Month: March 2020

 

Scripture Emphasis:

Romans 8:38,39:  (1)

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Now is the exact time to consider the greatest expose’ ever written on “Separation.” St Paul is here addressing the church in Rome. The communication is on the eve of his last voyage to Jerusalem and this, his final writing as a free man. His list of hardships is comprehensive enough: suffering, calamity, poverty, danger are very common experiences. Sometimes under calamity, the whole universe seems to be against us. Then, for many, that often marks the beginning of faith’s abandonment and decisive measures to separate from God. In our present situation, we bear a particular affinity to Paul’s Christian experiences. 

As disciples of Christ, our present mission is to express God’s love to the world. We must assure everyone that none of the current happenings can ever overthrow us.

This world often seems to be a vale of separation. We see it globally among nations that build walls and deploy armies to separate and to promote isolation. Children suffer when parents become separated from each other. Loved ones separate when one or the other deploys in the service of the country. Presently there is a soulless pandemic slithering its way through the world, causing thousands of deaths. In a determined response to curb its cruel progression, separations are essential. Most of us know the separation that feels as wide as life, as deep as love while following the casket of a beloved one to their final resting place in “God’s Little Acre.” Separation is ubiquitous with deep emotions of loneliness and depression. This makes it critical at this time, to consider St. Paul’s exposition on “separation.”

The heartening conclusion that St. Paul pronounces regarding “Separation” is simply this: the word “separation” and its derivatives, isolation, distancing, etc., are never in God’s Nexis.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (2)

God is never separated from any of us. When we try to live without Him and confess that we scarcely ever give Him a conscious thought, God still thinks of us. This truth lies at the heart of that soul-searching story Jesus tells of the Prodigal Son. God is there with him, and for him, all the while. This is so for us also. You may well be astonished one day in the future when you discover just how often His unseen hand has guided your life.

A brilliant young man, with a bright and promising future before him, left Cambridge University to join the military during WW1. He was a prolific and much-admired poet. It was during a fierce engagement with the enemy that Rupert Brooke wrote the poem “Safety.” Following is a brief excerpt from that poem:

                        “We have built a house that is not for
                            Time’s throwing.
      We have gained a peace unshaken by pain for ever.
War knows no power. Safe shall be my going,
      Secretly armed against all death’s endeavour;
Safe though all safety’s lost; safe where men fall;
And if these poor limbs die, safest of all.” (3)

It was a few days following the writing of these words that Rupert Brooks was mortally wounded. He died on his 28th birthday.

 Although our present situation demands that we must separate, and be careful not to invade each other’s private space, know that God shares with us His secret of sweet communion with each other’s spirit. Around Our Father’s throne, we must think about each other and offer a prayer for them; “and the Father who sees in secret will reward you openly”.

Go now and live, believing with all your heart what St Paul himself has come to believe:
“I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

                        A Prayer To Follow This Meditation

Compassionate and merciful Father, here I am, right here! Like Samuel, in the days of old, I thought I heard You calling me! Prepare me now, so that I may hear
You speak to me. And then, please enable me to listen and obey.

Lord, I am conscious of my unworthiness to be here. But I am unable to resist my heart’s stirring to draw closer to You. You heard my timid, reluctant tapping on Heaven’s door, and You bade me enter in. So here I am. I am not sure how to say what is on my heart but, more importantly, I am having the most beautiful feeling of being “Home,” now, here with You.

Lord, I consider the anguish, the chaos and, the death caused by this soulless pandemic that is so out of control,  and I confess I am afraid! Please, open my eyes to see You. Is it not my mistake that by concentrating on this storm’s wrath, I forget “the Master of heaven, and earth and skies”?
Show me again Your Son as He puts underfoot the wrath of a storm that was terrifying His friends on the sea of Galilee. 

One thing more, Father, Please show all people throughout the world, how to manage the unfamiliar situations they are now thrust into. Too much leisure time can be dangerous for those who must always be at work. Some people can not stand their own company, and hardly know how to behave in vastly restrictive spaces. Teach us how to use the hours to draw closer to You, in thought and prayer. Show us how to develop our Spirits so that living for, with, and among others when this crisis is over, will be beautiful beyond measure. Into Your hands, do I commend our Spirits. Amen

Hymn: Sun Of My Soul ( please click on the link below)

https://youtu.be/hxeYGSJuZto

                                    

BENEDICTION (click on the link below)

Editorial Notes
1&2  Scripture quotations are from KJV.
3.      A poem”, SAFETY” by Rupert Brooke

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47293/safety

4. Some consideration of  C.H. Dodd ‘s THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS  may also be helpful. https://www.amazon.ca/EPISTLE-PAUL-ROMANS-C-H-Dodd/dp/B004ZEEMV0

 

 

 

Scripture Reading: Psalm 125; Mark 7:24 – 30

Scripture Emphasis: Psalm 125: 2

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore.

Let me take you inside a home in the ancient city of Tyre, Lebanon. In following Mark’s narrative of the unfolding ministry of Jesus, we are surprised to encounter Jesus in this non-Jewish home. Perhaps His being there is to seek respite from the neverending demands of inconsiderate fellow countrymen and to get in touch with His own deep Peace. Jesus may be seeking a stay in the endless arguments with the Jewish religious aristocracy. However, His being in the company of possibly irreligious, and most certainly hostile constituents results in His request for anonymity. The brevity of details about these matters could speak volumes. Was Jesus seeking more confirmation and endorsement from these ” Gentiles” than He felt possible from some of His Jewish countrymen?

From this thought-provoking incident, it soon becomes abundantly clear that there are significant human experiences that have no regard whatsoever, for international boundaries, or long-held religious beliefs, or the absence thereof.

One of these recurring experiences is sickness. It makes no difference who you are, or of what ethnicity you are, or what set of beliefs may govern your actions, disease comes everywhere. It respects no boundaries! Its evidence comes inside this home where Jesus, the healer, is hoping that no situation will emerge to violate his request for anonymity.

 But if sickness knows no boundaries, neither do the feelings of helplessness that accompany it. Many people are well acquainted with a feeling of helplessness in the onslaught of this present global pandemic. 

A desperate mother joins our company at the home in Tyre which Jesus is visiting. The evidence, which slowly confirms that time is not bringing the health she kept hoping for her child, causes hopelessness to rush in! Yet, this mother is certain that her child’s sickness is not bound by geographical boundaries. She has knowledge of cases of “demon possession” in neighboring Palestine. Illness and the accompanying fears know no limits, and neither does a mother’s love. Let foolish arguments over dogma and creed rear their ugly heads. Real LOVE conquers all.

There is one thing more, the profound wisdom demonstrated in this story, by this mother, can transform our present experience. She knows that it is not necessary to be in Palestine to discover the incredible truth concerning God. She believes that the everlasting arms of God embrace the world around, even though her understanding of the Divine, differs from Jewish belief. Consequently, she seeks Jesus to help her further discover the encircling Arms of God.

Now, this is what it means to be a loving child of God, to know that you can realize the embrace of God’s everlasting arms when sickness, disaster or, even death itself overshadows us and ours.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore. Psalm 125:2

A widow living in London during the height of WW 11, became lovingly known to the troops as ‘our angel of comfort.’ Her home became a respite for young men and women, who, while facing the stress of new engagements, felt acutely unprepared. It was within these walls, where expressions of certainty and demonstrations of unconditional faith were found, that courage conquered fear.

One evening a young bombardier, commissioned for a dangerous sortie, questioned “ his angel of comfort” about an image of a pair of ‘ outstretched hands that hung over her living room mantel. On closer scrutiny of the picture, the young man observed names of people carefully printed on both of the hands. He fell silent as his matron explained. You see, son, these are the Hands of God. The names you observe are names of service-people, who like you, were going into battle and had many reservations and fears, so they placed themselves in God’s hands for comfort and strength.” The Angel Of Comfort” witnessed a nostalgic look of longing creep into the young bombardier’s face, and silently stole away from his side. Minutes of intense silence followed. At last, visibly moved, the young man produces a pen, and stretching his hand towards the picture; he carefully prints, on the only remaining space, his own name, MARK GARDNER.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore. Psalm 125:2

                        A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION (see Revelation 4: 1)

Eternal Father, Thank You for leaving Heaven’s door ajar, so that reassuring light from within, may shine upon the world, where the darkness of sickness and death is casting deep shadows. You see, not only the soulless pandemic that slithers its way through the world with, as yet, uncontrolled speed. You see each one of us with our fears, our worries, our concerns, and our brokenness. This is not what You intend for creatures made in the Image of God. Heaven’s open door is the sign that a far greater force than any pandemic is already at work around us. Through the open door, Love Incarnate comes to reign.
May that Love be so interpreted by each of us, that there will be:

Courage for the fearful ones,
Hope for the despairing ones,
Companionship for the lonely ones,
Bread for the hungry ones,
Fulfillment for the laboring ones,
Creativity among the isolated ones,
Wisdom and guidance for the searching ones,
Gratitude for the sacrificing ones,
Strength for the suffering ones,
And Rest Eternal for those who have fallen asleep.
For keeping the door to Your House open to us Father, we remain eternally grateful. In gratitude may we acknowledge as the Psalm writer did, ‘this one thing I shall seek after, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, I pray. Amen.

Hymn: Unto The Hills

https://youtu.be/h-OPPkenXvY

 

Editorial Notes
It is highly recommended that you read the suggested Scriptures at the beginning of the post to lend clarity to the meditation following.
2. All Scripture references are from NIV.
3. The photo is from stock images on the internet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

Suggested Scripture Reading: John 3:1 – 21 ( The story of Nicodemus)

Scripture Emphasis:

Romans 8: 10 -16 -The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Psalm 138:18 When I awake, I am still with You. 

When you lie awake, and sleep won’t come, and from dark places, all unknown, troubling thoughts creep into your consciousness, is there consolation anywhere to be found? Is there someone out there that can be trusted to bring the soul some relief?

The mind has a strange way of re-examining decisions already made. New scenarios, and compelling suggestions, peppered with the ‘what ifs,’ seem much more logical now. Twilight too soon hastens towards the night, then darkness, all too soon, welcomes the dawn, and the morning safely stores the unresolved dilemma, to be dealt with on yet another night. But the following night fastens to the soul, with hoops of steel, the derelict promise of sleep. A belief in cruel fate moulds the plasticity of the soul into an object of hopelessness. Is there someone out there who can be trusted to bring relief to such a soul? Is it possible to have a light in the window of your soul, that announces that someone is at home, waiting lovingly to provide you with shelter from the storm?

On occasion, the unsettled soul has at its root, troubling dreams that may or may not have rubbed shoulders with some far-off reality, now lost beyond recall. The playwright, William Shakespeare, has one of his characters define us, humans, as ” such stuff as dreams are made of.” But there has to be, for creatures made in their Maker’s Image, something more substantial and abiding than ‘the stuff that dreams are made off.
There is a reality where troubled souls can experience the warming embrace of this“Home.” Troubled Souls are real, so are sleeplessness nights. Therapeutic and calming is the vision of a place of refuge, with a light of welcome burning brightly for very you.

The New Testament relates a story of one restless and troubled soul. Nicodemus had many sleepless nights. He struggled with past decisions, reviewed now in the light of present circumstances and unfolding truths. Nicodemus’ philosophy of life had never before come under strict scrutiny. His beliefs grounded him in those values accepted by his parents and elders in strict obedience to the Jewish faith.

 Unexpectedly, everything now begins to change! A new wave of compassion is emerging and beginning to wash over the least, and the lost among them. It is as if a refreshing breeze from Heaven was replacing the stagnant air of earth.

 Unlike before, Nicodemus begins to think more and more about Heaven; and to wonder what meaning the pronouncements of the faith has for him. At last, one night, of an unrelenting storm, Nicodemus decides to search for the reason behind the light of Peace and Love he sees in the face of the Nazarene, named Jesus. Nicodemus is feeling a stirring in his soul, a kind of indefinable longing, to own for himself, whatever it is that emanates from Jesus. Jesus gave the appearance of one Who is at HOME within Himself. He exudes absolute surrender to a Presence within himself, Who remains always in complete control.

” Enough of this sleepless torment,” Nicodemus concludes. Hurriedly he dresses and, without a moment’s delay, hurries out into the darkness toward the’ Light,’ away from the far country of confusion and sleeplessness towards ‘ Home.’  Away from self and towards Jesus.  

That night Nicodemus makes the most crucial discovery of his life. Sleepless nights are God’s Calling Time.”  Our own crowded schedules, vexing problems, self-reliance, and a muddle of misinformation leaves, little or no time, for God to communicate with us. It may well be that sleepness is the touch of God’s hand outstretched caressingly, urging you to accept the light of His Presence. The gift, which no darkness can ever extinguish, will enable you to be at ‘Home’ with yourself because you are now at ‘Home’ with God.  

          A Prayer To Follow This Meditation

O God, our Father, the touch of whose hand bestows perfect rest and peace at each days ending, grant that I may fall asleep in the full assurance of Your abiding Presence. May no unresolved troubles, unfinished tasks nor sins, real or imagined, cast me on the troubled waters of despair.

 Prepare me now, through Your righteousness, to receive grace sufficient for tomorrow’s needs.  Grant unto me whatever You see that I need to discharge my responsibility to the world confidently and with mercy, pity, peace, and love.

Keep light, from Your Presence within me, aglow in the window of my soul. Help me to yield to its influence ever that I may be a help to any who are missing the way ‘Home.’ 

Through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Amen.

Hymn:  Now The Day Is Over

https://youtu.be/jLu0H_5qmkQ

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. The Scripture references are from the NIV translation. A reading of those
2.  Scriptures, at the beginning of this meditation, will help your understanding of the meditation, which follows.
3.  PHOTO is of BRIGUS, NEWFOUNDLAND,  taken by Vicki Curtis- Meltzer of Dover, New Hampshire, USA.