Aloha Friday Message – August 23, 2024 – Choose to Be Chosen

August 23, 2024

2434AFC082324 – Choose to Be Chosen – ← 😊 PODCAST LINK

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

Johsua 24:1-18 {excerpts only} – Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem … Joshua addressed all the people: “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide [choose*] today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. … But the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. … Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”
* : bachar choose, choice, chosen, selected from the choice ones

Psalm 34:16-17 –
16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
    to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears,
    and rescues them from all their troubles.

Ephesians 5:21 – 21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

John 6:63-69 – 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Ah, Belovéd, my heart is harking back to those days of grade school at what was then called Charles A. Bradley Elementary School. There were some great times there. I remember one of the really “coveted” distinctions was to be selected to be on the Honor Guard. There were about a dozen kids chosen to march shuffle-style from the Office to the flag pole and to raise the flag and then lead in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. At the end of the day we marched out and respectfully lowered the flag, properly folded it, and took it back to the office. There were other episodes of choosing that were not so honorable – like standing in a circle and waiting to be chosen to play on one of the two Kick Ball Teams during Recess. Great athlete that I have never been, I was usually among the last – or often the last. When my name was finally called, one of the guys in my class usually said, “God Todd! What a clod!” Sometimes being chosen is pretty gratifying; sometimes it is not. In many instances being chosen requires having to do or be something or someone that serves another – like kickball for example – you have to be able to kick, to run, to score, to catch, and to throw accurately so that your team wins the contest (which to me always seemed mainly pointless anyway). Being chosen in a Covenant Relationship is a lot more complicated and demanding. Consider the history of Israel.

You will recall that God chose Abram and sent him off on a very long trek through very hostile territory. The purpose of the sojourn was to acquaint Abram with the land God had set aside for a group of earthlings that wouldn’t even be identifiable for hundreds of years later – about 400 years, actually. That was when God chose Moses to go to Egypt where his chosen earthlings had been multiplying and – well, let’s call it “incubating” – for that 400 years. Once Moses had gotten them out of the clutches of Pharoah and their slavery there, the Lord chose Moses to convey this message: Deuteronomy 14:2 – 2 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession. Why did God do that? it might sound trite or flippant, but “God only knows.” He did what he did because he wanted to do it. He chose the weakest, the most abused, the most fickle descendants of the first decent man (Abram) he found after the Great Deluge and called them to be “a light to the nations,” the singular Nation that would show how God as the source of Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, And Eternal Salvation. EVERY nation would be able to see how great El Shaddai-Olam is by how blessed Israel became. All they had to do was love and obey him so that they, and everyone in the World, would know as in Isaiah 44:6 –
6 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
          and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
I am the first and I am the last;
          besides me there is no God.

Now, let’s take a look at the chopped-up Key Verse selection from Joshua 24. Here are the People of God’s Own Choosing, and Joshua is telling them they have already proven themselves to be fickle, selfish, and prone to do whatever their wicked neighbors do so that The Chosen will be more like the eliminated Nations: If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide [choose*] today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. And what did the people reply? “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. … Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.” Of course we cannot know, but I do believe that God himself said quietly, “We’ll see about that,” because he knew full well they would betray him over, and over, and over again.

Now, aren’t we also like that? do we not profess to know him, to love him, to serve him in his perpetual, deep-and-wide (↔ Music Link) Conventional Love and Grace? When I contemplate that, I rejoice because How can I keep from singing? (↔ Music Link) I say again How can I keep from singing? (↔ ANOTHER Music Link) And still, I know that even as I choose God to give Primacy to, I will fail and betray him through disobedience, and the desiring of no-gods, idolatry that is adultery in the Eyes of the Lord.

Most of the time this happens when we selfishly put our own wants ahead of other’s needs: “I want what I want when I want it,” and, “I know what you want, Lord, but I don’t want that because I’d rather have something (or perhaps someone) of my own choosing.” In the writing of the Prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel (and in hundreds of other place in the B.I.B.L.E.) God addresses the topic of idols and idolatry. He calls them “no-gods,” and says through the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 44:14-17 – 14 He cuts down cedars or chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it can be used as fuel. Part of it he takes and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it, makes it a carved image and bows down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he roasts meat, eats it and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm, I can feel the fire!” 17 The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god!” We, who claim to Love and serve the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our Fathers,  (↔ Music Link) [1]

[1] “God of our Fathers” is the National Hymn. Daniel C. Roberts wrote the lyrics in 1876, the Centennial of the United States. The accompaniment in this version was written later by George W. Warren in 1892. It has invoked strong sentiments of Patriotism ever since. Would to God that “We, The People of The United States of America” would learn to sing, take up, and live the lyrics in this majestic poem! **↓

[1] the God who emptied himself and came to be with us as Emmanuel, we take cars, drugs, celebrities, gizmos and doodads, makeup, toothpaste, garments, and any other material or temporal thing we value and we make them into our gods, saying, “This will make my life so-o-o-o much better.” All the while we are saying, “God does not see, he does not care, I can get back to him and he’ll forgive me, but right now … yeah, I’m good with all these things and persons I have acquired.” Don’t we often choose what is the worst of us instead of choosing God Who Is the Best of us?

Every time we act in ways that show we are attempting to exalt ourselves at the expense of others, we are making ourselves to be our idols, making ourselves to be no-gods. No-gods our powerless. They cannot breathe because no Breath is within them, they cannot walk, or move, they cannot speak and so cannot answer, they have to Life, and so cannot give anything to satisfy our wants, much less our needs. When we make other persons (including us), places, things, ideas, or even spirits more important than the One, True, Only, Eternal God Almighty who created us and the entire universe (but is not the Universe), then we have manufactured one (or more) of those no-gods. Here is a little caveat about those no-gods: The usually are inhabited by demonic spirits – yep, persons, places, things, and ideas (I’m thinking politics at this very moment) can be the intermediary for demons. Recall the words of The Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:1-2 – 1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later [or last] times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. THESE earthlings should be easily and clearly recognizable as not-gods, and yet our country, founded on Christian principles, is divided over two people with very different claims to the power and integrity of their Christian faith. isn’t just possible that neither one of them is right? Who among us sees a leader who can be said is compliant with Ephesians 5:21 – 21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ? And not just in America, but in any government anywhere in the World? Can any such leader be the one chosen by God?

The stunning answer is yes. Throughout the history of the People of Israel, God chose Nations who had violent opposition to Israel. He chose them to correct their apostasy – their total rejection of their heritage at the chosen people, or as The Apostle Peter put it in 1 Peter 2:9 – 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people**, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
**Greek a people for his possession peripoiēsin preservation, acquisition, acquiring, obtaining, possessing, possession, ownership; ” ‘a making to remain over and above‘; hence, ‘preservation; preservation for one’s self; acquisition; the thing acquired, or a possession’ “

Now we here in America are looking at a situation where there will be even deeper division among our citizens, where too few of us will be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. In the past, God has given The Chosen great blessings for their Love and Obedience. When “humanity” chosen or not, failed to honor his Primacy, this is the sort of message he gave us – all of us!

Proverbs 1:25-29 –
25 and because you have ignored all my counsel
          and would have none of my reproof,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
          I will mock when panic strikes you,
27 when panic strikes you like a storm,
          and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
          when distress and anguish come upon you.
28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
          they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
          and did not choose the fear of the Lord

ʻŌmea, please, choose to be The Chosen People, remember the Word the Lord has given us in Jeremiah 9:23-24 – 23 Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; 24 but let those who boast, boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord. The wise, the mighty, the wealthy – and all the other no-gods – are like the fakey fans in Proverbs 15:12 –
12 Scoffers do not like to be rebuked;
          they will not go to the wise. It is so simple to remember because our Lord God tells us so many times, like this time: Psalm 34:16-17 –
16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
          to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears,
          and rescues them from all their troubles.

NO no-gods can do that, absolutely none. And here is the result of when the Righteous call out: John 6:63-69 – 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
Choose to be chosen by the Lord, God of Hosts, the first, the last, the only God who deposes all the no-gods with a single breath of his mouth. For this we are joyfully inspired to give Praise to the Lord (↔ Music Link)  because of his Absolutely Perfect Plan! Blesséd be God in all his Angels and his Saints chose in righteousness “before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (See Ephesians 1:3-14 – seriously Adelphos, read it). we must understand that God will give you what we ask for but will base it on our actions, not our words. And this is why I close every message with my pledge to be subject to each and all of you in, and through, and because of being chosen in Christ Jesus for a life of Full-Time Christian Service. I tell you each time …

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray for me that I can choose to be your servant. (↔ Music Link)

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

**↑

I choose “one Nation under God”

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

[1] “God of our Fathers” is the National Hymn. Daniel C. Roberts wrote the lyrics in 1876, the Centennial of the United States. The accompaniment in this version was written later by George W. Warren in 1892. It has invoked strong sentiments of Patriotism ever since. Would to God that “We, The People of The United States of America” would learn to sing, take up, and live the lyrics in this majestic poem!

Aloha Friday Message – August 16, 2024 – A Tasty Choice

August 16, 2024

2433AFC081624 – A Tasty Choice   ← 😊 PODCAST LINK

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

Proverbs 9:6 – (NLT) [1] 6 Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live;
    learn to use good judgment.”

Psalm 34:4-5 –
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
    and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Look to him, and be radiant;
    so your faces shall never be ashamed.

8 O taste and see that the Lord is good; (↔ Music Link)
         

Ephesians 5:15-17 – 15 Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

John 6:52-53 – 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit.  Today we give praise and glory to God for all the prayers you have offered for me during my hospital stay. I mentioned earlier that I was sick because of a bad altitude. Well, we are slowly climbing upwards to cruising altitude. I’ve started outpatient therapy sessions (O.T. and P.T,). We believe there are several more weeks of work to be done to restore lost muscle and endurance. Enough of that. Let’s see what’s in the queue for today.

The Key Verses for today all suggest the notion of discernment. That is a tough subject, especially when weighing spiritual things and options that affect our future. We might even say options that effect our future in that the choices we make also change our relationship with everything and everyone in our lives because, you know – YOLO-F. Let’s use the process of goal-setting as an example. Goals represent the choosing of a state of being we believe we would prefer. If I want to ace the exam, I have to study. The goal is to earn a good grade. The first objective I need to set to achieve that goal is to crack open the book. Then I need to review any notes I have on the relevant topics. As I work on my review, another objective might be to organize my objectives so that they match the teaching style of the professor – what s/he dwelt on and how that material’s relevance in the class was emphasized. Making these kinds of choices can be fairly easy if we practice them often. Sometimes, though, choices we must make are more difficult. Take, for example, choosing obedience to Christ’s Law of Love.

If anyone of you have participated in the podcasts presented by Ascension Media such as the Bible in a Year (BIAY) or Catechism in a Year (CIY), you will recognize this portrayal of sin as presented by Fr. Mike Schmitz: “God, I know what you want, and why you want it. But I don’t want that. I want what I want, so I’m not going to do what you want.” That is a choice that requires discernment. I look at what God wants, compare it with what I want, and I choose to have nothing to do with what God wants because what I want is more appealing to me. One of the life-choices we often hear discussed as requiring discernment is choosing a vocation.

Does God want me to serve his people as a professed religious, as a priest or deacon, as a layperson serving in one of the lay ministries of the Church? In these situations, the outcome of our discernment is taken more seriously. Going back to preparing for the exam, if I decide to choose playing a videogame online, or going out with friends instead of studying, my discernment is more like telling my professor, “I know what you want, but that’s not what I want.” Our failure to toe the line will most likely result in a failure to get a good grade on the exam. If we turn down the opportunity to serve God in the way he has planned for us, the consequences could be much more dire.

Choices, discernment, decisions – all of these have consequences. We have often stated here that “There are no inconsequential acts,” and “What we do says who we are. Actions speak louder than words.” Often we choose to accept the consequences rather than deny ourselves the gratification of doing what we want instead of doing what we should. IN THE LONG RUN e.g., eternity) Which is actually more gratifying: Pleasing myself or pleasing God? That answer may seem obvious, but most of the time the obvious isn’t so obvious. We choose wrongly.

What would happen if our discernment leads us to a decision that in all things we will always praise God? Wouldn’t that provide a context for all of our other decisions? Praising God in, through, for, and with all that we are, and with all that we have, would be an extraordinary goal – which is surprising because it should not be extraordinary at all. It should be natural and stand always as the primary purpose of our lives. Why? BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT GOD HAS INTENDED FOR US SINCE THE FIRST INTONATION OF “LET THERE BE ….”

It is indeed God’s Will that praises go to him before anything else we offer. We first capture this understanding in Judges 1:2 – 2 The Lord said, “Judah [1] shall go up. I hereby give the land into his hand.” You may recall that the top of the Ark of the Covenant had two Cherubim with their wings outstretched toward the center. This was The Mercy Seat, and it was there that God’s Sh’khinah Glory (← Check it out!) rested. Sh’khinah means resting, dwelling, and even throne. Consider, then, the meaning of Psalm 22:3 –
3 Yet you are holy,
          enthroned [dwelling in] on the praises of Israel. God inhabits the praises of his People! Their Praises of God are his Throne. We lift our hearts and hands and voices in praise to our Creator. Now, there is some disagreement about whether or not it is appropriate for the assembly (congregation) to pray in the orans gesture during The Lord’s Prayer. Technically that posture is assigned only to the presiding priest in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM ↔ Click Link) , and laity should not be using it.

Try this: hold your hands in the orans position – out to the side, palms up (See this link). Close your eyes and relax a bit, then say, “God, you are my God.” Now, I am going to give you a music link to one of my favorite hymns by one of my favorite composers – Rich Mullins. Click this music link, and listen to it in the orans position. O God, you are my God. (↔ Music Link)

Did you do those things? Did you try the orans position, and then use it to listen to that song of praise? If you did, then your discernment was that you would benefit from doing that. If you did not than your discernment was “nobody can see me, and besides, that looks silly,” or something to that effect. Please take a moment and think through the intended and unintended consequences of those decisions. I’ll wait.

<<<< PAUSE >>>>

Let’s expand that experience a bit to the moment you’re ready to get up and start your day. You will née to discern between watching Good Morning America (or participating in any other activity), or spending seven-and-one-half minutes in prayer. How obvious is the obvious? If you choose prayer, will you choose to let Judah (Praise) go first? In either of these actions we must discern what is proper (if we are at all interested in being proper), and so we must discern what is acceptable. In order to know what we want to be, we have to know what and where we are. Take Baskin-Robbins for instance.

Going for an ice cream can be a challenging experience for some of us. 32 flavors! What’s my favorite, do I want to try something new, who would ever choose that kind, would this one go well with that one? It is always simple for me. If they have lime sherbet, that’s the end of it; if they don’t, then any sherbet or sorbet will do. If I strike out there, it’s “I’ll have the same as s/he’s having.” Discernment doesn’t always have to be a struggle. If it works, don’t break it and don’t fix it, either. What exactly, then, is discernment?

This far in, we ought to be able to conclude that discernment is a form of decision-making. That implies that there are at least two options to consider. I’m going to list a few and then close it up. How does one become discerning, or put another way, what is the source of discernment? Like all Good things, discernment is a Gift from God – in fact, a Gift of the Holy Spirit. Way back in the book of Isaiah we have a list of Spiritual Gifts:

Isaiah 11:2 – 2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
          the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
          the spirit of counsel and might,
          the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. If that sounds familiar it is because we find a similar list in the writings of The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (↔ Click Link) which includes wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of [reverence for] the Lord. Right at the head of that list are wisdom and understanding. In the Book of Wisdom, we read that Wisdom was the first collaborator called by God to watch, enjoy, and wonder at all that God was creating. In Daniel 2:21 we read he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. On my logo (← Check it out!), there is a quote from Proverbs 9:10 – 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. We see a pattern here; discernment is gathering knowledge about anything ranging from something to everything, applying that knowledge to processing a decision, and basing that decision on what is right and just as God expects (Micah 6:8 … again!)

Sometimes I think of it as getting a little sample (like that tiny little spoon at Baskin-Robins) and acting on what I taste. In fact, guess what that word “taste” (Hebrew taam) means in the Key Verse from the Psalm above. It means to perceive, or to experience, to sample (eat) in a small quantity. Ah! As in “we become what we eat!” Take a sample of the Lord’s goodness, or his mercy, or his steadfast love, or any of the other multitude of benefits that well up in our lives “like the dewfall,” take a taste and we will gain knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and discern that, indeed, the Lord is Good! He is so Good, in fact, that we end up praising him and thanking him more and more which leads us to trust, surrender, love, believe, and receive him more and more.

Sometimes I think of it as getting a little sample (like that tiny little spoon at Baskin-Robins) and acting on what I taste. In fact, guess what that word “taste” (Hebrew taam) means in the Key Verse from the Psalm above. It means to perceive, or to experience, to sample (eat) in a small quantity. Ah! As in “we become what we eat!” Take a sample of the Lord’s goodness, or his mercy, or his steadfast love, or any of the other multitude of benefits that well up in our lives “like the dewfall,” take a taste and we will gain knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and discern that, indeed, the Lord is Good! He is so Good, in fact, that we end up praising him and thanking him more and more which leads us to trust, surrender, love, believe, and receive him more and more.

And – you guessed it – all of that brings us “closer” to God (he hasn’t moved away, we have). As we draw closer to God we become convinced by direct evidence that he IS. He is our God. We are his servants. It is in him that In him we live and move and have our being. (See Acts 17:28 a) I am, you are we are alive in him because We Are the Body of Christ (↔ Music Link) When I need to be certain about how to live, I Choose Christ (↔ Music Link) because I’m gonna live so God can use me! (↔ Music Link) How shall I serve him, when I ask him, What do you want of me, Lord? (↔ Music Link)? I will be HIS servant by serving his servants (↔ Music Link)

Now, my Belovéd reader, what shall we do? Let’s go out there into the Word with the Good News, proclaiming our Love of God in the lives we Live by discerning what is the will of God for us that we may best serve him by serving each other. Now, that’s the tastiest choice ever!

I will choose to eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood so that I will have Life within me. Can I get an AMEN?

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

[1] Judah – יְהוּדָה Yehudah the name JUDAH means Praise, ergo, let Praise go up first. We see this illustrated in the Lord’s Prayer. There is the address to God, Our Father, who art in Heaven, then Praise: Hallowed be thy name – Your Name is Holy.

[1] Passages marked (NLT) are from New Living Translation (NLT) – Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Aloha Friday Message – August 9, 2024 – The Really Real Reality

August 9, 2024

2432AFC080924 – The Really Real Reality – ← 😊 PODCAST LINK

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

John 6:51 – 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

1 Kings 19:8 – 8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

Psalm 34:8 a – 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;

Ephesians 5:1-2 – 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Genesis 8:21 – 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor*, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.

* han-nî-ḥō-aḥ rê-aḥ→ a quieting, soothing, tranquilizing, savory – רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ odor of soothing (to God)

May Peace always be with you and may God bless you, Belovéd! Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes as I continue with the recuperation after my 10-day stay at Kauaʻi Veterans’ Memorial Hospital (KVMH). The care I received there was actually the best hospital stay I’ve ever had, and I’ve got more than a few under my pillow. There is still much to be done with physical therapy, occupational therapy, and possible respiratory therapy assistance. Nonetheless, I am significantly improved, and grateful to have regained at better altitude.

Today’s message, as you might expect, will be foreshortened. I ask you to review these Key Verses as you consider the following personal testimony.

If you are not a Christian, none of this will make any sense, and that’s OK. It is a testimony, not a diatribe, so you can choose when, if, and/or how to tune in or out. If you are a non-Catholic Christian, you may find this discomforting; some might even find it insulting or completely wrong-headed. If you are a Catholic Christian, you’ve probably (or most certainly should have) heard this before. The topic is The Real Presence of Christ. Back in the 80’s, a survey from the Pew Research Center stated that about 35% of American Catholics (and perhaps in other places, an even lower percent) were willing to state they believed in the Real Presence. As recently as last year, a similar poll indicated that ratio flipped 180° so that now an estimated ⅔ of American Catholics profess to believe in the Real Presence. That, for me, is totally-wonderful news. It is my observation that the emphasis on the primacy of the Eucharist over the past 5 years from the Ambo and in sessions for faith formation has brought about this result. I can categorically state that since the day the water of Baptism first hit my shiny pate, the Real Presence, also sometimes termed the True Presence, is a Really Real Reality. Now, what is meant by The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist?

This Mystery of Faith states that the entire Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus the Christ of God is completely present in the elements offered during the Eucharistic Prayer – the simple unleavened bread that is offered becomes the Most Holy Body of Christ, and the wine offered becomes the Most Precious Blood of Christ. How? It’s a Mystery – an Action of God that is utterly incomprehensible. The bread does not become a sliver of meat one might gag on, and the wine does not become a drizzle of blood in the mouth. The species offered become the Gifts Given at the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper of the Lord. Older Catholics will recall the tongue twister word TRANSUBSTANTIATION. The simplest way to describe that is that the bread and wine are metaphysically transformed into the actually Resurrected Body and Blood of Christ. It is passed on to us from The Apostle Paul who states he himself received it from the Lord. It can be found in 1 Corinthians 11:23-27 –
The Institution of the Lord’s Supper
23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Partaking of the Supper Unworthily
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.

This formula is first presented in the Gospels. We’ll look at the Gospel of the Apostle Mark as an example: Mark 14:22-25 – 22 While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

The Mystery of the Real Presence also states that the entire Real Presence of Christ is completely present in both species – e.g., the bread and wine once they are consecrated by the Priest – so that if one were to receive just a speck of the consecrated Bread as the Body of Christ, that speck would convey to the one consuming it in Faith the entire Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. Same for just a sip of the consecrated wine as the Precious Blood of Christ. “Impossible” some might say. I’ve also heard words like preposterous, ridiculous, sheer superstition, and even blasphemy. That’s OK. This is my Testimony, and I have written all of the above (which is far more than I thought I had in me) to tell you:

This is the Really Real Reality. That’s my account, I believe it, and I’m sticking to it.

The image you see in the location where the Key Verse Key is usually posted is call a Monstrance. It is used to display a consecrated host – a wafer of unleavened bread which IS the True Presence of Jesus the Christ of God. the Monstrance – from the Latin monstrare – to show, → Monstrance → Demonstration or proof. We are often invited to sit quietly before the Monstrance and to meditate on and give adoration to the True Presence of Christ. My testimony is that this is a powerful experience to reflect on the absolutely Perfect Love that made the Salvation of God in Christ Jesus personably accessible – that is, if one believes in the Real Presence of Christ. If one does not, for whatever reason, then one is just sitting in front of a pretty bauble with a piece of bread showing. That would be a very great and very sad loss in my estimation.

Thank you for your attention if you’ve gotten this far. Know that wherever you “come down” in this spectrum of belief, God still loves you (me too), and Christ still died for you and offers you all of him. We know that we become what we eat, and when we eat the Body and Blood of Christ, we become part of the Body of Christ – that is, the Church – and take the next best step to becoming wholly whole. We shall be fed on the Living Bread come down from heaven, and then get up and journey toward our Lord unhindered as was Elijah. The reality of the Real Presence is how and why we taste and see the Goodness of the Lord. Having consumed Love, we become Love and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Because when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor*, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.  There is a point in the Eucharistic Prayer where the Body and Blood of Christ are elevated above the Altar. Seeing this, my heart and soul quietly pray, “My Lord and my God! My Jesus, I Love Thee (↔ Music Link) Open hearts believe, and those who believe receive.

That is The Really Real Reality of the Holy Eucharist, and that is my testimony based on the Absolutely Perfect Plan.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – July 26, 2024 – Approaching Cruising Altitude

July 26, 2024

2430 Notes & Final

Aloha Friday Message – July 26, 2024 – Approaching Cruising Altitude

2430AFC072625 – Approaching Cruising Altitude – ←😊 PODCAST LINK

John 6:14-15 – 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

John 6:14-15 – 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! This is sort of a surprise catching-up post. Some of you may know that I was hospitalized with pneumonia for 10 days. Believe it or not, it was an incredible Blessing from God! I was sent via ambulance to a state-operated hospital on the wester side of the island of Kauaʻi – actually an hour’s drive from our home in Kapahi to the hospital in Waimea called Kauaʻi Veterans’ Memorial Hospital. The larger hospital in Lihuʻe was full with seriously ill patients temporarily housed in the ER waiting to be admitted to ICU or other wards. The staff there was wonderful, the food was AMAZINGLY GOOD, and the therapy-teams (Respiratory, Physical, and Occupational) were top-level – some of the best I’ve ever worked with. My attending physician was also amazing. Dr. Siddarth Joshi, MD grew up in Dothan, AL, and he really knew his stuff! And the nurses! Wow! So kind and patient with this crusty old man who had to get up for a restroom break about every 2 hours … for TEN days! God’s hand in all of this was so evident. Despite the fact that I was unable to prepare a post for the last week in July, the Holy Spirit gave me a solution. Share with you a new Daily-Offering Prayer.

Now, why the airplane? It comes from what I told them when I was admitted. “I’m ill because I’ve got a bad altitude, but we’re going to move up to cruising altitude slowly but surely.” I know what the outcome will be. This will not end up in another NDE. We’re now at that cruising altitude, but not yet and cruising speed; I still have work to do, and part of that work is with you.

I chose this Key Verse from last Sunday’s Gospel because it is a clear statement that says, “Now is not the time for that Big Change we planned.” I felt badly about not being able to share my thoughts with you, and as I prayed about it, the formation of a new Daily Offering Prayer formed. I’m going to put it here for you to view. Eventually it will go up on the blogsite. You may keep it or discard it, or just shake your head and move on. That’s A-OK with me. OK, enough jabber-jabber. This is based on what I have learned in the past year from the Ascension programs called Bible in a Year and Catechism in a year. Here we go.

Almighty Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – I praise you. I love you. I worship you. I adore you. I glorify your name. I give you thanks for revealing your Great Glory through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Father in Heaven, I do praise you. I give you the Glory for all that is good. I thank you for all your Gifts. I know that you love me despite the truth that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts, words, and deeds. I ask Blesséd Mary, Ever Virgin, and all the Angels and Saints to pray for me to the Lord of God that he might grant me pardon and forgiveness. Prepare me today to go out into the World with you to help fortify your Kingdom.

I ask that you teach me and help me to be just and merciful and obedient; to live righteously, and to walk humbly before you wherever your Spirit guides me. Let the constant Hope I have in you light my path and draw me and everyone I meet to your Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, And Eternal Salvation through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Enlighten, guide, strengthen, and console me. Teach me your Will, and then empower and inspire me to fulfill it completely; for, it is my heart’s desire to serve you well in all that you ask of me and everything you allow to happen to me. I ask only for sufficient Grace to faithfully follow you to the Place you have prepared for me.

I offer you this prayer and my entire Life in it through Jesus, the Christ of God who Lives and Reigns with God the Father Almighty, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life. Amen.

That’s it. Perhaps it might seem a little verbose to some, but it certainly fills the bill for me each day. The reasons I share it with you are –

  1. I was told to do so.
  2. To encourage you to use this form or something from your very own heart and mind to get up and get going with God every day.
  3. This is the Day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it because he made it just for us

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

SENDING OUT A GIGANTIC MAHALO TO ALL WHO HAVE

PRAYED FOR MY POOR ALTITUDE.

Aloha Friday Message – July 19, 2024 – Days gone by

July 19, 2024

2429AFC071924 – Days gone by   ← 😊 PODCAST LINK

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

    Jeremiah 23:1-2, 5-6 – 1 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. 5 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

Ephesians 2:17-18 – 17 So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18 for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Psalm 23:5 – (GNT)  [1]
5 You prepare a banquet for me,
where all my enemies can see me;
you welcome me as an honored guest [anoints head with perfumed oil]
and fill my cup to the brim. [a sign of copious blessing]

Mark 6:34 – 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. I’m going to have to do something a little offbeat today. I’ve been sidelined now for several days with a nasty bronchitis. It keeps me up all night coughing and medicating; it shows no signs of surrendering to the medication,  and that means I’ve slept only about 5 hours out of the last 72. For that reason, I’m going to pull up something from the past to share with you today. The passages above are the ones given to me last Saturday – July 13, 2024 – in preparation for what was supposed to be posted today.

I’m going to list three “candidates” for reruns:

1529AFC071715 – The Rest of the Story

1829AFC072018 – Woe is us.

2129ACF071621 – The Grace of Faith
Pick one you think you might enjoy. You’ll see how the above Scriptures relate. I chose one to insert here – the one from 2015 – because it most represents what I was planning to say in this post. The key idea was that the Shepherds God put in charge of his sheep – Israel – were basically frauds who were self-serving and arrogant. That’s just the opposite of what a Servant of the Most High God (El Elyon) is supposed to be. Jesus is the Perfect Priest who serves God as he requires and deserves. We are called through these Scriptures to do likewise. Now, to continue with inserting The Rest of the Story.

1529AFC071715 – The Rest of the Story

Read it online here, please. Use the links for a better view.

(↔ Music Link) passages have not been marked so click on all the links to find a couple of them. Thanks!

Excerpt from Mark 6:30-46 – 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”

Aloha pumehana, ʻŌmea. Here we are, back in our Belovéd Kauaʻi. Our journey to the mainland in the state of New Mexico was, all-in-all, good. We visited with many, many friends and relatives, ate lots of the best food on the planet, and shared in hours of laughter, joy, reminiscences, and sight-seeing. Our stay in the Española Valley was terrific. The travel to and from – not so much. It was exhausting, uncomfortable, and in some ways even dehumanizing. We will definitely need to rest up for healing and restoration of full functionality of limbs and torsos. Perhaps at another time I can fill you in on the stuff we did, but you can also check it out on Facebook if you happen to have access to my wall there.

Perhaps some of you remember Paul Harvey, the extraordinary radio and television personality who told amazing behind-the-scenes stores about people and places. He was perhaps most famous for the ongoing series of reports called “The Rest of the Story.” That’s what we’re going to do today; we will look at “the rest of the story.” In recent posts, we’ve looked at passages from Mark 6. We reviewed Jesus’ rejection in his home town at Nazareth. We read about the sending of The Twelve to the villages in Galilee. We touched on the death of John the Baptizer. There was also the feeding of the 5,000. We studied Jesus calming the storm, but did not mention him walking on the water and saving Peter from drowning when his faith faltered. And we also reviewed the healings of the demoniacs at Gennesaret. Today we’re going to look at the account of what happened after The Twelve came back from their first mission. They went out healing every disease, casting out demons, and sharing the Gospel. But let’s look at time when they reported back to Jesus all that they had seen and done. I want to show you how we can take that and apply it to our worship experiences.

In this passage, we have the stories of the loaves and fishes. That will be covered in next week’s Gospel from John. We’ll finish this look at Mark 6, which has several familiar Gospel scenes. I want to look at four key points and then compare that with what we do on Sunday. We see that Jesus told the disciples to [1] go to a place to rest and pray, [2] attend to teachings, [3] share a meal with others, and [4] go out to continue building the Kingdom. I want to give credit here to Marist Father Rev. Fr. Ralph Olek for a homily about this chapter back in July, 2012. The basic four-point outline is something I recorded in my homily notes. Fr. Ralph, I hope it’s OK to embellish a bit on what you laid out back then.

In many ways, we – the modern church – are like the crowds that surrounded Jesus as he taught. We attend to his teaching. We are a very diverse group who are of many nationalities and ethnicities. We range in age from infants to the elderly. There is wide economic variation. Some of us barely participate in worship, and some take active roles in various ministries. We come to church for many reasons. Some come to worship, some come to pray and present their petitions to God. Some come to serve God and his family. Some come to console or to be consoled. Some come to seek hope, others to share their hope. Some come out of a sense of duty, others come for political or social reasons. Some come willingly, others reluctantly, and still others come because they have no choice in the matter. For whatever reasons we have to come together at church, we are also varied feelings about being there.

We go away to a place of rest to compose our hearts and minds in God. Some of us feel convicted by our sin and wish to join in the sacraments to set our lives aright. Some of us feel the necessity of “being religious,” and some appreciate the fellowship with others whose religious aspirations and views match ours. Some of us feel the joy of friendships and some of us feel shunned by the hypocrites around us. Some of us believe we are better at complying with the practices of worship and praise – we recite, gesture, sing, listen, and nod appreciatively on cue – and some of us think that the people around us are superficial religious nuts who have no idea about the depth of faith in our own hearts. If we look at all of these traits of the people at church, we see that we are a microcosm of humanity very much like the crowds – including The Twelve and Jesus’ closest disciples – who were the foreshadowing of the Kingdom of God and The Church of today. In that sense, we recognize – or at the very least, we should suspect – that we are a work in progress. We are aware of our own imperfections (even if we don’t always fess up to them), and sometimes we are (regrettably) more acutely aware of the imperfections of others both in the assembly and outside in the World. For whatever reason we have for being in church, we come as we are even though we may not exhibit our true selves. Perhaps from time to time we pray or sing “Just As I am.” And sometimes, if we lift up our hearts and minds in prayer, we acknowledge our sins and repent, calling on our Lord and Savior to cleanse us from the things that keep us at the threshold of the Gates of Heaven as fully-participative citizens of the Kingdom of God. We may, on occasion, become so in tune with what God wants from his servants that we cry out “Here I am, Lord.” There, in church, we are inspired by the people, things, and actions around us to do as Jesus invites: “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” In the tabernacle of our hearts, we go to that inner closet where only God sees the real person that we are. Once we have placed our attention in the presence of God, we are ready to take a meal together; we feast on the Word and The Presence of Christ.

In this meal, we are edified and nourished so that we can do our part in bringing the Kingdom of God to all Peoples and Nations. That is our primary responsibility in the World – to call all earthlings to repentance and to proclaim the Gospel so that they, too, will believe and receive the Salvation of our God. (See Psalm 98:3) As in the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, Christ provides the sustenance we need, and – as his followers – we share that with others as we give and receive from one another. The lesson there is a powerful one: We participate in the sharing by passing on that which we have so that others will also have it. It is part of the way we work at building the Kingdom of God: We share the meal that comes from what we have by inviting others to come so we can share it with them as well. WE become what we eat, and all become the Body of Christ. That is the kerygma κήρυγμα (kérugma) {‘keh-rig-mah} – the Truth called the Good News, the Gospel we proclaim – we are one in the Lord. Because we are one, we are sent out into the world to increase the size of that one. To the World, that makes no sense. But if you can fire up your imagination for just a moment, think of the signs above the doors at your church. They say EXIT, but they are also and entrance.

When we exit the church, we enter the World. The signs in the church above the door could say ENTRANCE. We “go in Peace to serve the Lord and each other.” We are sent at the end of every church service – Mass or otherwise – to take the peace from our visit with God, the teaching we received, and the energy from the nourishment of Word and Eucharist and to share all of that with the World. The purpose of that sharing is to take invitations to everyone who has not come into the Kingdom of God. We share what we have become when we feed on the Word and on the Christ. It is the rest of the story. We cherish the sacrament of nourishment so much that we cannot help but want to share it – if indeed we partake of it fully. What we share through our gifts to others and to the Church becomes the treasure laid up for us in Heaven. It is returned to us in full measure, shaken down, pressed together, and filled to overflowing. The measure of return is God’s measure, not ours, and his is always more generous. What he returns to us is always better than we can imagine, better than we deserve, and more than we can hold; it just flows out onto the people around us. No matter what trials we have, the blessings we receive make the trials seem more manageable by comparison.

When we experience these changes in our lives, the connections they produce are temporal, spiritual, and eternal Good; but, without these four actions in our lives – seclusion for prayer, meditation on teachings, feeding on the Word and the Christ, and going forth to share the Gospel – we decline a portion of the available Good. We in essence tell God, “I don’t want any more blessings.” It sounds silly, but earthlings are messy like that. We interrupt the flow of blessings so we can do what we think we should and avoid doing what God requires of us. And what does he require? He requires us to repent, to believe in the Gospel, and to share the Gospel to all the corners of the World. The best place to start that is to share it in every corner of our family, then every corner of our community, our locale, our Church, and our nation. From there it goes on to cover all humanity with the Goodness of the Lord. Sometimes this seems too formidable a task, and we despair and feel powerless to even spread the Gospel among family and friends. But God is El Shaddai, God Almighty, God All-Powerful. El Shaddai knows how to clean up the messes we make. He shows us we need to pray, learn, feed, and go because he takes our place in life and death so that we can be together with him – and each other – in the resurrection and eternally thereafter. There is no need to have a fear of evil or to feel any distress, for God is always with us. We can be calm in all situations when we fully rely on the Lord who made Heaven and Earth. His generous love is extraordinarily extravagant!

And THAT’S the rest of the story!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Unported License

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages)
http://biblehub.com

Please remember the sick and dying this week, and include all the people you know about who are battling cancer or working to stay in remission. Ask God for his merciful Divine Intervention. Pray also for those who are working on or preparing for ending cancer. I put myself on the Intercessory Prayer List, too.

[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.

Aloha Friday Message – July 12, 2024 – Stop! It’s time to go!

July 12, 2024

2428AFC071224 – Stop! It’s time to GO! ← 😊 PODCAST LINK

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

Like a baby bird leaving the nest

Mark 6:7, 13 – 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out (↔ Music Link) two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Ephesians 1:13-14 – 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; (↔ Music Link) 14 this [Holy Spirit] is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:17-18 – 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18 so that, with the eyes of your heart (↔ Music Link) enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him. Today’s Gospel Key Verse comes in the next paragraph after last week’s message about Jesus’ visit to Nazareth. Jesus has gathered the Twelve and is sending them out in pairs. They are to go with no extra provisions – just a walking stick – but no food, no sack, no money in their belts, no second tunic, but it was OK to wear a pair of sandals. They went out and did as he told them. They went to various villages. They stayed with whomever would welcome them. They ate and drank what was offered. He told them to go, and they did. They “left the nest” so to speak, and learned to work together doing something no “ordinary Jew” would dare attempt. Here’s another account of this as found in the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 10:1-15 – 1 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. Now, this is only the first 4 verses of that passage cited in the link above, but it’s a good place to start.

We’re going to work with some of the details from this passage as it provides some additional information not available in the passage from Mark. First, we note that this is just the Twelve. We may recall another passage where Jesus sent out 70 or 72 Disciples, but this first-sending was just for the 12 Apostles. We’ve used this passage in the past to provide a list of the names of the Apostles, but there is more to it than that, isn’t there? The second thing to notice is that Jesus gave these twelve good men authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out. Until this time, only Jesus had that sort of authority – given him by his (& our) Heavenly Father – but he gave it to all twelve of them. The next thing we see is that he also gave the power and authority to cure every disease and every sickness. Now, I haven’t watched The Chosen, so I don’t know if this scene has been portrayed in that production. In my own little movie theater called imagination, I see these fellows sort of looking at each other with that classic “are-you-kidding-me?” expression. They were going to try something they had seen done only by Jesus, and even when he did it, it was hard to believe sometimes. Now they were going to do those same things!

And look who went out on the first “mission” for the disciples – everyone including Judas Iscariot. Judas was told to go perform miracles, and he obeyed … initially. I have often wondered with which of the others he travelled. James and John bar Zebedee were brothers. Simon-Peter and Andrew bar Jonah were brothers. Thaddaeus and James bar Alphaeus may have been brothers (though not specifically named brothers in Scripture it seems; some speculate Thaddaeus – who is also called Jude or Judas – might have been James’ son). We have no way of knowing who paired with Judas Iscariot, though. Could it have been Simon the Cananaean who is also called “The Zealot?” When all twelve went out from Jesus, I’m sure they discussed what he had told them to do.

It must have been a little scary at least, don’t you think, to go to strangers (or perhaps worse, to people they knew well) and tell them, “The Kingdom of God is at hand. The Messiah sent us to teach and to heal. Who’s going to be first?” Based on the terrific reports they brought back at the end of their mission, they enjoyed good success. They had to stop being afraid and embrace the authority Jesus granted them. But that’s not all they had to let go. To do what they did, they had to leave Jesus’ side, and the comfort of his presence. Like baby birds, they were taking off on their own to do what they had seen done. That required them to stop waiting, stop hanging around with Jesus, and to go out into the world with Jesus’ power and authority.

“Well, they had the Holy Spirit to help them out, didn’t they?” The Holy Spirit was not breathed into the Apostles until after Jesus had “given up the Spirit” on the cross. The account in John 7:37-39 confirms this: (GNT) [1] 37 On the last and most important day of the festival Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, “Whoever is thirsty should come to me, and 38 whoever believes in me should drink. As the scripture says, ‘Streams of life-giving water will pour out from his side.’” 39 Jesus said this about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were going to receive. At that time the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not been raised to glory. They had to stop doubting, and go forward in F.A.I.T.H. Guess what? SO DO WE!

After the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (See Acts 2), The Apostle Paul assures us that we were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this [Holy Spirit] is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. You see, the Apostles went on to multiply the gifts of healing Jesus alone had been able to give. There was as yet no Gospel other than the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus was just beginning to shape his life around the events that would end his earthly life, and the Apostles had nothing else to offer; still, what they offered was more than the average earthling could fathom. The Apostles were taking healing as they went, not Prophecy, not Gospel, but healing. This is something we can remark on for the Psalm for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time:

Psalm 85:9-11 –
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
How would this be done? From whence do we receive these Gifts of God’s Glory, Everlasting Love, Mercy, Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Faithfulness, and Salvation? With Whom do they “come down from the sky?” How? Why? Thank the Lord that The Apostle Peter has the answer! Here is 1 Peter 2:24 – 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. Isn’t that just the most amazing thing??? But we already knew that, right? It’s part of the Absolutely Perfect Plan as in Isaiah 53:5. How do we, we as in even us, get into that flow? We stop, turn around, and go back to God by going out into the World with the Gospel and the Gifts of healing we have been given. (See 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 on how that works. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.)

All it takes is a miracle. (↔ Music Link) We see that everything in Scripture tells us God has little interest in punishing us. If we but love, trust, and obey him we receive the full benefit of Jesus’ sacrifice. It is called Grace. Unmerited favor, the fact of not receiving whatever punishment we deserve and instead receiving whatever blessing we don’t deserve. What an amazing plan! One of the Principal benefits of that Grace is the wide availability of healing, and as further benefits, we see that suffering, sickness, subjugation, and sin are attributable to the Devil and not to God. Love God. Serve God. Obey God. STOP any one of those things and – literally – all Hell breaks loose; but, not because God chooses that! WE choose that when we choose to stop following the Plan in God’s APP. The plan involves figuring out where to start and what to keep. There is a blueprint provided which directs us on how to change things, and the work is coordinated by a team of experienced and skilled workers who willingly GO and do the job at hand.

The Apostle Paul has a suggestion for those kinds of situations, great or small, and it is wonderfully simple. It is the plan, the blueprint, and the workforce all rolled into one: “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” The Plan? Rejoice always. The Blueprint? Pray without ceasing. The workforce: A thankful people – or person – using the blueprint to implement the plan. God has a plan, and even though a “certain obnoxious serpent” sullied it in The Beginning, the blueprint and the workforce were already prepared. The blueprint? The promise of Salvation. The workforce? The Son of God – “The Boss’s Kid.”

Here’s another way to stop ang get ready to go: Serve under when possible and contend against when necessary. There’s a lot of needless angst and excitement over the coming events in November. What are we forgetting? How does either one of those undesirables get into the White House? Take a gander at Lamentations 3:37-40 –

37 Who can command and have it done,
if the Lord has not ordained it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
39 Why should any who draw breath complain
about the punishment of their sins?
40 Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the Lord.
Yeppers! Repent and Believe the Gospel! Whoever wins, I’m with Joshua! – “As for me and my house ….” God, Country, Family. That’s the way it should be. Let’s face it, America, we have “done evil in the sight of the Lord.” We try to hide our sins, individually and as a nation, but they cannot be hidden from God. Love. Trust. Obey. Repent. Believe. And of course, as our Father, David, prophesied:
Psalm 146:3 – (GNT)
3 Don’t put your trust in human leaders;
no human being can save you.

Whadaya think about that, eh? I’ll tell you what I think. I think that sounds like a plan – THE Absolutely Perfect Plan – and it’s time for all of us to stop worrying about tomorrow and just be really good today with Faith, Hope, and Charity. That’s the way to go. Let’s stop whining about it and try living like 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 – 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Let the Holy Spirit enlighten all our hearts because, if we get lit up like that, we can live like we know that God absolutely knows what he’s doing – because he does!

See ya next week? Same Time, Same B.I.B.L.E.! & – 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Did I repeat that often enough to help all of us remember it?

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible

 

Aloha Friday Message – July 5, 2024 – What are YOU looking at!?

July 5, 2024

2427AFC070524 – What are YOU looking at!? ← 😊 PODCAST LINK

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    Ezekiel 2:4 c -5 – “Thus says the Lord God.” 5 Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”

Psalm 123:2 – Listen to it ⇒HERE (↔ Music Link)
2 As the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
until he has mercy upon us.

2 Corinthians 12:9 b– 9 but he said to me,] “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Mark 6:3-6 – 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son* of Mary and ♪brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took ♫offense at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.
*Son – huios ♪ Brother – adelphos  ♫ ἐσκανδαλίζοντο   eskandalizonto – to scandalize, to impede by tripping or stumbling, to be offended, made indignant, caused to distrust, disbelieve, disapprove.

   Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. I want to begin today at the end. The end of the Mass, that is. I want to specifically address those persons who are frightened by the words, “LET US PRAY.” This usually is the first thing we hear after Communion. It is referred to in your missals as “Prayer after Communion.” We must assume that this is an alarming invitation. So many people are so upset by its approach that they leave the building immediately after they have received their portion of The Body of Christ.

If this is a habitual practice of someone you know, please assuage their fears, and encourage them to stay until they have the opportunity to receive the benediction and dismissal at the end of Mass. This study might be something you could share with them. You see, the benediction (“Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing.”), and the dismissal (“Go forth and proclaim the Word by your lives.”) are very important parts of the Mass that bring it to conclusion. Leaving early is a great way to tell God, “I don’t have time for you. I’ve got to get out of the parking lot before the rest of these laggers. I have a brunch reservation at the club, and Father’s homily went a full 16 minutes!” ʻŌmea, is that really what you want to tell Jesus immediately after sharing fellowship (koinonia) with his adelphos? One could argue that those last few elements of the Mass are the best parts because they are so personally enriching. If we don’t want to share in the BEST parts, is there really much point in being there for anything that precedes them?

We gather together in a special place, a building we call “the church,” to receive the blessings of Word and Sacrament. Now, most people will get up from their seats in the theater when the final frame of the movie is shown, and most people will gladly skip sitting through the Credits. If you were one of those who learned to stick around for the credits after watching Shrek, you know that there’s some really good stuff there, and it’s well worth our time to stay and watch. NEWS FLASH! The prayers after communion, the benediction, and the dismissal are not the credits! Those three things are the closing moments of what should be the most important hour of our 167-hour week.

DON’T SKIP THEM!

Now, what is a Prophet, and what does God mean when he says, “they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”? The Old Testament word for prophet is nabi (nabiy’) {nah-bee’}. There are some disagreements among scholars about the origin of that word, but one that is well-accepted is that this noun comes from the verb noba’ meaning to “bubble up,” “boil over”,” as in “to pour forth an abundance of words,” such as those who speak with divine inspiration. It is by and through the power and inspiration of God that a prophet speaks, and a prophet can’t help but speak when and what God commands any more than a pot of boiling water can stop bubbling. And that is the key. Those who have Divine Inspiration are True Prophets. The converse is that those whose “inspiration” is self-generated are the False Prophets. How then can we tell the difference? If we look at the verses following Jesus description of wolves in sheep’s clothing, the answer is clear. (See Matthew 7:15)

The answer is, “by their fruits you will know them.” And here’s where we run into trouble because these days there’s a lot of fake fruit on the table. The fake fruit comes to us through the tireless work of the Prince of Lies, the Devil, and he uses a few seeds of Truth and a ton of manure to raise a crop of bad advice. We are admonished to be wary of false Prophets, hucksters, and con artists. BUT, we are also admonished to be aware of things that are right, and true and spiritual. Are we looking at the host, the Body of Christ and the Precious Blood of Christ, or are we just looking at a cookie and a drink? What do we see?

   I can answer that. We see what we believe. We hear what we believe. We believe what-we-do-not-know if we believe that seeing the Living Christ raised above the altar is NOT the True Jesus, alive and whole. When we read from the Prophets during the Liturgy of the Word, we hear the Voice of God telling us how to Live and Love as he commands – and he commands us to Live and Love in the same way as he Lives and Loves for each of us. What do we see when we see that Life, that Love waiting there for our spiritual nourishment?

Belovéd, have you ever bought a carton of grapes or a sack of plums and discovered when you opened them at home that there were rotten fruits in your purchase? The store might tell you “buyer beware,” and they could be right. Don’t we usually check the products before we put them in the basket? Do we take home all the dented cans? What are we not looking at? Come to think of it, in Mass, what are we not looking at? God uses many, many signs and wonders to attract our attention. If we claim we want to please him by obeying his Will, then we need to be watching for those signs and wonders. Sometimes they may seem too subtle for us to detect; but that only happens when we are not watching closely enough. That’s why we ring some bells at the epiclesis (↔ Video Link!) so that we’ll LOOK at the miracle before us.

In that passage from Psalm 123 (I hope you listened to the music link. It was a tough one to get right.), it mentions servants who carefully watched the hands of their “bosses” when serving guests to the household. The boss and the servant would devise and carefully rehearse nearly imperceptible gestures that would signal what the boss wanted the servant to do so that it appeared they readily anticipated and completed every command. This was of great benefit to the boss as it showed s/he had a supreme ability to choose and control the best of servants. It also was of great benefit to the servants because it demonstrated the superior ability of the boss to train the servant, and therefore elevated their service to the level of exceptional. They watched. They learned. They responded as expected. What are we watching? What do WE see? Do we see the Lord God stretching forth his hand of Blessing to bestow his Mercy on us? Are we attentive enough to be able to welcome his Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, And Eternal Salvation?

Let’s consider that movie-watching we mentioned above. Perhaps more than a few of us can remember the ending of the first Star Wars movie, Episode IV: A New Hope. Toward the end of the film, Han Solo and Chewbacca suddenly rejoin the battle just in time to knock Darth Vader’s ship off course before he can destroy Luke Skywalker’s X-wing fighter. Obi-Wan Kenobi – who sacrificed his life to allow his compatriots to escape – speaks to Luke from “The Force” to tell Luke to trust his instincts. Luke turns off his ship’s computer and somehow sends two torpedoes into an exhaust port on the Death Star. The Death Star explodes, thereby saving the Rebel Base. Obi-Wan’s voice reminds Luke that The Force will always be with him. The movie ends with Princess Leia giving Luke and Han medals (and promotions!) for their heroism. We know now that the Empire has suffered a setback, but there is still much to do. Now, does any of that ring a bell? If so, let’s imagine that about 10% of the people in the movie theater get up and leave right after the destruction of the Death Star so they can get out of the parking lot and over to Pizza Hut before the crowd. Years later, these same people bought the Blu-Ray disc and watch this movie multiple times, but always stop watching and eject the disc right after the Death Star explodes. Does that make any sense?

What makes even less sense is that many of us can follow and discuss that entire story line, but cannot relate to the Liturgies of the Word and Eucharist. I find it incredible that there are still so many people who believe in The Force, or hope for the coming of United Federation of Planets. My Hope is built (↔ Music Link) on nothing less than Jesus’ Love and Righteousness. Belovéd, you know why! That hope is REAL because at any moment of any day I can tell Jesus Your Grace is Sufficient for Me. (↔ Music Link) The Apostle Paul understood that well. No matter what happened to him – some of it quite painful – he accepted the fact that he could endure every pain – including what he called a “thorn in his side” – for the surpassing Love and Peace in which he was held by Christ Jesus. He even asked Jesus to take that thorn away, but Jesus denied his request and showed him an even greater Mercy than deliverance. He showed him Fellowship (koinonia) in and through the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul accepted this extra-ordinary Gift – not with resignation, but with the Wisdom of Gratitude. That sort of Gratitude comes only in uniting our lives with Jesus’ Life. That, in turn, is accomplished only but remaining in constant Fellowship with Jesus. Like the servants in ages past, we must [1] find and cultivate the Joy of knowing Jesus as Lord and Master, [2] then we carefully learn to watch for, and respond to, all the signals and miracles he shows us during that fellowship, and [3] we must eagerly lean forward in to the future and continue to prepare for and respond to any and every opportunity to intensify that Fellowship.

“But it’s so hard, and Mass is so BORING, just the same thing over, and over, and over.” Of course it’s hard! Jesus himself told us we would regain every gift freely given to him, and would be blessed 30-, 60-, and 100-fold – with persecutions (See Mark 10:30) – AND Eternal Life! ʻŌmea, that is definitely not boring – unless, that is, you think it will be boring to spend eternity hearing the Angels and Saints say, “Let us Pray,” or seeing the indescribable and unimaginable Glory of God attended by myriads and myriads of Angels ministering to him. Adelphos! I want a seat right at the threshold of that Throne Room, so I can watch and listen, and then, afterwards, listen and watch! Recently we discussed the approach to religion based on “Well-maybe-it’s ….” That’s what the people of Nazareth were experiencing when Jesus visited there. “Who is this guy? And where does he get off talking like this? He spent years living here with us (yes, that was right after they all got back from Egypt, uncle Jonathan), and now suddenly he thinks he’s a Prophet! There hasn’t been a Prophet in Judea since Ezekiel – not even that nut-case Yôḥānān ben Zkaryah.”

You see, Belovéd, in those people we recognize the adage “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Jesus himself was astounded by their lack of faith. They found him offensive. They had more important things to do with their lives than wait around from some local-boy to show off with some sort of magic trick. One wonders if they actually ever learned that they completely missed out on an Ocean of Grace (← Please follow this link for more information.) That immeasurably immense expanse of Grace is completely available to anyone and everyone, and it is more-than-sufficient to restore every soul ever conceived since Adam and Eve. How is that possible? What’s good for The Apostle Paul is good for us as well, so we look to our Eucharistic Lord at the Altar and declare with The Apostle Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” because that is who we see. For The Apostle Paul, that reality dawned with Jesus’ answer to his prayer. The thorn would stay. The Power of Mercy would increase. The Hope of Eternity in the presence of God would always thenceforth be a reality. All of that would come from seeing Jesus as he is.

Let us lift our eyes to our God waiting joyfully, lovingly, expectantly for his Mercy! The better we watch, the more we shall see. The more we see, the deeper we are moving “further up and further in.” We stand outside the Walls of the Eternal City now, but our pilgrimage is always “further up and further in.” As soon as we can see and understand that such is the case for all earthlings, the greater our perceptions of the value and importance of koinonia will become. What do we see? We see ourselves Standing in the Need Of Prayer, (↔ Music Link) traveling Home, and we are looking at the Lord God Most High (El Elyon) standing next to the Lion of Judah, both smiling with great Love, Peace, and Joy that we have at last seen our Hope made real. We are looking at heaven, Belovéd, and that’s exactly what EVERYone is created to see.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – June 28, 2024 – Winning a spot in the Final Four

June 28, 2024

2426AFC062824 – Winning a spot in the Final Four

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.

    Wisdom 1:12-13 –
12 Do not invite death by the error of your life,
or bring on destruction by the works of your hands;
13 because God did not make death,
and he does not delight in the death of the living.

Psalm 30:3 –
3 O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

2 Corinthians 8:15 – 15 As it is written,
“The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little.”

Mark 5:41-43 – 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Blesséd be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Those of you who read these essays often will know that I have zero interest in sports as participant or observer. Our topic today mentions “The Final Four,” but has absolutely nothing to do with any sport, especially the “March Madness” variety. The Final Four described here is something heard most often at the beginning of a Tent Revival or a Parish Mission. It will be presented as part of God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan. We’ll also be bringing in some famous Guest Authors to contribute to this topic. Hopefully by now you’re dying of curiosity to find out what this crazy old man is going on about here (wow! 3 prepositions in a row!)

Our first guest is someone who was part of my inspiration for learning to play guitar – Hank Williams, Sr. who declared “I’ll never get out of this world alive.” (↔ Music Link) As the Cowardly Lion said, “Ain’t it the truth!” (←video link!) Of course, there’s also that old saw about “Only two things in life are certain : Death and Taxes. And I’m not that sure about death.” If you’ve looked through today’s Key Verses, you have probably figured out that the main theme is death. But, what does that have to do with The Final Four?

Years ago, when there used to be such things as revivals and Parish missions, the opening topic somehow boiled down to The Last Four Things (hence, “Final Four), and those four things are easy to remember: Death. Judgment. Heaven. Hell. Like the basketball final four, there’s only one spot left at the end for both teams. One team is the winner; the other team is the looser. Both of them have a spot in The Final Four. That’s a good example of how it turns out in life, too. Some of us will be winners in the end, and some will be losers. Either way, all of us have to go through the first two phases of Death and Judgment. Those are two things that happen in this life, in this World. The other two things – Heaven or Hell – are the result, the outcome, the choices made in the first two things. Every earthling, every flower, rock, tree, fish, goat, river, sea, puddle, tiger, swan – all of creation goes through the same thing at the end: The End. It’s true no matter how much we deny it. Big Daddy’s going to die and so are we.

Sort of.

Hopefully a special word/phrase just popped into mind: YOLO-F. Yes, we are all going to live forever in either Heaven or Hell, but the only way to get there is to die first in this life, in this World. “I’m too busy! I haven’t got time to die!” Surprise! Everyone has time to live as well as A time to die, (↔ Learning Link) a time for everything under the sun. There is at least one short passage that explains where death originated. Some of you might not have access to this, so I’ll put the whole thing here. It’s from Wisdom 2:21-24 –
21 Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
for their wickedness blinded them,
22 and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
nor hoped for the wages of holiness,
nor discerned the prize for blameless souls;
23 for God created us for incorruption,
and made us in the image of his own eternity,
24 but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,
and those who belong to his company experience it.

“But wait! We don’t belong to the Devil’s company!” Oh, yes we do! Remember, the Earth is Satan’s domain; even if we belong to Christ, we are still predisposed to sin and death. God can, and will, abandon us to what we want, what we choose. If we choose God, then all goes well. If we do not, well, none of us really want to go there even if we consistently choose it as our YOLO-F preferred choice. One of my favorite writers, and our first Guest Author, is Emily Dickinson. I’m going to insert her poem …
Because I could not stop for death: (↔ Learning Link)

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –
And there is also Dylan Thomas’ Do not go gentle into that good night (↔ Learning Link)

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

We’re all going to get there, so do we go quietly as if we’d forgotten time altogether, or shall we go out ranting against being forced to go? The answer to that seemingly “deep question” is perpetually simple and one which we cover often in these pages:

CHOOSE.

Look at the first Key Verse. What happens if one’s lifestyle looks more like a death-style? God will always give us what we need, correct? Sometimes, though, he lets us have a taste of what we want – sours the milk so to speak – in the hope that we will repent and go back to him. There is a point in our lives where the opportunity to repent is G-O-N-E-gone! That is at the point of the first of the Final Four – Death. God does not need new angels, and he doesn’t turn our departed loved-ones into angels when they die. It doesn’t work that way. When we die, we instantly collect the wages we have chosen in our lives – eternal Joy or eternal Despair. Given the fear of death many people allege having, one wonders why they forget that God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living. That would mean we have forgotten we are created in the likeness and image of God which is to say God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity. Why would we want anything less than sharing Eternal Life in the Presence of El Shaddai-Olam? If we would not choose that Eternal Life for our loved-ones, then why even pretend we love them?

If you love someone who is on the brink of losing everlasting life, hold them tight and tell them “DON’T DIE! REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL!” Remember the Big Blue Button? (← Memory Aid) Here’s another way to look at it, and why you don’t want your loved one to die. Tell them this:

“If that elevator will be going up, the instant you die, you will see an Angel coming up to you to take you by the hand and lead you to the Chariot that will be carrying you home. (↔ Music Link) If the elevator will be going down, in the instant your soul leaves your body, you will see the blackened hand of a demon reaching up from below the Earth to grab you by the heel and drag your soul straight into Hell.” Yes, ʻŌmea, the idea is to simply scare the Hell out of them. The Road we take ends at the front gate of Home. This World is part of the Road, not part of Home. (↔ Music Link)

The Psalmist told us O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. Quick review on Sheol and the Pit: Sheol – the place of the Dead, sometimes called Hell or Hades; it is the first step into the afterlife. The Pit – a trap, a place of destruction, a place of thanklessness, despair, and a place without hope or joy or peace or praise, or any good thing because it is a place without God, a place where only our wants are gathered but never fulfilled and nothing we need can be gotten. God will give us that if we choose it. Yes, he will! The other option is to choose him. There is always Death until the new Heaven and New Earth are presented – gifted – to us. With every Death, there is Judgment. With every Judgment, there is the Reward of our choosing. The final Spot in the Final Four is incontrovertible – it is Heaven or it is Hell.

Last week we mentioned manna and its relationship with “the bread come down from Heaven.” God gave the sinners who were wandering in the desert what they needed so that, when they were ready, they could enter into the Promise of their Fathers. What would happen if they didn’t eat the manna? They would die. What would happen if they took too much? It would rot, and they went hungry. What would happen if they obeyed God’s instructions about gathering and using manna? They were fed and lived. When God gives us Gifts, all his Gifts are Good and all of them are entirely-sufficient. Now, think about the Bestest Gift God ever gave you. Got it? If we accept that remarkable Gift, and use that Gift as he commands, then we show him our choice for the gift of YOLO-F. You may be tired of hearing this for the past 20 years, but WHY WOULD WE WANT ANYTHING LESS?!?!? Repent and Believe the Gospel!

We’re going to go just a bit farther and look at the Gospel because it is one of several places where we find words in Aramaic: He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” The word koum is similar to the Hebrew word qum: to arise, stand up, stand. Belovéd, close your eyes, take a slow deep breath, and hold out your hand so Jesus can take it as he tells you to stand. Stand in his presence, stand in his Love, stand in his Light, as a lamp stands on a lamp-stand in the center of your Life.  (↔ Music Link) You will know the same happiness the little girl knew, the same incredulous joy her parents knew, and the same wonder and awe the Disciples in the room with him knew. You will have and intimate knowledge of God, knowledge which includes joyful obedience and leads to lasting happiness. TRUE happiness is not in having what we want. It is found only in wanting what we have. ʻŌmea, we have God – in Christ Jesus – through the Unity of the Holy Spirit. Do not invite death by the error of your life, or bring on destruction by the works of your hands. There is no need to want anything, or especially anyone, else. We’ve chosen our Spot in the Final Four. Look for me. I’ll be along shortly, because I am …

Going Home

I’ve been going Home
for a long time now,
remembering how good it was
to be with You there.
One good poet told us
we could never go back Home.
So be it, but
what about going Home?

Going isn’t being there;
it’s only getting there.

I’m on my way Home, now.
Don’t know if or when
I’ll ever get there,
but having You, and Home,
in the back of my mind
makes going Home more
important than getting Home, or,
even what I’ll do if
I finally make it. Home.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Aloha Friday Message – June 21, 2024 – Lock Down That Storm!

June 21, 2024

2425AFC062124 – Lock Down That Storm! ← 😊 PODCAST LINK

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 Job 38:1, 10-11 (GNT)[1] – 1 Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job.
10 “I marked a boundary for the sea
and kept it behind bolted gates.
11 I told it, “So far and no farther!
Here your powerful waves must stop.” (See above link for full context)

Psalm 107:28-29 –
28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out from their distress;
29 he made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Mark 4:36 – Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. After sailing through Lent and Eastertide we have “suddenly arrived” at the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time. When we look at the Gospel, we might think this is a familiar story; it is, in a way familiar, but probably not the story we think it is. This is not the account of The Apostle Peter stepping out of the boat to walk across the water to Jesus who has walked at least halfway across the Sea of Galilee – walking across the water! – to catch up with his Disciples.

As you can see, every Key Verse for today has something to do with the sea – even the reading from 1 Corinthians because walking on the water was certainly something new! Here’s a little illustration about walking on water. In the Bible only Jesus and The Apostle Peter walked on the water, but this image (↔ Click Link) sorta-kinda makes it look like there might be a third. “Skin for skin! A man will give all he has for his own life.” – Satan. Job 2:4

Moral of the story: When the situation calls for it, we will walk on water.

The third was … Ivan Givaldo.

Well, yes, of course I’m being silly. This Great Escape happened in that strange and chaotic event in Pamplona – the running of the bulls. Some folks (mostly guys) try to escape by jumping into the water. As you can see here, that may have limited success, because the chaos is following close behind. In fact, one of the things most of us can agree upon when considering the effects of chaos is that chaos seems to be just half-a-step away most of the time. Believe it or not – and this is absolutely true – less than a second after I hit the period in the previous sentence, the electricity went off! Talk about great (sic) timing! All of us have chaotic moments in our lives. Mostly they stir up fear because they are unexpected and unpredictable – which is why chaos is chaotic. Sometimes the chaos in our lives pushes us into grief and sorrow, sometimes anger, or worry, or doubt. Scary stuff that – doubt. The doubt caused by chaos urges us to let loose the sea-anchor and ride out the storm facing into the wind, like this:

“Facing into the wind? That doesn’t make any sense.” The purpose is to keep the bow facing into the wind and waves so that the boat will not capsize. Why would I put something in this essay about a sea anchor? Because often times the best way to deal with chaos is to face it head-on. Curling up in a corner like a whimpering child is probably a close antithesis to that. There’s another aspect of this that we could attribute to the Captain of our ship –

He can master chaos better than anyone and we are never alone in facing the dangers of chaos because HE is always with us. Take a look at that first Key Verse. What does it tell us? Hopefully you have used that link to see all 11 verses in this passage. God and his servant, Job, are speaking to each other. Job’s friend, Elihu, has been extolling God’s majesty and power. Elihu then asks Job if he can do any of the things that God can do. (See Job 36-37, fascinating stuff!) Next, the Lord himself speaks to Job from within a whirlwind and asks him the kinds of questions we saw last week – can you make a flower, can you lay out the foundations of the Earth, can you put the Sea where it belongs and hold it there by your own authority? I can!” Now, let’s think about that last bit which is our Key Verse from Job for today. God Most High – El Elyon, Almighty God – El Shaddai, the Eternal Everliving God – El Olam, the God of The Fathers, stopped chaos with a Word: BECOME! The Lord commands it, and it is. God controls the weather from the first command of Creation – “Let there BE …!” And immediately, chaos is vanquished! Now, put a pin in that thought and hold it in place as we turn to the Key Verses from Psalm 107. This Psalm begins “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so …” In the Key Verses above we have something that sounds a lot like this account in the Gospel of Mark.

In our Gospel, we see persons who are redeemed, saved from the storm, by a single word: BECOME. Jesus was, incredibly, asleep on a cushion in the stern of the boat as it is tossed about in the waves and filling with water. The panicking Disciples cried out to him, “MASTER! WE’RE GONNA DIE!!” Jesus woke up and REBUKED the Sea and said Siōpa – Silence! Pephimōso Put a muzzle on it! Look what the Psalm says: Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress; he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. He put the Sea in its place … just as God his Father had done when he said “Let there be!” Chaos was Mastered by the Master of Peace – God, made flesh, still all the same  El Shaddai-Olam. Now we begin to understand that this is not only an account of an amazing miracle by Jesus, but also a parable about the absolute Truth: Jesus is the Lord God, the master of all Creation!! Belovéd, he chastised the Disciples for their lack of faith, for failing to understand that he held God’s authority because he is God. Now, look at this:

There is a similar meme that asks, “Lord, why are you taking me through troubled water?” He replied, “Because your enemies can’t swim.” Same-same, yes? We’ve all heard the adage, “If God will bring you to it, God will take you through it.” Do we really believe that, I mean, really-really? I DO! Because it has happened to me. You have probably experienced that in your life as well, que no? And what happens when El Shaddai-Olam saves our skin? You know the answer! EVERYTHING CHANGES! So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! When we are in Christ, we share in his victory; we are more than conquerors; (↔ Music Link) we are his chosen ones. We are his Disciples, as were the other men in the boat with him. There were other Disciples in other boats during that squall, and they too were fearful of the chaos that threatened to cost them their lives. We don’t know who, or how many, or why they were with the boat from which Jesus commanded the wind and waves.

Everyone who had been in that storm which came up so suddenly was as dumbfounded as Jesus’ Disciples when – just as suddenly as the storm came up – a dead calm settled across the entire expanse of the water! No sign of the storm remained! In its place were only wonder and awe. Jesus looked out over the water and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” These are words of command. Click HERE (↔ Music Link) to hear a Hymn about this. I sang this often in Sunday School at Corona Presbyterian Church in Denver. Let’s fire up that little movie screen we all have on the inside of our forehead and watch as the people in the other boats – you know, the ones that did not hear Jesus’ command against the chaos – and let’s try to imagine which would be more terrifying: Being caught in a terrible storm and in imminent danger of drowning, or being suddenly sailing on calm waters in a gentle breeze. Jesus’ Disciples asked each other, “Who is this guy?!?!” The folks in the other boats might have asked, “Wha-a-a-a-t just happened?” I confess it reminded me of the Israelite’s first reaction to the manna. Remember? “Manna” means “What’s this?” Well, another question we should probably be asking is, “What do we do when suddenly plunged into chaos?”

How about turning to The Word in Isaiah 30:15 c –    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. Do we ever feel like the Poor Wayfaring Stranger (↔ Music Link)? Could we Trust God enough to allow him to be the Healer of My Soul (↔ Music Link)? On that movie screen we used a moment ago, see a baby bird hatched the morning after that storm. A baby bird eats only what it is given. It refuses nothing because all that is given to it is given for its good. The baby bird eats and grows without concern for the taste, texture, or value of the food it is given; and, it does all this without having to know why its parents feed it only that which is good. I cannot recall ever seeing a baby bird spit out what it was given, can you? Isn’t God a bit like that Papa Bird who gives us only what is good for us? Isn’t God a bit like that Mama Bird who covers the baby during the storm and protects it from the chaos? And at times, Adelphos, are we a bit like a baby bird that spits out what God provides and then says to him, “Get offa me! I feel trapped and smothered!”?

They took Jesus in the boat just as he was, tired, probably hungry, exhausted after teaching all day; so tired, in fact, that in the midst of chaos (which he knew in advance), he fell asleep in the back of the boat. The Disciples asked, “Master, don’t you care that we’re about to die here?” Belovéd, have we the F.A.I.T.H. to believe that God – HE who made the seas full, but only just full enough – really does care if we are terrified of the chaos we see in the evening news every day? Do we have the courage to know that in Christ all things are made new? Can God really calm the storm in my life, in your life, in our lives, and in the lives of those who don’t even know God is working RIGHT NOW to save them? “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” Believe it or else, (↔ Learning Link) ʻŌmea. When trouble comes knocking at your door, just say, “Jesus, can you get that for me?” When the storm of chaos whipped up around us by the Foe threatens to pull us under, just say, “Jesus, please Lock Down That Storm!” Isn’t it True, Belovéd, that God always has and always will be (↔ Music Link) our Help, our Hope, our Home, our Peace, and our Joy? Joy is always the first product of Love, and God IS Love. Be calmed and Trust God.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Creative Commons License
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

 

[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT)  Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible

Aloha Friday Message – June 14, 2024 – There’s an APP for that.

June 14, 2024

22424AFC061424 –

There’s an APP for that.  ← 😊 PODCAST LINK

Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
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    Ezekiel 17:24 –
4 All the trees of the field shall know
that I am the Lord.
I bring low the high tree,
I make high the low tree;
I dry up the green tree
and make the dry tree flourish.
I the Lord have spoken;
I will accomplish it.

2 Corinthians 5:10 – 10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

Psalm 92:12 –
12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree,
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Mark 4:26-27 – 26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him. We do want to know him, don’t we? After all, he knows us better than we know ourselves, and since he created us to know him and to love him and to serve him, oughtn’t we too “come to know him?” Of course, we all know the answer to that; we must put everything we have into knowing him more and more even though we understand that we can’t really completely know or understand the God of all Creation. In fact, sometimes we find ourselves mighty frustrated by our efforts to know him and to love him and to serve him. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9, source of the Shema, we read in verse 5 – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. How? Many times when we talk about the Majesty and Power of God we hear the word “ineffable” – beyond description, undefinable, exceeding our capabilities of perception. There is more to God than we can handle, more than we can understand, more than we can appreciate, and way more than we can imagine in our puny earthling brains.

But there you have it; we’re earthlings (remember, made from dirt?), and from the very Start, we always try to figure it out for ourselves. I’m sure all of us know at least one person who has invented their own image and likeness of God and used that image to come up with their own religion, their own explanations of what’s what. Joseph Campbell found extraordinary success by gathering together mythologies and “belief systems” from the most ancient cultures to the most modern gurus and “life-influencers.” Often some of us (alright, me in particular) grouse about “CAFETERIA CATHOLICS” (especially politicians, sports and cinema celebrities, and even clergy!). These self-professed Catholics have their own formulae for fitting God into the box they create for him. As if! We’re going to look into some of those pathetic DIY “spiritualities” and see if God has a way to work outside our boxes.

“Oh, I’m a very spiritual person! I believe the Universe returns to you exactly what you put into it.” Cool. But by now, you and I know that is like a broken pencil – pointless and therefore useless. There are some very spiritual persons who take a little astrology, a smidgen of Buddhism, maybe a dollop of Ancient Druid Magick, and blend it all together to create rituals from their personal intentions and appetites. The resulting phantasmagoric pish posh apparently makes them feel happy because they will self-righteously defend their ignorance by redefining Truth: “What’s true for me may not be what’s True for you.” Come on! Really!? Is it ever possible that there is more than one Truth? (↔ Learning Link for “As Frank Peretti has said,”) Belovéd, we know there is only One Truth (at least we’d better know!), and that Truth is knowable. Learning the Truth is worthwhile and doable. Believing the Truth is actually easier than believing our made-up baloney sandwiches. (If we’re going to live on baloney, why not make a meal of it?)

But those of us who know the B.I.B.L.E. also know that whatever goes on, into, out of, or next to our lives, God has an Absolutely Perfect Plan (THE APP) for ALL of it. Where we get tripped up so often is when we look at that APP, and say something like, “Hm. I really think he meant that little part there should look more like (rustle, biff, bop, ka-ding!) THIS! Our Key Verses for today are chosen to counter that sort of nonsense. The Prophet Ezekiel authored the first of our Key Verses. This is the Period of the Exile when King Nebuchadnezzar captured and deported the King of Israel, Jehoiachin, and Ezekiel is describing how God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan will ultimately restore the People to their homeland and their Temple. But, first he will allow everything he had given them to be destroyed and desecrated. Nevertheless, the restoration will be directed and accomplished by God, not by them. God will do what needs to be done (as he has done, and will do, eternally). They made up their own way to worship and it was false. It was sinful. It was deadly, because … the price of sin is death. God uses the images of trees to convey that he alone can choose what to restore and where and how it will be restored. Then, he follows up with I the Lord have spoken; I will accomplish it. ʻŌmea, if God created all the universe with just a few words, then we should be able to understand that what God speaks happens. Everything from radiolarians to roses exist because of him. Could any of us make either of those?

Who can make a flower, (↔ Music Link) or the dewfall, or a caterpillar, or a mustard seed, or a walking fish, sunshine, rainbows, polliwogs? Who can make manna, win a battle with only 300 soldiers fighting against a vast army, heal the lame and mute and blind? Who can give us seed for sowing and bread to eat? Who can anoint a Conqueror as an implement of Peace? Who has given us YOLO-F and allowed us to choose where we spend it? Shouldn’t we be following The Shepherd of Souls (↔ Music Link) instead of our own grimy imaginings?  How do we share the Gospel, the Seeds of Truth? Adelphoi, there’s an APP for that! Our assignment is to gather the seeds and then sow them. And just where are these seeds? In the manual for the APP of course – the B.I.B.L.E. And how do we control what those seeds do? We don’t! It’s in the manual: “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” There’s no DIY hack for that, no genius solution to turn baloney into fillet mignon. I mentioned recently the “well-maybe” reasoning – “well, maybe it works like this instead of that.” Hear what the Prophet Isaiah had to say about that:
Isaiah 45:9-10 –
9 Woe to you who strive with your Maker,
earthen vessels with the potter!
Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”?
or “Your work has no handles”?
10 Woe to anyone who says to a father, “What are you begetting?”
or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?”

I remember a time in Washington Park in Denver watching a man fixing the playground carousel. He pulled some odd-looking tool out of his tool-bag and I asked him, “What’s that for?” “Oh,” he said, “it’s to make little boys ask questions.” The lesson I learned from that response is still one of the most important things I ever learned: Stupid questions deserve stupid answers. Now, before that big breath you just sucked in causes your baloney sandwich to explode with “There are no stupid questions! Every question is a learning opportunity!”, I’ll just ask you to decide whether or not it makes sense for the clay in the potter’s hands to protest and question the potter about his intent, or arrogantly suggest a better way to use that clay. How about asking a mom in labor, “Whatcha doin’ there, Mama?” Yet, we don’t mind one little bit about opening our God-box and saying, “What’s going on in there? That’s not what I had in mind!” In my mind’s eye I can see our Father in Heaven just shaking is head. I can also see him reaching for the Operators’ Manual and pointing out the Shema … again.

“Maybe it’s like …” Nope. It’s like – 12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Just like that low tree made high, God will do what is right and in accord with his Absolutely Perfect Plan, not mine, not yours, not ours, not theirs – only God’s. I want to quote one more thing from Fr. Jim Sichko’s Mission, #60MIN4JESUS. (↔ Learning LinkS) “Where the world sees failure, God sees future. Trust that God will provide it, then wait for it quietly.” Do we, can we, believe and trust God when he tells us I the Lord have spoken; I will accomplish it?

By now I am confident you understand that that old maxim “Let go and let God” is more than just a clever turn of phrase. It’s actually a warning to avoid Do-It-Yourself Religion which leads to Do-It-Yourself Salvation. Ain’t happening, adelphoi. Another old adage that sticks with me is “There is an answer for every question in the universe. Unfortunately, many of those answers make no sense whatsoever.” That’s where we sometimes jump right into the sausage grinder and come out baloney. We say, “God’s answer makes no sense. That’s not what I wanted at all. God didn’t get it right, this time.” O-o-o-o-oh, brothers and sisters! Talk about not making any sense! We are clay, shaped by and for the potter. WE don’t tell the potter, “I don’t want to be an amphora! I want to be a teacup.” Why are we clay? DOH! God used the clay he created to form the earth from which he made earthlings, and he made earthlings so he could fill us up with his treasures. 2 Corinthians 4:7 – 7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, (↔ Music Link) so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. In earthen vessels, “whom all the world cannot contain comes in our hearts to dwell.” (↔ Music Link) Does that make any sense? Of course it does! It’s in the APP. 1747AFC112415 – DDIY (←Follow this link) and you will find more information about DDIY – Don’t Do It Yourself. One more quick illustration – dew.

Can we make the dewfall? You’ve heard about manna, so here’s something to think about. Exodus 16:13c-14 – … in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. Then Jesus told us: John 6:51 – 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

The Bread from Heaven comes upon us quietly, evenly; it refreshes us and renews us in the same way that the dewfall renews and refreshes the land. In the first Epiclesis in the Canon (Eucharistic Prayer 1) and the remaining three Eucharistic prayers we hear the Priest pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit on the gifts we offer – the bread and wine. He says, “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall.” This recalls for us the manna [1] in the desert – quiet, mysterious, not overbearing, not weighty, always just enough, never leading to a surplus, but always refreshing, invigorating, and nourishing. Can we make manna? No. Can The Bread of Life be confected at the Altar? Yes. And it becomes Holy as quietly and effectively as the dew comes to water and nourish the land. God does everything in his Absolutely Perfect Plan – every day, all day – for us because he Loves us. All he wants from us is to share the Bread and to leave the baloney and all the condiments away from it. He wants to feed us what we need more than he wants to give us what we want. Whatever there is we need, there’s and APP for that. whatever there is we want might come along to us – if it’s in his Absolutely Perfect Plan. Rejoice in what we have. Count the blessings, (↔ Music Link) and let God be God – One Truth, One Bread, One Body, One Love Released. (↔ Music Link)

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

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Heaven’s Joy Expanded

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Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

[1] Hebrew: mana See Psalm 78:24 and Exodus 16:15 – man`ə in the manner of “What is this?” Israel ate of the manna for 40 years until they ate the first fruits of the Promised Land.

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