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Aloha pumehana, Beloved, on this Aloha Friday. Today I am remembering a Bible verse I learned from my Kindergarten Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Wright. There are two verses that carry the same message, so I will place both of them here:

Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.
And a similar verse …
Colossians 3:20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.

There is a story connected to the verse from Ephesians that became part of our family’s oral traditions. When I originally learned the verse, it was spoken as “Children obey your parents in the Lord for Mrs. Wright.” (see also 936AFC090409) My mom and dad – and especially Mrs. Wright – told that story often, and even now as I remember it, the good things in the part of my past bring me a happy feeling of peace and connection to my family as the principle source of guidance in the formation of my faith.

From time to time we have seen emails that contain prayers kids recite or make up on their own, incidents were words are misconstrued, or where the simplicity of their prayers exposes the profundity of their faith. I’ve sifted through some of those and here are some of my favorites.
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A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically
impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a
very large mammal its throat was very small.

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.

The little girl said, “When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah.”

The teacher asked, “What if Jonah went to hell?”

The little girl replied, “Then you ask him.”

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The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray:

“Take only ONE. God is watching.”

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.

A child had written a note, “Take all you want. God is watching the apples.”

Sometimes unexpected words show up in familiar prayers:

• Our Father, Art, in heaven …
• Hail Mary, full of grapes ….
• Hour Father who art in heaven, Howard be thy name …
• A little girl name her cross-eyed Teddy Bear “Gladly” because her Sunday School class sang the hymn, “Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear”
• The Sunday School teacher asked, “Why should you be quiet when sitting with your parents in church?” The little girl answered, “‘Cause my daddy’s asleep?”
• “What’s God’s Name?” “Andy” “Andy? Why would you say that?” “You know, in the song, ‘Andy walks with me. Andy talks with. Andy tells me I am his own.”
• Several children found a dead robin. Feeling that a proper burial should be performed, they secured a small box and some cotton batting, dug a hole in the back yard, and made ready to dispose of the deceased. The minister’s 5-year-old son was chosen to say the prayer. And so with great dignity, he intoned, “Glory be to the Father…and unto the Son…and into the hole he goes.”
• After explaining the commandment to honor your father and mother, a Sunday School teacher asked her class if there was a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters.
One boy, the oldest in his family, immediately answered, “Thou shalt not kill.”

There are of course hundreds more stories like these. If you have a few hanging around in your in-box or My Documents folder, forward them to me so I can put them in the MBN library.

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Yesterday I sent you a quick note asking for your prayers for the people and island of Haiti. There is still some danger of far-reaching after-effects of hurricane Tomas. Please continue to pray for their protection, and also continue to support the restoration of Haiti with your prayers and your dollars – and if you can even GO there, let us know so we can pray for you there as well.

In addition remember:

• FO, recently diagnosed with cancer and facing many decisions
• Jesus we pray for All the Peoples especially those suffering in Haiti (Daniel & Patterson), Pakistan, Chile, Darfur and in Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the Philippines, Indonesia and in other disasters both natural and man-made over the entire world. We pray for Christians and for people of all faiths who are being persecuted for their beliefs.
• BL – Contemplating a religious vocation; strength and sanctity in her discernment
• BW – healing and access to healthcare
• B R – Reconciliation and renewal
• CD – meaningful work closer to home
• DO – stabilized health
• PF – much joy in life in these waning years
• CA – strength and optimism to support exceptional skills at work; positive outcomes for current projects
• DN and family – Peace of mind and great

1043AFC102210 Happy Aloha Friday Beloved! Here is the Scripture for the day.

1 Peter 2:4-5
NIV 4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
KJV 4 Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, 5 and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

(The Old Testament references are Isaiah 28:16, 1 Peter 2:8, and Romans 11:11)

The Stone which the builders rejected has become the Corner Stone, the Foundation on which all else is built, by building on that foundation, we too become living stones that form a Holy structure wherein God is loved, worshipped, adored, praised, and glorified. (Ps 118:22, Matt 21:42, Mark 12:10, and especially Luke 20:17)

It is a beautiful thought to contemplate being built into the Everlasting City the Spiritual edifice of the Christian community, as Living Stones. Just for fun, Google “Living Stones” and read some of the insights. Here is a story which expresses another beautiful thought.

What a beautiful thought!
On November 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an awesome sight. He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.

By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play.

But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap – it went off like gunfire across the room. There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do. We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches, and limp his way off stage – to either find another violin or else find another string for this one. But he didn’t. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes, and then signaled the conductor to begin again.

The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before. Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that. You could see him modulating, changing, and re-composing the piece in his head. At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before.

When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium. We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done.

He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said – not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone – “You know – sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.”

What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows – perhaps that is the definition of life – not just for artists but also, for all of us. Here is a man who has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, who – all of a sudden – in the middle of a concert, finds himself with only three strings; so he makes music with three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made before, when he had four strings. So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.

~~The World-Famous Author, Anonymous

It is not what you are nor what you have been that God sees with all-merciful eyes, but what you desire to be when you are freed for what you do not need. Please visit Genesis 9:1-13 (God’s covenant with Noah), Psalm 102 (the afflicted man sees impermanence and ruin, but God is eternal and merciful), and Mark 8:27-33 (Peter rebukes Jesus for saying He is going to die, and Jesus rebukes Peter for doubting what He had said).

James 4:8-10. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

If you do that, you will be amazed at how much music comes from what you have left after you have emptied out your pride, your sin, and your duplicity.

If you think that doesn’t work, try it again. Get closer still. Please. He will come near to you through the power of His Grace.

“Before you can clean the fish, you first have to catch it.”

Please pray for our leaders locally and nationally, for our soldiers at home and abroad, for the sick and the hungry. Pray for wisdom for our leaders and for ourselves as we prepare to elect more leaders soon. Pray especially for those who make excuses for not noticing that God has called them to Himself.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved
chick

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Happy Aloha Friday, Beloved. Today’s Bible passage is from Chapter 12 of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Last week on October 8, we looked at verses 1 & 2. Two weeks ago we looked at Proverbs 13:10 – about contentious pride. This week concludes a sort of triad of thoughts included in those passages. I promise I will try to be brief. Here is the selection for this week.

Romans 12: 17-21
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[1] 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

[1] Prov. 25:21, 22

So, looking at our previous passages, Paul reinforces the idea that being contentious arises from pride of character or failure to submit one’s mental and physical passions to God’s rule. We should not do that, but instead, with genuine humility, we should seek to honor others at least as much – if not more that – ourselves. God is better at meting out punishment; after all His just and Mercy are each perfect whereas ours certainly are not. It takes a great deal of strength to bless your enemies, to feed them, quench their thirst, and to love them rather than curse them (See Matthew 5:43-48. Seriously. Look it up, please.)

But hold on, what’s this about setting your enemies on fire? You care for and nurture them so you can torture them better? No, you are right. That doesn’t make sense. When I chose this passage, I chose it because there are some fascinating critiques on this subject, and I want to share some of them with you so that perhaps your perspective may be widened or deepened. I will cite the link from which I bring you each of these comments;

Heap coals of burning fire
http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~cmadd01/coalfire.html

What does it mean to heap coals of fire upon someone’s head? This has been described as a reference to an Oriental custom. A fire in the center of a village was kept going day and night. This fire was used to light the fires in individual homes each day. Every morning a village youth would put a container on his head, and hot coals would be heaped into it. He would then go from house to house distributing the hot coals so that the villagers could start their fires. On cold days this was an enviable job, since the heat from the coals of fire kept the head and hands of the youth warmed. To heap coals of fire on someone’s head, then, means to warm him, and, by extension, to bless him.

This sounds like a reasonable explanation, even though some problems become evident when you think about it. On mornings that are not so cold, it seems that this could be a very uncomfortable job. Also, the youth was kept warm as he went about doing good to others. The reference is to someone who is actively doing evil. Still, the explanation seems plausible.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080320161555AADYOv5
It means to treat someone who wrongs you with extra kindness, above and beyond the norm and in spite of whatever they have done to you. It usually shocks the person and points out to them that they have done something wrong.

http://www.zianet.com/maxey/Roman25.htm
Behind the words in Greek: The Greek word anthrax, translated “burning coals,” appears only this one time in the NT, and it is from this word that we get our English word “anthrax” (which signifies a fiery boil or ulcer; an infectious, usually fatal disease of cattle, sheep, etc., which can be transmitted to man; it is characterized by malignant, burning pustules).

[The first time I heard this my head was buzzing with questions about how Paul tied this into the passage in proverbs.] The Greek word soreuo appears only twice in the NT (here and II Tim. 3:6). It signifies a heaping up into a pile. “To overwhelm with a heaping together of anything” (Thayer, p. 612).

“It is clear that the ‘coals of fire’ which are to be heaped on the head are meant to melt and soften the heart, and cause it to glow with love. There may be also included the burning pangs of shame felt by a man whose evil is answered by good. But these are secondary and auxiliary to the true end of kindling the fire of love in his alienated heart” (Maclaren, p. 302-303).

“Coals of fire are doubtless emblematical of pain. Burning coals heaped on a man’s head would be expressive of intense agony. But the pain will result from shame, remorse of conscience, a conviction of the evil of his conduct, and an apprehension of divine displeasure that may lead to repentance” (Barnes, p. 289).

“The metaphor is supposed to be taken from the melting of metals, by covering the ore with burning coals. Thus understood, the meaning will be: In so doing, thou wilt mollify thine enemy, and bring him to a good temper” (MacKnight, p. 440-41).
So artists melt the sullen ore of lead,
By heaping coals of fire upon its head.
In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow,
And pure from dross the silver runs below.
— (Clarke, p. 142)
“Do not withhold from any man the offices of mercy and kindness; you have been God’s enemy, and yet God fed, clothed, and preserved you alive: do to your enemy as God has done to you” (Clarke, p. 142).

“The meaning of ‘heaping burning coals on his head’ is hardly open to doubt. It must refer to the burning pain of shame and remorse which the man feels whose hostility is repaid by love” (Expos. Greek, p. 694).
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When your enemies treat you with kindness and are conciliatory, are you more inclined to spring to a renewed attack, or return the kindness with the goal of reconciliation?

W-W-J-D ? Easy answer: Die for you to reconcile you to God.

Share-A-Prayer

• For E.L. who suffered a harrowing brush with death during a canoe-paddling race between Moloka`i and Maui: Pray for rapid and complete healing. And add in some thanksgiving and praise for the miraculous rescue.
• For M.H. who continues a brave stand against a cancer in her abdomen: Pray that as her body and spirit fight the illness, he faith will conquer it. Pray for the most ideal healing possible for her body, mind, and spirit.
• For C.D., separated from family for months on end: Pray that work in the vicinity of home can be found so the family can be reunited.
• For B.A. and his family: Continued strength, blessing, and courage.
• For N.B.: Discernment and wise choices to protect the future by accepting guidance and discipline in the present.
• For N.A: Continues in declining health which is bolstered by escalating faith. Despite many setbacks, the Pilgrim continues to bless others through unselfish service. Pray for a slowing of health problems and another big boost in faith.
• For the T.T.’s: Health, security, steady employment, and reconciliation.
• For everyone who prays for you and everyone who asks for your prayers – especially if you’ve never met or even heard of each other: Pray they will always find mercy and kindness in their hearts so that they can share the warmth of that with everyone – including their enemies and your enemies.

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

I love you. Thank you for all your kindness. You light up my life and give me the warmth of hope!

Chick