Author: rattleyrow@gmail.com

THE HAND THAT GUIDED

The Book of Ruth relates that Ruth and Orpah, two women of Moab, married two sons of Elimelech and Naomi, Judeans who had settled in Moab to escape a famine in Judah. Unfortunately, the husbands of all three women die; Naomi plans to return to her native Bethlehem and urges her daughters-in-law to return to their families. Orpah does so, but Ruth refuses to leave Naomi, declaring: (1)

(Ruth 1:16–17), “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried.” Ruth accompanies Naomi to Bethlehem.
(Scripture Emphasis)

One is left face-to-face with God at the end of that text! God alone can source such empathy. Only God can take the brokenness of this world and its glaring injustices and weave them into a garment of splendour to grace the soul. 

First, meet Naomi, then when you meet God, your spirit will rejoice in God’s power to change something you thought to be quite ordinary into something exquisitely beautiful. To have that experience is like finding a rose in full bloom among an expanse of ashes. 

But first, see the ashes! Naomi, herself, sees it everywhere! 

Naomi was an Israelite woman from the tribe of Judah from Bethlehem. Her homeland and her faith were among her most treasured possessions. However, a severe drought in Israel forced Naomi, her husband, and two sons to migrate to the land of Moab in search of food. 

For Naomi and her family, faith in the goodness of Israel’s God grew stronger with each passing day. Resolutely, they maintained the “hope that springs eternal in the human breast,’ that God would yet provide sustenance for their survival. Irresistibly, Naomi held to a child-like belief that nothing could resist the power of God’s Love to change and make all things new in every circumstance.

But now, as they entered Moab, it became painfully clear that Moab was a pagan land. The Israelite family soon encounters strange customs, unfamiliar social mores, and intonations to foreign gods. Everything combined to make them long for home. Only momentarily did a swamp of despair remain. Naomi, as usual, summons their faith once more, and with it, courage also arrives. God often hides beauty among what, at first sight, seems to be only ashes!

 But, within a few years in Moab, Naomi faces even more challenges to her faith! Firstly, the love of her life, now surrounded by people with strange beliefs and who whisper the names of foreign gods, lies cold in death.
 And, even yet, all is not told!

If we allow ourselves to reveal the wishes that flow from every mother’s Heart, all prefer their children to continue the faith traditions they experienced from birth. But Naomi sees both of her sons marry Moabite girls. One is named Ruth; the other’s name is Orpah.

 But as alarming as it may seem, Naomi’s threatening ash heap does not increase due to those marriages. In truth, where others may likely see only ashes, Naomi observes a few green shoots of promising beauty! Could it be, she wondered, if the deity with strange-sounding names were, in reality, the same God she knew, only by a different name! 

 In secret, Naomi’s spirit made pilgrimages almost daily to her beloved homeland to find comfort and grace in the presence of the God she loved. How else would she find the strength, courage and fortitude to continue with life since her two sons had died within the ensuing decade?

Naomi’s virtual visits to Bethlehem, in spirit, were insufficient now. She must return home to Bethlehem in person!

 Now deeply moved by it all, Naomi announces her decision to her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah.

Naomi knows only too well that the ties binding human hearts in love are never easily broken. Consequently, it is not surprising that the unpretentious witness of Naomi’s spirit had a lasting impact on her daughters-in-law. They felt Naomi’s faith in God which created such captivating beauty. Thus, the unseen Hand guiding Naomi’s life is now at work in Ruth and Orpah! 

Empathizing with the girl’s unspoken determination to remain beside her to comfort her in her crushing loss, Naomi addresses their dilemma,” Remain here in Moab with what is familiar to you,” she offers, ” live your lives in the company of the people you know, and love. Share the customs and beliefs you have in common.”
 In the Heart of both Orpah and Ruth, roses, planted by the Hand of Naomi’s God, broke into full bloom.
It follows, though, that such love induces an irrepressible desire to respond in kind.
Orpha chooses to remain in Moab. No doubt, there she will work in God’s rose garden, finding opportunities to promote the secret of Naomi’s beauty.
Ruth refuses to leave Naomi, declaring (Ruth 1:16–17), “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried.” Ruth accompanies Naomi to Bethlehem and there surrenders to the secret of Naomi’s beauty.

Prayer To Follow This Meditation

Father, we believe You envisaged a world where the miracle of love between people, and the abiding mystery of faith, would recreate it. 

Father, please show us again that supreme mystery of faith; and the transforming miracle of love. 

At the precise moment that the world unleashes a barrage of heart-wrenching experiences to destroy us, you arrive on the soul’s stairway of faith with Your, “Be not afraid, it is I.” 

When the world echoes sardonic laughter at our efforts to be good and honourable, and subsequently, we become abandoned and ostracized; into the picture, You introduce Someone to love us and Someone for us to love. 

We bless You for the very human story of Naomi, Ruth and Orpah. For the work of Your guiding Hand that builds the stairway of faith between You and Naomi, and from Naomi to Ruth and Orpah. For Your vision of love’s power which creates such transforming relationships, we praise You, Father.

All of these things and even more are made available to the world through the mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. ” For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Herewith is the world’s present darkness dispelled, and then the golden chains of God’s love will bind together people all over the world.  

” I’ll bless the Hand, that guided,
    I’ll bless the Heart, that planned,
    When throned where glory dwelleth,
     In Emmanuel’s Land.” (2)

Grant, my Father, that I will not wait ’till then to offer You praise. Unabashedly let the rejoicing begin now!

In the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord; then in Emmanuel’s Land in Thy mercy may praise continue. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Hymn: O Love, That Will Not, Let Me Go

https://youtu.be/nt69WDtYNLo

                                  NOTES
1. Suggested reading,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ruth-biblical-figure)

2. Scripture quotations are from the NIV translation

3. From the hymn,’ The Sands Of Time Are Sinking.’
by A.R. Cousins.

                    BELIEF BEYOND BOUNDS

Scripture Emphasis

“Mark 7:24-30 ²⁴Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter, possessed by an impure spirit, came and fell at his feet. ²⁶The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷“First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” ²⁸“LORD,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰She went home and found her child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

Belief, when it is veritably Christian, transcends all boundaries!
                  No arguments diminish it;
                 No new philosophies can ever replace it;
                  No cynical efforts can ever defeat it. Consequently, Christian belief rises again from the ashes of historical cynicism, continuing to wear the conqueror’s crown. Christian faith never wallows in stagnant backwaters, fearing the experience on stormy seas of controversies. But Christian belief undergirds every situation like the unspeakable calm that lies just beneath its surface when the sea is boiling.

All of the above is true because belief is inextricably bound to the presence of Jesus. Jesus, from early childhood, stood on the firm religious foundation of His Jewish forebearers, celebrating the fact of God’s dwelling in our spirits to manifest His love and unwavering care for us. The Deuteronomic historian pronounced this firm belief, ” The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deuteronomy 32:27). Through the advent of Christ, what were previously inspiring words ” became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have beheld His Glory.”

Christian belief is not the product of analytical research into the historicity of Jesus. Neither can the detailed application of psychological theories or consideration of philosophical archetypes unravel the mysteries surrounding Christian belief. In fact,
Christian belief does not result from consideration of ready-available conclusions made by others. Facts and theories proven true for someone else will not guarantee a well-established faith for you. On the contrary, your belief depends entirely on a personal revelation of Christ, Himself, to you. For instance, the miraculous spread of the Faith in the Risen Christ was not solely due to the testimony of the early visitors to Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning. Instead, the greater impetus in that miraculous spread was the personal and private revelations of Jesus. Women and men became demonstratively changed from their previous selves. Peter, the other disciples, and the apostle Paul were prime examples of this truth.

In the final analysis, Christian Faith results from an individual’s revelatory experience with the Risen Christ. They become Christ’s ambassadors, not by choice but by compulsion. ” I live, yet not I, but Christ who lives in me.”
(Galatians 2: 20).

 The Christian Gospel is the epic narrative of a movement that refuses to be constricted by prison walls or prejudiced souls. History reveals myriad efforts to prevent the spread of Christian beliefs. The blood of martyrs stains the pages, and, sadly now, people are swelling the ranks of those content to permit the event of “the WORD becoming flesh to dwell among us” to become just a word again.

In the Gospel lesson for today, Mark goes to great length to make clear that Jesus did not go into Gentile territory to embark on a healing ministry. More likely, His journey into the vicinity of Tyre was in search of a brief reprieve from the narrow prejudices of those who owned a stinging religion. But belief about Him had gone beyond the borders of Galilee.

Mark insists on letting us all know that the house Jesus enters belongs to a pagan. He tells us that one immediately joins their company which was both Greek and, by race, a Phoenician.

Although unproven, when coupled with the wrenching cries of a sick child in the heart of a loving mother, Faith is a formula for moving mountains existing between Tyre and Galilee. But is not the door of her soul fortified against all other religious dogmas? Yet, the eternal truth remains, that embedded in the spirit of each human, the same God of all Creation instills the same knowledge of the divine, even though it be identified to them by different names. God has already come down the secret stairway into this woman’s soul. Belief has already equipped her to seek and find a pathway to victory and healing. Powerful Faith, to deliver healing, races ahead to the home of the Syrophoenician woman, and, on her arrival, she finds her child wholly healed.

Set no boundaries in your journey through life.
Be not afraid of what you think is unattainable.
Never sit back and wait, hoping that a less obstructive pathway may appear for you to travel.
God is waiting to discuss with you the path that lies ahead. The power of Belief in Him not only lights the proposed route for you to follow but at the end, He will stand alongside you to celebrate a most remarkable achievement.

                A Prayer to Follow This Meditation

       My Father, thank You for the Faith that is
   more splendid than any light needed to find my way, when the night here is as dark as pitch;
  more resilient than a young child’s smile, following a moment’s disappointed frown;
   as permanent as a mother’s love, even amidst her tears for her child’s careless loss of opportunity;
  as ready as a father’s wisdom to know of his child’s need in some trying circumstance and to travel the distance, at least in spirit, to show the way by memory’s recall.
Father, the greatness of this gift of Faith, both powerful and tireless, can change humankind; and thereby change this world to resemble a place where Your will accomplishes all things as it does in Heaven.
Father, save me from the timidity of standing out noticeably in a crowd as one holding fast to Christian Beliefs. This world, daily, makes it more normal to become lost in the crowd than to stand firm in the Faith both for Christ’s sake as well as for the future of the world.
Father, thank you for Your love! Would you please show me how to love You in return? Amen.

Hymn: Make Me A Captive, Lord
https://youtu.be/tWgpXbJTbrs

Picture Of Innocence

Words always fail to capture my heart’s response whenever I look at this photo of my four-year-old daughter, playing the piano in the presence of her most committed friend. The location was the St. Anthony United Church manse many years ago.
May innocence, gentleness, belief, and deep love always embrace your spirit too.

REST OF THE WEARY

Scripture Readings: Psalm 62: 1 – 12, John 14: 1 – 31

Scripture Text:
Psalm 62: 1
“My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress; I will never be shaken”.

People throughout the world are demanding a return to normalcy! But can one expect that demand to meet with success? Everyone’s definition of normalcy is different. Therefore, the logical question is, where does one begin the search for normalcy? Certainly not in the arena of human behaviours’ will a satisfactory definition be found. Generally speaking, when seeking an example of normalcy on the horizontal plane, ethical and social mores demonstrate the impossibility of finding a meaning of normalcy that applies to everyone.

The unpredictable pandemic that required the restriction of some activities resulted in angry protestors demanding an immediate return to normalcy. Scientists begging for a cautious approach to protect others from disease and death had accusations of human rights violations hurled at them. 

Demonstratively, a more inclusive concept of normalcy is necessary if tomorrow’s outcome is healthier and happier than present demands reflect.

 All efforts to examine truth concerning individual behaviours and the communal responsibilities of humankind require viewing them from above. Wherefore, our motivating quest is the same as a man’s question to God, many centuries ago, ‘What is a man that you (God) are mindful of him?’ Psalm 8:4.’

If indeed our present longing is to discover true freedom that makes each one of us our sister’s and brother’s keeper (Genesis 4: 1-9), a pure expression of Faith in God is paramount.  

ST. Augustine of Hippo in Augustine’s Confessions wrote, ‘Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.’

Psalm 62 expresses one man’s longing to return to a more equitable and liberating way of life. Yet, abandoned by all fellow pilgrims of the way, he concludes he is nothing more than a tottering fence or a leaning wall. Being bereft of human empathy and understanding, he appeals for rational consideration, but to no avail. Unable to find the milk of human kindness, he appeals to the Creator of all to reveal God’s intention for creating the human race. An ineffable peace wraps him around. Amidst the persisting echoes of the world of distrust and self-serving interests, he now enters a solitude that absolves him. A hymn celebrating liberation rises in his heart: ‘My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress; I will never be shaken.’

The early disciples of Jesus learned to rest in him alone while he dwelt with them here on earth. Therefore, their Faith was not a conscious effort to measure their lives by performing miracles like they saw Jesus perform. It was something far greater than that. It was the surrendering of the self to the in-dwelling miracle-working presence of Christ within. In so doing, the disciples receive a self-consciousness that is wholly independent of all self-introspection.  

Here is the secret concerning the kind of return and re-creation for which the world’s inhabitants genuinely yearn. 

 In the throes of this disastrous pandemic, He was in Christ; God was there, teaching us to pray; “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. It became restful for people to develop a renewed interest in scriptures that induce hope:

“If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways”. (Psalm 91: 9 – 11)

And now in, the re-shaping and re-building of the global community, shall we insist on our way of doing things, OR, shall we seek to have an answer to our familiar daily prayer, uttered by millions; ‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.”

 PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION

Blessed Father,
 Inside a tomb
        Cold, dark and lifeless,
the imperceptible blessing of
rebirth of a tired and broken world burst forth, and it can yet happen once more.
Now, like a living tomb myself, I await the power of resurrection. May it burst forth in me and send me
back into a world that reeks of fear and mistrust, to
demonstrate once more the way of love.

It is always the presence of Your Son, our Saviour so pure, Holy, sinless and loving, that transforms a tomb from winter’s killing grip to springtime’s triumphant rebirth. 

 Here am I, O Lord. Work your power in me! Equip me that I may be among those who now awaken the world to this renewed, amplified truth; NOW IS CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD! He Is HERE! The whole world will yet find rest in the embrace of God’s unshaken arms. For our sake and in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen.

Hymn: O safe to The Rock
(Click the links appearing below)

 PERFECTION? MISSION IMPOSSIBLE!

Suggested Scripture:  Matthew 5:43- 6:1-15

Scripture Text: Matthew 5:48 KJV “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”  (1)

 Were there questioning glances of surprise among the disciples seeking some degree of understanding among themselves, concerning the opening phrase of the Lord’s prayer, “Our Father, Who art in Heaven?” Not one of the disciples, I suspect, was familiar with that vocabulary when used of the One to whom they prayed. The standard expectation is for the speaker to choose comprehensible expressions so that the speaker and the hearer can understand one another. Neither the depth of their faith experience nor the suggested familiarity with the Divine was appropriate in fulfilling the disciples’ request, Lord, teach us to pray. (Luke 11 1-3). “ When you pray, say, Our Father, Who art in Heaven. It sounds presumptuous to us still to claim such a relationship to the Creator of all that exists. Yet in the more than the hundred times in the Synoptic Gospels where Jesus uses this designation for God, our hearts rejoice and feel a sense of being home.
Jesus gives further instruction to His Disciples concerning prayer. They must supplement their initial salutation,’ Our Father”, with the qualifier, ‘Who art in Heaven.’ Would that instruction not intensify their inquiry? For instance, the disciples James and John shared labours of the fishing boat with Zebedee, their father. But the instruction given is to address their prayers to their Father, Who dwells in heaven. Would it not be perfectly understandable if James and John would have detailed flashbacks to their father, Zebedee, in the fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee?
But in this present company of Jesus with His disciples, it is Jesus alone who is living out the crucial relationship that awaits each human’s discovery! Heaven is our true home and, our Creator is our true Father. “We are here and now the sons and daughters of God.”
(1 John 3: 2)

We each leave the portals of Heaven as SPIRIT, bearing the likeness and image of God. We leave the portals of Heaven to deal with the challenge of not finding awaiting us, here on earth, the abundant supply of heavenly resources that endowed our initial existence and development. Now embedded in the rich soil of readily available things, there is the temptation to claim much of it as our own. Instead, transforming it by holding it all within our Spirit, we will help to create the Kingdom of God here on earth. 

An architect aspiring to build a structure will experiences with detailed precision the finished product in his mind. The resulting design will not likely be a perfect replica of the envisioned dream. The architect will have to use whatever material is available. Within the mind of the architect, however, the unaltered image of his intention remains. The perfect creation, existing in his mind, is in no way diminished by the accident of temporal circumstances. 

The view that Jesus manifests as the most critical truth of our creation history is that the Divine Architect, God in Heaven, holds securely in His Keeping, the perfect You!  Imagine God’s intention upon viewing this creation and seeing its goodness identifies it as you. Consider now how the ideal you would appear? Remember to allow for the restrictions the world imposes upon every mortal being in this exercise! Yet, Jesus stands beside you to demonstrate to you and all His followers the satanic threats always present. But Jesus provides the way to victory. An attentive reading of the temptations faced by Jesus reveals the ever-present diabolic atmosphere of daily living here. (Matthew 4: 1 – 11)
” Be ye perfect, as your Father, in Heaven is perfect.”
Let this always be our way of life. Know with certainty that it is possible to fulfill the image of the perfect you which Heaven preserves. Jesus is the guarantor of that promise.
The most crucial undertaking for each of us is to graft the secret of Jesus’ life into our own. He lived every second of His life conscious of His Father in Heaven. It is a fact that God reserves a temple in each human as the center for Divine communication and influence. However, unlike us, Jesus entrusts the key to His temple exclusively to His Father. The poet Alfred Tennyson captures the image associated with this reality, “Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet- Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”
— Alfred Tennyson (2)

It seems to me that there is far too much personal, even hysterical effort, put into trying to imitate the life and works of Christ; and not near enough trust in the LIVING CHRIST within. We may not feel at any given moment that we have attained the perfection necessary. But the fulfillment of that perfection is Christ’s if our surrender is sincere and complete.” Be ye perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”

I seek your indulgence for the personal reference that follows. It is a simple testimony of how the word ” Father” used to address God impacted me while still a child. My dad died at sea when I was barely four months old. In the fourth grade, while learning to read, one day, in secret, I opened an old family Bible and attempted to read Psalm 2. I understood but little of what I read. Suddenly and entirely unexpectedly, verse 7 leaped from the page to nestle in my heart forever. In this Psalm, God was speaking to a servant long ago. ” You are my son today; I have become your father.”

Many years have passed since the day of that discovery. I have learned much, and I am still learning. I have a post-graduate degree in divinity and have been learning from my parishioners for more than thirty years. Consequently, my faith has changed and developed over time. But it remains to this present moment that the expositions on Psalm 2 by the most eminent scholars can never uproot the understanding granted a fourth-grader one day long ago. 

A PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION

Father, it’s me again.
Thank you for not only expecting me but for making all things ready to deal with every fretful worry and care that threatens to set this day apart from all others. Please forgive me, Father, for my blindness and my slowness of heart to remember that You are there beside me all the time. When I become too busy to think of You, You are never too busy for me.
Father, here is a thing that amazes me; how You never show any sign of being rushed. You always take so much time with me, as though I was the only one You had to attend.
Father, all of this makes me love You more. Is there some way You can prepare me as I live here on earth to be?
     -Your listening ears for the needy ones.
     – Your patience for the trying ones.
     – Your loving heart for the broken and lonely ones.
-Your forgiveness for the fallen ones.
– Your words of hope for those incomplete?

Father, I leave the door to my Spirit, Your Temple, open for You. Visit me throughout this night and find there within a welcoming place; thus, will I be prepared to pass through the gates of a new day and live my life as Your son/daughter. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen.

Hymn: How Can I Keep from Singing – Aled Jones

(Click on the link that appears below)

Lyrics – How Can I Keep from Singing?

Suggested Scripture Reading: Romans, Chapters 4-5
Scripture Emphasis

Romans 5: 1-2 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”

Here is one essential fact for everyone to grasp;
for both those who have travelled far on faith’s road and those just now contemplating a beginning on that path. Bind this truth to your heart with ‘hoops of steel’; It IS NEVER ONE’S FEEBLE HOLD ON GOD THAT MATTERS MOST; IT IS RATHER GOD’S MIGHTY GRASP ON YOU.

Christians across the spectrum know that the Old Testament personage, Abraham, is identified as “the father of faith.” From youth, Bible stories of Abraham’s remarkable faith in God become a catalyst helping to develop our own. 

But where does Abraham’s faith have its origin? Was faith something that had an arbitrary beginning somewhere within the human psyche? Is Abraham’s faith a sincere attempt to grapple with earthy mysteries, therefore making necessary the creation of a deity?

The only possible answer to any such suggestions is “NO.” It is never from within that one can expect to discover the origin of such endowments as faith, love, hope and mercy. None of these virtues flow from the fountain of our ‘ humanness.’ Someone or some Force has been there before to plant the flag of sovereign ownership. 

 Each person is more than a mere physical container to hold the world’s abundant offerings. There are latent energies that slumber in the depth of each soul. Aptitudes and talents and the essence of every possible virtue wait for the human will to discover and assimilate. To be truly human is to understand that a twofold destiny awaits our discovery. The body’s mind insists that the whole body is little more than an entity of materiality, part and parcel of all that has life. The SOUL, however, is created with the double function of relating the body to all that has life; BUT as well, it conveys to the mind news of a spiritual entity that implores us to explore the origin of our being. That spiritual entity is God, Who remains ‘The Prime Mover.’

Abraham’s initial experience of God was not the result of human thought but instead the revelatory activity of God. Abraham began to think about God because God first thought about Abraham. God left a God-shaped blank inside Abraham, with the longing to have it filled with Himself. Before Abraham became known as ” the Father of Faith, to the nations, God guided him to that inner sanctum where the mystery is made known to him.

 Every infant step along his way now reveals an unseen hand to guide. Songs, unintended, coming to his soul in the dark of the fearsome night, could no longer be dismissed. His uncommitted attitude, so prevalent in his life, now in God’s presence, is a panacea of faith undertakings.  And God counted Abraham’s total birthing experience as righteousness. 

I imagine that Abraham’s response at that moment must have been,” It was YOU all the time; You were there all The Time.”   God’s mighty grasp on him finally replaces Abraham’s feeble hold on God.

St. Paul, in his majestic Letter To the Romans, gathers the strands of ancient Hebrew history to reveal the greater revelation of God’s Redeeming Love for our Salvation.” 

It is God’s mighty grasp on Jesus that is His greatest manifestation to us, earth dwellers. Every attempt to maintain one’s grasp on faith, love and truth and all other virtues in this world will amount to naught. Jesus demonstrates this truth throughout His life and ministry.

 His helplessness in Bethlehem’s manger evokes the company of God’s angels.

 Every worldly attempt to have Jesus fulfill God’s mission fades in the grasp of God’s mighty hand.

 In His parting cry from Calvary’s Cross,” Father, into Thy Hands, I commit my spirit,” the glorious truth is undeniably upheld in the mighty Grasp of God’s hand even the last enemy, death, is itself destroyed! 

                  A Prayer To Follow This Meditation
Faithful Father,
Our most carefully crafted words are impotent to capture our thoughts of Your faithfulness towards us all.
A little child is far too young to understand the mysteries that tax even the genius of great minds to comprehend the vast universe fully. You faithfully provide for a child to feel perfectly at home here. When the night is dark, and the temptation is to feel afraid, You fill the sky with twinkling stars. You provide a simple melody, and before long, the night resounds with the music of an innocent child’s praise, ‘Twinkle, Twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are.’ Fear is gone, and the child engages in awesome wonder.

The prodigal son left behind a life of promise and fell for the mistaken image of freedom offering in some free and undisciplined environment. He soon realizes the vision was a cruel mirage. But he also becomes aware that You, God, are there all the time offering to deliver him.
Many times, Father, the night pauses again to hear some other sing a melody of liberation,
‘ Shackled by a heavy burden, neath a load of guilt and shame, Then the hand of Jesus touched me, Now I am no longer the same.’

And again, in that sacred moment when one is sitting at the bedside of one who before long will leave an empty void. It is a thought that drips like molten lead on your naked heart. Until with perfect empathy, that departing loved one intercepts,” Good night, my child, I will see you in the morning.”
 Even that moment is a time of Your divine revelation. I have known God to use the parting words of a beloved to initiate ‘the glory of the lighted mind.’
 One then knows as never before, that God’s mighty grasp on you far exceeds your feeble grasp on Him.

All thanks and praise be to You, O faithful Father. Amen.

Hymn: All the Way My Saviour Leads Me

The meditation that follows is in audio form. It is an attempt to imagine something of what it might have been like to be present at the scene of our Lord’s Crucifixion. While it is far beyond the scope of the present attempt to capture the historical milieu and the ideologies of that day, many of that scene’s unfoldments reveal striking similarities of our humanity still. But, more so, the promise of God’s Love and Redemption stand revealed.

Suggested  Reading: Mark 16: 21 – 47

Text: Mark 15:39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
(click the link below)

Hymn: Were You There?  ( click the link below)

https://youtu.be/0xVR70BjF  K8

Editorial Notes

1. The Scripture references are from The NIV translation.
2.  The prayer is from a medieval Latin hymn.
3. A word edition of the meditation is available upon request.

The following addition to our blog is in a different format from those previously posted. Others generally appeared as text only. The following is the spoken word. However, the post will contain other written features designed to add to your meditation experience.

Scripture Emphasis: Matthew 9:20 – 21

(Click on the link below)

            A Prayer To Follow This Meditation

My Father, with the eyes of Faith, I have beheld the most beautiful demonstration of Love.
How can Your world long remain cold and uncaring
when we are children of such a Father?

It was that Love that penetrated the cold stone prison walls
of a woman’s soul, that she inhabited alone, tormented and afraid, to foster Hope.
It was that Love that refused barriers of age, race or colour to keep children away from His tender embrace.
It was that Love that met the broken-hearted at the gates of ‘God’s Little Acre”  to assure them that God’s victory swallows death in victory.

It is that Love, showing us the empty tomb, that hasten us towards a more gracious world. Help us, dear Lord, to make this our mantra”He is not here, Hi has risen, and He goes before us into the world. This prayer we make for Your Love’s Sake. Amen.

Hymn: Jesus, Saviour, Pilot Me  (click on the link below)

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Additional Suggested Scripture Reading:
Mark9:17 – 27

Text For This Meditation
Exodus 3: 4-5 When the LORD saw that he (Moses) had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

“Moses, Moses,” the voice out of somewhere sounded within his soul, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is Holy Ground.”  So begins Moses’ appointment with his Divine Destiny.  He would yet stand in many unholy places on this earth. However, Moses will never forget that he had played host for God’s visitation in a secret space within him. From this moment forward, that intense reality remained.

In the profane courts of Egypt’s Pharoah, God continues to manifests His Presence to Moses.  Then later, at the Red Sea, the law, separating the sea from the land at the time of creation, yields to the command of this one man, whose soul has received the visitation of God. From the sacred space of Moses’ soul, come words to encourage the despairing tribes, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm, and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today”.
(Exodus 14:13)

There is an unspeakable mystery here that calls for our heartful celebration. God creates human beings, mere creatures of the dust, with the potential capacity to house the Divine! 

Moses is but the shadow of that truth which finds completion in Jesus Christ. By sending ‘The Word made Flesh,’ God manifests how that entity, within each of us, is made ‘HOLY’ through His indwelling.
There will yet arise, from within, visions that will change the course of our history too.  These visions, however, will require that we each live, habitually and as completely as possible, on that level of our being where Christ dwells with power and love.

My seminary training had me serving as a student chaplain in a large city hospital. There, I was to minister to a young patient named Luke. Luke was married, thirty-two years old, and the father of two beautiful daughters. Their photos, along with that of their pretty young mother, adorning his bed-side table, suggested that he had been a patient here for a considerable time. 

One morning sometime following my first encounter with him, I found Luke extremely upset. “Frank, you know what these stupid people told me this morning? They told me,” Luke fell silent, seeking composure; he turned his face away from me. Then in a voice, scarcely more than a whisper, he continued,” They can’t do anything for me, and, and, I am going to die.”
Over the following weeks, I observed the various stages of approaching death and, I sought desperately to be with my friend all the way.
One day further along the way, he, in an angry tone, hissed these words at me, ” Frank, you’re going to be a minister? I don’t believe in God anymore! Please don’t come to see me again!”
“I understand you, my friend. Even though I can’t be with you physically, Luke, my spirit will always remain with you.”   

In response to his request, two of the most painful weeks of my journey followed. And then I could stand it no longer. I tapped on Luke’s door. The worn and wasted face now bore a smile. “Oh, Frank, I prayed that you would come back.” 

The days which followed provided some of my most precious memories.
 One evening as I was about to leave his room, Luke surprised me with this request.
 ” Frank, my friend, can I ask you something? When the time comes, could you be with me?”

That time came one afternoon as I prepared to leave the hospital to travel home, some fifty miles away. Urgent paging stopped me in my tracks. I hastened back to Luke’s room. As I entered his room, he summoned the fleeting resources of his failing strength to beckon me to his side. He smiled as I held his hand. Surrounded by his family and some hospital staff, I knew we were all standing on holy ground.

 A Prayer To Follow This Meditation

 Gracious Father,
Your unconditional love, seeking some humble space to indwell, infiltrates every atom of our earthly being.
 That inner space, the hallmark of our humanity, can never be satisfied apart from You alone.

Gracious Father, we are utterly dependent upon the working of Your Holy Spirit:
– without the Spirit’s activity, we become aware of needs around us but quickly freeze in the position of those who conclude that  there is nothing to be done;
Until Your Spirit  intercepts with ” Go, and certainly I will be with You.”

 – Without Your Spirit’s activity, we lose the ability to explore the possibility that our help is lying beyond the common ground. 
Until  Your Spirit awakens us from our reverie with the challenge that” The ground where  you stand, is Holy Ground.”

– Without Your Spirit’s activity,
we will never realize that common ground becomes Holy Ground when God is present.
God’s Presence within changes a person from dealing with every situation depending only upon the common wisdom of the world to a person who sees all things and all people everywhere as contributing to the building of God’s glorious Kingdom here on earth;
May Your Spirit teach us all to pray, “Lord, I believe. Help Thou my unbelief.”
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen.

Hymn: Holy Ground

HOLY GROUND

“This is holy ground; we’re  standing on holy ground;
For the Lord is present, and where He is, is Holy.
This is holy ground; we’re standing on holy ground;
For the Lord is present and where He is, is Holy.

These are Holy hands. He’s given us holy hands.
He works through these hands, and so these hands are holy.
These are Holy hands. He’s given us holy hands.
He works through these hands, and so these hands are holy.”

Editorial Notes

1.  The Scripture quotations throughout are from the NIV
2.   It is recommended that a re-reading of the story of
Moses may help with this meditation. Exodus 3 – 14
3.   Photo, Internet Open Stock.

Scripture Emphasis:
“Then, Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”
 (Luke 18:1 – 8)   

Poet Robert Browning, reflecting upon God’s involvement with humankind from birth to old age and death, interfuses the process with beauty and eternal purpose. In his dramatic monologue, Rabbi Ben Ezra, Browning invites his reader as follows: (2)

                Grow old along with me!
                The best is yet to be
             The last of life, for which the first
               was made:
              Our times are in His hand
               Who saith “A whole I planned.”
                Youth shows but half; trust God:
                  see all, nor be afraid!                                       

Browning views human life as a progression, taking shape gradually in the Divine Potter’s skilled hands.

               My times be in Thy hand!
               Perfect the cup as planned!
               Let age approve of youth and death
                complete the same.”               

The image of the unfinished cup awaiting the final touch from the Potter’s hand is both thought-provoking and promising. The unfinished product remains in the Workman’s skilled hands while life endures. The cup is a vessel designed in preparation to contain. It is not to be a mere decorative ornament. The finishing touch of the Potter’s Hand necessitates His willful and constant input. 

There is an inwardness to individuals, as real as something one can view through a rent in the physical body. The history of every human remains incomplete until one considers this inwardness.

The evidence for the preeminence of human inwardness is profuse. Consider an incident illustrative of this theme from a parable told by Jesus. (Luke 18: 1 – 8). The story contrasts the ‘inwardness’ of two individuals. The one is a person of some social status, a judge by profession. While the other is a person with judiciary needs. The vortex of self-aggrandizement surges in the former, while the latter rests in a child-like faith in God’s faithfulness. The unrelenting appeal for justice finally leaves the judge in a state of impatient fury. ” I do not fear God or care about men, ” he muses, ” yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice so that she won’t wear me out with her coming!” Jesus relates this parable to His Disciples to illustrate that they should always pray to God and never give up. Unlike this ‘unjust judge,’ God will always bring about justice for His children.

An inquiry into the ‘inwardness’ of both of these individuals will not only be informative but rewarding as well. In the case of the widow, her approach to life remains in the hands of ‘ The Potter.”  Although she must appeal to the local judge to arbitrate her case, she does so with specific knowledge about the One Judge who remains overall. The widow’s arbitrator, on the other hand, approaches his life with an entirely different understanding. His mantra is, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” (3) There is nothing but mirrors lining the inside of this pathetic container of human existence. I, myself, and, me, make for desperately lonely company and induces a hopeless end to life.

” The whole That God Planned” for your life is not ‘A fait accompli.’ The Divine Potter is not finished with you yet. To think otherwise is to render impotent your daily prayer ” Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” You are still on the working team of God’s Kingdom builders.

But what about God’s ‘planned whole’ when human frailty leaves the mind incapable of utilizing God’s entrusted gifts?  Is there Something or Someone waiting in the shadows to complete “The Whole” for God’s Glory? 

Yes, thousand times over, the answer to all such questions is YES!

The most excellent ingredient that will finally complete the ‘CUP OF YOUR Life’ as God has planned it; is His Love for you as His loving child. Starting now while it is still day,  surrender yourself, in sincere faith, for as long as you can, into the embrace of the everlasting arms. And if ever there comes a time when you can’t remember Him, know this, He will never forget you! Then in no way does death mark an ending; instead, it is a glorious beginning!   

       A Prayer To Follow This Meditation

Gracious Lord, please grant me,
Wisdom to perceive You.
Intelligence to understand You.
Diligence to seek You.
Patience to wait for You.
Eyes to behold You.
A heart to meditate upon You.
A life to live for You.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.

Hymn: You Raise Me Up

                            NOTES

1. Scripture references are from the NIV translation.
2. Poem by Robert Browning, “Rabbi Ben Ezra”   Rabbi Ben Ezra 
3. William Ernest Henley,       ” Invictus”
   Invictus poem – Bing
   

 Photo: The view from “SHALOM,”  our summer place in Michael’s Harbour, Newfoundland.

                         INTRODUCTION

The following meditation is a creation of my own imagination. The intent is to capture the spirit of God’s sending Jesus into the world to bring salvation to all. I invite you now to engage your imagination. 

There are three scenes. 

The First scene: at the crowded Bethlehem Inn amid confusion resulting from an influx of people seeking accommodations for the night.
The Second scene: A shepherd’s cottage somewhere in the Judean hills valley.
 The Third scene:  The Bethlehem stable, where the Baby Jesus is born.
************************************************
                 (Scripture emphasis)
Luke 2:15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the LORD hath made known unto us.

The Innkeeper is addressing his patrons:

   “Listen! Did you hear that? I could have sworn I heard another knock at the door! Keep it down; keep it down, you rabble-rousers! One would have to knock with a Roman mallet to get attention over this din!
No use for anyone else to come knocking on my door this night. My inn is full, like every other spot in Bethlehem! There is just no more room, not even if King Herod himself came looking. Well! I might consider it if the king came seeking! I may sleep out of my bed just for one night to have the honour of having him under my roof. But, no way will that ever happen. No king will be around here this night, just this despicable rabble from the hills.
Listen, there it is again! Someone with urgent business according to how they’re knocking on the door! “Hold on there! Don’t break the bloomin’ door down! ‘Got no room for you anyway. Might as well be patient”!
“Keep the noise down in there, will you? I am going to see who is at the door”.

“Well, that didn’t take long. Like I said, It is someone looking for lodgings for the night! I feel sorry for them, a young man and his lady, who is about to give birth. As I told you,’ I might sleep out of my bed if King Herod was the one asking me. The fellow at the door was far from being a king. I could not offer him and his lady anything. He said he had tried everywhere. And that this might be the night, whatever that meant! I felt a kind of pity for him! I told him there was a stable out back where the stable boy lives year-round with the cattle. I suppose last chance he’d put them up there for the night.

The second scene is set in a humble cottage in the foothills of the Judean Hills. It is the home of a shepherd Benjamine, and his wife, Naomi. 

 Benjamin is making ready to return to his shepherd’s responsibilities on the Judean hills. He has had a two-day reprieve from his tedious work of caring for the numerous flocks of Bartholomew, his master. Naomi is so very concerned about Benjamin, the love of her life. She looks at him now, and pity rushes into her glance! Her eyes grow misty at the thought of his being out there on the hills without the company he had at one time dreamt of having. Naomi felt that way ever since the family crisis, about which Benjamin rarely broke his silence.

Some believe that one’s destiny in life is somehow pre-determined. The old folks say that if a boy becomes a fisherman like his father or grandfather, it is because, before his birth, the sea laid claim to him, throwing a little salt spray into his soul! Benjamin chose to be a shepherd! His life’s dream was to have a herd of his own one day. One day he would share ownership and responsibility with his son. That goal was about to be a reality when a dreaded situation came to pass! He couldn’t pay the Roman taxes, and he watched his dream fade into a heart-wrenching spiral. He had no choice but to sell everything and eke out a bare existence in service to someone else. That someone is Bartholomew. There are twelve shepherds in Bartholomew’s employ.

Naomi moves towards him for their last embrace. She seems almost reluctant to break in upon his solemn reverie. Naomi knows well what is on his mind! She lays her head on his breast, and after a moment, sobs, “ O Benjamin, this is his birthday. He will be twenty years old today! O Mark, where are you? Benjamin’s chin quivers. His eyes fill with tears, and without another word, he leaves the house.

Mark is an only child! It was he that made Benjamin’s life worth living. All of Benjamin’s plans centred around Mark. When the farm failed, with it went all prospects for the future. Mark took his few belongings and left home. Rumour has it that Mark strayed far from the standards he had known, but no one knew for sure. For whatever reason, Benjamin and Naomi hear no word from him. Three years of silence now, and hopes are fading for their reunion.

Somewhere on the Judean hillside
The heavens are brilliant, with a million stars dancing as though commanded to contrast the dullness in Benjamin’s mental sky. When he reaches the grazing herd, the moon has dressed the whole hillside in a garment of glorious light. And then, just as Benjamin and his co-workers finish their rounds, the night bursts open with fantastic wonder. It is as though the curtain of the night rises, and with their naked eyes, they all stand face to face with the unfolding of the most beautiful pageant of the universe! One star appears as the director of this incredible symphony and summons the shepherds to fulfill their part in the most spectacular event that this world has ever experienced! 

  Benjamin is one of four shepherds chosen to engage in the wonders of the night. Under the watchful surveillance of the star, they shiver their way through the frosty night. Cold outside, still, warmed with the inner thought that the Great Creator of the universe is holding them in His arms.

 “ And they came with haste (to Bethlehem) and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby, lying in the manger.” 

 Only the dim lights from Heaven’s windows brighten the interior of the stable. Suddenly there is another light. Benjamin takes notice of it as it begins to move from a corner of the stable. This light is a lantern in the hands of someone who slowly moves towards the manager. Benjamin watches in wonder as the light draws nearer! There is something familiar in the light bearer’s gait as he kneels in adoring awe before the Baby. And then Benjamin realizes the most beautiful sight of his entire life!! The figure kneeling at the manger is Mark! Without speaking a word to the other shepherds, Benjamin hastens to the worshipper and kneels beside him. Benjamin whispers to him through his tears, “Happy birthday, Mark.” 

And the other shepherds said afterward they were sure they saw the baby smile!

                     Prayer To Follow This Meditation

O God, We are genuinely fascinated by all that takes us beyond the limits of human understanding. We pray for humility that we may know that all life’s mysteries do not find technology resolution. 

The tiny Baby, refugee, found in Bethlehem’s manger, is Your answer to the world’s dilemmas, O God. When we give sober and reflective thought to Your Gift, we are left speechless. Here is a mystery more significant than all others. How can Your chosen, ” tiny ” instrument” address not the secrets of earth alone, but instils the hope Heaven’s as well? This Baby, grown to Manhood, brings Your Heaven and earth together. Through Him, we will become transformed, in time, and we will make earth be, as it is in Heaven, in the fulfillment of Your blessed Will. 

 Father, this is the hour for the world to hear Your invitation,
” Let us go to Bethlehem and see those things that have come to pass.” But the world will not listen until the voices of those who have seen and who believe amplify it above the world’s distracting verbiage? 

Father, we kneel surrendered before the manger bed of a helpless Baby! How would such a one appearing as we to be dressed in physical weakness ever rise to the enormous complexities that life would rain down upon Him? It is the power of Your love that remains His driving force. Jesus’ Faith that You are never far from Him is the secret of His victory! Let Love eternal that produced this event, long ago, find one more place to reveal itself this night- in my heart.
And all for Your Love’s sake. Amen.

Hymn: Silent Night

Winchester Cathedral Choir – Silent Night – Bing video

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. The Biblical quotations are from the KJV.