2204AFC012822 – Our Excellent Adventure
Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Jeremiah 1:5 – 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a – 4 Love is patient; Love is kind; Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.
Luke 4:28-30 – 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Garrison Keillor, the host of Minnesota Public Radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” had a periodic series about Lake Wobegon. The opening words of the monologue usually were “Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average. It’s been a busy week in Lake Wobegon.” I bring that up because I want to share a little local news. I have mentioned I appreciate your prayers about my relentless stasis ulcer, and ask you to continue as it simply refuses to heal. In fact, there’s now a little-brother ulcer on a toe on the same foot. It’s eaten its way down to the bone. Crucita took a bad fall just before Christmas, and after a few weeks of pain and waiting for an appointment, we learned she has a fracture across the socket for her shoulder bone. Daughter Cherie was hospitalized recently with a serious case of Hepatitis B, and Timothy (who still lives on Kauaʻi) is finding that jobs for musicians are still scant despite the return of tens-of-thousands of tourists to Kauaʻi. It’s been a long week here in Kapahi Town! We thank you for your prayers and well-wishes. Things are getting better; just really, really slowly. So, enough of that stuff. We have some exciting things to look into for this coming Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Jesus had just told them that his presence among them was something Israel had longed for over hundreds of years, and that they had totally missed the point. (See last week’s post 2203AFC012122 – Now hear ye the word of the Lord.) Last week just happened to be Word of God Sunday (Third Sunday in Ordinary Time as declared by Pope Francis in 2019), and our post was about getting into the Word of God deeper and better. This Sunday we will hear about how God’s Love for us is the basis of his Absolutely Perfect Plan (yes, again, it’s the APP), and it is – as the Apostle Paul calls it – “a more excellent way.” It is Love that anchors us to God, and to the plethora of blessings he has for those who Love him in return. God Loves us so much that he takes care of us and blesses us and forgives us even though he knows we can’t possibly merit the Love he gives us. It comes to us only through his Grace. You probably remember Psalm 139:1-6 – the inescapable God who knows everything we think or do or say before it happens, and he Loves us anyway; he is always near. (↔ Music Link) Reflect on that for a moment. What if that was the way Love worked with your parents, or your children, or your spouse, or your Pastor? Could they Love you that much? Could you Love them that much? Can any of us give another absolutely everything s/he needs and never even receive Love in return? “Silly Old Man! Of course not. Only God can do that.” Mostly true – only God can do that perfectly, (↔ Music Link) but we can still try to have that kind of Love, a way that is still more excellent.
The Epistle is possibly the Apostle Paul’s most famous writing – the Chapter of Love. When I read that list, it is saddening to look into my own heart and see how terribly short I have fallen from completing it. I feel so disgraced that I want to just hide. But that’s no good because of what the Psalmist says in Psalm 139:7-12 – “no matter where I go, you are there.” And in all of the places we think we can hide, he is there – still Loving us. Even when we insult him or abuse his Holy Name, he still Loves us. Jesus still Loved the folks in Nazareth even though they tried to execute him! How and why is that possible? It is possible because it is the more excellent way – God’s Way.
Can we be patient? Can we be kind? Can we give up envying, boasting, rudeness, and arrogance? Can we let others have their way even when it is painful to us? Can we be easy-going and generous despite living in hardship? Can we rejoice – always – in the Truth and always regret wrongdoing, even our own? Maybe we can here and there for a little while. But God has a more excellent way: Psalm 103:8-10 says 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast Love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. He sets the example for us to follow. As we are told in James 2:8 – 8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall Love your neighbor as yourself.” “The Royal Law” – God’s APP – can be summed up by hearing God say, “You are like me because I made you. You don’t need 
anything else if you live in my image and likeness.” “Piece of Pie!” we might say. NOT! It’s difficult to be like God – although some people who have the title of Celebrity would dispute that. Perhaps they misunderstood that the Gifts they have are given for sharing, not boasting?
God put into them the Gifts that could lead to fame and recognition while they lived out God’s promise in them – “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” What would you think of the idea of celebrities as Prophets? Does anyone come to mind? St. Pope John Paul II or St. Teresa of Calcutta, or (oh, my!) Ted Cruz, or Donald Trump? (↔ Click Link, SERIOUSLY) Remember, speaking what God wants us to hear is done by Prophets. Now, compare that with recent quotes by LeBron James, Oprah Winfrey, Nancy Pelosi, or Joseph R. Biden. Which list of persons consistently speaks in favor of the sanctity of life from conception to natural death, or Holy Matrimony as a Sacramental joining of one male and one female for as long as each shall live? These are things that God wants all of his children to speak. Recall the words in Joel 2:28 – 28 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;* your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. (* “all flesh” – everyone, all mankind, all humanity, every earthling) The Apostle Peter refers to this passage in Acts 2:17 in saying – “‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, …’” Belovéd, you are a Prophet when you speak what God wants the world to hear from, by, for, and about HIM. If it’s from, by, for, or about you – it’s not prophecy. It is not the more excellent way, because Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. There’s another criterion we haven’t discussed yet:
We’re walking past it quietly as if hoping to not awaken it, but that’s unwise. What is the BIG THING we mustn’t forget in prophecy? We know it is the act of divulging what God wants to be heard, but IT ALWAYS COMES FROM GOD, NEVER EARTHLINGS. When we read the Prophets in the Old Testament, we hear “The word of the Lord came to me” or “Thus saith the Lord God.” The knowledge shared in prophecy is supernatural, originates in and for God, and portends to revelations that are mystical – perhaps knowledge of future event or understanding of past events – and it is made apparent by words or signs. There are lots of other more complicated descriptions, but this is what I want to be able for us to be able to understand:
God speaks to all of us in Creation and in his Word. When what we say and do communicates to others what God has said and done, then I (and probably it is only me) am calling that “prophetic” in the sense that it is announcing what God has said for the betterment of our souls. More precisely understood, however, is that TRUE prophecy is not only beyond human knowledge, but also it means knowing in advance about future events as revealed by God to a person he chooses. I don’t get to choose to speak as God’s representative without his direct intervention.
Are there no Prophets in the Church today? Throughout the Bible, the job of the Prophet was to get people to REPENT (↔ Music Link), to obey and Love God. Every prophecy was part of the Absolutely Perfect Plan to help earthlings understand that Jesus was on his way to bring Salvation and eventually Resurrection and Eternal Life as God had planned In The Beginning. Today’s Prophets continue that tradition of telling the Story of Jesus and his Love. Our stories, our lives, in him are HIS STORY. When we tell our story as His Story, as we continue to testify to the matchless Grace of Jesus, we continue the tradition of prophecy that started in Chapter 3 of Genesis, Verse 15 – “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Did you notice God refers to the Serpent’s offspring?” Who is the Serpent?)
WHY do we still have – still need – Prophets? Look to Proverbs for the answer: Proverbs 29:18 – 18 Where there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint, but happy are those who keep the law. We have much work to do! Things are going to change badly and quickly – at first and soon – before things get better. It won’t be long, if we read the signs aright, and so I again encourage you to Feast on the Word, Stand on the Promises, and practice Constant Vigilance! Suit up in your Full Armor. That glint on the horizon 
might not be just the sunrise. It might be the beginning of our Excellent Adventure on the Road to Glory Land. It begins and ends with Love. As I run back over that short list of descriptions in our Key Verses from The Love Chapter, I can tell you I have failed at every single one of them over and over again. His Love has never failed once. God knew me and all that I am, was, and will be from the first moment he said, “Let there be …” I am part of his Creation (you, too, Belovéd!), and all Creation rightly gives him joyful thanks and praise. The APP for that is already installed. We need to use it more often – as in always and all ways – while we walk together along this long stretch of road that leads to Home and Eternity because Love never ends. How’s that for the theme of an Excellent Adventure?
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
