Looking back over March 14 through the last 15 years, these thoughts were enough for me to remember and try to translate into my life in some way.
Somewhere between common language and precise language we have to find a universal translator so we can communicate effectively. I hate to relinquish precision, but I also know that many people do not speak or listen that way and they still need/deserve to be in the conversation.
Have you avoided the music of the night because it was dark, mellow, sad, or reflective?
Has it evoked feelings you would rather avoid?
Until we can embrace and enter into the reality of "The Music of the Night," we may find it difficult to fully appreciate the song of the dawn! The song of lament is the not the overture, but the prelude to a life of joy.
The hint is there.
The precursor of triumph it written into the score and drawn out by the bow and the keys.
It crescendos into hope.
The years go by so much faster than they used to. Days start with great expectations and we accomplish less than we set out to accomplish and sometimes more and usually more than we think and we step back and scratch our heads with wonder.
We've come farther than we think and somewhere along the line we've learned to live with the paradoxical, quizzical, quintessential mysteries of coming and going, gaining and losing, moving and standing still.
We lose track of time and find ourselves at curious peace with the situation.
We live in the flow and know that we cannot set the course of the river. We can resist or we can rest in the grace of the moment, the grace of God.
We can breathe deeply of the awesome vastness of limitless possibilities and inevitable mortality.
We are so tiny and we are so large.
We were lost, but we are found.
We wandered and now we are at home.
We do not know where the time goes, but we have been blessed to be found in this time and to live out our purpose in time as part of a greater dream.
Perspective, like maturity, cannot be rushed. We see "Both Sides Now" once we've had the time and attention to pay attention and ... when we really see, we know that there is much more to see than we know or can know. And by the way, once you've been in the cloud and see it for what it is, you can still step back and enjoy the illusion and allusion of it because we really don't know the clouds as well as we think we do. Live with wonder. Embrace the mystery. Stand in awe of God today and all that God has made. Life is good and we really don't know it yet, at all!!!
Other versions of "Who Knows Where the Time Goes": Sandy Denny (Early Demo) 
• Who Knows Where the Time Goes Sandy D... Strawbs • Sandy Denny & The Strawbs-Who Knows W... Judy Collins • Judy Collins - Who Knows Where The Ti... Eva Cassidy • Eva Cassidy- Who Nows Where The Time ... Nina Simone • Nina Simone - Who Knows Where The Tim... Richard Thompson • Who Knows Where the Time Goes - Richa... 10,000 Maniacs • 10,000 Maniacs "Who Knows Where the T... Lumiere / Sinead O'Connor • Lumiere with Sinéad O'Connor - 'Who K...
We don't always "feel" inspired, but we keep on doing what we did when we knew the experience of inspiration and motivation.
We keep on because that which inspired us is still within us. We keep on because in that moment on the mountain we looked around and saw the big picture ... and it was truth.
We keep on because the vision and the cause is greater than our own mood and desire. We keep on because we know that in the movement toward the prize, the inspiration will come again and we shall rise. We keep on.
Keep on.
When the colluded powers sent their collaborating messengers to warn Jesus he was in trouble and that he was likely to be killed, his response was four-fold:
I am doing works of mercy and deliverance.
I will continue to do them until I am done. I will not be stopped. I will not be intimidated.
I won't die here, but I will keep moving toward the place of my death.
But there is a third day coming and no matter what anyone does or thinks they can do to me, I will move past it toward that day ... and then, and only then, my work will be complete.
Luke 13:32 : “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.’”
Oh God, who sees me, knows me, and loves me while seeing through my pretensions. There is nothing I can tell you about myself that you do not already know. I am laid bare by your penetrating gaze and your Word divides by thoughts and attitudes, sorting them out in ways I cannot even comprehend. You know all about me and still I have the urge to hide and cover myself with the leaves of shame. Crack my facade, dissolve the masks I wear. Give me the grace to be real today, real and vulnerable, and open and compassionate with myself and others. Your love validates my existence and your mercy gives me courage to embrace the ugliness I see in myself, the impurity of my motives, the haughtiness of my words, the impulsiveness of my poor choices.
They are a part of all I have been and am becoming and I am not stuck in them, nor do they define me.
You define me and in freeing me to be me and become more, Your message from Jesus to me and through me that there is a possibility of joyous repentance and kingdom purpose ring true.
You know me and yet you choose me, in love, to be one of yours! I cannot wrap my mind around the grace of it, but I receive it that I may give it.
Make me, like Francis, an instrument of your peace today. I am not worthy, but I am available.
Because I follow Jesus, I ask this in His Name. Amen.
Lamenting over the magnitude of injustice, oppression, and wickedness was leading the troubadour to despair. He recounts the agonizing moments that were not left to dangle in meaningless resignation and then, he declares ..
" ...But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end."
(Psalm 73:15-17 ESV)
" When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you."
"Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
(Psalm 73:21-26 ESV)
The Urge to Change the World
The entrepreneurial urge is the motivational edge of men and women who love to develop bold initiatives and who change the world little by little.
When Steve Jobs approached John Sculley, then C.E.O. at PepsiCo about coming on board at Apple, he posed this question:
“Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?”
No doubt, Jobs knew that the question would go to the heart of Sculley’s “urge” and elicit the desired response.
Do you want to change the world?
That is what entrepreneurs do every day. They change it person by person, idea by idea, perception by perception, piece by piece. They do it the way you eat an elephant, one bite at a time.
Here is an acronym for URGE. I am making it up as I write it here:
Do you have the urge? Do you want to change the world? Some things truly are urgent.
A Balance
Emily Malbone Morgan, with the support of Harriet Hastings, was the founder of the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross (SCHC), in 1884. Begun as a community of Episcopal laywomen rooted in disciplined devotion, the society became both a faithful community of discipleship and prayer, and a strong force for social justice reform during the social gospel era around the turn of the twentieth century.
Emily Malbone Morgan was born on December 10, 1862, in Hartford, Connecticut. Her family were prominent Hartford citizens and their Anglican roots ran deep on both sides of her family.
A primary inspiration for Morgan was her friendship with Adelyn Howard. Howard was homebound and because of her confinement sought Morgan’s support for both spiritual companionship and as a means by which she could offer intercessory prayer for others. In response to her friend’s need, Morgan called together a small group of women for prayer and companionship. From that beginning, the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross came into being.
Morgan had a particular concern for working women who were tired, restless, and who had little hope for a vacation. In response, Morgan, with the help of a growing number of her Companions, developed summer vacation houses across the Northeast where working women and their daughters could have some time away for physical and spiritual renewal and refreshment.
In 1901, the Society established a permanent home in Byfield, Massachusetts. With the construction of new facilities on the site in 1915, it took the name Adelynrood, which continues to exist as the headquarters and retreat center of the Society.
Morgan never married; she and her sisters in the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross lived a life of prayer, contemplation, and social justice, particularly for women. She died on February 27th, 1937. - https://prayer.forwardmovement.org/calendar/emily-malbone-morgan
"I am studying one of these texts which hangs under the picture of Fra Angelico's "Paradiso." It is illumined with many yellow butterflies just born from ugly shapes, and which have fluttered from darkness into light. They fly in and out of a text assertive of a joy yet to be, when we shall have passed from ugliness and all that mars life here to perfect beauty and from shadows into the endless sunshine of a radiant day. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."
Born this day in 1945 – Allan Boesak, South African cleric and politician.
"God speaks, but always in the voice of the voiceless, the defenceless, the powerless. If the powerful do not hear God in this way, they will not hear God at all."
"Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. As long as one person suffers unjustly, the whole world suffers. The existence of injustice, violence, and exploitation contaminates and diminishes the whole human community."
"There are clear and predictable consequences for the world if human beings continue to rape the earth and plunder its resources; to exploit, oppress, and dominate the weak and the poor for the sake of greed and the hunger for power; to depend on ever-rising levels of violence and ever more lethal instruments of death and destruction in order to secure positions of power and privilege."
"There are wars in this world, not because wars are the will of God but because of greed and arrogance, the lust for power and domination. There is hunger not merely because there is lack of food, but because of political and economic policies that foster inequality of the distribution of resources, because of one-sided control of world markets by powerful nations who refuse to enter seriously in the search for a more just, equitable, and sustainable economic order."
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me; do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there, since there are five more years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have will not come to poverty.’
And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them, and after that his brothers talked with him.
He had; his brothers may have.
We are not the same people we used to be. That is true of others as well.
The intention of evil is not the last word about how the events of our life will pave the way for the future.
The old passes. The new comes.
Evil deeds and people pass away.
Psalm 37:1–11, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Do not fret because of the wicked;
do not be envious of wrongdoers,
for they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.
Trust in the Lord and do good;
live in the land and enjoy security.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make your vindication shine like the light
and the justice of your cause like the noonday.
Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;
do not fret over those who prosper in their way,
over those who carry out evil devices.
Refrain from anger and forsake wrath.
Do not fret — it leads only to evil.
For the wicked shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.
Psalm 37:39–40, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
he is their refuge in the time of trouble.
The Lord helps them and rescues them;
he rescues them from the wicked and saves them
because they take refuge in him.
Flaws do not define outcomes or the long view. What is temporarily a hindrance, may be the gateway to new possibilities.
That was a major factor in his success. In every bad situation, Joseph bloomed wherever he was planted.
Later on, Jesus would expand upon this lesson, calling us to its radical implications.
“But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
The doctrine of resurrection blows all preliminary assessments of success and failure out of the water.
It is the ultimate game-changer.
1 Corinthians 15:35–38, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen and to each kind of seed its own body.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the physical and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. As one of dust, so are those who are of the dust, and as one of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the one of dust, we will also bear the image of the one of heaven.
What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
What will you do with this?
Your most important tools for people skills are located on the two sides of your head.
On this day, February 20, — Adolf Hitler secretly met with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party’s upcoming election campaign.
Many had business ties to companies in the United States.
On this day in 1939 — Madison Square Garden Nazi rally: The largest ever pro-Nazi rally in United States history is convened in Madison Square Garden, New York City, with 20,000 members and sympathizers of the German American Bund present.
The event took place two days before George Washington’s Birthday, as a pro- Americanism” rally.
What did these 20,000 people think “Americanism” was?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:German_-_American_Bund_Rally_Address_by_Its_Leader_Fritz_Kuhn.mp3
Thank heavens for better news a few years later.
On this day in 1943 — The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.
“In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.The third is freedom from want — which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear — which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt[
In the 80s, I was introduced to hospice through the Vesper Society.
As President Jimmy Carter entered Hospice Care over a year before his death, I was reminded of what a gift hospice is to those who are traveling their last miles and to their families.
Hospice allows people a dignity that hospital and curative care denies them.
It emphasizes living over the avoidance of death.
It seeks comfort and warmth for the person who is more than a patient. It facilitates as much family care and normality as possible.
It is the loving, gracious answer to excessive tubes, pain, and procedures that simply prolong existence for a short time..
"Gene Heckathorn and Bob Cummings had a driving desire to be of service in their community. The two businessmen dreamed of lay people, like themselves, living out their faith in the world, using their skills for the betterment of humankind. They traveled all over the country doing management consulting with nonprofit and church organizations."
"One day in May 1965, Heckathorn and Cummings were comparing notes about their work over dinner at a Philadelphia restaurant, named Vesper Club. They began to sketch out an organizational chart and their idea for a network of lay people on the back of their dinner placemat. What resulted was Vesper Society, named after the restaurant and to reflect the network concept they had created. And so began the first fifty years." - Source, https://vesper.org/our-first-50-years/our-founders-stories/
Vesper was looking for volunteer chaplains and they came to me at the right time.
I found a compassionate community of doctors, nurses, caregivers, therapists, and volunteers who truly cared for the families they served. At Vesper and other agencies where I volunteered, I rubbed shoulders with finest of humanity.
I also met wonderful travelers who were completing their earthly journey and had lessons to impart as well as their precious families.
How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days
He used the constitution to shatter the constitution.
Follow this link to get a gift of this article which is a timely warning to all who value democratic principles and love what this country aspires to be,
via wednesdayinamerica.blogspot.com
https://wednesdayinamerica.blogspot.com/2025/02/this-is-one-of-most-important-pieces-of.html
There is more to democracy than voting on the first Tuesday of November. We must participate on Wednesday.
No matter who is in power in the White House, the Congress, or the Courts, they need supervision, accountability, transparency, oversight, and regulation. That involves the press, the academy, and you.
Ultimately, it is you.
There is no substitute for you. You are the collective king of the USA. You are the government. ("...of the people, by the people, for the people ..." Does that ring a bell?). You are the authority, and you are the "anointed ones."
So, vigilance is required and that involves being educated, considering the rational of the "other side," and being involved the public discourse.
Since I pay my annual subscription to this publication, I am allowed to give you the gift of this article to consider as you consider other things as well.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/hitler-germany-constitution-authoritarianism/681233/?gift=iMJg-7IJTfexsLg-Vif3j6X5d3QrTesvCu3y1M1vXOk&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
And for those of you who hear and regard the prophetic voices of Jewish and Christian scriptures:
On this day, February 16, in 1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago).
The BBS was my first introduction to being online. The modem was connect to the phone line and you dialed each board from your terminal program. The number of people online with a BBS depended on the number of phone lines going into the host computer that was run by a sysop. These lines were called "nodes."
1-2 nodes was common. 10 was a huge system.
Message networks like Fido enabled people to send emails and messages across the country and world with a system of telephone relays to upload and download "packets" of data for both email and message boards.
It was so exciting and addictive!
Or YouTube
Blessings and Curses
You might say that blessings and curses are two different experiences of the same reality. The ultimate reality is God, revealed, present, speaking, acting in history, confronting us in our lives. The experience of God is how we respond.
That determines whether an encounter with God is a blessing or a curse.
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Those who trust the Lord are like trees
Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD. They shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse-- who can understand it? I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.
So, we have trees and bushes here.
Trees trust God. Bushes trust mortals.
Psalm 1
Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
or sit in the seat of scoffers,
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
The wicked are not so
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous,
for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Here, we have trees that prosper and trees that perish.
One trusts and delights in God's ways and words. The other in the counsel of the wicked.
What does Jesus say?
Luke 6:17-26
He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
“Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
For Jesus, there are the simple folks who are coming to him with real life problems and trusting him to bring them healing and meaning. On the other hand, there are the self sufficient ones, who are avoiding their own vulnerabilities and rejecting any feeling for the poor and broken of the world.
"I am fine. Why aren't you?"
Is there a common thread?
The Number two is in common.
There are two lenses through which we view our realities, desires, and values.
“… his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” – Psalm 1:2 (KJV)
Delight and meditation are the two greatest determinants of a healthy digestion of scripture in our lives. They enable us to allow the Word of God to get into every area of our lives and transform us into strong, stable followers of Jesus.
We stand strong, bring forth fruit, experience ongoing vitality, and prosper in those things that we are prompted by the Spirit of God to do.
When we delight in God’s Word, we hunger and thirst for it. We are drawn toward it. We crave it and enjoy it. We find warmth and light in it. We find ourselves getting excited about new insights and glimpses into the heart of God.
That is how we take it in.
Then, we mediate upon it. We receive it and we take a stroll with it, mulling it over, praying about it, and applying it to our lives.
Oh to be so captivated by a single verse in a day that it grips the soul and sinks deeply into our consciousness! If we could live with that morsel of spiritual food for a day and properly assimilate it into our lives, we would be taken to a new plane.
“For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous.” (KJV)
In our delight and meditation, we are not merely engaging in mental exercise. God is present and aware and He enters into the process.
Open the Word. Let your eyes take it into your heart. Find the joy in what you receive. Then turn it over and over in your thoughts until it marinates your entire being.
You will be blessed.
In today's epistle from 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, there is a great resolution, and it is in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of resurrection for his people.
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
Let’s end where we began:
You might say that blessings and curses are two different experiences of the same reality. The ultimate reality is God, revealed, present, speaking, acting in history, confronting us in our lives. The experience of God is how we respond.
That determines whether an encounter with God is a blessing or a curse.
That is a choice.
Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a bishop – in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians. He was martyred on February 14, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine since 496 AD.
"Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair."—G.K. Chesterton
First Love
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” - I John 2:15-16
“Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. “- Revelation 2:4
Valentine’s Day is a strange holiday. Children pass out cards to every member of their classes that pledge deep friendship and love to every friend and acquaintance. Youths plot to present the ideal gift to some object of affection – not too much, not to little, not too formal, not to personal – something just right that sends just the right message. Adults act like giddy teens and golden aged couples slip flowers and candy to each other with twinkling eyes.
It was on Valentine’s Day that the intensity of some of your first loves reached boiling point. It was do or die day. Love was in the air. It was thick. Emotions were strong. Warm, oozy, sappy feelings mingled with euphoria. Later, the mind and heart wandered and the fever of first love diminished into an ember. Other interests vied for attention and went moved on to different things and people.
First loves must remain pure and focused in spite of our lack of focus and propensity for clutter. We are so easily distracted as we chase thrills and new experiences. But it is not a wider experience we need as much as a deeper one. Loving the world may seem to broaden us, but it is a false love and poor substitute for our first love. We need to return to our love relationship with Jesus Christ. Remember that we can grow deeper in love, but we can never grow deeper than love.
Lord Jesus may Your love flow through me today and back to You. I am incapable of the love that You deserve, but Your love within me and through me is all I need to draw me closer to You.
Valentine’s Day: Sharing the Glory
“And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.” - Revelation 21:10
Someone once said that no experience in his life was complete until he had shared it with His beloved.
As children, we rushed home to our moms and dads with every piece of good news from the day at school. As teens, we called our best friends as soon as possible. When God brought that special someone into our lives, if we have been so blessed, we desired nothing more than to disclose every wonderful event to him or her. Throughout our lives there have been people attached to us who were so precious that we wanted to share ourselves, our hopes, our dreams, our victories, and our sorrows with them.
In such a spirit, Jesus took some of his dearest friends to the mountain. Up until this point, they had seen him as a man – an extraordinary man. But now, he wanted to show a little more of himself to them – and what they would see would startle and amaze them.
When was the last time the Holy Spirit took you to a high mountain to see what He was bringing to pass in God’s purposes? Whatever God prepares, He does so according to His will in Heaven so that the sincerest and purest prayer of the believer may be, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Our God is at work and He is meeting with us in worship to give us a glimpse of His glory. He does this that we might join Him and be willingly led by His Spirit wherever His Spirit leads.
It is all about love – God’s love for us and our response in love toward Him.
One more note: Have you shared the most important part of yourself - Christ in you the hope of glory – with those you love most? How about this week as a Valentine’s gift?
Love Is More than Enough
"Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied." - Jude 1:2
Jimmy thought about it for a long time. What could he do this year to express the depth of his love for Jennifer? Afterall, it was Valentines’ Day. He always did flowers and treats. Most of the time, they had a nice dinner at her favorite restaurant. Once, they went to the beach and walked along the shore.
It rained and was chilly, but it did not matter. How could he top that?
She was the love of his life, a gift from Heaven, a rock of encouragement, and the very beauty of his eyes.
Jennifer was having the same thoughts. Jimmy was her support, her moral compass, her accepting partner in life who could make her laugh like no one else could.
But it was a tough year. Bills had piled up from unexpected medical procedures. Time off from work had depleted savings. They had taken out a second mortgage on their home of thirteen years.
Things were looking bleak. Jennifer was practical. Jimmy was romantic.
This year, Jennifer was feeling warm and romantic about little things and Jimmy was forced to feel and act with an uncharacteristic practicality.
“We need to talk,” Jimmy said on the phone before he left the office.
“We do,” replied Jennifer.”
“It’s Valentines’ Day coming up.”
“I know. What are we going to do? Do we really want to spend money we don’t have to remind each other how much we love each other?”
“I need no reminder. I love you more today than ever. Can I give you an IOU this year?”
“You just did. And it is the best gift I have ever received.”
At that point neither remembered who had said what. Their hearts were on the same page.
Love.
Be My Valentine
“Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.” – Song of Solomon 1:15
The Song of Songs has enough one-liners to fill dozens of Valentine cards.
What a celebration of love and marriage!
Through the eyes of the bride for the groom and the groom for the bride, there is nothing but beauty. Their hearts beat with loving desire for each other. They feast upon everything that makes up who the other person is.
They are deeply, passionately, overwhelmingly in love with each other.
That seems to be the main idea of the book. Human romantic love is good in God’s eyes. It is God’s idea and He not only sanctions it; He inspires it and celebrates it with us.
After all, without it, it might be hard for His plan and directive to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth to be accomplished.
Some preachers and devotional writers have spiritualized it and presented it as an allegory of the love between God and His people or Christ and His church.
That would be a legitimate application by extension since there are biblical comparisons to such a relationship using marriage as a launchpad for understanding the depth of God’s love for humanity and His call for us to love Him.
But none of that takes away from the immediate context.
Solomon is in love and his bride loves him back and the whole nation celebrates and rejoices in that love.
Not everyone in the world has someone special to share life with, but we can all live in God’s love and we can commemorate the romantic love around us that has brought us into being and points us to the deeper love that we can know in Christ.
So, Happy Valentine’s Day!
“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - ” – Romans 8:39
Nothing can separate the believer from the relentless, persevering, and all pervasive love of God.
St. Valentines Day is an odd feast for little is known of its namesake. In fact, there were several martyred saints by the name of Valentinus. Most notable, perhaps, was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius the Goth. He was arrested and imprisoned for two offenses: marrying Christian couples and aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted in Rome.
Sweethearts claim the day today as a celebration of martial and pre-marital love and devotion. It is rightly a time to reaffirm the sacred vows of matrimony and lift of the sanctity of godly family life.
It is also a time to reflect upon the love of God of which every human love is a dim reflection. It is God’s love that never lets us go and sees us through all manner of trial, tribulation, and persecution.
After his sister’s wedding George Mattheson entered into a time of deep pain and despair. As a direct result of his mental anguish, he felt God dictating the words of this great hymn:
“ O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, That in thine ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be.”
An Everlasting Love
Behold, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. - Jeremiah 31:3
Sentimentality suggests that human love can be eternal. In the genre of romance literature, film, opera, and popular music, the theme is often repeated with lyrical style and sweet harmony. We come to believe that “true love” lasts forever without great effort, commitment, or struggle.
The fact is that human love is fickle, self-serving, and often lazy. Separation may not make the heart grow fonder; it may in fact, make it wander. Hard times often drive a wedge between even the most starry eyed lovers. Many a marriage, friendship, business relationship, or family tie has been severed over some petty disagreement. Harsh words have been the precipitating cause of animosity between people. Even churches have split over selfish and petty disagreements. Where is the everlasting love?
Only God’s love is eternal for God is the ultimate lover who, though spurned, loves on.
“God is love,” and “God so loved the world …” These are expressions of His very nature and yet, it cost God to love so profoundly and so persistently. We see some of that price paid on the cross. It is expressed in the real life allegory of Hosea’s life and God taught the prophet the meaning of unconditional, relentless love.
If we are going to experience long-lasting love, we have to connect with the source. A relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ is essential to building life-long relationships that can weather the storms of life. From God we learn that real love is a commitment of time, energy, and faithful service to another person. It is work, but it is worthy of all our effort and stubborn perseverance.
We are amazed that God would love us as He does. We are encouraged that He can teach us to love. The man we know as St. Valentine is one of about three historical characters who performed many, many weddings – but it is God Himself who can make a relationship stand the test of time. Trust Him and His everlasting love and let His love be the endless supply of love, through you to others.
Again I Say, “Rejoice!”
Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
You can’t say this enough – so Paul says it many times, “Rejoice!”
It is the natural response to joy and joy is the natural progression of grace in our lives. It is giddy, chuckle joy, the kind that giggles and sings and sets the heart to rhythm
It is gratitude and evangelism and worship wrapped up in one all encompassing emotion of inner gladness. It is command and promise in one admonition. It is Christmas and Easter and New Year’s Day mingled with the Fourth of July and St. Valentine’s Day exploding exponentially into a chorus of praise to God.
It is perpetual. Rejoice in the Lord, ALWAYS! That means whatever the passing emotion of the moment, no matter how deep the despair or bitter the defeat, no matter how lonely one may be, disheartened, disappointed, or discouraged, rejoice! Whatever the circumstances of one’s life, the great motivation for rejoicing is a joy so deep and enduring that it surpasses all sorrow.
It’s not about “fake it till you make it,” although there may be a way of understanding that advice that can be helpful. Nor is it about any sort of superficial gladness. It is about connecting to something real, permanent, and spiritually authentic that never changes,
It is Christ in you the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
Experiencing God's Love in God's Word
"Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word." Psalm 119:41
We are about to commemorate Valentine's Day, the holiday devoted to the celebration of romantic love. The word used in the psalm for mercies can also be translated, "unfailing love." It is the love of those who are in covenant together. It is the Hebrew equivalent of "agape," love that is unfailing, unconditional, and unbounded. It is the highest and best of love and that to which all human love aspires. It is the grandest romance of all, for God is the suitor wooing His people unto Himself through His precious love letters in the scriptures.
The romance of scripture gripped King David so profoundly that he had to sing about it. He sings the praises of God's salvation through His Word. In the next few verses he describes God's salvation revealed in scriptures.
By embracing the mercies of God found in the scriptures, we are filled with confidence and have an answer for every critic according to verse 42. We can speak His Word freely because our hope is in Him according to verse 43. Finally, because of His Word lovingly imparted to us and embraced in obedience, we can walk about in freedom according to verse 45.
Imagine any human love bringing such benefits to our lives. It would be the stuff of ballads ... and it is.
Such love is something about which we cannot keep silent and we will speak of it before kings according to verse 46. As human love is the topic of so much art, so many novels, and countless musical compositions, so God's love becomes the topic of conversation as David meets with kings. At the bottom line of God's love for us communicated in His Word and our love for God in receiving His Word is delight:
"And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes." (verses 47-48)
My Notes
Fungus family
mycology (from the Greek μύκης mykes, mushroom)
148,000 species
Growth is their means of mobility
decomposers - nutrient cycling and exchange
“Sixty percent of the enzymes used in industry are generated by fungi, and fifteen percent of all vaccines are produced by engineered strains of yeast.”
― Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
most fungi are inconspicuous but they are everywhere
Leavening agent through fermentation in foods
used in antibiotics
detergents
pesticides
recreational and spiritual uses
very diverse
network
symbiotic relationships
evolve
“all life-forms are in fact processes not things.”
― Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
"If a healthy soil is full of death, it is also full of life: worms, fungi, microorganisms of all kinds ... Given only the health of the soil, nothing that dies is dead for very long." - Wendell Berry
"Which is better: to have fun with fungi or to have Idiocy with ideology, to have wars because of words, to have tomorrow's misdeeds out of yesterday's miscreeds?" -Aldous Huxley
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the peoples, but the LORD shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” — Isaiah 60:1–3
Every day is the beginning of a a new year, when you will be turning the pages of the calendar and making some decisions emotionally. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future? Are you embracing the passages of time or shunning them with fear and apprehension?
For every genuine human emotion, there is a superficial counterfeit. There is a kind of optimism that denies the reality of darkness and projects a positive facade in the hope that it will become real through some miracle of manipulation. That is not what God is evoking in this call to hope.
The reality is that darkness has covered the earth from time to time in her history as a precursor of the pervasive darkness of the last days. It is also true that out of that darkness, the brightest hopes and the most brilliant sunrises have emerged.
We are a people of bright prospects. We do not deny the darkness nor seek to squelch it with artificial light. Nor do we focus on its power because it is fading and receding. The true light has come and we gaze upon it with the eyes of faith.
“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” -I John 1:5
The great spectacle of His rising over us and within our hearts is a beacon in the darkness to the nations. As the children sing, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine,” so let us live with hope and genuine optimism.
Rise heart!
Your Lord is risen.
Sing His praise.
Sing His praise without delays.
- George Herbert
“Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.
“Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.”
The time has come for shouting and not holding back. The prophetic moment has arrived. The Word of God is laser focused on our day in history and upon us who profess to be the people of God. God is calling out a new radicalism (radix = root), rooted in His heartbeat for justice, mercy, and compassion. Those who would follow the prophetic, pastoral, praise/liturgical, and priestly/gospel word to the church today will be considered a peculiar people.
The Word bears down upon the hearts of the religious, the practitioners of holy days and sacred fasts. It points to the hearts of men and women who are pious, devout, and diligent about sacerdotal duties. It pierces and it indicts.
It raises the question of what sort of fasting and religious exercise pleases God and what sort does not.
God is contemptuous of our religious activity if, while we practice it, we are contemptuous of the poor, the powerless, the disenfranchised, the oppressed, and the broken people of this world. If we practice or benefit from the practice of marginalizing groups of people or individuals, He is not impressed with our most heartfelt cries of devotion or sacrificial acts of self-denial.
God wants to see action and it looks a lot like justice, mercy, and compassion.
The fast He chooses and that which honors Him and pleases Him, is the kind that liberates people. It is the kind of fast that mobilizes His people to make a difference in the world.
He wants us to leave our houses of worship with a renewed commitment to stand with “the least of these,” and to love our neighbors as ourselves. He wants us to walk away from our transcended moments and enter into the pain and suffering of the world. He wants us to walk out of our assemblies to stand by those who stand alone or as targets for insult, persecution, bigotry, or any other form of injustice.
This will convince God that we have truly fasted and truly worshiped.
Here is the PROPHETIC word.
We need repairers of breaches and restorers of streets today.
Sometimes, you are just a lone voice in the wilderness.
Peaching to Deaf Ears
(A fisherman, a king, and a prophet)
Isaiah 6:1–13
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1–11
Luke 5:1–11
1.Whelming flood of emotions in the presence of God
2. Overwhelming sense of his own sin
3. Earnest desire to be made right
1. Visible
2. Available — vail — useable
3. Volunteer
1.Until judgment gets their attention and then,
2. Until they listen, return, and are redeemed.
In order to comment on some issues, one must define what the real issues are.
If one is inclined to believe that no "position" can define the "issue," then it is difficult to find any basis for conversation.
First, there must be definition and, when definition is established, it is often found that there is no issue. But that requires quite a bit of un-boxed thinking and a "radicalism" that goes to the radix/root - a process that is much too difficult for most of us whose roots go too deeply into the mud of traditionalism and the sands of connotation.
For others of us, the strange, the rabble-rousing few, no position is comfortable because all seem essentially off-center.
In 2022, suicide took the lives of 49000 people in the USA alone. Depression affects about 20 million people in the USA, 350 million worldwide.
Mental health disorders are serious issues in our culture, and it is important that we have open conversation about their existence and that we show support to those who are battling them.
“Please Stay” is an anthem for hope — an attempt to destigmatize mental illness and challenge all of us to support those who are battling depression and thoughts of suicide. You are not alone. We can make a difference. We can be the support system that saves a life.
Give voice to hope: Share your #ReasonsToStay social media along with #PleaseStay
A portion of the proceeds from this work will be donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
[For some people, depression may lead to thoughts of suicide. Try to remember that you don’t have to act on these thoughts, no matter how overwhelming they might be.
If you’re considering ending your life, it’s important that you talk to someone right away. If you’re in a crisis, you can also call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1–800–273-TALK to get immediate help.
Thus says the Lord:
Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.
Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil.
Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, "The Lord will surely separate me from his people" and do not let the eunuch say, "I am just a dry tree."
For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant-- these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.
Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"
Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.
Then they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
He said to them, "Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him."
Save me, O God, *
for the waters have risen up to my neck.
I am sinking in deep mire, *
and there is no firm ground for my feet.
I have come into deep waters, *
and the torrent washes over me.
I have grown weary with my crying; my throat is inflamed; *
my eyes have failed from looking for my God.
Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; my lying foes who would destroy me are mighty. *
Must I then give back what I never stole?
O God, you know my foolishness, *
and my faults are not hidden from you.
Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, Lord God of hosts; *
let not those who seek you be disgraced because of me, O God of Israel.
Surely, for your sake have I suffered reproach, *
and shame has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my own kindred, *
an alien to my mother’s children.
Zeal for your house has eaten me up; *
the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me.
I humbled myself with fasting, *
but that was turned to my reproach.
I put on sack-cloth also, *
and became a byword among them.
Those who sit at the gate murmur against me, *
and the drunkards make songs about me.
But as for me, this is my prayer to you, *
at the time you have set, O Lord:
“In your great mercy, O God, *
answer me with your unfailing help.
Save me from the mire; do not let me sink; *
let me be rescued from those who hate me and out of the deep waters.
Let not the torrent of waters wash over me, neither let the deep swallow me up; *
do not let the Pit shut its mouth upon me.
Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind; *
in your great compassion, turn to me.”
“Hide not your face from your servant; *
be swift and answer me, for I am in distress.
Draw near to me and redeem me; *
because of my enemies deliver me.
You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; *
my adversaries are all in your sight.”
Reproach has broken my heart, and it cannot be healed; *
I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I could find no one.
They gave me gall to eat, *
and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.
[Let the table before them be a trap *
and their sacred feasts a snare.
Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, *
and give them continual trembling in their loins.
Pour out your indignation upon them, *
and let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.
Let their camp be desolate, *
and let there be none to dwell in their tents.
For they persecute him whom you have stricken *
and add to the pain of those whom you have pierced.
Lay to their charge guilt upon guilt, *
and let them not receive your vindication.
Let them be wiped out of the book of the living *
and not be written among the righteous.]
As for me, I am afflicted and in pain; *
your help, O God, will lift me up on high.
I will praise the Name of God in song; *
I will proclaim his greatness with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord more than an offering of oxen, *
more than bullocks with horns and hoofs.
The afflicted shall see and be glad; *
you who seek God, your heart shall live.
For the Lord listens to the needy, *
and his prisoners he does not despise.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him, *
the seas and all that moves in them;
For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; *
they shall live there and have it in possession.
The children of his servants will inherit it, *
and those who love his Name will dwell therein.
"I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations." - Isaiah 56:7 "Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord." - Jeremiah 7:11 "Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, 'It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.'” - Matthew 21:12-13
"Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt." - Exodus 22:21
“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt." - Exodus 23:12
“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them." - Leviticus 19:33
"The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God." - Leviticus 19:34
“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.” - Leviticus 23:22
"You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.” - Leviticus 24:22
“Hear my prayer, Lord, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were." - Psalm 39:12
"The Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners will join them and unite with the descendants of Jacob." - Isaiah 14:11
"Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, 'The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.' And let no eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.'” - Isaiah 56:3
"Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?" - Luke 17:18
"In the Law it is written: 'With other tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.'” - I Corinthians 14:21
"... remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world ... Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household ..." - Ephesians 2:12,19
"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth." - Hebrews 11:13
"Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear." - I Peter 1:17
"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:28
"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." - Hebreews 13:2
“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” - Mark 9:37
"By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient." - Hebrews 11:31
"... and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." - II Peter 1:11
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Emma Lazarus
"But when I thought how to understand this,it seemed to me a wearisome task,until I went into the sanctuary of God;then I discerned their end." (Psalm 73:16-17 ESV)
The horns of the wicked and the horns of the righteous are made of the same sort of stuff, but represent different approaches to what they represent, honor and power. The righteous seldom strut their stuff. The wicked seldom cease. One shall come to naught and the other shall be exalted. The powers of this age and the ruthlessness of power-grabbing, power-wielding personages and entities shall ultimately fail. Those who seek truth and justice at each junction of choice and each crossroads of intent, regardless of the assessment of rewards, losses, and posturing, shall find that their accounts are being taken care of. They can relax in the sweet rest of righteousness.
"We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, for your name is near.
We recount your wondrous deeds."
“'At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity.
When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,
it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah
I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
do not lift up your horn on high,
or speak with haughty neck.'’”
''For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.
For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup
with foaming wine, well mixed,
and he pours out from it,
and all the wicked of the earth
shall drain it down to the dregs.''
''But I will declare it forever;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.''
- Psalm 75 (ESV)
Do you ever speak out of both sides of your mouth?
Do you ever accuse other people of doing the same?
Is it possible that they are, while seeming to contradict themself, getting at something deeper and more paradoxical?
Paul says, in one sentence that we should bear one another's' burdens.
Then, a bit later, he says that everyone has to bear their own burden.
There is no magical Greek solution here. It is a paradox ... two seemingly opposite truths that are both true at the same time.
My attitude toward your burden must be that I am here to help in any way that I can that will not harm you or rob you of your dignity and responsibility.
My attitude toward my own burden must be that I am responsible to do my part and carry my load.
That would seem very confusing to me except for one thing: I have had role models who have fleshed that beautifully for me as they have lived out their lives in my presence.
Read on:
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Galatians 5:25-6:10 (NRSV):
"If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit."
"Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another."
"My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. "
"
Take care that you yourselves are not tempted"
"Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Take a Paul Pause in Your Reading
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Tom's question and comment:
What is "the law of Christ?"
Answer: LOVE
Back to Paul:
"For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor's work, will become a cause for pride."
"For all must carry their own loads."
"Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher."
"Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit."
"So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up."
"So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith."
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Sow in the Spirit.
Live in the Spirit.
Be guided by the Spirit.
Do good to others.
Carry your load.
Help others carry their load.
Don't give up.
Harvest time is coming!
Prophecy - προφητεία - is "forth-telling" rather than just "fore-telling."
It is speaking truth forward in proclamation and even in speaking encouragement toward a future reality that is understood through insights that God gives.
It is not clairvoyance or mere prediction. It is laying out a reality and applying a scriptural promise in a setting or to a people who need the a word of hope and promise.
It is an interpretive gift that creates an "aha!" moment in the heart of the hearer who is truly prepared by God to receive the message.
True prophecy begins with what God wants to say to a person, people, or situation, usually flows directly from scripture and always in accordance with scripture, is surgically applied, and is received with recognition. It is not fortune telling and it will not help you win the lottery, but it can encourage a discouraged heart and edify a wounded soul.
The world has always been indifferent and hostile to the values of those who center their core convictions in the prophetic and merciful Word of God. That will continue and so will our mandate to speak truth to power, stand with the oppressed, be misunderstood, be in a minority, and be faithful to truth.
No political system represents us.
We are sojourners, We are peculiar people.
We pray for our leaders and pray with hope that hearts and policies can be shaped by truth. We also must hold every system accountable for justice in unpopular causes and for marginalized people who are mistrusted and hated. Whoever you supported leading up to yesterday, you have a big job ahead if you will truly follow Jesus in the areas of His biases - to pray - act- speak - and sometimes resist. Our King is in the midst and He is King.
"God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
'How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.'"
(Psalm 82:1-4 ESV)
I am a member of a club that requires some high dues.
But I am also learning how to wait and not to pursue things that do not satisfy.
No great changes have ever resulted from head shaking bobble heads murmuring "ain't it awful" and never moving beyond.
Kingdom style change comes from people switching from a governance of self centeredness to one of servanthood.
We need to stop kidding ourselves that we are the monarchs of the sea and sky!
We are a people governed by the Caller who has issued a higher calling to us.
"I came not to be served, but to serve." - Jesus
Kingdom is governance.
Entering a kingdom means coming under that governance. I have let many different things govern me.
The extent to which I've entered the Kingdom of God is not about whether I am saved, but how much I'm governed by the King.
Luigi Alois Gillarduzzi Hagar und Ismael in der Wüste 1851
They were homeless refugees.
They were hungry and rejected.
God allowed it to happen, but then, God intervened and embraced them.
God heard the prayer of a little boy and the cry of his mother.
He provided.
God loves Hagar and Ishmael.
No one is excluded from the love of God.
from Genesis 21:1-21
"... Then she [Hagar] went and sat down opposite him [Ishmael] a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Do not let me look on the death of the child."
And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.
And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is."
"Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him."
Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Do I Matter?
You may be asking that whenever you hear me or others say something like "Black lives matter" with passion, conviction, and tears.
Of course you matter.
You matter to God.
You matter to me.
Yes, I can affirm that all lives matter, but the God who sees us as He saw Hagar and Ishmael tends to be both specific and general in His declarations of love.
You matter ..
Your life, your pain, your history, your dreams.
You.
Indigenous lives matter.
"White" lives matter.
Lonely lives matter.
Broken lives matter.
Criminal lives matter.
Police lives matter.
John's life matters as do the lives of Mary, Sal, Jim, and . Letisha.
I missed many.
But God misses none.
He calls them out in groups and individually as needed and whenever there is a loss of balance or need of emphasis or any hint that those lives might not matter as much as others.
If you cannot single someone out who has been singled out for exclusion, the word "all" does not mean much.
And, when that happens, someone, somewhere is going to feel insecure, forgotten, or marginalized.
God has not forgotten you.
God loves you.
I love you.
I have some very strong views and plan to express them in ways that may seem very opinionated. I filter them through a long and devoted commitment to hearing the voice of God in scripture while reading the past and the present.
It does not make me always right, but it tends to make me feel I am more right than wrong about some things ... My perspective.
But that does not mean I can build a curtain around myself, my views, and those who share them, excluding all others and saying, "only our lives, perspectives, and words matter."
You matter.
I just wanted to say that today, because I have been struggling with it, leaning into the pain of the moment, how I sense God speaking, calling, and inviting in the moment.
I do not want to live deeply troubled over the fact that I strongly disagree with someone or they with me. Nor do I want to be intimidated by that or obligated to defend every point or convince every person in order for me or they to be ok.
Our capacity to be OK comes from God.
Jesus spoke in capital letters when he emphasized that love for God and neighbor sum up all the law and prophets.
That has never been repealed and ...
... you matter.
Psalm 61 and 62, Isaiah 51: 1-12, Galatians 4::12-20, Mark 8:1-10
https://linktr.ee/tomsims
For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. — Isaiah 51:3
The God who comforts us has come with song. He has come amidst the sounds of thanksgiving and praise. He has come to a people in anticipation, a people longing for redemption. The God of comfort is He who turns deserts into gardens of delight. It is He who brings salvation and justice. It is He who writes His law upon on hearts. It is He who causes the ransomed captive to return singing. He is the God to whom we give thanks and whose advent we celebrate.
He takes our waste places and makes them flourish. Where are the waste places in your life? What of your hopes have you written off as hopeless? In what dimensions of your existence have you relinquished your dreams? These are your waste places. Into these wastelands comes the Messiah of Israel, your comforter.
Where is your wilderness? Change its name to Eden. By faith embrace the new day that God is bringing to you. Embrace Him in the desert and watch the flowers of new life bloom around you.
Sing with joy. Sing with gladness, Make melody in your heart. This is the day of thanksgiving. This is the time of refreshment. This is the time when longings swell into a chorus of fulfillment. The Day of the Lord is near.
Every Advent season reminds us that He has indeed come. Every year we remember that as He once departed, He will come again in the clouds of glory.
This is our blessed hope. We welcome Him anew every Christmas season on the heels of Thanksgiving. We look back and we look forward. We are blessed with the big picture, but we also know that there is more to come.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Psalm 61
Hear my cry, O God, *
and listen to my prayer.
I call upon you from the ends of the earth
with heaviness in my heart; *
set me upon the rock that is higher than I.
For you have been my refuge, *
a strong tower against the enemy.
I will dwell in your house for ever; *
I will take refuge under the cover of your wings.
For you, O God, have heard my vows; *
you have granted me the heritage of those who fear your Name.
Add length of days to the king’s life; *
let his years extend over many generations.
Let him sit enthroned before God for ever; *
bid love and faithfulness watch over him.
So will I always sing the praise of your Name, *
and day by day I will fulfill my vows.Psalm 62
For God alone my soul in silence waits; *
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, *
my stronghold, so that I shall not be greatly shaken.
How long will you assail me to crush me,
all of you together, *
as if you were a leaning fence, a toppling wall?
They seek only to bring me down from my place of honor; *
lies are their chief delight.
They bless with their lips, *
but in their hearts they curse.
For God alone my soul in silence waits; *
truly, my hope is in him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, *
my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken.
In God is my safety and my honor; *
God is my strong rock and my refuge.
Put your trust in him always, O people, *
pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge.
Those of high degree are but a fleeting breath, *
even those of low estate cannot be trusted.
On the scales they are lighter than a breath, *
all of them together.
Put no trust in extortion;
in robbery take no empty pride; *
though wealth increase, set not your heart upon it.
God has spoken once, twice have I heard it, *
that power belongs to God.
Steadfast love is yours, O Lord, *
for you repay everyone according to his deeds.Isa. 52:1-12
Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for the uncircumcised and the unclean shall enter you no more. Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, O captive Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter Zion! For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. For thus says the Lord God: Long ago, my people went down into Egypt to reside there as aliens; the Assyrian, too, has oppressed them without cause. Now therefore what am I doing here, says the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Their rulers howl, says the Lord, and continually, all day long, my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
Gal. 4:12-20
Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. You know that it was because of a physical infirmity that I first announced the gospel to you; though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me, but welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What has become of the goodwill you felt? For I testify that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them. It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
Mark 8:1-10
In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way-- and some of them have come from a great distance." His disciples replied, "How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?" He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%208%3A1-
It’s not always a problem to get a lot of boos from the crowd.
Sometimes it’s a badge of honor because what you’ve said is truth, and it resonates, and it goes against the spirit of denial and falsehood and the prevailing lie that people have bought into in the common narrative.
However, often times the boos are as a result of a misunderstanding of what you said and are rooted in absolute lies, and then you don’t know what to think and no one knows what to think because we’ve moved past rationality into the world of the irrational.
Nevertheless, don’t always expect the cheers of the crowd, whether you’re speaking the truth or whether you’re speaking it in such a way that people don’t understand it
You cannot always expect applause. Keep telling the truth.
The years go by so much faster than they used to.
Days start with great expectations and we accomplish less than we set out to accomplish and sometimes more and usually more than we think and we step back and scratch our heads with wonder.
We've come farther than we think and somewhere along the line we've learned to live with the paradoxical, quizzical, quintessential mysteries of coming and going, gaining and losing, moving and standing still. We lose track of time and find ourselves at curious peace with the situation. We live in the flow and know that we cannot set the course of the river.
We can resist or we can rest in the grace of the moment, the grace of God.
We can breath deeply of the awesome vastness of limitless possibilities and inevitable mortality.
We are so tiny and we are so large. We were lost, but we are found. We wandered and now we are at home. We do not know where the time goes, but we have been blessed to be found in this time and to live out our purpose in time as part of a greater dream.
I Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.
For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.
What is this thing that is greatest of all, that always abides, and is a sign of maturity?
The assignment question is tough because love, though simple in its elegance, is complex and multi-layered in its expression. It is too magnificent to reduce to words and too basic to everything to say much about.
Furthermore, the best that can be said about love has already been said in scripture and acted upon by Jesus Christ in His life and death.
Perhaps it is easier to begin with what love is not.
It is not a chemical reaction leading to a sudden attraction which is irresistible in its call or insatiable in its appetite.
It is not a warm feeling or a cozy familiar presence on a cold, dark night.
It is not any sort of feeling at all even though it may produce all sorts of feelings from joy to sorrow. Love’s emotions can be nurturing and comforting, but they can also be troubling and demanding.
Real love is not the happy, sappy, poetic platitudes of popular music or romantic poetry. We relate to those because we have experienced or long to experience them in the context of love. Yet they do not define, limit, or explain what love is.
Love is deeper.
Love is transcendent while those sentiments are temporal and fleeting. Love endures when they fade. In fact, the Bible says that three things remain. They are faith, hope and love and love is the greatest.
There are four Greek words for love. Two are found in the New Testament. They are phileo and agape. Phileo is affection, love, and even preference. Agape is unconditional love. Both are commanded and commended, but agape is the highest form of love.
The other two are “stergo” and “eros.” Stergo is natural affection. It does not need to be commanded because it flows naturally like familial love or the deep affection between a husband and wife on their wedding day. Eros is real and natural and is the subject of romance and physical relationships where there is strong attraction. These are gifts from God, but not the highest forms of love.
It is agape that the King James Version translates as “charity” in I Corinthians 13. It is agape that Paul describes this way in verses 4-8:
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends
You may have learned part of it this way:
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth
Love “is patient That means that real love is extraordinarily patient. It is manifest in its ability to renew itself in spite of hardship, insult, betrayal, and difficulty. That means we cannot define it as a response to the behavior or love of the person we love. That would be a form of love, but not the core meaning of the deepest kind of love.
“Love is kind.” That means that in all of its truest expressions, love is motivated by the desire to act tenderly, receptively, and graciously toward the other person. In true love, we always wish the other person well and act in that person’s best interests.
One man described the kindness of agape love as dreaming he had thrown himself in front of a moving vehicle to save the life of a “bratty” child who lived next door and whose very site annoyed him. It was God’s love in and through him that wished only kindness for that child. He would sacrifice his own life for that child’s well-being.
It knows no envy. Godly love is not envious of the success of others, even when it comes during times when the one loving is not enjoying the same success. Love can cheer from the sidelines. It is not threatened by others moving ahead. In fact, lovers push people ahead of themselves and rejoice when they get credit for jobs well done.
Love “is not puffed up.” A real lover cannot be a very accomplished sour puss. When pride rules life, one takes oneself too seriously. The humor and joy are depleted because laughing at oneself is not an option. When love rules, the person loving takes a step down in importance and there is freedom to enjoy life.
“Doth not behave itself unseemly.” Love is on its own best behavior. It is not rude. Political correctness is never an issue because agape determines what is done or said. That is why Jesus could sum up the law as a two step process: loving God supremely and loving neighbor as self. When love happens, behavior falls into line.
The bottom line is that agape “seeketh not her own.” Selfishness is outside the realm of love. That is why it is not ruled by emotions or by the responses of other people to our overtures. Those are all secondary to the real act of loving. When one loves, one acts in the best interest of others. Jesus said that in order to come after Him, a person would have to deny elf, take up a cross, and follow Him. To take up ones cross is to do what He did, bear the burdens of others.
Love “is not easily provoked.” Since lovers have demoted themselves to servants and have taken the wind out of their own sails, it is difficult to offend, insult, or inconvenience them. All of these statements are on a continuum because no person has been made perfect in love yet. If we had been, according to John, we would have no fear. Fear is a primary emotion upon which anger is built. Where there is real love, in perfection, there is no fear but the fear of God. Therefore, there is no need to be angry. As people grow in God’s love, they find themselves less and less provoked.
Love “thinketh no evil.” Love rules ones thought life eliminating negative thinking and evil imaginations. To the extent that we are ruled by love, we think the best of others. We see them through God’s eyes. We edify them in our own minds. We expect great things.
Love “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.” A person committed to the love of God and love within relationships does not gloat when others fall or fail. That person does not wish for bad things to happen in order to enjoy some sort of vindication. “I told you so,” is not a loving statement when spoken with vindictiveness or spite. That being said, love and truth walk hand in hand. Sometimes lovers must speak hard truth lovingly because sin and evil cannot be justified by love.
Love “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth.” Love is durable. It gives people the strength to bear up under pressure and stress. It informs ones belief. It nurtures hope for the future. It endures.
People do not fall into real love or out of it. Love does not die. Commitment to loving is abandoned. A promise to love is a promise that can be kept with the help of the One who is the Author and Giver of love. Sometimes relationships do not work and friendships fade, but it is not love that fails. Love endures. To the extent that we have grown in love, are enveloped by love, and are bathed in God’s agape, we love.
To the extent that we love, we act with redemptive and sacrificial compassion.
The last word in love is Jesus on the cross. All that can be said or known about love is present there. As Isaac Watts penned, “Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?”
Of all humanity, only Jesus, who is all God and all man is all perfect in love. He is the shining example. He is the standard. He is the source. He calls us to live lives of love and to invest everything we have and are in the process of loving. As we act in faith, lovingly, He has promised to be with us. He will help us.
Love is a tall order, but it is the most wonderful thing in the world … and beyond.
I responded to a question on a Q and A online forum and I was surprised at my own answer.
Someone asked if we wanted to be remembered when we were gone and I answered what follows. I must say, I was somewhat influenced by conducting a graveside service in an old cemetery that past week and reading some of the gravestones while not recognizing any names.
Well, my name is Tom Sims and my answer is:
Yes, I do (want to be remembered), but I also know that eventually, I will be forgotten.
That is OK.
What I really want is to contribute something that blends with other somethings and makes a difference in the world for good.
Then, I want that new something that is blended with other somethings to take on a life and identity of its own and grow and be remembered for what it is, something positive, affirming, and compassionate.
That is what I really want to be remembered.
Then, if someone thinks of Old Tom, I hope they will think of that. My stone will read the day of my birth and the day of my death, but all the living will have been done in the tiny dash between.
How would you respond?
Text by Horatius Bonar
Fading away like the stars of the morning,
Losing their light in the glorious sun--
Thus would we pass from the earth and its toiling,
Only remembered by what we have done.
Refrain:
Only remembered, only remembered,
Only remembered by what we have done;
Thus would we pass from the earth and its toiling,
Only remembered by what we have done.
Shall we be miss'd though by others succeeded,
Reaping the fields we in springtime have sown?
No, for the sowers may pass from their labors,
Only remembered by what they have done. [Refrain]
Only the truth that in life we have spoken,
Only the seed that on earth we have sown;
These shall pass onward when we are forgotten,
Fruits of the harvest and what we have done. [Refrain]
Oh, when the Saviour shall make up His jewels,
When the bright crowns of rejoicing are won,
Then shall His weary and faithful disciples,
All be remembered by what they have done. [Refrain]
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Horatius Bonar was born at Edinburgh, in 1808. His education was obtained at the High School, and the University of his native city. He was ordained to the ministry, in 1837, and since then has been pastor at Kelso. In 1843, he joined the Free Church of Scotland. His reputation as a religious writer was first gained on the publication of the "Kelso Tracts," of which he was the author. He has also written many other prose works, some of which have had a very large circulation. Nor is he less favorably known as a religious poet and hymn-writer. The three series of "Hymns of Faith and Hope," have passed through several editions. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A. 1872 More at https://hymnary.org/person/Bonar_Horatius
Hebrews 11:13-22
All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.
They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return.
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, "It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you."
He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead-- and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau.
By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, "bowing in worship over the top of his staff."
By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial.
Paraphrase:
They died still Faithing.
Their bucket lists were full, their hope alive.
I Want to Be Known as an Overcomer and an Encourager to Overcomers
"And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,4quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies."– (Hebrews 11:32-34, The Message, Copyright 2002, Eugene Peterson)
3
There are some repeats with different comments.
Isaiah 49:1-12
New International VersionListen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the Lord called me;
from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
and my reward is with my God.”And now the Lord says—
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord
and my God has been my strength—
he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”This is what the Lord says—
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”This is what the Lord says:
“In the time of my favor I will answer you,
and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’
and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’
“They will feed beside the roads
and find pasture on every barren hill.
They will neither hunger nor thirst,
nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.
He who has compassion on them will guide them
and lead them beside springs of water.
I will turn all my mountains into roads,
and my highways will be raised up.
See, they will come from afar—
some from the north, some from the west,
some from the region of Aswan.”
In a shocking counterproposal to US POTUS 45/47's overture toward the acquisition of Greenland, the government of Greenland and that of Denmark have made their own offer.
Greenland will purchase the land of the USA and all of its territories with a onetime payment of 20% of the net worth of every American family to that family.
A typical American family, after calculation of debt, would receive nothing, but those in the upper income brackets could do quite well with this nontaxable capital boost.
Asked about the economic impact of this move, most employees leaving the Treasury Department yesterday shook their heads and replied, "No Comment."
Defense, State, and Justice Department officials declined comment.
The President tweeted that he would look at the numbers and consult his masterpiece, "The Art of the Deal."
He would also be in touch with his accountant.
Reached by phone, the top official at the Department of Education said that the staff were developing a new curriculum series on Greenland's heritage that would include every child in America learning to sing and pronounce, "Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit" the National Anthem of Greenland.
Someone played it for the Trump family dinner last night and the President was reported to have been doing his usual hand gestures/dance moves and tapping his feet while whispering, "Not bad."
Just finished listening to Matthew in the New Living Translation. Listening to the bible is a valuable experience because we hear the words the way most of the early Jews and Christians heard them - orally. Switching translations jars our preconceptions and forces us to hear it like it is fresh news, something we have never heard before --- Good News! Gospel! I confess that after some months in the Hebrew scriptures, which were exciting, the Advent message of Matthew's gospel was nothing short of exhilarating! Absolutely Exhilarating !
A grand crescendo followed by a great commissioning!
I kept hearing themes.
The Hebrew Scriptures: Stop chasing other gods. Love me; serve me; treat people well with justice and mercy. I have done much for you. I love you, but you keep forgetting me. I will deal harshly with you if necessary to bring you back to me. I am really disgusted with the way you are treating people and getting infatuated with religious practices that distort truth and inflict pain on humanity like sacrificing babies. Please give me some indication of a change of mind and heart so I do not have to bring you back through judgment ... anything, even a hint and I will relent. I cannot let all this injustice continue, but I will never forget or forsake you and by the way, you exist to extend my reach to all the nations. Bring all humanity to me so that you may worship me and enjoy my presence together.
Matthew's Gospel: Jesus pops up in history as an unlikely person in an unlikely time under unlikely circumstances and yet, at the right time, place, and situation to say: God is present with you. Stop complicating things. Stop looking for loopholes and start loving God and your neighbor. Everything commanded leads to that so, stop twisting the commands so that they mean something else. Get back to basics: Love God. Love others. Watch me and follow me and I will show you how. I give my life for you and I give life to you. If you have messed up, and you have, I will bring you God's forgiveness. You are not stuck with the old life. Turn around and follow me and invite others to come along as well. I'll be with you all the way.
My heart is full!
What is this place of which I hear the mournful, longing songs?
What is this time that cannot be measured?
Where is this Jordan? I am thirsty for its water.
I am hot and tired and need to bathe in its refreshing springs.
Who will I see when I cross the river?
Where will I be?
What songs shall I sing?
How will it be for me and for thee?
I only know the journey so far ... and the hope.
Let us advance toward the overwhelming mystery, swim in its fluid enveloping, drown in its wonder, and find that we can breath underwater. Mystery is the essence of wonder and worship. We stand amazed in the Presence. The consuming heaviness of glory, the warmth of love, the irrationality of peace, the paradox of grace, the full embrace of Divinity, imminent and transcendent, incarnate in flesh, spread abroad in our hearts by the Spirit. Mystery - God's inner sanctum!
“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” ― Albert Einstein, The World As I See It
