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Journal — December 2005 |
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AN ONGOING
SPIRITUAL WEBLOG
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| December 27, 2005
Christmas Day has passed, but the season continues.
Most Christians officially celebrate the Christmas Holiday
for at least a week. This is good because we need time
to absorb the true meaning. I’m not speaking of
the time leading up to Christmas, but rather the week
of reflection after December 25. Read the Gospel accounts
and ponder in your heart, just as Mary did, all the things
that make up God’s marvelous plan for us all.
Today is the Feast
Day of the Apostle John – sometimes referred
to as the Evangelist. His New Testament writings are
mystical and wonderful. The Gospel of John in many
ways is unlike the other three. And his letters speak
of God as love and that we cannot say we love God if
we don’t love others. Great stuff.
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December 25, 2005
A new day; a new life. Such a humble beginning when God came to us as one
of us. God with us. The purpose was so God could show us how God is in
each of us and that we can have unity and the most precious of all intimate
relationships. We cannot achieve our true purpose apart from God.
When the Christ child was born there was not the big fanfare that our world
today would expect. God arriving in the flesh - a miraculous occassion
- but it happened in a way that should send a message to us. If God chose,
through His son Jesus, the Messiah and Savior of the world, to identify
with the most poor and needy then how are we to receive that message? Indeed,
so much of Jesus' teachings are that how we treat others, especially those
in need, is the true way of following Him.
Today rejoice. Rejoice in the fullness of life and the great gift that
God came to us. He came to us! We may seek, but He's taking the lead by
coming to us and asking that He may dwell in us.
Merry Christmas!
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December 22, 2005
Goodwill for ALL should be the message people of faith carry throughout
the Christmas season. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the message coming
from Capitol Hill and many members of Congress. The Senate was deadlocked
on the budget bill, a vote of 50-50, and Vice President Cheney (President
of the Senate) had to cut short his diplomatic trip to the Mideast to cast
the tie-breaking vote. This budget contains many cuts to health care, child
support, and educational assistance to low-income families while further
lowering taxes for the wealthiest Americans and increasing the deficit
for our grandchildren.
However, the Senate did removed provisions from the conference report that
the House had passed at 6 a.m. Monday. This means the House must vote again
and it is urgent if you oppose this budget to contact your representatives
today! The vote is either today or Friday.
Remember what the Gospels declare - that we should help those in need,
the least of whom we are still doing for and to Jesus.
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December 19, 2005
There are many places in the Bible where God’s messengers appear
to people. Often these are what we refer to as angels. The typical response
is immediate awe and fear. Many of the people collapse in trepidation.
God breaking in to our everyday lives can be very intimidating. In history
people often had good reason to fear God – or what they conceived
God to be. They were scared of judgment from an angry God, when it was
humans who were actually judgmental, angry and violent.
It’s interesting that in nearly all ancient cultures there was some
form of human sacrifice. It was as if people somehow believed the way to
appease this God they so greatly feared was to sacrifice their best and
brightest. Yet this is not the message from God. He does not want us to
kill. The sacrifice he wants is our complete love and surrender of our
selfish egotistical interests.
At Christmas time angels appear often in liturgical readings. The angel
Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear a son who will be the Son
of God. Joseph is later assured that God’s plan is to work through
people, specifically Mary, for the birth of a savior (Emmanuel – God
among us) and to stay with her and trust God’s plan. John the Baptizer’s
father, Zechariah, had an angel appear to him while he was performing priestly
duties in the temple. He was told that his “barren” wife was
with child and they would have a son, John, who would be the advance man
for the Messiah.
These are marvelous and fantastic visits. Because fear freezes us and prevents
us from being open to God and really hearing His message the angels always
say first, “Fear Not”. Don’t be afraid this Christmas
season to open your heart to the loving God who so desires a relationship
with you that He comes to us as the “Word made flesh”.
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December 12, 2005
The Chronicles of Narnia, based on C.S.
Lewis' fantasy tales that have allegorical references to
Christianity (especially Aslan, the lion who gives his
life for others and is resurrected - clearly a Christ figure),
has opened to big box office receipts this past weekend
(see "Narnia
tops US and UK box offices" at BBC News)..
The world of Narnia has been beautifully captured on the big screen and
just as the Lord of the Rings sparked a lot of discussion
about philosophy, religion and spirituality, Narnia will surely do the
same. Be sure to check out some of the sites on the World Wide Web that
will assist in encouraging this discussion. There is the Narnia
Resources site that has trailers, reviews and ways to be involved
with the movie in your community. Over at Hollywood
Jesus there is always great information on contemporary films,
focusing on the spiritual connections. Also be sure to visit Christianity
Today' s special section.
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December 9, 2005
Seeking God is an act of worship. I find nothing inconsistent with becoming
a believer in the One True God and still being a seeker. I know that you
can be a seeker without believing in God. But, the very act of seeking
something bigger than you – something that is spiritual and provides
meaning and purpose for life (yours and everyone else’s) is an act
of faith.
God is seeking a relationship with you. However you discover that is great.
I personally believe that the loving One God became one of us – Jesus
Christ – to demonstrate that God cares personally about all of us
and to show us how to have a relationship with God by living in harmony
with others by loving everyone. God loves everyone. He’s just asking
us to do the same.
Of course there is a swirling debate about the “right” way
to connect to God. My own experience shows me that debating about the “correct” way
to believe and worship is counter productive. If you come in contact with
another person that wants to find a relationship with God that is a cause
for rejoicing. Open-minded and honest discussion will do much more for
encouraging spiritual growth than demanding that a person accept a set
of rules and definitions.
Eventually as we grow in our concept of this loving God we will desire
to live the way God hopes we will. Spiritual maturity is measured by how
much we are willing to love, serve and forgive (true Christianity). Those
are fine “rules for living”. You might even call them Universal
Principles.
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December 7, 2005
I have a routine each morning for reading, prayer and meditation. I have
to do it – or suffer the consequences. When I don’t do this
daily discipline I become more easily annoyed at life’s little challenges.
And I don’t feel as connected to God.
One of the books I like to read from is Positive
Thinking Every Day: An Inspiration for Each Day of the Year by Norman
Vincent Peale. He has lots of insightful and practical advice.
Today’s entry was about prayer and how we shouldn’t be praying
with a list of requests and think something’s wrong when our prayers
are not answered. If we are praying to get something we are using prayer
wrong. Instead we should pray that we can accept God’s will for us
and that we can open ourselves us to what God wants for us.
That’s great advice. God works through people so must rely on Him
and trust His goodness that He will put us in the paths of others who can
help us or be helped by us. We must remember that concentrating on getting
our own way gets us in the way.
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December 2, 2005
The latest issue of our Living the Solution newsletter went
out Wednesday. If you are subscribed, thank you. If not you can register here or
read it online here.
My opening thoughts for this issue have been with me for a couple of days,
and I'm reprinting them for today's Journal entry.
Most of us live in a culture where waiting is uncomfortable. We want what
we want and right away. When the Holidays come around we get busier instead
of quiet and we don’t pause and wait for inspiration.
You may be waiting for a number of things. Waiting for news on a loved
one, a health issue, a job offer or an answer to your problems. It’s
hard to wait. But the alternative is to push ahead and we might end up
doing something we will later regret. If you know what you should do then
it may be best not to delay. But if you don’t have your answer consider
that God may not be saying no – He may just be saying wait.
When Mary was given the news that she would have a son by the power of
the Almighty God you have to believe this news was startling. Scripture
tells us she accepted the news with a submission to God’s will. No
easy thing. All the waiting during her pregnancy must have brought some
wondering about it all. As Christmas approaches we can spend time waiting
and preparing for God to enter into our lives in a renewed way.
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| Read past Journal entries here. |
Scripture taken from the
Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved
throughout the world. Used by permission of International
Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of
International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for the offering of
goods or services requires the prior written consent of International Bible
Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living
Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All rights reserved.
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PSALM 118:24
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"This
is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad
in it."
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(NIV)
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