paravanes:meditations

--Dunbar Village, West Palm Beach, Florida "Who is my neighbor?" Thousands of years ago, the question was asked. It is still asked today. When Jesus was presented with this question, He answered it by telling a story which came to be known as the "Parable of the Good Samaritan." In 2009, the question may be answered in the true story of Dunbar Village. If you are unfamiliar with the case, I offer a short summary of what happened in Dunbar Village, a public housing development in West Palm Beach, Florida, in June of 2007. A mother, alone at home with her twelve year old son, was the victim of a home invasion. Several male teens invaded her home, gang raped her, and forced her to commit a sexual act on her young son. Wearing hoods, the alleged rapists used weapons to control the woman and her son. The assault continued for hours. Household cleaning solutions were poured into the twelve year old's eyes. According the msnbc.com, the alleged intruders left the home a...

--photo from oxford.anglican.org In the August 19th post, I introduced the idea that parents should be wary of making their children the central focus of their lives. That idea goes strongly against much of what we are taught by church and society. There are many real reasons why we are at risk for making our children into "little gods." Children are vulnerable, and are sometimes images of our younger selves. We are biologically programmed to respond to their cries when they are infants and mothers are physically programmed to produce milk to nourish their infants. We invest so much of our time and effort in providing for them. We hope they will assist us as we grow older or if we become frail. Our "earthly remainders" will be left to them unless we direct otherwise. We live with them, love them, laugh and cry with them, play with them, teach them, train them, correct them, and rejoice in their progress through life. Our children may be an answer to prayer, or pro...

--photo from oxford.anglican.org "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me..." Jesus Christ, Matthew 10:37 How many of us who are parents live for our children? I read a recent issue of In Touch Magazine , published by In Touch Ministries . The writer of an article mentioned how tempting it is for parents (especially mothers) to put their children first. How often do we hear friends, co-workers, or others say something like this: "Everything I do is for my children." "My children come first." "Nothing and no one will get in the way of me taking care of my children." Perhaps the saddest of all is: "My children are the only reason I'm here; the only reason I get up in the morning." I am a parent and it took a long time for me to begin to process the idea that our children can become little gods for us if we aren't careful. Society...

--Love Is Blind, by Garden of Gloom "To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy..." --Jude, verse 24 For I am finding out that love will kill and save me Taking the dreams that made me up And tearing them away. But the same love will take this heart that's barely beating And fill it with hope beyond the stars. Only love. ---The Beauty and The Tragedy, Trading Places I sometimes wonder if those of us with more conservative theological beliefs (original sin, the atonement on the cross, blood redemption, belief in a literal heaven and hell, bodily resurrection, inspiration of Scripture) forget about love. In the passage from Jude, the writer says we will be presented in God's presence without fault, but also with great joy! God loves us so much that there will be great joy when we are finally in His uninterrupted presence and made perfect. It hasn't happened, but it will, and the antici...

--image from kandle.ie A few days ago, a friend left this message on my voice mail: "I hate to leave a message like this on your voice mail, but Linda ( not her real name ) died. A time and date for her funeral have not been scheduled; just wanted to let you know. Take care; will talk to you soon." Having not quite hit the half-century birthday mark (almost there, though!), I am becoming accustomed to getting messages like these. Someone I knew as a child, teen, or young adult has died. The age of the deceased no longer matters to me. In Linda's case, she was only a few years older than I. Sometimes, the deceased was a few years younger, or decades older. What matters is my circle of "long-known-and-long-loved" is getting smaller. It's a sign of aging, but it's hard to accept. Their deaths are reminders I most likely have more time behind me than ahead of me. That knowledge should shift and rearrange my priorities, and it has happened. A few summers ag...

"There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against the Enemy." (In this book, written from a tempter's point of view, God is referred to as the Enemy). "He (God) wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them." --C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters "So do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." --Jesus Christ, in Matthew 6:31-34 As I move more and more into living by faith, and not by sight, I must adjust to a higher degree of "uncertainty", because I will not a...