Just been to an evening service, in the comfort of my home.
Good to be reminded, though, that even if I’m not in a church building, I can still be in the Father’s house…
As another week starts up, may you feel Him close to you, and know that you are held safe, by the One Who is
faithful to the end,
extravagant,
forever!
Easter morning, and we’re off to a (virtual) service soon. There’ll be communion, and we will reflect on Jesus’ resurrection – so long ago, and yet echoing throughout the ages.
As a Christian, I believe many things that fit within the traditional Christian framework. I probably also believe many things that may not fit – there’s a lot on the periphery that’s been debated over the years, and perceptions of what scriptures mean can vary according to our understanding.
There’s one thing that we all can agree on, though –
Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!
It’s the basis of our faith, wherever we land on other issues.
Why? What happened then?
“9 For he is the complete fullness of deity living in human form. 10 And our own completeness is now found in him. We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us. He is the Head of every kingdom and authority in the universe!
11 Through our union with him we have experienced circumcision of heart. All of the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ, the Anointed One, has accomplished for us.
12 For we’ve been buried with him into his death. Our “baptism into death” also means we were raised with him when we believed in God’s resurrection power, the power that raised him from death’s realm. 13 This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins!
14 He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation.
15 Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!”
That’s from Colossians 2 🙂
…and here’s the beginning of the next chapter!
“Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honor, and authority! 2 Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.
3 Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ. 4 And as Christ himself is seen for who he really is, who you really are will also be revealed, for you are now one with him in his glory!”
And from Galatians 3 –
13-14″Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.”
In chaos, in trouble, in uncertainty, He is still in control.
And His Name is power!
The Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday can often feel like a waiting room – it’s not a day of commemoration, and the shops are open normal hours.
At the moment, it’s even more of an “in between” day. There’s nowhere really to go, and nothing much to do… Have you noticed that the world (at least round our way) seems so much quieter lately? Like the earth is holding its breath for a bit. Waiting to exhale when time starts again.
Here’s a snapshot of my day. Listening to some music, in the quiet of the morning. There’s even a heart in the clouds for me, which I didn’t notice until I took the photo!
The wind was picking up from time to time during the day, and the trees and grasses looked like they were dancing to an unheard song…
When I think about the first Easter, I realise the disciples didn’t know how it was going to turn out. They were caught in a breathless pause, grieving what they thought was a new hope in their lives, not yet understanding what was to come. Of course, we know now that there was a resurrection coming, but they didn’t. They met together, and tried to understand what they had missed…
This is our pause, our time to stop and wonder what comes next. It’s not easy; it’s not comfortable. We’re having to reassess what’s important, and decide what to do without. I don’t know what I can say to make things feel better, or to make sense of the unknowable.
All I know is – Sunday’s coming.
And the light will dawn again!
Another day entering in to worship – in our living room, but in the company of many. We had an early church service at 8.30am, then I logged on to an evening service at 5pm – I’m loving the feeling of connection I get from these online services.
In the meantime I was finishing some submissions for a couple of projects I’m participating in. The first was recording videos of a couple of choir parts for an online choir – it was originally a pub choir, but because of restrictions is now a couch choir. I had until 7pm tonight to submit, and managed to get them done this afternoon. They’re not great quality (my cough made it hard to hold notes or get any power into them) but I’m excited about being part of it!
There are quite a few videos of past collaborations on their Facebook page, but here’s my favourite at the moment – it makes me smile!
I also wrote an entry for Furious Fiction – every month there’s an email with prompts, and you have just over a weekend to write a 500 word story. I’ve only done a few, but I’ll keep on and get better as I go.
It’ll probably be an early night tonight. Last night I was kept awake by a fast moving, flying cockroach that seemed impossible to kill. Thankfully, it has been disposed of now.
Sleep will be sweeter knowing I’ve finished what I set out to do today!
Closures have meant our church services are not meeting at the moment, but we joined in with the online service. This morning was a chance to sit together and sing, and listen to God’s word. This afternoon I logged in to the service at a church we go to in the evenings… more worship – yay!
Because we were in our own lounge room we could have come in pyjamas, if we’d wanted 🙂 We had a cuppa, and I dipped in to a cup of chocolates my Sweet Bean got for me when he went to a service station down the road yesterday – he wanted a walk, and to get his own chocolate stash, so I thought I’d indulge!
I forgot to put it back in the fridge last night, so one of my freckles had eyes…
I enjoyed being comfortable in my own home… but most of all, I enjoyed meeting up with my Christian family – even if it’s just virtual!
In this time of coronavirus fear and “social distancing“, we are renegotiating contact with others… the basic handshake is avoided, and other greetings put in its place. For our church, as for other places of worship, that means using the Vulcan salute.
A good choice, I think!
Quite apart from the geek factor, the hand gesture is derived from a Jewish symbol, used during a priestly blessing. Leonard Nimoy (Spock in the original Star Trek) remembered seeing it as part of a service in the synagogue in his childhood, and when faced with coming up with a Vulcan greeting, modified what he had seen.
The original blessing is done with two hands, arms held out and hands touching to form the Hebrew letter “shin”, which stands for “Shaddai”, or “Almighty God”. In this form there are restrictions on who can perform the gesture and the accompanying blessing, but as the Vulcan salute is modified, it is available for anyone to use.
Tomorrow we’ll be telling each other to “Live long, and prosper”, to which the proper response is “Peace and long life”.
And we’ll be extending a blessing to each other as we do it!
I’ve been reading again!
Over the holidays I binged on cozy mysteries, so now it’s time for more educational and inspiring books (not that I’ll give up on my mysteries!). I have lots of books in my bookcases that I haven’t read, and I’m working my way through those.
Our library also has new books coming all the time – I can usually go in each week and find something I haven’t seen before.
I’ve just finished a book called “Bare”, by Susan Hyatt. It’s got a lot about weight loss, but coming from the perspective of loving yourself where you’re at, and finding out what you’re actually feeding when you binge eat (or over work, over exercise… add your particular excess here…) One section is about what to do with the hectoring voices in your head. There are a few different options; this is one of my favourites.
Another that I quite liked has to do with reacting to the rogue thought as a bouncer would –
(Scenario)
Thought – “You’re useless/ugly/horrible” etc…
Mental “bouncer” – “What!! You again! Trying to sneak past me – get out of here!”
What else have I been reading?
My devotional reading this morning lead me to John Donne’s Holy Sonnet XIV –
“Batter my heart, three person’d God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend,
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow mee,’and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new
I, like an usurpt towne, to’another due,
Labour to’admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv’d, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely’I love you,’and would be loved faine,
But am bethroth’d unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,’untie or breake that knot againe,
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you’enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.”
I haven’t read much of Donne. There are nineteen Holy Sonnets in all – take a look!
Here’s two songs to finish the day.
😀
Just the peace of a big cup of coffee, after assisting (again!) at a science experiment for Sweet Bean – the first time didn’t yield enough data. Both times triggered panic (so much else to do!), but we knuckled down and Got It Done.
Just been admiring my random succulent type plant outside… still growing away in the heat, retaining what water it can, and peacefully enduring.
Perhaps there’s a lesson in there somewhere…
a bit of creativity, a bit of eco consciousness, a bit of inspiration.... hopefully not a lot of pompousness and blathering :D
i'm not entirely sure what's going on here... let's travel along and see...
1000 Fields of Roses 