Daily pages of reflection...for knowledge, understanding, to wisdom
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

Missions

September 2, 2017
Year 2, Day 245 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Benedetto Luti, 1715-20

It is vital to remember that the last command of Christ to the Apostles, and others listening in, that persons, once settling on their commitment to him, would disseminate (become verbal missionaries for) the Gospel.  They were to first live christianly, and then communicate to the world, the promise of God to life, both mortal and immortal.  His message related to a call for redemption which would be presently life changing for the penitent.  From that point converts were to live out the Christian faith they claimed for themselves.  In summary this context of life was in righteousness (right), as defined in Scripture.  In firm words, Jesus made clear that this exclusive message from God was to be made personal… Read more

Self-Realization

September 1, 2017
Year 2, Day 244 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

A person seeks to know his or her identity.  This includes one’s own participation in forming that identity. There is always some mystery about the matter, as there is in so much mystery that makes up the universe, beginning with the smallest meaningful factor of it.  We are either meaningful to the expanse of creation, or merely ciphers.  We like to believe that we are more than ciphers, and we are.  Scripture affirms our place – all implied in the phrase that we are made in the image of God.  We doubt that anything could beat that.  The animals, called dumb because they do not have speech that reflects ordered thought, are ciphers to the larger cosmos.  A few race… Read more

Meekness

August 31, 2017
Year 2, Day 243 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

Meekness is often confused with timidity, even shyness, perhaps naïve behavior.  It may be faked as a ruse for selfish purposes.  Charles Dickens used it effectively in this way in David Copperfield.  Herod faked it with the Magi, so promising to go to wherever they found the babe – so that he would go and worship him also.  He played a duplicity role when he had the babes of Bethlehem murdered so as to include the unidentified person noted by the Magi.  Humility is the larger term that includes meekness, but meekness has a cultural meaning with an attitude in it that is included in the clusters of Christian virtues.  It is defined as humble, mild, poor, lowly, afflicted, needy… Read more

Wanting To Want To

August 30, 2017
Year 2, Day 242 | No Comments
Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

Early in my church experience, I felt entertained by some of the quartet songs of Christian collegians, songs related to biblical scenes.  A favorite was the singing of Dry Bones, inspired by Ezekiel’s prophecy, chapter 37, in which the head bone connected to the neck bone – all the way down to the ankle bone connected to the foot bone.  Then the song moved back up to the head bone, and to the word of the Lord.  Another favorite was the Hornet Song that carried the line: He did not compel them to go ‘gainst their will, but he just made them willing to go.  This was  a humorous approach to one of the plagues, so onerous that no matter… Read more

Artistic Churches

August 29, 2017
Year 2, Day 241 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

A missionary reporting his ministry matter-of-factly, embellished the story of his work with a tribe of people living in the simplest communal situation – houses of grass, diets of roots and animal/fish, sparse clothing.  Many became Christians, and wanted a church as they discovered the biblical description of structures for worship.  They learned they could make boards by digging a trench and using the long saw brought in by the missionary with one person above and one below pulling the saw.  Hearing of the need, a church sent a small gas-powered saw to cut boards from the bountiful forest of trees.  The enthusiasm was extraordinary.  The people found that their faith grew as they built God’s house – to be… Read more

Encountering History

August 28, 2017
Year 2, Day 240 | No Comments
Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

An important reason for seeking Christian education is to investigate life contexts for meaning.  The overlap of many factors in the whole fabric of learning in any context is sometimes easy, sometimes difficult.  For example, language meanings and skills along with semantic issues are identified, presumably for all persons.  The rules of rhetoric hold a general unity for all persons or we can’t make sense to each other.  But all cultures do not buy into them.  When we go from culture to culture, the differences can be so great that accommodation often falls away.  Issues are left hanging.  They may be misjudged in exchanges, leading to tragic consequences.  Persons will specialize so to be most effective in what they want… Read more

Spiritual Jag

August 27, 2017
Year 2, Day 239 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

Jags negatively distract us and use up energy in nearly every field of human interest.  The Stock Market gets a jag, called a bubble, every now and then.  One, the housing bubble (overvalued) nearly did the country in during the late first decade of the new millennium.  Recently there was a gold jag running the price of gold from $300 to $500 to $1,700-$1,800 an ounce.  There is one forming on the technology side.  Apple Computer has doubled in a matter of months, and may not be finished.  Some tout it to go as high as $1,000 a share.  Facebook offered an I.P.O. on Friday at $38, and lost 15% in two business days, creating a loss to investors in… Read more

Higher Education

August 26, 2017
Year 2, Day 238 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

I completed high school in 1940, on the edge of America’s entry into World War II, a war already underway in Europe.  The Great Depression continued, until national ramping up military needs for products and manpower broke the long economic stalemate.  To go to college, was a dream of many serious students (and idealistic parents for their children), but the costs were daunting as we imagined them at the time – although a pittance compared to current standards.  Even in the contexts of differences in economic eras, the current cost is considerably higher to excess than it was during my years of formal education.  My mother was insistent that I take the College Prep program at the public high school… Read more

Inclusive Forgiveness

August 25, 2017
Year 2, Day 237 | No Comments

There is a general principle we fumble with that is quite practical in the world – that good is a major weapon in the defeat of evil.  Sounds like common sense in some interpretations, but it is more than that.  It is a principle that should guide our thought and action, but it often does not.  We tend to react or respond in the way we are approached.  A loud word gets a loud word back.  Bad treatment gets some form of bad treatment back.  Ill will is matched by ill will.  And, so the story goes.  In international affairs: if we are spied upon means you will be spied upon; if we are treated with arrogance means you will… Read more

Experiencing God

August 24, 2017
Year 2, Day 236 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

Each person must focus his/her own experience related to God.  This is aided by Scripture and prayer, by Christian ministers for the experiences witnessed and modeled by believers.  The world is interested in its societies, more than its individuals.  God is interested first in the individuals.  Societies follow.  Both God and mankind are interested in societies, but the matter of priority is vital.  Each person is responsible for self, but the interest and necessity for society means high regard for society, and how it functions.  The point here is that the first order is with the individual, the specific denominator of the created universe.  Because of that, the individual should not have a barrier in his approach to life, except… Read more

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