For born as a son, and led forth as a lamb,
Sacrificed as a sheep, buried as a man,
He rose from the dead as God,
Being by nature God and Man.
Who is all things:
In that he judges, Law,
in that he teaches, Word,
in that he saves, Grace,
in that he begets, Father
in that he is begotten, Son,
in that he suffers, the sacrificial sheep,
in that he is buried, Man,
in that he arises, God.
This is Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory to the ages of ages.
[Melito of Sardis, Paschal Homily, 169 A.D.]
high adventure, fearless cooking, insight and humor accumulated throughout a 27-year journey...
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
20 April 2015
14 January 2014
One Day
Sometimes I lay under the moon and thank God I'm breathing;
Then I pray, "Don't take me soon, 'cause I am here for a reason."
Sometimes, in my tears I drown, but I never let it get me down.
So when negativity surrounds, I know some day it'll all turn around, because...
All my life I've been waiting for, I've been praying for, for the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more; there'll be no more wars and our children will play.
One day, one day, one day...
It's not about win or lose, because we all lose when they feed on the souls of the innocent,
Blood-drenched pavement; keep on moving through, the waters stay raging...
In this maze you can lose your way; it might drive you crazy, but don't let it faze you, no way...
Sometimes, in my tears I drown, but I never let it get me down.
So when negativity surrounds, I know some day it'll all turn around, because...
All my life I've been waiting for, I've been praying for, for the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more; there'll be no more wars and our children will play.
One day, one day, one day...
One day this all will change; treat people the same, stop with the violence, down with the hate.
One day we'll all be free and proud to be under the same sun,
Singing songs of freedom like...
All my life I've been waiting for, I've been praying for, for the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more; there'll be no more wars and our children will play.
One day, one day, one day...
12 January 2014
Carolina in My Mind
...also, in reality.
Husband (Hubby? Hubskin? Hub?) and I spent a week adventuring around Charlotte. Our intent was to learn more about our grad school and to find somewhere to live. We thought we'd spend long days perusing dozens of apartments...
...but we fell in love with the first one we saw.
Four things we experienced for the first time:
2. A January thunderstorm - I did NOT know this was possible.
3. Someone calling the Civil War "the war of Northern aggression." (What does that even mean?). Apparently, Southerners continue - to this day - to justify a war that took place 150 years ago by it being about states' freedom to choose... to enslave people. This makes NO sense to me.
4. Shrimp & grits. This was the best thing I have EVER eaten.
All in all, I am pumped to move to the South. There is such a deep culture of both music and food (when asked what some of my favorite PA foods were, I replied, "...cheeseteak? Hershey's? Scrapple?" Penna Dutch cooking has NOTHING on that of the South) and many, many lovely people. Getting into seminary to truly learn the Bible and how to study it is fueling my sense of adventure and anticipation for ministry. "For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding." (Proverbs 2:6)
Feeling a sense of solidarity with Mr. Taylor...
Can't you feel the sunshine?
Can't you just feel the moonshine?
25 December 2013
The 6 Myths of Christmas
This season, I assisted my mother-in-law to liberally decorate their home with all things Christmas. I think she owns about four-hundred different incarnations of Santa Claus. I'm not even exaggerating. Trimming the tree (and the rest of the house) has led me to a few observations about some inaccurate facets of Americanized Christmas.
6. Joseph: husband of Mary, professional shepherd.
These two nativity scenes (among many others) portray Joseph holding a shepherd's crook. While shepherds were present that night in Bethlehem, Joseph himself was a carpenter by trade.
5. Someone received twelve drummers, eleven pipers, etc. for Christmas, and loved it all so much that she wrote a song about it.
Actually, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is about spiritual gifts, not material presents. What would you do with those ten lords leaping around your house, anyway? Read the full story here.
4. Angels look like either naked babies or winged ladies in dresses.
I grew up in a home where we placed an angel on top of our Christmas tree. It was the most beautiful, delicate doll... that I wasn't allowed to play with (too fragile). She had long, blonde hair; perfect, porcelain skin; and a shiny, white, satin dress. I'd cluster the other angel ornaments near the top of the tree - cute, glittery angels.
However, the angels described in scripture seem more like fiery, dangerous warriors. In many instances of an angel appearing to people, the angel has to calm them down, saying, "Don't be afraid!" Apparently, angels are pretty terrifying! Matthew describes the one guarding Jesus' empty tomb as having an "appearance like lightening." The cherubim in Genesis 3 guard the entrance to Eden with a flaming sword. The seraphim in Isaiah 6 have six wings each, and fly around shouting about how holy God is. Wow. These heavenly creatures sound a lot more exciting than naked-baby cherubs with chubby, pink cheeks!
3. The Magi showed up the day Jesus was born.
Matthew 2:1 - "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem." Verse 11 actually says they went into the house to worship Him - so the Magi never actually hung out in the barn with the holy family) After this, Herod ordered all male children age two and under to be killed. (Joseph led his family to Egypt to hide out for a while).
2. Three Wise Men came to visit baby Jesus.
The Biblical account's inclusion of the Magi's three gifts for the Christ-child has led us to believe that there were three wise men. Additionally, the well-known carol "We Three Kings" re-enforces this view by its language: each man brings one gift. "Born a King on Bethlehem's plain; gold I bring to crown Him again," "Frankincense to offer have I," "Myrrh is mine..."
However, the Biblical story of Christmas and Epiphany doesn't actually give a number of wise men, only the number of gifts. It could actually have been two men carrying three gifts, or four men, or twenty.
1. Santa Claus.
6. Joseph: husband of Mary, professional shepherd.
5. Someone received twelve drummers, eleven pipers, etc. for Christmas, and loved it all so much that she wrote a song about it.
Actually, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is about spiritual gifts, not material presents. What would you do with those ten lords leaping around your house, anyway? Read the full story here.
4. Angels look like either naked babies or winged ladies in dresses.
I grew up in a home where we placed an angel on top of our Christmas tree. It was the most beautiful, delicate doll... that I wasn't allowed to play with (too fragile). She had long, blonde hair; perfect, porcelain skin; and a shiny, white, satin dress. I'd cluster the other angel ornaments near the top of the tree - cute, glittery angels.
However, the angels described in scripture seem more like fiery, dangerous warriors. In many instances of an angel appearing to people, the angel has to calm them down, saying, "Don't be afraid!" Apparently, angels are pretty terrifying! Matthew describes the one guarding Jesus' empty tomb as having an "appearance like lightening." The cherubim in Genesis 3 guard the entrance to Eden with a flaming sword. The seraphim in Isaiah 6 have six wings each, and fly around shouting about how holy God is. Wow. These heavenly creatures sound a lot more exciting than naked-baby cherubs with chubby, pink cheeks!
3. The Magi showed up the day Jesus was born.
Matthew 2:1 - "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem." Verse 11 actually says they went into the house to worship Him - so the Magi never actually hung out in the barn with the holy family) After this, Herod ordered all male children age two and under to be killed. (Joseph led his family to Egypt to hide out for a while).
2. Three Wise Men came to visit baby Jesus.
The Biblical account's inclusion of the Magi's three gifts for the Christ-child has led us to believe that there were three wise men. Additionally, the well-known carol "We Three Kings" re-enforces this view by its language: each man brings one gift. "Born a King on Bethlehem's plain; gold I bring to crown Him again," "Frankincense to offer have I," "Myrrh is mine..."
However, the Biblical story of Christmas and Epiphany doesn't actually give a number of wise men, only the number of gifts. It could actually have been two men carrying three gifts, or four men, or twenty.
1. Santa Claus.
There's been a myth going around, saying that parents are the ones leaving presents under Christmas trees on December 24th. Isn't that ridiculous? I personally think it's just absurd to assume parents would be interested in building dozens of toys, wrapping them all perfectly, and stacking them in the living room in the middle of the night. Don't you agree? I can't imagine leaving that great a job of gift-giving to anyone but Santa himself. You can watch this documentary for more information.
If you have any additional observations about the holidays, I'd love to hear them - please comment! I hope your Christmas is joyful, and I leave you to enjoy this video (Michael Caine's finest performance):
20 December 2013
Twelve Days of Christmas: Part II
Today is December 20th. We have decorated our Christmas tree! It is hard to believe that Christmas is only five days away. Have you been counting down the twelve days of Christmas?
If so, you may have been led astray by television movie marathons and holiday commercialism!
The Twelve Days of Christmas are actually those days following December 25th. Traditionally, Christmas was celebrated for twelve whole days, leading up to Epiphany (the day the church commemorates the Wise Men's arrival to visit the Christ-child) on January 6th.
Sadly, Christmas - in America - has turned into an entire month of shopping, busyness, decorating, baking, and anticipation... all for just one day! As soon as Boxing Day rolls around, the Christmas music is cut off the radio stations, decor is boxed up once more, and we head into the boring part of the winter season.
It makes me sad! Why don't we have twelve days of celebration? Why not give people a break from work or school for twelve days of family time and relaxation? Certainly, the birth of God Himself in humblest human form is worth more than one day of celebration per year.
Well, I know the real reason we don't celebrate Christmas for twelve days. It's because no one would make any extra money off of it. All the corporations just want everyone to stress out and buy as much as they can in the month leading up to one day of blowout gift-giving and feasting.
I'd rather we feast for twelve days straight. I'd love it! Turkeys, hams, prime rib, duck, goose...
...and the cookies!! THE COOKIES!!!
Anyways... I challenge myself (and you, dear reader) to consider Christmas a twelve day-long festival, rather than a twenty-four hour holiday. Contemplate and worship our wonderful Savior, who "though He was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:6-7). Compare Philippians 2 and Psalm 8, and be blown away by the awesome power AND complete humility of God. The all-powerful Creator of the entire universe... was born a helpless baby in a barn... to show that He cares for us.
On the other hand... if you prefer the less Jesus-y, more Santa Claus-y side of Christmas... let's live out twelve beautiful days of gratitude, expressing thankfulness and love to our family and friends; as well as giving generously to those around us. Merry Christmas, friends!
If so, you may have been led astray by television movie marathons and holiday commercialism!
The Twelve Days of Christmas are actually those days following December 25th. Traditionally, Christmas was celebrated for twelve whole days, leading up to Epiphany (the day the church commemorates the Wise Men's arrival to visit the Christ-child) on January 6th.
Sadly, Christmas - in America - has turned into an entire month of shopping, busyness, decorating, baking, and anticipation... all for just one day! As soon as Boxing Day rolls around, the Christmas music is cut off the radio stations, decor is boxed up once more, and we head into the boring part of the winter season.
It makes me sad! Why don't we have twelve days of celebration? Why not give people a break from work or school for twelve days of family time and relaxation? Certainly, the birth of God Himself in humblest human form is worth more than one day of celebration per year.
Well, I know the real reason we don't celebrate Christmas for twelve days. It's because no one would make any extra money off of it. All the corporations just want everyone to stress out and buy as much as they can in the month leading up to one day of blowout gift-giving and feasting.
I'd rather we feast for twelve days straight. I'd love it! Turkeys, hams, prime rib, duck, goose...
...and the cookies!! THE COOKIES!!!
Anyways... I challenge myself (and you, dear reader) to consider Christmas a twelve day-long festival, rather than a twenty-four hour holiday. Contemplate and worship our wonderful Savior, who "though He was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:6-7). Compare Philippians 2 and Psalm 8, and be blown away by the awesome power AND complete humility of God. The all-powerful Creator of the entire universe... was born a helpless baby in a barn... to show that He cares for us.
On the other hand... if you prefer the less Jesus-y, more Santa Claus-y side of Christmas... let's live out twelve beautiful days of gratitude, expressing thankfulness and love to our family and friends; as well as giving generously to those around us. Merry Christmas, friends!
17 December 2013
Twelve Days of Christmas: Part I
What in the WORLD am I going to do with these ten lords who are leaping all over the house?? Why, oh why did my husband hire these guys to jump around? And they expect to be fed, too! I am going to have to buy a whole 'nother ham and a goose just for Christmas dinner!
Praise the Lord... I am just kidding.
But who in their right mind wrote a song about getting all sorts of crazy gifts during each day of the Christmas Feast? Okay, animals can make nice gifts, if you're prepared to care for them. I wouldn't mind receiving all that poultry. But... people? People! Why would you give dancing ladies as a gift?
Plus, don't all these things combined sound a little expensive?
What does the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song really mean?
As it turns out, that famous song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is about spiritual gifts, not material presents. What would you do with twelve drummers, anyway? Start a marching band with them and the eleven pipers?
The story goes like this: during the sixteenth century, Roman Catholics were facing persecution in England, so they came up with a cheerful holiday tune to secretly teach their children about the tenants of the faith. Think about this the next time you sing it:
"On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love" (God) "gave to me"
"Twelve drummers drumming," (the Apostles Creed's points of doctrine)
"Eleven pipers piping," (the eleven faithful disciples of Jesus)
"Ten lords a'leaping," (Ten Commandments)
"Nine ladies dancing," (nine fruits of the Spirit)
"Eight maids a'milking," (the eight Beatitudes Jesus taught)
Praise the Lord... I am just kidding.
But who in their right mind wrote a song about getting all sorts of crazy gifts during each day of the Christmas Feast? Okay, animals can make nice gifts, if you're prepared to care for them. I wouldn't mind receiving all that poultry. But... people? People! Why would you give dancing ladies as a gift?
Plus, don't all these things combined sound a little expensive?
What does the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song really mean?
As it turns out, that famous song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is about spiritual gifts, not material presents. What would you do with twelve drummers, anyway? Start a marching band with them and the eleven pipers?
The story goes like this: during the sixteenth century, Roman Catholics were facing persecution in England, so they came up with a cheerful holiday tune to secretly teach their children about the tenants of the faith. Think about this the next time you sing it:
"On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love" (God) "gave to me"
"Twelve drummers drumming," (the Apostles Creed's points of doctrine)
"Eleven pipers piping," (the eleven faithful disciples of Jesus)
"Ten lords a'leaping," (Ten Commandments)
"Nine ladies dancing," (nine fruits of the Spirit)
"Eight maids a'milking," (the eight Beatitudes Jesus taught)
"Seven swans a'swimming," (the seven gifts of the Spirit)
"Six geese a'laying," (the six days of Creation)
"Five gold rings," (the Torah/Pentateuch)
"Four calling birds," (the four Gospels)
"Three French hens," (the three Persons of the Trinity)
"Two turtle doves," (Old and New Testaments)
"and a partridge" (Jesus) "in a pear tree." (the cross)
Read the full story here.
Next time, in "Twelve Days of Christmas: Part II," we'll discover why there are twelve days of Christmas in the first place... and why we don't celebrate them all anymore.
07 September 2012
defining Christianity
These days, I am hesitant to label myself as a "Christian."
A weighty reason that I am is the Republican party's use of the name of God to attract "moral voters." Voting for wealthy, white men in business suits has nothing to do with emulating Jesus Christ.
Another reason is the damage the Church has caused over centuries of history. Many people (at least in America) hate or disagree with Christians because they've been hurt by them. All Christians are hypocrites.
Unfortunately, there are so many Christians who will not admit their own hypocrisy. From small issues, like not forgiving quickly enough or vying to win theological arguments; to massive ones, like picketing hatefully in the name of God. I don't think God could ever agree with those who hate.
Personal disclaimer: I AM A HYPOCRITE. I am messed-up; I am bitter; I am selfish.
These days, I prefer to call myself a Christ-follower. A follower of Jesus. That's the original denotation of the word Christian.
Chris·tian [kris-chuhn]
1. (adj.) of, pertaining to, or derived from Jesus Christ or His teachings: a Christian faith.
It's hard to identify oneself with a word so often used for morality or church-going or slightly-less-evil-than-most-people.
A great essay on the misuse of the word Christian can be found here.
Definition: CHRISTIANITY is following the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and embracing Him as Lord. (Lord: one's master/ruler/care-taker/provider)
True Christianity has nothing to do with following rules! It is heartbreaking that this is such a common misconception. It is commonly perceived as such because there are too many preachers or Sunday school teachers telling their children that if they behave, God will be happy.
Following Jesus means accepting His grace. He already KNOWS that we will break rule after rule, every single day, and yet He still offers us love and life. He enables us to quit living for ourselves and grasp for the truth and beauty and eternity He gives.
Look around you. If you're inside, step out for a moment. How massive is that maple tree? How many birds are singing? Can you count the blades of fragrant grass beneath your feet? Do you have any idea how many different species of insects are living within your tiny acre of Earth?
How amazing is it that God created so much beauty? He created it all to woo us to Him! ...to show us that He does love us and wants us to enjoy life! Remember the last time you coasted down a steep hill on a bike - how thrilling and breezy and breathtaking! Swimming in the ocean is one of the best ways to feel miniscule and entirely overwhelmed by the Earth's size and the fact that there are other bathers dipping their toes in the SAME water in England, Morocco, South Africa, Brazil!
I cannot fathom a simple "big bang" throwing dust together to form this world. It is simply too gorgeous and astounding. It must have been done by the Creator's Hand.
Religion is defined in two places in the Bible:
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27)
"But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God." (I Timothy 5:4)
True religion means taking care of other people. Take care of your family; take care of the needy. Don't become jaded by the sin (selfish behavior of every person on Earth) you see around you.
Going to church is not in the Bible's definition.
God isn't even mentioned.
Christianity is not a religion.
It is a free life of enjoying God and His people and His world.
It is following Jesus' commands when He says,
"Let your light shine before others." (Matthew 5:16)
"Go and be reconciled to (your brother or sister)." (Matthew 5:24)
"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5:44)
"Love your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27)
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:10-11)
...and so many other life-giving things.
Real Christianity is a life of redemption, reconciliation, love, mercy and grace.
It is learning from and loving Jesus Christ.
For more on Jesus and life with Him, read Waking the Dead, Crazy Love, Because He Loves Me and the Holy Bible. Listen to Derek Webb's album She Must and Shall Go Free.
biblegateway.com is a great online resource for reading God's love letters to us.
05 May 2012
Funeral
Just attended a memorial service for a 21 year-old girl. Funerals are always awful and heartbreaking, but when they're for young people, they just feel so much worse. What a loss. How many years of life she would have had. It's absolutely sorrowful when you have to lay a parent or grandparent to rest, when they're full of years; but when a young life is cut short, it just feels ...wrong.
She is in God's House now, though. In the spectrum of eternity, we'll all be with her There soon.
She is in God's House now, though. In the spectrum of eternity, we'll all be with her There soon.
19 February 2010
23 October 2009
palm 93
the Lord reigns, He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength.
the world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity.
the seas have lifted up, o Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea - the Lord on high is mighty.
Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns Your house for endless days, o Lord.
the world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity.
the seas have lifted up, o Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea - the Lord on high is mighty.
Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns Your house for endless days, o Lord.
24 September 2009
wealth
i see a t.v. preacher promoting his 'financial breakthrough bible' and the 'four miracles god will release into your life'. before that, he proclaimed God's coming judgement on the u.s. for its inappropriate sex and abortion.
i look once more at this man, shouting into his microphone, wearing a great big red silk tie, an enormous gold ring on his finger, and an expensive-looking suit that covers his enormous body.
my confession: i eat more than my body needs. it's true. where in my caloric intake does ice cream play a part in aiding the nutrition of my body? it does not. i call myself out: i'm a sinner who eats more than i need to.
the increasing reality of americans' obsession with food can be clearly seen in their volume. cars become suvs [for suburban commuters] to accomodate the size of passengers. rollercoasters now boast rows of larger seats for their guests. tv channels that once provided science education now air programs about 800+ pound persons' addictions to take-out, their bed-bound lives, their gastric bypass surgeries, and their deaths.
it is easy to point out obese people and their obvious problem: food addiction. but we must think on our own selves as well. how much are we eating? what money are we spending frivolously that could be used to help the poor - as Jesus asks us to?
if one person who purchases a cup of coffee three to four times a week gives up the java and puts that money towards a poor child; that person could sponsor a kid in africa for his or her education, healthcare, food and more... for years.
Jesus calls us to love God and love our neighbor. more specifically, He calls us to do three things to honor God: pray, give, fast. i admit, i struggle to do all three of those. it may be difficult because of the implications our western society puts on us as its citizens, fueling our selfish, sinful nature.
1. pray - prayer constitutes the simple act of quieting the mind and communing with God. listening to Him, and speaking with Him [beyond asking for trivial things & saying thanks for dinner]. how do we achieve quiet? put down the crackberry, hush the tweeting, log off of facebook. turn off the mobile phone, step outside, lie down in the grass and be quiet. do that for more than 10 minutes and find out how much you hear.
2. give - God wants us to take care of the misfortunate because it brings honor to His name.
instinct tells us that the man on the street asking for change will use it the next minute to buy booze or crack. does Jesus ask us to judge what he'll do with that money? if we're honest with ourselves, as much as we think we work hard to "earn" money, we can't deny that God gave us the skills... and provided education... and put us in the job... and He's the one who truly earned us our paychecks. the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it. even two dollars in your pocket belongs to God - let His will be done when we give to strangers.
3. fast - this one is the most oft ignored among american Christ-followers. we don't think about *not* eating, mostly because we have in our country a ridiculous abundance of food. God spoke to the prophet isaiah, telling him that He wants a fast that's pure - a heart that wants to give up food so it can give that food to the hungry. He says if we do this, "then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear. then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard." awesome, awesome things happen when we choose the righteous path. what's holding us back?
i look once more at this man, shouting into his microphone, wearing a great big red silk tie, an enormous gold ring on his finger, and an expensive-looking suit that covers his enormous body.
my confession: i eat more than my body needs. it's true. where in my caloric intake does ice cream play a part in aiding the nutrition of my body? it does not. i call myself out: i'm a sinner who eats more than i need to.
the increasing reality of americans' obsession with food can be clearly seen in their volume. cars become suvs [for suburban commuters] to accomodate the size of passengers. rollercoasters now boast rows of larger seats for their guests. tv channels that once provided science education now air programs about 800+ pound persons' addictions to take-out, their bed-bound lives, their gastric bypass surgeries, and their deaths.
it is easy to point out obese people and their obvious problem: food addiction. but we must think on our own selves as well. how much are we eating? what money are we spending frivolously that could be used to help the poor - as Jesus asks us to?
if one person who purchases a cup of coffee three to four times a week gives up the java and puts that money towards a poor child; that person could sponsor a kid in africa for his or her education, healthcare, food and more... for years.
Jesus calls us to love God and love our neighbor. more specifically, He calls us to do three things to honor God: pray, give, fast. i admit, i struggle to do all three of those. it may be difficult because of the implications our western society puts on us as its citizens, fueling our selfish, sinful nature.
1. pray - prayer constitutes the simple act of quieting the mind and communing with God. listening to Him, and speaking with Him [beyond asking for trivial things & saying thanks for dinner]. how do we achieve quiet? put down the crackberry, hush the tweeting, log off of facebook. turn off the mobile phone, step outside, lie down in the grass and be quiet. do that for more than 10 minutes and find out how much you hear.
2. give - God wants us to take care of the misfortunate because it brings honor to His name.
instinct tells us that the man on the street asking for change will use it the next minute to buy booze or crack. does Jesus ask us to judge what he'll do with that money? if we're honest with ourselves, as much as we think we work hard to "earn" money, we can't deny that God gave us the skills... and provided education... and put us in the job... and He's the one who truly earned us our paychecks. the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it. even two dollars in your pocket belongs to God - let His will be done when we give to strangers.
3. fast - this one is the most oft ignored among american Christ-followers. we don't think about *not* eating, mostly because we have in our country a ridiculous abundance of food. God spoke to the prophet isaiah, telling him that He wants a fast that's pure - a heart that wants to give up food so it can give that food to the hungry. He says if we do this, "then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear. then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard." awesome, awesome things happen when we choose the righteous path. what's holding us back?
20 September 2009
Freedom
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows.
For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out - in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom me then?
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
Galatians 5:13-26, The Message
For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out - in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom me then?
My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
Galatians 5:13-26, The Message
03 September 2009
deterioration of the fight or flight response
Fight or flight. It's what we've been told. We're expected to do it. Instinct, as they say.
And you can't say you haven't ever made the subconscious choice and done one or the other or (likely) both. We're humans; we're confronted; our hearts are put on the line. A situation arises and that slow burn comes upon our hearts, fueling anger or confusion - pushing us to counter the problem strongly or leave it and run away, hoping to clear our heads and forget it all.
And it can happen any time...
When folks start talking dissenting politics, it's likely a person will argue or leave the room.
At that breaking point, when your most important relationship is under attack, what do you do? Fight the flesh? Fight the wife or the husband or the best friend? Or do you run? Do you even look back behind you?
We're all succumbed to fighting. We've all flown off, as well. It's instinct. It's human nature. It's our flesh taking action for us.
But what does the heart say?
Our hearts know that malignant situations come upon us, and that we should solve them rationally, not hurting the other person or thing involved. We should take time; figure things out.
So, how do we fight the instinct?
Could I do it by myself?
Certainly not.
Without the help and the drive of a perfect person, it's impossible.
How grateful, then, are we to be that the very Spirit of God rests within us. The very Spirit that can cause mountains to crack & crumble into pieces lives inside you and inside me to calm our inner storms. He brings us peace & serenity.
His presence moves us not to fight anymore. We don't have to run away; we run only to Him.
The temptation to lean on our own selves for understanding is, of course, strong and with us.
But we can choose to fall on Him.
We fight and flee no more.
And you can't say you haven't ever made the subconscious choice and done one or the other or (likely) both. We're humans; we're confronted; our hearts are put on the line. A situation arises and that slow burn comes upon our hearts, fueling anger or confusion - pushing us to counter the problem strongly or leave it and run away, hoping to clear our heads and forget it all.
And it can happen any time...
When folks start talking dissenting politics, it's likely a person will argue or leave the room.
At that breaking point, when your most important relationship is under attack, what do you do? Fight the flesh? Fight the wife or the husband or the best friend? Or do you run? Do you even look back behind you?
We're all succumbed to fighting. We've all flown off, as well. It's instinct. It's human nature. It's our flesh taking action for us.
But what does the heart say?
Our hearts know that malignant situations come upon us, and that we should solve them rationally, not hurting the other person or thing involved. We should take time; figure things out.
So, how do we fight the instinct?
Could I do it by myself?
Certainly not.
Without the help and the drive of a perfect person, it's impossible.
How grateful, then, are we to be that the very Spirit of God rests within us. The very Spirit that can cause mountains to crack & crumble into pieces lives inside you and inside me to calm our inner storms. He brings us peace & serenity.
His presence moves us not to fight anymore. We don't have to run away; we run only to Him.
The temptation to lean on our own selves for understanding is, of course, strong and with us.
But we can choose to fall on Him.
We fight and flee no more.
02 April 2009
Easter? Not really...
Regretfully, I had never been exposed to multiple forms of Christian spirituality as a child. Occasionally I got to go to mass with my dad, which I found more interesting, but 95% of the time was Sunday mornings at Presbyterian church. Mainline, white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant church. "Middle class" to rich white folks.
And we followed the church calendar all year. Advent (waiting for Christmas), Christmas, Epiphany (arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem), Lent (waiting for Easter), Easter, Ascencion, and Pentecost (arrival of the Holy Spirit). This religious calendar was simply a part of the life I
lived on Sundays before lunchtime. It was all a given. A part of time.
When I got involved at a non-denominational church in college, though, all that day-by-day religiosity simply wasn't present. They did Christmas and Easter, sure. But the difference was that Pastor Nate always called Easter "Resurrection Sunday." And that is what it is. It made much more sense than calling it some sort of made-up word that doesn't appear in the Bible. Of course, I decided to go on an internet quest to find out why we call Jesus' resurrection "Easter."
It quite has nothing to do with Him or His resurrection day. Easter comes from Ēostre-monath, a month of the Germanic calendar named after Ēostre, the Anglo-Saxon pagan goddess of spring/fertility/dawn/the dawn star(Venus).
In America, people who call themselves followers of Christ - the risen One - choose to celebrate His resurrection day by repeating pagan traditions formerly used to celebrate this goddess Ēostre. And only in the English-speaking world do we continue to honor this goddess by name on the resurrection day of Jesus...
From religioustolerance.org:
"Based on Pagan name: In English, "Easter" is derived from the name of an ancient pagan goddess Eostre.
Based on "Pesach:" In most of the remaining languages in countries with a Christian heritage, the name is derived from "Pesach" (פסח in Hebrew) the name for Passover. These include...
Afrikaans: Paasfees
Arabic: عيد الفصح (Aīd ul-Figh)
Finnish: Pääsiäinen
French: Pâques
Greek: Πάσχα (Pascha)
Hebrew: פסחא (Pascha)
Irish: Cáisc
Malayalam: പെശഹ (Pæsacha/Pæsaha)
Spanish: Pascua
Tagalog: Pasko ng Muling Pagkabuhay, "the Pasch of the Resurrection"
Other bases:
Armenian: Զատիկ (Zadik) "separation" or Սուրբ Հարություն (Sourb Haroutiwn) "holy resurrection"
Chinese: Fùhuó Jié, "Resurrection Festival"
Georgian: აღდგომა (Aĝdgoma), "rising"
Japanese: katakana or Fukkatsusai, "Resurrection Festival"
Tongan (South-pacific): Pekia, "death (of a Lord)"
And we followed the church calendar all year. Advent (waiting for Christmas), Christmas, Epiphany (arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem), Lent (waiting for Easter), Easter, Ascencion, and Pentecost (arrival of the Holy Spirit). This religious calendar was simply a part of the life I
lived on Sundays before lunchtime. It was all a given. A part of time.
(I do often wish I lived in innocence/ignorance of the church calendar.
Last year I spoke with Greg about whatever church
services were going on, and I mentioned "Maundy Thursday."
He said, "What's that?"
I said, "It's the remembrance of the Thursday
when Jesus had His final Passover meal with His disciples,
and then prayed in the garden and was arrested."
Greg replied, "What is a maundy?"
I had no answer for him - I had simply called it that
my whole life without asking what the word
meant - how ignorant a follower I am! I discovered
maundatum - "command," as in , "A new command I give you: love
one another as I have loved you." - Jesus' final command to His disciples)
Last year I spoke with Greg about whatever church
services were going on, and I mentioned "Maundy Thursday."
He said, "What's that?"
I said, "It's the remembrance of the Thursday
when Jesus had His final Passover meal with His disciples,
and then prayed in the garden and was arrested."
Greg replied, "What is a maundy?"
I had no answer for him - I had simply called it that
my whole life without asking what the word
meant - how ignorant a follower I am! I discovered
maundatum - "command," as in , "A new command I give you: love
one another as I have loved you." - Jesus' final command to His disciples)
When I got involved at a non-denominational church in college, though, all that day-by-day religiosity simply wasn't present. They did Christmas and Easter, sure. But the difference was that Pastor Nate always called Easter "Resurrection Sunday." And that is what it is. It made much more sense than calling it some sort of made-up word that doesn't appear in the Bible. Of course, I decided to go on an internet quest to find out why we call Jesus' resurrection "Easter."
It quite has nothing to do with Him or His resurrection day. Easter comes from Ēostre-monath, a month of the Germanic calendar named after Ēostre, the Anglo-Saxon pagan goddess of spring/fertility/dawn/the dawn star(Venus).
"Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring." - history.com
In America, people who call themselves followers of Christ - the risen One - choose to celebrate His resurrection day by repeating pagan traditions formerly used to celebrate this goddess Ēostre. And only in the English-speaking world do we continue to honor this goddess by name on the resurrection day of Jesus...
From religioustolerance.org:
"Based on Pagan name: In English, "Easter" is derived from the name of an ancient pagan goddess Eostre.
Based on "Pesach:" In most of the remaining languages in countries with a Christian heritage, the name is derived from "Pesach" (פסח in Hebrew) the name for Passover. These include...
Afrikaans: Paasfees
Arabic: عيد الفصح (Aīd ul-Figh)
Finnish: Pääsiäinen
French: Pâques
Greek: Πάσχα (Pascha)
Hebrew: פסחא (Pascha)
Irish: Cáisc
Malayalam: പെശഹ (Pæsacha/Pæsaha)
Spanish: Pascua
Tagalog: Pasko ng Muling Pagkabuhay, "the Pasch of the Resurrection"
Other bases:
Armenian: Զատիկ (Zadik) "separation" or Սուրբ Հարություն (Sourb Haroutiwn) "holy resurrection"
Chinese: Fùhuó Jié, "Resurrection Festival"
Georgian: აღდგომა (Aĝdgoma), "rising"
Japanese: katakana or Fukkatsusai, "Resurrection Festival"
Tongan (South-pacific): Pekia, "death (of a Lord)"
02 December 2008
Not even at a crossroads
Hello friends of the internet,
Now that NaNoWriMo is over (as well as No-Shave November, which I haven't personally concluded) I can do other things with the time I don't spend at work or with people. I ended at 50,062-something words, although my novel isn't near finished. I had kind of mapped out a plot in my mind, and would skip ahead to write different parts, bouncing back and forth so I wouldn't tire of a particular part of the story. Maybe I'll complete the story during next November.
Recently I read the first half of The Secret Life of Bees, recommended to me by Christine Barlow two summers back. Last night I began reading The Lord of the Rings, because this weekend a TV channel aired all three movies of the "trilogy" and I felt my brain could use some stimulation from Tolkien's adventures in language. (Writing my own wimpy book, I could see how awfully limited my own vocabulary is right now - which I attribute to only having been required to write about art during the past four years of my life)
Right now, I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. It's much more difficult to discern the call of God when I don't spend time listening. I read Brennan Manning's The Signature of Jesus, in which he described how to do a "centering prayer". It's meditative, and you do it for about twenty minutes at a time, before breakfast or dinner so your soul can connect with the hunger of your body. My problem is that I need a clean, peaceful space to do it, and my room is not in that condition at the moment. I miss the Christopher House in a time like this, because it had the chapel - small, intimate, quiet. Lined with a few chairs, stocked with diverse musical instruments for worship, and with candles always lit, it really felt like a sacred space where we as individuals or the whole fellowship could come for quiet (or loud!) time with the Lord, because that space was created specifically to meet with Him there.
Soon I'll be starting a youth ministry internship at my church, which I'm pretty ecstatic about. It makes me very glad that God doesn't call the qualified, but qualifies the called. I'll make curriculums for pre-school through senior high, teach, lead events, work on communications (don't I wish I took some graphic design courses?), and learn how to administrate. My pastor and the elder in charge of youth will be mentoring me through the process, so I'm going to ask that they also keep me accountable for my own spiritual growth, challenging me through this season (ooo, Christian vocab word).
Unpaid internships usually need to be paired with part-time jobs, so that's the thing I worry about. Working at Pier 1 has been a lot of fun, I actually enjoy it a lot, but I'm unure how long employment lasts after the buy-stuff-in-December season ends. (don't you hate having to associate Jesus' birthday with giving gifts to everyone but Him?) The career-building/resume-sending/connect-with-employers websites are okay. Without a degree in nursing or engineering, there aren't many jobs available. There are a few positions as postal workers or typists for the state, so perhaps something like that will hold me over. I feel like I just need a short-term job where I can earn some money to save up for a car; and once I have that, I'll have mobility and I'll be independent and I'll have peace about that.
Saturday was a really cool day because I got to hang out with a bunch of people I graduated high school with, whom I hadn't seen in maybe two or three years. It was hard not to feel discouraged, though, because they're all doing real things, having graduated with real majors that led to real jobs. More (?) importantly, they've all got their own places and aren't living with their parents. Of course, some of them received cars from their parents; something I don't have the luxury of, and also something that keeps me immobilized, tied down.
I know I need this transition period, this internship, because I didn't go to school for what I'm called to do - stupid - so I am hoping to put a lot of energy and effort into mentoring and loving on the kids in my church, and learning as much as I can from this experience so I can go do it, serve where I'm called to serve on my own. I'm still on the road toward the point of decision making, and that intersection seems so far off right now.
Fighting a battle against time is stupid. However, I seem to subconciously enjoy doing that. I feel tied down, like I want to start the great adventure of my life, but I have to save up some money before doing that. I have so many friends who are serving in different ministries around the country, around the world, because they had opportunities to jump out into the unknown in faith, following God with reckless abandon. I want that. I'm crushed under the waiting for it. Hopefully I can bear this all for as long as it takes...
Now that NaNoWriMo is over (as well as No-Shave November, which I haven't personally concluded) I can do other things with the time I don't spend at work or with people. I ended at 50,062-something words, although my novel isn't near finished. I had kind of mapped out a plot in my mind, and would skip ahead to write different parts, bouncing back and forth so I wouldn't tire of a particular part of the story. Maybe I'll complete the story during next November.
Recently I read the first half of The Secret Life of Bees, recommended to me by Christine Barlow two summers back. Last night I began reading The Lord of the Rings, because this weekend a TV channel aired all three movies of the "trilogy" and I felt my brain could use some stimulation from Tolkien's adventures in language. (Writing my own wimpy book, I could see how awfully limited my own vocabulary is right now - which I attribute to only having been required to write about art during the past four years of my life)
Right now, I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. It's much more difficult to discern the call of God when I don't spend time listening. I read Brennan Manning's The Signature of Jesus, in which he described how to do a "centering prayer". It's meditative, and you do it for about twenty minutes at a time, before breakfast or dinner so your soul can connect with the hunger of your body. My problem is that I need a clean, peaceful space to do it, and my room is not in that condition at the moment. I miss the Christopher House in a time like this, because it had the chapel - small, intimate, quiet. Lined with a few chairs, stocked with diverse musical instruments for worship, and with candles always lit, it really felt like a sacred space where we as individuals or the whole fellowship could come for quiet (or loud!) time with the Lord, because that space was created specifically to meet with Him there.
Soon I'll be starting a youth ministry internship at my church, which I'm pretty ecstatic about. It makes me very glad that God doesn't call the qualified, but qualifies the called. I'll make curriculums for pre-school through senior high, teach, lead events, work on communications (don't I wish I took some graphic design courses?), and learn how to administrate. My pastor and the elder in charge of youth will be mentoring me through the process, so I'm going to ask that they also keep me accountable for my own spiritual growth, challenging me through this season (ooo, Christian vocab word).
Unpaid internships usually need to be paired with part-time jobs, so that's the thing I worry about. Working at Pier 1 has been a lot of fun, I actually enjoy it a lot, but I'm unure how long employment lasts after the buy-stuff-in-December season ends. (don't you hate having to associate Jesus' birthday with giving gifts to everyone but Him?) The career-building/resume-sending/connect-with-employers websites are okay. Without a degree in nursing or engineering, there aren't many jobs available. There are a few positions as postal workers or typists for the state, so perhaps something like that will hold me over. I feel like I just need a short-term job where I can earn some money to save up for a car; and once I have that, I'll have mobility and I'll be independent and I'll have peace about that.
Saturday was a really cool day because I got to hang out with a bunch of people I graduated high school with, whom I hadn't seen in maybe two or three years. It was hard not to feel discouraged, though, because they're all doing real things, having graduated with real majors that led to real jobs. More (?) importantly, they've all got their own places and aren't living with their parents. Of course, some of them received cars from their parents; something I don't have the luxury of, and also something that keeps me immobilized, tied down.
I know I need this transition period, this internship, because I didn't go to school for what I'm called to do - stupid - so I am hoping to put a lot of energy and effort into mentoring and loving on the kids in my church, and learning as much as I can from this experience so I can go do it, serve where I'm called to serve on my own. I'm still on the road toward the point of decision making, and that intersection seems so far off right now.
Fighting a battle against time is stupid. However, I seem to subconciously enjoy doing that. I feel tied down, like I want to start the great adventure of my life, but I have to save up some money before doing that. I have so many friends who are serving in different ministries around the country, around the world, because they had opportunities to jump out into the unknown in faith, following God with reckless abandon. I want that. I'm crushed under the waiting for it. Hopefully I can bear this all for as long as it takes...
07 October 2008
What's going on?
Things becoming more constant:
Working in retail is actually pretty good. When your store is filled with luxury items and your shoppers are pleasant, upper-middle class ladies, people are happy customers. Pier 1 may be the opposite of the DMV. It smells great and makes me want to have a place of my own so I can collect glassware and decorate with incense burners and candlescapes.
Anyways, my rebellious self is grumbling and clunking like the old furnace in the basement of my heart. I should be so content, so joyful, so ecstatic with what God has given me, and yet when I see opportunities to even take a peek at other stuff, it's like I'm camping out in the parking lot at the paper mill, whose odor should make me puke. God's stuff is so much better than any of the crap I'm sniffing.
So He's called me to lead this small group for the girls in my church's youth group. I'm completely inadequate, unprepared, and unqualified to lead them in applicable Bible discussions. Let's see what He does with this...
- earning some money
- hanging out with youth group kids
- singing
- drinking tea [thank you, autumn]
- obsessively reading SCL
- wondering why the temptation to regret decisions and re-face them again is trying to squeeze into my line of vision
- wakening to some strange dreams. hm.
Working in retail is actually pretty good. When your store is filled with luxury items and your shoppers are pleasant, upper-middle class ladies, people are happy customers. Pier 1 may be the opposite of the DMV. It smells great and makes me want to have a place of my own so I can collect glassware and decorate with incense burners and candlescapes.
Anyways, my rebellious self is grumbling and clunking like the old furnace in the basement of my heart. I should be so content, so joyful, so ecstatic with what God has given me, and yet when I see opportunities to even take a peek at other stuff, it's like I'm camping out in the parking lot at the paper mill, whose odor should make me puke. God's stuff is so much better than any of the crap I'm sniffing.
So He's called me to lead this small group for the girls in my church's youth group. I'm completely inadequate, unprepared, and unqualified to lead them in applicable Bible discussions. Let's see what He does with this...
30 April 2007
Feelin' down again...
"We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" - Hebrews 2:1-3
"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" - Hebrews 3:7-8
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." - Hebrews 3:12-14
This whole situation is still not getting better. It's affecting my body; I feel a physical weight pushing down on my spine, I feel muscularly weak, and I don't feel like eating at all. And I'm dehydrated.
The weekend, however, was great. Quite a refreshing time to be carefree and adventurous with my dear Wallace. We did a Fountains of UMD tour, trespassed, frolicked [in a special way] through the thunderstorm, and I met some new friends. Saturday was Maryland Day, so campus was v. crowded. We ate Chick fil-A!
That night we slept in cardboard boxes on the Mall by the Washington Monument for Displace Me - a media/awareness event held by Invisible Children [dot com], where they showed us video testimonials of folks in Uganda who are in the displacement camps where the government put them to keep them "safe" from the rebel army. Last year they held a "Global Night Commute" which was basically reenacting what the Ugandan children do every night to avoid being abducted by the rebel army to be made into child soldiers or sex slaves. This year we were made to experience what they deal with in the displacement camps, except we had clean water and no AIDS or malaria. We had a 6-hour fast, and then were only allowed to eat water and saltine crackers. We called people and wrote to congressmen to spread the word in hopes of the U.S. or the U.N. doing something to bring peace to northern Uganda.
The next morning Wallace and I hit up Starbucks before church [how convenient to have one between dorm and campus], which was run by Maryland Christian Fellowship and was cool. We sang a "yee-haw" song.
Directly after lunch we got a call from Horatio, who had come to pick me up. So Wallace and I parted ways again. Hopefully we'll hang out again this summer - when we'll do even more crazy adventure-type things! Whee!!
The drive back with Brandon was good. It didn't even get dark until we got home. We stopped in Philly for supper with Y-von at a place called Brigid's. I got gnocchi in pesto, mm!! It was rather tasty. We also got to see her studio in this church; Ruben Ghenov also works there! How exciting! I hadn't seen Gali since he was a baby; what a cute kid!
I had a somewhat sleepless night, followed by weaving class, geometry quiz, crafts class, geometry class, glazing and then a chat. In some ways, I feel like Paul....
"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" [Romans 7:15-25]
Thanks be to God indeed. Jesus will rescue me from this body of death. I want my sinful nature to die. I just hate sin so much I want it to be completely gone from my life; separated as far as the East is from the West. I know that I'm forgiven, I just want to sin no more. I won't be pressured into sinning anymore. It just burns a hole in my gut, like too many of those Warhead candies.
And I'm seeking counsel within friends. Sometimes it's hard for me to ask for help, so if you've got wisdom or advice about certain sorts of things, please just pour it upon me. If I'm not in the weaving studio this week, I'll be at the Chris House [need time in the chapel], or my phone is usually on if I'm not in class.
*le sigh*
And I feel like such a b*t*h for complaining about my stupid life problems when 5 year old kids in Uganda are being abducted from their starving, infected families to be forced to carry a gun that weighs nearly as much as they do. How do you feel about that?
oh, and pardon my french.
"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" - Hebrews 3:7-8
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." - Hebrews 3:12-14
This whole situation is still not getting better. It's affecting my body; I feel a physical weight pushing down on my spine, I feel muscularly weak, and I don't feel like eating at all. And I'm dehydrated.
The weekend, however, was great. Quite a refreshing time to be carefree and adventurous with my dear Wallace. We did a Fountains of UMD tour, trespassed, frolicked [in a special way] through the thunderstorm, and I met some new friends. Saturday was Maryland Day, so campus was v. crowded. We ate Chick fil-A!
That night we slept in cardboard boxes on the Mall by the Washington Monument for Displace Me - a media/awareness event held by Invisible Children [dot com], where they showed us video testimonials of folks in Uganda who are in the displacement camps where the government put them to keep them "safe" from the rebel army. Last year they held a "Global Night Commute" which was basically reenacting what the Ugandan children do every night to avoid being abducted by the rebel army to be made into child soldiers or sex slaves. This year we were made to experience what they deal with in the displacement camps, except we had clean water and no AIDS or malaria. We had a 6-hour fast, and then were only allowed to eat water and saltine crackers. We called people and wrote to congressmen to spread the word in hopes of the U.S. or the U.N. doing something to bring peace to northern Uganda.
The next morning Wallace and I hit up Starbucks before church [how convenient to have one between dorm and campus], which was run by Maryland Christian Fellowship and was cool. We sang a "yee-haw" song.
Directly after lunch we got a call from Horatio, who had come to pick me up. So Wallace and I parted ways again. Hopefully we'll hang out again this summer - when we'll do even more crazy adventure-type things! Whee!!
The drive back with Brandon was good. It didn't even get dark until we got home. We stopped in Philly for supper with Y-von at a place called Brigid's. I got gnocchi in pesto, mm!! It was rather tasty. We also got to see her studio in this church; Ruben Ghenov also works there! How exciting! I hadn't seen Gali since he was a baby; what a cute kid!
I had a somewhat sleepless night, followed by weaving class, geometry quiz, crafts class, geometry class, glazing and then a chat. In some ways, I feel like Paul....
"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" [Romans 7:15-25]
Thanks be to God indeed. Jesus will rescue me from this body of death. I want my sinful nature to die. I just hate sin so much I want it to be completely gone from my life; separated as far as the East is from the West. I know that I'm forgiven, I just want to sin no more. I won't be pressured into sinning anymore. It just burns a hole in my gut, like too many of those Warhead candies.
And I'm seeking counsel within friends. Sometimes it's hard for me to ask for help, so if you've got wisdom or advice about certain sorts of things, please just pour it upon me. If I'm not in the weaving studio this week, I'll be at the Chris House [need time in the chapel], or my phone is usually on if I'm not in class.
*le sigh*
And I feel like such a b*t*h for complaining about my stupid life problems when 5 year old kids in Uganda are being abducted from their starving, infected families to be forced to carry a gun that weighs nearly as much as they do. How do you feel about that?
oh, and pardon my french.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)