Thursday, February 23, 2012

Wahoooooooooo!!!!!!!

Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts and no one to thank. Christina Rossetti as quoted by Jan Karon in "Patches of Godlight"

Sisters' road trip, February 23-March 3!!!!!!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Neglect at Your Peril!

“Be careful to preserve your health. It is a trick of the devil, which he employs to deceive good souls, to incite them to do more than they are able, in order that they may no longer be able to do anything”
Vincent de Paul, Fr Roman Catholic Priest

To those who neglect themselves while caring for others in poor health I say, be careful that you do not become the one needing help and a burden.

I Timothy 5: 16
If any woman who is a believer has widows in her care, she should continue to help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.

5:26
Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Outside Natural Progression

“You have to go outside the sequence of engines, into the world of men, to find the real originator of the Rocket. Is it not equally reasonable to look outside Nature for the real Originator of the natural order?” C. S. Lewis Who Was RightDream Lecturer or Real Lecturer published as Two Essays in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics

Lewis is refuting the argument that a self-creating Universe is as plausible as an uncreated creator. In other words, to posit an uncreated Universe, one begins with no natural order and no laws of physics to drive the evolutionary process. An uncreated creator is the originator of order and natural progression.

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Praised or Insulted?

Praise does not always follow good nor insult evil.

“Praise makes good men better and bad men worse.”
Thomas Fuller (1654–1734), English physician, writer and adage collector.

Jesus put it this way: Luke 5:22-26
“Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.
“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.
For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. . . .
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Coinkydinkies

“And if we believe that God is everywhere, why should we not think Him present even in the coincidences that sometimes seem so strange? For, if He be in the things that coincide, He must be in the coincidence of those things.” George MacDonald, Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood

This quote reminds me of a dear friend who referred to coincidences as “coinkydinkies.” I miss her very much. It also reminds me of my husband who, when he sees an obvious blessing or answer to prayer, will say, “Coincidence? I don’t think so.”

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God still sends messages through living people on this earth, but even prophets must leave the power of “coincidence” in God’s hands. Christ himself did not predict nor presume anything outside of what was revealed to Him.

Luke 4:9-12
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
  to guard you carefully;
  they will lift you up in their hands,
  so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered, “It is said: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Deuteronomy 18:9-13
When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD; because of these same detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Men and Saints: Definitions

Grace is indeed needed to turn a man into a saint, and he who doubts it does not know what a saint or a man is. Section VII Morality and Doctrine, Blaise Pascal, 1909-14 Free copy:[ http://www.bartleby.com/48/1/7.html ]

We access Grace and Sainthood through the blood of Christ.

I John 1:5-10
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Lamebrains, Fools and Apostles

“We are fools for Christ’s sake,” Paul says in the first letter to the Corinthians. God is foolish, too, Paul says. God is foolish to choose for his holy work in the world the kind of lamebrains and misfits and nit-pickers and odd ducks and stuffed shirts and egomaniacs and milquetoasts and closet sensualists as are vividly represented by us all.
God is foolish to send us out to speak hope to a world that slogs along heart-deep in the conviction that things can only get worse . . . He is foolish to have us speak of loving our enemies when we have a hard enough time loving our friends . . . God is foolish to have us proclaim eternal life to a world that is half in love with death . . . God is foolish to send us out on a journey for which there are no maps, and to aim us in the direction of a goal we can never know until we get there. Such is the foolishness of God. And yet, and yet, Paul says, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.”
From a book of 'Uncollected Pieces' entitled, A Room Called Remember as quoted by Jan Karon in Patches of Godlight.

[ “lamebrains and misfits and nit-pickers and odd ducks and stuffed shirts and egomaniacs and milquetoasts and closet sensualists” -- I can be all of these.]

I Corinthians 4:9-13
God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.

II Corinthians 4:5-7
For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Pressing On

“Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.” Michelangelo

I suffer from this affliction, and I find it very frustrating. I can’t imagine why anyone would ask for it as a blessing.

Philippians 3:12-14
I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Torn

“What we need is not the old acceptance of the world as a compromise, but some way in which we can heartily hate and heartily love it. We do not want joy and anger to neutralize each other and produce a surly contentment; we want a fiercer delight and fiercer discontent. We have to see the universe at once as an ogre’s castle, to be stormed, and yet as out own cottage to which we can return at evening.”
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton [ http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/130 ]

G. K. Chesterton and Paul the Apostle practiced a highly emotional and conflicted Christianity.

Philippians 1:18-26
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

It Never Fails

"Christian love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will." C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

I Corinthians 13: 4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

Monday, February 13, 2012

She's All That

“The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.” G. K. Chesterton, as quoted by Jan Karon in Patches of Godlight.

“I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.” Florence Nightingale, as quoted by Jan Karon in Patches of Godlight.

Proverbs 31:10-31
A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still night;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her female servants.
She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Honor her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

God's Instrument

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig_WDJjydgg&feature=related

Friday, February 10, 2012

From Hope to Hope

"The natural progression of the mind is not from enjoyment to enjoyment, but from hope to hope."
Samuel Johnson, as sometimes quoted by C. S. Lewis, from Boswell’s Life of Dr. Johnson

Romans 12- A Living Sacrifice
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 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.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

God's Poema

Only science can tell you where and when you are likely to meet an elm; only poetry can tell you what meeting an elm is like. The one answers the question Whether, the other answers the question What.
C. S. Lewis, The Personal Heresy.

Ephesians 2:10 (KJV)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The Greek word from which "workmanship" is derived, is "poema" or poem. So we are God's poetry! What we will be, has not yet been made known.

1 John 3: 1-2
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Ordained

Every common day, he who would be a live child of the living God has to fight the God-denying look of things, to believe that in spite of their look, they are God’s and God is in them, and working His saving will in them. George MacDonald, Castle Warlock
Free download:  http://www.archive.org/details/castlewarlock00macdgoog

In Isaiah, God addresses Cyrus King of Persia, telling him that, though he does not acknowledge God, God will use him to do His bidding.

Isaiah 44:28 (NIV)
who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”
and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’

Isaiah 45:1-4 (NIV)
“This is what the LORD says to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
so that gates will not be shut:
I will go before you
and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
I will give you hidden treasures,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Humility

James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=u8WmAoM8kPs&NR=1

"Humility consists of seeing things as they are."
Charles Williams, quoting from the anonymous classic, The Cloud of Unknowing
Free download: http://www.archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing010851mbp

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble." Helen Keller
biography: http://www.afb.org/section.asp?SectionID=1&TopicID=129

Colossians 3: 23-24
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.


Monday, February 6, 2012

Portentous

“I never had been by any means a book-worm; but the very outside of a book had a charm to me. It was a kind of sacrament—an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace—as, indeed, what on God’s earth is not?"

“But there ought to be a place for any story, which, although founded in the marvelous, is true to human nature and to itself. Truth to Humanity, and harmony within itself, are almost the sole unvarying essentials of a work of art."
George MacDonald, excerpts from the introduction to The Portent
Free download:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8913
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8913/pg8913.html

Hebrews 11:1, 2 (NIV)
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Naked

“We need not remind ourselves of the furious barrage of advertisement by which people are flattered and frightened out of a reasonable contentment into a greedy hankering after goods which they do not really need; nor point out for the thousandth time how every evil passion—snobbery, laziness, vanity, concupiscence, ignorance, greed—is appealed to in these campaigns. . . .
“For it is the great curse of Gluttony that it ends by destroying all sense of the precious, the unique, the irreplaceable.” Dorothy L. Sayers, The Other Six Deadly Sins: An Address given to the Public Morality Council

I Timothy 6:6-10
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Job 1:21
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Gone Fishing

"I have been suspected of being what is called a fundamentalist. That is because I never regard any narrative as unhistorical simply on the ground that it includes the miraculous." C. S. Lewis in Reflections on the Psalms.

John 21- Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
 

Friday, February 3, 2012

All That I Need!

“We—or at least I—shall not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have learned no habit of doing so on the lowest. . . . Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy.” C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
http://youtu.be/60o3UP4Kjwg

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Unique Defeat

On this day in 1942 in an informal Socratic club debate, C. S. Lewis was handed his only recorded defeat by Elizabeth Anscombe, professor of philosophy. [ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anscombe/ ] Her point prompted him to make a small revision in his book Miracles. [ www.cslewis.org/resources/.../Study%20Guide%20-%20Miracles.pdf ]

Lewis’ apologies in defense of Christianity endure and resonate with those of Christian philosophers and theologians beginning with the Apostle Paul.

I Corinthians 15:12-28
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.