May (God) give you the spirit to find wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, brightening the eyes of your heart to let you see what His calling means, what hopes it contains, what a wealth of glory He means to distribute among the holy ones, and what an overwhelming power He exerts on us believers by activating the controlling force of His might.
From Ephesians 1, The Unvarnished New Testament
What an excellent prayer for the start of the year, on this, the 10th Day of Christmas!
It is hard to add to this.
What if we kept a growing list of friends and loved ones, and each day added a name to it. And for each of those days, said this same prayer for each of them? By the end of the year, we would have 365 names of people that we care enough about, to pray for.
And what could be more important than praying that your loved ones have the following:
* A spirit to find wisdom
* A spirit to find revelation
* To find wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of, or knowing, God
* To have the eyes of your heart brightened
* To understand what it means to be called by God
* To feel the hope contained in God's calling
* To be convinced of the glory we will experience
* To be known as a "holy one"
* To feel God's power
* To be controlled by God - - - the One that makes all of this happen
This prayer is better than a prayer for healing, or health. It's better than a prayer for a job, or income.
It's better than a prayer that people stay out of trouble, or that they make wise decisions, or that they avoid accidents.
It's better than a prayer that we are provided "traveling mercies".
It's better than a prayer that God bless "this food and the hands that prepared it."
A person with these special gifts from God has everything they need. All that other stuff will fall into place.
And so . . . this is my prayer for a growing list of friends, family, and loved ones, in 2014.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Reflectionary X
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will praise thee evermore.
Psalm 84 (Septuagint)
I love how the Christmas narrative introduces this idea of dwelling with God, living in His house.
Imagine a sleepover at God's.
Whatever you want to do, or play, He will do with you. Before you even realize that you want some hot chocolate, He begins making it. He has set aside your two or three favorite DVDs, without even asking you what they are. He fixed up a little pallet for you on the floor, just the way you like it, for movie watching, or even to sleep in.
But you are not planning to sleep on the floor. He's got this room in the back, with a large king-size bed, for guests.
When you wake up in the morning, you can already smell the bacon, eggs, gravy, biscuits and coffee. You don't plan to drink any coffee, but it smells good.
You notice that God always has this gentle smile on His face. He doesn't wise-crack with you. When you arrive, He says "I'm so glad you're here!" Most of the time, He does not initiate any conversations. He waits for you to speak, and when you do, He smiles in agreement. You can't say anything that makes Him look troubled, or worried. These are emotions that you don't think He has.
But come to think about it, when you're around God, you never think to even talk about stuff that isn't positive. He doesn't make a point to correct you, but in His presence you never say or do anything that He would correct anyway.
God has a friendly, playful dog, maybe a Shelty, that you love.
When you go outside, it's always sunny, and about 78 degrees. Unless you love skating on God's frozen pond, in which case it's 21 degrees and sunny. If you forgot to bring all of your winter gear, God has lots of spare stuff.
And then one day, years later, you're reading Galatians 5, and notice that God perfectly models the "fruit of the Spirit": love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
The boy-king-Savior Jesus makes it possible to dwell in God's house. We recognize it the moment we enter, for it is the perfect embodiment of every good memory from our past.
Merry Christmas
Psalm 84 (Septuagint)
I love how the Christmas narrative introduces this idea of dwelling with God, living in His house.
Imagine a sleepover at God's.
Whatever you want to do, or play, He will do with you. Before you even realize that you want some hot chocolate, He begins making it. He has set aside your two or three favorite DVDs, without even asking you what they are. He fixed up a little pallet for you on the floor, just the way you like it, for movie watching, or even to sleep in.
But you are not planning to sleep on the floor. He's got this room in the back, with a large king-size bed, for guests.
When you wake up in the morning, you can already smell the bacon, eggs, gravy, biscuits and coffee. You don't plan to drink any coffee, but it smells good.
You notice that God always has this gentle smile on His face. He doesn't wise-crack with you. When you arrive, He says "I'm so glad you're here!" Most of the time, He does not initiate any conversations. He waits for you to speak, and when you do, He smiles in agreement. You can't say anything that makes Him look troubled, or worried. These are emotions that you don't think He has.
But come to think about it, when you're around God, you never think to even talk about stuff that isn't positive. He doesn't make a point to correct you, but in His presence you never say or do anything that He would correct anyway.
God has a friendly, playful dog, maybe a Shelty, that you love.
When you go outside, it's always sunny, and about 78 degrees. Unless you love skating on God's frozen pond, in which case it's 21 degrees and sunny. If you forgot to bring all of your winter gear, God has lots of spare stuff.
And then one day, years later, you're reading Galatians 5, and notice that God perfectly models the "fruit of the Spirit": love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
The boy-king-Savior Jesus makes it possible to dwell in God's house. We recognize it the moment we enter, for it is the perfect embodiment of every good memory from our past.
Merry Christmas
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Reflectionay IX
Happy New Year!
Here is the first post in our year-long study of the common Lectionary, Year A. Beginning at the Beginning.
Most days, we will take something from the readings for that particular week.
Today is the 8th Day of Christmas.
From Jeremiah 31:11 (using Septuagint language):
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has rescued him out of the hand of them that were stronger than he.
The birth of Christ, The Redeemer, the Ransomer, is now a done deal. The Lord (God), has ransomed (saved) Jacob (God's people - all those that trust in Him) out of the hand of them (a plural number) that were stronger than he (anybody giving you trouble).
It's over. It is done. Christ is born, which pretty much settles it. Or, in God's timetable, it is as good as settled.
God speaks a thing, and it's as good as done. We humans pay attention to time. If it doesn't happen right away, or make the expected difference, soon enough, we get worried, impatient, doubtful.
But once God entered time, by way of His Son, Jesus, we are certain that our redeemer, our savior, is here, and all will be well.
But I love the promise that we are saved from people stronger than us:
* Bullies
* Bosses
* Wealthy people
* Physically strong people
* People with unique talents
* Popular people
* People from functional families
* Smart people
* Hard workers
* Healthy people
* Corporations
* Unions
* Doctors
* Politicians
Doesn't the list, of people that take advantage over us, just go on and on?
In 2014, keep this in mind. Those people giving you trouble . . . God will take care of them. Or He has already taken care of them. You may not see it yet, because you think in terms of time, as a straight line with a beginning and end. In God's realm, there is no Time. It's only eternal Now.
It's done. You'll see.
Here is the first post in our year-long study of the common Lectionary, Year A. Beginning at the Beginning.
Most days, we will take something from the readings for that particular week.
Today is the 8th Day of Christmas.
From Jeremiah 31:11 (using Septuagint language):
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has rescued him out of the hand of them that were stronger than he.
The birth of Christ, The Redeemer, the Ransomer, is now a done deal. The Lord (God), has ransomed (saved) Jacob (God's people - all those that trust in Him) out of the hand of them (a plural number) that were stronger than he (anybody giving you trouble).
It's over. It is done. Christ is born, which pretty much settles it. Or, in God's timetable, it is as good as settled.
God speaks a thing, and it's as good as done. We humans pay attention to time. If it doesn't happen right away, or make the expected difference, soon enough, we get worried, impatient, doubtful.
But once God entered time, by way of His Son, Jesus, we are certain that our redeemer, our savior, is here, and all will be well.
But I love the promise that we are saved from people stronger than us:
* Bullies
* Bosses
* Wealthy people
* Physically strong people
* People with unique talents
* Popular people
* People from functional families
* Smart people
* Hard workers
* Healthy people
* Corporations
* Unions
* Doctors
* Politicians
Doesn't the list, of people that take advantage over us, just go on and on?
In 2014, keep this in mind. Those people giving you trouble . . . God will take care of them. Or He has already taken care of them. You may not see it yet, because you think in terms of time, as a straight line with a beginning and end. In God's realm, there is no Time. It's only eternal Now.
It's done. You'll see.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Reflectionary VIII
"Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel."
I'm not sure our present generation can have any sense of the power and meaning behind the simple prophecy of Isaiah, quoted above.
For any meaning to be clear, there must be a frame of reference. When wearing the lenses of an early 21st-Century person, these messianic prophecies lose all of their magic, their poetry, and majesty. There is no frame of reference. No common themes. The words do not even mean the same thing.
"Look." or, "Behold." To truly look at something, or behold it, as Isaiah intended, you have to be willing to stop and wait. We are enjoined to cease what we're doing, read, ponder, even pray, for understanding of what we are about to hear. This takes patience. It takes the ability to put off anything that does not stimulate our physical senses, instantaneously. It requires a willingness to learn, to gain understanding, to be proven wrong, to reach new levels of awareness, or actualization.
We can't do that. We don't know how to "look."
"The young woman." To the ancient Hebrew culture, it was a given that a "young woman" was what we would call today, a "virgin." But we can't access that concept. When a pre-Christian Era Hebrew woman was a "virgin," that meant she hadn't done "any" of "it." None of the substitute acts that are common today. No "dates." No time alone with another boy. No hand-holding. Her eyes had not seen everything imaginable on cable TV, in her parents' home and even in their presence, with their tacit approval. It was also assumed that the "young woman" was unmarried. If you were a virgin, you were not married, and vice versa. But it also entailed a certain expectation that she would one day become married . . . which was understood to be, to a man . . . and that the marriage itself would result in children . . . many of them . . . because God had created beings in His image . . . like Him . . . which meant we could create others (reproduce) in our own image (our children), just as our creator created us. The culture believed that God was both Love and Life, and that when you combined the two, new generations of God-imaged humans would result.
No, I am not being naive. I am not suggesting that everybody in Hebrew culture, even in those times, were happy prudes. But when Scripture talks about "the fullness of time," perhaps it's an indication of how rare it is to find a person, let alone a woman, like Mary . . . who could so perfectly fulfill the requirements of her calling.
"With child." Meaning, if you were "with child," then you had to be married . . . prior to getting in that state. Mary was not. To understand the emotional scandal that this entailed, think about what it's like if your best friend unfriends you on Facebook, without telling you ahead of time, or worse yet, your significant other unfriends you as a way to break up. Think about how that feels, now multiply it a couple hundred times and you may begin to understand the feelings of people around Mary, when they discovered she was pregnant.
And I will leave the rest of the text to another time.
My prayer is that, in the midst of a world that is awash with images that no one should see, or think about (let alone children), that has perhaps eaten too freely of a Tree of Knowledge for which we, as a species, are not morally ready; that you find the power to erase all those images from your mind, and be able truly to look . . . behold . . . see . . . and be blessed.
I'm not sure our present generation can have any sense of the power and meaning behind the simple prophecy of Isaiah, quoted above.
For any meaning to be clear, there must be a frame of reference. When wearing the lenses of an early 21st-Century person, these messianic prophecies lose all of their magic, their poetry, and majesty. There is no frame of reference. No common themes. The words do not even mean the same thing.
"Look." or, "Behold." To truly look at something, or behold it, as Isaiah intended, you have to be willing to stop and wait. We are enjoined to cease what we're doing, read, ponder, even pray, for understanding of what we are about to hear. This takes patience. It takes the ability to put off anything that does not stimulate our physical senses, instantaneously. It requires a willingness to learn, to gain understanding, to be proven wrong, to reach new levels of awareness, or actualization.
We can't do that. We don't know how to "look."
"The young woman." To the ancient Hebrew culture, it was a given that a "young woman" was what we would call today, a "virgin." But we can't access that concept. When a pre-Christian Era Hebrew woman was a "virgin," that meant she hadn't done "any" of "it." None of the substitute acts that are common today. No "dates." No time alone with another boy. No hand-holding. Her eyes had not seen everything imaginable on cable TV, in her parents' home and even in their presence, with their tacit approval. It was also assumed that the "young woman" was unmarried. If you were a virgin, you were not married, and vice versa. But it also entailed a certain expectation that she would one day become married . . . which was understood to be, to a man . . . and that the marriage itself would result in children . . . many of them . . . because God had created beings in His image . . . like Him . . . which meant we could create others (reproduce) in our own image (our children), just as our creator created us. The culture believed that God was both Love and Life, and that when you combined the two, new generations of God-imaged humans would result.
No, I am not being naive. I am not suggesting that everybody in Hebrew culture, even in those times, were happy prudes. But when Scripture talks about "the fullness of time," perhaps it's an indication of how rare it is to find a person, let alone a woman, like Mary . . . who could so perfectly fulfill the requirements of her calling.
"With child." Meaning, if you were "with child," then you had to be married . . . prior to getting in that state. Mary was not. To understand the emotional scandal that this entailed, think about what it's like if your best friend unfriends you on Facebook, without telling you ahead of time, or worse yet, your significant other unfriends you as a way to break up. Think about how that feels, now multiply it a couple hundred times and you may begin to understand the feelings of people around Mary, when they discovered she was pregnant.
And I will leave the rest of the text to another time.
My prayer is that, in the midst of a world that is awash with images that no one should see, or think about (let alone children), that has perhaps eaten too freely of a Tree of Knowledge for which we, as a species, are not morally ready; that you find the power to erase all those images from your mind, and be able truly to look . . . behold . . . see . . . and be blessed.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Reflectionary VII
Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient.
How did the season of Advent become the most frantic, stressful, and hectic of the whole year?
Even nature itself, with the onset of an earlier sunset, colder weather, snow on the ground, bids us to take it easy. Get indoors, relax. Put another log on the fire. Brew up some hot cocoa. Watch a movie. Read.
The debate goes on about taking "Christ" out of "Christmas." But the Christian movement, with its fast-paced, road-raged, halls-bedecked demeanor during these months, provides plenty of fodder to the atheistic assault against our favored institution.
And even on Christmas Eve this month, we may very well hear the same intonations from the preacher:
"(long sigh) . . . well . . . we made it!"
Made what? Has this been a sea voyage to the New World? Achieving the chance to run the Marathon in the Olympics? The end of an arduous multi-year campaign for the Presidency?
Advent is all about waiting. And if we have made it through a period of rest and prayer, of contemplation and reflection, then indeed we have earned the right to heave a sigh of relief and proclaim "We made it!"
The Body of Christ should be doing anything BUT acting on edge this month.
Our peaceful demeanor, our refusal to take the bait and complain about traffic, crowds, and the weather, will provide volumes of positive testimony to the rightness of trusting in the Lord.
Glenn Frey once said "Take it easy." The Southern California rockers of the 1970s had this right. In the end, all that other stuff is not so important.
Patience. Please.
How did the season of Advent become the most frantic, stressful, and hectic of the whole year?
Even nature itself, with the onset of an earlier sunset, colder weather, snow on the ground, bids us to take it easy. Get indoors, relax. Put another log on the fire. Brew up some hot cocoa. Watch a movie. Read.
The debate goes on about taking "Christ" out of "Christmas." But the Christian movement, with its fast-paced, road-raged, halls-bedecked demeanor during these months, provides plenty of fodder to the atheistic assault against our favored institution.
And even on Christmas Eve this month, we may very well hear the same intonations from the preacher:
"(long sigh) . . . well . . . we made it!"
Made what? Has this been a sea voyage to the New World? Achieving the chance to run the Marathon in the Olympics? The end of an arduous multi-year campaign for the Presidency?
Advent is all about waiting. And if we have made it through a period of rest and prayer, of contemplation and reflection, then indeed we have earned the right to heave a sigh of relief and proclaim "We made it!"
The Body of Christ should be doing anything BUT acting on edge this month.
Our peaceful demeanor, our refusal to take the bait and complain about traffic, crowds, and the weather, will provide volumes of positive testimony to the rightness of trusting in the Lord.
Glenn Frey once said "Take it easy." The Southern California rockers of the 1970s had this right. In the end, all that other stuff is not so important.
Patience. Please.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Reflectionary VI
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down.
the LORD cares for the stranger
he sustains the orphan and widow
but frustrates the way of the wicked.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Reflectionary V
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
