2547AFC112125 – Our Preeminent King

Dear readers, I apologize for this being so long. It is an important subject and much must be told about it.

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2 Samuel 5:3-4 – ³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. ⁴ David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.

Psalm 122:4-5 –
⁴ To it [The House of the Lord] the tribes go up,
    the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
    to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
⁵ For there the thrones for judgment were set up,
    the thrones of the house of David.

Colossians 1:13-20 (GNT) [1] – ¹³ He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son, ¹⁴ by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.

The Person and Work of Christ [Who is Preeminent over All]

¹⁵ Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things. ¹⁶ For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him. ¹⁷ Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place. ¹⁸ He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body’s life. He is the first-born Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things. ¹⁹ For it was by God’s own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God. ²⁰ Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son’s blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.

Luke 23:35-38 – ³⁵ And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” ³⁶ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, ³⁷ and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” ³⁸ There was also an inscription over him [in Greek and Latin and Hebrew (that is, Aramaic)] saying “This is the King of the Jews.” 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Well, Adelphos, we’ve done it again – worked our way through another Liturgical Year. This coming Sunday is the Solemnity of Christ the King, the “last Sunday of the year.” The Sunday after this one will be the first Sunday of Advent. Then comes Christmas, New Year’s, and not long after, Lent. But let’s not get too far ahead here; so, why is Jesus our Preeminent King?

Let’s work right-to-left here: Why is Christ a King? His Disciples believed that, as the Meshiach, the Messiah, he was the One Promised by God to occupy the Throne of David for all eternity, the One to restore Israel and defeat all her enemies. Now these days, we know that’s not the case. Jesus did indeed come to be a king but he did not come to be the kind of king that they expected . He came to be the King of all the Universe because that’s what he was since before time began.

Now moving left again , we have preeminent. Previously we’ve talked about preeminence , and what that means is that whatever it is we’re describing gets top priority no matter what. It is preeminent in that nothing else can be elevated to its level. Jesus is preeminent in all things, because God has given him a name that is above all other names. Now, that might seem a little tricky if you’re thinking about the Trinity, because Jesus is God. Nonetheless. God the Father gave God the Son Preeminence and a name that was above all other names when Jesus completed his mission of Salvation.

Lastly, we move to the word “our.” We say “our” because just as God is our father, Jesus is our King. Certainly if we were to think of Jesus as being the King of the Universe, and obviously, since we are part of the universe, He must be indeed our King.

Now that takes care of the obvious. Let’s see how all of that connects up with today’s Key Verses. We start with the nation of Israel coming together with David at Hebron. The implication here is that it was the entire population that came together with David at Hebron and there they committed themselves to be his subjects. In the same way, when we accept the Kingship of Christ, we become subjects of Christ. That is why they call us “Christian.” The suffix -ian means “people of,” so Christ followed by ian means “People of Christ.” When I was a teenager we were told that the IANS stood for “I am now saved” following Christ. I think that’s also a pretty good way to remember it. We can recall that David had been anointed ha-Mashiach by Samuel in front of his father and all his brothers. Now, we should also note that they came together before the Lord. This was like a religious conclave held in the presence of God. Those who were to be governed chose and accepted the king by acclamation of assent. Recall that the nation of Israel was new to the idea of having a King. Like little children, they were saying, “everybody else has got a king, so we want one too.”

Today, when we say Christ is our King, The King of the Universe, we also choose him to be our King. But, there is an important difference. Jesus is the King of the Universe whether we acknowledge that or not. However, for him to be our King, we must also claim him through the same acclamation of assent. Because God loves us so much that he gave us the gift of Free Will, we have the capacity to reject Jesus as our King. This, too, is presented to us in the history of Israel. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel rejected God as their King by their disobedience.

In our Key Verses from the Psalms, We have a passage from the beautiful Psalm 122. I learned the beginning of that Psalm when I was a kid. It says, “I was glad when they said unto me “Let us go up to the house of the Lord.” It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned what it meant by “Let us go up to.” Jerusalem is on a mountain and there is no way to get up to the top of the mountain unless you go UP to the top. Well, duh! Add in our Key Verse we also read, “as decreed by the Lord.” Recall that all of Israel was to go to the Temple in Jerusalem for certain of the Feast Days. When I applied that to my own life, I rejoiced that I could be in the company of other believers, and we congregated – literally – to praise and worship the Lord. Going back to the content of the Psalm, that it is “decreed to “give thanks to the Lord.” then we have a phrase that must be read more carefully – For there the thrones for judgment were set up. Set up, that is, for the Judges of Israel. In the Bible, these persons were military leaders called by the Hebrew word שָׁפַט shaw-fat’, which means to judge as in to administer justice, govern, vindicate, punish. They were the Sheriff, if you will, or perhaps like Marshall Dillon who kept everyone in line. You can find out more about them in 2513AFC040425 – Spirit and Life.

The duties of the King were based on the traditional duties of a father, the head of a household like that of our Old Friend, Abraham. They were the spiritual leader, the Priest if you will, of the family, leading them in worship. They were the teachers and law-givers for the family in their role as Prophets who spoke the decrees of God. Lastly, they were the rulers as kings and their duty there was to govern and defend the family – in David’s case, the entire nation of Israel – against all enemies as the military leaders. The “thrones of judgement” described there allude to the ultimate and preeminent authority of God as we described last week in 2546AFC111425 – Immutable Justice. Our El Shaddai-Olam is the Beginning and the End of Governance of THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, i.e., all of Creation.

Now we begin to see how these Key Verses are related to the title of this post as well as the title of the Solemnity – The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. As an aside here to those who state, “I’m a very spiritual person attuned to the Universe.” It is important to remember that the Universe is not God. God created the Universe, but the Universe is not God, and God is not the Universe. God is “outside” the Universe but permeates it in every Time and Place. There is no place that we can be that God is not already there to welcome us. BUT WE FORGET! We must not forget to remember God in all situations, seasons, circumstances, and times – we might say his Name in prayer, but do we remember Who he is and remember his Love and Faithfulness? (↔ Music Link) We can know all the names and attributes of God and be replete with information about him, but it is essential that our Deposit of Faith is not merely informational; it must always be TRANSFORMATIONAL! I’ll insert another little something here that will look familiar:

LIGHT ≡ GOD ≡ TRUTH ≡ WAY ≡ LIFE ≡ ETERNAL ≡ LOVE

We know God is Light, but we also know there is a shadow of darkness on this old World of ours. There is no shadow without there be light, therefore, we must learn to pray in every season of Life. Efficacious prayer will never be closed to WE who learn to pray in all situations, seasons, circumstances, and times – AND THEN DO IT. Not only that alone but we will also be able to weather every storm. I’ve used this image is several writings, so I will use it again here because it demonstrates another point-of-faith we must not forget: There is no shadow without there be light – The Darkness shows us where to Find The Light. It surrounds us and fills us because we are Children of Light, not of Darkness. Sure, I can dig the ”spiritually aware mantra “we’re all made of stardust.” True that. But Stardust and we ourselves are made in the likeness and image of God. Every time we forget that, then we participate with the Darkness, not the Light. We are Baptized into the roles of Priest, Prophet, and King. In each AND all of those roles we are called to [1] follow God and [2] lead “at home, at school, at play” (↔ Music Link) all day, every day, ‘til by death we depart. That’s our God-given job, and it is very much like the job God gave to Jesus.

The Apostle Paul tells us, He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son, by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. That is the core of the Absolutely Perfect Plan – forgiveness of sin and restoration of our intimate spiritual relationship with God through the transformation of our lives in the Life, Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension into Heaven of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ of God who is THE King of the Universe. The Apostle Paul continues with Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things. For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth. All the first-born children of our dear Old Friend, Abraham, are dedicated to God from the womb – that is, from conception to natural death. In Jesus, we, too, are adopted as first-born heirs of the Father. We are destined to be reunited with God as whole, resurrected, glorified beings – restored to our Oneness with God that existed in our First Parents before that Dark Liar came into our lives. Compatibility with our Creator, his Creation, and each other was lost through the Death of Original Sin.

And that is how it should be, according to the APP, because, as The Apostle Paul states further, Christ was present at creation For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him. Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place. The Father generates, the Son is Begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeds. Through the Irreproachable Wisdom of God (adding that to the list!), all things were ordered in perfect harmony until sin brought in discord. Leaders, rulers, Angels, spirits, all were ordered in perfect array. That orderliness will be restored, and – God willing – soon and very soon (↔ Music Link)

He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body’s life. He is the first-born Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things. For it was by God’s own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God. In Hebrews 1:3 [2] The Apostle Paul calls Jesus’ nature “the refulgence of his glory.” Jesus is literally the Life of the Church as its head. “That he alone might have first place in all things” is the declaration of preeminence because it is God’s own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God.

This is made possible only through the Incomparable Grace of God. If we add that to our list we get: God’s Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, Eternal Salvation, Immutable Justice, Irreproachable Wisdom, and Incomparable Grace. ALL OF THAT (and more) is in Jesus, our Lord and our God, the King of Glory (↔ Music Link) The King of the Entire Universe, The King of All Creation and that makes Jesus OUR KING because Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son’s blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven. That includes us, does it not? For that to happen God The Father required only one thing – the bloody sacrifice of his Only Begotten Son.

We think we know the story, but do we? Or did we, have we, do we join The World thus: And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him [in Greek and Latin and Hebrew (that is, Aramaic)] saying “This is the King of the Jews.”

The King has come. Marana tha! Maran atha! God’s Preeminent King saves!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

 Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.

[2] New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Used by permission.

2546AFC111425 – Immutable Justice

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Malachi 4:2 – ² But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. *
In the NABRE, this passage is part of the continuation of Chapter 3

Psalm 98:9 ^c –
He will judge the world with righteousness,
    and the peoples with equity.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 – ¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.

Luke 21:19 – ¹⁹ By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Luke 21:28 – ²⁸ Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him.  In the past few weeks we have heard about one of the fundamental characteristics of our Amazing Triune God – Immutable Justice (← Check it out!). I should point out that EVERYTHING about God is immutable. You may also recall that we read several verses in which God himself states that he is unchanging. Even in this chapter of the book of the Prophet Malachi we hear: Malachi 3:6 – ⁶ For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. This idea is also expressed in verses such as Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17, and Numbers 23:19. This means that God’s Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, And Eternal Salvation are all immutable. What do we mean in the word IMMUTABLE?

“Immutability” is a term often used in data management. Once something enters a “fixed state,” – fixed as immobile or unchangeable – no matter what happens to it or around it, it does not change, cannot be changed, and its status is permanent. These data have predictable behaviors. They have stringent protections for data integrity and compliance with functional requirements. When we think of this word in Theology we mean that God’s Will, his Character, his Promises, his Presence, His Grace, and his Justice – which is tempered with Mercy – never, ever, change. Whatever we can say about, or do with and for, God, his influence is always ultimate and superlative. I think this is why, when we are sometimes confronted with something immensely unusual, we sometimes exclaim, “GREAT GOD ALMIGHTY!” (As always, God hears that prayer.) With God, he establishes and lives by the rules because if any rule can be named, God is that rule; moreover, he is also every rule that we cannot know and therefore cannot name. All, indeed ALL, of that can be applied to God’s Immutable Justice.

Now, what do we mean by “JUSTICE?” Crucita and I watch a lot of those “true crime” and procedural drama shows on TV. In many of them we hear about “getting justice” for the person who was wronged, or injured, or killed. That aspect of judgement is vindication for the plaintiff and conviction for the defendant. If we apply that sort of template to our relationship with God, we can eventually come to the conclusion that God is the plaintiff, and we are the defendants. The upshot of that is that the Prosecuting Attorney is Satan, and the Attorney for the Defense is Jesus. However, God is also the judge, and it’s always a Bench Trial – no jury of peers is involved – and whatever the plaintiff’s prosecutor says, (yes, God did give that Old Dragon that job) it is God’s Immutable Justice which is applied. If God says, “You don’t Love me anymore,” The Accuser (ha-Satan) spews out a whole list of sins against The Law for which we must pay.

What is the penalty for sins against The Law? “Purge the Evil from your midst!” The penalty is Death. Our Defense Attorney approaches the Bench offering expiation and asking for exculpation for those sins. He gains a Judgement that causes each sin to be forgotten so the “death penalty is off the table”, but God’s justice also requires that the mortal, terrestrial consequence be imposed. We might ask “What does that mean?” That means that there are temporal consequences for everything that we do. The eternal consequences are taken care of so to speak through the death and Resurrection of Christ, there are still temporal consequences that need to be taken care of. “All right then, what are temporal consequences?”

Temporal consequences are those things which level the scales of justice. They are the so-called payment for the things that were damaged by our rebellion against God’s rules. We could say that it has its roots an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth in the Old Testament, but it is a more refined and nuanced form of restitution. It’s more refined because it requires the concept of metanoia – that complete change of mindset and heart that end up in a new Vision Of Life. It is the concept of confession plus repentance, we admit that we were wrong, and promise not to do wrong again. In this way the charges against us are either reduced, or, in most cases, dismissed.

In the Key Verse from the Old Testament for today, we have a promise from our God that the righteous – that is the person confined –  will receive freedom like “a calf leaping from the stall.” Some might ask, “Why would a calf be kept in a stall?” That’s how we get veal. Imagine being cooped up in a small stall for all of your life from infancy to early childhood. Freedom from that sort of limitation would be very liberating. That sort of liberty is what every soul craves; but, we are too bound and constrained by sin to possess that liberty. To gain – and  accept – that liberty, we are to revere God. To revere God means we admire, respect, venerate, worship, and obey God. Now, there is a sort of irony in that because if we do obey God, then we do so when admiring, respecting, venerating, and worshipping him. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” How should we Love him? Keep his commandments. How can we keep his commandments? By loving him and each other. That is righteousness – Doing The Right Thing.

That is how God judges the World, with righteousness and equity which is impartiality in dispensing Justice. One of those Eternal Qualities I keep listing is “God is Just and Merciful.” Those last three words are the way I think about how Grace works. Justice is getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we do not deserve which only happens because of God’s Mercy. Here, we are reminded of the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. One of the Corporal Works of Mercy we hear about lately is Feeding the Hungry. “Some” commentators have brought that up when talking about the SNAP benefits. “I thought Christians were supposed to be into feeding the hungry.” Hmmm. Take a look at what The Apostle Paul said about that: “If you won’t work, you won’t eat.”

Now, of course there are tens-of-thousands on SNAP who are marginally employed. They’re doing what they can in their own circumstances to work and live a decent law-abiding life. For 2025, the national poverty line is $15,650 for a single person and $32,150 for a family of four in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. That’s $1,304 per month for an individual and $2,679 per month for a family of four. The hourly wage for that single person would be $7.52 and for the family, net family income per hour would be $15.46. As you know, I don’t understand money at all, but it seems like that’s how the math works out using 173.3 hour/month. The point is that there are thousands of jobs “created” every month (Historically, the average has been about 170,000 jobs per month), there are over 7 million unemployed persons, and virtually every business in every town has a sign out front saying “Now Hiring! Earn up to $25 an hour.” And yet you see people on the MSMOs saying it’s just impossible to find a job. Does that mean we don’t feed them?

Not really. The Apostle Paul is talking specifically about the adelphos, the members of The Church (called The Way at that time), but Social Justice (↔ Click Link) says we must also follow Jesus’ commands to feed the hungry, care for the sick, instruct the ignorant, and bury the dead, and all the other Acts of Corporal and Spiritual Mercy. That’s righteousness – which is following God’s rules as God intends them to be followed –  but not as we pretend to follow them. The fewer people who follow the rules and the fewer rules that are followed, the more and more we make ourselves vulnerable to those temporal costs of sin – disasters, wars, cataclysmic changes in sky, land, and sea. It’s enough to try our souls!

Those trials – which some of us mistakenly take so personally – are what Jesus is talking about in Luke 21. This is very similar to what we read in Matthew 24:3-44 – the destruction of the Temple, the signs of the end of The Age (this present age, the Age of the Church), all the persecutions and sufferings that follow because we are Christians, terrible sacrileges, and the return of Christ. The recent violent insurgencies and massacres in several nations in Africa and Asia remind us of what Jesus told us about being persecuted for his Name. In addition, we have had terrible earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and typhoons, signs and wonders in the sky (Northern Lights seen in Florida?!), famine, pestilence, mindless violence, unwarranted hatred, and a relaxing of moral standards that is utterly scandalous. Jesus has told us these things must happen first. The secular argument is that these things happen all the time; they’re just more frequent and more noticeable because news about them is shared almost instantly around the world. To that objection, Scripture tells us to take a posture of watchful waiting – even if we are the ones who are suffering or being persecuted, because By your endurance you will gain your souls. Nonetheless, we are also commanded to be witnesses – martyrs – for Christ because Jesus is merciful (↔ Music Link)

Another question we hear from both secular and religious persons is, “How can a just and loving God cause all this suffering?” Well, first, God does not cause this suffering but he does allow it. Why? To help us learn to turn to him in all things, first with praise, next with thanksgiving, and last with our petitions. God hears and answers all our prayers – yep, ALL of them. In these grim situations, it is difficult – but still very important – to maintain that “attitude of gratitude.” Gratitude is a prerogative made possible by being aware we cannot fill our emptiness with ourselves or by ourselves. Only God can fill us because only God created us. Sounds simple enough, but, when we let Pride and Greed get in the way … well, you know how that usually ends!

I believe the reason it is so easy to forget how this works (there it is again, “we forget”) is because of the magnitude and permanence of God’s Immutable Justice. It goes from Age to Age and includes every Created Thing. There is nothing that is not included in God’s Immutable Justice. That double negative means Everything That Can Be Named as well as Everything That Cannot Be Named is covered by that Immutable Justice. Not only that, but ALL the other things I keep bringing up – Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, And Eternal Salvation – have the same coverage. We earthlings aren’t used to that kind of permanent, total, unwavering, God-given protection. Yes, I say protection, because Immutable Justice is what protects us from the Prosecutor’s FALSE accusations. I’m going to include the rest of the reading from This Sunday’s Old Testament reading in Malachi ~~

Malachi 4:1-3 – ¹ See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. ² But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. ³ And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

That is the Immutable Justice that awaits all those people you and I see out there doing everything from assassinations to child molestation to “shaving down there” to whatever-other-disgusting-things we see. We know, appreciate, and understand that. Our attention, then, must be focused not on our suffering at present, but rather on preventing others from suffering by letting them know we are Christians. Yes, our offering to God, our Sacrifice of Praise, is to be a Witness, to stand at the Foot of the Cross (↔ Music Link)  with Mary and hold on (↔ Music Link) to that which is right and good – Hope. Peace. Love. Joy. These are the rewards of God’s Immutable Justice. Seek and find. Ask and receive. Watch. Wait. Here comes the Judge!  The Day of Reward is one day closer today!! Alleluia!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

 Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

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Why did I use a KEYHOLE instead of a KEY for our Key Verses? Because, Dear Reader, YOU possess the Key. The Key to the Mystery of Heaven is 

SCRIPTURE

2545AFC110725 – The Church’s Church ← PODCAST LINK 😀

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Ezekiel 47:9 – (GNT) [1] ⁹ Wherever the stream flows, there will be all kinds of animals and fish. The stream will make the water of the Dead Sea fresh, and wherever it flows, it will bring life.

Psalm 46:4 –
⁴ There is a river that brings joy to the city of God,
    to the sacred house of the Most High.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 – ¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?* ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
In Greek this pronoun is second person, plural.

2 Chronicles 7:16 – ¹⁶ For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

John 2:21-22 – ²¹ But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

E pili mau na pomaika‘i ia ‘oe a me ke akua ho’omaika‘i ‘oe, ʻŌmea! (May blessing always be with you and may God bless you, Beloved!) This weekend I’m posting something a little different from the usual. This coming Sunday is the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. It is a “fixed day” feast which means it must always be celebrated on November 9^th. Today I am sharing with you some background on this important building because we may not fully understand why it’s so important.

The photo above gives us an aerial view of this immense church, The Church of the People, The Pope’s Cathedral, St. John Lateran Bascilica. I want to share a few more photos with you before I attempt to give a brief (we hope!) history of this remarkable site. In this photo you can get an inkling of the immense size of this complex. The façade is Over 100 feet tall. and topped by huge statues which are over 27 meters tall. As you can see, the church is built in a cross shape, and you can see the transept farther back in the photo. Adjacent to it are other buildings which are used as residences and administrative functions.

Below is a photo of the Main Altar , and next to that image is a photo of the Tabernacle. Truly amazing, beautiful, and majestic!

(Please excuse my amateurish photoshopping without Photoshop) 

On the façade of the Church are the Latin words “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput.” This translates in English as “The mother and head of all the churches of the city and of the world.” The Lateran Basilica is the first, oldest (over 1,700 years old!) and central Church of the Roman Catholic World. As mentioned above it is the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome – the Pope. At this site there originally stood a palace owned by Plautius Lateranus in the early years of the first century AD. In 65 AD, it was confiscated by the Emperor Nero and Plautius was executed for conspiring against him. Around 313 AD, The Emperor Constantine donated it to the care of Pope Sylvester I. Construction began in 314, and it served as the Papal residence for over 1000 years. It was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior. Eventually it became the first Cathedral in Rome. It remained the principal papal residence until 1309 AD when the Western Schism took place, and the Pope’s move to Avignon France. Nearly 70 years later when the Pope returned to Rome, The building was in poor shape and it wasn’t until 1586 that It was fully refitted. After that time however it no longer remained the quarters where the Pope lived, but became the principal church of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XIII set the permanent feast day on November 9 in 1726.

The Basilica is more than just an historical and architectural monument. It is also a significant testimony to the freedom of faith and religion. Thanks to the Emperor Constantine, Christians could worship without fear of persecution, and that is the principal symbolic meaning for this fantastic edifice. We celebrate the feast on a Sunday every few years and this year is one of them. In the future, you may have an opportunity to recall why it is so important that this particular church, the Church of the Church, is celebrated. And now it’s time to turn our attention to the Scripture readings for this weekend which emphasize the importance of religious places and activities.

I chose to begin with 2 Chronicles 7:16 which is the Gospel verse – chanted during the Alleluia – and really sets the tone for the entire celebration. This passage comes from the Prayer of Dedication given by Solomon when he dedicated the temple that he had just completed. It also contains the famous passage frequently cited in social media which is 2 Chronicles 7:14 — ¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Verse 16 is spoken by Solomon during the vision where God appeared to him for a second time and told Solomon that the sanctuary he had built would be there forever as a representation of his Name and Power. That is why this passage is included in this weekend’s readings, because it speaks of a definite and permanent place of holiness where God is to be worshiped.

In Ezekiel 47:9, the Lord God is giving the Prophet Ezekiel a guided tour of the future Temple for Jerusalem. He is describing a river that flows from it in this verse. We here recall what Jesus said about “Living Water”: In John 4:10, Jesus told the Samaritan woman that if she had known who was asking her for a drink of water, he would have given her “streams of Living Water.” This, of course, refers to the Gospel and the works of the Holy Spirit. Just down the page is John 4:13-14, where Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The waters in Ezekiel’s vision keep getting deeper, broader, and swifter, and whatever they touched sprang to New Life. It is the same with the Living Water of the Holy Spirit and the Gospel as the Gospel grows out from the Basilica to all the world, growing deeper, wider, and stronger as it is spread throughout the world – originating at the Lateran Basilica. IMHO, that is pretty cool! Here’s how Ezekiel’s vision came to fruition in the Second Temple.

In Psalm 46:4, the theme of a river is again expressed. We can see here as well how this prefigures the M.O. of the Holy Spirit – There is a river that brings joy to the city of God, to the sacred house of the Most High. There is no greater Joy than the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Church founded on the Corner Stone the Builders Rejected – Jesus, the Christ of God – and built on the foundation laid out for her by the Apostles, notably through the Holy Spirit’s use of The Apostle Paul and his associates. In our Key Verse from 1 Corinthians Chapter 3, The Apostle Paul is castigating the Corinthian church for their divisions. He explains how he carefully laid down a foundation on which others built up the church, and that they themselves are the True Church, the People of God. He tells them, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” We also recall the words of The Apostle Peter who wrote in 1 Peter 2:4-5 – ⁴ Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and ⁵ like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. WE are the living stones, fashioned unto the image of the Original Living Cornerstone. The Apostle Paul goes onto say, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” He is telling us that our own sins which we retain and guard so fiercely sometimes can bring about the destruction of that Holy temple of God wherein the Holy Spirit dwells. We also recall his words in Romans 8:7-9 – ⁷ For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
⁹ But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. We can destroy the Living Stone that we are by disobedience which is the fruit of Pride. We come together in our church buildings as Church to humbly and obediently give God the worship to which he is entitled through and in Christ Jesus.

We call the buildings where we worship churches, but we all know that the Church is not a building of brick, mortar, wood, and steel but rather WE – Baptized, Confirmed, and consecrated to God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit – WE ARE THE Church. The Lateran Basilica is our Church Home, the Church’s Church, but we are The Church of Jesus who is, was, and always will be the Christ of God. In and through Christ we have access to the Holy Spirit, the stream of Living Water. Jesus used this image again in John 7:37-38 – ³⁷ On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, ³⁸ and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” (↔ Music Link) I am reminded of Isaiah 12:3 – ³ With joy you will draw water from the wells of Salvation as well as Isaiah 55:1 – Ho, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters; indeed all throughout Scripture, Life in God’s Peace is flowing like a river. (↔ Music Link)

Lastly, in our Gospel Key Verse, Jesus has mystified his adversaries and his Disciples by telling them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Later, the Disciples – including us – understood that he was referring to the Temple of HIS body, which we might assume was certainly a Temple of the Holy Spirit. All of this comes together when we understand that Christ is the Head of the Body of Christ – that is, the Church – and that we are all One Body in him, who is the One Bread (↔ Music Link) come down from Heaven. And while we have one church that is the Mother Church of then Whole World – even of our non-Catholic brothers and sisters – we are all built upon a single foundation centered on the Corner Stone whom God chose to be the unifier of all who have fallen short of the Glory of God. The Lateran Basilica’s opulence is a reminder of the lavishness of God’s Grace. It serves as reminder that the Church has a place which marks and honors its inception, a place that is our Church Home, and a place that is The Church’s Church.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.

2544AFC103125 – At Peace in The Lord  ← PODCAST LINK 😀

Normally the readings for this coming Sunday would be for the 31^st Sunday (←Please review) in Ordinary Time. this Sunday, however, is November 2, 2025, and the 2^nd of November is The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day). Today’s post will be based on those readings for that Commemoration.

Read it online here, please. Reading it online allows the email version to reach many more subscribers. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
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Wisdom 3:6-7 – ⁶ like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them.
⁷ In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,
and will run like sparks through the stubble. (NRSVCE)
^5-6 Their sufferings were minor compared with the blessings they will receive. God has tested them, like gold in a furnace, and found them worthy to be with him. He has accepted them, just as he accepts the sacrifices which his worshipers burn on the altar.
⁷ When God comes to reward the righteous, they will blaze out against the wicked like fire in dry straw. [1] (GNT)

Romans 5:9-10 – ⁹ Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. *^{n 10} For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.

*ⁿ Ire, anger, indignation, vengeance; stretching out to grasp to deliver punishment; wrath as in justifiable abhorrence

Psalm 23:6 –
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    my whole life long.

John 6:40 – ⁴⁰ “This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

Aloha nui loa, Adelphos! Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This will be a different type of post. Something has happened to my right hand, and it’s very difficult for me to type. It could be a sprain, or a strain, or maybe some kind of carpal tunnel thing. So after praying about it, I’ve decided to make this just pretty much a music post. There will be several songs listed and hopefully you’ll enjoy having a little “hymn-sing.”

The whole point of this post was supposed to be “being at peace with the Lord.” In the Book of Wisdom quoted above, God has told us that we will be tested. What is the purpose of that test? The purpose is to purify the gold – and for us that’s purify the heart because that’s where the real treasure is in our lives. That purification is important because that is what will preserve us from the wrath of God. In your mind imagine God reaching out with his right hand toward all the souls gathered before him. He reaches to pick them up and gather them to himself. Then think of God reaching out with his left hand and gathering the souls before him, and then throwing them into the Eternal Fire. If you don’t think that’s going to happen, or that something like that is impossible, then you need to go back and read that passage about the sheep and the goats. (See Matthew 25:31-46 especially v. 33)

What we want is for our lives to be filled with peace as in Psalm 23 where David wrote “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell on the House of the Lord forever”. Now that’s what my plan is: follow the APP, and avoid the Trap!

And if we look at what Jesus said in the Gospel of John, then we know that we’re doing what God expected, we are following Jesus and he will raise us up on the last day.

Now if you’re wondering how I did this, I’m experimenting with voice to text! It is indeed a little easier than using my hands to type but considerably more frustrating because I’m not practiced at it. The next thing I’m going to do is give you several links to songs. Pick as many as you want. Play them all, or just play one that maybe you think you’d like to hear. Just know that I love you Adelphos, and hopefully things will go better next week. Peace be with you. Please pray for us, too. We’re being tested this week by a neighbor over a parking space. Lord have Mercy! 😀  

Here’s my “short list” ~~

Nearer My God To Thee

Abide With Me

IMMORTAL INVISIBLE (Try this. it makes a wonderful praise prayer!)

I Need Thee Every Hour

To God Be The Glory

More Love To Thee

For The Beauty Of The Earth

My Jesus I Love Thee

I should also tell you that today’s key in the key verse area was made through AI using CoPilot. There are twelve nibs – 5 on one side and 7 on the other – and those represent the 12 tribes of Israel, and also the 12 Apostles, and also the 12 gates into Heaven. At the top the bow (Handle) shows the gates of Heaven awaiting the key.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

 Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.

2543AFC1012425 – Praise, Humility, Faithfulness, and Service ← PODCAST LINK 😀

Read it online here, please. Reading it online allows the email version to reach many more subscribers. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Please forward this to them and ask them also to share it to others.

Psalm 34:1 –
I will bless the Lord at all times;
 his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Praise

Luke 18:13 ^c – God. be merciful to me, a sinner. Humility

2 Timothy 4:7 ^c – I have kept the faith. Faithfulness

Sirach 35:14 – The one who serves God willingly is heard Service

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. These four short phrases from the coming Sunday’s readings seemed to me to set an outline of “a great way to live” because it encompasses “a great way to pray.” The Gospel for the 30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time is “The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.” The Pharisee, all full of himself, prays to be seen – not only is he putting on a show for his fellow Jews, but he is also literally “praying to be seen,” his prayer is that others will see him and recognize what a swell guy he is. All the while he is perfectly unaware, that God – Who sees everything, and everyone, all the time everywhere – can see what a fake he is. On a humility scale of 1 to 10, he’d score like a minus 2! Prayer requires humility. Without that prerequisite, it’s just empty words. (See Job 35:12-13)

On the other hand, standing well back from such a grand specimen of an earthling, there is the Publican, a tax collector, a collaborator with the enemy, Rome. His head is bowed and he is stooped over beating his chest and praying in humble honesty, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” Jesus tells us in this parable that the prayer of the tax collector was favorably received and welcomed by God for the man’s justification. The Pharisee’s reward was as he prayed for – he was seen by others, and that’s all he gets. This story, and especially this image, always enters my mind and heart during Mass when we pray, “Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.” What an amazing prayer, and only one little part of The Perfect Prayer, the Mass!

We begin this post with the aspect of Worship that should be the beginning of all worship: PRAISE. In Judges 1:2 and Judges 20:18, we see God’s Will when the Israelites asked God which tribe should lead their forces against the enemies. God’s answer was “Let Judah go up first.” (← Check it out in those passages.). Many Bible scholars (and this passionate student of the Word) recognize that “Judah” means “Praise” { יְהוּדָה} so that the Scripture reads, “Let {Praise} go up first.” This is illustrated in The Lord’s Prayer, “Father in Heaven, your name is Holy.” We also recognize that Jesus’ name in Hebrew – Yeshua – means “Jehovah Saves,” or “God is Salvation.” Thus, by invoking the very name of Jesus, (↔ Music Link) we give praise to God. Jesus is “the refulgence (lustrous splendorous brilliancy) of God’s Glory, and so in praying or calling or speaking his name, we not only invoke God, but also we offer him Perfect Praise. Knowing, then, that God is God, we are not; knowing that Jesus is God and we are not; knowing that the Holy Spirit is God, and we cannot be; then we are disposed to approach in our prayers The Lord, the Giver of Life with at least wonder and awe, and hopefully with humility as well, and we could start with “The Jesus Prayer.”

Today, then, we will look in particular at one very special prayer. It is most often known as “The Jesus Prayer.” One common format is “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” There is a popular musical setting by Tom Booth The Jesus Song (↔ Music Link). I want to go back a bit and look at how this prayer is “put together.” This goes back to 2019, so you might remember it:
The Jesus Prayer combines three New Testament Scriptures: [1] The Messianic theological hymn of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians in Philippians 2:6–11 (See verse 11: “Jesus Christ is Lord”), the Annunciation as presented in Luke 1:31–35 (See verse 35: “Son of God”), and the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Tax Collector) of Luke 18:9–14, in which the Pharisee demonstrates the improper way to pray (See verse 11: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”), whereas the Publican prays correctly in humility (See verse 13: “God be merciful to me a sinner”). It takes humility to pray and humility comes to us by Grace and Grace is a gift from God, so when we pray we exercise (make use of) and Extra-Ordinary Gift from God – in short God prepares us to pray, and if we accept the Gift of Grace that elicits prayer, we respond to him by asking him to respond to us. God is always the initiator of every Grace because he is ALWAYS THE Giver of all Good Gifts. Many a day I think that Grace must be the goodest Gift God included in Creation. These two, Praise and Humility, make a good pair, yes? When I think about grace I consider it to be something like Justice tempered with Mercy that is gifted to all who will accept it. Who would not accept it? Persons like the Pharisee who cannot even fake humility in the presence of Almighty God.

It does indeed take humility to pray The Jesus Prayer. It takes nothing of conscience or spirit to recite this prayer. Recitation of prayers is a convenient trap for the devil to get into our heads and hearts. Now, let’s add to the list of “Praise and Humility” the concept of “FAITHFULNESS.” I have been prompted to dig into that a bit deeper. We all know what it means – or at least we all think that we do – and we also have a pretty good idea about what it should look like. Let’s begin with the Key Verse in 2 Timothy 4:7 ^c – I have kept the faith. In this The Apostle Paul attests to the example of his own life as evidence of believing in the Truth of the Gospel and living in accordance with that Truth despite having only incomplete knowledge and understanding of how that Truth is given to us through Grace so that we may claim it in fellowship with the Entirety of God in and through Christ Jesus. Now that’s a lot of words to say, “He walked the Talk.” Nonetheless, faithfulness is also one of those unfathomable Mysteries of God’s Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, And Eternal Salvation because of his Immutable Justice. (Wait for it!) It’s all in the APP, the Absolutely Perfect Plan. God, who is (as we have already seen) the initiator of all Good Gifts, is perpetually Faithful – so that we therefore have complete confidence that God will not ask us to do anything for him that he would not do for us. In fact, God always initiates and exemplifies everything we should do for him by doing all those things for us first. He keeps every promise he makes, so guess what? SO MUST WE. We cannot do that without praise, humility, Grace, faithfulness, and service.

We know that we can rely on God to receive our praise, to bless our genuine (not “Pharisaical”) humility, to encourage and bless our faithfulness, and in all of these Gifts he expects us to accept and use everything he gives us. Now, why would he do something like that? He would do it so that we will apply those gifts to our worship of him and to our faith and charity for others. Hmmm, what could we call that? it sounds a lot like the Fourth Pillar of Stewardship. What is the Fourth Pillar of Stewardship? The Four Pillars of Stewardship are HOSPITALITY, PRAYER, FORMATION, AND SERVICE. Sirach 35:14 – The one who serves God willingly is heard. Not only that but also John 13:34-35 – ³⁴ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”(↔ Music Link)

Would it be fair to assert that Love CAN be the cause of our willingness to render service – service to God and to each other? Does that make any sense? Let’s think for a moment about our loved ones – parents, siblings, spouses, offspring, friends, fellow pilgrims and sojourners. When we Love them, it seems only natural that we would serve them. How? As an example, should parents serve their children? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

“To serve” has roots in being a slave to someone else, to be devoted to another person or idea, or institution such as a religion. For those among us who are parents, were you devoted to your children so that it was your honor to provide them with all that they needed to learn how to Love and Serve God and others in their sphere of influence? Nearly all of us grew up knowing and loving at least one parent or guardian, one person whose centrality in our lives made life at least bearable, if not downright delightful. In a reasonable and caring climate, we are inspired to serve them, to make them proud, to give them the satisfaction of knowing that “the best that I can do” was good enough to bring out the best in us?

So it must also be with our Creator, The Lord God. I usually expand that title to “The Lord, the Giver of Life.” He is Jehovah Sabaoth which is translated as “the Lord of Hosts.” That is often applied to the concept of God’s Armies, but really it means everything that God is and all of his Creation. We could translate it as God of All or God of Everything. He is Elyon El – Most-High God, Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. He is El Shaddai – God Almighty. He is El Olam, God Everlasting. He is Abba, Dad (↔ Music Link). How can that be? It is because, in that as in everything else, God Our Father acts first, and every time he does that, we are called by HIM, to respond with Praise, Humility, Faithfulness, and Service (and much, much more as well!). This Good and Loving Father wants to help us learn to Love and Serve him, and our neighbors, by transforming us into the image of his Son. And what might that accomplish? Let’s look at what The Apostle Paul says in Colossians 1:15-17 – ¹⁵ He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; ¹⁶ for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Here are a few other things to strengthen the case for the aspect of the APP:
Psalm 115:3 – ³ Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.
Lamentations 3:37-39 – ³⁷ Who can command and have it done, if the Lord has not ordained it? ³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? ³⁹ Why should any who draw breath complain about the punishment of their sins?
You get the idea, I’m sure. Our God is Sovereign, and – “In the beginning” – we were to reign with hm. Through his Son, the Christ of God, he works to restore that relationship. (Here comes another redundancy.) More often than not, WE FORGET, and fight hard against his well-placed guardrails of Love often jumping over that “fence” only to fall from the cliff. In my experience its about half-and-half that he either catches us, or lets us bounce off the rocks to rock bottom. He even accepts our contrition when we say, “Sorry Dad. I forgot to Trust and Obey.”

Ahhh, Belovéd! What a GOOD God we have! In this Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time the Church offers four signposts along The Way to help us get up and get goin’. Let us respond in maturity of F.A.I.T.H. and show God our Praise, Humility, Faithfulness, and Service. That’s a good start. Perhaps a couple other prayerful questions could be addressed: To God we can ask, “How have you called me?” (↔ Music Link) and to one another we must ask, “Will you let me be your servant?” (↔ Music Link)

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.

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

2540AFC100325 – Show me whatchya got.

Read it online here, please. Reading it online allows the email version to reach many more subscribers. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often. Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Please forward this to them and ask them also to share it to others.

Habakkuk 2:4 (GNT) [1] – ⁴ And this is the message: “Those who are evil will not survive, but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.”
(Use the link above to see the NABRE version)
Psalm 95:7c-8a – If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
2 Timothy 1:6-8 – ⁶ For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; ⁷ for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
⁸ Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God
Luke 17:10 – ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. ʻŌmea, do you feel something like a pall of darkness falling over the World? Is there a thin but clinging film of anguish being inflicted upon us as if someone is “water-boarding” our minds and hearts which choose to serve God rather than the World? Not a day goes by without news of some desperate soul or insurgency group lashing out and bringing harm to others sometimes 1:1, and sometimes mass murders or regional conflicts. There are several wars going on, the most discussed are in Gaza and Ukraine, but there are wars in Myanmar, Somalia, Syria, Sudan (particularly Darfur Province), Nigeria, Ethiopia and more. Most are terrorist insurgencies. In many cases the insurgents are Muslim, and many of the deaths are also Muslims. Whatchya got there is a dire need for conversion to the One True God.

Most are not initiated by Christians but rather are initiated – in large part – against Christians, and more than a few are jurisdictional or even ethnic disputes. “Wars and rumors of wars” sounds pretty familiar right now. A very large portion of the areas currently under conflict are former colonial “possessions” taken over by two or more groups that are willing to kill and be killed to be the ones in charge. What they have for their perceived enemies is contemptuous disdain. Each side sees the other as inferior, corrupt, unenlightened, and without value. They want to be the ones elevated to superiority over everyone else because they see themselves as being superior. It brings to mind a very familiar passage –

Isaiah 14:13-14 –
¹³ You said in your heart,
  “I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
  above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
  on the heights of Zaphon;
¹⁴ I will ascend to the tops of the clouds,
  I will make myself like the Most High.”

Most of us will remember this as being descriptive of Satan’s fall from Heaven because he was aspiring to be “equal to or greater than” God. Well, he kind of got greatness – the greatest failure of wannabes. Only God is Good. Only God is Great. Only God rewards us for the greatness of our righteousness which makes us smallest in the World. We can trick ourselves into believing that we’re really on the right road to Righteousness – until some trivial thing makes us blurt some careless remark (like politicians often do, eh?), and then we see our Road to Righteousness (↔ Music Link) has a few potholes. Here’s what Jesus has said about those off-the-cuff remarks: Matthew 12:36-37 – ³⁶ “I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; ³⁷ for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Smarty-pants putdowns are off-limits in the Kingdom of God. That’s no way to be great there or even in our own little worlds of fantasy. We want to be Great, but we need to be Small and servants to all. You know what comes next: It’s all in the Absolutely Perfect Plan. And with each whatchya got in that Plan, the whole thing culminates with YOLO-F! That is our favorite whatchya got!

People of faith in the One True God see, condemn, preach, teach, and act against evil. That’s what we’ve got – F.A.I.T.H. because we know God IS GOOD! There truly is no way we can understand how such evil can exist unless we have been touched by its effect on us or in us – whether evil threatens or damages us or whether we – in evil – threaten and damage others. Evil simply makes no sense to the upright of heart. Righteous people sin and seek forgiveness through submission to God and release from the wages of sin. Unrighteous people sin and seek personal glory and release from the torment of being unable or unwilling to submit to God. I can’t understand the multitude of people who cannot have a disagreement with someone else and then just walk away from that without killing their “enemy.” That’s a very sad and disturbing whatchya got.

And so we look back at our Key Verse from Habakkuk: “Those who are evil will not survive, but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.” Look, “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” WE know that! how come they don’t know that? Or maybe, surely, some of them know that but cannot accept it. Well, then, why is there evil? The classical answer is “When sin came into the World … ” My answer is usually, ”God knows, but he’s not telling.” We earthlings cannot answer that question adequately, but we can understand that [1] evil exists. [2] it is persistent, and [3] its growth is accelerating on a very steep upward curve (exponential or logarithmic, IDK). We don’t want to be dead to the Life-saving Gifts God has given us, so we see our Road to a Future in Heaven has to be that narrow little pencil line under all the rubbish and distractions of the Road to Perdition. Let’s hope and pray that’s not whatchya got.

To follow that straight and narrow road means we have to pay attention to what we’re doing as well as what we are not doing. It took me a very long while to realize that one of the things I should not be doing is carrying my burdens – including picking up others’ burdens. All of us are supposed to be wearing the Full Armor of God, and that’s all the burden we need because that is our defense. How do we know? Like we said last week, “The Bible tells us so.” Alright all you Senior Campers, what do we know about reading and/or hearing from the Bible? Indeed we know after years of being in the Word as well as of it, the Bible is the B.I.B.L.E., and it is also the easier way to hear God’s voice. What do we call it when we talk about the Bible? We call it “The Word of God,” so when we listen to the Word – whether with our ears or our minds, we are listening to God speak to us. So, is that whatchya got?

Pastors, lectors, proclaimers of the Word, this is the most important thing we can do when we pick up a passage to read aloud. God is using our vocal chords and lips to form his word into something that will enter the ears, minds, and hearts of the people who are listening. We’re not reading the news (despite calling it The Good News), we are reading what God himself has made known to the authors who dared to write down what GOD SAID. Therefore we are told, If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Now, how many times in a year do we chant that Psalm? Let’s just call it several and say “I can name that Psalm in 2 words!”(seriously, do we remember right this minute the number of that Psalm? FYI it’s #95) We must not only rely on the Holy Spirit to guide our proclamations of the Word but also rely on him to open the ears and hearts of those who hear us. That is our Gift from God – the Ministry of the Word which we have received through the laying on of hands and commissioning by an ordained member of the clergy. Pretty cool job, if that’s whatchya got. But we also know that being the ones doing the listening (whoever has ears, let them hear) is also a pretty cool job.

Many times when I hear people say, ”I just can’t _____,” I ask them “What’s stopping you?” After I ask that question five (yes always 5) times, we usually arrive at “the real problem or answer” and then can begin setting objectives and goals to eradicate that obstacle. When we do that, the past doesn’t’ look like a mountain of sharp-edged boulders, but rather a long hallway of doors. It’s certainly not a “walk in the park because – as Jesus himself told us in his Word – there will be great joys, with persecutions. We might look back and see that long hallway of potentially rewarding doors, but we also still have bruised knees and roughened hands from those boulders. Whatchya gotta do is put in the work to get the reward, run the race to get the crown, carry the Cross to get the Easter that is the last door on the Right – the Day of Reward. We cannot be afraid of that rocky climb to Calvary. It’s the Home Stretch! Our lives right now may or may not seem like a piece of pie (I’m not that fond of cake any more), but that very last whatchya got is a real doozey! The Apostle Paul has just the right words for it, and then we’ll open the Word for a lesson from The Apostle Peter.

Repeating our Epistle Key Verse: ⁶ For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; ⁷ for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
⁸ Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God
 

And then … Romans 6:15-18 – ¹⁵ What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸ and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Absolutely nothing is more important than sharing whatever the Holy Spirit speaks into us by the Word of God. The Apostle Paul’s scarred body was his testimony, his martyring, that asserted he was Jesus’ follower, Jesus’ servant , and the word used in Greek is δοῦλος (doulos) {doo’-los} which mean slave. And he, too, did only what was expected of him despite all he endured – including death by beheading – it was still “just enough.” And in closing we will listen to The Apostle Peter as he shows us what happens to those who are led astray by “all the evil spirits who prowl about the World, seeking the ruin of souls.” (See The Prayer to St Michael).

2 Peter 2:15-21 – ¹⁵ They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of doing wrong, ¹⁶ but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

¹⁷ These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For they speak bombastic nonsense, and with licentious desires of the flesh they entice people who have just escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for people are slaves to whatever masters them. ²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was passed on to them.

Do you have your answer yet? Can you show me whatchya got? I’ll show you yours if you show me mine.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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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.

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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

2538AFC091925 – An Anchor in The Storm

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Amos 8:7 –
⁷ The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

Psalm 113:7-8 –
⁷ He raises the poor from the dust,
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
⁸ to make them sit with princes,
    with the princes of his people.

1 Timothy 2:8 – ⁸ I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument

Luke 16:11 (GNT) [1]  ¹¹ If, then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with true wealth?

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. ʻŌmea, some of what we will cover today will relate to what some folks call “Current Events.” Who among us is not heavier in heart after all the chaos we have witnessed in the past days and weeks? I have reflected on the assassination of Charlie Kirk and, in doing so, my memory bank brought up some additional Bible verses that relate to the Key Verses chosen for today. I will just list them for now. You probably will remember some of them, and you will also probably see how and why they fit in with today’s theme.

From 2135AFC082721 – The Beast Under the Bed –

Isaiah 5:20-21 – ²⁰ Ah, you who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! ²¹ Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes, and shrewd in your own sight!

Wisdom 2:23-24 – ²³ for God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity, ²⁴ but through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it.

John 8:44 – ⁴⁴ You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

2 Corinthians 11:3 – ³ But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

That first one from Isaiah just kept tolling in my head like a cathedral bell. Isn’t that what happened there in Utah? Someone was calling evil good and good evil? Consider these –
Here are some of the alleged quotes from various correspondences and interviews.

• “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.” 
• “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
• Another source (which I cannot independently verify) CLAIMED Kirk was “too divisive.”

Is Tyler Robinson “a monster” for committing this murder. Doubtless someone will come up with that; it was a monstrous crime anyway. What I have not heard in any broadcast so far is whether or not his family was “a church-going family.” Allegedly his father’s views are fundamentally different from Tyler’s view, and Tyler was allegedly “radicalized” in online fantasy applications where one can satisfy a taste for “harmless violence” by participating in, chatting about, and embellishing scenarios focused on warlike battles. His move toward more “liberal-oriented” politics and what was/is basically an immoral World view was exacerbated by his relationship with his alleged boyfriend who was transitioning to being a chemically-induced woman.

So, there we have homosexual conduct, gender dysphoria leading to an incomplete attempt to a gravely disordered need for sexual self-gratification – all things which Kirk spoke against. Tyler took that personally as a matter of personal pride and judgment. We who know God know that judgment is his, not ours. We also know that knowing that does not universally prevent us from being judgmental. Tyler’s judgment was that Charlie was a bigot. Charlie’s response was that persons living a lifestyle like Tyler’s were living outside of God’s Law, and he was inviting them to abandon that and come into obedience.

It is my firm belief that our Key Verse from Amos – even though it is a condemnation of the selfish sinfulness of Israel – can be applied to both men in this tragic segment of history: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Charlie lived his life as a witness by testifying (μαρτυρέω – mar-too-reh’-o like “martyr”) about the Gospel and how it must be part of our daily lives. His nonprofit organization Turning Point (← Information) states their mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government. This is done mostly on high school and college campuses – places where the ideologies opposed by conservative Christian values often find nurturing, and sometimes even forcible indoctrination. Charlie challenged that every day. And every day we, too, must fight against it  particularly when these values are lived-by in the activities and attitudes of someone claiming to be an adelphos – a brother or sister in Christ.

This is also our calling – to be witnesses for Jesus in our day-to-day lives. Sounds easy, but it’s not. It is our responsibility to assist God – in the name of Jesus, who –
⁷ […] raises the poor from the dust,
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
⁸ to make them sit with princes,
    with the princes of his people. One of the most important characteristics of that responsibility is to provide knowledge, to present proofs against errors, to admonish the sinner, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive all injuries, and pray for the living and the dead. Those word in Italics might (should!) sound familiar. Those are the Spiritual Works of Mercy. I’m going to list them again vertically  and with more traditional wording so we can just take a moment to ponder them.

1. Admonish sinners,
2. Instruct the uninformed,
3. Counsel the doubtful,
4. Comfort the afflicted,
5. To bear wrongs patiently,
6. Forgive offenses willingly,
7. Pray for the living and the dead.

That’s quite a checklist there, isn’t it? Someday, perhaps, we could do an Aloha Friday Message Series on the Acts (Works) of Mercy both Corporal and Spiritual! Mercy is the way of Peace. Now if you’ve been with these posts for a while you probably know Micah 6:8
⁸ He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

We must be just, merciful and kind, and humble – those are four different things that bring about the same result: Peace – BUT only in the way the Lord requires. In recent times it seems the way to settle a dispute is to pick up a gun and kill someone – or even many someones! Even as I am working on this on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, the airwaves and Internet are filled with news about five Law Enforcement Officers who have been shot – 3 killed and 2 critically injured as of the most recent report. I can see, and say, now that it is important to be divisive if we are going to live our lives as efficacious Christians. Jesus himself told us
Luke 12:51-53 – ⁵¹ Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! ⁵² From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; ⁵³ they will be divided:

father against son
    and son against father,
mother against daughter
    and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
    and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (See Micah 7:1-7)

The Word of God – Jesus’ Gospel – is intrinsically oppositional because it must separate those who will obey his commands from those who reject those commands. There is an irreconcilable contradiction between the Word and the World. Darkness does not commingle with Light, Evil does not fellowship with Sanctity, and we Adelphos who are Believers must not be yoked to persons who are Unbelievers. Nonetheless, we must still evangelize – both directly like Charlie did, or indirectly as is often (probably mistakenly) attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. We could learn a bit more from 1 Peter 3:1-17 (make time to read this over the next couple of days) and 2 Timothy 4:1-5 (← Please … stop and read this NOW). In these things we must discern that is we who truly are different. We are children of Light, living in Light that knows no darkness. (As long as you have your Bible handy, look up 1 John 1:5 – or just do what I do – follow the link 😉 .

Finally, what does all of this have to do with our Gospel Key Verse? This passage from Luke is in the Parable of the Unfaithful Steward. Jesus tells us about a guy who was ripping off his boss, and the boss found out about it so he demanded a full audit of the Steward’s activities. The crooked steward was too scrawny and lazy to get a job (like in his imagination, digging ditches), so instead he called in a few of his boss’s creditors and “fixed” their debt so that they would be beholding to him and might take him in after he was discharged. We know how that went because Jesus says the boss credited him with at least being resourceful. He still got fired, and the boss was still out of some money, but the steward was now someone else’s problem. It’s more than likely that the bum pulled the same stunt on the folks who took care of him afterwards. Like Forrest Gump might say, “Evil is as Evil does.” In this World, we have a choice between Right and Wrong, Good and Evil. One is Wealth – most likely on Earth as well as in Heaven – and the other is the loss of everything except eternal life (YOLO-F).

Forget about 50 shades of gray! There is not even one scintilla of gray here! If our lives are dedicated to good, then in this world the good we do does indeed live after us as our legacy and the inheritance of every additional Life our Good Works touch. We can see how the APP affects our Lives, in part, by how our Lives affect the lives of others. There are corporal and spiritual blessings – our beatitudes for service – in this World when and only when we use our corporal and spiritual blessings to bless God and to bless others. We must accept division, separation, confliction, exclusion, and persecution from the World if we wish to enjoy harmony, unity, compatibility, inclusivity, and equity in the Church. Because why? Because the Church must be separate from the World. Because why? Because that is the meaning and purpose of the Absolutely Perfect Plan.

We are entrusted with Truth. We don’t have “the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth” because we’re still in this World. In the World, we can use the Truth to find others who walk in The Light of Truth and to carry out another First-Order Task given to us as The Great Commission –
¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (See Matthew 28:19-20)

That’s what Charlie did. His YOLO-F is paying big dividends outside of this World. Tyler’s YOLO-F is still up for grabs – literally. Charlie was thinking on what is above, not what is below (it would be worth our time to review Colossians 3:1-5). Be like Charlie. Tyler was thinking about anything-but what is above. Don’t be like Tyler. At our Key Verses today I have the image of a 4-branch anchor. Again, because why? “There’s a battle outside and it’s ragin’. It will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, for the times they are a-changin.” (↔ Music Link) There is a battle outside of the Church – in some cases perhaps even inside the church – the battle, the storm, the birth pangs, the World – is worsening in intensity. We are Standin’ in the Need of Prayer (↔ Music Link), and failing that, we are in need of more witnesses to stand and proclaim “this far and no more.” That cannot be done as vengeance. It must not be done as retribution. Remembering we must obey and follow his Commands we turn to
Luke 6:27-28 – ²⁷ But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. and also
Matthew 5:44-45 – ⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous as well as
Romans 12:14 – ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. That is our Anchor of Hope in the storm. Hebrews 6:19 ^a – ¹⁹ We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul . The anchor I’ve shown you is something like a Cross. That is where our lives are headed – The Cross and then The Glory. An anchor without a chain or rope is pretty useless if you want to keep the boat – our life – from drifting away. What is it that connects our Anchor to our lives?

Every link we make with the Word of God.

There are more than a few of those links from his Word here. Be like Charlie and get Linked-Up with the Anchor of our Souls. That’s Grace. Embrace it. (←Video Link)

[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.