Mind boggeling

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Tomorrow is the day we celebrate the fact that our Lord is risen.

Gratitude is not a big enough word to express what I feel.

Here are some scriptures and a quote. I'm thinking on these today and thought you might appreciate them too:


Luke 17:20-21:
²⁰ Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹ nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (NIV)

Ezekiel 11:19-20:
¹⁹ I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies and I will give them tender hearts, ²⁰ so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.(NET)

Jeremiah 31:31-34

^31-32 “That’s right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. It won’t be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master.” God’s Decree.

^33-34 “This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They’ll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned!” God’s Decree. (MSG)

Psalm 40:7-8
Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.” (NKJV)

Hebrews 10:3-10     

³ But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. ⁴ For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵ So when he came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.
⁶ “Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.
⁷ “Then I said, ‘Here I am: I have come—it is written of me in the scroll of the book—to do your will, O God.’”

⁸ When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” (which are offered according to the law), ⁹ then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.(NET)

"The basic and most fundamental problem of the spiritual life is this acceptance of our hidden and dark self, with which we tend to identify all the evil that is in us. We must learn by discernment to separate the evil growth of our actions from the good ground of the soul. And we must prepare that ground so that a new life can grow up from it within us, beyond our knowledge and beyond our conscious control. The sacred attitude is, then, one of reverence, awe and silence before the mystery that begins to take place within us when we become aware of our innermost self. In silence, hope, expectation, and unknowing, the [we] abandon [ourselves] to the divine will: not as an arbitrary and magic power whose decrees must be spelled out from cryptic ciphers, but as to the stream of reality and life itself. The sacred attitude is, then, one of deep and fundamental respect for the real in whatever new form it may present itself."
Thomas Merton. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation.
William H. Shannon, editor (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003): 55.

I constantly feel like it's beyond my grasp to understand.  

God Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth, the commander of the hosts of the armies of heaven, the Holy One,  chose to make it so that I could come into relationship with Him.  Chose to separate Himself and His son so that His son Jesus could die on my behalf. Chose to allow a part of Himself, His Holy Spirit, to come live inside me and create anew my spirit. 

Mind boggeling.

I do not really understand.  But I'm gateful.

What about you?

What does the Resurrection mean to you?

All week over at Kingdom Bloggers we're talking about what the Resurrection means to us.

What does the Resurrection mean to you?

Good Friday

I could barely force myself to read the account of Jesus crucifixion in John 18:1-19:42 this morning. It's so painful, even to read. Although his faults and wrong actions are plentiful, I'll still forever be grateful to Mel Gibson for producing the movie The Passion. Because floggings and crucifixions are so far removed from my cultural context, it wasn't until I watched that movie that what Jesus suffered for me became more real; I had a mental picture.

I don't think I'll ever get past being totally blown away that Jesus, the God of the Hosts of the Armies of Heaven, was first of all willing to take on human form and come live among us, then was willing to suffer and die on the cross, to take on the sin of the world, for us, for me.

To say that I'm grateful is an understatement.

As I think on Jesus' death on my behalf on this Good Friday the question comes to me about how Jesus' death on the cross affects my life. With this question in mind, I wanted to share a prayer that I came across:

"Jesus, you were taken prisoner in the darkness of night and all your friends abandoned you. Be with all who are abducted and strengthen all who mourn those who are missing. You were crowned with thorns and beaten by soldiers. Help us to end torture throughout the world and have pity on those so afflicted. Your face was covered with spittle and you wore a robe of shame. Heal the wounds that make us act less than human and remind us that we are made in the image of God. You accepted the help of Simon and Veronica. And awaken us to the ways that we can help those who are suffering and be grateful to those who minister to us. Amen."

Maundy Thursday

This week over at Kingdom Bloggers we're talking about Holy Week.

Since today is Maundy Thursday I want to know what comes to your mind as you reflect on the new commandment that Jesus gave to His followers?

Never Alone

As I read the words from Matthew 26:36-46
I am again faced with both Jesus' deity and His humanity.

His humanity is right there as I read His words of dread and anguish in the 38th & 39th verses (MSG):

Then he said, "This sorrow is crushing my life out. Stay here and keep vigil with me."

³⁹ Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, "My Father, if there is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you want?"

Have you ever dreaded anything?

Although I certainly try not to live that way, sometimes yucky stuff just happens. Worse than that, sometimes I know in advance when something really bad is coming my way, and that's when those feelings of dread rise up within me.

You know what I really don't appreciate when I'm struggling with dread? Someone coming along and blithely telling me "God's got it all in control sister". Even though it's true, I feel even more alone when I'm given a quick fix like that. What I really long for is for someone to come alongside me, to wait with me, to just be with me through the tough times.

Somehow I just can't see Jesus trivializing someone's pain and dread. I'm reminded of how in Hebrews 2:17-18 and in Hebrews 4:14-16 I'm told that Jesus can understand and help me because He has gone through suffering and testing, and because He knows what it's like to be in weak human form. As I look at Gethsemane I can see that He understands what it's like to dread something.

As I look at Gethsemane I'm grateful. Grateful that Jesus went ahead and went to the cross and suffered so that I can come before the Father due to Jesus' shed blood on my behalf. Grateful that I don't have to be alone in life because, just as He promised , He has given me His Spirit to live inside me. Grateful that He understands me and is with me through all of life.

What are you grateful for on this Wednesday of Holy Week?

Can you really ever count on people?

Day 2 of Holy Week brings me to reading John 13:21-38. Jesus picked Judas as one of His inner circle, the men in whom He chose to invest His life while on this earth. As we know, Judas betrayed Jesus. I've read that the word traitor means someone who hands another over to suffering.

Guess by that definition, I've been a traitor before in my life - just ask my husband or sons, the ones who know me best. I really think that each of us hands over another to suffering somehow, somewhere, often without meaning to or even being aware that we're doing it; it seems to be part of the human condition.

Yes it hurts really bad when someone I love betrays me. But somehow, I think that in recognizing that I'm not without the same sin in myself, I can move past the pain and into forgiveness. Without recognizing my own need to come to God and seek His forgiveness for my betrayal of my loved ones, or even of my faith, then I'm both without the need or ability to extend forgiveness to others. Without forgiveness from God and to others, I'll stay bound in the pain.

I don't want to live that way!

Oh Father, thank You for Your forgiveness! Please make me aware today. Aware of the suffering that I may be causing others, and if I am, help me, by your grace and power, to change. Aware of any unforgiveness that I may be harboring in my heart; if unforgiveness is there, may I choose, by Your power, to forgive.

Holy Week Monday

As I began Holy Week this morning, I spent some time thinking on John 12:1-11. I prayed that, just as this passage depicts Mary symbolically preparing Jesus for His burial, that the Holy Spirit would use this passage to prepare my heart for greater revelation of Him during this Holy Week. Greater revelation that would lead to a heart transformation
that would result in a more loving life.

The two things that hit me as I thought on this passage throughout the day were how extravagant Mary's love was, and the fact that Jesus pointed out that He would not always be with them.

I prayed throughout the day that God would show me ways to show love to the people in my life. So much of my life has been spent in giving just enough to get by; but I want to become more like Mary and give lavishly. None of the things I had the opportunity to do today were big, but hopefully they made the lives of others at least a bit better.

Thinking about not always having the people I love with me,...well, I took a lunch break and called and talked with my mom.

What about you, how did your first day of Holy Week go?

Holy Week

Although I guess I'm what would be considered an "evangelical" there are many things that I appreciate about traditional "high church" observances. The celebration of Holy Week is one of them.

It seems to me that the devotional times of Holy Week help me move behind the joyful celebrations of Palm Sunday and Easter and look at suffering, humiliation, and death of my savior. Perhaps by walking through the sadness and darkness of Holy Week and Good Friday, in contemplating the horror and magnitude of sin and its consequences in the world that are incarnated in Jesus on the cross, I can come to a greater understanding of the light and hope of the resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate on Easter morning.

Are there special things that you do to make holy week meaningful for you?

Starting tonight I'll be writing about my devotion times this week. I'd be interested in hearing about the experiences of others as well.

So everybody doesn't know what Easter is all about?

Yesterday during church the pastor showed a very short video that he'd made that has still got me to thinking.

He'd gone down to a local outdoor shopping mall called Victoria Gardens that is very popular in this area. He'd randomly talked to various people whom he encounered at this shopping center and asked them what Easter meant to them, why do we celebrate Easter. The people he questioned were various ages, ethnic gorups, genders, and looked extremely typical; people I would meet on the street. Out of those few people he questioned, not a single one appeared to know the Christian message of the risen savior. Two people appeared to know that it was about Jesus, and I'm not kidding, they said it was celebrating Jesus' birth. One hemmed and hawed and said that he used to know but just couldn't remember (this particular person was not old). The rest basically alluded to the cultural aspects such as family celebrations, easter eggs, bunnies, etc.

As I watched this short clip something in my spirit sank. I kept asking - how can people be so unaware of the message of Jesus? Have we as Christians become so insulated from the rest of the world that no one has any idea what we believe? I couldn't help but feel like somehow, as a group, we're failing....more importantly, I began questioning what can I do different. How can I have more impact on the people around me?

Grateful

On this good Friday I'm thinking about how grateful I am for what Jesus did for me.

Isaiah 53(MSG)

¹ Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?

^2-6The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him.

^7-9He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn't say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he'd never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn't true.

¹⁰Still, it's what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.

^11-12Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many "righteous ones,"
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

What keeps you from giving your best?

I know that Sunday was Palm Sunday. But today, as I'm continuing to prepare my heart in anticipation of Easter, I wanted to back up a bit and go over again what happened to Jesus the day before Palm Sunday. So I was reading in John 12:1-8; the account of when Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anointed Jesus' feet with costly perfume and wiped His feet with her hair.

This has long been one of my favorite Bible accounts.

I'm moved by Mary's humility. Mary was the sister of Lazarus, the man at whose home Jesus had come to for dinner. My understanding is that it was a slave's job to wash the guests feet. I've read that no woman in that day would be seen with her hair uncovered and down. But here I see Mary not only uncovering her head, but taking on the role of a servant to wash Jesus' feet and then use her hair to dry them. She risked the ridicule of those around her to give to her Savior her very best.

I'm moved by Mary's generosity. I've repeatedly read that the perfume that Mary used was very expensive—worth about a year's wages. Some commentators think that it may have been bought as an investment … possibly to be included in her dowry. This was her most prized possession, the best she had to give. Not only was Mary's gift expensive, but it was costly to her reputation. The disciples all rebuked her for giving her gift to Jesus. Judas said, "This should have been sold and the money given to the poor!"

As I think on this account I find myself asking if there are any opinions of people, criticism or careless comments that may be keeping me from giving my best?

As I think about giving my best, I realize that my best is really my everything. That any one act or gift just symbolizes the whole.

Open the eyes of our faith

I found this Anglican prayer for the Wednesday of Easter week meaningful, and hope you will too:

O God,
whose blessed Son made himself known
to his disciples in the breaking of bread:
Open the eyes of our faith,
that we may behold him in all his redeeming work;
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever.
Amen

May this Easter season really be a time when we allow God to open our eyes of faith, to see Jesus more clearly than ever before. To fall more deeply in love with our Savior who has done so much for us.