The Islamists are telling us infidels that their religion includes slavery and murder.
At first this infuriated me.
But somehow the Holy Spirit always manages to put things in perspective for me.
My religion also includes slavery and murder, but there’s one huge difference.
Instead of being encouraged to inflict these things on others, it was our savior, Jesus, the only Son of God, who was murdered—crucified—the execution reserved for slaves.
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane 1746
Pinacoteca, Vatican City, Vatican
It seems odd that we call this Holy Week. After all, it’s a week when everything seems to have fallen apart.
“Holy Thursday” – Jesus asks for Peter, James and John to pray with him, but they fall asleep. He’s betrayed by one of his closest followers. Those charged with representing His Father are the ones orchestrating His demise. His trusted right-hand man denies Him.
“Good Friday” – Jesus is tortured, humiliated, abandoned and condemned to a death reserved for slaves who threaten the emperor. His own people don’t so much choose Barabbas to live as condemn Jesus to die.
“Holy Saturday” – The hope for the world lays cold and dead in a sepulchure.
But, as God told Samuel as he looked at each of Jesse’s sons, and as Jesus told Peter – God sees things differently than we do and His thoughts are not like ours. The week is Holy because it unfolded according to God’s plan – not ours.
Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Religion
Tagged Christ, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Holy Thursday, Holy Week, Jesus, Passion
If you have followed my blog for a while, you may remember that during Lent I listen to “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Although it’s an artistic musing, it does cause me to think of my scripture reading from a different perspective. In the recording, Judas asks why Jesus came, “in such a backward time in such a strange land.” He goes on to say, “If you’d come today, you’d have reached a whole nation. Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication.”
It’s a fair question, and I pondered it for a while and arrived at an answer that at least makes sense to me.
I think that Jesus’ aim was to inspire, teach, challenge, and demand that we take things into our own hands and do God’s work. It is up to us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and perform such works in His name and to give glory to the Father.
But what if He had chosen today? I suspect for a while He would be the top story on the news and a meme on the internet. But would we take Him any more seriously? Personally I doubt it. Besides, in a few days some other story would have pushed him out of the limelight.
It was within His power to solve all our problems – disease; poverty; everything. Instead, He solved the biggest problem – our separation from God.
The rest is up to us, but don’t worry. He taught us how.
Posted in Arts, Celebrity, Communications, Culture, Education, Friends, History, Holidays, Leadership, Media, Music, Philosophy, Religion, Technology, Television
Tagged Christ, Easter, Jesus, Lent, Superestar
Isn’t that the question? What is Christmas?
Whatever you want it to be.
When you look at Christmas, it reflects your thoughts, your wants, your needs.
To a child, it’s a day that will never come. A day of wonderment and, of course, TOYS!
To a merchant, it may be the time of year when he gets his reward for keeping his doors open and his shelves stocked.
To some, it may be the time of year they can count on getting a job – even if only for a few months.
To a Christian, it may be a time of great joy – or even a time in which you wonder why you aren’t feeling great joy.
To a non-Christian, it may just be puzzling.
When Christ was on earth, He did the things only He could do. In other things, he expected His followers to take action – “Give her something to eat.” “Go out and take neither staff nor purse.”
He was trying to teach us to see things the way He did.
Not a leper. Not a despised tax collector or a prostitute. Each a person, loved by God.
This Christmas, look at it and try to see the best you can. A time of caring. A time to demonstrate what Christianity is about. Listen to others. Appreciate the fact that each of us is unique. O not judge.
Then take Christmas as a starting point and carry it with you as we head into the new year.
Trust me. Christmas will be what you want it to be.
Three is an interesting number in so many ways. It’s prime. A three sided brace is strong since the angles can’t change unless the lengths of the sides do.
Not to mention the Holy Trinity, the days between Christ’s death and resurrection.
I’ve found that in dealing with things, I have my own trinity.
My emotional self may want to stamp its feet, yell, run around in circles or whatever. It just kind of is, but after it does its thing, the pressure is bled off and I can deal better with things.
My intellectual self wants to think its way through a situation. How do I fix it? What do I do next? What’s Plan B?
Finally, there’s my spiritual self that tries to understand that I don’t understand. That I need to rely on faith as well as logic. My spiritual self realizes that a leap of faith is just that – a leap. Not a small step, but a move to commit your entire self to your belief that God knows what He’s doing and cares for us.
God, in His infinite wisdom gave us these tools so we could face any challenge. I know this because in the Gospels, I see Jesus using all three. He cried at Lazarus’ death and got angry at the money changers in the temple. Much of what He taught is good practical earthly, “street smart” advice. And, of course, His spiritual self dominated everything.
When I’m done dealing with an issue, my spiritual self is usually the one to finish up and put the worries away. Usually with something like:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Posted in Communications, Culture, People, Philosophy, Religion
Tagged Christ, God, Gospel, Holy Trinity, Jesu, Lord, Spirituality, Trinity
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
(Great flick)
Virtues are funny things. On the one hand, they’re gifts to help us through life. On the other hand, they’re not quite what we expect.
Faith gives us the ability to believe what we cannot prove. However, it’s easy to have faith when things are going well. It’s so easy that when things are going well, we ascribe the success to us, so who needs faith? When things go badly, it’s just as easy to look to God accusingly and ask Him why He didn’t give us more faith.
Hope is like faith in that it lets us see things as they could be. Again, it’s easier to have hope when things are going well. Less so when the economy is bad or there are medical problems or we wake up in the middle of the night due to worry.
Finally, there’s love. It’s easy to love those who look like us, sound like us and share our values. It’s damned difficult to love those who are different, especially if we don’t understand them. How can God expect me to love those kids with their pants hanging down? Or the girl wearing the hijab? Or the star of David, or the cross?
But think about it. The virtues are there for exactly those reasons. Especially, love, the greatest of them.
We’re called upon to love those most different from ourselves; most difficult to understand.
Like the way that Jesus loved the Roman soldiers even as they drove the nails through His hands and His feet.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
In the Old Testament, God the Father rested from Creation on the seventh day.
I suspect that it was no coincidence that after His death, Jesus His Son also rested on the seventh day.
God always shows us how His plan flows together in such a beautiful manner.
Posted in Blog, Communications, Culture, Family, Friends, History, Holidays, Leadership, People, Philosophy, Religion
Tagged Bible, Christ, Christianity, crucifixion, Easter, God, Holy Saturday, Holy Week, Jesus, New Testament, Old Testament, Religion and Spirituality, resurrection
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, commemorating when Christ entered Jerusalem.
I think his apostles had been waiting for this day, especially Simon the Zealot. Jesus the Messiah, the leader, the man who would lead the crowd to victory.
His welcome was a hero’s welcome. Palms and cloaks were laid on the path as a sign of homage and honor.
Jesus was the only one who truly understood what was happening. On the one hand He knew how important the trip to Jerusalem was for not only the Jews, but for the whole world. He knew that it was so important that if the crowd hadn’t cheered Him, the rocks and stones would have.
On the other hand, He knew that He would be beaten, abused, ridiculed and abandoned. He would face the very worst that Evil could throw at Him.
He knew that the crowd cheering Him would be replaced by a crowd calling for and then celebrating His death. He knew that the evil crowd would include many of those who cheered His arrival into Jerusalem.
But the rocks and stones didn’t turn on Him. They didn’t betray Him. They didn’t deny Him. They didn’t kill Him.
The rocks and stones remained loyal.
Posted in Celebrity, Communications, Culture, History, Holidays, People, Philosophy, Politics, Religion
Tagged Christ, Jerusalem, Jesus, Jews, Messiah, Palm Sunday, Religion and Spirituality, Rocks
As you may recall, during Lent, one thing I do is to listen to “Jesus Christ, Superstar.” The rock opera is entertainment, not scripture, and tells the story of Jesus final week from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer. Although Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber took significant artistic license, I believe the Holy Spirit takes every opportunity to speak the truth to us. Besides, some stories are just so awe inspiring that the true message comes through no matter what.
The play begins with Judas singing “Heaven on Their Mind” which starts with the following lyrics.
“My mind is clearer now; At last I can see where we all soon will be.
If you strip away, the myth from the man; You will see where we all soon will be.”
I was always uncomfortable with the reference to Jesus as being part myth, and didn’t like these particular lyrics, until I had another thought.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all relate how Jesus asked who people thought he was.
“13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16)
Jesus then warned them to tell no one that He is the Christ, at least not until after his resurrection.
Judas was never given the faith to believe in Jesus. I don’t think he ever could realize that Jesus was in fact the Messiah. He, like many others, wanted a Messiah who was a great leader in the manner of Moses, Joshua or David. In Jesus, without faith, Judas could only see an itinerant teacher with an interesting message. To Judas, Jesus divinity could only be myth.
How sad.
It makes me think of how blessed we all are who have been given Faith and been able to see the truth so easily that we take it for granted.
Posted in Arts, Celebrity, Communications, Culture, History, Leadership, Media, People, Philosophy, Religion
Tagged Andrew Lloyd Weber, Caesarea Philippi, Christ, Holy Spirit, Iscariot, Jesu, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ Superstar, Judas, Judas Iscariot, Superstar, Tim Rice
Coat of Arms
Pope Benedict XVI
The news media has carried on in their usual way with regard to the retirement of the Pope. Headlines talked about it being “Shocking” and “Unbelievable.”
Say what?
First, when I’m 85, I hope I’m well experienced at being retired. Serving until death is a leftover from the days when the Monarch was expected to actively participate in combat and dodge assassination attempts. Life expectancy was much shorter.
The Catholic Church is like any large organization. Leaders come and leaders go. They tend to come from the same pool of candidates. I suspect that Fortune 500 CEOs reflect a lot of individuals with Harvard MBAs and who grew up thinking country clubs were a normal part of life.
I drive a Ford. I have no idea as to who is the current president of Ford, or who’s on their board of directors. It doesn’t affect me. To a large degree, the same is true of the Pope.
Large powerful organizations do both good and ill. With a two thousand year history, the Catholic Church has had more opportunities to experience errors, suffer from bad leadership, as well as do some good things. The bad stuff is more interesting to talk about.
Look at Catholics, as opposed to the Catholic Church organization and hierarchy. Like most other Christians we get up each morning, pray to do a good job, do some things right, screw up on others, ask forgiveness, and keep on going. Like other Christians we place our faith in Christ, along with our hope and love.
If the news media reported a month from now that the Catholic hierarchy had been unable to elect a Pope, it would not affect most Catholics. We’d still attend Mass Sunday mornings and try to live our faith on a daily basis.
Posted in Business, Celebrity, Communications, Culture, Future, Government, History, Leadership, Management, Media, People, Philosophy, Politics, Religion
Tagged Catholic, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Christ, Christianity, Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, Sunday
It’s surprising how little we know about Jesus the person. He was named Yeshua, the Aramaic for Joshua, the loyal scout and military leader who was allowed to pass into the Promised Land when even Moses was denied entry.
His public ministry was only for a few years. Except for His last two days, the scriptures tell us little about Him. We don’t know if he was tall or short. Nowhere do the Scriptures describe Him physically. However, it’s a pretty good bet he looked like we see Him in paintings and sculpture, with white skin and long flowing hair. Men native to the Middle East tend to have darker skin, and St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians is quite critical about men with long hair. An unlikely comment if that was how Jesus looked.
What the scriptures do tell us is His message and his purpose. Look at the beautiful beginning to John’s gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
He taught us to love God and to love one another. To extend that love to even the least among us. To be willing to give up life itself out of love.
It was a good message, and just as He subjugated Himself to the Father’s will, He placed the message first. After all, He was, and is the Word.
Posted in Arts, Celebrity, Communications, Culture, History, Leadership, Media, People, Philosophy, Politics, Religion
Tagged Christ, God, Jesu, Jesus, John, John's Gospel, Middle East, Moses, Word, Yeshua
Nobody had more fun with death that Charles Addams
People stopped dying many years ago. Instead of dying, they passed away, then they passed on. Today, they merely pass.
People don’t like the idea of death. Many Christians look at death as the consequence of sin, and see their revulsion in both emotional and spiritual terms. Jesus himself was offended by death. When he entered the tomb of Lazarus in order to raise him from the dead, he reacted strongly to the presence of death. On the night before He died, he prayed that He be spared the suffering and death that awaited him.
Christians generally believe that there is a better existence in the next life than in this one. Many other faiths have similar beliefs, but most everyone believes that getting there is not half the fun. We seem to expect that it’s like birth – a bit of a chore.
Back when people died, they often died at home surrounded by family. Now they pass in the hospital surrounded by machines that make funny noises.
Back when they still died, the deceased was cleaned up, placed in a casket, and placed in the parlor.
Having grandpa’s body downstairs was the social norm but still kind of weird. Morticians began to offer “funeral parlors” and the deceased was viewed there. Because of the previous macabre connotation, the “parlor” was renamed as the “living room.”
I noticed that many mortuaries now advertise “funeral apartments.”
I have to wonder if they expect a security deposit and references.
At least they don’t advertise “funeral condominiums.” Heaven only knows what restrictions the condo association would impose.
So we relabel, market, advertise, glamorize and use all our other skills to disguise the fact that people die. Some people convince themselves that they won’t die by cryogenically freezing their bodies in the belief that someday someone somehow will find the cure for what killed them and bring them back.
Even with Universal Healthcare, bringing back someone who died two hundred years ago is not going to be a priority. Bottom line is that they’re just as dead – they’re just frozen spending a couple hundred years as a corpse-sicle.
Let’s just admit it, we’re all going to die.
When I’m dead and gone, you’re going to admit that I was right.
I mentioned a few weeks ago how the media loves to jump on anything that challenges Christian faith. I can’t blame them, in a way. If you could prove that something held as true for thousands of years was not, in fact, true would indeed be newsworthy. You can’t prove a negative, and you can’t prove what is only believed through faith. However, you have to admit that the media reacts to these matters in the same way my dog reacts to a squirrel.
“Writings speak of Jesus’ wife!” {Squirrel!}
“Ossuary found of Jesus brother!” {Squirrel!}
“Einstein letter criticizes Jewish faith!” {Squirrel!}
“American Express receipt from last supper found! Jesus didn’t leave tip!” {Giant, ferocious squirrel!}
{Squirrel!} Sorry, the dog was on a roll.
Those of us blessed with it walk by faith and not by light. It’s a small but very personal miracle that we are privileged to take for granted. That’s pretty special, considering that even those who actually knew Jesus weren’t guaranteed faith. Judas lost his. Peter blinked. Thomas had his doubts. Paul had to be knocked off his horse to get his.
If you are blessed with faith, take a few moments and savor it. Then give thanks for the blessing.
You’ve probably seen a variation on this before. Notice that there’s no handle on the door. It means we have to open the door to let Him in,
Posted in Communications, Culture, History, Media, People, Philosophy, Religion, Science
Tagged Christ, Christianity, Jesus, Judaism, Religion and Spirituality
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