Hearing the Shepherds Voice

² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. (John 10:2-4, New King James Version)



 ¹ The LORD is my shepherd;
         I shall not want.
 ² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
         He leads me beside the still waters.
 ³ He restores my soul;
         He leads me in the paths of righteousness
         For His name’s sake.
         
 ⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
         I will fear no evil;
         For You are with me;
         Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
         
 ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
         You anoint my head with oil;
         My cup runs over.
 ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
         All the days of my life;
         And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
         Forever. (Psalm 23, New King James Version)

Idolatry

Do we still worship idols? The answer is yes, based on the fruits of idolatry! When we worship something we reflect that something in our lives. By worshipping the true God, we will eventually grow reflecting His true glory in our lives! If we worship idols that are false, we become as false as they are! (2 Kings 17:15)



 ¹⁶ So I tell you: Live by following the Spirit. Then you will not do what your sinful selves want.¹⁷ Our sinful selves want what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against our sinful selves. The two are against each other, so you cannot do just what you please.¹⁸ But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not under the law.

 ¹⁹ The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: being sexually unfaithful, not being pure, taking part in sexual sins,²⁰ worshiping gods, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people,²¹ feeling envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like these. I warn you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not inherit God's kingdom.²² But the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,²³ gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong.²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do.²⁵ We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.²⁶ We must not be proud or make trouble with each other or be jealous of each other. (Galatians 5:16-26, New Century Version)

Do we really determine our life?

²⁴ A man’s steps are of the LORD;
How then can a man understand his own way?
(Proverbs 20:24, New King James Version)

²⁴ The Lord decides what a person will do;
no one understands what his life is all about. (Proverbs 20:24, New Century Version)

Here is Proverbs 20:24 in two versions. Both imply humankind is at the mercy of God's will! Please comment below how you feel this verse speaks to the Truth of God! Or, if Christ is in us, then can we trust Him to lead us where He wills?

Is Your Church Appetizing?

Q: How do we judge A church to be doing God's will?
A: Signs and Wonders will be present!

⁴² And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. ⁴³ Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. ⁴⁴ Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, (Acts 2:42-44, New King James Version)



¹² Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. (2 Corinthians 12:12, New King James Version)

Seeing our Shadow on Candlemas

It is the middle of winter and all eyes are fixed on the ground hog. Will he see his shadow? It is also the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord commemorating the time Mary brought Jesus to the temple to dedicate Him as her first born and to purify herself. (Luke 2:22-40)

This day is often called Candlemas as it was once a time when the faithful brought their household candles to the priest for a blessing as a reminder that in the dark days of winter when candles were not taken for granted we should not take the true light of Christ for granted as He is the One who lightens our darkness. But more people on this cold winter day are wondering how much longer winter will be. Will the ground hog see his shadow?

We, too, have a shadow. It is that part of our soul we deny. More often than not, we see our shadow in others before we see it in ourselves. We call this projection. Christianity is not just a historical religion about a good man who did miracles and died on a cross. It is about Jesus in the here and now transforming our soul. He lightens our darkness. He helps us to see our shadow, that log in our eye that blinds us, so that we are grounded before we can ever attempt to remove what is only a speck in someone else's eye! Part of our interior journey as Christians is to love that part of ourselves we hate, our shadow.

How often have we heard someone criticize another with the words, "He's afraid of his own shadow."? There is some truth in being afraid of our own shadow. If we do not let Christ shine His light on our shadow, we will be in danger of letting that dark part of ourselves come out in unhealthy ways. Christ wants us to see what our loving Father sees. Only in this way can we be reconciled with all parts of ourselves. Our nighttime dreams often play this drama out!

By getting in touch with those parts of our soul we find unseemly, we can best let Jesus use us for His Kingdom. Christian social activists will point to Matthew 25:31-46 as a command from our Lord to serve the poor and incarcerated. There is no command in this text, only judgement! We are told by the King what we have already done or not done. By getting in touch with the parts of ourselves that we fear, the beggar, the criminal, the pathetic, can we see what Jesus already sees. It is only in this way can we see ourselves in others to be of any service to them. As we move toward wholeness, we can help others do the same. Jesus' light shines in our darkness. When we do not see the light, we may well ask Christ, "But, when did we see you naked, lonely, thirsty or in prison?"

Let Jesus shine the light on our shadow. When we do this, more often than not, someone won't be able to get our goat!

For more on the Shadow in psychology, go here http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_the_shadow

St. Brigid, February 1st

Credit for this biography goes to James Kiefer. For more of his hagiographs, go here http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/home.html

Bridget of Kildare, Abbess 1 February 523

Bridget (Brigid, Bride, Bridey) of Kildare was born around 450 into a Druid family, being the daughter of Dubhthach, court poet to King Loeghaire. At an early age, she decided to become a Christian, and she eventually took vows as a nun. Together with a group of other women, she established a nunnery at Kildare. She was later joined by a community of monks led by Conlaed. Kildare had formerly been a pagan shrine where a sacred fire was kept perpetually burning, and Bridget and her nuns, instead of stamping out the fire, kept it going but gave it a Christian interpretation. (This was in keeping with the general process whereby Druidism in Ireland gave way to Christianity with very little opposition, the Druids for the most part saying that their own beliefs were a partial and tentative insight into the nature of God, and that they recognized in Christianity what they had been looking for.) Bridget as an abbess participated in several Irish councils, and her influence on the policies of the Church in Ireland was considerable.

Many stories of her younger days deal with her generosity toward the needy. This aspect of her character has been the subject of a poem:

"The Giveaway" (from THE LOVE LETTERS OF PHYLLIS MCGINLEY, New York, Viking Press, 1957)


Saint Bridget was
A problem child.
Although a lass
Demure and mild,
And one who strove
To please her dad,
Saint Bridget drove
The family mad.
For here's the fault in Bridget lay:
She WOULD give everything away.

To any soul
Whose luck was out
She'd give her bowl
Of stirabout;
She'd give her shawl,
Divide her purse
With one or all.
And what was worse,
When she ran out of things to give
She'd borrow from a relative.

Her father's gold,
Her grandsire's dinner,
She'd hand to cold
and hungry sinner;
Give wine, give meat,
No matter whose;
Take from her feet
The very shoes,
And when her shoes had gone to others,
Fetch forth her sister's and her mother's.

She could not quit.
She had to share;
Gave bit by bit
The silverware,
The barnyard geese,
The parlor rug,
Her little
niece-'s christening mug,
Even her bed to those in want,
And then the mattress of her aunt.

An easy touch
For poor and lowly,
She gave so much
And grew so holy
That when she died
Of years and fame,
The countryside
Put on her name,
And still the Isles of Erin fidget
With generous girls named Bride or Bridget.

Well, one must love her.
Nonetheless,
In thinking of her
Givingness,
There's no denial
She must have been
A sort of trial
Unto her kin.
The moral, too, seems rather quaint.
WHO had the patience of a saint,
From evidence presented here?
Saint Bridget? Or her near and dear?

It is reported of Francis of Assisi that as a young man he had a dream in which God said to him, "Francis, repair my church." He took this to refer to a church building near Assisi which was in need of repair, and he sold a bale of silk from his father's warehouse to obtain building materials. His father was furious. Francis had not asked for permission: he simply took it for granted that his father would wish to contribute to such a worthy cause. It is said of Bridget that as a young girl she made similar assumptions about her family.

There is a problem here. On the one hand, it can be argued that if our family members do not choose to make sacrifices for God we have no right to make that choice for them. Some time ago, if I remember aright, one listmember wrote in considerable bitterness about a childhood that had been blighted by the decision of the father that it would be nice if the whole family lived in Christian Poverty. (Said listmember found no spiritual blessings in the experience, and saw no sign that anyone else did, emphatically including said father.)

On the other hand, I far more frequently hear Christians argue that their sacred duty to keep everything nice for their spouses and children prevents them, not only from going as missionaries to distant shores, but also from volunteering even quite moderate amounts of their time and money for worthy causes down the block. (Not that all unattached Christians are blameless in this regard.) You will note that Saint Paul, writing to the Corinthians, told them that marriage, while instituted of God and a sign of the union between Christ and His Church, was not without its dangers to the spiritual life of the Christian. But the danger he saw had nothing to do with sex. He was concerned instead that the married are tempted to overvalue security, to feel that they cannot afford, for their families' sakes, to take chances. And since he expected Christians to be facing persecution soon, he saw this as a matter of urgency.

So, as I said, there is a problem here. I have no final answer to give, but commend it to your consideration.

Collect of the Day

Everliving God, we rejoice today in the fellowship of your blessed servant Brigid, and we give you thanks for her life of devoted service. Inspire us with life and light, and give us perseverance to serve you all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, world without end. Amen

In the Belly of the Fish

God's will will be done! We all know the story of Jonah. There was a man sent by God to call the people of Ninevah to repentance and worship of the one true God of Israel! He did not want to go. So he heads in the other direction. A storm arises, he accepts responsibility for God's anger and is thrown overboard. But he is saved by a big fish! This act of being swallowed up gives him time to pray. In the darkness he looks to God who has been returning Jonah back to Ninevah. Once ashore he walks for a day and his slight words bring about the conversion of this mighty city.

Jonah's prayer in the belly of the beast is one of thanksgiving for being kept from drowning. The fish was God's instrument of salvation, both for Jonah to prevent him from dying and for the people of Ninevah to prevent them from eternal death!

So the next time we are in darkness, wondering where we are, look to God and give thanks for His providence. After all, He knows where He is going!

 ¹ While Jonah was inside the fish, he prayed to the Lord his God and said,
 ² "When I was in danger,
       I called to the Lord,
       and he answered me.
    I was about to die,
       so I cried to you,
       and you heard my voice.
 ³ You threw me into the sea,
       down, down into the deep sea.
    The water was all around me,
       and your powerful waves flowed over me.
 ⁴ I said, 'I was driven out of your presence,
       but I hope to see your Holy Temple again.'
 ⁵ The waters of the sea closed around my throat.
       The deep sea was all around me;
       seaweed was wrapped around my head.
 ⁶ When I went down to where the mountains of the sea start to rise,
       I thought I was locked in this prison forever,
    but you saved me from the pit of death,
       Lord my God.

 ⁷ "When my life had almost gone,
       I remembered the Lord.
    I prayed to you,
       and you heard my prayers in your Holy Temple.

 ⁸ "People who worship useless idols
       give up their loyalty to you.
 ⁹ But I will praise and thank you
       while I give sacrifices to you,
       and I will keep my promises to you.
    Salvation comes from the Lord!"

 ¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and the fish threw up Jonah onto the dry land. (Jonah 2, New Century Version)