Do you have to go to church?

Do you have to go to church to be a Christian? Yes and no. You don’t have to go to church to be saved, but to really become a disciple of Jesus, it necessitates being in community with other disciples of Jesus. You see, we are invited to become apart of a community, the Church. When we are baptized, we are welcomed into this Body of Christ, and the body of Christ is filled with people: broken people, prejudiced people, hypocritical people, backbiting people, all who are all being changed by Jesus just like you and me are. There are no perfect churches, just people through churches that God is making perfect. Won’t you be a part of one?

Sunday

Amiable indifference

We all know that person (or persons). Those you would call charming and amiable. They are popular because they give no offense. They cause no problems, speak softly, never step out of line. They work their jobs, pay their taxes, obey the speed limit and raise their children to be just like them. The do not question the “status quo”, they follow their parents faith and are content with all things just as they are. To society, they are the perfect image of a good and peaceful person. Actually, because they care so deeply about doing nothing wrong, they are not necessarily good, they are simply indifferent.

Is this a life we should try to emulate? Is it a life Christ call us to lead?

It is a great mistake to present Christ and Christianity as something charming and popular giving no offense. Jesus was, at times, gentle, meek and mild. But He was also so stiff in his opinions and so inflammatory in his language that he was thrown out of church, stoned, hunted from place to place, and finally gibbeted as a firebrand and a public danger. 

Whatever His peace was, it was not the peace of amiable indifference.

Transfiguration...

The experience of the fullness of time, during which God is so present, so real, so tangibly near that we can hardly believe that everyone does not see God as we do, is given to us to deepen our lives of prayer and strengthen our lives of ministry.   Having experienced God in the fullness of time, we have a lifelong desire to be with God and to proclaim to others the God we experienced.

                                                                                          by Bellini

Peter, years after the death of Jesus, claims his Mount Tabor experience as the source for his witness.  He says:  "When we told you about the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not slavishly repeating cleverly invented myths; no, we had seen his majesty with our own eyes ... when we were with him on the holy mountain" (2 Peter 1:16-18).  Seeing God in the most intimate moments of our lives is seeing God for others.

                                                                                                 Henri Nouwen

Christ

A thought to ponder during the last days of Advent....

Out of Egypt

The USPS has unveiled their Christmas stamp for 2012:

This is a change from the traditional stamp depicting the Madonna and Child that has been used for almost 60 years. A member of the Postal Service Board of Governors stated, "The primary reason for Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ." 

The Postal Service chose a dramatic rendering from the Matthew 2:13 - 15--- ¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” ¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

This started me thinking of one of my favorite Advent paintings:

 

It's called "Rest on the Flight to Egypt" by Luc-Oliver Merson. 
Spend a few moments just looking...can you not feel the exhaustion? Joseph sleeping on the desert floor while Mary cradles the Child. Traveling through the desert is not easy even in the best of times...but knowing that death could be following close on your heels adds mental fatigue as well.


Notice that the Christ Child is the only source of light in the painting. He was homeless from birth. He was a refugee, an immigrant, a stranger in a strange land.

Alpha and Omdga

Isn't it wonderful when, during the course of an otherwise normal day, you are offered a nugget of truth?

The Youth are finishing a Bible Study that has been going on through the school months for 3 years now! Looks like by the end of the 2011 school year we will have finished ALL the books of the Bible. Of course, that means that right now we are beginning the Book of Revelation.

In preparation for last Wednesday night's study, I was reading through a commentary on the book. Now I have heard Jesus called the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last for my entire life. Long ago, I packed this information away and have since thought very little about it. This commentary offered a new dimension: Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In order to form words, one must use the alphabet...and thus Alpha and Omega help make up the "Words" of God...another name for Jesus.

Amongst Jewish Rabbi's it was common to use the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet to denote the "whole" of anything. Jesus' followers would have known this.

Alpha and Omega speak to the eternal nature of God, affirming the Deity of Christ. Because of this, Christ has the power to carry out the Father's plan of redemption. Perhaps, unlike me, you had already taken your thoughts on the Greek letters to their natural conclusion, but I had not.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

A Martha Christmas?

Luke 10:38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

So which are you at Christmas? Mary or Martha? Do you rush hither and tither making preparations for everyone else to enjoy the day or do you prepare yourself for the day?

Are you up cooking, cleaning, decorating and wrapping or do you sit "at the feet" of Jesus? It doesn't have to be silent...if everyone else in the house is going about their business, this doesn't have to interfere with you. Jesus can speak to you in the midst of noise. If He is truly the Shepherd of your life, you will hear His voice.

During this time when we're all surrounded by presents, it is a good thing to give money to charities or to your church. But is that the best gift you can give the Christ Child? What do you think Jesus Himself desires from you? Sure He wants us to see others less fortunate and help ease their burdens but He wants your time. Being available to open your heart to Him is to have a Mary Christmas.

How much of your celebration is secular? There is an over abundance of Christmas songs and we're meant to enjoy them...but are they all about "Let it snow, Let it snow" or "Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer" or "Up on the house top"? Do you also incorporate "Hark the Herald angels" or "What Child is this" or "In the Bleak Midwinter"? We all decorate with trees and snowmen and Christmas stockings but do you also include a star? An Advent wreath? Angels?

Jesus is the reason for the season...let's keep Him in the midst of the celebration.

Immaculate Conception

By J. Peter Nixon

I’ve always sort of struggled with the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Reading descriptions of its development is sort of like reading a very complicated legal brief. Lots of talk about the “imputed merits of Christ,” the theology of Duns Scotus, and all that. Most of the time, I enjoy that sort of thing. But not today.

Today I’m thinking about mothers. One of the reasons that Mary is so important is that, in some sense, she is the guarantor of the humanity of Jesus. Jesus had a mother, just like all of us. Much of what Jesus became as a human being, he became because of his mother.

If you met me and got to know me for a while, and then met my mother, you would immediately see some of the traits that she passed down to me. I suspect that those who got to know Jesus, and then met Mary, had the same experience. Maybe it was her smile, maybe certain turns of phrase. Maybe Jesus inherited his fiery passion, his fearlessness from her. She must have been a formidable woman!

One of the ongoing temptations in Christianity has been to deny, sometimes without even meaning to, the humanity of Christ. A lot of us are still carrying around a mental image of a fleshy “costume” animated by an all-knowing, all-seeing deity. The idea that Jesus could have been shaped in some fundamental way by his human environment sometimes seems threatening. But that is precisely why the Incarnation is so stunning.

It doesn’t seem completely unreasonable to me that if God was going to become incarnate in human flesh, that he would do a little advance planning. And perhaps one of the things He might be most concerned about is the woman who would bear Him, who would shape Him and guide him to adulthood, a poor peasant girl from the Judean countryside. How would she ever have the strength to bear the burden that would be laid upon her?

The answer? He gave it to her.

Oh, I’m sure this is very poor theology and someone far more learned than I could poke numerous holes in it. But in some sense, I think this is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception is all about: a son’s love for His mother.


I, like the author have struggled at times with the Immaculate Conception. In order to get a better grip, I have tried to study the teachings of other denominations...most particularly the Catholic Church. While I still cannot get my head fully around the notion...I can and do accept on faith that it happened...and it happened because God wanted it so.

Over the years I have marvelled that Mary took on this blessing and fulfilled her end beautifully. What awesome responsibility! The last couple of paragraphs have opened a window for me...and given me yet another reason to believe and hope...

Companion of the Souls

When the two disciples recognised Jesus as he broke the bread for them in their house in Emmaus, he "vanished from their sight" (Luke 24:31). The recognition and the disappearance of Jesus are one and the same event. Why? Because the disciples recognised that their Lord Jesus, the Christ, now lives in them ... that they have become Christ-bearers. Therefore, Jesus no longer sits across the table from them as the stranger, the guest, the friend with whom they can speak and from whom they can receive good counsel. He has become one with them. He has given them his own Spirit of Love. Their companion on the journey has become the companion of their souls. They are alive, yet it is no longer them, but Christ living in them (see Galatians 2:20).

Henri Nouwen

A child

Every mother, when she picks up the young life that has been born to her looks up to the heavens to thank God for the gift which made the world young again. But there was a Mother, a Madonna, who did not look up. She looked down to Heaven, for this was Heaven in her arms. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

From The Deacon's Bench

Can I show the world this much love? Can you?

The Cross

I saw this link posted on theanchoress.com, go check out the pictures!

It is an unforgettable moment. As the sun traverses the sky its light is suddenly focused into an intense beam which illuminates a carving of Christ on the Cross. This is not a scene from an Indiana Jones film, however, but a stirring piece of visual synchronicity that dates from medieval times.

At the spring and autumn equinox, the setting sun hits a window at Holy Trinity Church in Barsham, Suffolk, and illuminates the 5ft carving for four spellbinding minutes.The spectacle dates back to the 1300s, when the narrow window was built in the church tower, but it was lost for centuries. It was only rediscovered recently by the village church's assistant curate, the Reverend John Buchanan, who spotted it by chance.

http://worldmysteries9.blogspot.com/2009/03/genius-of-medieval-church-builders.html

The Breastplate of St. Patrick

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today,
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.
Amen

Epiphany

Today is the traditional date for Epiphany. J.B.S. Haldan once said: "The world will not perish for want of wonders, but for want of wonder."

On January 6th, we remember that the Wise Men stepped forth with wonder. They didn't know where the journey would lead nor how long it would take. Tradition tells us they felt the star foretold an important event. It's obvious they felt something wonderful would be at the end, otherwise, why take such expensive gifts? But even they, wise as they were, could not have known Who they would see.

Webster defines epiphany as an "illuminating discovery." The Magi followed the illumination of the star to behold the "Light of the world", the Christ. I would pray that we all feel the wonder of the journey that leads to a deeper relationship with Christ and that we have the courage to take the first step.

Something to remember...

Faithful Christians will be persecuted. There are no two ways about it...if we're not offending some people, we're likely not loving people as Christ would love them. This does not mean to antagonize others just because you can. It means to stand firm in your faith, be steadfast in your calling and have the courage to live your convictions. We have an example to follow and even though we will always fall short of His standard, it is not an excuse to be anything other than what we are called to be...the children of God and the brothers and sisters of Christ.

Wounds

Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we all have a negative side. It may be made up of anger, anxiety, complaining, criticizing, procrastinating, controlling or any number of other emotions and is usually a cry for help. Perhaps they are cries from early childhood, rising from emotional wounds that never healed. We are told to get over them, rise above them, forgive and forget, concentrate on the positive...so much so that we thrust these unhealed wounds down below our conscious level.

But wounds do not just go away. If unhealed, they cry like abandoned children in the dark, forgotten places within us. The only way they can make their presence felt is through these negative attitudes and our addictive escapes. Seen in the light of day we recognize they are all symptoms of pain.

For our own well being, we must take time to bring our wounds to the surface, face the cause and rely on God for peace and healing. While it's easy to speak, this is not an easy or welcome task. It takes time, commitment and courage but by the simple act of laying it all at the feet of Christ we can be healed, restored and made whole. After all, He knows a little about pain Himself.