Merry Christmas!

" Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the incarnation. From the time when Christ came, the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, truth has been brought back, and the speech of kindliness diffused. A heavenly way of life has been implanted on earth." ~ Leo the Great

Merry Christmas everyone!!! May Christ be at the center of your celebrations. Many Blessings to all :)

Keeping Perspective at Christmas

 

Sometimes this time of year bums me out a little. It's not just the overwhelming commercialism-the plastic santas, giant candy canes and smothering holly crowding out nativity scenes and overshadowing crosses. But sometimes it's the nativity scenes themselves. The pomp and circumstance us christians can give to this holiday can sometimes the meaning. The true meaning. If you think about it, Jesus was born in a humble manger, among animals and hay. He lived serving others and hung out with the poor, suffering and destitute. Yet, many churches, though some of their nativity scenes, decorations and celebrations can be strikingly beautiful and at times touching, they are also insanely expensive and one often wonders if, in that sense, sometimes the true meaing is left behind in the pursuit of glamor and glitz. Jesus was not glamorous...why should we be?...Jesus hung out with the poor...why don't we? Instead of adding flare to our celebrations perhaps funds could be used to serve the people God has called us all to serve-the brokenhearted, the poor, the needy, the sick, the suffering.

 

 

 

 

Phillipans 2:5-11 (NIV)

 

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

 ⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
   did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
   by taking the very nature of a servant,
   being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
   he humbled himself
   by becoming obedient to death—
      even death on a cross!

 ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
   and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father.

 

 

In my most recent trip to the soup kitchen I visit I remember having a conversation with the cook, mentioning that she must be getting a lot of volunteers this time of year. She said, one might think, but actually not. I was surprised. Usually this is the time of year people are most active in giving to charities and volunteering. Where are all the Christians? If every person who claimed to be a Christian followed Christ and had a servant's heart and actually served...what would our communities look like? I have a feeling they would look totally different than they do now!

As  a parent of two young children I can attest to the challenge it is to stay truly focused on the sacred meaning of Christmas. Jesus was not just a great man that came to earth to teach us things. He was God incarnate and brought with him hope, love, life and light to the world. Only his departure could be considered perhaps more precious than his entering this world, for with his departure the curtain between man and God was torn, grace and mercy rained down upon us. Only with Jesus was that possible.

No matter what the distractions we have, whether it be children, cooking dinner for family, traveling, may we all find some quiet time to reflect on what this holiday is really about and thank God for the physical and spiritual blessings He's given us. And thank God for the most precious gift of all-Jesus. And perhaps, in the hectic nature of the holiday, find some time to serve...or make plans to serve in the near future. As you bless others you also will be blessed :)

May all of you have a blessed and joy-filled Christmas :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Futility of Knowing Oneself: Thomas Merton

I came across an incredibly thought-provoking journal entry written by Thomas Merton in his book, Run to the Mountain. I was contemplating on which set of collected thoughts from him I would include in a blog entry when I became completely overwhelmed-he just has way too much to share in this entry to break it down to just a couple of sentences.  His thoughts are just way too amazing not to share in their entirety so I will share with everyone just about the whole passage, with just a few parts that don't pertain too much to its relevance, taken out. Please enjoy, and, I would love and appreciate any thoughts you might have after reading this passage on the subject of the futility of knowing oneself.

~Blessings

Note: Anything in bold is an emphasis added by me.

December 8. Feast of the Immaculate Conception

I wish nobody had ever told me it was a good thing to attempt to know myself. ...I read Jung and tried to figure out what psychological type I was, and figured I was an "extroverted sensation type," whatever that is. I was certainly afraid of being an introvert. That is because introversion is a sin for materialists, and what is more it is used conversationally almost as if it were synonymous with "perversion."

I read some Virgina Woolf novel and thought I was one of the characters. I thought I was like George Gissing as he is described in Well's autobiography. (What a ridiculous thing it is to take oneself so seriously!)

But it is completely embarrassing to come upon such examples of vanity and pride. It is more pitiful to think how miserable and ignorant I continued to be while I was so unhappily engaged in the futile business of trying, in a reasonable and humanistic manner, to know myself. What floundering around! It was a wonder I remembered my own name! It was a greater wonder I remembered the names and faces of people around me.

Knowing myself-it was really a sort of desperate substitute for confession and penance. That was why it was so silly and so lamentably useless. For the only valid kind of self-knowledge is the amount needed for a good examination of conscience to make a good confession. But both of these are something God will give us if we pray humbly to Him for grace and love, and the important thing is God's love, not ourselves and what is in us. We don't want to know what is in ourselves in order to dwell upon it, treasure it, meditate upon it unless it is not of ourselves but of God. So everything that is of our own worldly desire and fear must be cast out so that we can see God within us and everywhere outside of us too. What we want to know is not ourselves but God.

"Know thyself"-it was proposed that if a man knew himself, he could manage himself so as to do just as much as he was capable of doing, etc. and be at peace just occupied enough to avoid boredom, not so busy as to get tired or flustered or excited-amused enough to be pleasantly stimulated, not enough to be choked and saturated. What a stupid idea, but above all, what a crazy idea to think it can be reached! It is a reflection of the peace and blessedness we all long for, however. That peace is not in knowing ourselves but in knowing God. But we must know ourselves, too: we must know this much: that we are not God. We already know we are unhappy: the amount of self-knowledge we need is simply what will help us find out the reasons for our unhappiness: that is what ways we have loved silly and inferior and imperfect things and preferred them before God.

Saint Theresa of Avila-The Interior Castle-says we must not dwell on self-knowledge alone, but pass on from it at once and go seeking God's love above everything, because every other desire is a traitor and every other knowledge is vain without God.

Without the love of God, or the explicit desire for Him, self-knowledge is futile and makes one very miserable, because one seeks this way to get out of a blind alley-and never does. We only think we want to know ourselves, but we really want to know God.

I was so preoccupied with self-knowledge that I didn't know anything about anybody else's feelings.

...All the bad confessions we make and all the half-hearted prayers and all the complicated stupid worries we get into with vile things coming into our minds, as if it wasn't our own fault and something to be taken with humility and not with anger and elaborate plans...all that is itself a way to take us away from praying and loving God and to make us think about hating filth instead. So these ideas will come, and why shouldn't they, good heavens, after the things I have done for so long my head is full of crap! Half the images and most of the language that occurs to me is scatological, because I have been in all that up to the neck, wallowing about rather weakly, claiming to know myself.

So if all that, as it must, presents itself to me and scares and torments me sometimes, then I must above all things avoid playing the "know myself" game, because if I do it will surely mean losing what little I can find of a path to God. 

People who "know themselves" are always the ones who can't see the beam in their own eye. In getting to "know themselves" they have studied their own faults so closely and with such loving care that they see them in everybody around them even if they are not there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heavenly Father,

May we always seek to know you above knowing ourselves. May we find our identity in you and may you reveal to our hearts and minds the truths and insights we seek for and may you bless us with the deep sense of your presence as we lay down our attachments and egos at the foot of your throne and give you all of our attention, all of our devotion and all of our love.

Thank you for your great mercy, everlasting faithfulness and love. We give you all honor, glory and praise.

In Jesus' precious name,
Amen

The Harmony of Service and Contemplation: Augstine of Hippo

"No man has a right to lead such a life of contemplation as to forget in his own ease the service due his neighbor; nor has any man a right to be so immersed in active life as to neglect the contemplation of God."

          ~ Augustine of Hippo

 When I read that quote I couldn't help but think about the concept of balance...and how perhaps we are most useful and effective as individuals in our pursuits towards glorifying God  and manifesting His kingdom here on earth when we aren't one or the other extreme, but when we are holistically grounded in a balanced state of service and devotion.

I think we've all met (and perhaps have experienced this ourselves) people who are one or the other of either extreme. Who either seem to be a flurry of activity and service towards God, yet seem to be spiritually starved from lack of the manna God provides us through His Word or are perhaps buried in the pages of their Bible without ever looking up to see what is happening in the world around them.

My suggestion: Let's find ways to discipline ourselves to  honor our Soveriegn Lord with our heads, hearts and our hands. It's amazing meditating and experiencing God's presence, entering His Word and witnessing His living Word come to life...but may all of that prompt us to apply the insights, truths and wisdom God blesses us with.  

As God blesses us, may we bless others too. The New Testament is filled with Jesus displaying acts of service to others-extending himself with love and compassion and empathy. It is my prayer that as I progress in my walk and get to know God even more that He will reveal to me new ways in which I can serve Him and His people.

Heavenly Father,

Thank you so much for blessing us with the dawning of a new day. May we be filled with the joy and peace of your presence and as we enter your Word today, and your presence through prayer, may your Spirit stir within our hearts and speak to us new ways in which we can bring you glory through serving and helping your children. May you cause us to be bright lights shining in a dark world and may you help us to "to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim freedom to the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners".

We love you, we praise you and give you all glory and honor.

In Jesus' name,

Amen

Did Jesus Die for This? (book review)

Religous satirist Becky Garrison's new book, Did Jesus Die for This?, highlights her global pilgrimage seeking the risen Christ in a world where the authenticity of Christianity oftentimes gets drowned in distractions and consumer-oriented, tourist geared religiosity. Of the many forums Garrison explored, the majority were a collection of holy sites as well as churches and religious communities around the world. Garrison also gives personal accounts of her family history and experiences that led her to look more deeply about the factors that play a role in the perspective people have towards and means at which people apply Christianity to their lives. 

Garrison explores how the genuine message of Jesus is oftentimes all too absent in places where one would expect it the most and sometimes unexpectedly present in the most unlikely of places. From her voyage to Jerusalem, where she passed by refugee camps in the West bank that were off-limits and was "chilled to the core at the sight of children of God confined by man-made walls of war.", to inside churches that are far from the usual appearance one might envision when conjuring up images of a church sanctuary, Garrison questions and searches for the essence of Christ among modern day Christianity.

The book is an enjoyable read, flows well and is written with a witty and charming style. It provides a lot with the reader to contemplate on and question when the last page is turned. A book such as this is worth recommending to a friend and always worth reading at least twice!

Vessels of Light: Includes Quote from Thomas Merton

     We become like vessels empty of water that they may be filled with wine. We are like glass cleansed of dust and grime to receive the sun and vanish into its light.
     The more our faculties are emptied of their desire and their tension towards created things, and the more they collect themselves into peace and interior silence and reach into the darkness where God is present in their deepest hunger, the more they feel a pure, burning impatience to be free and rid of all the last obstacles and attachment that still stand between them and the emptiness that will be capable of being filled with God.
      ~ Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation





Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV)

²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

          

          1 John 2:15-17 (ESV)

 ¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. ¹⁷And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

         Romans 12:2 (English Standard Version)

² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Heavenly Father,

Help us to empty ourselves of the attachments we have to our own egos and to the things of this world. Help us to abide in you with a faithful steadfast resolve. May we walk through the traps that try to ensnare our souls, preventing us from bringing you glory, with ease. We thank you for the eternal life you've given us through your son Jesus, whose birth in this world we will celebrate in only a few short days. We thank you for your unending love and faithfulness and for the hope that we find in the shelter of your mercy and grace. 

May you help us, with the dawning of each day, to put on our new self which you've blessed us with when you awakened the new life within us as we chose you, and not the world, to follow. May we be the vessels of light and love you call us to be, to shine in a world that is fallen and dark. May our individual lights unite and become a strong beacon calling those who seek something more, who seek the deep peace only you can provide, to come and join us in your Kingdom here on earth and hereafter in heaven.

We give you all glory, honor and praise.

In Jesus' name,
Amen

God's Sovereignty Amidst Trials

^{Genesis 45:4-9 4} Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.^[a]
 8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. ⁹ Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay.

I recently just finished re-reading Genesis. If you've read through parts of the Bible a long time ago but haven't gone back to them recently I'd encourage you to keep reading books that you've read in the past. It's amazing how truths and insights and facts seem to rise up out of the texts when before they went unnoticed. There's always something new to be discovered in Scripture, especially if you go about it with a seeking, eager and expectant heart.

Something struck me in regards to the story of Joseph, where his brothers who are jealous sold him into slavery. He ended up, after much trial and a couple of years of imprisonment, to be an advisor to the Pharoah and highly esteemed in the land. In fact, he was considered Pharoah's right hand man and made much of the decision making. Because of his  insightful intepretation (Spirit-led no doubht) of Pharoah's dreams he was able to rescue Egypt from starvation during a horrible time of famine where nothing would grow in all of the land or surrounding lands. God had provided them with much time to store food during the years preceding the famine in which they would be spared and also be able to trade and sell such food to other nations desperately seeking sustenance. Eventually this was how Joseph was to be reunited with his brothers, for they came to Egypt seeking food.

When he was reunited with his brothers I can only imagine what his brothers were thinking. If I was one of them I would have been ready to nearly pass out or lose my faculties. I mean, here is a brother that I had betrayed and figured dead already, ruling the only great land that possessed food for my people to eat. Not only that, Joseph had become very powerful, Pharaoh had given him limitless control and discretion. Joseph could have easily reached out in wrath and condemnation and thrown his brothers in prison, or just slaughtered them there as they stood. But he didn't. He was a man of God and he saw a complicated web of occurrences, orchestrated by the great conductor himself, and a purpose for all of his hardships that had occurred. He saw God in his circumstances and reached out to those who had wounded and betrayed him with compassion and love.

So that makes me wonder, do we see God in our circumstances? Do we have the unfailing trust and resolve and endurance that Joseph showed? With steadfast love and faith in God do we stick through even the roughest trials of our lives knowing that God has his reasons and if we only endure He will see us through in the end?...

Important questions to ask...

Sometimes, in the trials and agony of life (like losing a loved one or being wounded ourselves), it can seem like God has abandoned us. Here are some encouraging verses to keep in mind:

Jeremiah 29:11¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.


Romans 8:28  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose.

There are plenty of others. Do you have a verse that helps you remember God's sovereignty during difficult times and helps encourage you? Please share it with us! :)

~Blessings

Christ in the Eyes of the Enslaved

On this day in 1865, the 13th ammendment to the Constitution was passed and slavery was abolished. Slavery still exists all over the world. Currently there is an estimated 250 million people who are slaves today. May we all find a moment today to lift up those in prayer who are still oppressed and enslaved.

Each year 50,000 women and children are brought into the United States illegally and sold as slaves.

This has got to stop! And you can help, we all can.

Below is a link that will take you to a site that is filled with ideas in which every one of us can help combat this awful reality.

http://nomoreslaveryct.com/what-you-can-do/

Christ came and taught us all about peace, love and compassion. To help bring God's Kingdom here on earth we need to actively raise our voices against the atrocities around us and help free our brothers and sisters who are in captivity. May God open the hearts of His children so that they see in every enslaved woman and child's eyes, Christ, and be filled with a holy anger which brings about action and liberation.

^{Matthew 25:37} “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Heavenly Father,

We pray for those in the world that have only known pain and suffering. Who have been just a number to those around them, a number to be sold, exchanged, used and abused. Every life is precious, every person is in the image of you. Every woman and child who is sold into slavery is a manifestation of your glory and love. May you open up the eyes of those of us who are free and may we see the harsh reality which surrounds us. May we see the suffering and pain and may we be filled with a holy anger to act out in ways to oppose and combat such cruelty and oppression in ways that would bring you glory.

I pray for those brutal souls that have been numbed by the world and are filled with greed, lust, selfishness, hate and evil...may you bring upon them an awakening which shatters their egos and brings them crashing to their knees. May their heads bow low and may their hearts come to repentence and may they willingly set those they have enslaved free and bring your name glory.
May you transform the world's Sauls into Pauls and may your praises be sung from one end of the earth to the other. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Amos 5:24

In Jesus' holy name we pray,

Amen

Note: There were images I found that I almost put on this blog in hopes to raise more awareness towards this issue, but found them too disturbing. I wasn't sure if I should or shouldn't. I think it's important to see what is happening, but yet, sometimes people need a bit of a disclaimer before exposed to certain things. I know I could have used a warning!...If you want to see for yourself the cruelty that is happening, simply google "human slavery images"...and you will have all you need to light a fire within you to act. I know I am going to start getting more involved in this movement, I can't see not, after discovering what I've discovered.