Categories
Meditations

INSIDE THE GATE

Suggested Scripture: Psalm 147; Luke 22: 39 – 53
Scripture Emphasis:
Psalm 147: 13-14
He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.
He grants Peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
“A picture is worth a thousand words” is an English language adage. It refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single picture”. That adage is true. It is also true that there are some pictures, imprisoned in a person’s mind, which cause such an emotional response as to render words attempting to describe the image, completely impotent. The incident of the Hebrew tribe held captive in Babylon, longing for the familiarity of their beloved homeland is impossible to capture, either by visual art or in mere words because tears remain impossible to translate.
” By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and, we wept when we remembered Zion.” (Psalm 137)
The Scripture emphasis for this meditation falls into the same category of indescribable emotions. Permit yourself to shadow the main character in  Psalm147, and try, as hard as that may be, to capture something of the feelings herein or in your own experience under similar circumstances.
You are now all alone, and in that meditative mode, where a deep silence is touching and infiltrating everything. Completely uninvited by you, your mind suddenly produces thoughts of your present situation. There is a marked absence of the sounds and the images, still fresh in your mind, from a recent newscast. There is no sound of gunfire, nor harsh commands directed at you. Nothing interrupts your reverie. You are at home, and the serenity of your dearly loved homeland seeps into every pore of your body, resulting in a sigh of perfect contentment. The surrounding Peace is pregnant with thoughts of the Divine, prompting you to turn your eyes unto the surrounding hills and mouth the words, “I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord.”  Without any movement or stir to suggest otherwise, you become aware that you are no longer alone. This present experience is so pleasurable for you that you long to share it with the most precious people to you in all the world, and so your family members are all here! Not in physical form, but rather united with you in spirit. In reality, all of them are hundreds of miles from you, having left home a long time ago to embrace lives of their own. “The tie that binds their hearts to your’s is blessed indeed. Distance has no meaning now! In an instant, miles are absolved, and you are all together, sharing in this exquisite moment of bliss! The experience may extend even further, to include the presence of ” someone loved long since and lost awhile.” You brush aside a tear and then lovingly you commit each into the arms of God once more!
Further, without breaking the mystique of the moment, there comes tripping into your consciousness, thoughts of kindness and the expressions of genuine love that binds this community together, like a family, where everyone has all things in common, and one man’s larder is never empty while another’s is full! (see Acts 2). The present view from your window begs admission into your meditation. It is of a meadow where a father, mother, and their seven children are engaging in the reaping of a bountiful harvest! Now let your dreaming end!
In reality, neither paint nor pen can capture the essence of such an experience as this, as beautiful as that representation may be.  What are the emotions which lie concealed inside the heart? Love? Gratitude? Faithfulness? A sense of sheer Awesomeness?   If the experiences recorded above come anywhere close to reflecting your own, then perhaps this is the moment to amplify the voice of the Psalmist’s Praise: ” Praise Your God, all you people! “Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet— Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”  ( Alfred Lord Tennyson) 2.
 Herein is meaning given to the essential ingredient for true Worship!  Worship begins within the privacy of an individual’s soul. That moment transports one beyond the usefulness of words and representations of any sort! We must embrace the Eternal One, Who comes to embrace each one who takes the time to be still and know that He has indeed come to us at that given moment!
It is significant, as well as being a thing of beauty, that some things, thought to be ordinary by one person, can be vested with an ability to stir another person deeply. The British Romantic Poet, William Wordsworth expresses something of this thought in ” My Heart Leaps Up”: ” My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! ” 3.
In Psalm 147:13, the mention of ” A barred gate” evokes such deep feelings in me, from early childhood to this present moment. “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within your walls. He grants Peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.” Ps. 147:13)  It is always possible to dismiss the immediate application of any particular text in Scripture and to concentrate upon the differences in time and space. Be that as it may, I must, on this occasion, yield to my experience of this text. It is the barred gate, and the protection it affords, that demands my attention from childhood and to this hour!
Sitting, as it does close to the roadway, it was the reason why at the end of the lane from the back yard of my boyhood home, there was a gate. The gate was constructed of solid wood and bore all the signs of workmanship by one who toiled with pride and purpose. It was a ‘horned gate’ that was bolted snugly in place to the adjacent gatepost by a  ‘U’  shaped iron instrument. But a more captivating detail yet awaits mention! It was the iron bar on the inside of the gate which remained in the blocking position except briefly to allow access or exit for the neighbor’s children and our friends. It is that barred gate that provides for me, even yet, moments of both ecstasy and refreshing uplift! The barred gate came to symbolize much of the essential preparation for the life we would yet experience.
Inside the gate, we learned about many of the ingredients that go into a healthy, and meaningful life!  There was the art of ‘getting along’ with others; the necessity of compromise without surrendering truth and honor! We learned how essential it is, to always be honest, and trustworthy. Inside that barred gate, we learned the importance of discipline and how disobedience brings with it consequences.  Within, there was unconditional love! Not that we kids, and there were seven of us, never quarreled, but within the confines of the space behind the barred gate, there was always a voice of profound wisdom. Love is never permitted to fail.  And that lesson is even more challenging to learn when the immediate family circle is stretched to include our friends and neighbors. The doing unto others as you would have them do unto you isn’t always easily accomplished! This is always a challenge but a fundamental life lesson to be learned!
Although tragic circumstances produced the situation that made it impossible for us children to own all the many things that others owned; behind the barred gate, we came to discover that we had something to be treasured more than things, we had each other!
The barred gate reminds me of something more yet! In no way was the gate barred to shield us from the harsher realities of life. On the contrary, inside this gate, we were constantly learning how to face the challenges that await everyone in the broader field. The gate suggests to me a place of refuge inside which I find safety. Within this space, I will always be welcome ( if now but only in my meditation and dreams). There I still find healing and restoration after failing to realize some higher dream, or when I am wounded or weary. I recall how here we were permitted to dream, but not allow dreams ‘to be our masters.’ Further, we learned that all things and every dream could yet be accomplished through faith in God. And our mother’s life bore eloquent witness to that certainty.
An older man  I am now, who is compelled all the more to ” Praise the Lord.” for the barred gate!
I am unable to tell you that my days in ministry have never been without loneliness, heartache, sorrow, and failure. There have been days, when like Peter, following his anguish for his failure, after Jesus’ crucifixion, announced to his friends, ” I am going fishing.” So have I thought of doing just that, many a day. It is then that I push open the gate,and going through, I meet the Master face to face. And then at His behest, I am ready “to brave another cruise.”
Each of You also has a gate, through which you may go to meet the Master Face to Face, and may that meeting fill your heart with endless praise.
You Are Invited To Make The Following Prayer Your Own
Jesus, My Lord,
Sometimes I feel unworthy to step inside the gate! When in my thoughts I see You kneeling in prayer, asYou were praying in the Garden of Gethsemane; as much as I desire to steal quietly to Your side, and just kneel there beside you, I am reluctant to intrude upon such a sacred moment! It is my sense of unworthiness that suggests my next action should be to tip-toe away into the silence of the night. I am stopped in my tracks when I hear my name on Your lips! You are praying for me! My heart feels the magnetic pull of Your love unleashed, Jesus! The next thing I know, I am kneeling at Your side!  I try to pray and the only words that escape my lips, in a mixture of excited disbelief and gratitude, are, ” You remembered me. Today I am with You here in Paradise!”
“Be not afraid, Lo I am with you always,” I hear You say.” You will yet come to realize that wherever we are together, that is Paradise! In life, in death, in life beyond death, we are together, and that is Paradise! Arise, now and let us go forward and invite everyone we meet to join us in a living Paradise”. Amen
I Come To The Garden Alone  ( Please click on the link below
https://www.facebook.com/echoofdeliverance/videos/1907187279301544/
Editorial Notes
1. The Scripture references are from NIV translation
2. Alfred Lord Tennyson. The Higher Pantheism.
      https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45323/the-higher-pantheism
3. William Wordsworth. My Heart Leaps Up.https://poets.org/poet/william-wordsworth
Categories
Meditations

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SEA

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”     John 14:23

 

 
Scripture Reference: 7 7: 19   (Please read Psalm 77 in its entirety}

“Your way was through the waves, You crossed the deep-sea, But Your footprints could not be seen.”(RSV)
This Psalm is for the lethargic of spirit when it seems that God is just beyond the reach of a human’s present experience. It is a Psalm that comes readily to mind when the din of the world is making it impossible to detect the gentle footfall of God. Look, and listen to the confusing wonders, and the constant buzz in this technological world, and you will likely hear an expression of longing for some simpler thoughts. Thoughts that are not unlike those enshrined in the words of the poet, William Blake: ” And Did Those Feet?”
         ” And  did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the Holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?” William Blake (2)
Psalm 77 is a lament by one who finds that things are not as they once were. The ‘Glory Days,’ when God was a Presence, walking in a Garden, in the cool of the day, are over. Rigor Mortis of the soul has already set in.  Hints of despair are everywhere and touching almost everyone. Who are they after all but,
“Infants crying in the night,
Infants crying for the light,
And with no language but a cry?” Alfred Lord Tennyson (3)
It is this melancholy mood that triggers the soul to ponder whether or not it is “a kind benevolence” that sits upon the throne of the universe. Hear this poor man’s unrefined utterance of despair: “Will the Lord reject us forever? Will He never show His favor again? Has His unfailing love vanished forever? Has His promise failed for all time?”( v. 7)
But what does one do when there is only a mocking silence from everything that previously served as powerful mantras?
The author of Psalm 77 evokes deep pathos in us by his efforts to find the way back to the vibrant expressions of yesteryear’s faith. There is irrefutable evidence of God’s Omnipotence in the annals of Hebrew history. Would not a visit, at least in thought, to the beaches of the Red Sea, be an antidote against their present doubts? For it was there that God had won, for this man’s forebears, a dramatic victory against the Egyptian enemy.
The appeal to history, on its own, proved insufficient for him. The sound of the natural ebb and flow of the ceaseless tide sounded like a funeral dirge to his expectations. The tell-tale signs that their God had been vindicated, by an epic feat against the Egyptian foe, were altogether absent!  The footprints of the Divine are invisible to the physical eye. All that they have now to remind them of that intervention by God, are the legends told by the Sages and the Prophets.

But what about their more recent incidents of God’s omnipresence?  Where is that irrefutable evidence in answer to their skeptics, who inflicted torment on them with their unrelenting demand to know: Where is your God? No such experiences come immediately to this man’s mind. Those he can recall are now conveyors of painful nostalgia: ” I remembered You, O God, and I groaned, I mused, and my spirit grew faint.”  (v 3-6)

Now memories, as abiding as they may promise to be cannot, by themselves, be depended upon to be a cure for the loss of faith’s vitality. As troubling as this thought may be, it is true that memory may become like footprints in the sea.
Frail memory can never take the place of a living Faith!

It must remain clear in our minds, that the main Character, in this incident from Old Testament Scripture, is living before the advent of the Christian Gospel. The Gospel introduces an entirely new approach to the spiritual quest undertaken by the individual. While there is no overestimating the critical role that this man’s memory of past encounters with the Divine, plays in his spiritual journey, memory itself is now transcended by ‘ A Presence,’ the Presence of the Risen Christ. No more is there an existent danger that His footprints will become completely obliterated from the sands of time.
It is noteworthy that one of the  thieves dying on a cross next to Jesus  makes the request: ” Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
Jesus dismisses the ” memory part” of the dying man’s request, and replaces it with absolute positive assurance,” Today you shall be with me in Paradise.” It is the Faith revealed by the dying man’s belief that Jesus could, and would do something for him that enabled Jesus to respond as He did!   ( Luke 23:42)
Earlier, Jesus’ disciples in their battle with a vicious storm, observing  Him walking to them on water, never permit themselves to ponder which physical laws His action is violating.  It is the fact of His loving Presence there with them that completely occupies their consciousness, not whether or not His footprints are marking the waves.  Those footprints, for those disciples, are the starting line of a new Spiritual journey. And the truth remains forever, that because of the Resurrection, no generation will ever discover that the ebb and flow of time will ever obliterate those Footprints that are beside them!
His footprints are the current markings of the Risen Christ who walks beside every journeying pilgrim on the sea of life.
One final observation demands our undivided attention. In time, the ancient Hebrews learned that WORDS were not enough to ensure a relevant, living, pertinent faith in God. The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah foretold it: ” For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” ( Isaiah 9:6)
It is to our commission, as followers of Jesus, to ensure that”The WORD that became flesh” (John 1: 14) never becomes just a word in the world again! If that happens, Faith slinks away into the shadows, and the Resurrection of Jesus is declared to be null and void.
“And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long ‘
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Hallelujah!
But lo! There breaks a yet more glorious day;
The Saints’ triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of Glory passes on His way
Hallelujah!
From earth’s wide bounds from oceans farthest coasts,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Hallelujah!       
You are invited to make the following prayer your own
O Christ, You stand in our world in Resurrected Glory.  Behind You there stands Your tomb now emptied of the contents placed within it on Friday; To Your right hand, stark against the skyline, there are three crosses atop of Golgotha! We implore You now, Living Lord, to teach us again the lessons You desire us to bring into the thirsty, broken world that is our home.
Raised from the dead by the Hand of God,
Jesus my Victor,
You desire each one of us to sit at Your wounded feet and learn anew from You, the Wisdom that sets all people free. Free us from the chains of prejudice, greed, hatred, and ignorance. And as God broke the chains of death that held You captive, so may God on our last day liberate us from the grip of death
Behind You, there is Your tomb empty now 
Jesus, my Saviour,
may every burden be lifted from my weary soul; every consuming worry about the future;  every unkind thought that cripples each offer of present happiness, may all these find a place in Your empty tomb, to be sealed away from me forever?
You see people in our midst still carrying their crosses.
Jesus, Cross Bearer of the world,
we see those people too! They still stand as virulent  symbols of “man’s inhumanity to man.” Wherever little children are separated from their parents because of war, or by famine or by the corrupted will of man, there stands a cross. When men and women are persecuted because of the color of their skin, there stands a cross. Wherever anyone is treated as being of lesser value, or as being less deserving than we ourselves, there stands a cross.
Help me, Lord Jesus, never to treat another human being unkindly.
  On the day when  I stand before You, with all those  whom I’ve encountered on my life’s journey,  may I not feel shame when You say to someone I considered undeserving, “Verily, verily I say unto You today you are with Me in Paradise.”Rather, as undeserving as I, myself may be, in Your mercy, and for Your Love’s sake, grant me a place in Your Kingdom. Amen
Hymn: For All The Saints **

https://youtu.be/1OaBgaMcOvM

 

 EDITORIAL NOTES

1.(To gain a complete understanding of the meditation that follows,   a reading of the whole of Psalm 77 will be most helpful in addition to John 20: 24 – 31.

2. William Blake,” AND DID THOSE FEET” .https://hymnary.org/text/and_did_those_feet_in_ancient_time

3.Alfred Lord Tennyson,” IN MEMORIAM”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45341/in-memoriam-a-h-h-obiit-mdcccxxxiii-54

4.Photo: Michael’s Harbor, Newfoundland – Scene taken from our patio, at “SHALOM ” 2018.

Categories
Meditations

THE EASTER AFTERGLOW

 

Scripture Reading: Acts  2:32 – 47

Scripture Reference  –

Acts 2:43″ Everyone was filled with awe, at the  many wonders
and miraculous signs that were done by the apostles.
All the believers were together and had everything  in common.”
Here is an eye witness account of His Story which stands to inspire to the end of the ages!
Later historians do not attempt to capture the details of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, as St. Luke does. But then, two distinct purposes are seeking expression here.  The reason later historians undertake the writing of the event is to record the natural response to something which they perceive to have had a beginning and an ending. Luke’s concern, on the other hand, is to document the spiritual impact on individuals by heavenly stimuli, which as such, has a  beginning but as yet has no discernible ending!
One can never hope to understand the Easter event by a simple reading of some curt phrase  about ‘ something out of the ordinary that happened.’ By comparison, Luke’s account contains a haunting likelihood that this something may well happen to you, the reader. The Easter event has been carried into every successive generation to be a “Living Presence” in the world. In this unique way, it is unlike any other incident recorded in history. The Easter event has kept breaking out of every tomb which the world assigned to be its final resting place!
Men, who had grown fearful and timid under the threats of a bullying world, squared their shoulders and went out to meet the most horrible deaths in the Roman arenas, defiantly chanting, ” The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, Jesus, the Lord is victorious!” And that became a defining fact to complete the full record of the Easter event!  Herein is found the reason for the sense of awe prevailing everywhere following the pronouncement,” Now is Christ risen from the dead.”
It is detrimental to the future of this once vibrant religion, which once did stir people to be involved in such daring acts, for us to observe how in this modern-day that same religion creeps at snail pace toward its tomb. But yet, it is not enough for us merely to observe the facts of history that are beginning to pave the way to the ending of the Easter Event, which God intends to be Eternal! The need in this hour is for men and women to permit themselves to become caught up in the power of Jesus Christ risen from the dead, and not to be afraid of being seen as participants in the awesomeness that was everywhere in the early church! The present situation demands a response from every single individual. Are you going to permit the Easter Event to be locked in the tomb of ancient history, as something that had a beginning but long since has also had an ending? Or is it your witness that the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is something that happened, and is still happening  (to you), and will go on including your children and their children forever?
The Easter event keeps on happening! Easter, when it is faithfully celebrated still brings a sense of awe everywhere! People’s better selves imprisoned within, burst forth to bless the world; defeated ones overcome by painful memories of what they might have been, awake to welcome the springtime of renewed hope, and become messengers of God’s renewal to the thousands held in the death grip of endless winter!
How different the outcome for our churches, now lumbering forward with leaden steps, if Christians choose to engage, with sincere trust, the Christ Who invites them to share in the Power of His Resurrection!  The world appears dull and grey while waiting for something significant enough to claim its allegiance; youth await someone big enough to demand their full commitment. Can we pretend not to know Him still?
T.S. Eliot’s’  “Murder In The Cathedral” captures for me, in a most compelling way, the power of Christ’s Resurrection, which I long to see emulated in the church of today.
The archbishop, Thomas Becket, following an extremely bitter dispute with King Henry 11, some years previously, now returns from exile to assume his position, as the Archbishop of Canterbury Cathedral. The unforgiving king craftily plans the Archbishop’s assassination soon after his return. When the king’s assailants arrive at the doors of the Cathedral to perform their dastardly deed, the priests, fearing the outcome, bar all the doors to protect their Archbishop.
The following lines are quoted from the above-mentioned drama.
Thomas Becket, the Archbishop, and the Priests:
 “Priests: Bar the door. Bar the door. The door is barred. We are safe. We are safe. The enemy may rage outside, he will tire in vain. They cannot break in. They dare not break in. They cannot break in. They have not the force. We are safe. We are safe.
Thomas: Unbar the doors! throw open the doors! I will not have the house of prayer, the church of Christ, The sanctuary, turned into a fortress. The Church shall protect her own, in her own way, not As oak and stone; stone and oak decay. Give no stay, but the Church shall endure. The church shall be open, even to our enemies. Open the door!
Priest: My Lord! these are not men, these come not as men come, but Like maddened beasts. They come not like men, who Respect the sanctuary, who kneel to the Body of Christ, But like beasts. You would bar the door Against the lion, the leopard, the wolf or the boar. Why not more  Against beasts with the souls of damned men, against men Who would damn themselves to beasts. My Lord! My Lord!

Thomas: Unbar the door! You think me reckless, desperate and mad. You argue by results, as this world does. To settle if an act is good or bad. You defer to the fact. For every life and every act Consequence of good and evil can be shown. And as in time results of many deeds are blended So good and evil in the end become confounded. It is not in time that my death shall be known; It is out of time that my decision is taken If you call that decision To which my whole being gives entire consent. I give my life To the Law of God above the Law of Man. Unbar the door! unbar the door! We are not here to triumph by fighting, by stratagem, or by resistance. Not to fight with beasts as men. We have fought the beast  And have conquered. We have only to conquer Now, by suffering. This is an easier victory. Now is the triumph of the Cross, now Open the door! I command it. open the door! ( 2)

Now it is your turn to open the door and to pass into a new experience of ” the triumph of the Cross”, and let your church, and by extension, the world attest to a renewed sense of awe everywhere!
A Prayer Which You Are Invited To Make Your Own
The whole creation heralds this Dawn! Church bells pealing their melodious invitation seem to strengthen the bonds between heaven and earth, this morning ;  trees are bursting  in anticipation of finding new leaves to rustle out their enchanting tunes; the mighty St.John River flashes in the sun, having been set free from its icy prison ; the blanket of snow, now through the touch of Your hand, moistens the lips of tiny seeds, encouraging them once again to burst into bloom.
Knowing this dawn to be different from all others, I feel the compulsion to surrender to the empowering mystery of this hour.
Thank You, Gracious Lord for tapping upon the door of my consciousness, and for inviting me to join with all creation in the Easter Celebration of New Life!
Jesus, I remember how on Good Friday, one of Your final acts from Your Cross was to make sure that Your Mother had a place to call home here on earth. You made sure that John, Your beloved friend, would discharge that sacred duty. You said to him, son, behold your mother. I desire now to fulfill my sacred duty anew, and on this present Easter morning, I offer You, my heart and my spirit to be Your Home here on earth! Grant me the Grace to fulfill this, my sacred duty! Amen
Hymn: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today
:https://youtu.be/kgDLuK_4MV4
Editorial Notes
1. The Scripture quotations are from the New International
     Version.
2. T.S. Eliot. Murder in the Cathedral.
        http://www.supersummary.com/murder-in-the-
        cathedral/summary/
3 .Photo: The Arches National Park, Utah, USA.
Categories
Meditations

The Passion Of Jesus – ( Various Gospel Accounts)2019

The account of our Lord Jesus Christ’s Passion as it is recorded by the various Gospel writers.  ( Click on the link )

 

A Prayer To Be Said By All Following This Reading

Father, my heart reaches for words that quickly vanish into vapour. I want to run from the scene, yet my feet, of their own accord, forces me closer to the Cross. I want to look into the face of Jesus, but my eyes melt, and my vision becomes blurred by the stark portrayal of His amazing Love for me! At that moment, I see beyond what I am to what He yet wants me to be!

My lips, abandoned by sound, form the words
” Thank You.”  I notice then that His eyes turn away from me and turn towards the city, where from His Cross, He observes still the many cruel crosses, weighted with human burdens, that are being thrust into the heart of the earth. My gaze follows His. Then the challenge falls upon me, like molten lead dripping on a naked brain, ” Whom shall I send, and who will go for Me?” I seem to hear Him say.” A response, scarcely above a whisper, escapes my lips. But in my heart, the sound of a thousand silver trumpets announces my response,
”  Here I am Lord, send me. Your Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Father, into Thy hands, I commend my spirit, Jesus teaches me to pray.” Amen.

Hymn: O Sacred Head Now Wounded

https://youtu.be/wRvMx8uWaX4

 

 

 

Categories
Meditations

THE STORY THAT HAS NO END

 

 

Suggested Scripture Reading: Ephesians 6: 10 – 20

Scripture Emphasis           Luke 4:41 “When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them”.
Dr. Viktor Frankl, world famous neurologist and psychiatrist, as well as a Holocaust survivor, in his book ” The Doctor And The Soul,” issues a thought-provoking edict.” The greatest realities for all of us to find are in what we consider as passed! ” Things and experiences that have been, are secure from the uncertainties of the future, and the incompleteness of the present. They have been, and nothing can change that”! Dr. Frankl draws liberally from the horrors of experiences in several  Nazi death camps to introduce to the world a revolutionary approach to psychotherapy known as logotheraphy. (1`)
Every person, according to Frankl, is in the process of writing a unique story. In the progression of any person’s life, there is nothing that happens in vain. The content of one’s life-story is somewhere preserved and saved, even though it may not be in an immediate recall to consciousness.
Applying this premise to the unfolding of people’s experience with Jesus, the Master of Life, let us consider the lasting effects upon character building which this affords.
There was never a greater need than that which is our own, to remember ‘The Rock from whence we are hewn. (Isaiah 51: 1 – 3).  Recall again now the whispers of God coming from as far away as earliest childhood. Recall the day when you saw, for the first time, the picture of Jesus surrounded by children wanting to climb into His arms. Capture again your feeling of being right there and waiting your turn! The poet William Wordsworth reminds us that during early childhood years,  Heaven is close at hand.
Present day challenges are not meeting their match in some stained glass image of the Christ that used to be! NO experience is ever forgotten nor does it happen in vain! When there throbs throughout our lives, the vitality of a living union with Jesus Christ, then the dark, demonic forces of the age are overcome. Therefore it is of critical importance that each one of us takes care to record their daily involvement with Him in the present tense.

For our present purpose, I choose Luke’s record of a people’s experience of the compassionate Christ, in the healing of their sick and troubled.  ( Luke 4: 38 – 41)
Luke’s record of the healing that occurred in Capernaum one evening at sunset, is now our focus.

The first captivating feature in the story is the arrival of
‘ the Mercy Crew’ at Simon Peter’s door, bearing the sick and the helpless ones. There was an essential communications effort launched in the community to inform the family and friends of the afflicted, that Jesus was in town, and that He was at the home of Simon Peter. The initiative for undertaking the action that follows has to be a previous knowledge of the ability, the willingness and the compassion of Jesus to make a difference. There was something akin to a phantom-like Presence that refused to permit pity to be the single response to human suffering.  Somewhere internally, there is hidden in each participant of the “Mercy Crew” the wisdom that this Man, Jesus, would make a difference, not only to their friends’ debilitating dilemmas but He would as well, introduce them to the source of new beginnings. Nothing that happens in any person’s life ever happens in vain! Whatever other personal details in the life’s story of the ‘Mercy Crew’  may be in the permanent record, the records will show any and all encounters with Christ that inspired their present activity.

The next captivating focus in Luke’s record involves a group collectively identified as having” various kinds of sickness.” But let it be stressed again, that each person there is daily recording his own story. Reminiscent of Viktor Frankl’s experience, some will recall the pain, deprivation, and desperate loneliness resulting from their imprisonment by their disease. Others in the company will remember the fellowship discovered in suffering. But if it is true that nothing which happens to an individual is ever meaningless, or in vain; what meaning or value can human suffering possibly have? If there are details that we could choose not to appear in the story of our lives, destined to last forever, let it be the memory of pain and brokenness!
But Wait! This story is just beginning! The main feature of the story captures the most significant revelation of all! Luke’s record announces a breathtaking possibility: there is a way to rewrite your personal story from a different perspective. The fact of individual sufferings and their indelible mark on the psyche, and even the body may remain in the permanent record somewhere preserved. To know the Presence of the Living God in your life, however, is synonymous with having the Company of the greatest Story Teller in the world beside you, helping with the rewriting of your life’s mission!  In His Company, scars can tell a life-changing story of Love; and disfiguring thorns, which He can weave into a crown of glory. They can shed new light upon adverse situations that are causing pain to others even yet.
Somewhere there is recorded an account of a mother whose face, hands and arms bore disfiguring scars. One evening, as part of a nightly routine, she is holding her increasingly inquisitive child close, as she finishes a bed-time story, that spoke about loving people. ” Mommy,” the child interjects, ” I love you so very, very much! But Mommy, I don’t love the way your face, and hands and arms look! They almost make me afraid.”
It was time now; the mother realized, to do what she had been thinking of doing for some time. Taking a deep breath, she began: ” When you were a very tiny baby sleeping in your crib upstairs, one evening  the horrifying cry, ” fire, fire,” rang throughout our house.” God helped me through the smoke and flames and, He put you in my arms, and brought us out to safety. But ever since that night I have looked like this. In hushed tones, the little one whispered:
” Mommy, I love you so very, very much, but I love your beautiful face, your hands, and your arms most of all. Mommy let’s say thank -you to God, all over again”.
Write the next chapter of your life’s story with Christ present, then will it count forever as” a thing of beauty and a joy forever.” ( John Keats)
A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION
Merciful Father, You created us to bear striking resemblance to Yourself and therefore, made each of us hold endless quantities of love, pity, mercy, and grace, within our being. In Jesus Christ our Lord, You demonstrated how exactly the flood gates to such resources are to be opened, in order to permit its contents to surge into the world with re-creating force.
It takes real courage to strip away the veil that hides our identity as bearing any resemblance to ‘God.’ Give us courage; give us steadfast confidence to let others see God in us, we ask You.
It takes Love to treat people as they might yet become, rather than what they appear to be when we meet them for the first time. Open wide the gates of our Love, and never let us delay to first consider a person’s worthiness, based upon their creed or their color or condition.
It takes human lips, ” moving at the impulse of God’s love,” to give expression to the expanses of God’s mercy and pity! The overflowing reservoir of gifts within a person is never for one’s own satisfaction! It is never enough to be moved to tears at the sight of another’s misfortunes, when within us there dwells the Christ who never remains silent and does nothing in the face of injustice and suffering! Lord, show mercy upon us all; we humbly beseech You!
Open our eyes to see You, Our hearts to love You, and our minds to comprehend You; that by seeing you, our faith may grow, our hearts may bring Your victory to the world; our minds may firmly establish You above the darkness of doubt and fears, among the people of this world. We pray in the Name of Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
HYMN: When I Survey The Wondrous Cross( click on the link)
https://youtu.be/Z9eCUqz_x5A
EDITORIAL NOTES
1. The Scripture references in this meditation are taken from the NIV ( New International Version) of Scripture.
2.”The Doctor And The Soul” by Viktor Frankl .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doctor_and_the_Soul
3. PHOTO: from General Stock Images For Lent
Categories
Meditations

INTEGRATION AND AUTHORITY

  Mark 1: 21-22; 27 – 28 “They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching -and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him. News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.”
I am not at all surprised that word about Jesus spread quickly following this incident under our consideration here.
The performance of miracles is, beyond dispute, a recognizable drawing card for multitudes who embraced the infant Christian faith. Tragically we have over time, and more critically at present, permitted the erosion of Christian faith. Multitudes have become content  with owning ” a wooden Christ upon a wooden cross.” Whenever people today take Jesus Christ with real seriousness, miracles happen as they did 2000 years ago. “The person who does not believe in such miracles, cannot pray. We fail to take the promises of God seriously.” (1)
The miracle that occurs in this incident must not be fixated upon a cursory observation of the reparation of a personal ailment, as essential and as possible as that healing remains for anyone even today. This incident, taken in its entirety, addresses more than that. It reveals how, in Jesus Christ, body, mind, and spirit are integrated. On the occasion of being asked, “Of all the commandments which is the most important?” Jesus’ response is: “Love the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Jesus’ answer, thus involves the whole self in response.
The occasion of this incident is the hour of Sabbath worship in the city of Capernaum.  In Worship, the desire is to produce integration within the individual worshipper. The environmental mantra in the spoken word, in singing and contemplation, instills a sense of God’s Presence which evokes the essence of the first and greatest commandment. This required surrender to Presence allows God to access every phase of a person’s self, thereby initiating a complete integration.
Approaching worship with that expectation would change completely our ‘ church going’ experience! For without the integrated self we remain the divided, ineffective, indecisive beings, and something less than God’s prescription for His Kingdom builders.
There was a compelling milieu in the Capernaum Synagogue on that Sabbath Day, bringing many of the worshippers present, to the very doorstep of admission into ‘the higher self.’ The people present had no difficulty identifying what was different about the moment. It was the authority in the way Jesus presented both Himself and subsequently the message He delivered! The secret they quickly and rightly observed came from a wholly integrated self. They witnessed in Jesus the example par excellence of the fulfillment of the greatest Commandment: “Love the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
The daunting expectation inside the synagogue became almost palpable! The longing for personal integration was showing itself everywhere. To be like Him, knit together; to have a  single focus; to be ONE instead of owning the name Legion, was captivating beyond words! There was little doubt that Heaven had ‘ come down their souls to greet.”
Then that sacred moment is intercepted by the disturbing evidence of human disintegration. The stark evidence of human brokenness could wait no longer to present itself.
“Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!” ( Mark 1: 23 – 24)
Notice the symptoms of this poor fellows’ disintegration. In the first instance, something inside of him recommends to him the fellowship of believers. And as wanting as his understanding of why this is, Hope remains. Tucked away in his mind there are memories of religious affiliations and perceptions as incomplete as they are. He vocalized theological concepts wich some of the more pious attendees did not embrace: ” I know who you are – the Holy One Of God.”  ( Mark 1:24)
  While there are many positive attributes present here, they are but individual building blocks, waiting to formed into a temple of the Living God. There are words here longing to find expression with authority. It remains true to this present moment that now is the right time, this, the right place, and the right Person is present to perform the miracle of integration, and He waits to authenticate one more builder of the Father’s Kingdom!

PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION

Holy God,                                                                                                                                             You hovered over the formless void at creation until the earth appeared in the Cosmos, as something that brought rejoicing to Your heart of Love.

Let your Holy Spirit hover over me,                                                            Until I am the creation of Your desire, thereby bringing You honor and glory.

Let Your love hold my thought processes captive until my heart refuses to germinate the seeds of hatred, scorn, and segregation towards anyone.

Burden my mind with the understanding of how quickly and how easily, the slightest expression of hatred, spreads on social media throughout the world; and further, to remember the sub-human consequences that often follow our” INNOCENT” expressions of so-called”Free Speech.”

Knit me together once more, entirely, from start to finish, not using the materials of worldly ambition, over-powering political jargon, and with that unhealthy portion of suspicion of everyone else and everything. But rather, knit me together from the materials that outlast all generations namely, from, Faith, Hope, and Love.

Father, forgive us for breaking the world and for reducing it to a mass of Lego-like blocks! We cannot put it back together on our own, because it’s our own disintegration and loss of our God-given authority that has produced this present state. This undertaking depends upon Integrated people, authenticated byYour power in Jesus Christ. Here I am Lord, I hear You calling in the night! I will go and You will lead me!  For the sake of You Love in Jesus Christ we pray.Amen.

Hymn: Nearer, My God To Thee

https://youtu.be/v1mQT1u_45I

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

It will be helpful to the reader in understanding the Meditation in this post if the suggested Scripture be read in advance.All Scripture references throughout are from The New International Translation.

  1. This is not a direct quote but a reflection of a thought expressed by Emil Brunner in OUR FAITH. https://www.christianbook.com/our-faith-emil-brunner/9780334047490/pd/047493
  2. Hymn: Nearer My God To Thee     https://www.doovi.com/video/andre-rieu-nearer-my-god-to-thee-live/v1mQT1u_45I
  3. Photo: under the auspices of my friend William Tibbo  of Grand Bank. Many thanks for this magnificent photo, my friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Meditations

IMPRISONED SPLENDOR

 

 

Suggested Scripture Readings: Numbers 20: 1-20;
John 14: 1 – 14
Scripture Reference: NUMBERS 20: 11  Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.  (1)
This rock appears to be quite ordinary in every respect. It was just another large chunk of lifeless granite. It offered no relief, whatsoever, from the monotonous stretches of desert aridity, as far as the eye could see in every direction.
The landscape prompted a somewhat menacing suggestion of the Creator, who, having wearied of sharing lifelessness more uniformly throughout creation, had just left rocks and burning sand everywhere on this desert floor. Could this landscape veil an even more ominous fact?  Following unwittingly their self-acclaimed leader,  Moses, from Egypt to some ever-receding destiny, would not these travelers leave their fossilized remains on the desert floor, as one more stark reminder of the reward of foolhardiness?
It is not an entirely unknown phenomenon that humans often bear revealing evidence of the surroundings they experience, and the fortunes or misfortunes that reward them. Deprivation, here in this text, is the hallmark of the Hebrews’ present experience. Food and water are in dangerously short supply, and the daily vision of the lifeless desert does nothing to quench their thirst; to lessen their pangs of hunger or to provide an appropriate setting to talk about God! The ubiquitous whispers of death creep through their souls!
 I have observed the evidence of the environmental phenomenon on the faces of some of the residents of a large fishing community which I once served. Several sea disasters had left many families bereft of their loved ones. The pathos that follows such a disaster is captured forcefully in a poem by E.J. Pratt, a Newfoundland poet.
                    ”   Erosion” (1931)
“It took the sea a thousand years,
A thousand years to trace
The granite features of this cliff,
In crag and scarp and base.
It took the sea an hour one night,
An hour of storm to place
The sculpture of these granite seams
Upon a woman’s face.” (2)
Neither is it hard to imagine how vulnerable those Hebrews felt! What human resources can be mustered to meet the stark prospect of certain death, made visible by the stark nothingness of the desert!  Fearfully they turn to Moses, the leader of this expedition. ” Why did you not leave us alone, in Egypt?  Slaves, indeed we were there, but we were slaves who had food and water! There we had life, but here, there is nothing for us but certain death! You and your glib talk about ‘ God’ and a land of hope and promise somewhere ahead! What can even God do in the face of desert dryness? Tell us, Moses,  Can He reverse the onward march of death, towards us?”
Let’s face it with them! There are times when we do feel vulnerable, when we lift our eyes and behold the vast armies set to take us down, by mocking all the dreams that have kept us ardent in our search for our promise land. Then to “Talk” about God seems like adding insult to injury! The time for mere talk about God is past! Now the demand is, ” Show us the Father, and that alone will satisfy us, nothing less will do!”
In this day and age, we may be depending too much upon
‘ words’ alone.  It is why God decided,long ago, that Words are never enough!  And so ” THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US.” If words are not enough, and religious language fails to relieve the human dilemma, then what’s left? “From whence cometh our help?”
Continuing with the narrative of Moses and his Hebrew followers through the threatening desert of Zin, it bears witness to something reassuring, as well as to something awe-inspiring, in and of itself.
Further theologizing and philosophizing in answer to persistent arguments, are under ban by the Great Silencer, God Himself. Without further commentary, He commands,  ” Strike the rock, there in front of you, with the rod you have in your hand, which symbolizes My presence with you all!” Moses obeys. Forthwith there gushes life-saving water, as well as the gripping evidence that God’s resources are available to the obedient. Resources are available, even though the senses strenuously deny that possibility!
Do not ever suppose that God’s imprisoned splendor shown in this inanimate object, ends with this incident in ancient history. Even more relevant for us are the words of Jesus, in the New Testament, ” Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he also do; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” ( John 14: 12).  Words and deeds must never be divorced from the reality of the ” Imprisoned Splendor” of the Holy Spirit in the souls of those who call Him Lord. Be not surprised at the life-giving stream that results from a renewed connection to the “Imprisoned Splendor” in your life, waiting to flow forth, to bless the world. The only retardant to that life-giving flow is unbelief.  All attempts to do anything less, than wait upon the Lord for the fulfillment of His promise to produce through us His Life-giving water, are like pointing to a mirage in the death-ridden desert, as a way to satisfy the thirst of a dying person!
“For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”(3)
PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION
O God, of our awe-struck wonder,
Come ever closer to us now as, in this solitude, we seek to focus our shot-spanned attention upon ‘The Wonder Of It All”, as it pertains to You.
We wonder how it is possible that those same hands that formed the complex intricacies of this magnificent universe, took the time to create a baby’s smile, that fills a mother’s soul with love.
How is it possible that the clod of earth from which we are formed develops a personality and bears the likeness of God?
How is it possible that Your hands worked upon that same clod of earth turning it into ” A Temple Of The Living God?”
How can it possibly be, that even when the influences of this world turn that clod of earth into a heartless stone, You make sure that within there is a hidden splendor that will one day burst forth?
We praise You, O God, that with the tenderness and the patience that forever characterizes our Heavenly Father, You make Jesus available to be present with us. We experience all kinds of wonders. We are somewhat like children returning home from kindergarten after our first real encounter with life.  Keep us wondering and keep us curious to the end of our journey. Keep our faith in Jesus strong, for to such belong the Kingdom of God. Amen.
HYMN:  The Wonder Of It All  ( Click)
EDITORIAL NOTES
1. It is strongly recommended that a reading of both scriptures prior to the reading of the meditation be undertaken since  the story will enhance one’s understanding of the meditation
2. EROSION. poem by E.J. Pratt
      E.J. Pratt: Complete Poems. ed. Sandra Djwa and R.G. Moyles.     Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989.
3.’Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 414
4. PHOTO: MUSKRAT FALLS, Newfoundland And Labrador
Categories
"BRIGUS MY BRIGUS"

RATTLEYROW

 

From the earliest days of memory, I have been curious about the meaning of the name given to the street where I was born and lived and the place I proudly call home.  That name’ Rattlyrow ‘ rolls of the tongue with poetic beauty. I have never permitted it to fade from my mind, and to this day, it remains part of my e-mail address! I have sought its meaning, unsuccessfully for the most part, but I have heard suggestions concerning its derivation. Our next-door neighbour gave me the most memorable explanation.
He was an old retired sea-captain. I can still feel my child’s hand being swallowed up in his massive weather-beaten one as we took another of our many trips to the waterfront. “Skipper Affie, why do they call where we live ” Rattleyrow”? I inquired of my best friend. From our short walk down Barrett’s Lane, the old skipper tired sat down on a gump at the wharf head and looked out towards the Squid-Jigging ground! The activity on the waterfront this morning was considerable. But above the noise of the crowd and the call of a hundred seagulls, one sound is audible above all others, and it came from the direction of my friend’s gaze. There, a schooner is weighing anchor, and the rattling chains bring a visible mist to my dear friend’s eyes.” Little buddy,” my skipper friend, following a long pause,  finally ventures, “that sound is music to me! and that music is what’s behind why people call the place where we live, ‘Rattleyrow.’ I remember this harbour being full of schooners, and sometimes, all night long, you’d hear the chains rattling as they got ready to put out to sea or they might be moorin’ there, after their voyage home.”
Sights and sounds relating to the sea enter into many a man’s soul as unforgettable music and brings a tear to the eye of those who have finally disembarked.  My old ‘skipper’ friend was only one of the many from ‘Rattleyrow’ swelling the numbers of men from Brigus, who could not escape the mysterious lure of the sea. And many of them joined the crew of Captain Bob Bartlett’s famous arctic expeditions on The Effie M Morrisey. They then continued their own saga,  still fraught with danger but ever with unremitting courage.
As unavoidable as the sea call is, there is another call that echoes through the hills of this old town and finds its way throughout its streets. It is the call of God to Christian Service. That ‘Call’ meets with a fantastic response as well, from every corner of this town. But let me record the rather remarkable facts of this matter, as they relate to “Rattleyrow,”  since this is my present undertaking.
At the top of “Rattleyrow,” directly across the road from the house once occupied by my grandfather Curtis and his family, there was the house of George and Mary Meaden. On February 16, 1892, a son JOHN ALFRED was born to them. John was a man of outstanding intellectual ability. He became an ordained minister of The Church Of England and in 1956 was elevated to be Bishop of Newfoundland, a service he discharged with distinction.
In later years a very devout Roman Catholic family that lived next door to our house on “Rattleyrow” saw two of their daughters leave home to pursue callings within their church.
In 1974, I became an ordained minister of the United Church Of Canada.
In 1976 our beloved neighbours, Richard and Ethel Rose, who live directly across the road from our home on Rattleyrow, celebrated their son Melvin’s ordination to the ministry of The United Church Of Canada.
The fact that amazes me here is in consideration of the number of young women and men who chose, or more accurately were chosen to serve, from this small segment of our town!
The total number of those chosen throughout this town from various Christian Communions, however, is most remarkable for a township of its size.
In the final analysis, everything I have written here is further confirmation of the significant role the Christian Faith plays in establishing the lasting beauty of any place. Let us ever remember to offer prayers of thanksgiving for St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, St. George’s Anglican Church, and The United Church Of Canada, that their guiding light will continue to shine upon the path that leads us all to our Eternal Home!
EDITORIAL NOTE
The Photo: is a stock photo  from the House- Of- Mirth: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/house-of-mirth.html
It is meant to capture something of the day I felt the meaning of ” Rattleyrow.”
                                             ___________________________
Categories
Meditations

FOR WHOM DOES THE BELL TOLL?

 

Suggested Scripture: Luke 16:19 – 31.  It is strongly recommended that you read this portion of Scripture in its entirety to gain a clearer image of the meditation that follows.
SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Luke 16:19-21: There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

This story told by Jesus may well offend our refined and carefully polished sensitivities. We never take well to lines of demarcation so rigidly drawn as to reveal our social differences. Jesus considers it essential to emphasize it in His day, and God knows the message demands amplification in this our day!
It was a social custom, in the town of my childhood, that when a person died, a particular church bell would toll the age of the deceased. I distinctly remember being sent to inquire ” for whom the bell tolls.” This custom was undoubtedly a tradition brought by our English ancestors. It is the subject of a moving poem by the English poet, John Donne: ” Ask Not For Whom The Bell Tolls, It Tolls For Thee.”

“No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.”(2)

In the penetrating story of ” The Rich Man And Lazarus” told by Jesus, He means for us to hear the somber funeral bells toll.

On the first occasion, the bell’s tolling announces the death of a town’s resident, whose name is Lazarus. Imagine this scene on that day when a resident arrives to make the inquiry, ” For Whom Does The Bell Toll?” ” Lazarus,” comes the response. ” Who?” replies the inquirer. “Lazarus,” comes the cold, detached response. ” Never heard of him! Who is he?” Oh, he is that old beggar, who was always around town begging for a bite to eat. I suppose he finally  starved to death!”
It is NOT INCONSEQUENTIAL that Jesus gives him the name LAZARUS, meaning, ” God Has Helped.” Lazarus never owned much of this world’s goods. But Jesus recognizes him as a human being whom He graces with a name, and thereby identifies the humanity that they share; Jesus, the Saviour, and Lazarus, the beggar!

The funeral bell sounds throughout the town once again. Scarcely is it heard above the din in the streets! The expressions of sorrow are profuse. The town’s ‘rich man ‘ is dead! Indeed, if there is anyone in this story deserving of a name, is it not the’ rich man’? But, Jesus suggests that by this man’s failure to recognize the common humanity he shares with all, unwittingly he gives eloquent expression to his desire to be an island unto himself. It is not his wealth that lies at the root of his undoing. It is his attitude towards himself, towards others, and most especially towards God! Looking through the windows of his mansion, all that the rich man can see on his border is a bothersome bump with no name; a blip that is marring his landscape. He does not see a fellow human being; a child of God’s creation. Empathy towards the beggar does not stir him in the least, to remember that ” But for the grace of God, the roles could have been reversed, as one day they are destined to be.

The more somber tones of the funeral bell, on the occasion of ‘the rich man’s demise, are but echoes of the bell tolling earlier in heaven for the death, of an immortal soul. I suspect that the bell previously sounded many years before.

I am deeply troubled at present by the rampant wholesale-condemnation of immigrants, that is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide, and is finding such virulent expression in our social media.

Many of these immigrants wear different style clothing from ours and hold to different ideologies from ours, and can tell of hardships we can never even imagine. Whether you like what you see or not, or whether you understand their religious expressions or not, they are not undeserving of respect and pity. They are not to be treated as unwelcome blips on our borders; they are not islands unto themselves. They are God’s Children, and just like you, they have souls that hope and dream. It’s time to make the tolling bells cease, and it’s time to bid the bells of Heaven and earth ring out in songs of jubilation. Let us build bridges, not walls! Let us strive to connect the many Islands that are fragmenting God’s beautiful earth! Believe that God will fulfill His promise to make one of all nations. The Book of Revelation unveils God’s vision of ‘The New Heaven and The New Earth:” Between the city street and the river was the tree of life. It produced twelve kinds of fruit, each month having its own fruit. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him.”Amen, So let it be!              (Rev.22:2-3)

 

A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION

O God of compassion,
make our hearts acutely sensitive to understand what Your feeling of Compassion towards us humans, demanded of You! ” God so loved the world, that He sent His Only Begotten Son.”Forgive our willful blindness and our lack of faith, that dares us to accept a new definition of ” the world,” into which You unleashed the Power of Your love to redeem. Forgive the tamed reality of our love, now appearing like a domesticated pet that is led around where it feels comfortable. Teach us to know that our limited understanding of ‘love’ will never change anything, but before the ” Cross Of Christ,” nothing remains unchanged!
Save us, in this day from becoming so accustomed to the sound of bells tolling out other people’s pain and sorrow, that we are thankful that we are separated from the actual event, as though we lived like an island, disconnected from it all! “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,”  (1 John 1:7-10).

” May the Christ who walks on wounded feet, walk with you to the end of your road;
May the Christ who serves with wounded hands, teach you to serve each other;
May the Christ who loves with a wounded heart, help you to love each other;
When you go out, may you see the face of Jesus in everyone you meet, and may everyone you meet see the face of Jesus in you.” Amen. (3)

HYMN: When I Needed A Neighbor!https://youtu.be/y0AVOs-V_BE

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. The Scripture references in this post are found in the New International Translation, (NIV)

2.For whom the bell tolls a poem
(No man is an island) by John Donne                                                                    http://www.famousliteraryworks.com/donne_for_whom_the_bell_tolls.htm

3. The italicized portion of the Prayer is a traditional Celtic prayer.

4.PHOTO: ” Row Houses” in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

 

 

Categories
"BRIGUS MY BRIGUS"

SCHOOL-DAYS

The temperature was 18 below that morning as I set out from Rattleyrow to go to ‘The Ole Brigus Academy,’ up the harbor, next door to the Court House, the post office, the jail-house, and the town’s police residence.
The snow made my ears happy to hear the crunch beneath my feet as I crossed over ” Kings Bridge.”My warm mitts designed to keep my fingers from freezing, today served the dual purpose of preventing icicles from forming on my running nose. My steps became slower as I approached Aggie Spracklin’s house on the left.  The big tin ice-cream advertising Dickey Burke’s newsstand and variety store shivered in the frosty morning air. Just a couple of hundred yards remained. …and then, and then, the school! And today, of all the other challenging days of the week, this was Wednesday, and that meant the jumpin’ spelling-bee!
With a concerted effort, I forced myself deeper into my extra long stocking cap, knit for me by my dearly loved older sister, Louise, my commiserator in chief on all such occasions. From deep inside my stocking cap I tried to recall all the instructions she gave me the night before. Then I heard the be lying sound of the School Bell, wanting me to believe it was as far away as it sounded inside my stocking cap. But a quick peek confirmed it, Murray Moores was standing one side of the open door, shaking that brass colored bell that I hated like nothing else!
A sharp turn to the right brought me into Miss Irene Bartlett’s classroom that housed grades five, six and seven. The pot-bellied stove was blushing red, and the kettle on its top was already singing; thereby announcing the promise of hot chocolate ( Cocoa Malt) later in the morning! It was kind of comforting gesture, like that a prisoner receives just before his execution! I knew this pattern well. As soon as the last dregs of “cocoa malt” were drained, and the mugs tucked away for household cleansing, came the dreaded announcement. ” Grade five class will now come for their spelling-bee. The perky ones, who bristled like roosters making ready to crow, pushed themselves to the front of the line. I was not one of them! Miss Bartlett identified my position as number seven. Not bad I comforted myself, there are eight others below me! The only thing is; anyone who drifts south of his present location was blackballed and relegated to the realm of the less popular among his peers! There were scarcely any changes in positions in the upper half as the trial proceeded. Then  Number SEVEN is on the witness stand.  ” Spell “RECEIVE” came the command! I froze! What was the rule Louise rehearsed with me last night? Was it “i” before “e” or was it ” e” before “i”? The agony was palpable, and the perky ones just above me began to twitch and shake and excitedly wave their hands in the air! The silence was excruciating! ” RECEIVE” Miss Bartlett’s voice insisted!  With determination, I began ” R-E-C-I-E -V-E.” Before the last vowel was out of my mouth, the girl next in line spelled it correctly. And slowly I moved to position number eight!
This childhood memory finds a most eloquent expression by one who shared a very similar experience in his childhood. John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “IN SCHOOL DAYS”profoundly moves me still.. An audio version of that poem follows.

EDITORIAL NOTE

1.           The Poem ” In School Days” is written by                                         JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45487/in-school-days

2. I apologize for the quality of the audio presentation.  As is plainly evident, no technical assistance was sought!