Exploring the depth of our prayers
There’s a philosophy which declares that God is unnecessary. The universe and all of reality came from … nothing.
It spontaneously sproinged into existence from absolutely nothing.
Perhaps this is the trillionth universe that actually worked, that up till now they resulted in nothing interesting at all.
I strive to be a good father, I really do. But all the demons come out of the woodwork to point out my shortcomings and failings.
My goal, then, is to look to our ideal Heavenly Father, God Almighty, for inspiration and guidance.
God is all loving, but that doesn’t mean soft. We’ve mixed up the two concepts. Love, in fact, can sometimes feel harsh and rigid.
Our readings today reinforce the message that we’re all in this together.
It’s a particularly counter-cultural thought, because our country does its best to celebrate individual accomplishment, independence, and self-sufficiency. Which is all good, I suppose, but the fact is that God created us as society, not just a billion random beings on a planet.
I was talking with a guy recently who is writing a book about becoming an elder. Continue reading “Us”
Here we are, the traditional “birthday” of the Church. It’s interesting that we view this as attached an event of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit – not of one of the apostles.
Even Peter.
It’s about the complete mental flip they had to make. From follower to leader. From focusing on the Jesus they had lived with for three years, to a much, much bigger picture.
Today is the Third Day.
We are here, in joyous hope and unbelievable gratitude for what our God has given us.
And it’s for me, personally, not just the big picture of Saving Humanity. Which is great, of course.
There are lots of ideas about why Jesus descended to Hell between His death and resurrection. I’m no theologian, so I read some of the discussions but I confess that I don’t really know what was going on there.
And I’m OK with that. My understanding will continue to develop. And maybe this is one of the things I won’t understand until I’m on the other side of death myself.
For me, though, I’m pondering the idea that … Jesus went to Hell, yes, but then He came back.
The more I learn about crucifixion, the more horrified I am.
It’s an unbelievably terrible way to treat someone. And a terrible way to die.
Of course, I want my own death to be peaceful. Quiet. Private.
When we talk about the Trinity, we have a customary order. Father first. Son second. Holy Spirit third.
I’m wondering if there’s a deeper reason for this.
I’ve heard that it might have something to do with the Son proceeding from the Father, while the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Maybe just me, but that doesn’t seem like a compelling reason. I might use that logic to reverse the order, as I did in the first sentence of this paragraph.
God doesn’t make it easy.
I’d like to think that if I’m a good person, and I obey all the commandments, then I’m good to go. Got my golden ticket into heaven and all that.
But the fact is that we don’t know the future, and we don’t even know the present.
In our modern Christian language, we throw around the phrase “Jesus is Lord!” with great abandon. It conveys a sense of hope and acknowledgement that Jesus our Great Holy One, worthy of praise and honor.
Which is totally fine, but it’s not the whole story.
The concept of “Lord” existed even before the time of Jesus. But what did it mean?