Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012
As I sit here in the blissful half light of a Monday morning, enjoying the calm and quiet before the storm of my day breaks, I find myself pondering the meaning of Today and the year that has brought me here.
I read a book years ago, when I was the mom of 7, that stuck with me. The author was a Christian woman who talked about how she and her husband went away every year for the week between Christmas and New Years. I have no idea how many children this woman had or if any or if this was something that didnt start until she was in the empty nest phase of life, (what ever that is). But the purpose of that week away, for her at least, was prayer and reflection, and planning for the year ahead. She talked of that week being a time that she spent HOURS and hours extra in the Word to find out what God's plan for her for the coming year was and to reflect on what had happened with the past years "plan" She settled on a verse of scripture passage each year that became her focus for the year.
For me, that idea of going away to a "retreat" for a week, or even 24 hours was never achievable, and I wouldnt have given up my time with the kids out of school, even if I could have gone away, I'm not that person somehow. but, I DID spend time when they were asleep, or outside playing in the snow and the littler ones were down for a nap, searching. During those years, I not only marked "my verse or passage" but I wrote it in the front of my Bible and added comments. I have "SORT OF" done this in the intervening years between Then and Now. You know that time frame right?
Anyway, this year, I have been presented with a new challenge. Yesterday, it came in to my head during church, that I am going to read "the Minor Prophets," and all the Short Books of the New Testament, to study for this year.
So, as today is Christmas Eve, for me, it is also the Eve of a new Challenge. The morning that I choose celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior, I begin a quest to know Him deeper and more clearly, and there by, know myself deeper and more clearly. If anyone wants to join me, it would certainly help hold me accountable and we could set up a "schedule" and find a forum to discuss what we are learing as well.
I hope each of you have a wonderful day today and stop to just think about what this day means to and for you.
S
I read a book years ago, when I was the mom of 7, that stuck with me. The author was a Christian woman who talked about how she and her husband went away every year for the week between Christmas and New Years. I have no idea how many children this woman had or if any or if this was something that didnt start until she was in the empty nest phase of life, (what ever that is). But the purpose of that week away, for her at least, was prayer and reflection, and planning for the year ahead. She talked of that week being a time that she spent HOURS and hours extra in the Word to find out what God's plan for her for the coming year was and to reflect on what had happened with the past years "plan" She settled on a verse of scripture passage each year that became her focus for the year.
For me, that idea of going away to a "retreat" for a week, or even 24 hours was never achievable, and I wouldnt have given up my time with the kids out of school, even if I could have gone away, I'm not that person somehow. but, I DID spend time when they were asleep, or outside playing in the snow and the littler ones were down for a nap, searching. During those years, I not only marked "my verse or passage" but I wrote it in the front of my Bible and added comments. I have "SORT OF" done this in the intervening years between Then and Now. You know that time frame right?
Anyway, this year, I have been presented with a new challenge. Yesterday, it came in to my head during church, that I am going to read "the Minor Prophets," and all the Short Books of the New Testament, to study for this year.
So, as today is Christmas Eve, for me, it is also the Eve of a new Challenge. The morning that I choose celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior, I begin a quest to know Him deeper and more clearly, and there by, know myself deeper and more clearly. If anyone wants to join me, it would certainly help hold me accountable and we could set up a "schedule" and find a forum to discuss what we are learing as well.
I hope each of you have a wonderful day today and stop to just think about what this day means to and for you.
S
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Anger in todays world.
HEADLINES:
ANOTHER SCHOOL SHOOTING!
ALABAMA POLICE KILL SUSPECTS IN SEPERATE SHOOTINGS THAT LEFT 3 OTHERS DEAD
POLICE ID MAN IN OREGON MALL SHOOTING
DA ALLOWED TO HAVE RECORDS IN THEATER SHOOTING, COLORADO.
SUSPECT IN FASHION ISLAND MALL SHOOTING ARRESTED
These are only a few of the headlines in the last few days around the country.
I'm not the only one who feels driven to understand. People everywhere are asking WHY? The problem that I see is they may very well be looking in the wrong direction. The answer may not be in Gun Control, Politics, Mental Illness or any of the "politically correct or incorrect ideals.
Todays Sunday School lesson turns out to have been a difficult lesson in light of the last few days. I'm not talking about only these issues, I'm also talking about watching the people around me and in particular myself.
Going back, for a moment to the headlines, what can we say is the common denominator between all these "crimes"? Is it guns being available to the masses, No... is it Mental illness not noticed or treated among the people behind the guns? No, is it bullying somewhere in the past? No. Is it lack of metal detectors at the doorway to anywhere? No. The common denominator to all of these things and many many more is........ Anger.
This brings me to why todays Lesson was so difficult. Take a look at Matthew 5: 21-30. These are Jesus's own words in part of what we call The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is talking about what is written in "the Law" and part of oral law and tradition. He was talking about what we refer to as the 10 Commandments. But hold it, what He was saying here seems to be going a bit far, dont you think? Lets take a look........
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.25"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
What is Jesus telling us here? Is he really saying that anger is the same as murder? Yeah, He pretty much is, and, go figure, He's got something there. There was something that came across my Facebook page last night that struck home to me and then I started reading my lesson for today and WOW!!!!
Hummmm first thought here, Anger hurts others, Yep, found that out for sure. What else does it mean? Jesus says to say "Raca" is something that will get you a date with the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish assembly for government affairs during the time of Christ. But what does the word mean? In the commentary I was using for my lesson, it says it roughly means calling one "stupid idiot". Hummmm as I look through my Facebook pages and think back to the weeks prior to the election, I think hummmm what would have happened in a different day and thought process if people knew that calling someone an idiot or a fool was not just impolite, but a SIN??????? But I dont LIKE that person, so I can call him anything I like.. I live in America!!!!!"
I also want to share another definition of this passage that I found on line.
RACA - ra'-ka, ra-ka'> (rhaka, Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek with Codices Sinaiticus (corrected), Vaticanus, Codex E, etc.; rhacha, Tischendorf with Codices Sinaiticus (original hand) and Bezae; Aramaic reqa', from req, "empty"): Vain or worthless fellow; a term of contempt used by the Jews in the time of Christ. In the Bible, it occurs in Mt 5:22 only, but John Lightfoot gives a number of instances of the use of the word by Jewish writers (Hot. Hebrew., edition by Gandell, Oxford, 1859, II, 108). Chrysostom (who was acquainted with Syriac as spoken in the neighborhood of Antioch) says it was equivalent to the Greek su, "thou," used contemptuously instead of a man's name. Jerome rendered it inanis aut vacuus absque cerebro. It is generally explained as expressing contempt for a man's intellectual capacity (= "you simpleton!"), while more (translated "thou fool"), in the same verse is taken to refer to a man's moral and religious character (= "you rascal!" "you impious fellow!"). Thus we have three stages of anger, with three corresponding grades of punishment: (1) the inner feeling of anger (orgizomenos), to be punished by the local or provincial court (te krisei, "the judgment"); (2) anger breaking forth into an expression of scorn (Raca), to be punished by the Sanhedrin (to sunedrio, "the council"); (3) anger culminating in abusive and defamatory language (More), to be punished by the fire of Gehenna. This view, of a double climax, which has been held by foremost English and Gor. commentators, seems to give the passage symmetry and gradation. But it is rejected among others by T. K. Cheyne, who, following J. P. Peters, rearranges the text by transferring the clause "and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council" to the end of the preceding verse (Encyclopaedia Biblica, IV, cols. 4001 f). There certainly does not seem to be trustworthy external evidence to prove that the terms "the judgment," "the council," "the Gehenna of fire" stand to each other in a relation of gradation, as lower and higher legal courts, or would be so understood by Christ's hearers. What is beyond dispute is that Christ condemns the use of disparaging and insulting epithets as a supreme offense against the law of humanity, which belongs to the same category as murder itself. It should be added, however, that it is the underlying feeling and not the verbal expression as such that constitutes the sin. Hence, our Lord can, without any real inconsistency, address two of His followers as "foolish men" (Lk 24:25, anoetoi, practically equivalent to Raca, as is also James's expression, "O vain man," Jas 2:20).
D. Miall Edwards
So, the main thing that struck me is the sentence that says, "What is beyond disppute is that Christ condems the use of disparaging and insulting epithets as a supreme offense against the law of humanity, which belongs to the same catergory as murder itself. It should be added, however, that it is the underlying feeling and not the verbal expression as such that constitutes the sin."
So, where have these henious crimes started? Anger, unresolved and allowed to become sin. Was shooting up something the first showing of this anger? Nope not at all, but these things are going missed around us because we feel that its OK to be angry, its ok to even say what you think of someone on social media, or what ever. Its also ok to just stuff your feelings down inside because while I have a right to be angry and express it, YOU DONT.
I dont have an answer for how to deal with these things in the mass population so dont ask me, but I know that I have to find better ways to deal with the anger issues that I come across in my own life. Maybe if we each HELPED each other to sort out what is good anger and what is not, maybe THAT would make a difference more than controling things we have no control over. Maybe if we saw Sin for what it is. Harmful to not only ourselves but to all those around us and it starts with a tiny thought inside our own head and heart, and if not "fixed" it becomes MURDER!!!!!
ANOTHER SCHOOL SHOOTING!
ALABAMA POLICE KILL SUSPECTS IN SEPERATE SHOOTINGS THAT LEFT 3 OTHERS DEAD
POLICE ID MAN IN OREGON MALL SHOOTING
DA ALLOWED TO HAVE RECORDS IN THEATER SHOOTING, COLORADO.
SUSPECT IN FASHION ISLAND MALL SHOOTING ARRESTED
These are only a few of the headlines in the last few days around the country.
I'm not the only one who feels driven to understand. People everywhere are asking WHY? The problem that I see is they may very well be looking in the wrong direction. The answer may not be in Gun Control, Politics, Mental Illness or any of the "politically correct or incorrect ideals.
Todays Sunday School lesson turns out to have been a difficult lesson in light of the last few days. I'm not talking about only these issues, I'm also talking about watching the people around me and in particular myself.
Going back, for a moment to the headlines, what can we say is the common denominator between all these "crimes"? Is it guns being available to the masses, No... is it Mental illness not noticed or treated among the people behind the guns? No, is it bullying somewhere in the past? No. Is it lack of metal detectors at the doorway to anywhere? No. The common denominator to all of these things and many many more is........ Anger.
This brings me to why todays Lesson was so difficult. Take a look at Matthew 5: 21-30. These are Jesus's own words in part of what we call The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is talking about what is written in "the Law" and part of oral law and tradition. He was talking about what we refer to as the 10 Commandments. But hold it, what He was saying here seems to be going a bit far, dont you think? Lets take a look........
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.25"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
27"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
What is Jesus telling us here? Is he really saying that anger is the same as murder? Yeah, He pretty much is, and, go figure, He's got something there. There was something that came across my Facebook page last night that struck home to me and then I started reading my lesson for today and WOW!!!!
Hummmm first thought here, Anger hurts others, Yep, found that out for sure. What else does it mean? Jesus says to say "Raca" is something that will get you a date with the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish assembly for government affairs during the time of Christ. But what does the word mean? In the commentary I was using for my lesson, it says it roughly means calling one "stupid idiot". Hummmm as I look through my Facebook pages and think back to the weeks prior to the election, I think hummmm what would have happened in a different day and thought process if people knew that calling someone an idiot or a fool was not just impolite, but a SIN??????? But I dont LIKE that person, so I can call him anything I like.. I live in America!!!!!"
I also want to share another definition of this passage that I found on line.
RACA [ISBE]
RACA - ra'-ka, ra-ka'> (rhaka, Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek with Codices Sinaiticus (corrected), Vaticanus, Codex E, etc.; rhacha, Tischendorf with Codices Sinaiticus (original hand) and Bezae; Aramaic reqa', from req, "empty"): Vain or worthless fellow; a term of contempt used by the Jews in the time of Christ. In the Bible, it occurs in Mt 5:22 only, but John Lightfoot gives a number of instances of the use of the word by Jewish writers (Hot. Hebrew., edition by Gandell, Oxford, 1859, II, 108). Chrysostom (who was acquainted with Syriac as spoken in the neighborhood of Antioch) says it was equivalent to the Greek su, "thou," used contemptuously instead of a man's name. Jerome rendered it inanis aut vacuus absque cerebro. It is generally explained as expressing contempt for a man's intellectual capacity (= "you simpleton!"), while more (translated "thou fool"), in the same verse is taken to refer to a man's moral and religious character (= "you rascal!" "you impious fellow!"). Thus we have three stages of anger, with three corresponding grades of punishment: (1) the inner feeling of anger (orgizomenos), to be punished by the local or provincial court (te krisei, "the judgment"); (2) anger breaking forth into an expression of scorn (Raca), to be punished by the Sanhedrin (to sunedrio, "the council"); (3) anger culminating in abusive and defamatory language (More), to be punished by the fire of Gehenna. This view, of a double climax, which has been held by foremost English and Gor. commentators, seems to give the passage symmetry and gradation. But it is rejected among others by T. K. Cheyne, who, following J. P. Peters, rearranges the text by transferring the clause "and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council" to the end of the preceding verse (Encyclopaedia Biblica, IV, cols. 4001 f). There certainly does not seem to be trustworthy external evidence to prove that the terms "the judgment," "the council," "the Gehenna of fire" stand to each other in a relation of gradation, as lower and higher legal courts, or would be so understood by Christ's hearers. What is beyond dispute is that Christ condemns the use of disparaging and insulting epithets as a supreme offense against the law of humanity, which belongs to the same category as murder itself. It should be added, however, that it is the underlying feeling and not the verbal expression as such that constitutes the sin. Hence, our Lord can, without any real inconsistency, address two of His followers as "foolish men" (Lk 24:25, anoetoi, practically equivalent to Raca, as is also James's expression, "O vain man," Jas 2:20).
D. Miall Edwards
So, the main thing that struck me is the sentence that says, "What is beyond disppute is that Christ condems the use of disparaging and insulting epithets as a supreme offense against the law of humanity, which belongs to the same catergory as murder itself. It should be added, however, that it is the underlying feeling and not the verbal expression as such that constitutes the sin."
So, where have these henious crimes started? Anger, unresolved and allowed to become sin. Was shooting up something the first showing of this anger? Nope not at all, but these things are going missed around us because we feel that its OK to be angry, its ok to even say what you think of someone on social media, or what ever. Its also ok to just stuff your feelings down inside because while I have a right to be angry and express it, YOU DONT.
I dont have an answer for how to deal with these things in the mass population so dont ask me, but I know that I have to find better ways to deal with the anger issues that I come across in my own life. Maybe if we each HELPED each other to sort out what is good anger and what is not, maybe THAT would make a difference more than controling things we have no control over. Maybe if we saw Sin for what it is. Harmful to not only ourselves but to all those around us and it starts with a tiny thought inside our own head and heart, and if not "fixed" it becomes MURDER!!!!!
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Day 16 The Bluebird Bus Christmas
Disclaimer: Since Blogger is currently not letting me post any pictures because, in my few short months of being on here, it says I have reached my maximum, I will be photo less for a while.
I know that November is over and the 30 days of gratitude, OF COURSE, only takes place in November. Yes, I'm joking, but made ya think anyway. My choice, however is to continue as I think of them to no matter the number. This entry was one of my planned entries anyway and now that it is December, it just fits.
The Bluebird Bus Christmas
First, our family tradition
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve, my mom, dad and my brothers would drive around town looking at the Christmas lights. We would usually also drive up to Tularosa where they did a beautiful, huge luminaria display on the highway through town. We listened to Christmas music on the radio and ohhhed and ahhhhed till bed time.
Christmas Morning
For most of my life, our family Christmas tradition involved not just my immediate family but that of my maternal grandparents as well. We got up Christmas morning and called them to let them know we were up and waiting. They came over and we started opening presents and then my dad cooked a big breakfast for us to all share.
Sometimes, that breakfast included deer steak from the newly finished hunting season, sometimes it was sausage. In later years, it became, "lil smoky sausages" Most of those early years it also included home made biscuits and gravy. ( I loved watching my dad make homemade biscuits they way his mom taught him.). Then when it became time to share this tradition with the next generation, breakfast became pancakes, lil smokeys and fried eggs.
After breakfast we all got in the cars and went to my grandparents house to open their christmas gifts. It was always so exciting to me to see what they got for Christmas as well as my own gifts.
Next Generation:
As in all things, time goes on and as my brothers and I moved out on our own, married and had children somethings changed but one did not, Our Christmas morning just expanded. Now the tradition was that who ever had the youngest child at the time, of present opening and excitement not to be delayed age, got to make the "we are up, ya'll come on over" phone calls. We started at that families house, them made the rounds to each house, up to my grandparents house to open gifts and then went back to my Mom and Dads house for breakfast. The year that each of us had a child of the same age was kinda tricky, but that is a story for another day.
This explaination however, brings us to the YEAR OF THE BLUEBIRD BUS
By way of explaination, we live an area with a heavy military presence and have over the years done a great deal of "civilian contractor" work for that military range, and this was one of those years. Because the sight where my brother was working was about an hour and a half away to even get to and there were a number of other people working in this area, my brother decided to purchase this retired school bus. Yes, it was a bluebird bus but it was actually robins egg blue as well. (I so wish I had pictures.) My brother transported about 15 people back and forth to the jobsite in the bus each day so that they could rest on the way too and from. So, with this at our disposal that year, Christmas went from our normal wonderful pastime, to AWESOME!!!!!
Christmas Eve consisted of my grandparents, my mom, dad, my younger brother, my husband and myself and this brother, Eddie, and his wife and their 18 month old son piling into the bus to drive around the whole county to look at the lights. Since the 18 month old was the only grandchild that year, it was such fun to be able to watch his reactions to the lights sitting there, strapped in to his carseat on the seat behind his daddy, and next to his mommy. It seems like we drove for hours that night until he was fast asleep and we decided it was time to take him home to await the morning.
And morning came. When the call came in that they were awake and it was time to open presents. We each got in our cars and drove to their house, just as normal. However, when presents at that house were opened and properly displayed for all to see, and it was time to move on to the next house, the idea arose, Why drive 4-5 cars from place to place.. when we had......... THE BUS!!!!!! I cannot tell you what a wonderful day we had by being able to literally spend it in each others presence, each and every moment. The laughter, smiles and contentment still shine in my eyes when I think of that Christmas time.
I hope that all will find ways to build relationships through out this holiday season, however you choose to celebrate, or even if you don't celebrate. Use this time to get close to someone and learn about them down to their soul.
I know that November is over and the 30 days of gratitude, OF COURSE, only takes place in November. Yes, I'm joking, but made ya think anyway. My choice, however is to continue as I think of them to no matter the number. This entry was one of my planned entries anyway and now that it is December, it just fits.
The Bluebird Bus Christmas
First, our family tradition
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve, my mom, dad and my brothers would drive around town looking at the Christmas lights. We would usually also drive up to Tularosa where they did a beautiful, huge luminaria display on the highway through town. We listened to Christmas music on the radio and ohhhed and ahhhhed till bed time.
Christmas Morning
For most of my life, our family Christmas tradition involved not just my immediate family but that of my maternal grandparents as well. We got up Christmas morning and called them to let them know we were up and waiting. They came over and we started opening presents and then my dad cooked a big breakfast for us to all share.
Sometimes, that breakfast included deer steak from the newly finished hunting season, sometimes it was sausage. In later years, it became, "lil smoky sausages" Most of those early years it also included home made biscuits and gravy. ( I loved watching my dad make homemade biscuits they way his mom taught him.). Then when it became time to share this tradition with the next generation, breakfast became pancakes, lil smokeys and fried eggs.
After breakfast we all got in the cars and went to my grandparents house to open their christmas gifts. It was always so exciting to me to see what they got for Christmas as well as my own gifts.
Next Generation:
As in all things, time goes on and as my brothers and I moved out on our own, married and had children somethings changed but one did not, Our Christmas morning just expanded. Now the tradition was that who ever had the youngest child at the time, of present opening and excitement not to be delayed age, got to make the "we are up, ya'll come on over" phone calls. We started at that families house, them made the rounds to each house, up to my grandparents house to open gifts and then went back to my Mom and Dads house for breakfast. The year that each of us had a child of the same age was kinda tricky, but that is a story for another day.
This explaination however, brings us to the YEAR OF THE BLUEBIRD BUS
By way of explaination, we live an area with a heavy military presence and have over the years done a great deal of "civilian contractor" work for that military range, and this was one of those years. Because the sight where my brother was working was about an hour and a half away to even get to and there were a number of other people working in this area, my brother decided to purchase this retired school bus. Yes, it was a bluebird bus but it was actually robins egg blue as well. (I so wish I had pictures.) My brother transported about 15 people back and forth to the jobsite in the bus each day so that they could rest on the way too and from. So, with this at our disposal that year, Christmas went from our normal wonderful pastime, to AWESOME!!!!!
Christmas Eve consisted of my grandparents, my mom, dad, my younger brother, my husband and myself and this brother, Eddie, and his wife and their 18 month old son piling into the bus to drive around the whole county to look at the lights. Since the 18 month old was the only grandchild that year, it was such fun to be able to watch his reactions to the lights sitting there, strapped in to his carseat on the seat behind his daddy, and next to his mommy. It seems like we drove for hours that night until he was fast asleep and we decided it was time to take him home to await the morning.
And morning came. When the call came in that they were awake and it was time to open presents. We each got in our cars and drove to their house, just as normal. However, when presents at that house were opened and properly displayed for all to see, and it was time to move on to the next house, the idea arose, Why drive 4-5 cars from place to place.. when we had......... THE BUS!!!!!! I cannot tell you what a wonderful day we had by being able to literally spend it in each others presence, each and every moment. The laughter, smiles and contentment still shine in my eyes when I think of that Christmas time.
I hope that all will find ways to build relationships through out this holiday season, however you choose to celebrate, or even if you don't celebrate. Use this time to get close to someone and learn about them down to their soul.
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