Jesus in the here and now – in the midst of this life.” And that is more real and more holy than all the relics in the world.

the Father's prayer...

As a continuation of Friday's reading:

"Bron remembered it well, for he had learned it long before he came to the skeilic. It had been part of his preparation for this pilgrimage. He could still recite almost word for word what Cassian had written. That the prayer conveyed all the feelings human nature was capable of, could be adapted to every condition, could be usefully recruited to find every temptation. That it expressed the humility of the most pious confession. That it conveyed the watchfulness which was born of endless worry and fear, a sense of our frailty, the assurance of being heard, the confidence of help was always near and present. This one short verse was an indomitable wall for everyone struggling against demons, an impenetrable breastplate and the sturdiest of shields. Whatever our disgust, our anguish, or our gloom, this verse kept us from despairing of our salvation, since it revealed to us Him whom we called, He Who saw our struggles, and Who was never far from those who prayed to Him. If things went well for us, if there was joy in our hearts, this verse warned us not to become proud, because our prosperity could not be retained without the protection of God. The verse was necessary to each of us in all conditions because it acknowledged the need for God's help through good and ill.

All this Bron remembered as well as he recalled any injunction in anything he had ever read. 'Come to my help, O God: Lord, haste thee to help me.'"

Who is God to you?

One of the most destructive mistakes in the growth of any relationship is to allow assumptions about a person's character to affect the personal discovery process. Sometimes it is a bad first impression that molds a false judgement. Sometimes it is stereotyping that kills the relationship before it can begin. The answer is, of course, to get to know someone personally.

In some cases a pile of misinformation, stereotypes and bad first impressions has to be worked through before a serious relationship can develop.
"I thought everyone who did that was..."
"He acted like that other guy and so..."
"Before we met I heard that she..."

One of the most popular God-stereotypes for religious people is the "Cosmic Policeman". This is the God who has a whistle in one hand and a large stick in the other. He only blows the whistle when we do something wrong, he dishes out our punishment with a whack from the happy stick of pain. To make things worse, the whistle, the pointing finger, and the whack are done in broad daylight so that everyone can see. The Cosmic Policeman gets his jollies by humiliating us in public. Occasionally, through the groveling and crying of "busted", he might show mercy, but it is probably just to induce a much-needed favor. He might even say, "There's going to be hell to pay if I catch you doing that again. I made you. I can make another one just like you!"

He can't really be like this, can He? If this were His true nature, what would it say about the meaning of life, the value of creation, the future of our world? How do you see God?
Pope-meets-Santa Claus?
Distant cloud of nothingness?
Carl Sagan's nemesis?
Omnipotent retiree?

Have you ever wondered where these stereotypes come from? First impressions? Secondhand information? Fairy tales? If we want to move closer to Him, we will have to kill these stereotypes and get to know the real Him, not the imagined Him. We will have to demand that He be all that God must really be.
Supernatural.
Endlessly wonderful.
The Lovely.
The Perfect.
Could He be God and be anything else? Then why settle for less?

Most of us have layers of stereotypes that we force God to wear. Wouldn't it be great if He could come to the party dressed as He really is? We might discover something beautiful behind the hearsay.

From "Enter the Worship Circle" by Ben Pasley

(In)dependence

Excellent article concerning (In)dependence Day...

We pride ourselves on our independence. We are a nation of pioneers, after all. And we live in a world, age, era, culture — call it what you will — that looks askance at any form of dependence, be it on family, government or the kindness of strangers. We look with pity on the post-collegiate twentysomethings living with their parents, praying to God that won’t be us. We turn our heads when the person in front of us at the grocery store pulls out food stamps. We nervously cross the street when we see someone begging for change. We can do it on our own. We don’t need help.

We are lying to ourselves.

Read the entire piece here...

A blueprint?

Many see Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as a blueprint for human behavior. But to do so is to turn it into another form of legalism.

Jesus did not give us these words so that we could grit our teeth and fall into despair because we cannot follow His path to perfection. He gave it so that we could recognize the distance between ourselves and God. To become aware of the great chasm that is in that distance. It is given so that we may know that all humans stand on the same level ground before God. No sinner is worse than another. 

When we come to know that all have fallen short of the glory of God, we can rest peacefully knowing that God cradles us in His arms and covers us with His absolute Grace.

Everything

Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and His will confounds me. Between Him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by himself...I search in vain in history to find those similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history, nor humanity, nor the ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.                          Napoleon Bonaparte

Be still...

When you doubt the lovely silence of a quiet wooded place,

When you doubt the path of silver of some moonlit water space,

When you doubt the winds a'blowing, flash of lightning, glistening rain,

Sun or starlit heavens above you, on the land or bounding main,

When you doubt the sleep of loved ones, deep beneath some precious sod,

Listen to a soft voice saying, "Be still, and know that I am God".
                                by: Alicia Poole

Authority

“The word ‘authority’ comes from the Latin ‘augere’ (to grow). All authority, whether it be civil, paternal, religious or community is intended to help people grow towards greater freedom, justice and truth. Often, however, it is used for honor, power, privilege and positive self-image of those who exercise it. By stooping down to wash the disciples’ feet, Jesus calls us all to exercise authority humbly, as a service …

By washing his disciples’ feet, however, Jesus is calling them not just to be good shepherds but to exercise authority at the heart of community in a totally new way, a way that is humanly incomprehensible and impossible. It is just as new and just as impossible as his invitation to forgive seventy-times-seven-times, to love enemies and to do good to those who hate us, to give our clothes to those who ask for them, to be constantly gentle and non-violent. It is just as amazing as when he identified himself with the poor and the outcast. ‘In my kingdom, the greatest must become the smallest.’

Jesus asks his disciples to exercise authority like a child or a servant, where they are vulnerable and open to others. Can this authority ‘from below,’ where, out of love, we place ourselves lower than others, still be called authority? Is it not rather love and communion? It is like the authority a child has over a mother, or a friend over a friend, or a wife over husband or vice versa. They are there for one another, at each other’s service. They listen to one another and are never too busy to be disturbed by the other. They live inside one another. Their joy is in giving to each other and being in communion one with another.”

—Jean Vanier

Unto the hills...

^{Psalms 121: 1 - 2}
 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

The poorest of the poor...

 Paul Jeffrey went to seminary and trained as a pastor but then God called him to work outside the walls of a church, way outside the walls! As a missionary journalist, he has traveled to 65 countries and been shot at, taken prisoner, caught in combat. He has won many awards for the powerful way he uses words and images to tell the story of The United Methodist Church in the world.



(Voice of The Rev. Paul Jeffrey) I’m repeatedly surprised by how hope thrives in an environment that might seem hopeless to many of us. You can find the script for this piece here 

Watch and read...

God Pushes

An unlikely pilgrim

Andrew Domini’s feet were blistered and bloodied. He could barely walk by the time he finally made it to a pink marble church and crawled the last 90 feet to a quiet shrine tucked into the corner.

As he paused a couple of weeks ago in front of the wooden coffin that held the remains of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin and prayed, the 19-year-old said he finally felt at peace.

Domini had walked nearly 70 miles, becoming an unlikely spiritual pilgrim. But the religious shrine wasn’t in Rome, Jerusalem or some other officially holy city. It was in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.

Take a moment and read the rest of the story...

How deep

In a word...

Earlier today, under the heading "So What?", I posted a lovely cartoon and told you there was much in the way of theology within the story. (This will make a lot more sense if you go back and watch the cartoon first) Whether this message was intended or not, it is there...but how do I present it? In the cartoon, there are no words, why not use some?

fluffy clouds
creation
storks
delivery
joy
babies, kittens puppies,
balance
dark cloud
disheveled stork
hesitation
alligators, rams, porcupines,
concern
commiseration
pain
abandonment?
free will
heartbroken
return
protection
burden
truth
charity
trust
agape love

How many of these words can be used to describe your relationship with your Creator? What other words could you add?

Lost?

If you've ever been lost...then you'll relate to this video. If you're still lost, perhaps this might give you the encouragement you need...Either way, it's worth a couple of minutes of your time.

Heaven and earth

 An oldie but goodie from Asbo Jesus!

Broken

Although it may feel so at times, we are never broken to the point where God cannot repair us...He is the Omnipotent One!

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51:17