Aloha Friday Message – February 19, 2021 – Noah Was a Carpenter

February 19, 2021

2108AFC021921 – Noah Was a Carpenter

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.

     Genesis 6:8 – 8 But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.

1 Peter 3:20b-21a – God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Now why would I write, “Noah was a carpenter” when everyone knows that?

I don’t know why that popped into my head. I was looking for an older post I had made, and I typed in the word Noah to see if it would highlight it as a misspelled word. It didn’t. As I looked at it, the rest of the sentence just flowed as I typed.

Noah was a carpenter.

I wonder if he knew that when he was growing up? More precisely he was a shipbuilder. Of course he couldn’t have known that because his was probably the first ship built. Based on the information we have from Genesis, it must have been a rough ride. Here’s some suggested reading from Ritchie’s Sermon Topics.

Coming Judgment Announced Genesis 6:12-13 – 12 And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth.

Noah believed the warning ~~ Hebrews 11:7 –  7 By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.

Noah built the Ark according to God’s plan ~~ Genesis 6:14-16 – 14 Make yourself an ark of cypress [gopher] wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks.

Noah and his family obeyed God’s Invitation to enter the Ark ~~ Genesis 7:1 – 1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation.

Noah and his family were in God’s hand ~~ Genesis 6:17-18 – 17 For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

Despite what you saw in the movies, God shut the door  BUT no one else could open it; yet, the Ark stayed afloat ~~ Genesis 7:16-18 – 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.

17 The flood continued forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters.

God caused the floodwaters to retreat, and all who were Just reentered the World to worship him ~~ Genesis 8:18-22 – 18 So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. 22 As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

To these I would add the following:

Jonah 3:9 – 9 Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish. WE know, Belovéd, because we have the Words of everlasting Life.

The floods will never come again, but the next full-World destruction will come by fire ~~ See 2 Peter 3:5-10 – 7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.

Matthew 18:14 – 14 So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost. Every evil shall be destroyed. Every righteousness shall be preserved. (See John 10:28 below↓)

John 1:14 – 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. That is True Righteousness!

John 10:9 – 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the covenants God has made with his earthlings. The Ark carried the Just. The Gate opens the Way.

John 10:28 – 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. The World will be destroyed, but the Just shall not perish. Sound familiar? The Just were in the Ark, and only the Just were saved.

Romans 3:4 – 4 By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, “So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail in your judging.” (See Psalm51:4) Remember, we got into this mess because of a series of lies from that old liar and murderer, Satan.

1 Thessalonians 4:14 – 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. “All the faithful departed and those whose faith is known to you alone.”

Where he leads me, I will follow (↔ Music Link), because I know he’s coming back for us. Will I, will you, will we be ready, or will Christ find the World is as bad, or worse than, in Noah’s time? You and I know that we will joyfully, willingly, obediently wait for him because Every Day with Jesus is Sweeter than the day before (↔ Music Link). And you know what? When I’m that happy, I just can’t help but sing, because In My Heart There Rings a Melody. (↔ Music Link) And Why do I Sing About Jesus? (↔ Music Link) “S/he who sings gladly prays twice.” Just think how that Worship Service with Noah his family must have been! And it’s all because Noah did what God asked. He even made sure he had the plan right.

Noah did a little talking with the Lord when he first got the request. He seems to have felt he was not cut out for that kind of job. However, God knows better (of course!) and so God insists. Noah wisely obeys. A door is closed. A remnant is saved. The rest is amazing.

It makes me wonder: What does God want me to be if I grow up? How about you? Do you ever wonder about that? I hope so. It’s one of the gazillion ways God tries to get our attention, to get us thinking about things above instead of things here and elsewhere. As He did with Noah, when God really wants you to do something, God just won’t let it rest. I think that may be why we have the saying, “We are restless until we find our rest in God.” (Written by St. Augustine) Noah was a carpenter. Jesus was a Carpenter. Both of them cooperated with God and changed the world. “If I was a carpenter…” To tell you the truth, I’m terrible with carpentry tools. God gave me a way different toolbox. He won’t let me rest until I start using it. If I look at the tools He gave me, it’s pretty clear I’m not going to be building any arks. I’m going to be building something, though, that’s almost as big and complicated as an ark – at least that’s the way Noah and I both feel about it! And I’d best get on with it else I might find myself standing on the wrong side of the door with God patiently waiting for me to become favorable in his sight.

Please remember to pray for –

  • Truth ~~ Almighty Everliving God, Lord of Hosts, We humbly ask you to grant us the Grace to seek Truth, to recognize it when we find it, the courage to embrace it wherever it is found, and the wisdom to exclude all else that is not Truth.
  • In Jesus’ Precious Name. AMEN.
  • Peace ~~ real and lasting peace – in our hearts and minds, in our homes, in our nation, in our world
  • The Called ~~ like Noah – who can barely believe what God has chosen for them by gifting them with what it takes to do it
  • Everyone ~~ who prays for you and everyone who asks for your prayers
  • And – this is important – pray for and about YOU. You might be surprised by how attentive God can be. And when he calls, answer and rejoice. Maybe we might even sing a tune or two!

Thanks for everything! I love you. Make it a great day: Give it to God and see what He can do with it. You know, of course, God Will Take Care of You (↔ 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

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

 

Aloha Friday Message – February 12, 2021 – Where there’s a will

February 12, 2021

2107AFC021221 – Where there’s a will

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.

    Mark 1:40-41 – 40 A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!”

1 Corinthians 10:31, 11:1 – 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

I have been thinking this week about how wonderful it is to know the Lord and how important it is to know that we know him. Does that sound like double-talk or circular logic? Perhaps I can explain what I mean.

Most people, even non-Christians, can recognize Jesus. Hopefully you read the story I sent on Tuesday about the little girl who had never heard about Jesus until the murder-suicide of her parents. Recognizing him is not the same as knowing him. Tens-of-thousands of people in Jesus’ day saw him, recognized him, watched him, but not all of them knew him, and of those who did know him, not all of them followed him. Some of us “of a certain age” can remember a song from 1958 sung by The Teddy Bears’ Annette Kleinbard with lyrics “To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him … Everyone says there’ll come a day when I’ll walk along side of him.” The song continues with a complaint that the object of  the young lady’s affection ignores her. Just as in Jesus’ time, not everyone paid attention to Jesus. In fact, the longer he was around, the wider the separation became for those who loved him and the many who were indifferent to him. Jesus did and does notice those of us who love him, who follow him. A few years after that release of the Teddy Bears’ hit, Little Peggy March took off with “I will follow him.” (↔ Music Link) Much to our surprise, that song was revived in the 1992 movie “Sister Act 1.” I say it was surprising because the lyrics (↔ Click Link) were “remarkably adaptable” under a religious connotation.

1958 was also the year Bill Harmon’s song came into popular play. It is called Reach Out and Touch the Lord as He Walks By. It’s a great way to be closer to God – reach out and touch him like an old friend. There is something so consoling in a touch. When infants are in the PICU, it is essential that someone touches and holds them, otherwise they will not – cannot – thrive. When we are hurt, or frightened, or in love, or feeling welcomed, we like to touch and be touched. If we think about those times in our lives when someone gently touched us, those are pleasant memories. They are even more pleasant when the touch is unexpected. If someone special reaches out and takes our hand or touches us on the shoulder, we feel a shudder of warmth. Most pleasant of all is when we ask for that touch or hug, and it is given with  love and received with joy. Now, we can  consider that as we try to imagine the reaction of the leper described in our Key Verse today.

This man has seen Jesus heal others. In humility, he approaches Jesus – even risking rejection because of the Law regarding lepers (↔ Click Link), and begs Jesus to consider healing him. His request is in a unique form: “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Some biblical sources phrase that as “If you are willing.” (← Check it out!) He is expressing faith that Jesus will gladly heal him. Indeed, Jesus come back with, “I do choose. Be made clean!”

The Greek word for choose or willing or wish or want to is thelo {thel’-o}. This word also includes the concept that one would take delight in, or have pleasure in, doing so because the person is ready and willing to act, and the act will be in the best interest of the person requesting it. If we stretch it a bit we could read this sentence as “If it would please you, you can make me clean.” However we look at what the man said, Jesus response was and emphatic I WILL as in “I do will it.” The man requested “Jesus Best Offer” – healing, and he was cleansed immediately. A couple of verses down the page we read that Jesus ordered him not to tell anyone other than the Priests that he no longer had leprosy (See Leviticus 13-14) Why did Jesus say that? He said it because he knew if other people heard what he had done (remember this was very early on in his ministry), he’d have many, many more people after him for healing. Well, the man spread the news everywhere, and sure enough, Jesus had to stay out of the towns and villages for a time. Nonetheless, people went into the countryside and looked for him (remember last week’s lesson?) The point here is that Jesus did some unexpected things: He didn’t chase the man away. He didn’t just speak a healing word (← Check it out!). He did the unthinkable – he went toward the man and actually touched him! What do you think about that?

      Would you like to have Jesus reach out and touch you? I sure would! I’d love to see him standing right here with his hand out and saying, “Come on, let’s go! Walk with me. We’ve got places to go and things to do.” We all would love that, but take a moment to reflect on the demeanor and posture of the man who was healed. HE reached out to Jesus first in humility and faith. He was willing to take the risk that Jesus would ignore him like everyone else did. If we know we know the Lord, then we know what he does. Now, look at our second Key Verse for today. The Apostle Paul says, “… whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” When a stranger reaches out to us these days, we’re more likely to go into “Stranger-Danger” mode; not without good reason, mind you, because there are plenty of dangerous strangers out there. However, we can be prepared to give strangers Jesus’ Best Offer – a hand in help, a touch in Love, an embrace in Faith. That is at least one way we can imitate the Apostle Paul and Jesus! I heard this song by JM Talbot recently, and I think it would be “my best offer” to share it with you right now: Healer of my Soul (↔ Music Link) We need to ask ourselves, “How are we making other’s lives better?” Jesus said, “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (See John 15:15). Do we realize that have the authority to teach and do what Jesus did, the means to live out what we believe, to know that we know him? We have an obligation to tend to the maintenance actions of faith. We are called to mercy, to engage (← Check it out!) with Jesus and with neighbors to make a difference (↔ Music Link). What happens to us Belovéd when we reach out, go out, and make a difference? We take Jesus’ Love and his Best Offer with us! John 15:9-11 – 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

That reaching-out must begin in humble Faith – Faith that comes from a clean heart. We must remember we are sinners, but Jesus still loves sinners because Jesus loves all of us who love him and each other. And what is the Key Verse that tells us how to find that demeanor and posture taken by the leper in this lesson? Psalm 32:5 – 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. Oh Belovéd! How deeply we long for that healing touch, those healing words, that smile of Love and acceptance! No longer will the leprosy of our soul separate us from our brothers and sisters in Christ. See Leviticus 13:45-46 for how the Law required lepers to be shunned.

We must also say something about those instances in prayer where we start out with “Lord, if you are willing, …” Many of us have experience with receiving no response to that prayer, and we wonder, “Why? What did I do wrong?”  “Lord, if you are willing” is the right prayer, just as is “thy kingdom come, thy will be done” is the right prayer. It is the right demeanor. It is the right posture. It is that readiness to accept HIS will that makes us open to Jesus’ Best Offer which is often a better offer than healing. We can be like Jesus and the Apostle Paul – reach out and touch someone with our best offer – joyfully, willingly, lovingly giving solace from our hearts to theirs. That empowers our faith by empowering theirs. God bless you, Belovéd, for all the times and ways you have touched me because it was your will to do so!

1 John 4:6-7 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. We know we know him because we Love as he Loves.

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

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

 

Aloha Friday Message – February 5, 2021 – Searching in the Dark

February 5, 2021

2106AFC020521 – Searching in the Dark

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.

Key Verses

Mark 1:35-37 – 35 In the morning, while it was still very dark,

he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.”

John 20:1 – 1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. (← Check it out! Another stone was moved!)

¡Que la bendición esté siempre con ustedes y que Dios los bendiga, Amados! (May blessing always be with you and may God bless you, Belovéd!) Well, this has been quite a week! We’re nowhere near Lake Wobegon, but lots of interesting things have happened. Some of you may have heard that we lost a couple of Aloha Friday Messages from the MBN site when the account-hosting was transferred to a new server. Thanks to the generous (and brilliant) sponsors of the Moon Beam Network blog site, we are “back in business.” Posts from January 22 and January 29 have been restored, and we don’t anticipate any further problems going forward. Today we’re going to look into a theme from the January 22nd post – 2104AFC012221 – An Echo in the Dark. In our Key Verses for today, we read about actions in the dark – Jesus gets up before dawn (and probably before the chickens) and goes out to pray in a deserted place. Why so early, and what did he pray about?

I confess that’s not something I’ve thought much about. We tend to skim over those mentions of Jesus’ praying. “Of course he prayed; he even taught us to pray. He was always talking to his Father.” Some might ask, certainly with no intention of being flippant, “Well, if he’s taking to his Father and Jesus is God, is he talking to himself?” What would you say if your kids asked you that, or what if that came up in a Sunday School class? What would we say? I think I would say, “No, Jesus was talking to his Father because even though he is God, he is God the Son, and the Father and the Son communicated often.” We have records of some 30 different prayers of Jesus in the Gospels – the largest number of them are in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus did have a habit of prayer, and that is what we should all strive to develop. Here are some things every Disciple should know about Jesus’ prayer life so that we can apply them to our prayer life.

  • He prayed in private where and when he could pray without distractions. Mark 1:35 – 35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. Mark 6: 46 – 46 After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray. Luke 5:16 – 16 But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.
  • He prayed to give thanks and blessing for God’s providence. Mark 6:41 – 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. Matthew 14:19 – 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. (See also Luke 9:16 and Mark 8:1-13)
  • He prayed to sanctify the bread that became his Body, blessed and broken for us. Matthew 26:26 – 26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Mark 14:22 – 22 While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”
  • Sometimes he prayed as part of a healing as in Mark 7:34 – 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
  • In the Gospel of John, we have an incredibly beautiful prayer from Jesus about his Disciples – and Belovéd, that includes us. I’m not going to reproduce that prayer here because it is the entire chapter of John 17. The link will take you to the full chapter of John 17, but I will get us started on reading it (please make time today or sometime this week to read this prayer at least once) – 1 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
  • He prayed to rebuke the storm and calm the Sea of Galilee – Mark 4:35–41 – 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. (See also Matthew 8:23–27 and Luke 8:22–25)

   We know that in today’s expressions, some people would call Jesus “an observant Jew who followed the Law impeccably.” We know that his contemporaries addressed him a Rabbi, Master, and Rabbouni (See John 20:16) Jesus always gave thanks and blessed food before eating. Do we do the same? He prayed to his Father in times of distress – the temptation in the desert, the agony in the garden, and the torture of the Cross. We can certainly visualize Jesus talking to his Father about his day-to-day living with the Disciples – including Jesus’ Mother, Mary; Mary Magdalene; Mary the mother of James and Joseph; Salome, the mother of James and John; Mary’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s Steward, Chuza. Jesus doubtless prayed for the disciples he would entrust with the Priesthood. I’m pretty sure he even prayed for Judas Iscariot – at least when Judas went out with a prayer partner among the 72 as well as among the 12 sent to neighboring towns.

Jesus was a man of prayer, and his prayers included thanks, blessing, praise, and worship (in the synagogue and probably even in his private prayers). We know he prayed about people, and we know he prayed with people, and we can recall moments when he prayed for people – like the widow’s young son being carried to the cemetery, Peter’s mother-in-law, the demoniac at Genessaret, or the young paralytic lowered through the ceiling. Some of those were prayers that occurred in his heart but were perhaps not verbalized as were other prayers. Honestly, knowing how committed Jesus was to his ministry and to his Father, I envision him to be nearly always in prayer – even when vexed as with the money changers and animal vendors in the temple, or when socializing as with his dear friends Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. I think he probably got a kick out of the “Boanerges Boys,” James and John and their characteristically Jewish mother who was always “promoting” them. I imagine, too, that Peter sometimes gave him a headache, and Thomas often surprised him with his insights into Jesus’ life and teaching. (See John 11:16) Jesus’ very Life was a prayer – a perfect sacrifice of adoration, thanksgiving, and praise offered up Every Moment of Every Day (↔ Music Link) He got that from his Father, and his Mom and Dad.

Remember when he was twelve and stayed behind at the Temple to talk with the Teachers, the Priests, and the Scribes? His attentiveness as well as his insightful answers impressed them all. That didn’t all come from his Divinity. He must have had excellent home-schooling, and of course the opportunities to learn the Law and Scriptures at the synagogue and the Great Temple were always part of his life – Mary and Joseph took him to Jerusalem every year for Passover, right? That year, when they stopped, turned around, and hustled back to Jerusalem, they found him there in the Temple and were obviously surprised he had elected to stay behind. His reply shows that he always, even then, put God his Father first above all things and persons. “Why were you looking for me? Don’t you know it behooves me to be doing the work of my Father in his House?” I think if I was in the shoes of Joseph and Mary, that would be one of those “oh-yeah-no?” moments! So let’s go back and reiterate some of this to see how we can use Jesus’ prayer life as a template for our own.

We could start with the MBN Prayer (← Check it out!) The MBN is a large circle of friends who take the time and care to pray for, about, and with each other. That is the work of an intercessor.

When we pray FOR each other, we act as intercessors, “in-the-place-of” praying. It’s making a prayer on behalf of someone else rather than on behalf of ourselves.

When we pray ABOUT each other, we’re making prayers that are intended to be blessings. We ask God for this favor or that outcome for one another. I might pray about your health or you might pray about me to find strength in a trial.

When we pray WITH each other, ah, there’s a power in that. Usually this is focused on something outside of both of us, like the people who are suffering in Southeast Asia, or a child who has been kidnapped.

There is The War Room (↔ Click Link) concept – a place we can go – as Jesus did – to have solitude and freedom from distractions, a place where we know that praying is serious business. There are standardized prayers – both personal and general (↔ Click Links). Jesus liked to start his day with prayer and get up EARLY to put God first in his day as he learned from his parents. Jesus prayed often (always is pretty often, yes?). Sometimes Jesus prayed publicly as he did at Lazarus’ tomb. Mostly he prayed privately. He prayed with assurance and Faith in his Father. He prayed with Love in his heart. He prayed in times of joy, and he prayed in the darkest times of his Life. Mary Magdalene understood that, and was at the tomb before dawn to mourn and to pray.

Belovéd, this is a dark, dark time, and a time for serious prayer for, with, and about each other; for our Nation, for our civic and religious leaders; for our families, for our neighbors; in thanksgiving, adoration, and praise for our Heavenly Father and his only-begotten Son; for our own souls; for our enemies and oppressors; and for the innocent at all stages of life from conception to natural death. We can learn a lot from Jesus’ prayer life, and it is especially important to learn and know that an early prayer in the dark is a great prayer to make when searching for Peace and Hope. It is a wonderful way to emulate how 36 … Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” Search for him – even in this present darkness – in your prayers, and you will find he is also praying for, with, and about you. Blesséd be God forever in his Angels and in his Saints (and may we be counted among them always). Listen for him. He’s calling your name (↔ Music Link) to come and pray with him.

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.

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

 

 

 

Aloha Friday Message – January 29, 2021 – Do you hear what I hear?

January 29, 2021

2105AFC012921 – Do you hear what I hear? (↔ Music Link)

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.

     Deuteronomy 18:15 – 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.

Matthew 4:13-16 – 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

15 “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.” (See Isaiah 9:1-2)

Psalm 95:7c – O that today you would listen to his voice!

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! 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!) I have been laboring over how to write what is in my heart. It turns out that I’ve already done that in 1804AFC012618 – A Prophet In Deed. As I reviewed the Scripture for this coming weekend, the passages you see above “asserted themselves” and captured my attention. This is what happens in the process of Lection Divina. I will present you with a brief look at that process.

     The Latin phrase literally translated is Divine Reading. It is a technique that allows us to “inhabit” the Scripture we’ve chosen rather than to analyze its content, structure, meanings, history, historicity, and relevance. One begins with preparation – it takes time, and time must be set aside for the process. Next, we read the passage – reading (Lectio) it usually 2-3 times. I’m sure all of us have had the experience of reading or hearing something with which we feel familiar, and yet somehow something new pops up.

After reading the passage multiple times, we silently meditate (Meditatio) on the passage. Sometimes in my preparation, this period of reflection may even last a day or two. I want to hear it with “body (ears), mind (intellect), and spirit (in my heart-of-hearts).” During this process one might consider questions such as these: What word or words in this passage caught my attention? What in this passage comforted me? What in this passage challenged me? What in this passage inspired me? What would HE like others to know about this passage?

Once we have an idea about how and/or why the Scripture affects us, a period of quiet, contemplative meditation ensues. During this time we evaluate how this Scripture related to our day-to-day experiences. What is there in our lives that resonates with this passage? As a brief example, look at the Key Verse from Deuteronomy. Moses is speaking to the assembly of Israel, so what does he mean saying “God will raise up for you a Prophet like me?” When, who, where, how, do I know this Prophet? In what way is the Prophet like Moses? In this segment of preparation, we take time to consider how our own thoughts, words, and deeds are reflected in or affected by that passage. For me, this is usually where the Big Surprises start. I often feel an “Oh, really?” or “Holy Moses!” moment – some call it a light-bulb moment or a flash-of-lightning experience. That’s when it’s time to say “Thank you Lord!”

The final process in Lection Divina is Oratio – Prayer. After another review of the passage – for me it’s often read out loud – then there is prayer. I thank the Holy Spirit for sending me what I need to have for what he wants to write. I ask him to guide my thinking, my hands, and especially my heart. Sometimes using something like Psalm 143 (← Check it out!) is beneficial. That is a very brief introduction to Lection Divina. (↔ Click Link) I urge you to browse the Internet to find out more. (May I also suggest you use DuckDuckGo? Try it. You’ll like it!) Now, I mentioned I had already said something about today’s Key Verses, so here’s what I meant. I’m not going to copy-paste everything from 1804AFC012618, but there are some sections I think bear repeating. Let’s start with the whole idea of Prophet (see 1804 for some homophone puns about Prophet and profit). What is a Prophet?

Originally posted under Aloha Friday Messages at https://aloha-friday.org – The Moon Beam Network – updated for this post.

One common notion is that a prophet is someone who predicts the future, a “see-er,” seer as in someone who is clairvoyant, can divine the future through supernatural powers. In this connotation, a person is often already considered a false prophet, a hoaxer, and one whose pronouncements are self-promoting. This is not the biblical meaning of prophet. There are words in the Bible that are translated as “seer,” and the persons associated with that word (usually the Hebrew cho-zeh {kho-zeh’} as in 2 Samuel 24:11 or ra’ah/ro’eh {raw-aw’/ro-eh’}) are recognized as persons through whom God sends messages. We see this in 1 Samuel 9:9 – 9 (Formerly in Israel, anyone who went to inquire of God would say, “Come, let us go to the seer”; for the one who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)

The Old Testament word for prophet is nabiy’  {nah-bee’}. There are some disagreements among scholars about the origin of that word, but one that is well-accepted is that this noun comes from the verb noba’ meaning to “bubble up,” “boil over”,” as in “to pour forth an abundance of words,” such as those who speak within divine inspiration. It is by and through the power and inspiration of God that a prophet speaks, and a prophet can’t help but speak when and what God commands any more than a boiling pot can stop bubbling. And that is the key. Those who have Divine Inspiration are True Prophets. The converse is that those whose “inspiration” is self-generated are the False Prophets. How then can we tell the difference? If we look at the verses following Jesus description of wolves in sheep’s clothing, the answer is clear. (See Matthew 7:15-19)

In today’s key verse, we have a prophecy about a future prophet who will be a perfect prophet in word and deed. He will speak what God tells him to speak. Jesus is that prophet. In Sunday’s Gospel we will hear in Mark 1:22 – 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. In John 5:19 and John 7:16, Jesus confirms that he is a prophet when he says that the words he speaks are not his own, but come from his Father, the one who sent him. This is the primary test of a true prophet – that what s/he says is consistent with what God says. A second test is whether or not the prophecy comes true. This is what makes us suppose that “prophecy” is “predictive.” Jesus consistently speaks and does what God commands. Those who listen and believe receive the reward of eternal life. Those who refuse to believe are judged by the Word, i.e., the words Jesus spoke on behalf of his Father:

     John 12:44-49 – 44 Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. 47 I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, 49 for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”

In just a few verses surrounding today’s Key Verse, we have a snapshot of Jesus’ teaching on a Sabbath in the vicinity of the synagogue of Capernaum (Mark 1:21-31) combines teaching and miracles of exorcism and healing. Mention is not made of the content of the teaching but of the effect of astonishment and alarm on the people. Jesus’ teaching with authority, making an absolute claim on the hearer, was in the best tradition of the ancient prophets, not of the scribes. The narrative continues with events that evening (Mark 1:32-34; see the notes on Matthew 8:14-17) and the next day (Mark 1:35-39). The cleansing in Mark 1:40-45 stands as an isolated story. [Notes, New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)] Capernaum Καφαρναούμ (Kapernaoum) {cap-er-nah-oom’} was the place where Jesus set up a residence. The name means “village of comfort.” It was a large and busy city in the region of Galilee situated on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee (a.k.a. Lake of Gennesaret) near the place where the Jordan flows into the lake.

I urge you to revisit John 3:16-22 so that you can see how Jesus’ prophecy – speaking the Word and Will of God – fits in with his mission. Just for good measure, we should also carefully read (in context with Lectio Divina for practice) Matthew 10:32-33 and Matthew 10:40-42. We can get some idea of what happens to people who claim to be prophets, but who do not have the word, the will, or the permission of God to speak. Check out Jeremiah 14:14-19, Matthew 7:15-19, and of course all of Matthew 24. Anybody can take a guess at what the future will bring, but only a Prophet can tell us God’s will. Many claim to have that ability to prophesy, but test everything as we are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 – 20 Do not despise the words of prophets, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good. What do we use as a test? Please, go up a couple of lines and click on Matthew 7:15-19. The answer is in verse 16a – 16 You will know them by their fruits. If any prophesy is inconsistent with what God himself says or directs, then it is FALSE. When a speech begins with “The Word of the Lord came to me,” or “Thus says the Lord God,” we had better pay attention!

Belovéd, do not cling to what is false, but only to what is true, and remember that everything Jesus said or did conforms to the definition of a True Prophet because he was Divinely Inspired. Those who have Divine Inspiration are True Prophets. By their fruits you will know them through the deeds that they do in Love. Deeds performed as acts of sacrifice are validations of the words of Love. Jesus’ message is the prophetic Word – spoken on behalf of God and powered by his inspiration – that becomes redemptive by his perfect sacrifice. Jesus’ loving promises are spoken in love, and the deed – the action of, the doing of – speaking those words of promise is the Love of God through Christ Jesus. There is no truer deed, no truer prophet, no truer prophecy that to prophesy as Jesus did: John 15:13 – 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. This prophecy is Love given in deed and not merely in word. 1 John 3:18 – 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV) And, Belovéd, we know that Jesus’ word is True because we know He Lives! (↔ Music Link) O that today you would listen to his voice! [For] you shall heed such a Prophet; the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” Even on the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary time, a Christmas Carol and an Easter song can tell us what God wants to say to us. He loves us!!!

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

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

 

Aloha Friday Message – January 22, 2021 – An Echo in the Dark

January 22, 2021

2104AFC012221 – An Echo in the Dark

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.

    Jonah 3:10 – 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

Joel 2:12-13 – 12 Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13     rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.

     Mark 1:14-15 – 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news*.” [*Gospel]

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you, and may prodigious, incredible, and astonishing Peace rule in your hearts. Belovéd, there’s a lot going on in the world right now – as you well know – but let me outline a few things to which I hope we will give detailed attention.

  • The Inaugurations of Joseph P. Biden and Kamala Harris – January 20
  • The Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children is on January 22
  • The Sunday of the Word of God – the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – is January 24
  • We commemorate the conversion of the Apostle Paul on Monday, January 25
  • We celebrate the feasts of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus – Bishops in the early church, and men who received their initial training in The Way from the Apostle Paul on Tuesday, January 26. It is also the day when the Todd family commemorates the Dedication of Timothy Olin Todd as a Servant of God and Son of the Father.
  • The Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church is on Thursday, January 28

I would love to write to you about each of these momentous events, but I am told my posts are already way too long. I started working on this post on Saturday, January 16, 2021. I expect that as I continue to work on it – the date is Tuesday, January 19, 2021 – and things are heating up, it may change. I’d like to stick close to the Key Verses for today, but it may be that intervening current events require attention. Let’s get into the Word right now.

In 2019, Pope Francis I designated the Third Sunday in Ordinary time as the Sunday of the Word of God; it is a way to celebrate and focus on the Gift of Scripture. In a special way, this for me is in itself a wonderful Gift. I make no bones about the fact that I love Scripture; I love The Word as my Lord and Savior – he is indeed the Way, the Truth, and the Life, but above all in my heart, and mind, and spirit he is The Word (↔ Click Link). Without him I am not worth a tinker’s dam. With him I am only a small voice whispering in this present darkness, but that whisper echoes like thunder on the mountain when he accepts it as my Gift of adoration, thanksgiving, and praise. What I find in Scripture through his guidance is what I am given to share with you. It is a paltry gift in comparison with the magnitude and excellence of his Gift to all of us, but my little mite may be a treasure for someone someday through the works of the Holy Spirit.

From time to time I refer you to previous posts, and today I invite you to find 2023AFC060520 – Let’s WIN this thing! In that post, there’s quite a lot of what I want to tell you today. I started off like this:

I am going to share with you some thoughts about what we’ve been through this year and especially about what is happening NOW. The Spirit of Evil, the Destroyer, the Ha-Satan – “Accuser” – is running the show. As a Nation, we are divided about whom or what is responsible. Is it race? Is it politics? Is it history? Is it really my fault? How could it possibly be your fault? Surely it must be OUR fault?

Most of the six events listed above are related to living as a Christian Catholic American. I am immensely pleased to claim all of those descriptors. A few of you may have experienced, as I have, that some folks like to expand that list with descriptors like deplorable, hypocrite, sycophant, and white-male-rubbish. I expect that, perhaps even welcome and understand how and why that is piled on; I know who I am, and I know because God himself told me – I am his child (↔ Click Link) because I have received him – not just once but over and over and over because he keeps giving me second chances (↔ Click Link). I get more chances than even Jonah got! You remember the story, how Jonah had to give up his life to save the mariners on the ship he boarded to try to run away from God’s command to prophesy in Nineveh. (See Jonah 2:1-3, where he says, ” … out of the belly of Sheol I cried.”) not many people know this – I don’t talk about it much – but I know a little about that kind of NDE, Near Death Experience. As best as I can recollect, I’ve made at least three “round-trips” down that tunnel; I got sent back all three times, but I would have gladly stayed. Jonah’s experience was definitely more memorable and much more effective! He pulled himself together and got serious about warning the Ninevites. He must have made quite an impression; as you probably recall, he was barely halfway through the city and they started repenting. Ironically, that made Jonah angry because he was hoping they’d be severely punished! He found it difficult to accept the fact that God really does want to give everyone a second (or 4,357 extra) chance.

Take a look at that passage from Joel up there – Joel was also a Prophet in Judah during the reign of King Joash (835-796 BC) called by God to bring a message of the necessity for repentance. Jonah came along “a generation later” during the reign of Jeroboam II (793-753 BC). Jeroboam II was a really evil dude in great need of repentance! Now, Belovéd, let me ask you if you have noticed a familiar topic in this message. In the AFC archives, you’ll find that the words “repent” or “repentance” come up in over 200 posts. That’s about 25% of the current collection. I may sound like a repeater pencil, but there’s a reason I keep echoing that idea. IT IS IMPORTANT. Over and over again God – our Creator, our Savior, our Father, our Brother, our Guide and Companion – says to us “Turn to me.” (↔ Music Link) Ahhhh, mes amies, sometimes we end up turning so many times in a single day that we could get dizzy. And yet we hear him, we hear his voice, we even see his face in the lives of others. We Have Been Told (↔ Music Link), we have been called (↔ Music Link) and that call echoes through the millennia. We are called to repent and believed the Gospel. We echo that call, even in this present darkness, so we can be Light and Salt. The Apostle Paul told the Church in Ephesus 12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (See Ephesians 6:12) The darkness is gathering, and even the 100,000,000 points of light among us are dimmed by the cosmic powers that are flooding across us as a tsunami of evil. January 22, 2021, you and I have an opportunity to combat that darkness a bit. We have an opportunity to echo the Words of the Prophets – REPENT AND RETURN TO GOD. The declaration that we have heard regarding the intensifying of the culture of death by murdering millions more babies and calling it “LEGAL” must NOT stand!

Joel’s call to repentance must not go unheeded – now or ever. We need to “return to the Lord,” with “fasting, weeping, and mourning;” We must echo that warning even in this fearsome, dark hour. Perhaps others will see the Power of God’s Mercy and the Greatness of his Grace; and having seen, they, too, will turn to him with humbled and contrite hearts. We see so many hearts of stone, hearts so hardened that it seems not even Love can penetrate them. But our echo of faith, our echo of the words of the prophets, our echo in the darkness may yet prevail.

An echo is a returning sound that is repeated because the sound waves are reflected back to the origin of the sound. Sound waves can bounce off smooth, hard objects much like the way a small Zectron ball bounces off the ground. It seems to the listener – the originator – that the direction of the sound changes. More importantly the echo sounds the same as the original sound. The echo of prophecy might bounce off those hardened hearts, and it might sound like it’s coming from several directions, BUT it will sound the same as the original! The sweetness of that sound can break those hearts of stone and replace them with hearts for love alone – for we are called.

In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul states “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” God’s unconditional love has always been on public display. How can we NOT see it? Have you ever known someone who is so filled with Christ that s/he radiates that agape love every moment of his/her life? That is visible to you because such a person sees you as Jesus would see you. Love is seen because love is an action, not a feeling. Love does, Love is, and Love is self-evident because Love changes everything and everyone it touches. Love is the Beauty of Jesus. Love is the refreshment of the soul, the water in the desert of our self-imposed solitude in the wasteland of tribulation. Love is the demolition of contention and strife.

I want to make my life a Servant Life (↔ Music Link), and Here am I, (↔ Music Link) (See Ezekiel 36:26) ready for today’s walk. So Let the Beauty of Jesus (↔ Music Link) Be Seen in Me.

Belovéd, what is the Word we echo, what is the prophecy we share? It is this: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news*.” [*Gospel] THAT is our Light in this present darkness. In that Light we can send an echo in the dark – Light echoing Light. Remember – 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

National Repentance and Truth Prayer (↔ Click 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.

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

Aloha Friday Message – January 15, 2021 – Lamb of God

January 15, 2021

2103AFC011521 – Lamb of God

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.

     John 1:29, 35-36 – 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

     Genesis 22:8 – 8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, Belovéd. This week, the Church returns to “Ordinary Time.” We have completed Advent and the Octave of Christmas followed by the celebrations of the Epiphany (showing forth) and Baptism (immersion) of Jesus. The scene we observe today is a continuation of the account of Jesus’ baptism in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. The key verses we have today take place a considerable distance from Jerusalem – a bit over 20 miles – and the Jews who have come to question John have travelled out to that place to ask him who he was and by what or whose authority was he acting. He knew they were trying to find out if he, John, was claiming to be the Messiah. He told them flat out he was not. A short time later, he saw Jesus approaching and the Spirit moved John to say something astonishing to them but very familiar now: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” The way the verse is written in Greek characterizes “sin” as a single immense burden or affliction; a curse born by all and common to all. In this short phrase, Jesus is designated as the “sin-bearer” of the entire world. He carries away the guilt of all sin as did the scapegoat in Leviticus 16:8-10 and also makes atonement through the shedding of his own blood. (See Leviticus 17:11). He is the perfect sacrifice, the pure and spotless victim, completely innocent of sin until he “became sin for us.” (See CCC §615-623) No longer was the expiation – the reparation and complete atonement of sin – solely a birthright of Israel; the forgiveness of sin was a possibility for the entire World – for every living soul who accepts the authority and love of God. Jesus took all of that upon himself, placing his human existence before God as a substitutionary payment for the guilt of our sin – and the payment for sin is death. He accepted death for every kind of sin we can, and do, commit. What kinds of sin are included in that?

I think of it as three different kinds of sin. First there is sin against God. Next there is sin against our neighbors. Lastly there is sin against ourselves. We should have, by now, a pretty solid idea of what the sins against God include. He himself outlined them for us n the first three Commandments: 1. I am the Lord your God: You shall not have strange Gods before me. 2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day. In these lessons over the years, we have looked at how easily we turn to idols in our day-to-day lives – famous people, sporting events, improper respect for our loved ones that places more importance on their needs than on God’s commands, and even simpler things which we choose to pleasure ourselves rather than actions taken to please God. We’ve also discussed our spontaneous prayers which are tossed off like no one’s listening – but God is always listening. “God! Did you see that idiot?” “O. My. God!” “Good@@@t, I told you, don’t do that!” “Oh, God, that was incredible!” These exclamatory prayers are not taken seriously by us; they should be. They are the little seedlings of the bigger, more sinister prayers we make when we use God’s name or his power or his majesty as a curse. We reap what we sow, and when we sow these seeds of disrespect it doesn’t take long to devalue our relationship and obligations to God to the point where he is given no significance in our lives.  But it is the last group of sins that I believe is the most appalling. When we sin against ourselves, we sin against everything that God gives us – everything that is Good. Here’s what the Apostle Paul said about this; you’ll find it in Sunday’s readings.

1 Corinthians 6:17-20 – 17 But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

Yes, Belovéd, we are bought and paid for, completely redeemed through “payment in full.” (← Check it out!) Every sin, every burden of our hearts rolled away, (↔ Music Link). Even the really stupid things we do to ourselves are paid for and we can say with confidence, “My Sins are gone” (↔ Music Link) and that’s more than enough reason to remember this pearl from the past, “Cheer up Ye Saints of God!” (↔ Music Link) There is basically only one thing we need to do to get all of this started.

We need to Listen Up! (← Check it out!) From Micaiah in 1 Kings 22:19 to Amos 7:16, we hear over and over “Now hear the Word of the Lord.” We have the B.I.B.L.E. that is chocky-jammed-full of Basic Instructions, and on every page of that wonderful tome we can hear God telling us “Love me and love your neighbors “as you love yourself.” Now I confess, I’ve always hears that “as” to mean “in the same way as.” But on re-re-re-reading what the Apostle Paul said to the Church in Corinth just up the page, it suddenly popped into my mind and heart that the “as” in “as you love yourself” can also mean “WHILE” you love yourself. Now, Belovéd, if we are going to love the self we have to live with, then wouldn’t it be a ton-and-a-half easier if that self was less of a sinner, or better still, a forgiven sinner? I don’t subscribe to the notion that once I say I’m a sinner that Jesus will automatically wipe away every sin in past, present, and future. Nope, I still need to acknowledge my sin, repent, and believe the Gospel. In most Christian lives that moment of repentance is activated (and re-re-re-re-re-activated) every time I listen to God. Do you remember what Samuel learned about listening to God? Check this out:

1 Samuel 3:7-10 – 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”  Jesus passed by John the Baptist while Andrew and “another Disciple” (probably the Apostle John) were with him and heard him say, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” It sounds to me like they were listening to their B.I.B.L.E. and remembered that “it was counted to Abraham as righteousness” when 8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. God has provided the Lamb for the offering, an offering that is completely consumed by Death and then completely restored by Life through God’s “perfect integrity, endless mercy, and eternal salvation through Christ our Lord.” They had found the Messiah by listening, by repenting, by believing the Gospel, by sharing the Gospel, and by hearing the Word of the Lord – “This is my Son, my Belovéd. With him I am well pleased.” Shall we not also choose to be the daughters and sons of El Elyon, the Most High God? Are not Heaven and Earth filled with the Glory of God the Lord of Hosts (JEHOVAH SABAOTH). We Have Been Told (↔ Music Link) that when we live out those first commandments, we have the fortitude to live up to the rest – even the ones that condemn us for the sins we commit against our own lives – lives that are our personal individual Gift from God. Tell him thank you by living in his Love. As the Father has loved his Son, so he also loves the Brothers and Sisters of the Son. And so, let us love one another in all righteousness and Grace. Then we, too, shall say, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World;” and also “Happy are those who are called to the Supper of the Lamb.” Amen.

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

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

Aloha Friday Message – January 8, 2021 – Trinity Time!

January 8, 2021

2102AFC010821 – Trinity Time!

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.

     1 John 5:5-9 – 5 Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. 7 There are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. 9 If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to* his Son. *Greek peri → All about, concerning, in every consideration

1 John 4:1-5 – Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. 4 Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. This Sunday we will commemorate the Baptism of the Lord. This is one of those events that is sometimes mistaken for the Presentation of the Lord – the fortieth day after Jesus’ birth when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple and were greeted by Symeon and Anna (See Luke 2:22-38) Jesus was not baptized as an infant, as is a common practice these days; he was baptized as an adult, perhaps around age 30. Last week we celebrated the Epiphany of the Lord, and most scholars believe Jesus was about 2-3 years old then. We get that confused, too, because many Nativity Sets have the “Three Wisemen” and their camels standing by the crèche with the shepherds, the ox and lamb, and the little donkey Mary rode. Didn’t happen. (See also 2002AFC011020 – Do it thusly) What is particularly important about this moment in Jesus’ life is the revelation of the Holy Trinity.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ baptism is presented this way: John 1:32-34 – 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like* a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”  (*Greek hós as, like as, even as) I feel strongly that it was not a symbol of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus and that the symbol looked like a dove. I believe it was not a dove per se but rather the Holy Spirit moving toward Jesus in the same way a dove moves when landing. Furthermore, John – and probably Jesus and possibly others – saw it. On top of that, they heard God the Father speak! So there we have it – Father speaking from Heaven, Holy Spirit landing and remaining on the Christ of God, and Jesus rejoicing in the Spirit. Sometimes when I mention that, I’ll hear “certain people” who say the Holy Spirit isn’t in the Bible – at least not in the Old Testament. For them I say, “Try these on for size.”

Psalm 51:11 – 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (↔ Music Link)  See also Isaiah 63:10-11) And of course we all know about Genesis 1:1-2 when and where the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water. You might want to also want to see Genesis 6:3, Genesis 41:38, Job 33:4, Isaiah 42:1, and Isaiah 48:16. Even when God was creating Adam, it was God’s Spirit of Life that was breathed into Adam’s nostrils. And before Adam could say “Apple Pie,” he betrayed God and the Spirit that enlivened his newly-created existence. That brought sin and death, and with those came the necessity for Salvation. Here’s a good description of why Salvation is required:

Romans 1:28-32 – (See link for full context; seriously, use it) 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. 29 They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.

Does that sound familiar? Now, think of this. The Apostle Paul wrote that right around 2,000 years ago. How much has humanity improved in that time? We have been doubling the scope and depth of knowledge and technology so rapidly that no  one can actually keep up with it any longer. We are on information overload. We are also doubling the scope and depth of depravity and we are paying the price for it. Many people, regardless of their position on the evil-to-righteous scale, are certain that “the World as we know it is coming to an end.” Back in 2012 I wrote a post called 1242AFC101912 – A different fear. Here is a short excerpt from that:

Lately I’ve heard a lot of fear expressed about, of all things, politics. Is that a good scare or a bad scare? That’s a hard one to call. I think it depends on why it scares you. If you feel the changes coming, regardless of how the political landscape changes, pose an actual physical threat like imminent death, (which I find hard to imagine), that’s a bad fear. It’s more likely you fear some loss of status which might end “life as you know it,” but will not in fact make you dead. You most likely will suffer, if that is your disposition, and you might even suffer long and hard. Well, that is the thorny part of the covenant we have with God; we get all of his blessings along with some persecutions. See Mark 10:29-30.

Our world is a word of exaggerations, overstatement, hyperbole, embellishment, and all of those are synonyms for lies. And based on what we see in the World around us, you’d think we really enjoy lies! Look at all the exaggerated and deceptive things you can find on the Internet – from pornography to snake-oil medicine – and the same goes for new forms of entertainment, literature, art, dietary choices, in fact every aspect of life as an earthling has been distorted so badly that we seem to have lost our grip on the truth. Somehow we know this, but are still surprised that is it so pervasive and we’re part of it! How can this happen?

In that post I credit the Father of Lies. We are about to enter an era of such pervasive and insidious evil in which, quite literally, every living soul on Earth will suffer. The World will look like a Hieronymous Bosch triptych of The Garden of Earthly Delights – only for real, not a painting. Many “End Times Prophesies” seem to be manifesting, and yet it was just so in the days of the early Church and the “New World Order” folks welcome those changes; however, They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We have something – rather someone – better:  Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. The Prince of the Air and his faithful followers (many of whom are in politics) have busted a move on us, and it’s going to be like a three-essay-pop-quiz for a class we’ve been skipping. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. We have THE Holy Spirit, the One and Only Spirit of the Living God, the Lord of Hosts. Do you know what that Name of God means? Many of us are familiar with this prayer: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” Lord of Hosts is listed in the Bible close to 275 times. This is JEHOVAH (YHWH) SABAOTH – the Ultimate Commander of the Heavenly Army of Angels who fight for God’s People. He is the omnipotent sovereign first mentioned in 1 Samuel 1:3. It is part of the Truth Prayer ~~ Almighty Everliving God, Lord of Hosts, We humbly ask you to grant us the Grace to seek Truth, to recognize it when we find it, the courage to embrace it wherever it is found, and the wisdom to exclude all else that is not Truth. In Jesus’ Precious Name. AMEN.

What is happening in this World is indeed scary stuff. What do we have now? We have false messiahs, nation against nation, wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, persecutions, betrayals, false prophets, other Gospels, sacrilege against Holy places, sudden mass loss of life, signs in the heavens, the powers of the Earth shaken, and the trumpet shall sound. Be not afraid, Little Children. There are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. 9 If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to* his Son. This time in history is Trinity Time! We can get our hearts cleaned in a jiffy if only we repent and turn to the Lord.

As for what’s been happening the past few days: Pretty darn crazy. The children of the Father of Lies are forming up their battle lines. It’s hard to tell who is fighting whom in that mess because none of them appear to be children of God.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

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

JUST FOR FUN

Now, today is the eighth day of the year 2021, and it is a day the Lord has made, so we should rejoice in it! For the sake of rejoicing, I will share with you an Old Time Fiddle Tune called 8th of January and folks, people used to dance to this tune. I think you’re gonna like it and probably even recognize it because it sounds a little like the dance tune The Battle of New Orleans. That was FUN!

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

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

Aloha Friday Message – January 1, 2021 – Head for the Light

January 1, 2021

2101AFC010121 – Head for the Light

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.

    Isaiah 60:3-5 – 3 Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

4 Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms. 5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. This is the first post of 2021. We’re going to consider the Epiphany of the Lord. However, first I will begin today’s post by referring you to the post for Epiphany in 2020 called 2001AFC010320 (↔ Click Link)  – A King-Size Dose of Reality. There’s a full description of what Epiphany means, why we celebrate it, who the magi were, and what significance is attached to their gifts. This post will be helpful in understanding the Responsorial Psalm for Sunday, January 3, 2021, especially Psalm 72:10-11 – 10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. 11 May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service. The short interpretation is that this passage signified “the whole world and every nation in it.” In fact, let me suggest that you read Psalm 72 top to bottom; David did an amazing job of describing today’s world. There’s more about today’s world in Isaiah chapter 60 – the source of our Key Verse.

Isaiah 60 prophesies the gathering together of the dispersed Peoples of Israel in terms of its future glory. Lost in disobedience, sin, division, and war for an era, Israel hears that now Light will dawn and the majesty of the era of David and Solomon will return. This passage is part of the “Third Isaiah,” chapters 56-66, probably written by Disciples of Isaiah during the period after the Babylonian exile (598-538 BC). The entire book of Isaiah is a compilation of prophetic poetry, mostly composed by the Prophet himself, and the section here mentioned, 56-66, is notable for the contrasting hopes of the families who have returned from exile and the condemnation and destruction of the corrupt leaders of Israel.

The warnings God had given to King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7 include the oft-quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14 where God states that the nation who repents and calls upon him will be saved. As Paul Harvey used to say, “Wait ’til you hear the rest of the story.” In that same chapter there is a very blunt, stark, and (frankly) scary Word from the Lord. Take a look:

2 Chronicles 7:19-22 – 19 “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you*, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will pluck you up from the land that I have given you; and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished, and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord the God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon them.’” * In Hebrew this pronoun is plural – the Nation. It is a central theme throughout the entire Bible – if you fail to love God and neighbor, you must repent. If you do not repent, the consequences will be very unpleasant. If you do repent, the consequences will be wonderfully splendiferous. Now, doesn’t that seem like a no-brainer? Well, that’s pretty much how most of us handle it – with no brains. That’s easier to spot than you might think. You’ve heard this one many times: “by their fruits you will know them.” We have all heard about the deeply faithful Catholic who carries a rosary in his pocket but still won’t follow the teachings of the Church. We call people like that “good for the country.” That’s like calling elephant scat “milk.” We rename someone/something bad as something/someone good.

That is precisely where we run into trouble these days because there’s a lot of fake fruit on the table. The fake fruit comes to us through the tireless work of the Prince of Lies, the devil, and he uses a few seeds of Truth and a ton of manure to raise a crop of bad advice. He wants us to change the names of things because it suits his purposes and not God’s. Anything that does not suit God’s purpose is, well, wrong; but Satan tries to convince us it is right to make these changes because “it is right to do this; you will be like God when you do.” Does that sound familiar, something you might have read recently in Genesis? And so we take something we know is wrong, call it by something we know is right, and PRESTO! What was wrong is now right. Marriage is no longer sacred, family is no longer a community of love, amorphous “spirituality” is true religion, and God is me because I am God. Beloved, there are seeds of truth in what the world is telling us about these things, but to believe them, one must overlook the ton of manure that comes along with them. So some of you are going to take umbrage at what follows. Consider these passages for example.

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.

Some folks believe that once we have obtained God’s favor by accepting his gifts, his favor and his gifts cannot – indeed will not – be taken from us. As gramma said, “‘Tain’t so, I know.” We once wrote about Shebna. You might recall this:

     Isaiah 22:22 – 22 I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open. In this passage from Isaiah (see Isaiah 22:15-25 for context), the prophet declares that the Head Steward of King Hezekiah, a man named Shebna, will be replaced because his is a self-seeking corrupt official whose corruption betrays the purpose of his office. Isaiah tells Shebna that he will be “hurled away violently” and whirled round and round, and then thrown like a ball into a wide, empty space. His fancy chariots will be wrecked, and – stripped of the official powers of his office – he will die disgraced. God tells the prophet Isaiah to establish Eliakim, the person he has chosen to replace Shebna, and to place on Eliakim’s shoulder the badge of office: The Key of David. Eliakim’s authority – which comes from God – will be placed firmly in the kingdom so that Eliakim’s actions all carry the authority of Hezekiah. If Eliakim speaks, it is as if the King himself is speaking. Whatever he opens, no one can shut; whatever he prohibits, no one can permit; whatever he permits, no one can disallow. As declared by God, he has full authority in the Kingdom. From that moment forward, Shebna did not. He rejected God, and thereby rejected the Gifts of Stewardship God had provided. He discarded Spiritual Light and embraced Spiritual Darkness.

Spiritual darkness is a term used by people to describe what happens when there is no Light present. Spiritually, though, there is 1 Light and that Light is our Triune God who is a living God of Power and Might. Spiritually, there is also a being who is darkness because in him there is no Light. Returning to the Letters of the Apostle John, we come to 1 John 1:5 – 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. Satan is darkness and in him is no Light at all. And yet, we have many people – thousands upon thousands – swearing that light is darkness and evil is good (See Isaiah 5:18-23, especially v. 20 which reads in part 20 Ah, you who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light). There is 1 light and there is 1 darkness in the Spiritual War we act against, but that darkness is not merely the absence of Light, it is also the presence of evil and every bit as real as the Light we follow and eventually become. They are headed away from the Light. WE are headed for the Light, which is to say we are moving toward Heaven for and because of the Love of God.

God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is our Light: 1 Timothy 6:16 – 16 It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. Let us therefore be followers of the Light described by Isaiah 2:5 – 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord! If we are in that Light, we are of the Light, and we will share the Light as we carry the Light. Light grows by giving it to others, just as grain multiples by being sown and nurturued. Jesus spoke of his life as a grain of wheat in John 12:24: 24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. The “fruit” of Light that is shared is much more light just as the fruit of the grain is much more wheat. Choose Light and choose Life. Then, when we are transformed at the end of the Age, we will know what John meant in Revelation 21:23-27– 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Those who choose darkness will have it for the rest of Eternity. Those who choose Light will have and be Light in Heaven with God and his Angels and Saints.  The judgment of this world has come; the ruler of this world will be driven out into everlasting darkness. It is now the time for Light to drive out Evil; the Light has come. John 3:19 – 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. (Use the link to see the full context) God has blessed us with the Light of Love, as well as his friendship, and all of Creation. When we reject God over and over, when we refuse to honor the Giver by accepting the Gift, eventually all we have left is … nothing but the dark emptiness of eternity without God.

This weekend as we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord, we commemorate the coming of his Light into the World, a Light for all nations, a Light for all Creation. God’s people are drawing together, Israel is like a hill on which a beacon glows, corruption is being challenged, evil is being confronted and fought off, Light is dispelling Darkness, and Light is growing as it is shared. In the “showing forth” we commemorate, we have the fulfilling of a promise and the continuation of a blessing: The Light of the World is Jesus. Belovéd, let us head for the light! – yep, that one at the End of the Tunnel – because that is where Eternal Light dwells.

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.

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

 

 

Aloha Friday Message – December 25, 2020 – 2020 Advent Series #5

December 25, 2020

2052AFC112520 – 2020 Advent Series #5

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.

Typical Galilean Fishing Boat in Jesus’ Time

Hebrews 11:1 – 1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Today we continue with the 2020 Advent series. Back in October, I created a post called 2040AFC100220 – Think about these things and in that post was this statement: We discern what is good, and follow everything that points to the Love of God in Christ Jesus. We never, never, never, never give up Hope! We place Faith as our mast, and Love as our sail, and with Wisdom as our rudder we follow the course laid out in Scripture.

My dear friend and mentor, John Kretser, commented on that. He liked the image and contributed the thought that the Boat that holds that mast, sail, rudder, and course is our Hope in Christ Jesus. KA-CHING! There it was laid out for me just as I had hoped. As I worked on deciding how to build this series, a second set of instructions came in: BUILD IT FROM PREVIOUSLY-USED MATERIALS AND INSERT NEW MATERIAL FROM EACH SUNDAY’S READINGS. This is the 5th and last in the Series. I’ll give you links where you can go look at the origin of what you’ll see in these posts. Today, we finish up with the last in the series, The Boat – our Hope in Christ Jesus. Perhaps you are busy today with attending a Christmas service at Church, and sharing the day’s celebration with family and/or friends, and won’t have time to read this. Nonetheless, let me wish all of you a very happy Christmas. We’ll be back next week with a wish for a better and happier and healthier New Year, but for today, we will look at our Hope. I’m going to bring in a Guest Author here to start us off. This is an excerpt from a poem by Nicholas J. Stojakovich:

Logos
Present in time
Imbedded in mindsLed the quest for pure actuality
That paved the way
To a transcendent reality
As reason met revelation
In an incarnation
© NJS/Raging Grace PublishingNicholas J Stojakovich

What is Hope and why do we have it? Where do we get it, and from whom? In Hebrew it is  tiqvah (tik-vaw’). The root is literally the word for cord, as in a measuring line. In Greek it is elpis (el-pece’), the expectation of what is certain. In either language it implies patience – hupomoné (hoop-om-on-ay’) – literally “remaining under” as in to endure steadfastly whatever challenges God allows in our lives. Hope is patient-waiting for something we are confident will be ours eventually. It comes from our innate desire for what is Good, and that desire comes from God himself, as do all things that are Good (See James 1:17). Hoping is a way we patiently and vigilantly wait for something better, something encouraging, something we trust is well worth waiting to obtain. It is not complacent, vegetating waiting; it is active preparation for a future Blessing and so we act in Hope because of Hope. Our hope was first promised in Genesis 3:9-23 when God promised that earthlings would eventually overcome the evil caused in Eden, all through “the seed of the woman.” (See = zera (zeh’-rah) Descendants, offspring, child/children) This is a very important fact to remember, because it is the Source of our Hope as well as the process through which it will be fulfilled. God told Eve and Adam that their sin conferred on them the curse of mortality; their inheritance would be Death. In God’s infinite Wisdom, that mortality was also the means through which humanity would be restored to unity with God. Here is how that Miracle is expressed in the Preface to Eucharistic Prayer III:

For we know it belongs to your boundless glory that you came to the aid of mortal beings with your divinity and even fashioned for us a remedy out of mortality itself so that the cause of our downfall might become the means of our salvation, through Christ our Lord.

Today is Christmas, the day we celebrate the birth of that Promise of Ages. It is a wonderful thing, to be sure; but I ask you to look back and see how that came to be. It came to us THROUGH THE INCARNATION. You may recall we celebrated that a few months ago, on March 25th – just as the World was shutting down because of the pandemic. What happened then was the fulfilling Miracle of Immortality taking on mortality – we see that In Nick’s poem. The Logos (the Word, the Christ of God), always eternal, became present in time resulting in ” … a transcendent reality / As reason met revelation / In an incarnation.” If I could present that to you in an image, it would look like this:

 

Right there in the middle where the X-shape sits is the moment of the incarnation. Everything changes there and goes on to become Infinity. A mortal family makes room for an immortal change brought about through the mortality and death of One Man through the seed of that woman, Eve by the fiat – the YES of Mary. (Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Family!)

Our Hope was and is and will be that Incarnation. Everything before that moment anticipated it, but did not fulfill it. Everything after that moment fulfilled it and eternally confirmed it.

From 1442AFC101714 – Hope Revisited – Job 14:7-9 – For a tree there is hope תִּקְוָה (tiqvah) {tik-vaw’}, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again and that its tender shoots will not cease. Even though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the dust, yet at the first whiff of water it may flourish again and put forth branches like a young plant. Think of the sprig that sprouted from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1). That sprig is the Hope of All Israel – Jesus! Isaiah 40:31 – They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint. Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare, not for woe! Plans to give you a future full of hope.

From 1950AFC121319 – The Power of Patience – “Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is ‘timing.’ It waits on the right time to act, for the right principles, and in the right way.” ― Fulton J. Sheen

In today’s world, feelings are more important than truth. The World takes delight in shaming and persecuting us; nonetheless, we can – and must – endure in firmly declared and patient Truth. DO we want to be liked more than we want to be truthful? How easily we have forgotten that nothing, nothing in this World is worth dying for! Only that which is beyond the muck and smut of the World is worth dying for because only those things are worth living for.

James 5:7 – 7 Be patient,* therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.

*Μακροθυμήσατε (Makrothymēsate) from μακροθυμέω (makrothumeó) {mak-roth-oo-meh’-o} to persevere, to be patient – I am longsuffering, I have patience, I am forbearing, I have perseverance. James uses this word in a way that is unusual when coupled with the image of a farmer waiting for crops to come in. He directs the Church to wait as God waits – with divine longsuffering. In the six verses before this, James is describing how the rich have abused the poor, thinking they could set aside the wages owed to their workers thereby enriching themselves even more through fraud. James urges his flock to be patient in these trials because “the coming of the Lord is near.”

Psalm 39:7 – 7 “And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.

1 Timothy 1:1-2 –  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy, my loyal child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5: 3-5 – 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Romans 8:38-39 – 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For me, that is hope. When I look around the world and see loved-ones suffering; innocents being murdered, persecuted, tormented, and terrorized; natural disasters overwhelming the great and the small alike; the oceans, the lands, and the very sky above us polluted and dying; then I turn my eyes toward Jesus, and I see HOPE. It is such a great and wonderful Hope that I don’t mind waiting because what I’m waiting for will be Great and Wonderful!

This is the meaning behind Jesus’ words, “… these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.” When I think of that idea, I am often reminded of a story about the effectiveness of cramming before exams. If one fails to study and then hopes to gain enough understanding the night before the exam by staying up all night, it’s a bit like the farmer who sows his crops the month before harvest begins. He probably won’t garner much of a harvest. We who hope wait actively and are well prepared to receive that for which we anticipate in Hope. I love the way the Apostle Paul put it in Romans 15:13 – 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. So, Belovéd, let me ask you – WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

I can’t think of anyone or anything better to wait for than God! My HOPE is to spend my eternity with, in, and for him as intimately as possible. The most intimate parts of our lives center on Love: God, family, friends, country, the Eucharist. We are vigilant because we want what we have and it is – or should be – enough. If we grow impatient and let our vigilance lapse, we may miss out and be caught unprepared – like the people in Noah’s time, we might miss the boat. Our “boat” in this series is the Hope we have in Christ Jesus which was made possible for us by his Incarnation – a plan God himself fashioned for us out of the curse our First Parents brought on us through sin. We are restored to God’s presence through the seed of The Woman because … since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Do NOT miss the Boat, Belovéd!

Remember our Hope is the source of the Circle of Life (not the one in Lion King):

1632AFC080516 – Ready or Not

Circle of Life (← Check it out!)

Where there is life, there is hope.
Where there is hope, there is love.
Where there is love, there is integrity.
Where there is integrity, there is truth.
Where there is truth, there is justice.
Where there is justice, there is mercy.
Where there is mercy, there is freedom.
Where there is freedom, there is life.

Our Hope is Life.

Special thanks to John and Nick for their help with this series.

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

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

Aloha Friday Message – December 18, 2020 – 2020 Advent Series #4

December 18, 2020

2051AFC121820 – 2020 Advent Series #4 – The Word of Course

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.

     Luke 1:38 – 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. 

     Genesis 15:1 – 1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 

     Psalm 33:6 – 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.

May Peace always be with you and may God bless you, Belovéd! Back in October, I created a post called 2040AFC100220 – Think about these things and in that post was this statement: We discern what is good, and follow everything that points to the Love of God in Christ Jesus. We never, never, never, never give up Hope! We place Faith as our mast, and Love as our sail, and with Wisdom as our rudder we follow the course laid out in Scripture.

My dear friend and mentor, John Kretser, commented on that. He liked the image and contributed the thought that the Boat that holds that mast, sail, rudder, and follows our course is our Hope in Christ Jesus. KA-CHING! There it was laid out for me just as I had hoped. Today we will continue with the Course – Scripture. As I worked on deciding how to build this series, a second set of instructions came in: BUILD IT FROM PREVIOUSLY-USED MATERIALS AND INSERT NEW MATERIAL FROM EACH SUNDAY’S READINGS. This is the fourth in the Series. I’ll give you links where you can go look at the origin of what you’ll see in these posts. Last week we talked about the rudder – Wisdom. Wisdom comes from knowing God, so if we wish to know wisdom, then the wise thing to do is to know God. It is God who will design and install that rudder of Wisdom in your life! And Belovéd, how do we know God? Let me provide a little hint: What word – a Key Concept Word – occurs in each of the three Key Verse for today? We hear it all the time, especially in Church, in our daily devotions, and nearly 700 times in the Bible. Did you find that recurring word? It’s also in the title. It is Word. Where do we find “God’s Word?” OK, that’s too easy. We find it in the Bible, the Word of God – Holy Scripture. We use Holy Scripture to plot our course in life. It functions as a map.

We’ve learned how a mast, a sail, and a rudder work, so how does a map work? A map is an illustration of an environment. It shows landmarks, paths, roads, geographic features, and gives us information to orient us in that environment. We can see what we will encounter between where we are and where we want to go. The map will not take us there, but it will show us where “there” is. That can help us plan our journey. If Scripture is like a map, then how does Scripture work? Pretty much the same way.

Scripture shows us landmarks such as Sacred Places. Scripture lays out paths and roads we can follow so that we can navigate the terrain between this life and the Life to come. In Scripture we can get a clearer understanding of the processes of making a journey – where we can nourish our souls or gain protection. We can find respite in times of fatigue or danger. We can find courage, encouragement, enlightenment, and even Peace by learning Scripture – by hearing, seeing, and learning the Word of God. Scripture will not take us to Heaven, but it can certainly help us get a better idea of what is necessary to go there. It gives us a good deal of information about the “lay of the land,” but we still have to make the journey and follow the directions we acquire by our map-reading. Scripture is a great tool for navigating life’s peaks and valleys, rivers and streams, puddles and lakes and oceans. Making sense of the features of this map – Scripture – is aided by another tool that we learn about in Scripture but is accessed primarily as an optional extra to Scripture. This other tool functions like a compass.

    OK, ya got me! “How does a compass work?” Well, the really cool thing about a compass is that it is “always on,” it is always working, and it always works the same way. It’s fairly easy to learn how to relate the actions of the compass to the information in the map. The map doesn’t help much if you don’t know which way “over there” is. That’s how a compass helps. We can spot a couple of landmarks, see how they relate to each other on the map, and then see how the compass helps us differentiate that there from this here. Using the map and the compass together makes journeying more efficient and less dangerous. As many of us know, using a map along with a compass is a good way to travel, but even with the two tools together we can still get lost. What is there in our faith that acts like a compass, it’s always on, it always works the same way, and it helps make easier the whole process of reading the map and the terrain it represents? Hmmm. What does that sound like? Could it be the Holy Spirit?

Well, certainly we learn about the Holy Spirit in Scripture, and clearly using the Holy Spirit and Scripture together is a great way to travel (or as the little bird used to say, “The ONLY way to fly!). Now then, we have the mast, the sail, the rudder, and the course – the chart and compass help us set and follow the course – so what can we find out in Scripture about how all that fits together? How about a guide, a navigator, an experienced leader who can help us find the way. OK, ya got me again. Who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”? (See John 14:6) How did we learn about the Man who said that? We learned it in Scripture! And how did we come to better understand what Jesus meant when he told us that? Through the Power of the Holy Spirit! And how do we learn about Scripture, Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Way and Truth and Life, Heaven and Hell, Love, Mercy, Peace, JOY, and every good thing that comes down from Heaven above?

God gives all of those to us as his Gift through our parents, our pastors, our Sunday School teachers, and dusty old men who spend hours at the keyboard writing up essays like this one. We know that because Scripture says –

Romans 10:10, 14-17 – 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. […]14 But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 15 And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” 16 But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.

1 Peter 1:23-25 – 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever*.” That word is the good news that was announced to you. (*See Isaiah 40:6)

When we lay out our course in life based on That word [which] is the good news that was announced to you, we have the Holy Spirit as our compass, Jesus as our navigator, and all of God’s Living Word – Scripture – to guide us from this here to that there. Belovéd, “that there” is absolutely where I want to end up and we can all get to Heaven in a little row boat. Through baptism God has made us Priest, Prophet, and King. 1719AFC051217 – Stones and Thrones As Prophets, we are graced with the opportunity to speak The Word of the Lord in our hearts and minds as well as in the hearts and minds of others – our families, communities, churches, and workplaces – through example and testimony. In Numbers 11:29, Moses scolds the Israelites, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” Later the prophet Joel speaks in God’s way and says, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.” (See Joel 2:28-29) We are the recipients of that Spirit of the Living God. In the Spirit of Prophecy, we teach our children and each other as witnesses to “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.” As Priest, we consult Scripture, the Bible, to learn what to share with our brothers and sisters in faith.

2010AFC030620 – Do you hear what I hear?   Christian Fundamentalist, Christian Evangelical, Orthodox Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Protestant, Universalist, Mormon, or even just “Religion-Curious,” whatever your particular persuasion, you have been called to hear, and by hearing you are called to faith, and by faith you are called to accept the Gift of Love in Christ Jesus. Did you know you can be the voice through which The Word is heard? It is often said, “Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read.” Beloved, consider making your life an audio-book as well as a pop-up action book. Whatever your calling in Christ, honor the Giver by accepting – and sharing – the Gift of The Living Word. “Now hear ye the Word of the Lord.” He is calling! If you listen, you will hear; if you hear, Faith is just a “yes” away. That’s how Mary’s “YES” changed the whole World. What YES can we give to this world? Our prayers would be a wonderful gift. 1639AFC092316 – Listen up!    In our prayers, we CAN:

  • Pray for those who reach and preach as well as for those who draw near to hear.
  • Pray for those who turn a deaf ear.
  • Pray for all the suffering souls whose ears are filled with the sounds of famine, war, terror, prejudice, pestilence, mockery, and abuse.
  • Pray for all those souls who afflict such things as these on others.
  • Pray for the people dying everywhere that they will find Peace and Mercy at the end of their days
  • Pray for those who suffer with chronic and acute illnesses that they will know the sustaining love of God, family, friends, and caregivers in every moment of their lives.
  • Pray for Peace as though the future depends on it. Truly it does.
  • Pray for the children who are denied the opportunity to hear about Jesus for whatever reason, but especially for those children whose parents have closed their ears to The Word.
  • Pray for adults who think they haven’t got time for God, are too sophisticated to be taken in by religion, or whose lives have been so devoid of genuine love that they don’t know what Love is. SHOW THEM WHAT HAPPINESS LOOKS LIKE! (↔ Music Link)

And the best part of Scripture as a map for many of us is we don’t have to fold it up to put it away. We just fold it into our hearts and minds. God himself told us the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe. (See Deuteronomy 30:11-14 and Romans 10:6-12 for this in context – seriously, read’em) Belovéd, what really, really matters here is  “1 In the beginning was the Word†, and the Word† was with God, and the Word† was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5) † λόγος – logos­ The Word (Jesus) expressing the thoughts of the Father through the Spirit. If we map out our lives in the Word with the counsel of the Holy Spirit and the steering of Jesus, our journey “over yonder past Jordan’s banks” will surely be successful, because we, too, can say, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

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

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

 

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