Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep...
Do not stand at my grave and weep.I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you wake in the morning hushI am the swift, uplifting rushof quiet birds in circling flight.I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.I am not there. I do not sleep.
Anonymous
Showing posts with label THOUGHTS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label THOUGHTS. Show all posts
Friday, May 08, 2009
DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL
DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL
I HAVE ONLY SLIPPED AWAY INTO THE NEXT ROOM I AM I AND YOU ARE YOU, WHATEVER WE WERE TO EACH OTHER THAT WE STILL ARE.CALL ME BY MY OLD FAMILIAR NAME; SPEAK TO ME IN THE EASY WAY, WHICH YOU ALWAYS USED. PUT NO DIFFERENCE INTO YOUR TONE; WEAR NO FORCED AIR OF SOLEMNITY OR SORROW.LAUGH AS WE ALWAYS LAUGHED AT THE LITTLE JOKES WE ENJOYED TOGETHER. PLAY, SMILE, THINK OF ME, AND PRAY FOR ME. LET MY NAME BE FOREVER THE SAME AS IT ALWAYS WAS, LET IT BE SPOKEN WITHOUT AN EFFORT, WITHOUT THE GHOST OF A SHADOW ON IT.LIFE MEANS ALL THAT IT EVER MEANT. IT IS THE SAME AS IT ALWAYS WAS; THERE IS ABSOLUTELY UNBROKEN CONTINUITY.I AM BUT WAITING FOR YOU, FOR AN INTERVAL, SOMEWHERE VERY NEAR, JUST AROUND THE CORNER. ··· ALL IS WELL.
CANON SCOTT HOLLAND
I HAVE ONLY SLIPPED AWAY INTO THE NEXT ROOM I AM I AND YOU ARE YOU, WHATEVER WE WERE TO EACH OTHER THAT WE STILL ARE.CALL ME BY MY OLD FAMILIAR NAME; SPEAK TO ME IN THE EASY WAY, WHICH YOU ALWAYS USED. PUT NO DIFFERENCE INTO YOUR TONE; WEAR NO FORCED AIR OF SOLEMNITY OR SORROW.LAUGH AS WE ALWAYS LAUGHED AT THE LITTLE JOKES WE ENJOYED TOGETHER. PLAY, SMILE, THINK OF ME, AND PRAY FOR ME. LET MY NAME BE FOREVER THE SAME AS IT ALWAYS WAS, LET IT BE SPOKEN WITHOUT AN EFFORT, WITHOUT THE GHOST OF A SHADOW ON IT.LIFE MEANS ALL THAT IT EVER MEANT. IT IS THE SAME AS IT ALWAYS WAS; THERE IS ABSOLUTELY UNBROKEN CONTINUITY.I AM BUT WAITING FOR YOU, FOR AN INTERVAL, SOMEWHERE VERY NEAR, JUST AROUND THE CORNER. ··· ALL IS WELL.
CANON SCOTT HOLLAND
SERMON THOUGHTS
PRAYER FOR THE SICK
SANCTIFY 0 LORD THE SICKNESS OF YOUR SERVANT THAT THE SENSE OF HIS WEAKNESS MAY ADD STRENGTH TO HIS FAITH AND SERIOUSNESS TO HIS REPENTANCE; AND GRANT THAT HE MAY LIVE WITH YOU IN EVERLASTING LIFE."' -
QUOTES
SELF DECEPTION
WE HAVE BEEN SO DISHONEST WITH OURSELVES ABOUT OURSELVES FOR
SO LONG THAT WE TAKE OUR DISHONESTY TO BE THE HONEST TRUTH.
FRED KEEFE
FIRE
THE DAY WILL COME
WHEN,
AFTER HARNESSING SPACE,
THE WINDS,
THE TIDES,
AND GRAVITATION,
WE SHALL HARNESS FOR GOD
THE ENERGIES OF LOVE.
AND ON THAT DAY,
FOR THE SECOND TINE
IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD,
WE SHALL HAVE DISCOVERED FIRE.
PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN
A BLESSING
NAY GOD BE IN OUR HEAD
AND IN OUR UNDERSTANDING
MAY GOD BE IN OUR EYES
AND IN OUR LOOKING
MAY GOD BE IN OUR MOUTH
AND IN OUR SPEAKING
MAY GOD BE IN OUR HEART
AND IN OUR SPIRIT
MAY GOD BE WITH US AT OUR END
AND IN THE HOUR OF OUR DEPARTING
MAY GOD BE WITH US
MORNING THROUGH DARKNESS
AND THROUGH THE NIGHT
MAY GOD BE ALWAYS WITH US
AND WITH OUR ABSENT BROTHERS AND SISTERS
ANGLICAN PRAYER
------ Galatians 3:27-28
22. Generally, women were deemed unworthy to study the Torah, Evans points out in her Woman in the Bible that the Talmud suggests, "let the Torah rather be destroyed by fire than imparted to woman and "whoever teaches his daughter Torah is as though he taught her obscenities" (qtd. 36.) Although one cannot fully assume practice from these kinds of statements, Jewish men prayed this prayer daily:
Blessed be God that he has not made me a Gentile. Blessed be God that he has not made me a woman. Blessed be God that he has not made me a boor.
Sometimes the word "slave" was substituted for "boor." Notice the contrast between this prayer and what is thought to be part of the baptismal service in the early church: "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:27-28).
What does seem to be clear is that women in first-century
Judaism had access to the sacred only in and through the patriarchal
family: "Women are sanctified through the deeds of men" Jacob
Neusner, Method and Meaning in AncientJudaism, Brown Judaic Studies to, Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979, 100).
--------
"For Christians, the problem is not how to reconcile homosexuality with scriptural passages that condemn it, but how to reconcile the rejection and punishment of homosexuals with the love of Christ." - An Open Letter from Rev. William Sloane Coffin to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops 2000this delightful observation by Augustine, made near the end of his life when the doctrine of the incarnation was reshaping his views about human physicality: "Man's maker was made man that He, ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast."
------------------------------------------------
POETRY
THE NIGHT IS NOT DARK
THEY TELL OF ADAM:
HOW FRIGHTENED HE MUST HAVE BEEN WHEN,
FOR THE FIRST TIME, HE SAW THE SUN DISAPPEAR,
ENDING THE LIGHT OF DAY.
IT WAS ADAM'S FIRST DARKNESS
HOW COULD HE ACCEPT THE NIGHT,
WHEN HE HAD NEVER SEEN A DAWN?
AFTER THE SPLENDOR OF THE SUN, HOW DARK THE DARKNESS
WAS FOR HIM; HOW DESPERATE THE LONG TERROR OF
THE FIRST FALL OF NIGHT... UNTIL ADAM LEARNED THAT DAWN WOULD
COME AGAIN; COULD SEE THAT THERE IS LIGHT AND ORDER
IN THE UNIVERSE.
AND THEN ADAM BEGAN TO SEE HOW MUCH LIGHT REMAINS
IN THE SKY AT NIGHT: THE STARS
AND THEIR ENDURING PROMISE OF THE SUN,
THE RETURNING STAR OF DAY.
ADAM LEARNED THAT THE NIGHT IS NEVER WHOLLY DARK,
AND THAT NO NIGHT IS ENDLESS.
EVEN AS EACH OF US MUST LEARN IT,
IN OUR OWN TIMES OF TROUBLE AND DARKNESS.
THE LIGHT IS NEVER FAR.
VICTOR RATNER AND RABBI BERNARD MENDELBAUM
POETRY
HOW TO PRAY
WE CANNOT MERELY PRAY TO YOU, 0 GOD, TO END WAR;
FOR WE KNOW THAT YOU HAVE MADE THE WORLD IN A WAY
THAT MAN MUST FIND HIS OWN PATH TO PEACE
WITHIN HIMSELF AND WITH HIS NEIGHBOR.
WE CANNOT MERELY PRAY TO YOU, 0 GOD, TO END STARVATION;
FOR YOU HAVE ALREADY GIVEN US THE RESOURCES
WITH WHICH TO FEED THE ENTIRE WORLD
IF WE WOULD ONLY USE THEM WISELY.
WE CANNOT MERELY PRAY TO YOU, 0 GOD,
TO ROOT OUT PREJUDICE,
FOR YOU HAVE ALREADY GIVEN US EYES
WITH WHICH TO SEE THE GOOD IN ALL MEN
IF WE WOULD ONLY USE THEM RIGHTLY.
WE CANNOT MERELY PRAY TO YOU, 0 GOD, TO END DESPAIR,
FOR YOU HAVE ALREADY GIVEN US THE POWER
TO CLEAR AWAY SLUMS AND TO GIVE HOPE
IF WE WOULD ONLY USE OUR POWER JUSTLY.
WE CANNOT MERELY PRAY TO YOU, 0 GOD, TO END DISEASE,
FOR YOU HAVE ALREADY GIVEN US GREAT MINDS WITH WHICH
TO SEARCH OUT CURES AND HEALING,
IF WE WOULD ONLY USE THEM CONSTRUCTIVELY.
THEREFORE WE PRAY TO YOU INSTEAD, 0 GOD,
FOR STRENGTH, DETERMINATION, AND WILLPOWER
TO DO INSTEAD OF JUST TO PRAY,
TO BECOME INSTEAD OF MERELY TO WISH.
JACK RIEMER LIKRAT SHABBAT
SAYINGS OF BUDDHA
WE ARE WHAT WE THINK.
ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUT THOUGHTS.
WITH OUR THOUGHTS WE MAKE THE WORLD.
SPEAK OR ACT WITH AN IMPURE MIND
AND TROUBLE WILL FOLLOW YOU
AS THE WHEEL FOLLOWS THE OX THAT DRAWS THE CART.
WE ARE WHAT WE THINK.
ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUR THOUGHTS
WITH OUR THOUGHTS WE MAKE THE WORLD
SPEAK OR ACT WITH A PURE MIND
AND HAPPINESS WILL FOLLOW YOU
AS YOUR SHADOW, UNSHAKEABLE.
"LOOK HOW HE ABUSED ME AND BEAT ME,
HOW HE THREW ME DOWN AND ROBBED ME."
LIVE WITH SUCH THOUGHTS AND YOU LIVE IN HATE.
"LOOK HOW HE ABUSED ME AND BEAT ME,
HOW HE THREW ME DOWN AND ROBBED ME."
ABANDON SUCH THOUGHTS AND LIVE IN LOVE
IN THIS WORLD
HATE NEVER DISPELLED HATE,
ONLY LOVE DISPELS HATE.
POETRY
IN MEMORY OF THOSE LOVED
MAY YOU ALWAYS WALK IN SUNSHINE
AND GOD'S LOVE AROUND YOU FLOW;
FOR THE HAPPINESS YOU GAVE US,
NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW.
IT BROKE OUR HEART TO LOSE YOU,
BUT YOU DID NOT GO ALONE;
A PART OF US WENT WITH YOU
THE DAY GOD CALLED YOU HOME.
A MILLION TIMES WE'VE NEEDED YOU,
A MILLION TIMES WE'VE CRIED.
IF LOVE COULD ONLY HAVE SAVED YOU,
YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE DIED.
TRADITIONAL IRISH
BIBLE QUOTES
I HAVE LEARNED, IN WHATSOEVER STATE I AM,
THEREWITH TO BE CONTENT.
ST. PAUL, PHILIPPIANS 4:11
POETRY
THE OXEN
CHRISTMAS EVE, AND TWELVE OF THE CLOCK
"NOW THEY ARE ALL ON THEIR KNEES,"
AN ELDER SAID AS WE SAT IN A FLOCK
BY THE EMBERS IN HEARTHSIDE EASE.
WE PICTURED THE MEEK MILD CREATURES WHERE
THEY DWELT IN THEIR STRAWY PEN,
NOR DID IT OCCUR TO ONE OF US THERE
TO DOUBT THEY WERE KNEELING THEN.
SO FAIR A FANCY FEW WOULD WEAVE
IN THESE YEARS! YET, I FEEL
IF SOMEONE SAID ON CHRISTMAS EVE,
"COME; SEE THE OXEN KNEEL,
IN THE LONELY BARTON BY YONDER COOME
OUR CHILDHOOD USED TO KNOW,"
I SHOULD GO WITH HIM IN THE GLOOM,
HOPING IT MIGHT BE SO.
GEORGE HERBERT
POETRY
WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN
WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN
I SHALL WEAR PURPLE
WITH A RED HAT
WHICH DOESN'T GO
AND DOESN'T SUIT ME.
AND I SHALL SPEND MY PENSION
ON BRANDY
AND SUMMER GLOVES
AND SATIN SANDALS,
AND SAY WE'VE NO MONEY FOR BUTTER.
I SHALL SIT DOWN
ON THE PAVEMENT
WHEN I AM TIRED
AND GOBBLE UP SAMPLES
IN SHOPS
AND PRESS ALARM BELLS
AND RUN MY STICK
ALONG THE PUBLIC RAILINGS
AND MAKE UP
FOR THE SOBRIETY
OF MY YOUTH.
I SHALL GO OUT IN MY SLIPPERS
IN THE RAIN
AND PICK THE FLOWERS
IN OTHER PEOPLE'S GARDENS
AND LEARN TO SPIT.
YOU CAN WEAR TERRIBLE SHIRTS
AND GROW MORE FAT
AND EAT THREE POUNDS OF SAUSAGES AT A GO
OR ONLY EAT BREAD AND A PICKLE FOR A WEEK
AND HOARD PENS
AND PENCILS
AND BEERMATS
AND THINGS IN BOXES.
BUT NOW WE MUST HAVE CLOTHES
THAT KEEP US DRY
AND PAY OUR RENT
AND NOT SWEAR IN THE STREET
AND SET A GOOD EXAMPLE
FOR THE CHILDREN
WE WILL HAVE FRIENDS TO DINNER
AND READ THE PAPERS
BUT MAYBE
I OUGHT TO PRACTICE A LITTLE
NOW
SO PEOPLE
WHO KNOW ME
ARE NOT TOO SHOCKED
AND SURPRISED
WHEN SUDDENLY
I AM OLD
AND START
TO WEAR PURPLE
EARTH PUSHING BACK
IT'S INTERESTING TO NOTE
THAT EACH STEP WE TAKE
UPON THE EARTH
IS RESISTED BY THE EARTH
WITH PRESSURE EQUAL TO OUR WEIGHT
OR ELSE WE WOULD SINK
AS IF INTO A MUDDY PLACE
INTERESTING
THAT THE GOD OF NATURE
WHO MADE ALL THE RULES
PUSHES BACK
WHEN I WALK UPON THE EARTH
A CONTINUAL REMINDER
OF MY NEED FOR HIM
LEST I BE LOST IN A MUDDY PLACE
LEAN ON ME LORD
I NEED TO KNOW YOUR PRESENCE
LEAN ON ME LORD
I LIKE THE THOUGHT
OF HAVING YOU
AROUND
DANCE AS IF NOBODY IS WATCHING
YAHUDA BAUER - ISRAELI HISTORIAN
YOU SHALL NOT BE A VICTIM
YOU SHALL NOT BE A PERPETRATOR
ABOVE ALL
YOU SHALL NOT BE A BYSTANDER
----------------------------------
TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMASAUTHOR UNKNOWNTHE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WAS WRITTEN IN ENGLAND MORETHAT 400 YRSAGO BYCATHOLICS WHO WERE TOLD BY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND THEYCOULDN'TEXPRESSTHEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. FEARFUL THAT THE CHILDRENMIGHT FORGETTHE IMPORTANTSYMBOLS...AN ALLEGORY WAS WRITTEN. HERE IS WHAT THE12 DAYS OFCHRISTMASMEANS.A PARTRIDGE IN A. PEAR TREEA PARTRIDGE WAS A VALIANT BIRD THAT WOULD FIGHT TOIT'S DEATHTO DEFEND IT'S YOUNG - SYMBOL OF CHRIST.A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE SIGNIFIES THE CRUCIFIXIONOF JESUSTWO TURTLEDOVESTHE OFFERING MARY AND JOSEPH BROUGHT WHEN HE WAS 40DAYS OLD.TWO TURTLEDOVES REPRESENT THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS.THREE FRENCH HENSSYMBOL OF THE RICH AND REPRESENTED THE THREE WISE MENWITH GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH.THREE FRENCH HENS REPRESENT THE THINGS THAT WILL LAST-FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY (LOVE).FOUR CALLING BIRDSFOUR GOSPELS - CALLING FOR PEOPLE TO BE SAVED.FOUR GOSPELS SING THE SONG OF SALVATION, REFERENCED BYTHE CALLINGBIRDS.FIVE GOLDEN RINGSFIRST FIVE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.THE GREATEST BOOKS TO THE JEWS - WORTH MORE THAN GOLD.FIVE GOLDEN RINGS ARE THE ORIGINAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLEGIVEN TOMOSES.SIX GEESE A LAYINGEGGS WERE A REMINDER OF NEW LIFE - 6 DAYS OF CREATION.SIX GEESE A-LAYING SYMBOLIZE THE SIX DAYS OF CREATION.SEVEN SWANS A SWIMMINGSEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - CHANGING US FROM UGLYDUCKLINGTO SWANS - NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.SEVEN SWANS STAND FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLYSPIRIT.EIGHT MAIDS A MILKINGEIGHT BEAUTIFUL TEACHINGS OF JESUS KNOWN AS THEBEATITUDES.EIGHT MAIDS A-MILKING ARE ACTUALLY THE EIGHTBEATITUDES FROM THEBIBLE.NINE LADIES DANCINGNINE FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.NINE FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (FROM GALATIANS 5) AREDANCINGLADIES.TEN LORDS A LEAPINGMEN WITH AUTHORITY - GOD'S TEN COMMANDMENTS.TEN LORDS A-LEAPING ARE THE TEN COMMANDMENTSELEVEN PIPERS PIPINGELEVEN APOSTLES WHO REMAINED FAITHFUL -PIPED HIS WORD - HE'S ALIVE.ELEVEN PIPERS PIPING REPRESENT JESUS' FAITHFULDISCIPLES.TWELVE DRUMMERS DRUMMINGREPRESENT THE 12 VITAL CHRISTIAN BELIEFS IN THEAPOSTLES CREED.FINALLY, 12 DRUMMERS DRUMMING ARE ACTUALLY THEAPOSTLES CREED.
SANCTIFY 0 LORD THE SICKNESS OF YOUR SERVANT THAT THE SENSE OF HIS WEAKNESS MAY ADD STRENGTH TO HIS FAITH AND SERIOUSNESS TO HIS REPENTANCE; AND GRANT THAT HE MAY LIVE WITH YOU IN EVERLASTING LIFE."' -
QUOTES
SELF DECEPTION
WE HAVE BEEN SO DISHONEST WITH OURSELVES ABOUT OURSELVES FOR
SO LONG THAT WE TAKE OUR DISHONESTY TO BE THE HONEST TRUTH.
FRED KEEFE
FIRE
THE DAY WILL COME
WHEN,
AFTER HARNESSING SPACE,
THE WINDS,
THE TIDES,
AND GRAVITATION,
WE SHALL HARNESS FOR GOD
THE ENERGIES OF LOVE.
AND ON THAT DAY,
FOR THE SECOND TINE
IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD,
WE SHALL HAVE DISCOVERED FIRE.
PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN
A BLESSING
NAY GOD BE IN OUR HEAD
AND IN OUR UNDERSTANDING
MAY GOD BE IN OUR EYES
AND IN OUR LOOKING
MAY GOD BE IN OUR MOUTH
AND IN OUR SPEAKING
MAY GOD BE IN OUR HEART
AND IN OUR SPIRIT
MAY GOD BE WITH US AT OUR END
AND IN THE HOUR OF OUR DEPARTING
MAY GOD BE WITH US
MORNING THROUGH DARKNESS
AND THROUGH THE NIGHT
MAY GOD BE ALWAYS WITH US
AND WITH OUR ABSENT BROTHERS AND SISTERS
ANGLICAN PRAYER
------ Galatians 3:27-28
22. Generally, women were deemed unworthy to study the Torah, Evans points out in her Woman in the Bible that the Talmud suggests, "let the Torah rather be destroyed by fire than imparted to woman and "whoever teaches his daughter Torah is as though he taught her obscenities" (qtd. 36.) Although one cannot fully assume practice from these kinds of statements, Jewish men prayed this prayer daily:
Blessed be God that he has not made me a Gentile. Blessed be God that he has not made me a woman. Blessed be God that he has not made me a boor.
Sometimes the word "slave" was substituted for "boor." Notice the contrast between this prayer and what is thought to be part of the baptismal service in the early church: "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:27-28).
What does seem to be clear is that women in first-century
Judaism had access to the sacred only in and through the patriarchal
family: "Women are sanctified through the deeds of men" Jacob
Neusner, Method and Meaning in AncientJudaism, Brown Judaic Studies to, Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979, 100).
--------
"For Christians, the problem is not how to reconcile homosexuality with scriptural passages that condemn it, but how to reconcile the rejection and punishment of homosexuals with the love of Christ." - An Open Letter from Rev. William Sloane Coffin to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops 2000this delightful observation by Augustine, made near the end of his life when the doctrine of the incarnation was reshaping his views about human physicality: "Man's maker was made man that He, ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast."
------------------------------------------------
POETRY
THE NIGHT IS NOT DARK
THEY TELL OF ADAM:
HOW FRIGHTENED HE MUST HAVE BEEN WHEN,
FOR THE FIRST TIME, HE SAW THE SUN DISAPPEAR,
ENDING THE LIGHT OF DAY.
IT WAS ADAM'S FIRST DARKNESS
HOW COULD HE ACCEPT THE NIGHT,
WHEN HE HAD NEVER SEEN A DAWN?
AFTER THE SPLENDOR OF THE SUN, HOW DARK THE DARKNESS
WAS FOR HIM; HOW DESPERATE THE LONG TERROR OF
THE FIRST FALL OF NIGHT... UNTIL ADAM LEARNED THAT DAWN WOULD
COME AGAIN; COULD SEE THAT THERE IS LIGHT AND ORDER
IN THE UNIVERSE.
AND THEN ADAM BEGAN TO SEE HOW MUCH LIGHT REMAINS
IN THE SKY AT NIGHT: THE STARS
AND THEIR ENDURING PROMISE OF THE SUN,
THE RETURNING STAR OF DAY.
ADAM LEARNED THAT THE NIGHT IS NEVER WHOLLY DARK,
AND THAT NO NIGHT IS ENDLESS.
EVEN AS EACH OF US MUST LEARN IT,
IN OUR OWN TIMES OF TROUBLE AND DARKNESS.
THE LIGHT IS NEVER FAR.
VICTOR RATNER AND RABBI BERNARD MENDELBAUM
POETRY
HOW TO PRAY
WE CANNOT MERELY PRAY TO YOU, 0 GOD, TO END WAR;
FOR WE KNOW THAT YOU HAVE MADE THE WORLD IN A WAY
THAT MAN MUST FIND HIS OWN PATH TO PEACE
WITHIN HIMSELF AND WITH HIS NEIGHBOR.
WE CANNOT MERELY PRAY TO YOU, 0 GOD, TO END STARVATION;
FOR YOU HAVE ALREADY GIVEN US THE RESOURCES
WITH WHICH TO FEED THE ENTIRE WORLD
IF WE WOULD ONLY USE THEM WISELY.
WE CANNOT MERELY PRAY TO YOU, 0 GOD,
TO ROOT OUT PREJUDICE,
FOR YOU HAVE ALREADY GIVEN US EYES
WITH WHICH TO SEE THE GOOD IN ALL MEN
IF WE WOULD ONLY USE THEM RIGHTLY.
WE CANNOT MERELY PRAY TO YOU, 0 GOD, TO END DESPAIR,
FOR YOU HAVE ALREADY GIVEN US THE POWER
TO CLEAR AWAY SLUMS AND TO GIVE HOPE
IF WE WOULD ONLY USE OUR POWER JUSTLY.
WE CANNOT MERELY PRAY TO YOU, 0 GOD, TO END DISEASE,
FOR YOU HAVE ALREADY GIVEN US GREAT MINDS WITH WHICH
TO SEARCH OUT CURES AND HEALING,
IF WE WOULD ONLY USE THEM CONSTRUCTIVELY.
THEREFORE WE PRAY TO YOU INSTEAD, 0 GOD,
FOR STRENGTH, DETERMINATION, AND WILLPOWER
TO DO INSTEAD OF JUST TO PRAY,
TO BECOME INSTEAD OF MERELY TO WISH.
JACK RIEMER LIKRAT SHABBAT
SAYINGS OF BUDDHA
WE ARE WHAT WE THINK.
ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUT THOUGHTS.
WITH OUR THOUGHTS WE MAKE THE WORLD.
SPEAK OR ACT WITH AN IMPURE MIND
AND TROUBLE WILL FOLLOW YOU
AS THE WHEEL FOLLOWS THE OX THAT DRAWS THE CART.
WE ARE WHAT WE THINK.
ALL THAT WE ARE ARISES WITH OUR THOUGHTS
WITH OUR THOUGHTS WE MAKE THE WORLD
SPEAK OR ACT WITH A PURE MIND
AND HAPPINESS WILL FOLLOW YOU
AS YOUR SHADOW, UNSHAKEABLE.
"LOOK HOW HE ABUSED ME AND BEAT ME,
HOW HE THREW ME DOWN AND ROBBED ME."
LIVE WITH SUCH THOUGHTS AND YOU LIVE IN HATE.
"LOOK HOW HE ABUSED ME AND BEAT ME,
HOW HE THREW ME DOWN AND ROBBED ME."
ABANDON SUCH THOUGHTS AND LIVE IN LOVE
IN THIS WORLD
HATE NEVER DISPELLED HATE,
ONLY LOVE DISPELS HATE.
POETRY
IN MEMORY OF THOSE LOVED
MAY YOU ALWAYS WALK IN SUNSHINE
AND GOD'S LOVE AROUND YOU FLOW;
FOR THE HAPPINESS YOU GAVE US,
NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW.
IT BROKE OUR HEART TO LOSE YOU,
BUT YOU DID NOT GO ALONE;
A PART OF US WENT WITH YOU
THE DAY GOD CALLED YOU HOME.
A MILLION TIMES WE'VE NEEDED YOU,
A MILLION TIMES WE'VE CRIED.
IF LOVE COULD ONLY HAVE SAVED YOU,
YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE DIED.
TRADITIONAL IRISH
BIBLE QUOTES
I HAVE LEARNED, IN WHATSOEVER STATE I AM,
THEREWITH TO BE CONTENT.
ST. PAUL, PHILIPPIANS 4:11
POETRY
THE OXEN
CHRISTMAS EVE, AND TWELVE OF THE CLOCK
"NOW THEY ARE ALL ON THEIR KNEES,"
AN ELDER SAID AS WE SAT IN A FLOCK
BY THE EMBERS IN HEARTHSIDE EASE.
WE PICTURED THE MEEK MILD CREATURES WHERE
THEY DWELT IN THEIR STRAWY PEN,
NOR DID IT OCCUR TO ONE OF US THERE
TO DOUBT THEY WERE KNEELING THEN.
SO FAIR A FANCY FEW WOULD WEAVE
IN THESE YEARS! YET, I FEEL
IF SOMEONE SAID ON CHRISTMAS EVE,
"COME; SEE THE OXEN KNEEL,
IN THE LONELY BARTON BY YONDER COOME
OUR CHILDHOOD USED TO KNOW,"
I SHOULD GO WITH HIM IN THE GLOOM,
HOPING IT MIGHT BE SO.
GEORGE HERBERT
POETRY
WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN
WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN
I SHALL WEAR PURPLE
WITH A RED HAT
WHICH DOESN'T GO
AND DOESN'T SUIT ME.
AND I SHALL SPEND MY PENSION
ON BRANDY
AND SUMMER GLOVES
AND SATIN SANDALS,
AND SAY WE'VE NO MONEY FOR BUTTER.
I SHALL SIT DOWN
ON THE PAVEMENT
WHEN I AM TIRED
AND GOBBLE UP SAMPLES
IN SHOPS
AND PRESS ALARM BELLS
AND RUN MY STICK
ALONG THE PUBLIC RAILINGS
AND MAKE UP
FOR THE SOBRIETY
OF MY YOUTH.
I SHALL GO OUT IN MY SLIPPERS
IN THE RAIN
AND PICK THE FLOWERS
IN OTHER PEOPLE'S GARDENS
AND LEARN TO SPIT.
YOU CAN WEAR TERRIBLE SHIRTS
AND GROW MORE FAT
AND EAT THREE POUNDS OF SAUSAGES AT A GO
OR ONLY EAT BREAD AND A PICKLE FOR A WEEK
AND HOARD PENS
AND PENCILS
AND BEERMATS
AND THINGS IN BOXES.
BUT NOW WE MUST HAVE CLOTHES
THAT KEEP US DRY
AND PAY OUR RENT
AND NOT SWEAR IN THE STREET
AND SET A GOOD EXAMPLE
FOR THE CHILDREN
WE WILL HAVE FRIENDS TO DINNER
AND READ THE PAPERS
BUT MAYBE
I OUGHT TO PRACTICE A LITTLE
NOW
SO PEOPLE
WHO KNOW ME
ARE NOT TOO SHOCKED
AND SURPRISED
WHEN SUDDENLY
I AM OLD
AND START
TO WEAR PURPLE
EARTH PUSHING BACK
IT'S INTERESTING TO NOTE
THAT EACH STEP WE TAKE
UPON THE EARTH
IS RESISTED BY THE EARTH
WITH PRESSURE EQUAL TO OUR WEIGHT
OR ELSE WE WOULD SINK
AS IF INTO A MUDDY PLACE
INTERESTING
THAT THE GOD OF NATURE
WHO MADE ALL THE RULES
PUSHES BACK
WHEN I WALK UPON THE EARTH
A CONTINUAL REMINDER
OF MY NEED FOR HIM
LEST I BE LOST IN A MUDDY PLACE
LEAN ON ME LORD
I NEED TO KNOW YOUR PRESENCE
LEAN ON ME LORD
I LIKE THE THOUGHT
OF HAVING YOU
AROUND
DANCE AS IF NOBODY IS WATCHING
YAHUDA BAUER - ISRAELI HISTORIAN
YOU SHALL NOT BE A VICTIM
YOU SHALL NOT BE A PERPETRATOR
ABOVE ALL
YOU SHALL NOT BE A BYSTANDER
----------------------------------
TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMASAUTHOR UNKNOWNTHE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WAS WRITTEN IN ENGLAND MORETHAT 400 YRSAGO BYCATHOLICS WHO WERE TOLD BY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND THEYCOULDN'TEXPRESSTHEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. FEARFUL THAT THE CHILDRENMIGHT FORGETTHE IMPORTANTSYMBOLS...AN ALLEGORY WAS WRITTEN. HERE IS WHAT THE12 DAYS OFCHRISTMASMEANS.A PARTRIDGE IN A. PEAR TREEA PARTRIDGE WAS A VALIANT BIRD THAT WOULD FIGHT TOIT'S DEATHTO DEFEND IT'S YOUNG - SYMBOL OF CHRIST.A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE SIGNIFIES THE CRUCIFIXIONOF JESUSTWO TURTLEDOVESTHE OFFERING MARY AND JOSEPH BROUGHT WHEN HE WAS 40DAYS OLD.TWO TURTLEDOVES REPRESENT THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS.THREE FRENCH HENSSYMBOL OF THE RICH AND REPRESENTED THE THREE WISE MENWITH GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH.THREE FRENCH HENS REPRESENT THE THINGS THAT WILL LAST-FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY (LOVE).FOUR CALLING BIRDSFOUR GOSPELS - CALLING FOR PEOPLE TO BE SAVED.FOUR GOSPELS SING THE SONG OF SALVATION, REFERENCED BYTHE CALLINGBIRDS.FIVE GOLDEN RINGSFIRST FIVE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.THE GREATEST BOOKS TO THE JEWS - WORTH MORE THAN GOLD.FIVE GOLDEN RINGS ARE THE ORIGINAL BOOKS OF THE BIBLEGIVEN TOMOSES.SIX GEESE A LAYINGEGGS WERE A REMINDER OF NEW LIFE - 6 DAYS OF CREATION.SIX GEESE A-LAYING SYMBOLIZE THE SIX DAYS OF CREATION.SEVEN SWANS A SWIMMINGSEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - CHANGING US FROM UGLYDUCKLINGTO SWANS - NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.SEVEN SWANS STAND FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLYSPIRIT.EIGHT MAIDS A MILKINGEIGHT BEAUTIFUL TEACHINGS OF JESUS KNOWN AS THEBEATITUDES.EIGHT MAIDS A-MILKING ARE ACTUALLY THE EIGHTBEATITUDES FROM THEBIBLE.NINE LADIES DANCINGNINE FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.NINE FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (FROM GALATIANS 5) AREDANCINGLADIES.TEN LORDS A LEAPINGMEN WITH AUTHORITY - GOD'S TEN COMMANDMENTS.TEN LORDS A-LEAPING ARE THE TEN COMMANDMENTSELEVEN PIPERS PIPINGELEVEN APOSTLES WHO REMAINED FAITHFUL -PIPED HIS WORD - HE'S ALIVE.ELEVEN PIPERS PIPING REPRESENT JESUS' FAITHFULDISCIPLES.TWELVE DRUMMERS DRUMMINGREPRESENT THE 12 VITAL CHRISTIAN BELIEFS IN THEAPOSTLES CREED.FINALLY, 12 DRUMMERS DRUMMING ARE ACTUALLY THEAPOSTLES CREED.
MEDITATION OF MOTHER TERESA
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Mother Teresa
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Mother Teresa
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
AUGUSTINE
Ask the loveliness of the earth, ask the loveliness of the sea, ask the loveliness of the wide airy spaces, ask the loveliness of the sky, ask the order of the stars, ask the sun, making daylight with its beams, ask the moon tempering the darkness of the night that follows, ask the living things which move in the waters, which tarry on the land, which fly in the air; ask the souls that are hidden, the bodies that are perceptive; the visible things which most be governed, the invisible things that govern—ask these things, and they will all answer you, Yes, see we are lovely. Their loveliness is their confession. And all these lovely but mutable things, who has made them, but Beauty immutable?- Augustine Sermons 214.2
Thursday, April 10, 2008
OSCAR A ROMERO
Those who have created the evil are those who have made possible the hideous social injustice our people live in. Thus, the poor have shown the church the true way to go. A church that does not join the poor in order to speak out from the side of the poor against the injustices committed against them is not the true church of Jesus Christ.- Oscar A. RomeroThe Violence of Love
Friday, March 28, 2008
Had it been me...
As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had ... More of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.
- Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. (Source: MSNBC)
- Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. (Source: MSNBC)
Saturday, March 15, 2008
TAN FU
YANGISTS LIKED TO QUOTE THE EXAMPLE OF TAN FU,
AN ANCESTOR OF THE ZHOU KINGS,
WHO HAD RENOUNCED THE THRONE
RATHER THAN FIGHT AN INVADING ARMY:
" TO SEND TO THEIR DEATHS THE SONS
AND YOUNGER BROTHERS
OF THOSE WITH WHOM I DWELL
IS MORE THAN I COULD BEAR,"
HE EXPLAINED IN HIS ABDICATION SPEECH' .
AN ANCESTOR OF THE ZHOU KINGS,
WHO HAD RENOUNCED THE THRONE
RATHER THAN FIGHT AN INVADING ARMY:
" TO SEND TO THEIR DEATHS THE SONS
AND YOUNGER BROTHERS
OF THOSE WITH WHOM I DWELL
IS MORE THAN I COULD BEAR,"
HE EXPLAINED IN HIS ABDICATION SPEECH' .
Saturday, February 16, 2008
PISTIS
Faith
(Pistis, fides). In the Old Testament, the Hebrew means essentially steadfastness, cf. Exod., xvii, 12, where it is used to describe the strengthening of Moses' hands; hence it comes to meanfaithfulness, whether of God towards man (Deuteronomy 32:4) or of man towards God (ps. cxviii, 30). As signifying man's attitude towards God it means trustfulness or fiducia. It would, however, be illogical to conclude that the word cannot, and does not, mean belief or faith in the Old Testament for it is clear that we cannot put trust in a person's promises without previously assenting to or believing in that person's claim to such confidence.
It seems a surprising way to begin talking about happiness by Saying, .. Blessed are the poor in spirit." there are two ways m Which we can come at the meaning of this word poor.
As we have them the beatitudes are in Greek, and the word
That is used for poor is the word ptochos. In Greek there are two Words for poor. There is the word penes. Penes describes a man Who has to work for his living; it is defined by the Greeks as Describing the man who is autodiakonos, that is, the man who Serves his own needs with his own hands. Penes describes the Working man, the man who has nothing superfluous, the man Who is not rich, but who is not destitute either. But, as we have Seen, it is not penes that is used in this beatitude, it is ptochos, Which describes absolute and abject poverty. It is connected With the root ptossein, which means to crouch or to cower; and It describes the poverty which is beaten to its knees. As it has Been said, penes describes the man who has nothing superfluous; Ptochos describes the man who has nothing. At all. So
This beatitude becomes even more surprising. Blessed is the man Who is abjectly and completely poverty-stricken. Blessed is the Man who is absolutely destitute.
As we have also seen the beatitudes were not originally
Spoken in Greek, but in Aramaic. Now the Jews had a special Way of using the word poor. In Hebrew the word is 'alii or Ebion. These words in Hebrew underwent a four-stage develop Ment of meaning. (l) they began by meaning simply poor. (2) They went on to mean, because poor, therefore having no Influence or power, or help, or prestige. (3) they went on to Mean, because having no influence, therefore down-trodden and
Oppressed by men. (4) finally, they came to describe the man Who, because he has no earthly resources whatever, puts his Whole trust in god.
So in Hebrew the word poor was used to describe the humble And the helpless man who put his whole trust in god. It is thus That the psalmist uses the word, when he writes, " this poor Man cried, and the lord heard him, and saved him out of all his Troubles" (psalm 34: 6). It is in fact true that in the psalms the' Poor man, in this sense of the term, is the good man who is dear To god. "the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever"
(psalm 9: 18). God delivers the poor (psalm 35: 10). "in thy Goodness, 0 god, thou didst provide for the needy" (psalm 68: 10). "he shall defend the cause of the poor of the people"
(psalm 72: 4). " he raises up the needy out of affliction, and Makes their families like flocks" (psalm 107: 41). " i will satisfy Her poor with bread"(psalm 132: 15). In all these cases the poor Man is the humble, helpless man who has put his trust in god,
Let us now take the two sides, the Greek and the Aramaic,
And put them together. Ptochos describes the man who is Absolutely destitute, the man who has nothing at all; 'ani and Ebion describe the poor, and humble, and helpless man who has Put his whole trust in god. Therefore, " blessed are the poor in Spirit" means
Blessed is the man who has realized his own utter helplessness. And who has put his whole trust in god.
If a man has realized his own utter helplessness, and has put His whole trust in god, there will enter into his life two things Which are opposite sides of the same thing. He will become Completely detached from things, for he will know that things Have not got it in them to bring happiness or security; and he Will become completely attached to god, for he will know that God alone can bring him help, and hope, and strength. The man Who is poor in spirit is the man who has realized that things Mean nothing, and that god means everything.
We must. be careful not to think that this beatitude calls Actual material poverty a good thing. Poverty is not a good Thing. Jesus would never have called blessed a state where People live in slums and have not enough to eat, and where Health rots. Because conditions are all against it. That kind of Poverty it is the aim of the Christian gospel to remove. The Poverty which is blessed is the poverty of spirit, when a man
Realizes his own utter lack of resources to meet life and finds His help and strength in god.
I
Jesus says that to such a poverty belongs the kingdom of Heaven: ,why should that be so? If we take the two petitions of The lord s prayer and set them together:
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,
We get the definition: the kingdom of god is a society where God's will is as perfectly done in earth as it is in heaven. That Means that only he who does god's will is a citizen of the Kingdom; and we can only do god's will when we realize our
Own. Utter helplessness, our own utter ignorance, our own utter inability to cope With life, and when we put our whole trust in
God .. Obedience is always founded on trust. The kingdom of God is the possession of the poor in spirit, because the poor in Spirit have realized their own utter helplessness without god And have learned to trust and obey. '
o the bliss of the man who has realized his own utter Helplessness and who has put his whole trust in god For thus alone he can render to god that perfect
Obedience which will make him a citizen of the kingdom of Heaven!
Abraham had now become not merely the father of the Jewish people but the ancestor of all the faithful. His 'faith' (Greek: pistis, a word which, it is important to note, should be translated as 'trust' rather than 'belief) had made him a model Christian, centuries before the coming of the messiah. When scripture praised Abraham's faith it was referring 'to us as well': 'Scripture foresaw that God was going to use faith to justify the pagans, and proclaimed the Good News long ago, when Abraham was told: In you all the pagans will be blessed.' 41 When God commanded Abraham to abandon his concubine Hagar and their son Ishmael in the wilderness, this had been an allegory: Hagar represented the Sinai covenant, which had enslaved Jews to the Law, while Sarah, Abraham's free-born wife, corresponded to the new covenant, which had liberated gentiles from Torah obligations.
The author of the epistle to the Hebrews, who was probably writing at about the same time, was even more radical. He was trying to console a community of Jewish Christians
We should also recognize the changes in the meaning of our English verb, "to believe." Its use in mediaeval and Elizabethan times conveyed the sense of trust in a person, loyalty or commitment to a person. That is the sense in which Paul and all other biblical authors used its Greek equivalent, pisteuo when speaking of believing in God or in Jesus Christ. Since the time of Hobbes, Locke and Mills in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, it has gradually taken on the force of a proposition, "to believe that .... " In the 1959 edition of Chambers Encyclopedia, the article on "Belief" states, "what we actually believe, in the strictness of the language, is always a proposition or set of propositions. Of these, creeds are composed." (Quoted in Smith, Wilfrid Cantwell, History and Belief. Charlottesville, VA. Virginia University Press, 1977, p. 49; n. 30, p.109.)
Faith is the noun corresponding to the verb "believe," for which the Hebrew is heemin, the hiphil form of aman, and the Greek (LXX and NT) pisteuo. The latter is a key word in the NT, being the term regularly used to denote the many sided religious relationship into which the gospel calls men and women, that of trust in God through Christ. The complexity of this idea is reflected in the variety of constructions used with the verb (a hoti clause, or accusative and infinitive, expressing truth believed; en and epi with the dative, denoting restful reliance on that to which, or him to whom, credit is given; eis
and, occasionally, epi with the accusative, the most common, characteristic, and original NT usage, scarcely present in the LXX and not at all in classical Greek, conveying the thought of a move - ment of trust going out to, and laying hold of, the object of its confidence). The Hebrew noun corresponding to aman (emuna, rendered pistis in the LXX), regularly denotes faithfulness in the sense of trustworthiness, and pistis occasionally bears this sense in the NT (Rom. 3:3, of God; Matt. 23:23; Gal. 5:22; Titus 2: 1 0, of man).
A further argument for free will is that God's commandments carry a divine "ought" for man, implying that man can and should respond positively to his commands. The responsibility to obey God's commands entails the ability to respond to them, by God's enabling grace. Furthermore, if man is not free, but all his acts are determined by God, then God is directly responsible for evil, a conclusion that is clearly contradicted by Scripture (Hab. 1:13; James 1:13 - 17).
Therefore, it seems that some form of self determinism is the most compatible with the biblical view of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
who were beginning to lose heart by arguing forcefully that Christ had superseded the Torah, was more exalted than Moses I and that the sacrificial cult had simply foreshadowed Jesus' priestly act in giving his life for humanity. In an extraordinary passage, the author saw the entire history of Israel as exemplifying the virtue of pistis, trust in 'realities that at present remain unseen'." Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets had all exhibited this 'faith': that had been their greatest, indeed their sole achievement." But, the author concluded, 'they did not receive what was promised, since God made provision for us to have something better, and they were not to reach perfection except with us.'
In this exegetical tour de force, the whole of Israelite history had been redefined, but in the process the old stories, which had been about far more than pistis, lost much of their rich complexity. Torah, temple and cult simply pointed to a future reality because God had always had something better in mind. Paul and the author of Hebrews showed future generations of Christians how to interpret the Hebrew Bible and make it their own. The other New Testament Writers would develop this pesher and make it very difficult for Christians to see Jewish scripture as anything more than a prelude to Christianity.
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before.
(Pistis, fides). In the Old Testament, the Hebrew means essentially steadfastness, cf. Exod., xvii, 12, where it is used to describe the strengthening of Moses' hands; hence it comes to meanfaithfulness, whether of God towards man (Deuteronomy 32:4) or of man towards God (ps. cxviii, 30). As signifying man's attitude towards God it means trustfulness or fiducia. It would, however, be illogical to conclude that the word cannot, and does not, mean belief or faith in the Old Testament for it is clear that we cannot put trust in a person's promises without previously assenting to or believing in that person's claim to such confidence.
It seems a surprising way to begin talking about happiness by Saying, .. Blessed are the poor in spirit." there are two ways m Which we can come at the meaning of this word poor.
As we have them the beatitudes are in Greek, and the word
That is used for poor is the word ptochos. In Greek there are two Words for poor. There is the word penes. Penes describes a man Who has to work for his living; it is defined by the Greeks as Describing the man who is autodiakonos, that is, the man who Serves his own needs with his own hands. Penes describes the Working man, the man who has nothing superfluous, the man Who is not rich, but who is not destitute either. But, as we have Seen, it is not penes that is used in this beatitude, it is ptochos, Which describes absolute and abject poverty. It is connected With the root ptossein, which means to crouch or to cower; and It describes the poverty which is beaten to its knees. As it has Been said, penes describes the man who has nothing superfluous; Ptochos describes the man who has nothing. At all. So
This beatitude becomes even more surprising. Blessed is the man Who is abjectly and completely poverty-stricken. Blessed is the Man who is absolutely destitute.
As we have also seen the beatitudes were not originally
Spoken in Greek, but in Aramaic. Now the Jews had a special Way of using the word poor. In Hebrew the word is 'alii or Ebion. These words in Hebrew underwent a four-stage develop Ment of meaning. (l) they began by meaning simply poor. (2) They went on to mean, because poor, therefore having no Influence or power, or help, or prestige. (3) they went on to Mean, because having no influence, therefore down-trodden and
Oppressed by men. (4) finally, they came to describe the man Who, because he has no earthly resources whatever, puts his Whole trust in god.
So in Hebrew the word poor was used to describe the humble And the helpless man who put his whole trust in god. It is thus That the psalmist uses the word, when he writes, " this poor Man cried, and the lord heard him, and saved him out of all his Troubles" (psalm 34: 6). It is in fact true that in the psalms the' Poor man, in this sense of the term, is the good man who is dear To god. "the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever"
(psalm 9: 18). God delivers the poor (psalm 35: 10). "in thy Goodness, 0 god, thou didst provide for the needy" (psalm 68: 10). "he shall defend the cause of the poor of the people"
(psalm 72: 4). " he raises up the needy out of affliction, and Makes their families like flocks" (psalm 107: 41). " i will satisfy Her poor with bread"(psalm 132: 15). In all these cases the poor Man is the humble, helpless man who has put his trust in god,
Let us now take the two sides, the Greek and the Aramaic,
And put them together. Ptochos describes the man who is Absolutely destitute, the man who has nothing at all; 'ani and Ebion describe the poor, and humble, and helpless man who has Put his whole trust in god. Therefore, " blessed are the poor in Spirit" means
Blessed is the man who has realized his own utter helplessness. And who has put his whole trust in god.
If a man has realized his own utter helplessness, and has put His whole trust in god, there will enter into his life two things Which are opposite sides of the same thing. He will become Completely detached from things, for he will know that things Have not got it in them to bring happiness or security; and he Will become completely attached to god, for he will know that God alone can bring him help, and hope, and strength. The man Who is poor in spirit is the man who has realized that things Mean nothing, and that god means everything.
We must. be careful not to think that this beatitude calls Actual material poverty a good thing. Poverty is not a good Thing. Jesus would never have called blessed a state where People live in slums and have not enough to eat, and where Health rots. Because conditions are all against it. That kind of Poverty it is the aim of the Christian gospel to remove. The Poverty which is blessed is the poverty of spirit, when a man
Realizes his own utter lack of resources to meet life and finds His help and strength in god.
I
Jesus says that to such a poverty belongs the kingdom of Heaven: ,why should that be so? If we take the two petitions of The lord s prayer and set them together:
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,
We get the definition: the kingdom of god is a society where God's will is as perfectly done in earth as it is in heaven. That Means that only he who does god's will is a citizen of the Kingdom; and we can only do god's will when we realize our
Own. Utter helplessness, our own utter ignorance, our own utter inability to cope With life, and when we put our whole trust in
God .. Obedience is always founded on trust. The kingdom of God is the possession of the poor in spirit, because the poor in Spirit have realized their own utter helplessness without god And have learned to trust and obey. '
o the bliss of the man who has realized his own utter Helplessness and who has put his whole trust in god For thus alone he can render to god that perfect
Obedience which will make him a citizen of the kingdom of Heaven!
Abraham had now become not merely the father of the Jewish people but the ancestor of all the faithful. His 'faith' (Greek: pistis, a word which, it is important to note, should be translated as 'trust' rather than 'belief) had made him a model Christian, centuries before the coming of the messiah. When scripture praised Abraham's faith it was referring 'to us as well': 'Scripture foresaw that God was going to use faith to justify the pagans, and proclaimed the Good News long ago, when Abraham was told: In you all the pagans will be blessed.' 41 When God commanded Abraham to abandon his concubine Hagar and their son Ishmael in the wilderness, this had been an allegory: Hagar represented the Sinai covenant, which had enslaved Jews to the Law, while Sarah, Abraham's free-born wife, corresponded to the new covenant, which had liberated gentiles from Torah obligations.
The author of the epistle to the Hebrews, who was probably writing at about the same time, was even more radical. He was trying to console a community of Jewish Christians
We should also recognize the changes in the meaning of our English verb, "to believe." Its use in mediaeval and Elizabethan times conveyed the sense of trust in a person, loyalty or commitment to a person. That is the sense in which Paul and all other biblical authors used its Greek equivalent, pisteuo when speaking of believing in God or in Jesus Christ. Since the time of Hobbes, Locke and Mills in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, it has gradually taken on the force of a proposition, "to believe that .... " In the 1959 edition of Chambers Encyclopedia, the article on "Belief" states, "what we actually believe, in the strictness of the language, is always a proposition or set of propositions. Of these, creeds are composed." (Quoted in Smith, Wilfrid Cantwell, History and Belief. Charlottesville, VA. Virginia University Press, 1977, p. 49; n. 30, p.109.)
Faith is the noun corresponding to the verb "believe," for which the Hebrew is heemin, the hiphil form of aman, and the Greek (LXX and NT) pisteuo. The latter is a key word in the NT, being the term regularly used to denote the many sided religious relationship into which the gospel calls men and women, that of trust in God through Christ. The complexity of this idea is reflected in the variety of constructions used with the verb (a hoti clause, or accusative and infinitive, expressing truth believed; en and epi with the dative, denoting restful reliance on that to which, or him to whom, credit is given; eis
and, occasionally, epi with the accusative, the most common, characteristic, and original NT usage, scarcely present in the LXX and not at all in classical Greek, conveying the thought of a move - ment of trust going out to, and laying hold of, the object of its confidence). The Hebrew noun corresponding to aman (emuna, rendered pistis in the LXX), regularly denotes faithfulness in the sense of trustworthiness, and pistis occasionally bears this sense in the NT (Rom. 3:3, of God; Matt. 23:23; Gal. 5:22; Titus 2: 1 0, of man).
A further argument for free will is that God's commandments carry a divine "ought" for man, implying that man can and should respond positively to his commands. The responsibility to obey God's commands entails the ability to respond to them, by God's enabling grace. Furthermore, if man is not free, but all his acts are determined by God, then God is directly responsible for evil, a conclusion that is clearly contradicted by Scripture (Hab. 1:13; James 1:13 - 17).
Therefore, it seems that some form of self determinism is the most compatible with the biblical view of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
who were beginning to lose heart by arguing forcefully that Christ had superseded the Torah, was more exalted than Moses I and that the sacrificial cult had simply foreshadowed Jesus' priestly act in giving his life for humanity. In an extraordinary passage, the author saw the entire history of Israel as exemplifying the virtue of pistis, trust in 'realities that at present remain unseen'." Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets had all exhibited this 'faith': that had been their greatest, indeed their sole achievement." But, the author concluded, 'they did not receive what was promised, since God made provision for us to have something better, and they were not to reach perfection except with us.'
In this exegetical tour de force, the whole of Israelite history had been redefined, but in the process the old stories, which had been about far more than pistis, lost much of their rich complexity. Torah, temple and cult simply pointed to a future reality because God had always had something better in mind. Paul and the author of Hebrews showed future generations of Christians how to interpret the Hebrew Bible and make it their own. The other New Testament Writers would develop this pesher and make it very difficult for Christians to see Jewish scripture as anything more than a prelude to Christianity.
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
SHITTY SHEPHERDS
Sister Escalera says the most hurtful part of the proposed sale of her convent is that the proceeds will be used to pay for the misdeeds of pedophile priests.
SHITTY SHEPHERDS
SHITTY SHEPHERDS
SHEPHERDING
CLEAN SHEEP
SO SAYS THE NOBLE POET
CHAUCER
HOW APT AN IMAGE
A ROLE PLAYED WELL
BY PRIESTS
MINISTERS
RABBIS
POLITICIANS
RULERS
ALL CLOTHED
IN SUNDAY FINERY
WITH THE BEST MANNERS
UNWORTHY SHEPHERDS
OF INNOCENT FLOCKS
TO QUESTION THEM
IS TO QUESTION
THEIR GOD LIKE STANCE
UNHOLY TO DO SO
BUT LATELY
THE SMELL OF THE SHEPHERDS
HAS BECOME TOO GREAT
THEY’VE MADE FRIENDS
WITH THE WOLVES
AND NO LONGER CARE FOR THE SHEEP
AND THE SHEEP
NO LONGER
LISTEN TO THE SHEPHERDS
AND THEIR CALL
TO FOLLOW
FRANK A VOLLMER
SHITTY SHEPHERDS
SHITTY SHEPHERDS
SHEPHERDING
CLEAN SHEEP
SO SAYS THE NOBLE POET
CHAUCER
HOW APT AN IMAGE
A ROLE PLAYED WELL
BY PRIESTS
MINISTERS
RABBIS
POLITICIANS
RULERS
ALL CLOTHED
IN SUNDAY FINERY
WITH THE BEST MANNERS
UNWORTHY SHEPHERDS
OF INNOCENT FLOCKS
TO QUESTION THEM
IS TO QUESTION
THEIR GOD LIKE STANCE
UNHOLY TO DO SO
BUT LATELY
THE SMELL OF THE SHEPHERDS
HAS BECOME TOO GREAT
THEY’VE MADE FRIENDS
WITH THE WOLVES
AND NO LONGER CARE FOR THE SHEEP
AND THE SHEEP
NO LONGER
LISTEN TO THE SHEPHERDS
AND THEIR CALL
TO FOLLOW
FRANK A VOLLMER
Friday, September 21, 2007
RIGOBERTA MENCHUI
We feel it is the duty of Christians to create the kingdom of God on Earth among our brothers. This kingdom will exist only when we all have enough to eat, when our children, brothers, parents don’t have to die from hunger and malnutrition. That will be the "Glory," a Kingdom for we who have never known it.- Rigoberta MenchuI, Rigoberta: An Indian Woman in Guatemala
Friday, August 31, 2007
Rigoberta Menchu
But our reality teaches us that, as Christians, we must create a Church of the poor, that we don’t need a Church imposed from outside which knows nothing of hunger.
- Rigoberta Menchu
I, Rigoberta: An Indian Woman in Guatemala
- Rigoberta Menchu
I, Rigoberta: An Indian Woman in Guatemala
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Frederick Douglass
Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will.
- Frederick Douglass
- Frederick Douglass
Thursday, April 26, 2007
A GIFT FOR A KING
Today I received a gift of a quilt made by my co-editor Nancy Stevens. It is beautiful. It has a special meaning to me, when you receive chemo they give you a quilt to stay warm. It's soothing and comforting and helps you through the rough spots. Now I have my own.
Friday, February 23, 2007
BEING LIBERAL
“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What didConservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things – every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." -- Matt Santos, The West Wing
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARDEN
All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarden
Most of what I really need to know
about how to live,
what to do,
and how to be,
I learned in kindergarten.
Wisdom
was not at the top
of the graduate school mountain,
but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life.
Learn some and draw and paint and sing and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
Most of what I really need to know
about how to live,
what to do,
and how to be,
I learned in kindergarten.
Wisdom
was not at the top
of the graduate school mountain,
but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life.
Learn some and draw and paint and sing and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
REFLECTIONS
Poem: “Blessings” by Ronald Wallace from Long for This World: New and Selected Poems. Copyright University of Pittsburgh Press. Reprinted with permission.
Blessings
occur.
Some days I find myself
putting my foot in
the same stream twice;
leading a horse to water
and making him drink.
I have a clue.
I can see the forest
for the trees.
All around me people
are making silk purses
out of sows’ ears,
getting blood from turnips,
building Rome in a day.
There’s a business
like show business.
there’s something new
under the sun.
Some days misery
no longer loves company;
it puts itself out of its.
There’s rest for the weary.
There’s turning back.
There are guarantees.
I can be serious.
I can mean that.
You can quite put your finger on it.
Blessings
occur.
Some days I find myself
putting my foot in
the same stream twice;
leading a horse to water
and making him drink.
I have a clue.
I can see the forest
for the trees.
All around me people
are making silk purses
out of sows’ ears,
getting blood from turnips,
building Rome in a day.
There’s a business
like show business.
there’s something new
under the sun.
Some days misery
no longer loves company;
it puts itself out of its.
There’s rest for the weary.
There’s turning back.
There are guarantees.
I can be serious.
I can mean that.
You can quite put your finger on it.
............................................................................................
Quotations from Frederick Buechner’s The Faces of Jesus - A Life story,
Paraclete Press, July 2005, ISDN 1-55725-455-9
In his own way, Paul would have perhaps understood either view, Paul as the only one who ever dared speak of the foolishness of God, of the crucifixion itself as folly, of the folly of his own preaching. If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last supper is the Mad Tea Party. The world says, Mind your own business, and Jesus says, There is not such thing as your own business. The world says, Follow the wisest course and be a success, and Jesus says, Follow me and be crucified. The world says, Drive carefully---the life you save may be your own—and Jesus says, Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The world says, Law ands order, and Jesus says, Love. The world says, get and Jesus says, give. In terms of the world’s sanity, Jesus is crazy as a coot, and anybody who thinks he can follow him without being a little crazy too is laboring less under a cross than under a delusion.
“We are fools for Christ’s sake,” Paul says, faith says---the faith that ultimately the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, the lunacy of Jesus saner than the grim sanity of the world. Through the eyes of faith too, the Last Supper, though on one level a tragic farewell and failure---farce even---is also, at its deepest level, the foreshadowing of great hope and the bodying forth of deep mystery. Frail, falliable, foolish as he knows the disciples to be, Jesus feeds them with himself. The bread is his flesh, the wine his blood, and they are all of them including Judas to eat and drink him down. They are to take his life into themselves and come alive with it, to be his hands and feet in a world where he no longer has hands and feet, to feed his lambs. “Do this in remembrance of me,” Paul quotes him as saying. In eating and the bread and drinking the wine, they are to remember him, Jesus tells them, and so remember him not merely in the sense of letting their minds drift back to him in the dim past but in the sense of recalling him to the immediate present. They are to remember him the way when we remember people we love who have died, our hearts kindle to the living reality of their presence.
In its fullest sense, remembering is far more than a long backward glance, and in its fullest sense the symbol of bread and wine is far more than symbol.
As Albert Schweitzer wrote at the end of The Quest for the Histortical Jesus, “He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside. He comes to those men who knew him not. He speaks to us the same words: “Follow thou me!” and sets us to the tasks which He has us to fulfill for our time. He commands, and to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in their toils, the conflicts, the sufferings, which they shall pass through in His Fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.”
Thus for Jesus the only distinction among people that ultimately matters seems to be not whether they are churchgoers or non-churchgoers, Catholics or Protestants, Muslims or Jews, but do they or do they not love---love not in the sense of an emotion so much as in the sense of an act of will, the loving act of willing another’s good even, if need arise, at the expense of their own. “Hell is the suffering of being unable to love,” said old Father Zossima or, as John puts it in his first epistle, “He who does not love abides in death.”
For Paul the Resurrection was no metaphor; it was the power of God. And when he spoke of Jesus as raised from the dead, he meant Jesus alive and at large in the world not as some shimmering ideal of human goodness but as the very power of life itself. If the life that was in Jesus died on the cross; if the love that was in him came to an end when his heart stopped beating; if the truth that he spoke was no more if no less timeless than the great truths of any time; if all that he had in him to give to world was a little glimmer of light to make bearable the inexorable approach of endless night---then all was despair.
Glory be to thee, Father
Glory be to thee, Word. Glory be to thee, Grace. Amen
Glory be to thy glory. Amen
I would be saved, and I would save. Amen
I would be loosed, and I would loose. Amen
I would be wounded, and I would wound. Amen
I would be born, and I would bear. Amen
I would eat, and would be eaten. Amen
I would hear, and I would be heard. Amen
Grace danceth, I would pipe. Dance ye all. Amen
I would mourn, Lament ye all. Amen
Whoso danceth not, knoweth not what cometh to pass. Amen
I would flee, and I would stay. Amen
I would adorn, and I would be adorned. Amen
I would be united, and I would unite. Amen
A house I have not, and I have houses. Amen
A lamp am I to thee that beholdest me. Amen
A mirror am I to thee that perceivest me. Amen
A door am I to thee that knowest at me. Amen
A way am I to thee a wayfarer. Amen
THUS, MY BELOVED,
HAVING DANCED WITH US,
THE LORD WENT FORTH.
Paraclete Press, July 2005, ISDN 1-55725-455-9
In his own way, Paul would have perhaps understood either view, Paul as the only one who ever dared speak of the foolishness of God, of the crucifixion itself as folly, of the folly of his own preaching. If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last supper is the Mad Tea Party. The world says, Mind your own business, and Jesus says, There is not such thing as your own business. The world says, Follow the wisest course and be a success, and Jesus says, Follow me and be crucified. The world says, Drive carefully---the life you save may be your own—and Jesus says, Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The world says, Law ands order, and Jesus says, Love. The world says, get and Jesus says, give. In terms of the world’s sanity, Jesus is crazy as a coot, and anybody who thinks he can follow him without being a little crazy too is laboring less under a cross than under a delusion.
“We are fools for Christ’s sake,” Paul says, faith says---the faith that ultimately the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, the lunacy of Jesus saner than the grim sanity of the world. Through the eyes of faith too, the Last Supper, though on one level a tragic farewell and failure---farce even---is also, at its deepest level, the foreshadowing of great hope and the bodying forth of deep mystery. Frail, falliable, foolish as he knows the disciples to be, Jesus feeds them with himself. The bread is his flesh, the wine his blood, and they are all of them including Judas to eat and drink him down. They are to take his life into themselves and come alive with it, to be his hands and feet in a world where he no longer has hands and feet, to feed his lambs. “Do this in remembrance of me,” Paul quotes him as saying. In eating and the bread and drinking the wine, they are to remember him, Jesus tells them, and so remember him not merely in the sense of letting their minds drift back to him in the dim past but in the sense of recalling him to the immediate present. They are to remember him the way when we remember people we love who have died, our hearts kindle to the living reality of their presence.
In its fullest sense, remembering is far more than a long backward glance, and in its fullest sense the symbol of bread and wine is far more than symbol.
As Albert Schweitzer wrote at the end of The Quest for the Histortical Jesus, “He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside. He comes to those men who knew him not. He speaks to us the same words: “Follow thou me!” and sets us to the tasks which He has us to fulfill for our time. He commands, and to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in their toils, the conflicts, the sufferings, which they shall pass through in His Fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.”
Thus for Jesus the only distinction among people that ultimately matters seems to be not whether they are churchgoers or non-churchgoers, Catholics or Protestants, Muslims or Jews, but do they or do they not love---love not in the sense of an emotion so much as in the sense of an act of will, the loving act of willing another’s good even, if need arise, at the expense of their own. “Hell is the suffering of being unable to love,” said old Father Zossima or, as John puts it in his first epistle, “He who does not love abides in death.”
For Paul the Resurrection was no metaphor; it was the power of God. And when he spoke of Jesus as raised from the dead, he meant Jesus alive and at large in the world not as some shimmering ideal of human goodness but as the very power of life itself. If the life that was in Jesus died on the cross; if the love that was in him came to an end when his heart stopped beating; if the truth that he spoke was no more if no less timeless than the great truths of any time; if all that he had in him to give to world was a little glimmer of light to make bearable the inexorable approach of endless night---then all was despair.
Glory be to thee, Father
Glory be to thee, Word. Glory be to thee, Grace. Amen
Glory be to thy glory. Amen
I would be saved, and I would save. Amen
I would be loosed, and I would loose. Amen
I would be wounded, and I would wound. Amen
I would be born, and I would bear. Amen
I would eat, and would be eaten. Amen
I would hear, and I would be heard. Amen
Grace danceth, I would pipe. Dance ye all. Amen
I would mourn, Lament ye all. Amen
Whoso danceth not, knoweth not what cometh to pass. Amen
I would flee, and I would stay. Amen
I would adorn, and I would be adorned. Amen
I would be united, and I would unite. Amen
A house I have not, and I have houses. Amen
A lamp am I to thee that beholdest me. Amen
A mirror am I to thee that perceivest me. Amen
A door am I to thee that knowest at me. Amen
A way am I to thee a wayfarer. Amen
THUS, MY BELOVED,
HAVING DANCED WITH US,
THE LORD WENT FORTH.
.........................................................................................................
More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, my friends, that is true perversion.
Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
..........................................................................................................
Voice of the Day: Charles Summers
The story goes that a North American missionary went out one day to preach in a barrio of a Brazilian city. Taking John 3:16 as his text, he stood on the corner proclaiming the love of God for all people. A crowd gathered. One man in the crowd interrupted the missionary, 'You are wrong, Senor, God doesn't love us. But the preacher was adamant. Oh, yes. God does love you. God gives all good things, including the Christ, for you. The Brazilian, waving his arms at the squalor surrounding him, replied angrily, Then somebody has been messing with the love of God! If God gave the earth for all people to share and enjoy, someone has been messing with God's plans.
The story goes that a North American missionary went out one day to preach in a barrio of a Brazilian city. Taking John 3:16 as his text, he stood on the corner proclaiming the love of God for all people. A crowd gathered. One man in the crowd interrupted the missionary, 'You are wrong, Senor, God doesn't love us. But the preacher was adamant. Oh, yes. God does love you. God gives all good things, including the Christ, for you. The Brazilian, waving his arms at the squalor surrounding him, replied angrily, Then somebody has been messing with the love of God! If God gave the earth for all people to share and enjoy, someone has been messing with God's plans.
Monday, October 23, 2006
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