Lentan Thoughts Week Two

The second Lenten Sunday is about a miracle that occurs in the three early Gospels. They are all very similar and written around the same time. It is believed that Mark was first; Matthew, second and Luke third.
Usually anything that is mentioned in all three is believed to have really happened.
This is a writing about something called Transfiguration. Today we do not think so much about people changing their appearances. We have creams, hair dyes, surgical procedures–all to make us look more like we would choose to. In biblical times these things only happened by special effects.
When Moses saw God and received the Commandments we are told when he came down the mountain his hair had turned white. Of course, none of us was there so I am using this as an example.
But in Jesus’ case we have three witnesses, Peter, James and John–sometimes referred to as Jesus’ favorites. Time out here! I believe we are ALL favorites so I have reasoned why these three were called. Peter became the first Pope or head of the newly founded church, James becme the first Bishop of Jerusalem where the church has begun, and John was the youngest and last of the Apostles so he was around longer to carry on the spread of the teachings. Back to the Tranfiguration.
If you read the accounts in the Bible you will realize certain similarities. Jesus appearance becomes white and bright, there are two visitors named Moses and Elijah by the apostles present and a voice from a cloud. Moses is the most important man in the old testament and Elijah did not appear to die as he was lifted up to heaven in a fiery chariot. (Jesus is the most important person in the new testament and Jesus ascended into Heaven after appearing to die.)
What I think is most important for me in all this is the voice in the cloud which says, “This is my son. Listen to him.” How do I listen? What do I hear? Do I spend a little extra time figuring out what God is saying–what he wants from me? Scary? O yes! But I will feel a whole lot better if I take time to do this. And when I look up after doing this I, like the Apostles,will see only (ONLY!!!!) Jesus.

Two Thoughts for Lenten Week One

The first thought has to do with temptation:
Christ goes to pray in a private place–the desert. In the Holy Land a desert is not like California’s death Valley. Yes, it is hot during the day and cold at night but not unbearably so. It is flat land and treeless or with low growing vegetation, more brown than green. A great place to relax and think peaceful thoughts, to look to what might be ahead and what one can do to be part of the future. I suggest “re treating” to a private place and spending some quality time alone or with a good and highly recommended spiritual reading book. I don’t know if what happened to Jesus will happen to you. Anyway, after these 40 days of private time, Jesus receives a visitor. None other than the devil. The evil one throws out a good line to this hungry person–good food, worship evil, be a daredevil and tempt someone to save you.
If Jesus can be tempted how about me? I certainly do not have all the protectors that he has. What I do notice is that after all the temptings and Christ’s refusal to follow them, the devil left him alone. but with plans to return at a later date!
The second thought:
EVIL–the word just adds a D to become devil..I never made that connection until my private thought time. So I decided to think about this evil person.
I do not think that he has a red suit, is terribly scary or ugly. If he were frightening we would not ever be tempted to follow his ideas rather than good ones. So he must seem pretty nice, speak with a beautiful voice and be easy to listen to and follow. Maybe sometimes he is disguised as a she or HORRORS! maybe I am the great tempter! I am going to spend some time thinking about how I am tempted as well as by whom I am tempted. This just might be self-revealing…

Gloom and Doom

That’s how I feel about Lent. I know we are supposed to be thinking of all the things we have in our lives that are not right. And I have a lot of them–like everyone but…forty days of thinking, kind of scares me.
Each day when I rise I ask God to guide me through the day so I won’t knowingly hurt anyone and each evening I spend some time going over my day to see if I acted the way I wanted to and treated everybody I met the way I would want them to treat me.
That said I now know that I am preparing for the great feast of Easter. Christmas is really for kids. I love it also but just watching children enjoy the celebrations is a good treat for the adult in me.
Easter is the grown-up celebration. It is a lot more than bunnies, chicks and painted eggs. And the six weeks before the Sunday is the time to prepare your inner self to celebrate this cornerstone of belief in God. Because that is what Easter is; a belief, a faith in things that ought to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus was who he said he was.
Today I walk around with a black smudge on my forehead indicating that I am aware of the fact that I am dust (The Bible says that Adam was made from God’s spit into dirt and the mud fashioned into man.) and as the priest who anointed me with the ashes of burned palm finishes this sentence with: and unto dust you will return, I realize I have some heavy duty changing to do to get ready for that Easter day.
So I begin this journey with the effort of putting the doom and gloom behind me and recognizing that the snow will vanish and the earth will begin to awaken and birds will come back and flowers will spring up and I will realize that the Scriptures tell of life–all of life–good and bad.
So I will make some promises to do something to get rid of the doom and gloom. Hopefully these practices will lighten my soul and free me to reflect on those who love me. God loves me more than I can imagine and these days become the welcoming of Spring into my life.
This will be my holy time when I look for the things I have to change to make me a better person by endeavoring to shed those old ways I am so unproud of.
My thoughts then are to give up a bad habit or practice which might hurt someone else and to do something positive which will open me to
listen to Scripture and its promise of eternal happiness by making the doom and gloom become the JOY and GLORY of Resurrection!

Growing Up in A Foreign Land

The spectacular birthday in the stable with singing angels and lowly shepherds is over. We,too, have put away our reminders of these festive celebratory days.
There are some additional times when the young family is spoken about. The first time is celebrated on the 12th day of Christmas. Yes, the 12th day after the birth is January 6th little Christmas.
The Kings, Scientists, Magicians, Astrologers or whoever they were, found the youngster in Bethlehem in a house–yes, a house. Read the Bible account (Matthew 2:11). The use of the word “house” occurs because the Wise Men followed a star for a long time. It led them as far as the capitol and they visited the King of the Jews, Herod, thinking if someone great were to be born he would be born in a palace or the son of a ruler. Herod does some homework and discovers that the great one is to be born in Bethlehem. So he gives directions to these men(an original GPS signal!) and asks them to return and tell him where they found this child who would be someone Herod and his family would have to be nervous about in the future.
They brought their gifts of gold(THE WORLD), frankincense(RELIGION),and myrhh(SUFFERING & DEATH). They return home bypassing Jerusalem because they did not trust the King. He did not trust them either and called for the slaughter of all the little boys two years and younger using the date of birth the visitors had told him.
How cruel! How much crying there must have been in that tiny town that day! But the baby Herod looked for was saved! His protector followed a dream he had. He alerted his wife and they packed up and moved to a neighboring country where the youngster was able to grow up safely.
What thoughts this brings up! Especially today when there is so much unease about immigration and the help foreigners need in a foreign land. Who helped them? Did they offer money? Did the young fellow make friends? Did he go to school? Would I have been kind to him if he did not know the language?
Would I have made fun of him if he was different?
What are my present thoughts about the many immigrants in the United States today? Just some musings on growing up away from home…

2010–The New Year

I am always shocked by the change of times from 19 to 20. So 2010, which I enjoy typing, is always a shock to me. Will 2010 continue to be filled with hope and good will? Will it be a better time for both bloggers and readers of blogs? Did you make New Year’s Resolutions? Have you kept them so far?
Someone said to me just recently that we should make positive resolutions. That is, instead of NOT DOING something we should turn around and do something positive.
That got me thinking because I never keep my resolutions. Once I completely changed my lifestyle because I wanted to avoid my resolution!
What if I decided to do a good deed every day for example. At night before getting into bed I could ask myself: What did I do for myself or somebody else this particular day?
I have always been a list maker; so this would be perfect for me. After awhile I could see if I do my good works for the same people all the time or the same deed over and over or is there someone included on the list with whom I am not in a positive relationship. Many things to think about in the New Year 2010.

Almost here. . .

When all the eating, gift-giving, gift opening, game playing, noise making is over what is left of the special day? Why do I feel as though something or someone has been left out?
It is a birthday party which has been celebrated through the centuries no matter who or what has tried to push it down or out. They try to remove the Christ word but it is there in the word Christmas no matter how many ways one says it.

And we celebrate the coming of a little child, a newborn, a simple and poor tiny baby. He comes each year to an unfinished people with incompleted works in continuing times. As we look upon you, little one, may we never shrink from what we need to do, may we continue to save rather than waste, may we not neglect those around us. May we your older siblings who will experiment for you, empower our friends, proclaim and communicate this wonderful news that you have come again to celebrate with us.

May we enjoy the new beginning of a new year in which the Babe of Christmas begins a new time of
peace, love, and happiness. Happy New Beginnings to all.

More on Advent: the Special Coming

I feel the excitement building in the air. Christmas is coming; and music, ads, stores, and persons are moving toward celebration big time. A person usually remembered during this season of waiting is a strange Biblical character. Like the Macchabee brothers who kept all their religious rules and died for their beliefs, John the Baptizer went into the Jerusalem desert to find truth and would later die for this faith in the coming Messiah. These foreshadows of the upcoming event can be found in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
I happened upon this quotation from Rick Warren in his book, “The Purpose of Christmas.”
“If you’ll slow down for a few minutes, take the time…to consider the purpose of Christmas, you can receive and enjoy the best Christmas gift you’ll ever be given. Christmas is a time for celebration! Christmas is a time for salvation! Christmas is a time for reconciliation!”
Did you realize Christmas is a birthday celebration? Yes, Christmas songs, Christmas presents, Christmas parties–they all are celebrating a birthday!
And while we celebrate do we usually ignore the person whose birthday we are celebrating?
How often do we do that?
Well, it is Christmas and Happy Holidays just does not really cover it, do you think?

Waiting Advent the coming. . .

Tidings of comfort and joy! Why does the time leading up to December 25 seem so harsh and dreary? Oh, yes, there are parties, noise, loud music-even special songs, flashing lights–but lots of emptiness–yes?
We have just begun a four week waiting period leading to the holy feast of Christmas. It might be that we have forgotten the “reason for the season.”

This first week stands for the 4000 years the people in the Holy Land waited for the one who was to save them from the Roman conquerers. Would he be a king, a wise and learned man, an artist, a soldier, a priest? Things were pretty bad. Even though there was peace in the land there were an awful lot of beggers, lepers, poor unable to find work. Why would anyone pay someone to work when they could purchase cheap labor to do their tasks.

Sounds a lot like the times we live in–our slaves are a little different as they worship drugs or popular persons or things. But those in olden times were also into royalty, money, taxes, depression, and stress.

We, however, are lucky. we can look back into history and see what happened; we can think about this time and look back on it as we prepare for that special day. We can be saved. We can be forgiven. We can celebrate.

Think about what will make this year different for you. Think how you can make this year different. And let us begin this very different celebration of Christmas 2009!

Thoughts On Why I Am Here

Lately I have been thinking seriously of my beliefs. My belief in the person of Jesus Christ has resulted in proving that his word is good and he means what he says. He did the things he said he could do (more about that at a later date)and so I want to look at what I should do or be if I wish to be a follower of this man.

In my reading I came across the words:

BELIEVE  +  RECEIVE =BECOME.

So I must have a reason for being here, now, doing what I am doing.

in this place at this time. All humans have a mission in life as well as a ministry. For the last thousands of years minstry and mission have been thought to belong to the chosen ministers, priests, religious etc.It sort of left the rest of humankind “off-the-hook” so to speak. It is this that I find disturbing as not only are the holy ones getting older but there have been so many scandals connected with ministers of every faith. That is why the “who” that I will become has to believe that I was saved to be alive for a reason. I was saved to  do something, to be someone, for somebody or somebodies. 

 In John’s first letter to his followers, he says,”Our love must be not just words or mere talk but something active and genuine.” Another translation states,”Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” Or yet again,”Let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”

This gives me an awesome feeling as no matter which of the three Bible translations I look at it seems that some sort of service ministry is part of the mission of me and all of us. As Rick Warren says in his book The Purpose Driven Life, “Our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning and our future is secured.”

Therefore in God’s kingdom I have a place, a purpose, a role, and a function that only I can fulfill. Now, I need some more thinking time.

Still Thinking About Holly’s Place

I previously mentioned that I was much influenced by the fact that I could do a weekly blog if I had the time. Well, I have decided to do one and make the time. Scary! One thing I really enjoy each day is in the local newspaper. It is called the Cryptoquote and is a thought for the day from a famous person. No, dear reader, I am not going to even try writing a puzzle where the sentences are encrypted like a secret message.

But I am going to share with you my last solved quotation.

More persons on the whole, are humbugged by believing in nothing than by believing in too much.–P. T. Barnum

That is the same fellow who said that there is a sucker born every minute. He has some great thoughts. So, I am going to write about FAITH. It will probably be my faith but maybe my faith will touch your faith and together we can come a little closer to the/a  person who inspires our faith.

I would like to leave you my working definition of FAITH.

“Faith is a belief in things that can not be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt but which I feel necessary for mylife.”

What do you think?