tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85337423225974571292024-03-21T21:10:32.793-07:00Thoughts in Passingjndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-76484812886318019622020-01-01T14:08:00.001-08:002020-01-01T14:15:58.295-08:00From my friend, Steve WestSteve West is a United Methodist pastor who is a genuine Christ-follower. What follows is a post from his blog that I find most compelling:<br />
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<a href="http://stevewestsmusings.blogspot.com/2019/12/accepting-our-sinfulness-in-time-of.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #660000;">Accepting our Sinfulness in a Time of Hypocrisy</span></a></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkumuYjs0SnOf34Mi_OhtuEZgjT3OQ2hqQ5zzBeM8c_nJQMfGmeRdmn2yhOyX8KtnwHh9ksfqYuKzNXT826kFbfAm9C-0XRuDuAxUJzqKi_p0ZyHQSy3zY12rSWPi5nnROR2Uv7wuYu7E/s1600/bonhoeffer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #d6d700; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkumuYjs0SnOf34Mi_OhtuEZgjT3OQ2hqQ5zzBeM8c_nJQMfGmeRdmn2yhOyX8KtnwHh9ksfqYuKzNXT826kFbfAm9C-0XRuDuAxUJzqKi_p0ZyHQSy3zY12rSWPi5nnROR2Uv7wuYu7E/s320/bonhoeffer.jpg" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="228" /></a></div>
<span style="color: blue;">By my desk I keep the devotional book "A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer," which my daughter thoughtfully gave me for Christmas in 2007. I've never been regimented about doing one devotional each day, but from time to time I plunge in for a number of weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Today, I arrived at this one. It resonates with me as I think about the new year, and ponder the resolution rekindled in me to live in the "wonders of his love" as a person of great compassion for others.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">It is so imperative during the massive struggles of Christ and culture in North America today that we do this. I'd like to share this quote with you as we all seek a faith that is more real, relevant, and relational in the midst of "cushy Christianity" and hypocrisy that seems so exposed right now by the winds of change.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><br /></b><b>"The Pious Community"</b></span><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">"Confess your sins to one another" (James 5:16). Those who remain alone with their evil are left utterly alone. It is possible that Christians may remain lonely in spite of daily worship together, prayer together, and all their community through service - that the final breakthrough to community does not occur precisely because they enjoy community with one another as pious believers, but not with one another as those lacking piety, as sinners. For the pious community permits no one to be a sinner. Hence all have to conceal their sins from themselves and from the community. We are not allowed to be sinners. Many Christians would be unimaginably horrified if a real sinner were suddenly to turn up among the pious. So we remain alone in our sin, trapped in lies and hypocrisy, for we are in fact sinners."</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Dietrich Bonhoeffer, <i>Life Together</i>, p. 108.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">May you have more than a "happy" new year. May it be a time to be real with yourself, with God, and with your Christian community. With Thomas Merton, I have no idea where I'm going or how I'm going to get there, but I trust that my desire to please God does in fact please God. Yet I do know this. We are here by the grace of God, not by our own perfectionism. The only perfection I strive for is perfection in love.</span></div>
jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-16432216039105578222017-02-26T13:37:00.001-08:002017-02-26T13:37:53.589-08:00The Promise of Youth<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today the youth led our worship service at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church. I mean the WHOLE service! Our youth often participate in worship events at our church, reading Scripture, bringing special music, and ushering, but today they were in charge of everything. Even the sermon! Milligan Burroughs, a Vestavia Hills High School senior, delivered the message with all the poise and composure of a more practiced preacher. And a worthwhile sermon it was, pertinent and profound.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Milligan preached on the well-known text in 1 Samuel chapter 3 where young Samuel, asleep in the temple, hears God calling him in the night, but thinks it is the prophet, Eli. Three times Samuel leaves his bed and goes to Eli's room in response to the voice he hears. After the third time, Eli realizes it is God calling so he tells Samuel to return to his bed and when he hears the voice to respond by saying, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have heard quite a few sermons based on this text over the years, but never with the emphasis Milligan brought. She asked us to imitate Eli! Every previous message I've heard using this Scripture, has urged the congregation to imitate Samuel: Listen for God to speak to you and when he does, answer that you are attentive and receptive to his words. And Milligan didn't neglect that aspect of the text, but additionally, she urged us to take on the mentoring role for other believers--not just our young people, but even for our peers. As she pointed out, Samuel might not have recognized God's call to him had Eli not pointed him in the right direction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What makes this affirmation of Eli's role unusual is that Eli had become displeasing to God in the way he administered the temple. He had allowed his sons to assist when the people brought animals for sacrifice, and they would demand of the one offering the sacrifice to give the choicest part of the meat to them rather than allowing it to be burned for God. They refused Eli's attempt to restrain them and engaged in other sinful activities as well. When God spoke to Samuel in the night, God told Samuel He was about to bring judgment on Eli and his sons because of their wickedness. Consequently, Eli comes out of the story without praise or commendation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Milligan's unique approach to the text, however, recognized that Eli also had a positive role: He pointed Samuel to God and encouraged him to listen and heed God's instruction. In that way, even though Eli's time of service was coming to an end, God still used him to affirm God's calling of Samuel. Milligan applied that lesson to her own journey and expressed appreciation for her family, friends, and church family who are encouraging her as she seeks to discern and heed God's call in her life. And then, she urged us to follow Eli's example in our relationships with each other as well as with our youth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A simple message, yet profound. I came away not only resolved to look around for people whom I might help listen to God, but also reminded that God sees us as more than the worst things we have done. Even though Eli had displeased God, God had not forgotten the years of Eli's faithful service. God allowed Eli to be His instrument in helping Samuel grow into the new role and responsibility God had for him. I hope I remember this lesson when I may be too quick to surmise that someone can't be of use to God because I see them doing things displeasing to Him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thank you, Milligan, for a thoughtful and stimulating engagement with God's Word this morning. And let me take this opportunity to affirm the gifts I see in you and encourage you to keep on listening as God calls your name.</span>jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-79979481795374531902017-02-10T12:56:00.001-08:002017-02-10T13:01:19.982-08:00Black History Month, the Civil War, and ReconstructionMy knowledge of Black History is woefully limited, although I know much more than I am comfortable with. I was a teenager when Birmingham was making a name for itself during the Civil Rights demonstrations of the 1960s, and I ought to have known more about what was happening. What little bit I knew of those events at the time of their happening, however, came by way of newspapers and television news programs because I lived in a small town relatively unaffected by city happenings.<br />
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My knowledge of the Civl War is a bit deeper because we studied it in school. But my knowledge of the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War is more limited than that of either the war or the demonstrations. Thanks to a lecture I heard last year at the Hoover Public Library, delivered by Dr. John Mayfield of Samford University's History Department, I've begun a process of trying to rectify that a bit.<br />
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There are so many post-war issues I had never even considered such as the small and limited federal government of that time, which had no provision for re-building destroyed rail lines, for sustaining the lives of those who had lost home and property during the War, for re-assimilating Confederate soldiers into the political life of the nation, for re-establishing banking and commercial enterprises, and for so many other practical issues we take for granted as functions of the federal government today.<br />
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Philosophically, I lean toward less government rather than more, but this small introduction to the practical realities of trying to reconstruct the South, has made me much more mindful of how fortunate we are to have a central government that concerns itself with recovery from natural disasters, with protection and sustenance of its citizens in times of hardship and distress, with provision of free public education, etc.<br />
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Dr. Mayfield's recommended reading for his lectures was Stephen Ash's <i>A Year in the South, 1865</i>, which is on my near-term reading list. I've added to that Tanner Colby's <i style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some of My Best Friends Are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, thanks to a knowledgeable friend's recommendation. I missed last year's airing on PBS of the documentary, <i>Slavery by Another Name, </i>which I'm told gave vivid testimony to the inhumane excesses of the Reconstruction Era here in Birmingham that continued the obscene devaluation of Black Americans. That's on my near-term watching list, if I can bear it.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sometimes I feel so ignorant of local history, even history that I lived through. Sometimes it is history I wish I didn't know, that I wish didn't happen, because it is so gruesome and disturbing to confront. Still, I need to know and I am grateful for public libraries that sponsor informative lectures, for authors who research and write enlightening books, and for Alabama Public Television that provides educational programming to help me overcome what is lacking in my education. So much in life for which to be grateful. Such powerful testimony to why humankind needs a Savior.</span>jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-82386241178334625502016-03-31T14:57:00.000-07:002016-04-07T20:46:02.225-07:00Daring to Speak for God<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8533742322597457129" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FINALLY, my new book is ready to meet its reading audience. I am so grateful to the friends who have expressed interest in this project and their desire to read it. My prayer is that it will inspire you to greater depths in your relationship with God and sensitize you to the work of God's Holy Spirit in your life. I assure you God's Spirit inspired the writing and I trust that same Spirit will guide your reading.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BrqHyWobrvwpzJZjlUNcghxVc72nD7f4Xj5cpKCduj8Yck4saPxDds9a9cjjaS__P2UGbFJj5G_XAaFSa9F4OR02HimQVpbxptn1AQwKZOGkvHLwt3jLOqbVod1iV0tmICCKE0MIw-g/s1600/Front+Cover+Exterior+File.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BrqHyWobrvwpzJZjlUNcghxVc72nD7f4Xj5cpKCduj8Yck4saPxDds9a9cjjaS__P2UGbFJj5G_XAaFSa9F4OR02HimQVpbxptn1AQwKZOGkvHLwt3jLOqbVod1iV0tmICCKE0MIw-g/s400/Front+Cover+Exterior+File.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">T<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he book is available from <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the publisher: www.parsonsporch.com or from Amazon. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I would be most happy to hear from you with your comments, positive or negative, after you read it. If you find it helpful, you could help me by telling others about it and even writing a <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">short review on Amazon. Thank you in advance.</span></span></span></span> </span><br />
<br />jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-37871974537449120502015-05-10T13:37:00.000-07:002015-05-10T13:40:42.054-07:00Winning Entry in Mother's Day Writing ContestThe website "A Place for Mom" sponsored a writing contest asking for poems, essays, etc. of less than 500 words telling about your mother. My entry was chosen as one of the winners, and the site is supposed to be posting one winning entry every day during the month of May. However, as of today, only 4 entries have been posted. Several people have asked to read mine, so I'm posting it here:<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">About My Mother</span></b></div>
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My mother was the heart of our home, but I didn’t always
know that, especially when I was young. As the only girl among three brothers,
I was “my daddy’s darling” and he surely thought “I was sweet.” He indulged me
in ways Mother didn’t, and so I doted on him.</div>
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Mother never showed resentment of my preference for Dad, knowing
how my childish devotion pleased him. By the time I reached my mid-teens,
however, I had grown to appreciate my mother much more. She and I easily became
friends as my need for parental oversight diminished, and we enjoyed doing
things together—shopping, visiting friends, cooking and sewing.</div>
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One of the traits I cherished most about my mother was the
joy she found in her children. I remember when a woman we knew showed up at a
social affair wearing a diamond necklace and earrings, in addition to her large
diamond rings, Mother commented to a friend, “My children are my diamonds.” And
we children always knew if one of us was coming or going from home, Mother
would be standing in the front door or on the porch to welcome us or wave
goodbye.</div>
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As I grew and matured, I truly came to realize that Mother
was the hub around which our family revolved. She kept in touch with each
child, wherever we were, and kept each of us informed about the happenings in
our siblings’ lives as well as in hers and Dad’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day when I was spending the weekend with
Mother and Dad at their place on the river, I sat down beside Mother on the
couch, put my arm around her and asked, “What is one special thing I could do
for you? I would like to give you a special gift that would always be a
reminder to you of my love.” Mother took my hand and said, “I can’t think of
anything I want that I don’t have. I know you love me, and if I ever need you,
all I have to do is call.” </div>
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Some weeks later, Mother told me that she and Dad were going
to the river that weekend so he could work on his daddy’s old cotton house. She
said, “I don’t know what he’s going to use it for, but it gives him something
to do and a reason to get up in the morning.” That prompted me to ask, “What
about you, Momma? What sort of unfulfilled dreams or wishes do you have?” She
said, “I can’t think of anything. You children are all grown and healthy and you
all know the Lord. I feel like my work is finished.”</div>
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That very weekend, on a gloriously beautiful Saturday in
April, as Mother helped Dad lift a board in the old cotton house, she had a
massive heart attack and died. It’s now been twenty-four years since that April
day, and I still miss her. Scarcely a day goes by that I don't want to call and talk with my mother. </div>
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jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-59926846118166104112014-07-20T19:12:00.000-07:002014-09-12T14:27:25.362-07:00The Sacred Year<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I found Michael Yankoski's book, <i>The Sacred Year,</i> profound and transformative! I have read many books on spirituality and have taught courses on spiritual formation in seminary, retreats, and churches, and this book is one of the best I have encountered from a modern writer. Michael spent a year engaging some of the ancient spiritual practices, such as silence, solitude, simplicity, confession, and attentiveness. He wrestles with their meaning, struggling to understand their purpose, and ultimately embraces them as essentially formative for his spiritual life. He devotes a separate chapter to each discipline and describes his initial indifference or ignorance, his journey of discovery, and the impact of the practice on his own formation as he undertakes to experience it. With each chapter, he builds on the previous one, so that the cumulative effect of the book is to encompass the entirety of life, both inward and outward, in a new and more meaningful kind of existence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was particularly touched by the idea of writing <i>gratigraphs</i>, letters of appreciation to people who have blessed our lives, from his chapter on gratitude. When I was in high school, my dad encouraged me to write letters of appreciation to certain teachers around Thanksgiving time, and they were well received. However, in recent years I have become lax about writing and tried to express verbally such appreciation to people in my life. Just as Michael discovered, I learned that people often feel embarrassed or self-conscious with verbal expressions. Writing a letter allows the recipient to read it privately, and re-read it over the years, savoring the knowledge of having made a difference in our lives. Now that even a simple "thank-you" note is rarely written, a <i>gratigraph</i> can bless our friends over and over.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another area Michael explores where I need work is creation care. I know so much more than I do about this issue. Just since reading this book, I find it impossible to ignore an electrical device I see plugged in that is not being used. I feel compelled to unplug it and end the phantom energy drain. I realize this is such a small thing, but having had my consciousness raised by Michael's convicting words, I'm striving to become more responsible toward creation and my fellow creatures in other ways as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I can't think of anyone who couldn't benefit from reading this book and engaging with the topics Michael explores. Certainly, most committed Christians will find this book engaging, disruptive of complacency, and challenging to the status quo of much contemporary western Christianity. I rarely re-read books, but I have already begun a second reading of this one. I have shared about it on Facebook and Twitter, recommended it to others, and ordered extra copies as gifts for friends. It will remain on my "Re-read Often" list. I have found it compelling, persuasive, and life-changing. Thank you, Michael Yankoski, for blessing my life by sharing what God taught you through your sacred year. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(I received an advance copy to read through Net Galley.)</span>jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-55522739811056201162013-06-16T14:34:00.000-07:002013-06-16T14:34:55.801-07:00"Who is this Jesus?"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today's Gospel reading in the Common Lectionary is from Luke 7:36-8:3. The finest insight I've ever read or heard about this text was written by Kayla McClurg, who writes for Inward/Outward, a project of The Church of the Savior in Washington, DC. I share it here because it's a message about Jesus Christ I think everyone needs to hear, whether Christian or not. The italics are mine.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: large;"><u>To Love Well</u></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;"><a href="http://inwardoutward.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=838944ee48d7a9d35dcce6d60&id=dcd33e0b8c&e=2ed5738392" style="word-wrap: break-word !important;">For Sunday, June 16, 2013</a> – Luke 7:36-8:3</span><br />
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Immediate compassionate response trumps premeditated politeness. The host was thoughtful, no doubt, well-meaning and polite, curious about Jesus, but from a bit of a distance. The ‘sinning city woman’ knew nothing of distance. She was all-out passion. If the host was a small breeze, she was a blast of wind, a tangle of tears and kisses and hair. Intimate. You might say, inappropriate.<br />
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The host saw the unfolding action as opportunity to judge; Jesus simply received. Self-love deep enough, secure enough, makes other-love possible. The host had not enough inner resources for such loving attention as this. The dried up heart confuses rules and regulations for real caring, judgment for love. Even the ultimate words of love–”you are forgiven”–are misconstrued. “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” the guests ask among themselves. <i><b style="background-color: yellow;">Why would they not ask, “Who is this, who loves so fully?”</b></i><br />
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To love well is not to follow a set of rules for loving well. To love well is to follow the tug of a thread that draws us toward this one who loves. The thread takes us where he is, this one who captures our heart. The woman bringing all she had did not premeditate how she could make a scene and disrupt Simon’s dinner party. She herself surely did not yet know how disruptive real love can be. She simply followed the thread.</div>
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Love beckoned. What could she do but respond?<br />
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By: <a href="http://inwardoutward.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=838944ee48d7a9d35dcce6d60&id=a41c188fb1&e=2ed5738392" rel="tag" style="word-wrap: break-word !important;">Kayla McClurg</a></div>
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Season and Scripture: <a href="http://inwardoutward.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=838944ee48d7a9d35dcce6d60&id=36bd85cea2&e=2ed5738392" rel="tag" style="word-wrap: break-word !important;">Luke</a>, <a href="http://inwardoutward.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=838944ee48d7a9d35dcce6d60&id=da7f277c00&e=2ed5738392" rel="tag" style="word-wrap: break-word !important;">Ordinary Time C</a></div>
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<br />jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-60862916514886654762013-02-17T13:17:00.000-08:002013-02-17T13:17:15.926-08:00Quotations I Like<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” Ralph Waldo Emerson</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> “The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore – on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mild,’ and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.” Dorothy Sayers</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time. And it makes our life programs new and overcoming. We need not get frantic. He [Christ] is at the Helm. And when our little day is done we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well.” Thomas Kelly</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-37429019108726174162013-02-01T14:00:00.000-08:002016-02-05T19:11:22.922-08:00Incredible Christians<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />I've been teaching a Wednesday night Bible study on 2 Corinthians at my church, Vestavia Hills Baptist. In Chapter 6, verses 8-10, Paul lists a wonderful series of contrasts that describe his ministry:<br /><br /> We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.<br /><br /> In studying those particular verses, I found the following excerpt from A. W. Tozer, in his book That Incredible Christian (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1978, p. 11):<br /><br /> A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for one whom he has never seen; talks familiarly every day to someone he cannot see; expects to go to heaven on the virtue of another; empties himself in order to be full; admits he is wrong so he can be declared right; goes down in order to get up; is strongest when he is weakest; richest when he is poorest; and happiest when he feels the worst. He dies so he can live; forsakes in order to have; gives away so he can keep; sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passes knowledge. The man who has met God is not looking for anything; he has found it. He is not searching for light, for upon him the light has already shined. His certainty may seem bigoted, but his assurance is that of one who knows by experience. His religion is not hearsay. He is not a copy, not a facsimile. He is an original from the hand of the Holy Spirit.<br /><br /> I consider that paragraph some profound words to ponder.</span><span class="text 2Cor-6-10" style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-48974547660596714422013-01-17T14:34:00.004-08:002013-01-17T14:34:50.272-08:00Introversion/ExtroversionI just recently finished reading Susan Cain's book, <i>Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking</i>. Have any of my readers read it? Based on my experience as an introvert, I would say her findings are valid. I was blessed to have parents who didn't push me to be anyone other than who I was, so my love affair with books and reading was never a problem. I was also fortunate to be able to make friends easily, and since I only needed one or two at a time, I didn't feel marginalized by my peer group. I will say, however, that my peer group was always relatively small. I also think when I was growing up the "extrovert ideal" hadn't come to full power in our culture. My heart goes out to introverted children in today's world.<br />
This book is worth reading for both introverts and extroverts as Cain not only affirms the value and power of introverts, but she gives wise counsel on how the two groups can relate effectively with each other, whether in school, the workplace, or in the family. Parents, especially I think, should read this book to understand your children's temperaments and how they interact with your own. You will also be able to help your child relate better in their school and social groups as well as learn to accept and value their own temperament and respect the opposite one. I'd also say it's a must-read for engaged or married couples who want to understand better the person they love and with whom they hope to live happily ever after.jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-13371921039430804982013-01-06T17:54:00.000-08:002013-01-17T15:15:27.393-08:00Epiphany Sunday<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Hidden God Revealed</span></h1>
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<span class="date time published" style="display: block; left: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; top: 4px; width: 42px;" title="2013-01-06T00:01:35-0500"><span class="day" style="display: block; height: 29px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: 42px;"><br /></span><span class="day" style="display: block; height: 29px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: 42px;"><br /></span><span class="day" style="display: block; height: 29px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: 42px;"><br /></span><span class="month" style="display: block; font-style: italic; height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: 42px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em>by</em> <span class="author vcard"><span class="fn"><a class="fn n" href="http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/author/chaplain-mike" rel="author" style="text-decoration: none;" title="Chaplain Mike">Chaplain Mike</a></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/the-hidden-god-revealed/magi-bassano" rel="attachment wp-att-37808" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="magi bassano" class=" wp-image-37808" height="432" src="http://www.internetmonk.com/wp-content/uploads/magi-bassano.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="554" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Adoration of the Magi, Bassano</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em>Truly, you are a God who hides himself,</em><br /><em>O God of Israel, the Savior.</em> (Isa. 45:15)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em>No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.</em></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> (John 1:18)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I love the posture and the expression on the face of the kneeling wise man in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacopo_Bassano" style="text-decoration: none;">Jacopo Bassano’s</a> painting, <em>“The Three Magi”</em> (c. 1562) above. His look of utter incredulity as he leans in to get a closer look at the baby Jesus in his Mother’s arms captures the essence of Epiphany. The God who hides himself has made himself known, but in such a strange way! How can it possibly be?</span></div>
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<em style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;</em><br />
<em><em>heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.</em></em><br />
<em><em>In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed</em></em><br />
<em><em>the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.</em></em></div>
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<small style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">(Christina Rosetti,<em> “In the Bleak Midwinter”</em>)</span></small></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I borrowed this post from The Internet Monk web site. Totally on the mark for Epiphany Sunday.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> In the calendar of the Christian year, Epiphany</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> celebrates the revelation of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">God the Son</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> as a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">human being</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Jesus Christ</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">. On this day Christians commemorate the visitation of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Magi</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"> to the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Baby Jesus, traditionally associated with Jesus' manifestation to the Gentiles. Epiphany = revelation. </span></span></div>
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jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-64009059499884033572013-01-05T18:22:00.000-08:002013-01-05T18:22:34.292-08:00New Year's Resolutions<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I've already expressed my thoughts about making New Year's Resolutions, but I found some good advice from Jayne Davis, so I'm sharing it for the general good benefit of those who do make them. Actually, it's good advice for life, so I hope you will find it useful.</span></div>
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<b>Do’s & Don’ts for Spiritual New Year’s Resolutions</b></div>
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<b>DON’T</b> create a new legal system for yourself. While all habits require discipline, checking off the new box on your ‘To Do’ list is not your main goal.</div>
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<b>DO</b> keep an eye on the big picture. Spiritual Practices - Prayer, Reading the Bible, Journaling – are important aspects of the Christian life but they are not ends in themselves; they are means to drawing closer to God, to relying on God, to hearing God. </div>
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<b>DON’T</b> measure the wrong things. It doesn’t matter how many matches you’ve lit if your goal is to start a campfire.</div>
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<b>DO</b> pay attention to becoming more Christlike. What spiritual practice will help the fruit of the Spirit to flourish in your life? Or help you to love God and others more? Or control your tongue?</div>
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<b>DON’T</b> try to mimic someone’s else’s spiritual habits. We can learn a lot from others, but we are all different people with different personalities and lifestyles. Just because someone whose spiritual walk you admire prays daily at 4am for two hours doesn’t mean that is what you need to do.</div>
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<b>DO</b> ask God what he wants. Where is God at work in your life? Where is your life a mess? Chances are, that’s where God wants to meet you (and where you least want to be met). “Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.”</div>
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<b>DON’T</b> unload the whole truck. You are not a contestant on Paul’s Extreme Spiritual Makeover. This is a lifelong journey. </div>
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<b>DO</b> be specific about taking one step. (Remember S.M.A.R.T. goals?) Trust me, you can take another step later this year. God is not picky about the January 1 date. It is better to actually build one small transforming habit than to have a long list of great ideas that never happen.</div>
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<b>DON’T</b> go it alone. If this were easy, you wouldn’t be having this same conversation with yourself about resolutions that you had last year.</div>
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<b>DO</b> find a prayer/accountability partner. We all need a Barnabas, an encourager; someone with whom we can be honest and who will challenge us to persevere. We also need to be that person for someone else.</div>
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In the end, this is not about you. This is about offering your life as a living sacrifice to God.</div>
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“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.” Romans 12:1 (The Message)</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #221e1f; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Created by </span><a href="http://abpnews.com/blog/author/jaynedavis/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #cd7e01; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Jayne Davis</a>, <span style="background-color: white; color: #221e1f; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #221e1f; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">minister of spiritual formation at First Baptist Church in Wilmington, N.C.</span></div>
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jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-22436506469246381142013-01-02T14:24:00.000-08:002013-01-02T14:24:04.582-08:00Daily Wisdom from an Anonymous Author<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><b>On This Day</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Mend a quarrel. Search out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion, and replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share a treasure. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in a word or deed.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br />Keep a promise. Find the time. Put aside a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong. Try to understand. Avoid envy. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Appreciate, be kind, be gentle. Laugh a little more.<br /><br />Deserve confidence. Take up arms against malice. Decry complacency. Express your gratitude. Worship your God. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love. Speak it again. Speak it still again. Speak it still once again.</span>jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-9519506910481795602013-01-01T08:29:00.000-08:002013-01-04T18:06:02.646-08:00More Blessings of 2012A blessing of a completely different nature was the marriage of Michaela Bundon and Jason Odom. They are dear friends and former students. They are gentle souls and faithful Christians whose lives inspire me and bring me joy. Their wedding ceremony was a profoundly worshipful service of praise and thanksgiving to the God whom they love and serve, and who brought them together. I look forward to seeing how God will continue to use them in his service as the years go by.<br />
Two financial blessings came my way in 2012: the sale of my rental house and the re-finance of my present home. In both cases, God was clearly at work through people I didn't know or knew only through email contact.<br />
I made some new friends last year for whom I am immensely grateful. One in particular, Brian Wood, shared with me from his garden, as well as from his life. My gifts to him were prayers and friendly counsel. I am always blessed by friends who ask me to pray for them. To me, it offers to share in the aspects of their lives that matter most to them.<br />
2012 also brought opportunities to deepen existing friendships. Some of the greatest riches of my life are my friendships and I treasure them all. Some friends are struggling with physical limitations brought on by illness or injury. I have rejoiced with them in every victory and suffered with them through every setback. Some friends have experienced the transition of loved ones from this life to heavenly life, and I have mourned with them. Other friends have received great blessings of their own. My friend, Noel Forlini, got to teach a summer Hebrew course at Beeson Divinity School, and is now teaching a couple of courses at Judson College in Marion, AL, while studying for her Ph.D. comprehensive exams. Her schedule is full, but what wonderful opportunities for her to develop her teaching skills and to be able to stay in Alabama vs. enduring another year of exile in New Jersey. :-)<br />
There are many, many more blessings to recount, and I will add them to this list as time goes by. For now, these are sufficient for a New Year's Day reflection.jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-6703916378581865832013-01-01T07:54:00.001-08:002013-01-01T07:56:59.771-08:00BlessingsOne of the things I always try to do at the beginning of a new year is to look back over the previous year with an eye toward the blessings that stand out as markers on my life's journey. I am aware that every day is loaded with blessings, many of which I am likely blind to, but some blessings come with such power and impact they become etched into memory for all time.<br />
One of the greatest blessings of 2012 for me was re-connection with Nancy Norton. Nancy and her husband, John, served as missionaries to Japan for thirty years, or more, but just about a year ago, while they were still in Japan, Nancy was diagnosed with cancer (uterine, I think). As a continuation of her witness to the Japanese people, she remained in Japan to receive treatment. However, after surgery and a few months of chemotherapy, the cancer was not responding to treatment. Nancy and John left Japan and returned to Birmingham where Nancy began treatment at UAB. She fought a valiant fight to conquer the cancer, but ultimately, it won the battle for her physical life, but of course, she lives on in heaven because she knew Jesus as her personal Savior and Lord.<br />
Throughout the year Nancy (and sometimes John, or one of her sons) posted updates on her Caring Bridge site. Her faith and testimony during this time came through eloquently in her posts. She was a beautiful human being, outwardly and inwardly. I met Nancy in 1992 when she was a student in my Biblical Greek class, and we became friends. While we didn't correspond regularly, our mutual affection was a constant, and my life was deeply touched by her journey through this last year of her life. Only those who love deeply can suffer deeply, and I have suffered in my heart and spirit as Nancy struggled, but I wouldn't take anything for the joy of having known her and been blessed by her life. I did honor her final request that those who loved her would "sing her to heaven", and I find peace in knowing that she is with the Lord she loved and served so faithfully. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>Rest eternal grant to</i> </span><em class="response" style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">her</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">, O Lord: </span><em class="response" style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">And let light perpetual shine upon her.</em><br />
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<br />jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8533742322597457129.post-45496049556070511932012-12-31T17:43:00.002-08:002013-01-01T07:56:52.499-08:00Beginning a New YearAccording to the calendar, it is New Year's Eve, December 31, 2012. I am not given to making New Year's resolutions, having found from previous experience that I make them only to break them. My dad used to have a saying, "Do it, and then talk about it." He used that stinger whenever one of us children (or others) set in to boast about something we were <i>going to do. </i>Dad had apparently seen too much prognostication that never became reality. So, while I have some goals in mind for the new year, I'm not going to publish them--neither here, nor verbally to anyone. IF I am successful in accomplishing these goals, THEN I will write about them.<br />
It may seem obvious that one of those goals might be to maintain a blog. That would be correct. I'm not making promises about how often I'll write here, but my hope is that having the blog will hold me to a more successful accountability for journaling. And the notion of writing here as a sort of journaling activity is what gives this blog its name, <i>Thoughts in Passing</i>. I'm not imposing any restrictions on the postings; they will simply be the thoughts that come to mind with the passing of each day.jndayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00703613192011847866noreply@blogger.com0