paravanes:meditations

Image from firstchatham.org One week after Easter celebrations in the western church is a good time to ask: what happens now? Part of what we celebrated for Easter was Jesus' experience of overcoming betrayal, intense physical and emotional pain, abandonment, and death. Having done all of this, he did not leave behind those who abandoned and left him (almost) alone to die. The amazing and wonderful thing he did was this: he returned to them, welcomed them back into friendship, showed them his victory over all of the negativity, and then commissioned them to give out his message of life. The life Jesus is offering us is not simply an "extended" or forever life. As spiritual beings made in the image of God, we will live somewhere forever. What's to be determined is where and how we will live and what we will do with this "forever" life. , When Jesus says he came that we will have life, and have it to the fullest , Jesus is offering us the ...

Yes, Jesus knows how you feel when you experience the pain of betrayal and abandonment. He chose a place and a time to experience those pains and those losses. What did He experience? He experienced betrayal by those He chose, those He loved, those He trusted, and those He lived with. He also lived through abandonment by these people when the social and political environment became too hostile, too uncomfortable, too dangerous.  Add to this denial, rejection, an illegal  trial,  and torture while in custody. You can trust Him to know how you feel when everything falls apart and even God the Father seems absent. The story doesn't end there, just as our stories don't have to end while we endure the dark night of the soul. But isn't it a comfort to know we follow One who has lived so much of what we fear and He was not overcome by it? He will take our hands and guide us and protect us and show us the way to the light. He walked through the darkness and ...

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing." -- Luke 13:34 --Image from beholdhim.org Have you noticed the most broken and wounded persons sometimes show the most anger, resistance to change, and hostility? Have you noticed they are often the most resistant to making even the small changes that would create more positivity in their lives? Have you observed their unwillingness to know something new, for fear of being disappointed-- again ? You have seen what Jesus saw when He wept over Jerusalem. His response to all of the rebellion, grief, pain, and anger was pity. He saw more in those who were lost than they could see in themselves. These lost souls refused to see another vision of themselves, refused healing and love from His open arms. Because Jesus forces Himself on no one, He wep...

In Matthew 18:21-22, Jesus tells His disciple Peter: if your brother sins against you, forgive him "up to seventy times seven." (New King James Version) What is Jesus actually saying here? Jesus is challenging Peter, and us, to move ourselves away from thinking of forgiveness as a sequential series of actions in response to those who have offended us. Jesus is telling us to own an attitude and lifestyle of forgiveness. Be amazed by what God will do when you choose this path. Include yourself among those who need forgiveness. Remember: forgiveness is a gift your give yourself as you cleanse your spirit and your heart from the injuries others impose. It is an act of power, strength, and forward movement. You can't have too much of these things.

image is from cctvcambridge.org I am taking an online course on C.S. Lewis offered by Hillsdale College in Michigan . Yesterday, while listening to the lecture in the second unit of the course, the lecturer pointed out something that seems so obvious and yet gets lost too often when we try to say what is most important about being a Christian. The lecturer, Michael Ward , said the entire point of seeking and serving God is to have our wills conformed to God's will. This seems really obvious, so why do so many of us miss this? Many of us in North America live in the middle of church teachings that suggest we follow God to have a happier, better, more prosperous life. Or, we follow God because we want to make the world a better place. Or, we follow God because Christianity is part of our family tradition. The list of reasons could go on and on. The idea of having our wills conformed to God's will may sound frightening, mysterious, possibly offensive, or perha...

In his book Conversations with God , James Melvin Washington (whose work predates a book of the same title by Neale Donald Walsch) writes a chapter titled "Slavery and the Eclipse of the African Gods." Washington's description of Black slaves and their conversion to Christianity suggests this conversion was not the result of "brainwashing" by slave owners in pursuit of submissive slaves. Rather, Washington describes this process as the eclipse of the African gods. I found his discussion interesting and convincing. If slaves had been "brainwashed" by owners, owners would not have banned private gatherings when slaves met to worship. When you have someone totally under your mental control, you don't worry about what they will do when you're not watching. Additionally, the proscriptions against slaves learning to read would not have been so vigorously enforced if slave owners really believed their own propaganda: slaves weren't very smart...

“Prayer of an Anonymous Abbess: Lord,  you know better than myself that I am growing older and will soon be old. Keep me from becoming too talkative, and especially from the unfortunate habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and at every opportunity. Release me from the idea that I must straighten out other peoples' affairs. With my immense treasure of experience and wisdom, it seems a pity not to let everybody partake of it. But, you know Lord, that in the end I will need a few friends. Keep me from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Grant me the patience to listen to the complaints of others; help me to endure them with charity. But seal my lips on my own aches and pains -- they increase with the increasing years and my inclination to recount them is also increasing. I will not ask you for improved memory, only for a little more humility and less self-assurance when my own memory doesn't agree with that of others. Te...