Christmas Greetings 7

There’s one more word!

It’s not a Greeting per se though it was the first word out of the innumerable angelic mouths singing to the Shepherds on that first Christmas Eve.

Glory!

We are narcissistic. “Celebrity,”“stardom,” “glamour,” “beauty,” “heroics,” “fame,”
“prosperity,” … it seems as though everyone is looking for that moment in the lights … a camera click to notoriety … “GLORY!”

That’s Heaven’s Greeting! “In the highest, the Glory goes to God.” No wonder Jesus taught His followers to finish their prayers with the acknowledgement, “Yours – our Father, the one in the Heavens all around us … is … the Glory!”

Christ is “the anointed!” He’s God’s chosen! He’s “the One!” He is the Greatest! The one and only true HERO! As a Son who shares the Father’s nature, as well as His likeness, He deserves the Glory!

Proclaim it strong! Sing it long!

“All glory to you who alone are God.
You bring us into your presence
With love and joy
All power, authority, all splendor, and majesty,
Are yours from the beginning and evermore!”

Come! Let us ADORE HIM! … CHRIST THE LORD!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eLDvM7eSq0

Christmas Greetings 6

Grace to you!
Bless you!
Peace! Bro …
Joyous Birth of God!

All Greetings that express the sentiments of people experiencing those dramatic events surrounding the Birth of Christ.

There’s one more.

It’s a greeting not used in the conversations during that first Christmas. At least not in the Biographers’ telling of the story. But it is a greeting familiar to Jews. It can be used when meeting someone or when bidding them “farewell.” It’s packed with meaning.

It’s “Shalom.”

One word, it comprehends and expresses the “blessedness” found in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. It conveys concepts such as
“completeness,” “wholistic,” “health,” “prosperity,” “soundness,” “fulfillment,”
“harmony,” “tranquility,” “peace.” This single word embodies all the qualities our Father is recreating in us. Through Christ’s Spirit in us, He “redeems” “salvages” and “restores” us until the distinctives refined in Spirit-filled people – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and, self-control – gradually emerge revealing Christ’s character.

If we wish anything for people we encounter at Christmas, or anytime, it’s this “BLESSEDNESS,” “goodwill” the “goodness” our Father “wills” for us …

WHAT BETTER GREETING FOR CHRIST- FOLLOWERS WHO WANT ALL PEOPLE TO EXPERIENCE THE WELL-BEING CHRIST CAME TO GIVE US?

S H A L O M !

Christmas Greetings 5

Mary sang her praise to God. “My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. “Joy” filled her!

“I have good news of great joy,” the Angel proclaimed.

Perhaps the French have the Greeting we’re looking for. “Joyeux Noel!”

“Joyous Birth of God!”

Christmas Greetings 4

Zechariah’s first words, after his speech was restored, were not, strictly, greetings. But they are most revealing. “Praise be to the Lord,” he said. He has “redeemed His people.” He’s brought His people “salvation.” By His “mercy” He has “rescued” “us” enabling us to serve Him “without fear.” By the “tender mercy of our God … the rising sun will come from heaven to shine on those living in darkness … to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Did you notice his reference to the absence of fear? The terror that gripped him, when he saw Gabriel, has been displaced with “peace.”

We’ve been “redeemed.” Bought out of destitution by a Creator who, seeing our value, salvaged and restored us. Like a discriminating classic automobile collector He sees, buried in a metallic jungle of wreckage and rust, a barely perceptible treasure. He knows the price will be far greater than its appearance could ever justify. But He believes in its worth and pays the price. Years later, the restored Classic, unveiled, inspires breathless wonder in those who see in it the work of the finest of craftsmen.

By the “tender mercies of our God,” we are being restored. Peace is a distinguishing mark in us.

Maybe the old Hippies have it right.

“PEACE!” Bro. …

Christmas Greetings 3

Elizabeth’s actual greeting to Mary is even more revealing. “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear … Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has aid to her will be accomplished.”

“Blessed!” This is a word full of promise! Dallas Willard, in his book, The Divine Conspiracy, explains. It speaks of “the highest type of well-being possible for human beings. Its Greek root is the term used for the blissful existence of the gods.” This is what Elizabeth was predicting for Mary. But we know, for we’ve heard the rest of the story, that to be the Mother of Christ would bring many experiences that were far more troubling than the angelic visit. Still, ultimately, through it all she would see her Son transform a great tragedy into the developing triumphs of an ever-expanding, perpetually victorious Community of Spirit-filled people. “We are more than conquerors through Christ …” “In this world you will have hard times,” Jesus said. “But cheer up. I have overcome the world.” Trust Him on this and all fear is gone. By faith we know we are “blessed.”

Now that’s a Greeting worth considering!

“You are blessed!”

Christmas Greetings 2

The answer to my question may be right there, in the EPIC events of the first Christmas.

Listen to Zechariah’s Wife. Her Husband has just come through a mesmerizing experience. He’s now lost his ability to speak. But she’s pregnant. What Gabriel promised is happening. “The Lord has done this for me,” she exclaimed. “In these days He has shown His favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” To be childless was disgraceful in Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s day. Her pregnancy, an act of God, is for her, and “the people,” a demonstration of His favor. A terrifying incident has become a moment of beneficence. Fear has been lost in the realization that “the God of terrible aspect,” favors her.

Then there’s Mary. Gabriel visits her. “Greetings,” he says, “you are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” She is “greatly troubled!” Gabriel comforts her by saying, again, “you have found favor with God.” Her trouble would be displaced by the knowledge that God “favors” her.

God’s favor is the heart of His Grace. The “great company” of “angels,” who sang to the Shepherds on the night Christ was born declared, “peace to men – people – on whom His favor rests.” Mary and Elizabeth are not His only Favorites. This “good news,” the angel explained, “will be for all people.” With Christmas God’s Grace is confirmed to be universally available. With it comes “peace.”

Fear is displaced by Grace.

“Grace to you! You’re one of God’s Favorites!”

Isn’t that an appropriate “Greeting” given what we’ve learned about God’s intentions for us at Christ’s coming?

Christmas Greetings 1

We are now just days from Christmas! And the “chatter” goes on about who’s saying “Merry Christmas” and who isn’t.

Is there a better way of resolving this?

Jesus IS! The reason FOR! the Season!

Do we really “get” that?

I’m convinced that we don’t.

I also believe that when we grasp what Jesus’ coming is about our words – greetings … casual conversations … expressions of thoughts and feelings – will flow with new clarity and life shaping conviction. Our Christmas will be beyond “merry.”

Think about it!

This is what the Angel – Gabriel – said to Mary. “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." “Mary,” we’re then told, “was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.” “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Think about it!

Contemplate it!

Meditate on it!

This is EPIC!

COSMIC!

“Now,” I ask, “What sort of words and greetings broke from the lips of the people involved in this the greatest event in Creation’s History?"

Gabriel’s words were always the same. “Do not be afraid!” Zechariah, the soon-to-be Father of John the Baptist, Christ’s forerunner, was “paralyzed with fear,” when the Angel appeared. Gabriel’s words to him were, “Do not be afraid!” Mary was “thoroughly shaken.” “Do not be afraid,” Gabriel reassured her. The Shepherds, outside Bethlehem that first Christmas Eve, were “terrified” at the appearance of the Angel. “Do not be afraid,” he said.

At what point in Christianity’s celebration of the Birth of Christ was the fearsomeness lost? When, if at all, have you even thought to say to someone at Christmas, “Don’t be afraid,” unless, perhaps, someone with whom you share a bank account or credit card just went into spasms at the sight of your arms full of many, large packages?

Oprah's Troubling Misguidance

This blog was previously posted on April 4, 2008.

It is re-introduced now because of the increasing confusion among self-proclaimed Christ-followers concerning the undeniable differences between the teaching and practice of Jesus and all other world systems of philosophy and faith.

Oprah Winfrey is, arguably, one of the most influential human beings in the world. PEOPLE magazine has noted that, “by 1986, The Oprah Winfrey Show had become the highest-rated talk show in TV history.” The magazine has further reported that she is “now worth more than a billion dollars.” She has, they acknowledge, succeeded “on many fronts – as an Oscar-nominated actress (The Color Purple), activist, magazine editor, producer, book club sponsor and radio host.” I have always believed that she holds this prestigious, powerful place in the modern “Global Village,” with integrity. Few can. But she has. PEOPLE’S observations concerning her benevolence support that. “She has,” they tell us, “raised and personally donated millions of dollars to victims of poverty and disease and openly speaks about her own experience with sexual abuse as a child, the baby she had at 14 who did not survive, and of her drug use as a young adult.” PEOPLE has also represented her as being, herself, most “proud,” of “the two schools she opened for South Africa’s neediest girls.”

Oprah’s show continues to be top-rated. It is so, in large part, because of the regular focus on self-improvement. Her genuine interest in the well-being of the world’s citizens is unquestionable. She is transparent and seems “at home in her own skin.” There are times when you wonder if the show has crossed the line between compassionate interest in the hurting of the world and ratings driven indulgence of a voyeuristic public’s obsession with the sensational. I rarely watch the show for that reason. Still I have believed, for as long as I’ve known about her, that Oprah does everything with the best interests of her adoring fans, and the world beyond, at heart.

Anyone who knows anything about Oprah knows that “spirituality” is something she’s genuinely concerned about. Her spiritual roots are not unlike the mainstream of religious America. They are, initially, Christian. But the things she says about spiritual realities have morphed into an eclectic discourse that troubles me.

She acknowledged that metamorphosis recently while promoting Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, a book that she has not only made a book club selection but the text for her “New Earth WebClass.” She describes being at a Church Meeting. The crowd was so large that it was difficult to find parking. The Minister was “charismatic.” He was praising the grandeur of God. But, in his description of this “omnipotent, omniscient” being, he said that God was, also “jealous.” Oprah says that, “caught up in the rapture of the moment” she didn’t quite get the “incongruity” of “jealousy” as one of the traits of such a being. Still, “It didn’t feel right in my spirit,” she says. “God is love. How could he be jealous of me?” This “feeling” that such a “mental image” of God was not reconcilable with his love became pivotal for her. And today, she insists, God is not about “doctrine,” and “mental images.” On one broadcast occasion she asked Tolle, “What is the end? What happens to us when we die?” He replied, “I don’t give it any thought?” To that, this brilliant, highly successful woman added, “God is … he is a feeling experience, not a believing experience.”

“I don’t give it any thought.”

How would Oprah respond to one of her producers if she’d asked what the goals were for the next Season only to be told, “I don’t give it any thought.”

But that is, precisely, what is at the heart of the worldview Tolle, and now Oprah, are repackaging. Restated for the materialistic, self-help industry in the modern West and ever expanding new markets worldwide, their views are nothing more than the ancient beliefs of Eastern mystical thought. All human consciousness is invalid and counter productive. One must relinquish all “mental imagery,” abandoning it for a meditative journey to assimilation in a cosmic consciousness that permeates all reality. With all personal awareness subordinated to this Universal Consciousness one reaches perfect unity with that which is in all of us, and all things. The end? Harmony; Unknowable yet the source of “enlightenment,” – the highest good; Bodhisattva – “one whose essence is enlightenment.”

While I recognize the probable futility of trying to reason when someone has so thoroughly renounced the worth of reasoning I appeal to reason. The foundation for my reasoning is a belief that the God of the Bible is the one and only true God. I believe that, as the Bible asserts, He is personal. I am convinced that He is, again, and again, the initiator in the spiritual quest. And I am certain that we will only discover the full meaning of life as we’re meant to experience it in intimate personal relationship with Him.

Oprah used to believe this. At the pivotal point where she dismissed any possibility that “jealousy” and “love” could coexist and serve the good purposes of a loving God, that changed. Her choice was the fundamental decision humankind has made in dealing with God from the very beginning. When the talking serpent, commandeered by the devil for his devious purposes, set out to seduce the first woman his poisonous first words were, “Did God really say …?” With that verbal dart he questioned not only God’s words, but His intentions. What He said next confirms his devious plan. “God knows …,” he said. The suggestion implicit in Satan’s temptation then, and always, is that God is not really telling us the whole truth. And we need to reserve the last word for ourselves. Oprah has done that. She has concluded that her understanding of jealousy renders it undesirable even if the God of the Jews and Christians claims it as one of His attributes. In so doing she has opted for a different god, than the God of the Bible. Of course, by this action she reveals the folly of her and others’ insistence that all religions are the same. Judaism and Christianity believe their God can be, and is “jealous” and yet loving. Her potpourri of religions does not.

Think about Oprah’s decision. Do “jealousy” and “love” have any business with each other? Yes! Unfortunately our culture does not believe that. “Jealousy,” for many moderns, is a hostile, self serving, often punitive concept. Actually the root meaning comes from a Latin word meaning, “zealous.” This too can have negative features. But there are as many, if not more, ways in which it is a positive force. My Wife and I have been married for 40 years. She pledged herself to be my Wife and mine alone. And she has kept that promise! If another man ever makes a move on her I will not tolerate it. I won’t even give her time to disarm him with that “look.” I will let him know there will be no other man in her life – other than our Lord, three great Sons, 6 Grandsons, a Brother … You get the picture. This is fact. My love for her has a jealous – protective – side. So it is with God. He, and He alone, is God. He’s not insecure. He is not jealous “of” Oprah and the rest of us. He’s jealous “for” us. Because His love, too, has a jealous side He will not leave us unaware of the dangers that lurk just beyond the edges of our sight. He will take the initiative. He will reveal Himself to us. He will let us know the higher purposes for which we’ve been created. He will tell us the “truth,” about what is best for us. He will insist that we take what He says seriously; that we not allow any place in our lives for another god. He will warn us of the consequences, if we do so. And He has done precisely that; all out of genuine concern for our well being. He is extremely jealous “for” “truth.” He does not want, for a nano second, to see any of us exploited by the myriad frauds that masquerade as our hope. So He goes to great lengths to find us in our misguided search for “enlightenment.” He “enlightens” us. He tells us that by trusting Him we will “know the truth and the truth will set us free.” He tells us that the wrong choices we make profoundly impact others. Dads who misbehave mess up the lives of their Kids. People who give their allegiance to false deities or invest their hopes in things that will never satisfy them hurt not only themselves but untold numbers of others. Because He is jealous “for” us God tells us that’s how it works in His world. It is, after all, His world. And, because He loves us, He’s gone out of His way to tell us how that world works.

Interestingly He has used words and reasoned with us to accomplish that. Imagine that. Words – “mental images,” and reason – “thought.” The Supreme Being; the one “in whom we live and move and have our being;” engaging us with words and reason. That is precisely how the Judaeo-Christian God communicates with His people. When what the Jewish people call the “Law,” – God’s explanation of who He is and what He is like as well as who we are and what we’re made for – had been completely revealed to them God said, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and be faithful to him. For the Lord is your life …”

He’s been “straight up” with us. He’s explained both the “end” and the “means.” Not only do you know what He expects. You know what you can expect.

This is true guidance!

Oprah, your God is jealous for you and for your adoring public. For their sake, as well as your own, return to the one who loves you jealously and guides you flawlessly!

Something to "Thank" About

Today, October 12, Columbus Day in the US, is Thanksgiving in my Homeland, Canada.

Though I’m living in the US I cannot help but feel a part of the festivities going on among Family and Friend across that great Land.

I woke up this morning thinking about things I have to be thankful for. The very fact that I’d slept and was refreshed caught my fancy. A bit later, as I was running through the beautiful residential streets where I live, that train of thought was triggered again. The very fact that we’re alive and well is reason enough to be thankful.

I’d never fully realized how true this is until I was introduced to a book titled “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.” The book, written by Dr. Paul Brand, a neurologist who worked extensively among lepers in India, and Phillip Yancey, an author, opened my eyes to the complexities of life in these bodies of ours and the breathtaking wonders involved in something as simple as a “look around.” The human eye, Dr. Brand points out, is composed of 107, 000,000 cells. This mass of cellular tissue is highly specialized. Some of the cells are “cones” giving us “the full band of color awareness.” Others are “rods;” backups for use in low light. Yancey and Brand wrote about “pleasure.” There aren’t cells exclusively assigned to make sure we're having fun. Actually, they observed, “pleasure” is a “by-product of cooperation by many cells.” The most astounding of their observations involves the “fertilized egg.” Quoting Lewis Thomas in “The Medusa and the Snail,” they note, “The mere existence of that cell should be one of the greatest astonishments of the earth.” Their descriptions of DNA leave no doubt about how amazing our origin and the foundational elements of our being actually are. The genetic code that determines what sort of person we are, “DNA reforms itself each time this single cell divides: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, each with identical DNA; a genetic code so complete that the entire body could be reassembled from ANY ONE of the body’s cells.” In awe I read their description of the material makeup of this magnificent element. “DNA,” they note, is “so narrow and compacted that all the genes in my entire body’s cells would fit into an ice cube; yet … unwound and joined together end to end, the strand could stretch from the earth to the sun and back more than 400 times.” Intricacy and infinity are woven into our individuality so amazingly. We are a distinctly singular unit of being. Yet our cells are as visually and functionally diverse as the animals in a zoo. Still I was running along those tree shaded streets thinking about these things while, all the time experiencing a unique pleasure that I’ve enjoyed for 37+ years. And all of this was going on in one unique yet ordinary man. I was, as one man put it, “wonderfully well and blessed.”

There was no doubt in my mind as I finished the run that I had lots of reasons to be thankful! Not only am I “wonderfully well.” I am “blessed.” I am also, as the same man insisted, “highly favored of the Lord.”

So why not celebrate “Thanksgiving” twice a year! Born and raised in one Country and living in another, I’m strategically poised to do that. And I do! Two turkey dinners? No! Joyful celebration of a gracious and generous Benefactor? Yes!
Actually, I’m learning to make that “joyful celebration” of our generously gracious Heavenly Father a part of every day I get to live in this “Fearfully, Wonderfully” created organism and the unspeakably magnificent world He’s given us as Home for now!

My Canadian Friends, and Family, may the wonders of you and the beauty surrounding you inspire true gratitude and hearts full of Thanksgiving on this great day!

The Walk

Have you seen the movie “Gran Torino”?

We watched it with our Son Jon and his Wife Larina.

I was, initially, attracted by the title. Shirley and I bought a “Torino” soon after we were married. It wasn’t the “Gran” version tho’ I’d have gladly taken the upgrade. This was a class ride!

While the car does figure prominently in the story this movie deals with more profound issues. The premise; the screenplay; the performances are woven skillfully into a moving demonstration of the power of “sacrificial love.”

Last Sunday I talked about this in a Class I was teaching. We agreed that it is, also, the point of the Bible’s story; Christ’s decision to abandon all the privilege and prestige of Divinity and descend to the lowest of the low places in human existence and ultimately suffer the gross indignities of execution by crucifixion; the death of a common criminal. His life is – always has been; always will be – the most convincing demonstration of the power of such love.

We who claim to be His followers say we believe in this love. We claim, rightly so, to be the beneficiaries of such priceless love. We also, sometimes, tell Jesus we want to follow Him into His sacrificial way of life.

Here, I fear, we may have ventured farther from shore than we realize. “Sacrificial love” inevitably costs more than, in our limited knowledge, we humans can assess. I learned this “the hard way” recently.

Shirley has taken on a major challenge. She’s accepted an assignment to manage the care and Household business of a totally dependent Family – 2 elderly Parents and their quadriplegic Adult Daughter. I have agreed to assist with the care piece by walking with the Father. He is in advanced stages of Dementia. Despite that he is physically very healthy. He likes to walk. I discovered how much he enjoys it on one of my first outings with him.

We left for our walk around 5:30 or 6:00 on a Friday evening. My Friend said he wanted to go toward the Mountains which border the Northern edge of our Valley. I agreed not realizing what he was really thinking. We walked North along a major Street in his Community. The Street lead upward gaining elevation gradually but steadily. Every once in awhile he’d say, pointing to the Mountains, “It’s just up there.” After we’d walked about 3 ½ miles it dawned on me. He was, literally, “headed for the hills.” In his better days he’d hiked the rugged trails that wind through miles and miles of canyons and meadows faintly visible to us as we walked. And he was taking me on one of those hikes.

When we reached yet another major intersection I coaxed him to turn West. It was getting late. We needed to begin our loop back toward Home. He resisted a bit. But when I suggested that there was a McDonald’s a little farther down that Steet he smiled and agreed that’s what we should do.

We walked on, now on a course that would take us another 3 or 4 miles to his Home. We picked up a coupla Chocolate shakes and strode on, enjoying the downhill trajectory of the terrain. I’d glance over now and again and he’d smile. He was enjoying this!

We’d walked a mile when, suddenly I heard a clatter. I looked over to see his now empty cup bouncing down the sidewalk. He was lying face down on the concrete. A tree root had lifted the sidewalk and he’d tripped over the protrusion and fallen on his face.

I rushed to kneel beside him. The left side of his face was red with "road rash." I had paper towels in my pocket. (A personal quirk our Sons poke fun at me over. I do'nt like sticky hands. A handy towel is a useful deterrent.) I used them to clean his wounds. His hearing aids were loose but undamaged. His glasses, lying nearby, were also unharmed.

When I was sure he’d be able to stand up without further injury I lifted him to his feet. Motorists were slowing down, offering assistance. One couple stopped and walked over to us. They offered to, “give us a lift.” My Friend had already told me he was ready to resume walking. When I told him what they were offering he agreed, again with a smile.

As we prepared to walk to our Good Samaritan’s vehicle I heard sirens. Looking down the Street, I saw the Emergency Vehicles coming rapidly toward us. Laughing I said to our rescuer, “Do ya think they’re comin' for us?” He chuckled. About then we realized they were! coming for us. One of those concerned motorists had called 911! “How considerate!” I thought.

The first of the Emergency Team to arrive was the Police Officer; a Community Service Agent. Her manner was unusually officious for someone from her detail. She questioned me like she would a suspect in a criminal investigation, asking for my ID; what my relationship was to my Friend; how I came to be on the scene. There was something curious about this. The EMT’s arrived and began questioning me about my Friend and his condition. They too were not sure about my role in all of this. “Why all of this suspicion?” I thought. Moving with the Team toward the Ambulance I realized that this could be quite easily seen as something other than it was. I’d not “dressed up” for this walk. My shirt was old and tattered. My shorts were worn and frayed. I was wearing a most comfortable pair of shoes which my Wife had condemned long ago. And my hair, messed up by the wind, gave me the appearance of a crazy man. I looked derelict. Picturing myself in this state, as others might, I imagined the 911 call. “Ya! There’s some Wacko rollin’ an old guy out here on Lincoln. The old guy’s bad hurt! …” I smiled as I saw how this all could be misconstrued. Of course, by then, I’d produced my ID. My Friend, despite his memory issues, was able to vouch for me. I showed the Team his contact information on my Cell Phone and called his Daughter for them. With that the tone changed and I became a “Good Sam,” out doing a “Good Deed.”

These people, themselves, were compassionate and did their work with consummate skill. They took us to one of the finest Hospitals in the Country. En route they cleaned my Friend’s abrasions. Once at the Hospital the process of cleaning his wounds was taken to a new level. They examined a bruise on one hand. The Emergency technicians gave him a full brain scan because of his Dementia.

Five hours and a Tetanus Shot later we were pronounced fit for discharge.

When I set out on this walk it seemed like a compassionate thing to do. I was sure I was pleasing God. An hour or so walking with someone in need of a Friend is a godly thing to do isn’t it? Is this not “loving one’s neighbor?” People we’d meet on the Streets would praise me for what I was doing. The EMT’s and Police Officer praised me profusely once they knew I was actually up to some good. I became a bit of a hero. And that felt good! But it was also costly. This walk cost me my Friday evening. I thought an hour or two would be “no biggie.” Five hours?! I’m a busy man! And that bozo who thought I was a “mugger!?”

It was then I realized “sacrificial love” is not a walk on the “Red Carpet.” It is! “SACRIFICIAL!” Just ask Jesus! It involves a Cross; a price one will never understand until he’s paid it …

I’ll still walk with this Friend.

Now, though, I know that I don’t know what it will require of me …

Building a Love That Never Stops Giving: Places to Start ...

1. Remember Love is Life's Greatest Quality ... the Most Precious Gift you Can Give
2. Never Give up on Her
3. Be Her # 1 Fan
4. Be All You Can Be to Help Her Be all She Can Be
5. Remember She’s More Important Than Your Love for Her
6. Treat Her with a Dignity and Respect Just Short of Worship
7. Love Her Sacrificially
8. Protect Her From all That Threatens Her ... Even Herself
9. Expect of Her What She Considers, at the Present Stage of Her Life,is Her Best.
10. Trust Her
11. Tell Her You Love Her
12. Act like You Love Her
13. Say only True and Noble Things to Her
14. Say only True and Noble Things About Her
15. Praise What is Lovely about Her
16. Praise What is Admirable about Her
17. Draw Attention to What is Right about Her
18. Honor Her Purity
19. Creatively Highlight Her Beauty
20. Listen to Her
21. Study Her
22. Erotica’s a Seductress … Indulge Her on Your Beloved’s Terms
23. Treasure the Sounds You’re Both Fond of
24. Savor the Fragrance of Her
25. Revel in Her Touch
26. Hold and Caress Her Fondly
27. Learn and Delight in the Textures of Her
28. Kiss Her often … Long … Passionately
29. Savor Every Flavor of Her
30. Treasure Her as the Masterful Work of Art that She Is
31. Learn Her Language
32. Learn What’s Most Important to Her
33. Arrange Your Life so that Her Top Priorities are Your Top Priorities
34. Embrace your Conflicts … They Can Be the Fire that Refines Your Love
35. Remember Your Story Fondly and Delight in Telling It
36. Embellish Your Memories of Her. Their Worth Transcends Common Language!
37. Meet in the Middle …
38. Change …

Building a Love that Never Stops Giving: Find 100 Ways

"Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting."
Paul from Tarsus

"Love her today

Find one hundred ways"
James Ingram


Building a Love That Never Stops Giving: Find 100 Ways

Jim Denison

It's a book in the making ... Got any ideas?

Symbols of the Week that is Different from All Other Weeks

The symbols of this Week that is Unlike All Other Weeks are never-to-be-forgotten things we can hold and contemplate. Memorabilia that leave no doubt as to the meaning of the most dramatic 7 days ever lived. They are the icons of victory; the emblems of the conquest achieved by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

A King on A Donkey

The paradox of this image is only understood against the tradition it parodied.

Triumphant Roman Generals were granted a “Triumph” by the Rulers of their Imperial City. The entire Nation joined the celebration. As the Conqueror entered the City its Rulers lead the procession. Trumpeters followed announcing the Victors entrance with the music of gallantry. Carts overflowing with the “spoils of war,” and often vast fortunes, rumbled through the gates of the City. There were more musicians. White bulls and oxen for sacrifice were lead through the streets. Exotic animals and flora from the conquered countries paraded alongside the arms and insignia, the leaders and their relatives, and citizens bound and destined for slavery. The triumphant General would then enter the City surrounded by an entourage of servants and standing in a circular chariot drawn by four horses. He would be dressed in a robe embroidered in gold, with a flowered tunic; a laurel bough in one hand; a scepter in the other; and a laurel wreath on his head. His adult Sons and Officers came next. And finally the entire body of his infantry laurel adorned spears held high and frequently thrust into the air triumphantly.
Our King does not come in that tradition. He comes humbly; a Servant King demonstrating by His actions what He repeatedly taught. “The Great in my Kingdom, are Servants.” And so He was.

A Damned Fig Tree

This fruitless tree is a symbol of two important aspects of life in Christ’s Kingdom. The long established Mission first described to Abraham, “in you shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed,” is the fruit of the Kingdom. It had not come to pass by the time Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of His life. The fruitless tree, like these fruitless Children of Abraham, was a damnable thing to Jesus. His authority and power to condemn it to death is a God-given, Spirit empowerment available to all who will follow Him and learn to implement the Faith by which He exercises His authority.

Designer Tombs

White washed sepulchers, Jesus called them, religious pretenders piously made over play actors for whom image was everything but inconsequential in the eyes of the ultimate Judge. Their hearts, what matter most to Him, were as well as dead – “full of dead man’s bones.”

A Basin and a Towel

The tools of a First Century Slave … the tools of our Servant King. The tools, He said, of all His Followers. For as His love was expressed in intimate personal attention to the most mundane of their needs so we, His Followers attend to the simplest of our Fellows’ needs. “Love one another,” He commanded, “as I have loved you.”

Bread and Wine

The hidden bread and the Cup of Redemption from the Seder became, on that Passover, the symbols of Christ’s body and blood. “Eat it … drink it,” He says, “in remembrance of me.” And so we do and so we will until we “drink it with Him in the Kingdom.”

Triumphant Suffering
Evil is overcome by Good. Death’s “sting” the grave’s “victory” have been vanquished forever. Love prevails.

A Defeated Cross
The dread cross is now a symbol of hope.

An Empty Tomb
The grave is, now, nothing more than a temporary stop on the way to life “forever.”

Why is this Week Different From All Other Weeks? 5.

This is a Week of critical contrasts.

Jesus spent most of this Week teaching His Followers and the crowds that followed Him everywhere He went. Of course the powerbrokers and pretenders who were bent on discrediting and destroying Him were there too. Late in the Week He drew the line between Himself and them broader and deeper. A contemporary translation of what He said shows this dramatically.

“The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish … veneer. Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink … they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals … Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.' Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven. And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ. Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.”

Undoubtedly these were “fightin’ words” to the men He criticized. Not only did they draw deeper and broader lines between Himself and them. They deepened the hostility of these powerful men toward Him and ultimately sealed His destiny. What antagonized them even more was the glaring contrast facing them. Jesus did not simply “talk the talk.” He “walked the talk.” And that stung them. He indicted them by what He did even more than what He said. He lived what He taught. “God’s Law” was “food and drink” for Him. He lived a “what you see is what you get” life. When He said, “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant,” He practiced what He preached.

Nowhere is this authenticity more evident than during His observance of the Seder, with His Followers, at the end of this Week. John, the Son of Thunder as Jesus nicknamed him, tells us about it.

“It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served … Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

What a contrast!

To begin with John points out that Jesus really was the “Life-Leader.” At this momentous point in time, he writes, “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His Power.” Despite that knowledge He deliberately puts on the costume of a “slave,” and proceeds to do slave work. He washes feet. His Followers’ feet. He washes the feet of men who will betray Him, deny they ever knew Him. With one exception they would all abandon Him that very night.

This is our Lord and Master!

Furthermore, He is our “ROLE MODEL”! John tells us what Jesus said after He’d finished serving His Followers. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’” He said, “and rightly so, for that is what I am.

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

Later, so they and we who read them now would understand this is not optional, He declared,

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Only a few hours later He would raise the bar even higher. He would die in the most cruel and tragic way anyone could ever die. For those disappointing Followers; for you and me He would go through “Hell.”

Unlike the pretenders He, the one and only “LIFE-LEADER” would show us the way!

This Week the mandate would be written in blood, sweat, tears, and flesh. “If any of you aspire to be my Followers TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME!”

THIS WEEK IS TRULY UNLIKE ALL OTHER WEEKS!

Why is this Week Different From All Other Weeks? 4.

This is the Week when, once and for all, the question of ultimate authority will be answered.

Jesus had already caused considerable controversy by doing real and imagined damage to the enterprises and images His society’s power elite had built. He’d even made a mockery of familiar symbols of power by mimicking its pomp and militaristic celebrity. Riding a peasant’s donkey colt, bearing no symbol but His own humble demeanor, into the City rightfully known as His, He would ultimately die the most barbaric death known to humanity. In so dying He would establish His Sovereignty over all Kingdoms and powers.

“By what authority,” the powerful asked, “are you doing these things?” “What authority do you have?” The question assumes authority. “Who gave you this authority?” This question presumes He, Himself, has no authority. Who then would give Him the authority to do these disruptive things? For someone to ask such a question is revealing. The questioner exposes his presumption that he has the authority to question another’s power. Jerusalem’s power elite had presumed just that. They’d taken for themselves the right to define and dominate the socio-religio- political culture of their time. Jesus was a threat to their house of arrogant hypocrisy. And so they questioned His authority.

He answered their question with His own question. A question with a scalpel. “Was John the Baptist baptizing with the authority of heaven or of men?” Touché! He had them. Their power was a wispy construct of image and popular opinion. If they said John was God’s man their hypocrisy – their self-serving acts of piety – would be exposed for the fraud that they were. If they said John’s work was simply one more human attempt to sway humans sentiment and allegiance then the crowd would rise up in fury against them. That they feared. Popular opinion was their treasure and their arsenal. Arouse that and the flimsy framework of their dominion would be trampled under the agitated feet of a mob.

By the end of this Week Unlike any other Week the futility of all power would be finally exposed. The crowd that sang His praises on His entrance to the City would cry for His crucifixion before the Weekend. They would virtually drive Him out of the City to die. Temporal power is just that temporary. Its foundations are whimsical and destructible. But Jesus would demonstrate a different kind of power. Paradoxically He would demonstrate it by mounting something more ignoble than a peasant’s donkey. He would mount a cross and die. Then, and only then would we hear the answer to the question. “What authority do you have?”

“I'm Alive. I died, but I came to life, and my life is now forever. See these keys in my hand? They open and lock Death's doors; they open and lock Hell's gates.”

The Lord of death and life is the Lord of all things

This is the Week when ultimate authority is established for time and all eternity!

What authority do you have …? Who gave you this authority?

Why is this Week Different From All Other Weeks? 3.

This is the Week when Jesus, hungry, damned a Fig Tree because there wasn’t any fruit on it. Oh it had lots of leaves; an abundance of leaves. Still it had no fruit.

Doesn’t this seem like a bit of an over-reaction? An almost childish indulgence of a frustrated desire to eat?

There are a couple of things we need to know about Jesus to understand what’s going on here.

First of all we must remember that this is the same man who insisted, in talking with Satan after not eating for 40 days, that “Man must not live by bread alone.” Obviously He’s got His hunger under control. Long before this Week began He’d put hunger in its place and served it only when it needed to be heeded. To conclude that Jesus was in a snit ‘cause He hadn’t gotten His morning fix is simply not true to what we know of Him.

The second factor we must pay attention to is that Jesus had a great deal on His mind. This was the most crucial Week in His life. He was concluding 3 years of a public life of cosmic proportions. His followers, who would be given His mantle in the end, were not “getting it” when it came to the ultimate purpose He’d come to achieve. More importantly His people, the Family of Abraham and Israel, those through whom God promised Abraham “all the families of the world would receive a Divine level of wellbeing,” were rejecting Him and would by the end of the Week demand that He be crucified. Later in the Week He’d tell their Leaders, to their faces, that they were “Hypocrites.” Pretenders; “all leaves and no fruit.”

His damnation of the Fig Tree was a reaction to the rejection and “fruitlessness” of the Nation of Israel; His – God’s – people. In His name they had built a religious dynasty wealthy, influential but every bit as oppressive as the Rome they despised. And later in the Week He would lament their rejection and decree that “their house,” would be “left desolate.” No longer would they have the benefit of His presence or attention. Their only hope would be to say of Him, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.”

The third thing we must remember about Jesus is that He was constantly teaching. He’d find, in virtually every situation, a “teachable moment.” This instance was no exception! In condemning the fruitless Fig Tree He not only denounced His Nation. He demonstrated the high cost of rejecting Him as their True Messiah – The Christ. Matthew tells us that His followers reacted with amazement when they saw the tree wither at His words. "When the disciples saw this, they were amazed." Perplexed they asked, "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” His reply is packed with information about the nature and quality of life He came to introduce. “I tell you the truth,” He said, “If you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” The True Christ – the Son of Man – is a living prototype of recreated humanity. The New Birth His Resurrection makes possible creates people all over again; still in the Image of God; still endowed with the power of Almighty God; still in intimate partnership with Him; but now possessing a new Spirit; the Spirit of one Man who, because He is also Divine, insures all whom He remakes will share in the “Divine Nature.” The Kingdom He spoke of so often – the Rule of God – will come alive and be vital in them. Consequently they, knowing God and His purposes intimately, have “faith” like that of their Christ. They know when mountains need to be moved and exercise their Divinely provided power to move them. Believing that they are God’s favorite Children they instinctively ask for whatever they believe He wants in every situation.

“Faith,” such as He describes here is precisely the quality of life He referred to when He said “I came so you would have life in abundance; lavish, excessive life.” Life the Children of Abraham were rejecting this Week and would never experience until they accepted Him as coming “in the Name of the Lord.” Life that was poured into the hearts of over 3000 new Christ-followers, from virtually every nation, roughly 50 days later during the Feast of Pentecost. Life He offers to us and all with whom we have influence today.

This Week the stage would be set for that world altering event. It is a Week unlike any other!

It's "Holy Week" ... Why is this Week Different from all Other Weeks? 2.

This Week is unlike other Weeks – without parallel – because of the uncommon things Jesus, the Son of Man did during these 7+ 1 days.

On His arrival in Jerusalem He went directly to the City Center – The Temple – and created a scene. Matthew describes it. “He drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.” He drastically understates the stir Jesus' actions had to have caused. Passover was just days away. Thousands of pilgrims were arriving. The Temple was far more than a big Church. It was a religious center certainly. But it was also a marketplace where people could buy the various things required by Jewish Law for the special observances that took place within its confines. Historians have noted that, on occasion, there were thousands of sheep, as well as other creatures within the Temple area. It was also a Financial Institution. One marauder, who ransacked Jerusalem Centuries before Jesus was born reported carrying away from the temple millions of dollars in gold and silver coins of the variety prescribed for Temple use. Pilgrims had to exchange their money for Temple currency. This was a Currency Exchange far larger than any Airport kiosk. Many of the faithful bought their sacrificial creatures or dry goods in the Temple. The cacophony of countless traders advertising their wares was deafening and disorienting. Many people resented the exploitation that had become common in this Holy place. It was no longer “Holy.” It had been usurped by the religious leaders of the Nation and was now the seat of power and prosperity for the Priests and their cronies.

When Jesus disrupted commerce on this day His actions were not immediately met with armed police action. The powerful were unquestionably incensed over what He’d done. But they knew the populace welcomed His actions. Matthew tells us, “They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.” Jesus words had left no doubt about His anger. Borrowing from Isaiah and Jeremiah He said, “My house is to be called a house of prayer, but you’re making it into a den of robbers.” This was a bold, “in your face” indictment of the Priests and lawyers. And many people knew it was true.

What a dramatic move for this “uncommonly humble, gentle King,” who had just entered the City on the back of a Donkey! His words clearly reveal the motivation for his aggressive actions. These trustees of the Jewish faith had made a travesty of the House of God – His House – and were plundering it and its rituals and ceremonies to line their own pockets. Prosperity had displaced prayer as the reason for its existence and He would have none of it. His decision to overthrow their enterprise would forever mark this Week as like no other. And today, as then, He calls all who will listen to review how they might be abusing things God intended for higher purposes.

“Prayer,” Jesus said, is the raison d’être of the House of the Lord. “Prayer?” Isn’t that conversation with God; the connecting point for people seeking to cultivate a relationship with God? Simply put, “Yes!” Later this Week Jesus would eat the Seder with His Friends. During that meal He would pray. In His prayer He would talk with God intimately, addressing Him as Father. Among other important things He would say to His Father would be the following declaration. “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” That dreadful night when He would begin the journey to a horrible death Jesus unequivocally declared what His ultimate purpose was. He had come to make it possible for His followers, and any others who would join them, to “know” God, and Himself. “Know” God? Yes!” Just as the Temple existed as a place of prayer – meeting and conversing with God – so the Life Christ has come to give us is the gateway into an intimate, personal relationship with God. Everything Jesus practiced during His life on earth was done for one purpose and one purpose alone. He did what He did out of devotion to His Father and a tireless love for Him.

Is this true of us? Is the Father the first person in our lives? Do we do everything we do with a loving awareness of His presence and day-to-day interest in us? Do we pray because we want to know Him better? Are the activities we call “worship” designed to arrange our lives so that He has greater access to the deepest places in us? Do we read the Bible to know Him or things about Him? Have we misappropriated His blessings for our own benefit?

Jesus courageously overthrew the symbols of power and prestige in unparalleled fashion so that people looking on at the time, and reading about it later, would understand that whatever God does is done out of determination to know and be known. This Week is a cataclysmic Week. Things in us will be overthrown. God loves us that much!

It's "Holy Week" ... Why is this Week Different from all Other Weeks?

This is “Holy week.”

What makes 7 days “Holy”?

Religious ceremony?

Pious behavior?

Tradition?

Clerical edict?

On the final night of this week Hebrew Children, reclining around the Seder Table with their Families, will ask, as Hebrew Children have for thousands of years, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The host of the meal will answer with the “Haggadah;” the story of Israel’s deliverance from their bondage in Egypt. The night is “different from all other nights,” – distinct – because something important makes it so.

Holy, different, distinct are synonyms. So we could ask, fittingly “Why is this Week different from all other Weeks?” And the answer is the same. This night is different because something – more accurately someone – quite uncommon; an extraordinary man and His never-to-be- matched; cosmically transforming feats are celebrated over these 7 + 1 days. He, by His elevation of these days to the sublime has made them distinct; different; holy!

The first of those supernatural feats was the paradoxical enactment of a prophecy. Matthew, a Friend and Follower of this man – the Christ – describes the performance. “As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethpage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."
“This took place,” Matthew observes, “to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet – Zechariah:

‘Say to the Daughter of Zion,

'See, your king comes to you,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

The King, Jesus – the Christ – has acted extraordinarily. His behavior is different, distinct. Kings make their entrance on prancing steeds, surrounded by armies and symbols of power, pomp, and royalty. He enters on the back of a baby donkey; a beast of burden affordable to the poor. He was surrounded by what the elite of His day called the rabble. No pomp; no symbols of power; nothing to establish His sovereignty.

This Week is different from all other Weeks because it commences with the appearance of an uncommonly humble, gentle King who’s deliberately presenting Himself as one of the common people. The sort of King who could bring about the rest of the prophecy.

“I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

and the war-horses from Jerusalem,

and the battle bow will be broken.

He will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea

and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Zechariah 9:10

This Week is, most certainly, different from all other weeks!

Waddya wanna know?

3 million times the information contained in all the books ever written, was produced digitally in one year, according to Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post Writers Group. Further, she writes, “By next year, 16 times that data will be produced.”

What has it gotten us?

The Western media’s mantra is that it’s “the people’s right to know.” To know what? Enough to “Be a Millionaire;” or the Trivia King? What are we searching for when we “surf the net”? What’s the hot video on YouTube? What difference does it make? Could you have learned more in a Classroom with live people around you to test your ideas and experience the expanding of the mind that comes from active engagement of other Thinkers, than through an online University? Is learning about more than the accumulation of knowledge?

A First Century defender of the Christian Faith, predicted that there’d come a time when there’d be people who were, “always learning yet never able to grasp the truth.” That day has come. The data Ms. Parker wrote about is digital. Her statistics don’t account for the books that have been written or lectures, speeches, sermons that have been heard across the world. “Information overload,” is very much with us! But are we better because we have such a wealth of apparent knowledge? Have we “grasped the truth?”

One of the characters in the Old Testament story of the Jewish people was, apparently, recognized as among the wisest men who ever lived. A great Queen of another nation came to see this man, who was, at the time, Israel’s King. As the story goes, this woman came to him, “and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. He answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her.”

Now that's a feat! How many men do you know who can hear “all” that any woman “has on her mind,” not to mention answer “all her questions” in such a way that she's pleased?

Do you know any man who’d pay big money to buy what this guy knew?

This “wise” man had some rather sobering things to say about the “proliferation” of knowledge. “I've stockpiled wisdom and knowledge," he wrote. “What I've finally concluded is that so-called wisdom and knowledge are mindless and witless—nothing but spitting into the wind. Much learning earns you much trouble. The more you know, the more you hurt.” “(T)he wise man,” he concluded, “like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten.”

We mortals are, today, the custodians of a largely time bound database. For all of our progress most of what we’ve achieved will, with us, perish in the sands of time. “Then,” Jesus asked, “who will those things you’ve acquired and achieved belong to when you’re gone?” "Where," Paul the Preacher writes, “is the wise person?” “Where is the educated person?” “Where is the skilled talker of the world?” “God,” he says, “has made the wisdom of the world foolish.” He has done this, the Preacher explains, through the “crucified Christ.” Through an event which is quite possibly the greatest paradox ever played out God gave us “the truth.” Christ – the Son of Man – who is also Lord, was crucified. The idea that someone whose life ended in such a shameful way could be the “hope of Israel” was and still is “scandalous to Jews.” Any proud intellectual laughs at the idea that someone so weak and insignificant could be of any importance to them. But that’s the paradox Christ’s life poses. It is “when you’re weak,” that “you’re strong.” “In dying,” St. Francis insisted, “we are born to eternal life.” This is nonsensical to the secular mind. It's scoffed at because of widespread resistance to the idea that weakness and death can be in any way beneficial. Our resistance is what has prevented us from getting, out of the galactic body of knowledge at our disposal, what is the ultimate truth. We are mortal. But meant to be immortal. We are made for bigger and better things. Jesus said, “Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies it is nothing more than a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds.” Few of us have not, at one time or another, witnessed that phenomenon. “Just remember,” the song insists, “in the Winter, far beneath the bitter snow, lies the seed that with the sun’s warmth, in the Spring, becomes the Rose.” Jesus, 6 days after He said that about seeds, died. Three days later He came back to life. A single seed died; then grew through the walls of a rocky tomb with immortal life -- "many seeds" -- for any and all who would willingly accept this truth. Now the true wisdom of God calls mortals to relinquish their life’s acquisitions in exchange for another kind of life. The life Christ offers. He who was “dead and is alive again; who holds the keys to life and death,” who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” has made available to us the immortality we’re made for. What we long hoped for is true. We can live well and forever.

In all of our ruminating through the mountains of information we hope will yield ultimate answers we have not “grasped the truth.” No knowledge we’ve acquired of our own accord has solved the problem of our mortality. So “the wise man, like the fool,” will one day “be forgotten.” The claptrap of computers, endless digital periphals, and the explosive proliferation of technological wonders deludes us into thinking that we’re advancing with the passing of every nano-second. Sadly we’re not. We've put our hope in an untruth. None of our applaudable achievements have solved the problem of death. Only that person who’s breached the vault of death and shown it for what it is -- the door to everlasting life -- has the truth which eludes us.

That person is Jesus of Nazareth … the Christ – Son of Man – Son of the living God.
It is the “wisdom” of God to know this everlasting life giving God/Man! To know Him is to know the “truth.” And this “truth,” will “set you free!”

Did God Make a Mistake When He Created Free Will?

The Teacher had set out to do what I thought might be the impossible. He’d declared his intention to provide His Students – a Friday night group of Worshippers – with an overview of the Biblical story of Job. All 42 chapters filled with extremely difficult experiences and even more complex issues. But so he did. An overview of one of the most difficult life stories in the Bible in one evening.

Did he do this well? I won’t presume to say. One thing I will say is that, while he was teaching, I was struck with a thought. Not a new thought. A thought I’d heard and read others thinking. It was prompted by an obvious observation this Teacher made. As he described Satan’s appearance before God he said, “There was another will roaming the earth.” Another will present in our world? Why of course! Free will has always been a factor in the world God’s created. The Biblical description of humanity’s beginnings includes God’s declaration of His creature’s option to disobey. “Don’t” He said. If you do “you will most assuredly die.” The very first humans had a choice. Free will was introduced.

Not exactly. A free will already existed and showed up, soon after humanity’s choice was introduced, to bait the couple into choosing contrary to God’s will. Free will, then, has been present in the cosmos since before human’s existed, perhaps before the earth itself was formed. God has created a universe in which some of what He’s created has the innate capacity to disregard Him; even disobey and rebel against Him.

How wise was that?

Among the many things we’re told about God is that He is “love.” I believe, with many others, that not only is His creation of creatures with free will wise. It is a natural expression of His love. Love, in its true form, allows for choice. In fact it requires choice. If someone chooses to care for you, free of any coercion or enticement, as a free act of their will you immediately understand what I mean. And the very instant you discover their choice was based on something other than their unconditional esteem for you alone you’ll know they don’t love you.

Of course you’ll also know that your heart’s been severely bruised in the process. The free will that makes love what it is also causes suffering. How many hearts have been “broken” because of the loss of what seemed to be love? I got a very brief e-note from a new Friend several years ago in which he lamented a failed “love.” I wrote back, “It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” He never replied and I haven’t heard from him since. He must have thought, “What kind of Friend would be so insensitive as to suggest that this pain I’m going through could have any benefit?” I, on the other hand, thought I’d done a most loving thing. I’d attempted to lift him out of his funk and allow the light of truth to warm and soothe his broken heart. As a matter of fact, at the right time, the “wounds of a Friend,” are the gift of true Friendship.

This brings up another aspect of the loving wisdom of God in creating free will. While it’s a necessary aspect of love, it inevitably leads to suffering. The free choice originally given to humans lead, almost directly, to disobedience and in turning away from God, that day, these creatures set in motion a collapse of colossal proportions so vast that the tsunami effect is devastating things to this very day. Suffering has come of free will. How awful is that? Can this messed up, wrong choice wracked world be considered in any way a good thing?

That depends. If love requires free will and yet free will has lead to devastating decisions then we’ve got to ask whether or not the good we call love trumps the evil we call suffering. Is it “better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?”

The best person to ask that question is Jesus of Nazareth. He claimed to be one and the same person as the Creator God. He further claimed that He had become a man because it was His and His Father’s – God’s – idea; an act of love. He stated it simply enough. “God loves humanity,” He said. “God loves His human creatures so much that He gave His only Son to them to rescue them from the suffering and death their rebellious choices had gotten them into.” So, according to Jesus Himself, He is God’s loving entrance into humanity’s messed up world. He’s here to love us. And so He does. But, in the end He loses. He has “loved and lost.” Or so it seems. Unlike His predecessors, the first humans, He, innocent and perfect as they were, when faced with tests of His free will, chose to do what God the Father had asked Him to do. All the way to a Garden of Prayer where He struggled with the Father’s determination that He suffer infinitely. Ultimately He agreed to “drink the cup” of unparalleled suffering to the last drop. He never wavered in that decision. With that He died the most unjust, cruel death a man would ever suffer. Human, his pain was everything human suffering ever was or ever would be. Divine it was infinitely more than any one person’s suffering could ever be for it was the suffering of all of us. And, no matter how often we condemn God for “all” the suffering in the world, pain is always an individual, personal, private matter, except in this and this instance alone.

What came of it? Love trumped evil! Death, the worst of all sufferings, came to an end in that moment. Humanity was given a second chance. A second original Son of Man – a new Adam – went all the way to the ultimate test of free will. He endured infinite pain to the point of death. He endured the heart breaking reality of losing the one and only perfect lover, our God and Heavenly Father. “Why,” He cried in that dreadful moment, “have you abandoned me here?” Yet He never broke. He loved His Father, and His beloved creatures, without a trace of infidelity, to the very end. With that He died. With that He introduced immortality to His free creatures. With that love did, really, trump evil.

It is of more than passing interest that the first person Jesus is recorded to have spoken to on Easter – Resurrection – Sunday was a devastated mourner by His tomb named Mary. It’s quite possible that she was the one whose great love for Him actually moved her to pour a flask of exceptionally expensive perfume over Him not long before He died; a woman He said, “loved much.” Contrary to spurious claims to the contrary the love He spoke of was not a lustful thing but rather a matter of mutual esteem that was, in no way, self serving. It was, as all true loves are, a most liberating respect for the free will of the beloved and a passionate determination to empower, without controlling, them.

From that day to this the sacrificial love of Jesus of Nazareth has been gently drawing humankind to Him and to their own experience of being loved and loving. They’re discovering that nothing alleviates suffering, liberates the sufferer more completely, or provides greater comfort than perfect, unconditional love …

Ask Jesus, I suggested four paragraphs ago.

Ask now, “Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?” “Yes,” He replies. Why? “Joy,” He replies. Is free will a good idea? “Yes,” He replies. Why? “It has been my will to do what my Father wills and I will always live in His love. That’s Joy!”

Boom or Sacrifice?

Yesterday, in my reading, I came across a stark contrast.

A headline read, “Consequences of boom year borrowing hit Churches.”

Later, the author of a Lenten meditation wrote about Christ’s trial. “Christian,” he wrote, “come and look closely: it is when Jesus is humiliated, most seeming weak, bound and despised and alone and defeated that He finally answers the question, ‘Are you the Christ (Messiah)? ‘… yes I am’ He says. … This, then, is the Christ that Jesus would have us know and accept and (O Christian!) reflect: One who came to die. One who, in the assessment of this age, failed --- an embarrassment, a folly, a stumbling block. An offense! One crucified.”

“Boom year borrowing …” and “Churches,” in the same headline?

Jesus, hands bound, finally acknowledging He's the "hope of all people,"?

Was the church seduced by a secular fantasy?

Were we – alleged Christ-followers – deluded into riding a bubble of promised prosperity?

Did we buy the myth: more titillating/more gratifying … greater spectacle/bigger crowds … more power/greater influence?

Have we been tested and found bankrupt?

Are our bigger barns filled with perishable possessions?

The contrast is scandalous.

Compare.

Christ’s finest hour – that cosmic moment when He, with rare candor about His own identity, declares His supremacy – is His and humanity’s darkest hour.

This is His way! It is our way – we who presume to call ourselves by His Name. There’s a cross on the way; a death. “In dying we are born to eternal life.” There’s someone new – no longer our misguided selves – leading the way. He’s the CRUCIFIED LORD!

Do we still want to be called by His Name?

We can opt for another “boom.” Or we can choose a life of sacrificial love spent for the sake of a broken humanity; a fallen nobility for whom our Life Master gave up everything.

Here’s what He has to say about that choice. “I take your practice of sacrificial love seriously. Actually I take it personally. Whenever you go out of your way or pay a price for the benefit of someone, no matter how insignificant they may seem to you or others, I consider the deed to have been done for my sake. And I assure you it will not go unnoticed. In fact, there is a reward awaiting sacrificially loving people who consistently do this kind of thing out of pure love for another. The reward? It’s an inheritance. The bequest was established before ever a word of creation was spoken. Sacrificially loving people will be given a ‘Kingdom.’ They will be given the “Kingdom of the Heavens around us,” the “Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.”

This is really what our Life Master – Jesus, who is called ‘Christ,’ the model man – has offered those who follow His example and go to the Cross for the sake of another. They will become people of great influence. They will “reign, with Him, forever.” Give as He gives. You’ll lose nothing and gain everything. Matthew tells us as much in chapter 25 verses 31 -40.

Which do you choose? Another “boom,”? Or the path of sacrificial love?

Reliving the Passion ... A Book Review

Walter Wangerin Jr., Reliving the Passion: Meditations on the Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus as Recorded in Mark (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1992)

In this necessary book Wangerin, a skilled wordsmith and devout follower of Jesus, leads us to our personal “reliving” of the suffering, death, and resurrection of this unusual man from Nazareth. Wangerin insists it is necessary. It is, after all, history’s greatest tragedy. Yet it is a cosmic triumph. Any alleged triumph that does not deliver us from life’s greatest tragedy – our death – is no triumph. We need to see how His awful death overcomes ours. We need to see how our “sin” has brought death upon us and Him. We need, as Wangerin argues, “to see our sorrier selves,” in these events and our need of His “holy self.” We need to see the path He took in life and how this is the way He calls us to walk with Him. We must learn that “it is the experience of genuine grief that prepares for joy.”

And so he guides us, over 41 days, through every nuance of one emotion after another. We wonder at the love of a woman who lavishes costly ointment on the Master. We steal through the streets of Jerusalem with His followers, clandestinely arranging for what would be their final Passover with Him. We see Him betrayed, renounced, falsely condemned, ridiculed, brutalized. We watch Him die. We realize the depth of His resolve as he deliberately chooses to taste every drop of the “cup” of pain He is asked to drink. The infinite reach, and deep compassion of His love tears at our hearts. Watching Him die we see clearly, perhaps for the first time, the supremacy of His power.

Wangerin dramatically leads us through all of it, every bit of the story, right to the door of the empty tomb. He does this in 40 stages; “40 devotions” he calls them. They “best fit the forty days that lead to Easter (except the Sundays)” he explains, “as you will be participating in an ancient practice of our Christian Church: observing Lent, examining grace, understanding the crucifixion as the moment of marvelous love and your salvation, and giving God thanks for a resurrection which promises your own in the end.”

For the past five years I have done as Wangerin’s suggested. “Reliving” these days with Jesus has deepened my love for Him. I will continue the practice until I see Him face-to-face and can hear Him tell the story personally.

Thank you , Walter Wangerin, for this inestimably valuable gift!

The Most Important Holiday in the Year

In just one more day the most important Season of the year begins. Spring is upon us! Well, despite the privilege of living in the friendly climes of the Southwest of the United States, that is not quite true. Lent is upon us! Rooted in the Latin for “spring” Lent is the Season in which we Christians celebrate the events leading up to Easter – the Universal Spring!

Just yesterday I received an e-message from a Friend describing this cosmic event. With her permission, here are her observations.

“Lent is the period of fasting, penitence, and self-denial traditionally observed by Christians in preparation for Easter. Lent is 40 days, but spans a period of 46 (the 6 Sundays in Lent are not counted because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death. It runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (Easter). The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Many people decide to give up a favorite food or drink (e.g. chocolate, alcohol) or activity (e.g., going to the movies, playing video games, etc.) for Lent.

Will you join me in this challenge? The idea is that you give up something that you don't want to give up.... otherwise it wouldn't really be much of temptation and trial would it. Use this as an opportunity to draw closer to Jesus, in anticipation of our Easter celebration! Oh, and if you want to know what I'm giving up... eating out, which I do several times a week... and I'm including visits to Timmy's in this too!
I'd love to know what you are giving up... oh and just to be clear, Lent starts this week on Ash Wednesday, 25th February.
Love Joanne”

For those of you who don’t live in Canada, or haven’t been privileged to visit that great Land, “Timmy’s” is short for Tim Horton’s, the greatest Donut/Coffee chain in the world.

I responded to Joanne yesterday. I shared with her, and all to whom she’d sent her message, that I have become a serious observer of the Lenten Season. In addition to a personally crafted “fast” I’ve adopted a reading regimen that I strongly recommend to all serious Christ-followers. It’s the reading of one book over the 46 days Joanne has written about. The author, Walter Wangerin, is one of the most skilled writers I’ve read. He’s written extensively. But the book I’m telling you about is a short work titled, Reliving the Passion: Meditations on the Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus as recorded in Mark. Wangerin has organized the book so that it can be read, one brief chapter at-a-time, through the 42 days – counting the Preface and the Day of Resurrection of our Lord – of this momentous Season. Each chapter can be read in the length of time it takes to eat a candy bar or drink a soft drink. Isn’t that what “giving up something,” is, as Joanne suggested, really all about? Setting aside, for our Lord, time we normally use for something else.

This discipline has been, for me, a most invaluable experience of Christ’s presence and has resulted in a deepening intimacy with Him.

You, too, will benefit from it!

25 Things We May Not Know and Need to Know About Jesus of Nazareth

1. At once God and Man Jesus, when speaking of Himself, always used the name “Son of Man.”

2. He relinquished all Divine privilege and power to live a completely human life.

3. By the time He was 12 years of age He’d memorized most, if not all, of the Torah – Genesis through Deuteronomy – and insisted, when an Adult, “my meat is to do the will of my Father;” “man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

4. Despite His Divinity He obeyed His parents.

5. He refused to let any desire divert His unwavering loyalty to His Heavenly Father.

6. He rejected repeated temptations to grab for power.

7. Selfish ambition and image were never deciding factors in any of His choices.

8. He was careful to avoid offending others except when it would mean compromising His love for Our Heavenly Father.

9. He spoke tirelessly of the Kingdom of the Heavens.

10. He believed, and insisted, that His life was the prototype of a human life lived completely as God intended.

11. He taught that anyone who believed He was God, living a completely human life, could also live under God’s rule – as God wills.

12. The message that God’s rule is available to any and all people is, He said, “Good News.”

13. He said life lived the way He lives brings unequalled well-being.

14. He said people who practiced what He taught were “unshakable.”

15. He commanded that His followers take drastic measures, and exercise rigorous discipline to resist the controlling demands of any appetite or desire.

16. He taught and demonstrated that Love is uncompromising – extended to anyone who will accept it and expecting no less than Our Heavenly Father’s best for the beloved.

17. He insisted on, and practiced private conversation with Father God promising that it was rewarding to do so.

18. He assured His audiences that no circumstance or sacrifice was so tragic that God could not use it for the good of humanity and His own honor.

19. He said He is the one who turns death into never-ending life.

20. He says He’s the “Good Shepherd” – the one-and-only TRUE CAREGIVER.

21. He assures people again and again that He always delivers on His promises.

22. “I am,” He said, “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

23. “Father forgive them,” He prayed, “they don’t know what they’re doing.”

24. One of His followers said that He is, right now, “in the presence of Our Father sticking up for us.”

25. "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?” He asked. “Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Hang out with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

What's the Big Deal About the Seventh Day?

For the last few days I’ve been following a discussion of Sabbath observance among some Pastor Friends.

Whenever I hear talk about the Sabbath I think of two Seventh days in the Bible. The events of these two extraordinary days elevate all Sabbaths to a completely new importance and forever change the focus of questions about its observance.

The first of these two days was a Passover Sabbath. It was the day following the Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Just hours before sunset and the commencement of that highly holy day something remarkable had taken place. The elaborate and ominous curtain that separated the Holiest Place in the Jerusalem temple had been torn “from top to bottom.” At the very instant of the tearing God and the “seat” of His merciful presence were accessible to all who would approach.

I’ve often wondered what happened in the “real unseen world of the Heavenlies” on this never to be repeated Sabbath when “grace” was now and forever accessible to anyone. One of Jesus’ Friends tells us that He – Jesus – “went and preached to the spirits in prison; those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat.” (1 Peter 3: 19 & 20) On that never-to-be-forgotten Sabbath the Heavenlies were lavishing “grace” upon a world long separated from the Holy. With this large scale act of mercy; set in motion by Jesus generous gift from the cross and His conquest of the last barrier between God and penitent humanity, Grace broke the confines of temple and ritual pervading the cosmos; reaching even to the dark regions of the nether world. For the Kingdom of our Lord the purpose of the consummate Sabbath, and by implication all subsequent Seventh Days, was Grace.

The second, special Sabbath I remember is the one when Jesus and His followers were walking through a grain field. As they walked His friends began to pick some of the ripened grain from the stalks. Religious observers of this were critical of what the men were doing. They were doing what, to their critics, amounted to work “on the Holy Sabbath.” By all indications Jesus had not seen their actions that way at all. It seemed to Him to be totally appropriate Sabbath activity. This is serendipity! It’s spontaneous! It’s childlike delight at something new and wonderful. There had to be a bit of a spring in their steps as these men, surprised at the freedom of life with Jesus, reveled in the taste of the freshly ripened kernels. They were walking and talking with the true Corn King (Lewis) – the Lord of the Harvest – celebrating the common in an uncommon way. Elevating work to worship.

In response to His critics, who’d long lost the vision of Grace in God’s revealing messages to them, Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2: 27 & 28) The Seventh Day, He was explaining, is a “Grace gift” from God to those He favors; first The Son of Man; then through Him all sons of men … It’s implicit in Creation. It’s the business of the risen Christ’s first Sabbath. It’s vibrantly alive in the spontaneity and surprise-filled wonder of childlike worshippers of their King who has set apart – made Holy – this day and everyday for their enrichment and joy.