Aloha Friday Message – September 23, 2022 – Following the M.A.P.

September 23, 2022

2039AFC092322 – Following the M.A.P.

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.

Blessed is He who keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.

1 Timothy 6:9-11 – 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. 11 But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.

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. Not long ago I mentioned the M.A.P. I’m hoping you wondered – at least for a quick moment – what that meant. Today we will explore that term. I invite you to visit the newest page on the Moon Beam Network called Your M.A.P. – your Measure of Actual Progress. ↓FIND IT HERE. ↓

First I’ll ask you, “How do we measure our progress in faith and our service to God and neighbor? We could simplify that by asking, “How do we know we’ve done something wrong? How do we recognize our own sins?” Recognizing our own sinfulness is fairly easy. We know we do things that are not righteous, or not even right at all. Is there something inside us that alerts us to these events in our lives? Everyone has a Gift from God called Free Will. When Eve and Adam learned the difference between good and evil, they also became more aware of their consciences. Every earthling coming into the World after that had a conscience[1] to guide their use of Free Will. For many generations of earthlings, that guide became largely ineffective – so ineffective in fact that God chose to wipe out all earthlings but eight who escaped that punishment by riding out the Flood in the Ark.

God chose a specific group of people, the descendants of Abraham, to show the World his Justice, Power, and Love. They didn’t do very well with that, so God gave them a Law to follow. Contrary to what many people think it is not 10 Laws; it is One Law, and breaking any part of it is breaking the One Law. That One Law is the legend to the M.A.P. for each and every conscience in every living soul. When we diligently consult that M.A.P., we can get a better idea of where we are in relation to that One Law. The M.A.P. gives us mileposts.

     “Oh, but I don’t need to know the Ten Commandments to live a good life” I agree, but if we do know them, or better still how to use them, then understanding the twinges (or thunderbolts) of our consciences is not only easier, but also more revitalizing. If you’ve looked at the new page in the blog – see where it says (← Check it out!)? – then you’ll see that it holds links to three forms of “An Examination of Conscience.” Some among us might state, “I don’t need that! I’m not a Catholic. I don’t need to go to confession. I confess directly to God.” NEWSFLASH: THE ONE LAW IS NOT JUST FOR CATHOLICS, THEREFORE NEITHER IS AN EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE JUST FOR CATHOLICS. The One Law is for all of humanity – I prefer the term “every living soul” because the One Law applies of all who have the Breath of Life. Insisting that the One Law is only “a Catholic thing” is as bad as saying the Novus Ordo Missae is “too Protestant.” Another NEWSFLASH: The reformation is over. ANYONE CAN BENEFIT FROM AN EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE – Christian and Jew, atheist and agnostic, sinner and saint – because it’s the One Law for every living soul. Why is that? Because that is the One Law by which we can navigate through life in a way that honors God and neighbor. Let’s look at some Scripture that helps inform us.

Let’s begin with our Key Verses. The first four lines are from the Responsorial Psalm for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time. God is always faithful, always just, always generous, always liberating, always trustworthy. We have to think about, get engaged in, commit to, and rely on the trust we have in God. If I only-sort-of-kinda-nearly think I might trust Him – I don’t trust him. I put God in a box if I say, “I trust him for this, but I’m not sure about that.” This is a reliable truth: God is trustworthy in everything all the time. This is why we say

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME.
ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD.

God is trustworthy because God is good, because God is Love, because God is perfectly integral to all of creation in which you and I and every living soul are included. If I do not fully trust Him, it is really only because I do not fully trust myself and measure God’s trustworthiness by my inadequate capacity. BACKWARDS! WORLDLY! IT’S A LIE! Using the World’s measuring devices is always a trick from Old Scratch himself, the father of lies. God is trustworthy because God is God and that is that. When I fail to keep that in mind, when I fail be Fully Aware I Trust Him, then I don’t trust Him. Period. If I can’t trust Love, of what use is Love to me? I choose to love his Love. I choose Christ. I know I trust him with my life because my life is his. I gave it to him at a campfire circle when I was 10. Although I have failed to honor my side of the agreement many, many times, he has remained faithful to his side; therefore I trust him to wait until I am fully aware of trusting him to be there trusting me. I explained that in an early post about Welcome Home (← Check it out!).

There is only One God: Ephesians 4:6 – 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. There is only One Law and it is fulfilled completely in Christ Jesus. We’re a long way from Home and slowly trekking our way to that Home. That straight and narrow way is really, really hard to find and follow. That is why having a M.A.P. is such a beautiful Gift from God. God is the author and operator of the Absolutely Perfect Plan: Jeremiah 29:11 – 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. God wants to guide us to that Home to live with him. If we listen carefully enough – patiently, quietly, reverently – we will hear him speak in the Voice of our Conscience: Isaiah 30:21 – 21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Here’s another thing to think about: the M.A.P. is 100% Bible Based! That is important to many of us, but not important to way many more. Something that is a little concerning to me is that there are many who claim the moniker “Christian,” but do not give much heed to the One Law. For all of us who claim to follow Christ, we can certainly agree that the two most important parts of the One Law are 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (See Mark 12:30-31) A good examination of conscience makes living in that fashion easier and rewarding. “Why is that?” we ask. Because if we know God as Our Father, Jesus as our Brother, and the Holy Spirit as our Companion, then we know we can trust God and be fully aware of that trust – Fully Aware I Trust Him. God our Father gave us that M.A.P. It is the ONLY proper map for the Road Home. Don’t believe me? Now, suppose I told you I was going to Chicago but was worried about how to get around once I got there without a map of the city. What if someone said, “I have a map you can use.” I tuck the map into my flight bag and head off for the mainland. About 16 hours later, I pull out my map, and discover it is a map of Portland Maine. That’s not going to help me get around Chicago one little bit. The iterations of the M.A.P. that are posted at Your M.A.P. are true and accurate, detailed, and – yes indeed – thoroughly Catholic. It was my decision not to edit them so as to take out the Catholic parts. They stand as they are because – no matter how they are approached – they can give anyone a useful M.A.P. to Home. It is not my intent to offend anyone with these documents. Just to know something like this exists is better than having a M.A.P. to the wrong destination. I hear the weather there is horribly hot!

We have said that God is the author and operator of the M.A.P. If Home is where we want to go, then we must trust the maker of the M.A.P. to guide us:

Psalm 121:5-8 – 5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.

You can trust the M.A.P. because you can trust the Lord. You can trust the Lord because you trust the M.A.P. That’s the way the APP works: But as for you, [child] of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. (See the Key Verse above) There are many who cannot or will not do so for the Love of God, but rather because God inspires them to act. Such people are described by The Apostle Paul here: Romans 2:14-17 – 14 When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. 15 They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all. (emphasis added) Better is this approach found in Romans 13:8-9 – 8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The M.A.P. and the APP can help you immensely in that endeavor. Start with the easiest one called “A Simpler Examination of Conscience.” Dare we measure our actual progress? God willing (and he does), we shall.

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

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

The Lord sets captives free. Blesséd be the Name of the Lord.

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] The word in Greek is Suneidésis – to know two things together, i.e., a moral and spiritual consciousness innate in all earthlings as a God-given faculty to distinguish right from wrong and good from evil because each earthling possesses her/his own natural Free Will having been created in the image of God. An examination of conscience helps us perceive those inclinations and acts which are truly right and just and to avoid all that is contrary to the Gospel.

 

Aloha Friday Message – September 16, 2022 – Hand over your mammon!

September 16, 2022

2238AFC091622 – Hand over your mammon!

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.

    1 Timothy 2:8 – 8 I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument

Amos 8:4, 7 – 4 Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

Luke 16:9-12 – 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth [A] so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. 10 “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

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 want to explore another of those verses with words we just slide over without much thought to their meaning. Old Testament reading for this Sunday (← Check it out!) focuses on treatment of the poor, especially the folks who cheat the poor to make themselves richer. I have given you only the first and last strophes in the link for the passage from Amos. The verses in between are descriptions of despicable acts merchants would use to take advantage of people buying their goods.

     Imagine, if you will, a merchant’s scale like this one. A standardized weight would be placed in one pan and the product in the other. If a dishonest merchant used a weight that looked like a 16-ounce weight, but was actually hollowed out so that it weighed only 12 ounces, it would appear that the buyer was getting a pound of product but was only getting a fraction of that amount. That would give the merchant a 25% advantage. It would also give him dishonest wealth, and that’s going to be a problem in the long run. The Hebrew or Aramaic work mammon isn’t limited to just money. It implies all the worldly goods that we use to sustain our life.

Now, does that mean that all worldly things are bad, even the things we need to feed our families, do our work, or even support our congregation? No, not really. What’s bad is the misuse of those worldly goods to cause harm to others as well as valuing worldly cares over and above worshiping and obeying God. We are often reminded of the frequently misquoted passage in 1 Timothy 6:10 about money and evil. The Apostle Paul uses the Greek word philarguros (↔ Click Link) which means “love of silver,” a word to describe avarice, greediness, covetousness, and cupidity (← Check it out!). To coin a phrase, The Apostle Paul is talking about cupidity stupidity – giving one’s self over to exorbitant desires for anything which gives us satisfaction – money, prestige, or whatever we treasure and acquire by any means – even dishonest ones. It is not the things themselves that cause the problem; it is the excessive love of those things. Check out that verse in 1 Timothy to see what The Apostle Paul really said.

The connection between the reading in Amos and the one in 1 Timothy is hands. In the first reading, the hands of the merchant are used to cheat the poor by “rigging the scales.” In The Apostle Paul’s admonition to Timothy, he is saying that hands should be used for prayer – we lift them up to God in praise, petition, and penance. He directs Timothy to teach that holy hands raised prayer must lead to praying without anger or argument. Why does he say “holy hands?” This shows that even our prayers must not be dishonest. We recall the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18:9-14 (← Check it out!). The pharisee’s reputation was that he was a righteous man; but his prayer was hollow and self-promoting. The tax collector was hated and ostracized for his complicity with Rome. Recall Jesus’ words, “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” The lesson here is that what makes good sense in the World is not good sense in the Kingdom.  We must take time to be holy (↔ Music Link)  here so that our Heavenly home (↔ Music Link) will be our next stop.

Now we come to one of those “HUH?” moments in reading scripture. Jesus says, “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”

Do you recall Jesus’ charge to The Twelve before he sent them on their first Mission? It is in Matthew 10:16 – 16 “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” The followers of The Way had to be smart in their dealings with the World. We could rephrase it this way: Don’t be stupid, but don’t be pushy either. If our hearts are holy, then our hands will also be holy and our hands will be used to lift up rather than beat down. When we lift holy hands to God instead of our idols, we are blessed (See Psalm 24:1-6). The Psalmist tells us that everything (and everyone) on the Earth is the Lord’s. (↔ Music Link) Therefore, whenever we acknowledge that we receive a blessing, The B.I.B.L.E. instructs that we acknowledge that blessing always and everywhere because (sorry, here it comes again) it is the Absolutely Perfect Plan. How do we sully those holy hearts and hands? Yes, you have guessed correctly: It is through sin, the kind of sin that comes from indifference to what is right.

Indifference is a horrid condition. It is way worse than hatred. When we hate someone or something, we at least acknowledge their existence. Then we are blinded by indifference, existence doesn’t matter because we don’t care. “It won’t make any difference if I keep a couple of these pens the boss provided. He’s got tons of them.” “That guy over there by the water-cooler is such a jerk. He’s handsome and muscular, but he’s also really stuck up. He never talks to anyone.” Alright sinner, who paid for the pens? And did you know that the handsome man is terribly shy about his speech impediment? If we don’t care about little things like that, if we won’t do something to make it better or to save expenses, how can we truly care about Ukraine, or abortion, or politics, or any other worldly thing without being as hollow as the Pharisee?

That Absolutely Perfect Plan requires that we care, and when we do not, we bring disharmony to our lives and the lives around us. Take it from a lifelong sinner, that’s not how it’s supposed to be. So, what am I, what are you, what are we supposed to do about it? Give up and go ahead and trample the poor because “the poor will always be with us?” (See Matthew 26:6-13) Shall we proclaim our own righteousness and disparage the penance of our neighbor? Shall we insist that God loves us more than that drug addict across the street? I hope not! God Loves you and me because of who God is, not because of anything we did or didn’t do. The Love is always there, even when we are indifferent to it. Ouch! That hurts! How can we be indifferent to the Lord’s Love? God has a Plan for us, and it is based on his Everlasting Love. Let’s take a quick pause to look at our hands to see if they show what is in our hearts. Do our hands show that the Lord is our God and we are his servants? If so, then what is in our hearts is his Love. If not, then whatever is in our hands that is not God’s is mammon. “Ya gonna have to serve somebody. It may be the Devil, or it may be the Lord, but ya gonna have to serve somebody.”

If we are sticking with the APP and choosing to serve the Lord, then we have to hand over to his tender care all that mammon we’ve accumulated . Does that mean we follow the example of St. Francis and walk off into God’s service naked of all worldly possessions? Not necessarily (although God did truly bless that sacrifice). “The Earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.” We can use our material goods to do what needs to be done – including charitable alms. You might remember a verse from about four weeks ago in Sirach 3:30 – 30 As water extinguishes a blazing fire,
so almsgiving atones for sin. We might say to ourselves (and even to others, truth be told), “I’m not like that. I don’t cheat anyone, I don’t lie, I don’t steal. I do my best to be kind and fair to everyone.” The next time those thoughts come up, let’s look at our hands to see if they show the markings of a holy heart. If so, we have succeeded in handing over the mammon – this time. Nonetheless, be wise about your worldly dealings, making friends by means of any unrighteous gain BUT be trustworthy in its use.

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

[i] Greek ἐλεημοσύνη eleémosuné – mercy, pity, compassion; the benefaction itself; charitable giving, especially to less fortunate. See Matthew 6:2-4

[A]  This is literally mamōna tēs adikias the mammon (what one most trusts in – mammon) which is the product of unrighteousness and iniquity.

Aloha Friday Message – September 9, 2022 – Reflecting on Glowing

September 9, 2022

2247AFC090922 – Reflecting on Glowing

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.

    Exodus 32:9-10 – 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”

1 Timothy 1:15 – 15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.

Luke 15:7 – 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. This weekend is going to make for some exciting teaching and reaching. There is so much good material in the readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 9/11/22. Please take a moment right now to pause and say “NEVER AGAIN!” in remembrance of the attacks on the World Trade Center and all of the other terrorist attacks since then – including Ukraine. We ask God to strengthen us so that our resolve to stand up for what is right never falters. Now, let’s move on to the Key Verses for today. I want to tell you a little about one of the most precious gifts our Creator built into me with my parents’ help.

God gave me the desire and the ability to look for and recognize exceptional people, and then to glow on them a little (sometimes a lot!). Exceptional people often feel a little left out of everything because – well, because they are exceptional. They don’t fit the “common mould” – they are shaped differently from the rest of us. That’s why I am using the archaic spelling of “mold” – mould – to distinguish from that icky green stuff that grows on your cheddar or grapefruit. I like to glow on people who have been moulded differently than the rest of us so that they can feel that perhaps they aren’t so totally excluded from their surrounding community. I suppose that desire and ability to glow is a bit odd – not everyone seeks that – but I also believe all of us have the desire to see what is good in people and acknowledge that goodness. We all want other folks to do that for us – see the good that we do and let us know we’re special too. When I glow on someone, they usually light up, too; the light up from within, with their own light, and not as a reflection of my glow. Please remember that special thing because it will make better sense later.

This Sunday Jesus talks about the lost-and-found events in life. A lost sheep, a lost coin, and the joy finding those objects bring to us and to our friends. We also have the story of a lost son. Many homilies will be centered on that story, I’m sure. Some will focus on the errant lad, some on the begrudging brother, and some on the everlasting love of a father. (↔ Music Link) When we contemplate on Love like that, we recall how God chose Israel to be his unique people, a chosen race to be a light to the nations. One of the passages we hear about that is in Isaiah 42:6 – 6 I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations. All the Hebrew pronouns here – you, your – are first-person singular. This prophecy is part of a description of the Messiah. It is often used to illustrate that we carry that light in us. One reason that association is made is because of Matthew 5:14-16 – 14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. We rejoice in that we are called to be The Light of The World. (↔ Music Link)

Again, it is the Messiah who is indicated in Isaiah 49:6 – 6 he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Here, “too light a thing” means something that is a “mere trifle.” Being the Servant of God, the Messiah, and to restore God’s people to their rightful presence in his Kingdom is a small thing compared to being a Light to the gentiles as well thereby allowing for their salvation. There’s that APP again, assuring us that God wants everyone to be saved, not “just his chosen ones, the people of Israel.” THE APP IS WAY BIGGER THAN THAT. Isaiah 52:10 – 10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God. And so we sing All the Ends of the Earth (↔ Music Link) because God wants us back! Why? Why does God want us back?

I’m going to just do this in a sort of outline form:

  1. God created us in Love and for Love. He Loves us and wants our Love.
  2. When our First Parents learned sin, they also learned death, and darkness, and separation from God. God, on his part, immediately set up a Plan of Correction for that – an Absolutely Perfect Plan – and we are part of that plan!
  3. Israel was chosen by God to demonstrate his Goodness, his Power, and his Love. He did that so “Not-Israel” – the gentile nations – would be as in Isaiah 60:3 – 3 Nations shall come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
  4. By adoption, we are All One Body (↔ Music Link). As such, we are heirs of The Promise in the APP, coheirs with Christ.
  5. Through Christ, who is the Light of the World, we have Christ’s Light in us. This is a special thing I want us to understand:
    1. We can reflect the Light of Christ to others and shed his light on them, OR
    2. We can radiate the Light of Christ to others and share his light in
       them.
    3. WHICHEVER WE CHOOSE, God’s Light goes out from us and God is glorified in that ministry of our giving to others what he has given to us. The easiest way to say that is “It’s all good, adelphos*, because it’s all God.” * brethren
  6. We have the Light! We, though sinners, have the Light of Christ. (OK, Please go ahead and sing [Music Link ↔] This Little Light of Mine). Here’s how we got it: John 12:36 – 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”
  7. What are we supposed to do with the Light? Belovéd, we share it!. Matthew 5:14-16 – 14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (In this passage, unlike the previous passage in Isaiah 42:6, all the personal pronouns are second-person plural! That means it includes US!!)
  8. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:8 – 8 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light — We are Children of light not of darkness, so we can say (and sing) I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light (↔ Music Link)
  9. Now, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE WALK IN THE LIGHT? We ….. (say it …) Repent and Believe the Gospel! And when we do that, our sins are washed away. Do you remember this? I Know a Fount (↔ Music Link)
  10. When our sins are washed away, when our little light shines (radiates); when we find what is lost (our closeness to God) we also find that God is standing patiently in the narrow road with arms outstretched to greet us saying “Welcome home, my dear child! I have been longing for your presence.”

Now, all of this takes some “presence of mind;” we have to pay attention. When we do, we see how working with God is the same as God working with us. Look back at that passage in Exodus. God says to Moses, “ of you I will make a great nation.” Moses says, in effect, “Let’s not forget the Promises you made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We wouldn’t want the Egyptians to say you brought our people out here to slay us.” (See Exodus 32:11-14) Moses did not usurp the authority or Promise of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because of his commitment to Truth, God relented in his just wrath.

      Because of that, Jesus was able to fulfill God’s promise by coming to save sinners like The Apostle Paul – and like us. In Christ Jesus we have the fulfillment of the covenant promised first to Eve and Adam, then to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the nation of Israel, the prophets and judges, the gentiles, and finally, to us. In God’s absolutely perfect plan Jesus notifies us saying in John 8:12 – 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” This is later confirmed in the Acts of the Apostles: Acts 26:22-23 – [The Apostle Paul said,] 22 To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: 23 that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan is that everyone would see HIS Light and radiate his light because HIS Light will be IN us. (Check out Ephesians 5:8 again) If we believe God keeps his promises, then we should be shouting for joy from the rooftops. God is real, God is present, God is Love, and that means he’s not some secret to be hidden from view of the World. Shine, Belovéd! Shine at the top of the hill! When we do that, it’s called evangelization which means we are living out Jesus’ command to the Apostles and to all of us. You can find that in Matthew 28:19. THERE IS A PLAN, and Jesus is counting on us to remember we are part of it. Evangelization is the service we give when Jesus asks for our help to find and to convert just one more sinner so there will be great joy in Heaven. It’s the best job on the planet! Get out there and Glow!

You might also enjoy 1937AFC091319 – Relentless Relenting

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 – September 2, 2022 – First of Place – Again

September 2, 2022

2236AFC090222 – First of Place – Again

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.

    Luke 14:26 – 26 Whoever comes to me and does not hate1 father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

1 μισεῖ (misei) from μισέω (miseó) {mis-eh’-o} miséō – properly, to detest (on a comparative basis); hence, denounce; to love someone or something less than someone (something) else; that is, to renounce one choice in favor of another. To choose one person, thing, place, or idea above all others.

Last week we talked about humility as the antidote to pride. We recalled that Jesus’ humility was so extraordinary that he died to give us Life. We said, “How did Jesus do what he did etiam pro nobis – even for us? It’s that four-letter Word that is the key to Faith, to Humility, to Joy, Grace, Eternity, and Heaven: LOVE.” Jesus was all about LOVE. He even told us to love our enemies in Matthew 5:44 – 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV) KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK. Used with permission. If you look around the World today, you’ll see people who would ask you, “WHY would anyone ever do THAT?!?!” There is a delightfully simple answer to that question. The answer was also in last week’s post: “The B.I.B.L.E. tells me so,” and “Jesus said to do it.” This kind of humility based in Love and nurtured by gratitude is part of God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan (that’s the APP in case that has escaped your recollection). “Why did God create me?” He is our Creator and we are his creation, and all Creation rightly gives him joyful thanks and praise. We are here because he Loves us, and we love him because he first Loved us. In, through, for, and because of that Love, we are asked only to show that same Love to everyone so that they too will know God created them to give him joyful thanks and praise. Knowing that, some will then ask, “Why in the world did Jesus tell us we cannot be his disciples unless we ‘… hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself’ as in our Key Verse for today?” To answer that we need to talk about Hebrew and/or Jewish hyperbole, a traditional form of embellishment.

Do you ever believe it when someone says, “It was raining cats and dogs?” How about

  • “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!”
  • “He’s as skinny as a fence post.”
  • “He’s hasn’t got the brains God gave a soda cracker.”
  • “They were so angry they were staring daggers at each other.”
  • “I’ve told you a million times! DON’T BE ALWAYS EXAGGERATING!”
  • “You’re late! I’ve been waiting here forever.”
  • “It’s a jungle out there.”
  • “It’s all fake news.”
  • “The world is going to hell in a handbasket, so we might as well buckle up for the ride.”
  • “You have to come! Everybody’s gonna be there!”

Now, how about these? How many of these might be hyperbole – exaggerations for the purpose of making a point?

  • Proverbs 13:24 – 24 Those who spare the rod hate their children, but those who love them are diligent to discipline them.
  • Luke 16:13 – ` 13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other
  • Matthew 5:29a – 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away
  • Matthew 23:24 – 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!
  • Matthew 7:3 – 3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?
  • Matthew 6:6 – 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
  • It would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. (↔ Music Link)
  • If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could toss that mountain into the sea.
  • This man is a Prophet for he has told me all I’ve ever done. (↔ Music Link)

In all of these, Jesus is showing us that God must have primacy in all things. God – The Trinity – must be preeminent in all of our thoughts, words, and deeds – every moment of every day (↔ Music Link). Now, Belovéd, doesn’t that sound like hyperbole, too? Jesus says that is what we should want. (↔ Music Link) If Jesus says it, we should believe it, and then do it. Now. Always. First. This little image sort of sums up how we do that “most of the time” – WHEN I GET A ROUND TO IT. This “round ToIt” has been part of my office décor since the mid-70s. I keep it to remind me how easily I procrastinate – mostly because of how easily I get distracted. Do you know just who loves to see me distracted? Yeah, that demonic Old Scratch  (← Check it out, page 16!). Now, does Jesus, the Son of the Living God, really, really want me to hate my wife, my children, and even my life? That’s just too extravagant to be reasonable; however, does that exaggeration help me to understand that The Trinity should be my priority in all my relationships, endeavors, meditations, and prayers? I assure you. ʻŌmea, it definitely does. Can I sustain that all day every day? Nope. Sometimes my resolve to reform my life evaporates faster than a water-drop on the street in Needles California at High Noon in the Summer. (← Do you like that one?) But you know what? That’s OK because I can “repent and believe the Gospel” just as quickly. Do you know why? Of course you do! It’s part of God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan – The APP. You can download that at the B.I.B.L.E. storeroom. You’ll find it in the Love Department.

That Love we have for and in God is mysterious. I will share with you what I consider to the be the seed-faith Truth about God’s Love. It is a Love that always occurs in community (because God is community), and since that is true, it is also true that everything – and I do mean every existing Good in all persons, places, things, and ideas – has a basis in Community. In this Community, we ALL need these four things: Attention. Affection. Affiliation. Approval. (← Check it out! This is the first description of the APP in the Aloha Friday Messages) The Apostle Paul gave us some good glimpses into the APP in his letters to the Church. There’s a good one in the letter to the Colossians – part of which we’ve studied recently: Colossians 1:24-27 – 24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. 25 I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (My added emphasis.) In his letter to the Ephesians he says: Ephesians 3:8-11 – 8 Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make everyone see what is the plan * of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; 10 so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord
* This is the APP!

ʻŌmea, how can we Love as richly, deeply, and fully as he deserves to be Loved? Like everything God creates to be a Mystery, the answer is simple: Repent and believe the Gospel, then tell God you believe him because you Love him. Please use that link about the four aspects of community. These are the things we use to offer and receive Love among each other in our community, and when we extend them to God, he is also part of our community! This is from the link above:

Community, though, is not, or at least should not, be just a human experience. We know that God is also Community expressed as the Holy Trinity. For this community all of the requirements for membership, for participation, for conduct are absolute because the Community is Absolute – Unconditional, Totally Integral, Unlimited, Supreme, Pure, Perfect: God. Not “The Force.” Not “Intelligent Design.” Purely and simply, wonderfully and awesomely GOD in Three Persons. And that Community and our community can also share with one another attention, affection, affiliation, and approval.

What is the key to humility, the antidote of pride? It is Love. How do we set God as First of Place in our day-to-day lives? It is by Loving him and each other. What source of Love is “good enough” or “worthy of” God? It is God’s Love for us. “Honor the giver by accepting the gift.” Do you believe God Loves you? If you do, would you like to Love him in return? “We Love him because he first Loved us.” From the echoing hallways of my youth, I remember the opening of the Westminster Catechism: Q:”What is the chief end of Man? A: “To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” Now, for those among us who have not yet gotten over The Reformation, there really isn’t anything you can argue about in that statement. Another way to say exactly the same thing is that we give God primacy in all things. Thomas Aquinas said our chief end is to obtain Virtue which allows us to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Once we grasp the magnitude of what God has done for us, the sensible decision about what to do about that is found in Romans 12:1 – 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters**, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ** ἀδελφός – adelphos – affiliates in the Church – “brethren.” Our appropriate spiritual service is to Love and serve God and neighbor; when we fail at that, we sin and need redemption. We must be willing do what Christ did; we sacrifice our self-attention and give Jesus (who is God) First of Place in everything because we Love him as (in the same manner and intensity) he Loves us. “Easy to say, but hard to do.” Not really, Belovéd, and I’ll show you why.

Do you have a spouse, a friend, a niece or nephew, even a pet who melts your heart every time you see, hear, or even think about that one? Couldn’t we Love Jesus like that … at least sometimes … maybe even two moments in a row? Do we believe what the Gospel says? If we forget and stop Loving him, can we repent and start over? DOES HE EVER REMEMBER WE FORGOT if we sincerely repent and ask for forgiveness? Jesus is our example. He died to open the veil of Death and let us be community with his Father. Can we die, even a little, for him? First of Place – again? Or First of Place – always? Can we be second fiddle to Christ just by harmonizing with him and giving him our attention, affectation, affiliation, and approval before we share ourselves, or even as we share ourselves, with others? He’s given that to us. What more could we want?

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 – August 26, 2022 – Serve well, live better

August 26, 2022

2235AFC082622 – Serve well, live better 

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.

    Sirach 3:29-31 – 29 The mind of the intelligent appreciates proverbs,
and an attentive ear is the desire of the wise.

30 As water extinguishes a blazing fire,
so almsgiving atones for sin.
31 Those who repay favors give thought to the future;
when they fall, they will find support.

Read full chapter (it’s terrific reading!)

Isaiah 42:1 – 1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.

1 Peter 4:11 – 11 Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 20:26 – 26 It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Back in 1974 a fella by the name of Mac Davis released a song called “It’s Hard To Be Humble.” It was a novelty song, and really kind of fun because we all find it hard to be humble when it comes right down too it. (You can check that out here.)(↔ Music Link)Most of us would agree that it is better to be humble than to be humiliated. Humility and humbleness are not highly valued in our competitive, phony-baloney society. As kids we learned it is important to “Stand up for yourself,” and to “be proud of who you are and where you come from.” “Don’t let anyone put you down. Hold your head up high and take pride in your work.” I found a few interesting old sayings about servants (↔ Click Link) . One of them came from Baseball Coach John Scolinos – although he didn’t directly address humility – and why it’s important to keep home plate at 17 inches. (← Check it out!) Being humble doesn’t mean being wimpy; in fact, it takes a lot of grit to be humble. “Listen widely, speak little” is one I recall from some distant past. It sounds like good advice, but like a lot of good advice, it is not something we take up easily. Here are a few more you may recognize:

  • Fire and water are good servants, but bad masters.
  • The salary of a good servant is never too high.
  • If money is not your servant, it will become your master.
  • A lousy servant will never be a good master.
  • He who makes himself a servant is expected to remain a servant.
  • It is bad to have a dishonest servant, but worse to have a dishonest master.
  • Better a wise man’s servant than an idiot’s master

Now, we have enjoyed silently nodding as we read these statements because – as our Key Verse says – The mind of the intelligent appreciates proverbs, and an attentive ear is the desire of the wise. We have affirmed that we are intelligent and wise by agreeing with these witticisms. (It is hard to be humble, right?)

In the Bible we have “The Wisdom Books,” Job, Proverbs, Psalms, Wisdom, Sirach, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. The Book of Proverbs has some sharp tidbits for people who are too big for their britches. One I heard recently was applied to households – including the household of Congress: Proverbs 11:29 – 29 Those who trouble their households will inherit wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise. I’m still watching for the second half of that one. Why is it, we wonder, so difficult to be humble? Humility is the source of love and service. Humility is the first of the Great Virtues. Why is it the first? It is first because its antithesis is the first of the Great Sins – Pride. “Pride of place” is something many people treasure. They want their work, their family, their heritage, their ideas to be the most important and highly valued above all others. When an adult manifests rebellious actions, her/his pride morphs into arrogance. Such people sully their own dignity by proudly denying – even justifying – their errors. They usually prove out to be liars in just about everything. Do you remember who is “a liar and the father of lies?” (See John 8:44) Pride is what got Satan tossed out of Heaven, and it can do the same for us.

Jesus warns us to seek the lower esteem, not the highest. Last week we heard him disparaging the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. In this Sunday’s readings, he is commenting on their pride – the tricky little ways they behave to get the admiration of others. We all wince a little about that because we know that we all do that – well, maybe just a little (It’s So Hard To Be Humble). In our Key Verse from Matthew we read, “but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.” There are similar role-reversal passages throughout the Gospels – the last shall be first and the first shall be last, the greatest must be a servant and the leader must be a slave, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” (See Mark 9:35) We’ve cited Bob Dylan’s Gotta serve somebody (↔ Music Link) at times. Isn’t it true that we hope to one day hear Jesus say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”? (See Matthew 25:21-23 and Luke 19:17) Well then, who will we serve, and how do we become that “good and faithful servant?” Would it be the most important person in our lives? And if we do serve well, what outcome do we expect?

Who do we serve? Is there always a servant and a “served?” Of course there is! We all know we are to serve God above all others. He is God, we are not. How do we know that being HIS servant is what he expects? “I AM the Lord your God … you shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” When we choose to love, we choose to serve. When we choose not to love, we choose to rebel. “He who makes himself a servant is expected to remain a servant.” This is why The Apostle Peter says, “… whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ.” So, who has “first of place” in that relationship? I should rephrase that as “Who should have first of place in that relationship?” We all know the answer to that one, too. God is first in all, first for all, first with all, and first through all. As we’ve said before (← Check it out!), sometimes we forget and make ourselves first of place. It takes humility to be a servant . (↔ Music Link)

I remember hearing or reading about a high-ranking cleric who decided he would learn to master the 7 Great Virtues beginning with Humility. After a week he realized he had not come anywhere near that mastery, nor so after a year, a decade, or a lifetime (It’s So Hard To Be Humble). Where do we start – and how can we continue – with humility? We start “In the beginning” and continue with “and shall be evermore.” As in all the Good Gifts of God, it starts with honoring the Giver by accepting the Gift. We do not become a servant by being humble. We become humble by being a servant. How do I know? The B.I.B.L.E. tells me so! Jesus was meek and humble of heart because he was and is in God’s APP “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.” Jesus came to us to serve. Who? US? No, to serve his Father. We are to emulate Christ in all things so we must also be servants, we must also lay down our lives for another, we must also be meek and humble of heart so that we think of and do all that is Good (See Philippians 4:8). But, Belovéd, how can we do that if we so easily sin? We can (and should) ask, “How did Jesus do it?”

Did the answer spring to mind immediately? How did Jesus do what he did etiam pro nobis – even for us? It’s that four-letter Word that is the key to Faith, to humility, to Joy, Grace, Eternity, and Heaven: LOVE. The Apostle Paul put it into this simple formula: 1 Corinthians 10:31 – 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. (↔ Music Link) He also wrote to the Colossians saying in Colossians 3:23-24 – 23 Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, 24 since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ. Why is that? It is because Jesus said so: Matthew 20:26 – 26 It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant. (↔ Music Link)

Still, we know we will again forget, but we also know there is a remedy for that forgetfulness. Going back to the idea of fire and water as good servants and bad masters, we turn the page to the Wisdom of Sirach: As water extinguishes a blazing fire, so almsgiving atones for sin. Generosity is a product of humility and therefore a means of atonement. Sirach also wrote Those who repay favors give thought to the future; when they fall, they will find support. We serve one another through love – “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” – and that law is The Law of Love in the APP. Humble but unshakable Love is the way of Peace. Jesus gave us a terrific example in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as foretold by the Prophet Zechariah:

Zechariah 9:9 – 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Being humbly loving or lovingly humble isn’t sissy-stuff. It’s hard work, but Good Work. My Dad told me “Everything in life takes a little hard work, or a lot of easy work, but it’s all work.” If it’s all work, it might as well be Good Work because of what Jesus said in Luke 6:38 – 38 … give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back. Servants who give better live better. It’s in the APP.

In closing, we once again review the Virtues and Sins. It can serve as a reminder that when we work diligently on the first pair, we do so as servants of the One God who made Heaven and Earth.

 

The 7 Deadly Sins and Their Corresponding Virtues
P Pride Humility
E Envy Kindness
G Gluttony Temperance
S Sloth 1 Diligence
L Lust 2 Chastity
A Avarice 3 Charity
W Wrath Patience
1 Acedia, Apathy
2 Covetousness, Concupiscence
3 Greed, Cupidity

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 – August 19, 2022 – Next in line, please.

August 19, 2022

2234AFC081922 – Next in line, please.

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.

      Luke 13:29-30 – “29 Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

¡Que la bendición esté siempre con ustedes y que Dios los bendiga, Amados! (May blessing always be with you and may God bless you, Belovéd!) We have already arrived at the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. This week we look at the next segment of Jesus’ resolute journey to Jerusalem. He knows what awaits him there and if he continues toward that goal, he will have to endure tremendous suffering in order to experience profound joy. In this part of the Gospel of Luke, we have several statements from Jesus that are difficult to understand; yet, understanding them is essential to being able to fully live an authentically Christian life. To do that, I want to show you a small portion of a very large painting created by Rico Fonseca in 1972 CALLED “The Miracle.” [i] He is “known as artist of Greenwich Village, N.Y. An artist since 1965, world-known from Lima, Peru; in America since 1961. Unique montage style of historical periods of time, also various other styles. Sell reproductions and originals.” Rico and I have discussed this image, and so I want to share with you this little story about the content:

It was like a dream. Perhaps that is the only way to explain it, but it does not explain the what or why or how of the dream.

I gradually became aware that I was standing on a long, irregularly-winding stairway that wandered through the universe. It seemed I was wearing a hooded white robe with very large sleeves. I was facing down the stairs, hands folded in front of me and inside my sleeves. I saw another person in front of me, but facing away, on the next stair down. I could not fathom our purpose for being there. I knew, somehow, we had been there for a very long time. I had no idea why we were standing like that, but as I looked farther down the stair, it seemed to me that perhaps some of the other figures were facing up the stairs. This made no sense whatsoever, so I just continued to stand there. If there was anyone behind me, I didn’t care. I figured they had pretty much the same view I had and pretty much the same understanding as well.

Then something astonishing happened. The figure standing in front of me suddenly turned around! For a moment or two our eyes locked. The expression on the person’s face was originally perplexed. Gradually it changed as if a new awareness had slowly but surely occurred. That was quickly replaced by an expression of great JOY. It was beautiful! I no longer cared why I was on the stair. All I wanted was to look upon that beautiful, joyful face. And in just another moment, the direction of this person’s joyful gaze shifted from my face to something or someone over my shoulder. The intensity of JOY in that face continued to grow – in fact, it seemed like there was light coming from or reflected by this dazzling countenance before me. I was totally fascinated. And completely mystified.

Why had s/he turned around? Why the beatific smile? What was it behind me that made this beautiful person so happy? I stared for … God only knows how long. It must have been a long time, because eventually I realized it was not only the face that glowed, but the whole figure. The robe was scintillating with layers and patterns of incredible light. The more I looked, the more I felt JOY welling up within me as well. At one point, I felt compelled to turn around and see what was behind my shoulder. I shifted my position a tiny bit to the right, and perceived the person two-steps-down was also facing up the stairs. I could not see the face, but I could see the same intense lights coming from that person’s step. I wanted to turn around and see! But I did not want to look away either!

     After another very long while, my JOY took on a different character. It was all interwoven with PEACE. Everything I saw, everything I felt, everything I knew was JOY and PEACE. My awareness grew more acute, and I began to understand that not only was there something absolutely extraordinary behind me, but also there was another figure behind me. I was thinking, “Why are we standing here like this?” The figures farther down the steps were getting brighter, and the stairway itself twisted, and turned, and bent as the universe was flexed by an unseen Power. I began to be more inclined to turn around. Then, quite suddenly, without really intending to do so, it happened.

I was flabbergasted by what – who – I saw. It was another figure dressed like me. My eyes must have widened as I saw the shocked look on this other person’s face. First surprise, then fear, then wonder, then awe swept back and forth between us. I just stood there staring, and met the stare of my newest companion. Then, slowly at first, but with gathering force and speed, I realized that I was supposed to turn around and see what had been seen by my earlier companion – another face. But, I recalled, that person looked past me to someone or something else. What was it? Who was it? Could I see it too? I flicked my eyes to the left for a millisecond and saw something; but what? More stairs, more figures, a cross, a throne, strange creatures, and …. Something or Someone was also there. I took one last good, hard look at the face before me and then looked beyond to a glorious sight. I cannot describe it. It filled me with such JOY that I felt as if I were glowing with JOY and PEACE. Now it made sense.

The person who was behind me and is now in front of me has someone behind them. If the person in front of me turns around, the JOY and PEACE will keep going up the stairs. When the last person on the top stair turns around and the only thing left to see is the Source of that JOY and PEACE, we will all march up the stairs and into that JOY and PEACE. Then, most truly, the last shall be first and the first shall be last but all shall be present in the Presence of The Lamb from Whom we receive All that is Good.

Rico told me that was how he understood it as well. If you look for those figures in the white, hooded gowns, you will see that the stairs on which they stand wind way back to the point of being just a thin line (look at that line at about the level of the outline of Jesus at his left ear). That’s “billions and billions” of souls. But can you guess what else?

There is more! Luke 12:1c-3 – “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be be proclaimed from the housetops.” (↔ Music Link) In this passage Jesus calls out the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. They have remolded Truth and Law to enhance their status among the people. All their little dirty tricks they had used will be exposed, and very soon the Truths they have attempted to conceal will be shouted from the rooftops in broad daylight as the Gospel sets the World afire with the passion of the Holy Spirit. Those who deem themselves of the greater and topmost status will be counted among the lowest and bottommost status.

Have you ever wondered about the “Heavenly Banquet?” When we die will we be spirits in heaven waiting for the resurrection? “Signs point to yes.” But, after the Resurrection, will anyone ever be hungry in Heaven, and will there be food and drink to feed them? “Unknown at this time. Try again later.” (After the Resurrection is my guess.) All I have in my upstairs database is “Blesséd are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (See Matthew 5:6)

There is yet more, Belovéd! John 14:6 – 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Look again at the image and at the silhouette of Jesus. Do you see the children going through? Do you see the line of Saints going through? In that silhouette, is Jesus facing you or walking ahead of you? How many of those Saints on the stairs found JOY and PEACE while looking for Jesus and his Father in Brahman? “Unknown at this time. Try again later.” (After the Resurrection is my guess.) You see, that’s God’s decision, not ours, so however anyone finds Jesus means someone found him somehow, and that’s what it’s all about: Repent and believe the Gospel. (↔ Music Link) It’s in the APP. Belovéd, I LOVE that APP because I LOVE  the God who made it. If we don’t use it, we lose it – and everything else!

There are so many folks these days who believe they can save themselves, or even that there nothing to save because when you’re gone, you’re gone, and you’re not coming back. Alas and alack, we have no say in that. I’m going to stick in a fairly long passage from last week’s Gospel. It will demonstrate that when it comes to God’s commands, the rules are the rules. Look around the world, watch the evening news (if you can bear it), and see how many MILLIONS of people are determined to go to Hell because of their lack of chastity and love of immorality, or their penchant for the murdering of innocents, or ensnared in pride, envy, lust, and greed. We who stand on the stairs are divided from them because Jesus (who IS God) says so:

Matthew 10:34-40 – 34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword [of division].

35 For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. *

37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
*See Micah 7:1-8 which Jesus references here and also in Luke 12:51:53

No one comes to the Father except through me. If we wear the insignia of Christian on our shoulders, we are in the King’s Army so “Onward Christian Shoulders,” the Church of God. When we are ready, we will hear from him: Luke 22:28-30 – 28 “You are those who have stood by me in my trials; 29 and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

“God would not cut us off like that. He is a God of Love and Mercy.” True; but only if you accept his Love and Mercy by following the rules. Our ancestral parents intentionally disobeyed ONE of those rules. The result was manifold:

  1. They learned the difference between Good and Evil
  2. They lost the privilege of direct communion with their Creator
  3. They were exiled from Eden
  4. They entered into a very prolonged war against Satan
  5. They gave up Eternity with God and earned for themselves and for us the wage of Sin which is Death.

So, my Belovéd Watchers on the Stairs, who among us is next in line? I keep listening for my number to come up, but it just might be that someone will turn around to see me behind them on that stair and give me the stair stare. I certainly thank you for your patience in getting this far and I will leave you with this:

A Prayer for Help Psalm 12:1-4, 8

1 Please help me, Lord! (↔ Music Link)
All who were faithful
and all who were loyal
have disappeared.
2 Everyone tells lies,
and no one is sincere.
3 Won’t you chop off
all flattering tongues
that brag so loudly?
4 They say to themselves,
“We are great speakers.
No one else has a chance.”

8 But all who are wicked
will keep on strutting,
while everyone praises
their shameless deeds.  Remind you of anyone we know?

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible. Used with permission.

PS: The latest “Health Crisis in the World” is not the Monkey Pox. The crisis is in how many have come forward to be vaccinated because their “lifestyle” (more like “death-style”) makes them susceptible or even compromised by the disease. These likely will not be present in the Presence of The Lamb from Whom we receive All that is Good. They are standing in another line on another stairway.

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

 

 

[i] “The Miracle” an original painting by Rico Fonseca, © 11/25/1972 Rico Fonseca. Contact https://www.universalartprints.com/

 

Aloha Friday Message – August 12, 2022 – Run, Pilgrim! Run!

August 12, 2022

2233AFC081222 – Run, Pilgrim! Run!

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.

     Hebrews 12:1-2a – 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith

Before we get into today’s study, I want to say a little something about that title. Each essay starts with a prayer to the Holy Spirit for guidance – a title and a Key Verse – and them we work together to put those seeds to work. When I started this on Monday, I had in mind to use this short passage from The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Hebrews (the whole letter is fabulous reading!) and something about moving forward in life. Then a bit of a movie popped into my head and I had to chuckle a little as I realized that what was coming would be a little like this clip: Run Forrest! Run! (↔ Video Link!) Here we go then!

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! I sometimes wonder if The Apostle Paul was a young athlete before he received his call from the Lord. There are several instances in his letters where he alludes to being in a race. It’s a good analogy, I believe, because – like our daily lives – it has a start, a course, a purpose, and a destination. When we think of a race, we think of the winner as being the one who is the fastest, or strongest, or most skilled. Not all courses, though, are designed for speed, or strength, or talents. For instance, take the idea of a pilgrimage into consideration – it has a start, a course, a purpose, and a destination. It’s not something one races through; in fact, the outcome of the pilgrimage is often better if we take our time following the course. We will look at some other characteristics of this “race” format called Pilgrimage. Before we get into that, though, I have to give credit to Rev. Fr. Nicholas Apetorgbor for helping me to grasp this idea. He emphasized the point that Pilgrims need to have Planning as part of their pilgrimage. Here’s what grew from that Faith Seed:

In this race, the pilgrim needs to have a plan and be patient, persevering, prepared, and prayerful. Let’s take some time to look at each of those.

  1. Pilgrim
  2. Plan
  3. Patient
  4. Persevering
  5. Prepared
  6. Prayerful

Pilgrim – a sojourner, someone who undertakes a sort of quest for religious reasons such as edification, devotional sacrifices, or in thanksgiving for blessings received or anticipated. These wayfarers might travel alone or in groups. As pilgrims in this World, we start out on a journey. I have at times quoted – more or less – Robert Zimmerman (i.e., Bob Dylan), “I was born a long way from home and I’m on my way there now.” It is indeed a long road, the Road of Life, and we need to pay more attention to where we’re going and less attention to where we’ve been. Pilgrims rarely take off without some sort of plan for where they are going and how to get there. One very notable exception is our old friend, Abraham We need a plan.

Most of us reading this have a definite information in mind, our bags are unpacked and closets cleaned out, and we’re just waiting for that trumpet to sound. As we wait to either board that long train coming or hear Gabriel blow his horn, there are things we need to tend to. One of them is nicely illustrated in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. At one point in the narrative, Pilgrim sheds his burden. His burden is all the worldly distractions – including “progressivism” – which he carries and mulls over as he goes. Eventually he comes to a cross and a grave and realizes that it is only the salvific Grace of Christ’s redemption through conquering death and sin. This is the connection with the liberation of Forrest Gump. He got rid of what was holding him back and miraculously went far beyond any conceivable improvement. Because we are pilgrims, we, too, have to know where we’re heading (starts with H) and who is going with us (starts with J not S). Therefore, if we know where we’re going and who is going with us, we need to have a plan to deal with what or who we encounter along the way. We have to deal with bullies just as Forrest did. We get rid of what holds us back.

The worst bullies are the ones sent to us by the Foe who the Prince of the Air. We also have to deal with obstacles like the mountains and valleys in our lives, the raging rivers and surging seas. Fortunately, we have an exceptionally well-organized guidebook called the B.I.B.L.E. which describes to us every possible choice in planning our pilgrimage. Now, I’m sure you saw this coming, but I have to say, “Yes, it is the Absolutely Perfect Plan designed by God – his APP.” We have a plan, and it includes a M.A.P. (Measure of Actual Progress); therefore, the only way we can get lost is to refuse to use these important planning tools. Next on our list is to be Patient.

Frankly, this is one of the most difficult parts of a pilgrimage – it even has its own tune which usually floats up from the back seat on any long trip; “Are we there yet?” Sometimes it sounds like “Good morning, Lord. Thank you for this day. Will this be ‘the one?'” Sometimes it sounds like I Love to Go a-Wandering.” (↔ Music Link) The most patient people I know are continuing their pilgrimage in a state of suffering – not suffering brought on by the subordinates of the Foe – but rather from illness, loss, and/or pain. When such as these make use of the APP and the M.A.P., there is incredible patience because there is unfaltering Hope. Not all of us must bear adversity in order to have Hope, but among those who do patiently endure adversity, Hope is a welcome solace. Hope is what enables endurance so that we persevere in our journey.

The Apostle Paul tells us about perseverance in Romans 5:3-5 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (added emphasis) A little later on in Romans 12:12 he reminds us 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. This echoes our Key Verse shown above. Being prepared with these things can certainly make our pilgrimage here on Earth more rewarding. My dear friend in Maricopa AZ has reminded me that “All of us are issued the same sized suitcases. Some of us are just better packers.”

We pack to prepare for our journey. I confess I have a tendency to over-pack, to squirrel away, or to need a bigger suitcase. The same-sized suitcases are the 24-hour days of our lives. It’s usually GIGO – garbage in, garbage out – that throws us off track. As we get older, we also notice that our train of thought leaves the station before we get there (or we show up at the wrong station). What should we pack to prepare for our journey? Well surely the B.I.B.L.E., the M.A.P., and the APP should go with us. Those are all good things to have, but – for most of us anyway – it’s also good to have some persons traveling with us. One good reminder is in

Proverbs 3:5-6 – 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

When we overload our lives, it is often because we are overpreparing – taking ourselves too seriously. In the letter of James we read in James 4:13-15 – 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” 14 Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” In the first reading for this Sunday, we have the account of a conspiracy against the Prophet Jeremiah. Another man declared a false prophecy (apparently for his own gain) and so supporters of that false Prophet convinced the king, Zedekiah, to have him executed by tossing him into a muddy, miry cistern (a local reservoir made of stone – Heb,: בּוֹר [bowr] ↔ Click Link {bore} pit, well, underworld, death). That was certainly not something Jeremiah had in his plan! However, he did have God with him, and it was in God’s plan for Jeremiah to be rescued. Our Psalm for this Sunday, Psalm 40, includes this in verse 2 – 2 He drew me up from the desolate pit,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.

Do you recall who else was thrown into “a desolate pit?” Joseph was thrown into a pit (← Check it out!). His brother, Reuben, intended to return in secret and rescue him, but his brothers had already decided to follow a plan by another of Joseph’s brothers – Judah. Jeremian and Joseph both relied on the Lord to rescue them, and that is the sort of planning and preparation we should practice as well. In all their trials, they addressed God, THE El Shaddai, in prayer and rested on his guidance and mercy. Both of them suffered so that the greater good in God’s APP would be fulfilled. For Joseph, it was the saving of many including his own family. For Jeremiah, it was the assurance that the prolonged bondage of Israel by Babylon would result in a stronger Israel and eventually help make the incarnation of the Messiah possible. If we reflect on all the “success stories” we read in the B.I.B.L.E., all of them were men and women who had F.A.I.T.H. – they could say in all certainty “I am Fully Aware I Trust Him.”

Belovéd, we too are prayerful people, and we too know we can always trust God. We may not always understand his answers or easily discern his intentions, but we do know that God, and only God, have the Absolutely Perfect Plan. Something we sometimes (or even often) forget is that we are part of that plan! That plan always includes being freed from the burdens we take upon ourselves so that we can carry the Graces and Blessings God has prepared for us since The Beginning. Whenever it seems just too hard to go on, we have the narratives in the Bible to inspire and edify us. Jesus told the Apostles – and through them told us – that living a Christian life will include persecutions (← Check it out please?) and divisions: Luke 12:51 – 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! Why is that the case? Why should serving Christ be a divisive responsibility? I believe it is because we too easily follow the ways of our ancestors when it comes to idolatry. We would rather love and serve anything or anyone rather than God. Here is why I believe that: Matthew 10:37-39 – 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

So, ʻŌmea, like true pilgrims we must have a plan and be patient, persevering, prepared, and prayerful. Whether we walk, run, crawl, climb, fly, or skip our way up to heaven, we need to know where we are going and why we want to get there. It is because God has called us, and we have answered that call. Remember – God does not call the qualified. God qualifies the called. Sometimes all we need to be freed from our limitations is giving them up like Forrest did. We can win that laurel crown in this race of pilgrimages. Just remember, if you’re resting on your laurels you’re wearing them on the wrong end.

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

2232AFC0080522 errata

August 5, 2022

Aloha Friday and Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! There were some errors in the post for August 5, 2022. The link at the top of the email version takes you to a post back and January. The proper link is /archives/14001

There were only two music links. One was for “(our El Shaddai) (↔ Music Link)” which should be https://youtu.be/_qJMl95lb9k and the other was for “available as a Friend (↔ Music Link)” which should be https://youtu.be/ipwEtvWL_3c

I’m working now with LibreOffice and my learning curve is pretty darn flat – if not downward. I should also have mentioned that the email address [email protected] is no longer available and also that these messages will (hopefully) be coming from [email protected] – if I can make that work properly!

Aloha Friday Message – August 5. 2022 – Too Much is Enough

August 5, 2022

2232AFC080522 – Too Much is Enough

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.  m 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.  

     Luke 12:48b – If God has been generous with you, he will expect you to serve him well. But if he has been more than generous, he will expect you to serve him even better. ~~ Contemporary English Version (CEV) ~~ Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

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. Have you even heard the expression, “Too much of a good thing?” It’s generally taken to mean that moderation is preferred over excess. A quarter-pounder with cheese is A-OK, but a ¼ pound of hamburger topped with 4 slices of bacon, 5 fried onion rings, 2 Kosher-Dill pickle spears, and a tablespoon of Mystery Sauce is kinda over-the-top. A martini for pau hana (after work) is OK but a six-pack of Bud with whiskey chasers is going overboard. A thanksgiving turkey is nice, but that turducken is just extravagance. You know, there can be too much of a bad thing, too, right? Some of us “of a certain age” will remember a Bob Dylan song covered by Pete, Paul, and Mary called “Too much of nothing.” And Act 2 of the dramatic folk opera Porgy and Bess, Porgy sings “I Got Plenty of Nuttin’.” In that circumstance, Porgy is singing about his new-found happiness whereas in Dylan’s lyrics, “too much of nothing” it can makes us mean, or judgmental, or out of control. We all understand that anything in excess is not conducive to good health physically, mentally, and/or spiritually. Living constantly in excessive consumption of food and drink, romance, wagering, religiosity – anything overdone is debilitative. But we all get into out-of-bounds territory once in a while. Well, almost anything and everything. There’s is one thing that is never harmful when received in overflowing abundance. Have you guessed what that is?

You are correct, O wise one! It is the benevolence of God. He always wants to bless you, and then bless you some more. Now, it’s true that there are some rules that apply to those blessings. One of them is summarized in the phrase “Trust and Obey.” I like that one because it only has two parts! Trust is an important part because it is what makes us open to accepting and receiving his blessings. That pesky element of our makeup called “Free Will” allows us to actually refuse his blessings. Folks, that just doesn’t make any sense at all – but again, we all do it at some time or another. That usually results in one of those smack-yourself-in-the-forehead moments. If we trust God to give us only Good Gifts (See James 1:17 again, please.), then we will be open to receive those gifts. Of course, once you have received from the Generous Bounty of Almighty God (our El Shaddai) (↔ Music Link) any of his great and wondrous gifts, it only makes sense to use that gift – but again, we all fail to do that at some time or another, too. Still, trusting God really is easier than trusting in government (or even ourselves sometimes). We just need to have faith in him, and to do that, we have to know him. Before we get to the second part of “Trust and Obey,” I want to hark back to 2008 and The Wheelbarrow (← Check it out!).

It turns out that being able to know God is another of his super-cool Gifts. Unlike certain other gods who wish to remain unknowable, our El Shaddai actually gets involved in our lives in positive ways. He has even made himself personally available as a Friend (↔ Music Link). If we know God, we know we can trust him. If we trust God, he makes it way easier to know him, to love him, and to serve him. And do you know what? Loving him and serving him are also two of his wondrous gifts! What is the point of serving a deity you do not and cannot know? We’re developing quite a pile of wondrous Gifts already, yes? We trust God, we know him and we love him and we want to serve him. That’s where we slip up again. Instead of serving him we serve some other god like the TV, or sports, or wealth, or … us. Now we come to the second part of that easy rule – Obey.

Our Almighty-Everliving God – our El Shaddai-Olam – made it perfectly clear when he laid out The Law for Israel. Right at the outset God said in Exodus 20:2-3 – 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me.

If someone or something else is easier for us to trust, to love, and to serve, then we have displaced God, rejected his gifts, and put ourselves in a really perilous situation. None of us would ever to that, right? Hopefully that’s the case – but again, we all manage to do that at some time or another, too. Here we find that God has blessed us with a couple of other things that work together – conscience and consciousness. Even as toddlers we have an innate and intuitive sense of what is right and wrong. Our consciousness begins even earlier, generally between 12-15 months but some evidence suggests it might be as early as 5-6 months. When we are conscious of our own motivations and emotions we lay our the foundation of conscience. I’m sure we have all experience the sheer surprise of weeing a three-year-old deliberately disobey a parent, strike a sibling, and then blame all that on someone else. Given that foundation, it’s not much of a leap to the acts of deliberate disobedience to … anyone, including God. Every good parent hopes her/his kid will be kind, generous, thoughtful, a good citizen. All those things are secondary, though, to what a parent should be teaching a kid about God.

God makes a better foundation for growth than toys, or Mozart, or independent discovery as a 1- to 3-year-old toddler. When we teach our children to know and love God (more by actions than by words, I’d say), chances are pretty good that they will trust him and obey him – until they forget, as we adults often do. Much of the B.I.B.L.E. describes the processes and outcomes of people who forgot to accept God’s wondrous Gifts. This Sunday we will hear about one absolutely astonishing Gift given to a People who were chosen by God to be his Delight. We will hear about the first Passover.

One would think that participating in such an event-filled blessing would be UNFORGETTABLE. But the Israelites were barely out of town when they forgot and then built that Golden Calf. We might cut them a little slack because they really didn’t know better – no 10 Commandments yet and all that – but if seeing is believing, then they could have had at least a rudimentary faith in God’s Power. The Apostle Paul addressed that in his letter to the Hebrews. Sunday’s second reading is from the Letter to the Hebrews. The Apostle Paul tells them in Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Israel had around 1,000 years between Abraham and Moses to develop some sense of national identity. They knew the meaning of their name – Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל See Genesis 35:9-13 ) – and yet lacked a way to know God as their own. No matter haw many Judges, or Prophets, or Priests, or even enemies were sent to Israel, they forgot as we all do at some time or another. It just seemed like their hearts were not in this process of trusting and obeying God. Jesus had a good saying on this that encourages us to treasure our relationship with God and with each other as well.

We find it in Luke 12:32-34 – 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If we know God, trust God, have faith in God, and love God, we are right at the door of the source of that treasure: Heaven. Now, you’ve heard me say this many times: “Why would you want anything less?” But sometimes we forget, and you already know how that works out. God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan (the APP, remember?) has a fix for that. When we ask for forgiveness, he forgives and then forgets that we forgot. That is because we are blessed by his Grace, the undeserved merit of his justice tempered with mercy which is ours because of his Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, and Eternal Salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Belovéd, too much of anything is enough. When we get to that point in our day-to-day lives, we must depend on the Grace of God to apply his APP. We must take caution, though, that we don’t make a bigger mess by trying to find Grace in greater abundance than God has I mind. Here’s what The Apostle Paul had to say about that in Romans 6:1-2 – 1 What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? GOOD QUESTION! We can and must trust and obey out of love, and whenever we forget, we must remember that Grace is a Gift given in Love. As The Apostle Peter put it in 1 Peter 4:8-10 – 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Too much is enough; enough to cost us Heaven if we for get to remember we forgot. When that happens, we REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS.

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 god makes a License

Aloha Friday Message – July 29, 2022 – That’s enough of that!

July 29, 2022

2231AFC072922 – That’s enough of that!

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.

Luke 12:18-20 – 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord, ʻŌmea! We are back in business, sort of, with a nearly flat learning curve. I’m using a program called Libre Office now instead of MS Word. When my hard disc died so did all my Bible and my B.I.B.L.E. shortcuts. Now instead of 6-8 hours to create a post it’s going to take double that until I get everything back to “normal” again. When my computer died, there was another, more-expected death in the family; my iPhone died and had to be replaced. And my Timex Ironman watch needs a new battery, too. When the alarm goes off for my meds, the LCD goes blank with each beep. I told Crucita I’d best be careful because I might be next (although I’m entirely ready for that!). Good thing we’ve done our Estate Planning – including “burial insurance” (although I haven’t purchased my YOLO-F grave marker yet). It will take probably a month to “train” this software to catch up with my deceased 2007 MS Word. Like they say, “When you number is up …” And of course there’s also “You can’t take it with you. Nonetheless, we seem to be so fixated on getting more “stuff” and filling our space with it – all our space inside and outside the house, at work, at church, at the grocery; it seems endless this Spirit of Acquisition. It’s like the Borg say, “Resistance is futile. You will be Assimilated.”

At some point we usually come to the realization that we’re drowning in stuff. We burden ourselves with things we don’t really need, but want those things enough that it’s hard to get rid of them. It’s always, “Someday this will be useful,” like when it’s 127 degrees outside and we still wear our winter coat (↔ Click Link). All the stuff we stack up may give use the feeling of security. After all, it might be useful someday, but today it’s reassuring to know we’re ready for that someday. And then we read this parable from which we get of Key Verse for today.

This poor guy didn’t know his number was up, so he didn’t find a way to provide for himself Treasure in Heaven. He seems to have been a decent sort of business man, successful in his acquisitions. Perhaps he had a large farm for growing grains like barley and wheat, and he also had durable possessions – perhaps furniture and service ware. He’d just had a great year which included a bumper-crop and increased wealth. We don’t know for sure, but perhaps this is the same fellow in another parable (← Check it out!). A poor man named Lazarus sat outside this man’s gate and begged. He was covered with sore, and the dogs used to come and lick those sores. The rich man and the poor man both died. The rich man went to Hades (Sheol) and the poor man went to “The bosom of Abraham.” use the link above to review how that all turned out. We see that the rich man could have used at least some of his wealth to help orphans and widows, the sick, and those trapped in poverty. Instead, he kept it all for himself and elected to “relax, eat, drink, be merry.” A friend of mine used to say this fellow was a devout hedonist, but not a devout Jew.

I wonder how often we might behave like a pleasure-seeking pagan rather than a devout Christian. A Christian is called upon to carry out the commands of Jesus which include being kind to orphans and widows, the sick, and those trapped in poverty. “It’s not a Law,” some say, “to ensure we provide for our future as well as our daily needs.” Hmm, what about “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s not as simple as it sounds, is it? The Law of Moses and the Law Of Love taught by Jesus are identical and immutable. We must ask, then, how many times we walk past Lazarus – who is sitting there with Jesus – and ignore them, but still acknowledge and kowtow to the rich man? I know a man who is exceptionally kind and just, and is generous with his time and money (when he has money), and yet he is constantly scrambling to make a living. He does not count the cost of his generosity, nor does he complain about the fact that he has to work so hard to supply that need. “Society” looks down on this fellow because he can’t seem to line up steady work, and they discount his generosity as foolishness. Let’s just pause a moment and think about how God views this man’s life.

Let’s go back to my account of “The Terrible Week.”

Do I really need a computer with a high-end word-processor, an iPhone, and an Iron Man watch? Without the computer and word-processor, this ministry would not exist. The Iron Man Watch has alarms set as backup alarms to take my medications on time. The iPhone has the same alarm times set – plus a few other things, like the calendar so I don’t miss any of my medical appointments. Do I really need all of these things? One could say yes and make a good defense for that answer. Bottom line, though, is that there are less expensive and more efficient ways of doing all these things – except maybe the word-processor. If I had to bang out all of this on my old Royal typewriter and then send it out snail-mail, that would put the kibosh on this project and I’d hate to lose contact with any of you. How do we decide if what we want is what we need? Well, as St. Augustine reputedly quipped, “Love God and do what you will.”

That’s a clever way to say “leave it in God’s hands.” We all know – or certainly should know – God will take care of you. (↔ Music Link) Another approach often mentioned is “Do what you know is right then ask God to bless it.” If we are unsure if we know what is right, then we can carefully weigh all the pros and cons and see which of them pull us closer to God or which others pull us closer to the World. In all of these decision-making approaches the central premise is that we base our actions on God’s Love for us and our love for God and each other. If a proposed act does not bring us closer to or maintain our closeness to God, then that act is not wise or fruitful. Our goal should be to learn and exercise the Power of Prayer.  We can summon the faith, the discernment, the patience and perseverance, and the humility to exercise THE POWER OF PRAYER. I have come to believe that God only gives four answers to prayer:
1. “Yes!”
2. “Not yet.”
3. “I have something better in mind.”
4. “You’ve got to be kidding!

If, then, we want to know what is enough and what is too much, we must be in day-to-day communication with God. Remember we talked about “pray without ceasing?” (↔ Click Link) If God is our Father and Jesus is our Brother, we can and should talk to them in terms of those relationships. If that turns out to be difficult or uncomfortable, we can turn to the Holy Spirit as The Apostle Paul told us in Romans 8:26-27 – 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. I am reminded of an old wheezer seen on bumper-stickers: “If Jesus is your copilot, SWITCH SEATS!” As we read in the letter of James at James 4:3 – 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. If we are praying in the Holy Spirit and in communication with God at all times, if we pray constantly, if we speak with and to God as Father and Brother, the knowing when that’s enough of anything in our lives is so much easier!

As we heard recently in the Sunday readings, God’s Word is never far from us as in Deuteronomy 30:11-14 – 11 Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” 14 No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe. The Word is always near to us, and all we need to do is ask, seek or knock. (See Luke 11:9-10) However, Belovéd, if we are not near our Lord when we ask we might net be able to discern his answer. Every prayer we make is heard, and every prayer heard is answered! If the answer we get is not the answer we desire, then our Good God is telling us, “That’s enough of that!” 

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.


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

Pages Email Newsletter
Categories Archives Connect

  • Connct to us here