As Alma already mentioned, these days we are celebrating the Lord's baptism, the revelation of His divine nature. He who was blameless underwent the process of purification in the Jordan river by John the Baptist, as the 3rd chapter in Saint Matthew's gospel (NIV) tells us:
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied,“Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Although i am on the road to conversion to Catholicism, in this month full of ecumenical action, i will go ahead and post of couple of commentaries from other branches of Christianity. One of them belongs to Martin Luther himself - “
A truly Christian life is nothing else than a daily baptism once begun and ever to be continued.”
The other belongs to Fr. Estephanos Issa, a member of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Canada - "It is essentialfor each Christian individual to ask themselves whether they truly bear the identity of Christ.The identity which sets the children of God apart from the rest, those who renew the vows of baptism and identify themselves as citizens of heaven before earth.
Celebrating the epiphany of the Lord is a reminder for us to ask ourselves how much of Christ do we allow to appear in us through our words, our actions, our behavior and our manners.We should come humbly before the Lord and ask Him to include us in the company of His saints to be completely identified with His people and their righteous lives for the Glory of His name."
http://www.stbarsaumochurch.com/Sermons/TheEpiphany/tabid/178/Default.aspx
Later this month between January 18 - 25th around the world churches of great many denominations will participate in the
Week of prayer for Christian unity which will include common services and moments of prayer and worship. I know i'll sound like a broken record to some, but i cannot help but agree with John Paul II who said
the division among Christians is both a sin before God and a scandal before the world. The Lord desires and demands from us a unity of voice and message. He prayed for it.
Although human frailities, wordly considerations and doctrinal differences built over centuries have caused throughout history bloodshed, desent and adversity, it is our duty as Christians of the third millenium to struggle and work together around the most essential elements of our faith which bind us together (such as the baptism) and while respecting the diversity and identity of each confession to work together for the furthering of the Kingdom of God and building a truly credible testimony before the entire world of our common faith in Christ the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth and our Redeemer.
Here are some of the prayers to be used during the upcoming week of prayer which has as theme -
One in the Apostles’ Teaching, Fellowship, Breaking of Bread and Prayer (cf. Acts 2:42). For 2011, the churches in Jerusalem were the initial consultants to the Joint Working Group for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The Christians of Jerusalem call upon their brothers and sisters to make this week of prayer an occasion of renewed commitment to work for genuine ecumenism grounded in the experience of the early Church.
http://www.geii.org/wpcu_index.htmIt is also an occasion to pray for peace in the Holy Land and renewal of dialogue with the other two great monoteistic faiths – our Jewish and Muslim brothers who share our belief in one divine source of all creation.
Some of the texts to be used during the services contain the following prayers. If some of you could remember to do this in a few days, it would be great. The complete texts can be found on the site of the Holy See
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/weeks-prayer-doc/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20100526_week-prayer-2011_en.html
Merciful God, may your life-giving Spirit move in every human heart, that the barriers that divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease, and that, with divisions healed, your people might live in justice and peace. We pray to the Lord.
Kyrie, kyrie eleison.
Loving God, hear our prayers for your holy city, Jerusalem. End her suffering and make her whole. Make her your home once again, a city of peace, and a light to all peoples. Foster harmony in the holy city among all her inhabitants. We pray to the Lord.
Litany of Christian Unity
In Christ, the world is reconciled to God who entrusts to us the message of reconciliation. As the ambassadors of Christ’s reconciling work, we make our petitions to God:
When we pray together from our diverse traditions,
Holy One who makes us one, make our unity visible and bring healing to the world.
When we read the Bible together in our diversity of language and context,
Revealing One who makes us one, make our unity visible and bring healing to the world.
When we establish relations of friendships among Jews, Christians and Muslims, when we tear down the wall of indifference and hatred,
Merciful One who makes us one, make our unity visible and bring healing to the world.
When we work for justice and solidarity, when we move from fear to confidence,
Strengthening One who makes us one, make our unity visible and bring healing to the world.
Wherever there is suffering through war and violence, injustice and inequality, disease and prejudice, poverty and hopelessness, drawing us near to the cross of Christ and to each other,
Wounded One who makes us one, make our unity visible and bring healing to the world.
With Christians of the Holy Land, we too are witnesses to the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, his ministry in Galilee, his death and resurrection, and the descent of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem; when we yearn for peace and justice for all in the sure and certain hope of your coming Kingdom,
Triune One who makes us one, make our unity visible and bring healing to the world.
May the Father, who is faithful to his promises and unfailing in his help, sustain you as you go forth to strive for justice and seek an end to division.
Amen.
May the Son, who sanctified the Holy Land by his birth, ministry, death and resurrection, bring you redemption, reconciliation and peace.
Amen.
May the Spirit, who gathered the first believers in Jerusalem as one, unite you in faithfulness to the teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers, and inspire you to preach and live the Gospel.
Amen.
May the One God, Father, Son and Spirit, bless you and keep you, as you go forth to proclaim his Good News to the world.
Thanks be to God.
Blessing
May the blessing of the God of peace and justice be with us;
May the blessing of the Son
Who weeps the tears of the world’s suffering be with us;
And may the blessing of the Spirit
who inspires us to reconciliation and hope be with us
from now into eternity.
Amen.
Looking for images of the baptism, I accidentaly ran into this next one. Although from a stylistic and aestethic point of view is a bit too minimalist and mathematical in its logical framework approach for my tastes, I am amazed by its simplicity, accuracy and clarity of message. Jesus truthfully is the only link between God and sinful man and the only way of salvation.
I know i've mentioned the C.S. Lewis' work that I am greatly fond of.
The Screwtape letters is actually used as reference in the book i am about to tell you all about. I recently discovered a contemporary Christian author whom i am enjoying very much. His name is
Gary Thomas. I look forward to reading many other of his books, but the first and only one i've read so far is called
Sacred marriage. Some of you might already be familiar with the book. It was published in 2000 and as the cover shows it poses a most intriguing question – what if God designed marriage with the purpose not of making us happy, but holy rather?
The basic idea of the book is that marriage is one, if not the most important laboratory in which we can cultivate some of the most important Christian values of love, charity, gentleness, patience and faith thus increasing our spirituality and communion with God both as individuals and as couples. One of the aspects i enjoyed the most and this seems to be Mr. Thomas' mission and calling is the integration of Scripture, church history, and the wisdom of the Christian classics into modern experience. I loved that although an Evangelical writer himself, in support of his arguments he has used quotes and references from the earliest days of Christianity and from different branches – from early fathers of the Church or modern Orthodox authors to Catholic saints from the middle ages, like Francis de Sales.
Gary Thomas rightfully points out the lack of literature dedicated to the importance and relevance of the Christian marriage. It is a sacrament after all and one that affects most of us. It should not be taken lightly or considered of secondary importance. Although some members of the church choose to dedicate themselves entirely to the Church and Christ, the rest of us who make up the Body of Christ do find ourselves with the option of marriage sooner or later in our lives. Mr. Thomas makes a great plea on behalf of all Christian marriages and considers that even the most difficult ones are worth the effort because they make out of those who suffer better Christians.
It is his belief that people who are quick to resolve to divorce and seek in the changing of parterns a new beginning and outlook on life do not realize that the truly missing part was a proper relationship with their creator. He argues that the essential question is not finding whom we should marry in particular, the person is more or less irrelevant, but rather what we can accomplish as a Christian couple with that person whom we married. I do have to disagree with him though.
I can understand his plea on behalf of marriage and i know the divorce rate all over the world is frightful, but i would caution against marrying at all costs. Many people, including Christians
end up (and that is not a hazardous choice of words) being married for the sake of getting married and attaining a certain social status which eludes single people. Other reasons can be fear of loneliness, need of material support or fear of 'burning' as Saint Paul said.
I personally think it is an awesome decision we should ponder with great care. In my humble opinion it is mighty important to open our physical and spiritual eyes when we take such a step which will impact not only our future but most possibly future children as well.
If we are to have truly successful Christian marriages, meaninful lives of worship and not have too many attempts at it, we do have to make sure we are choosing the Mr./Mrs. Right first time around. We have to make sure the one we committ ourselves to is the one who will makes us complete human beings, better Christians and the one who will be able to bear us when we are unbearable even to ourselves. Of course time and nature take their toll and people change, at times in unfortunate ways, but that doesn't mean we should not keep our eyes open at the beginning of any relationship with any potential marriage parteners and seek true compatibility on all levels – physical, intellectual and spiritual. If any of these three lacks, then the others will not and cannot compensate for it.
Returning now to Mr. Thomas' amazing book – it is beautiful to see how he departs from the biblical analogies both in the Old and the New Testament and the relationship between God and the Church as one of matrimony. I loved the fact he did not shy away from controversial aspects such as preconcieved male notions many would qualify as misoginistic in considering female attitudes either as too weak or needy on the one hand, or manipulative on the other because of inborn feminity. He gives several examples of men who have reconsidered their attitudes towards their wives and women in general and have come to treasure them and their needs and in the process have improved their relationship with God and their faith life. Among one of his many pertinent observations, the author rightfully points out that is one thing to have feelings for your wife and it is an entirely different matter to express them.
Another seemingly controversial topic he tackles with great care, honesty and depth is the importance of the sexual bond between spouses. He rightfully describes the marriage between a man and a woman as the only proper forum in which our natural, God-given sexual impulses should be developed and enjoyed. He points out there is no separation between the holy and profane in marriage and the life of prayer and praise and the expression of sexuality are not contradictory notions.
In a true show of coherence of life and discourse, Gary Thomas offers a very open testimony about his own life and marriage (which has now lasted for over 25 years) to Lisa, whom he describes lovingly and with great respect, revealing enough about their relationship to be of use to others, but not too much to infringe her privacy and dignity.
Also in terms of examples he uses very intriguing couples in History from Abe Lincoln and his tempestous wife to the Lindbergh family. One of the anecdotes I liked best was about Howard Hendricks, a seminary professor and speaker of great acclaim whom is quoted in one instance after having made an impressive sermon and was called a 'great man' by one of the young people in attendance. He referred to his wife asking her how many great men she knew and she promptly answered 'one less than you think'. Gary Thomas firmly believes that God gives influential men wives who can help keep them with the feet on the ground.
One of the most beautiful ideas expressed in the book is that of service. It is only fair that I quote one of the most meaningful and beautiful passages of the entire book:
“Kathleen and Thomas Hart talk about the 'Paschal mystery' of marriage – the process of death and resurrection as a way of life for married people. Every day we must die to our own desires and resurrect as servants. Every day we are called to identify ourselves with Christ's suffering on the cross and be empowered by the Risen One. We die to our expectations, demands and fears and we awake to a life of compromise, service and courage. In that sense, a truly Christian marriage proposal is truly an offer, not a request. Instead of saying “will you do this for me?” when we are asking someone to enter a marriage relationship, the true question ought to be:“ are you willing to receive what I can give?” If marriage is approached each day from this perspective none of the partners will face disillusionment since both will be consumed with the desire to fulfill to the best of their abilities the duty of serving the other one.”
Here is a beautiful image which i thought conveys Gary Thomas' words most beautifully – two individuals leading different lives being brought closer and closer together until their beings, their lives and their mission become one.
And since i've used paintings, literature and prayers, i think it's high time we got some music is this 'tiny' post of mine, don't you all agree?
The following videos could come as surprise to some, but i am a great lover of all artistic expressions, especially when used to praise the Lord – from medieval architecture and music, to modern abstract paitings to hip hop. I know that both
Kanye West and
DMX, as many other rappers, are judged rushly and many times mercilessly for human mistakes, but i admire and appreciate these men who share their talent and their inner and outter struggle with the world, especially when they get their praise on.
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And yes, i can only join Kanye when he says:
bring the day that I dream about, next time i'm the club everybody screamin' out: Jesus walks.....with me.
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For those of you with more conservative music tastes, here is the now classic
River of dreams from
Billy Joel
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One of the most important tasks we have as Christians is to immitate the Lord. We cannot claim to love Him and not love our brothers and sisters, especially those most in need. That is why we must always try, in however small or apparently insignificant way to
change the world. As Christians we must walk the fine line between the sin of apathy in the face of injustice and that of hopelessness believing that pain and death are the final destiny of any and all human beings.
In Christ we are victors, because He has overcome the world, we must never forget that.
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Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has – Margaret Mead, a hero from a country tragically torn by faith and the divisions among Christians I was mentioning some verrry many paragraphs before.
About them birds and fish incidents Alma was mentioning - i would wait for the tests and the scientifical explanations before jumping to any dooms day predictions.
Michael was so very right in Jam –
we must live each day like is the last. We should take responsibility for ourselves, our lives and our families and have the best possible relationship with the Lord
now. We shouldn't be needing outstanding natural phenomena to induce fear in us. Christianity is a faith built on love, hope and peace. There is no place for fear in any of that. We must trust God, avoid sin and love Him and all those around us, starting with the nearest ones with all our might.
I also agree with Michael when he sang in
Shout that nowadays we are '
too busy focusing on ourselves and not His Majesty'. There truly has
got to be some type of change for this day and age.
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There's nothing that can't be done if we raise our voice as one. Another day that i dream about is the one when
the world will not only hear, but truly listen to Michael's message. We should have done it long ago, he had been singing and living this message since his childhood, but we payed more attention to his cute cheeks and Afro; he tried to convince us in his solo career, but we were too busy speculating about elephant bones and dates; he tried to heal the world and get us to do it as well, but he was silenced by horrible lies; he continued to write this kind of amazing songs during his trial, but very few got to listen these precious jewels of art and spirituality. Some have awakened after June 25th 2009, but not nearly enough. My question is – will we ever be ready and willing to listen to his message and that of countless others? Will we ever learn to give a damn as he said in Earthsong? Hopefully we will and soon, for all our sakes....
God bless you everybody. Keep praising the Lord and glorfying Him with your words, thoughts and deeds. I'll try to do that, less visibly though. I would greatly appreciate it if every now and then you could spare a prayer for a horrible sinner like me.
Always trust Him and remember that
one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Christ is Lord.
Thy will be done. Help us and protect us all.
I pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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