Hear the word of the Lord:
Mark 9:38-50
John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."
But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.
And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."
Showing posts with label hell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hell. Show all posts
Friday, October 2, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Joy comes in the morning ...
Hear the word of the psalmist speaking to God:
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,
and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
It is unfortunate that so many think that heaven and hell
are both future tense. As if delaying their enactment
denied in some way their reality.
Yet this psalm clears up this wrong thinking;
Sheol, hell itself, is something that we can experience,
even now, even in this very time and place in which we live.
Sometimes circumstances place us there, and only
the love of God can restore us from the Pit.
Yet in my experience, more often we confine ourselves
to hell on this earth by our own attitudes, our own choices,
our own refusal to let go of paralyzing pain
and putrefying grudges from the past.
We have to want to get well for the healing of God to help.
The good news is that God wants to help if we want to heal.
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment;
his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
There is a time for tears; we may even baptize ourselves in them.
Yet even that implies a rising, a resurrection to a life,
Full of joy for us and full of favor with God.
Only tears of joy are appropriate to paradise –
there’s no crying in heaven …
As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
By your favor, O Lord,
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
The extent of my wealth doesn’t matter;
if I have the favor of God, then I am prosperous,
prosperous enough to praise God until I leave
whatever heaven I have to earth to find
the more permanent version.
What pain do you need to let go of?
What personal hell do you need to vacate?
The grace of God calls you to be in his presence
and know the joy of being content in his providence.
Grace, and peace,
Ron
Psalm 30 – NRSV
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,
and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
It is unfortunate that so many think that heaven and hell
are both future tense. As if delaying their enactment
denied in some way their reality.
Yet this psalm clears up this wrong thinking;
Sheol, hell itself, is something that we can experience,
even now, even in this very time and place in which we live.
Sometimes circumstances place us there, and only
the love of God can restore us from the Pit.
Yet in my experience, more often we confine ourselves
to hell on this earth by our own attitudes, our own choices,
our own refusal to let go of paralyzing pain
and putrefying grudges from the past.
We have to want to get well for the healing of God to help.
The good news is that God wants to help if we want to heal.
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment;
his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
There is a time for tears; we may even baptize ourselves in them.
Yet even that implies a rising, a resurrection to a life,
Full of joy for us and full of favor with God.
Only tears of joy are appropriate to paradise –
there’s no crying in heaven …
As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
By your favor, O Lord,
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
The extent of my wealth doesn’t matter;
if I have the favor of God, then I am prosperous,
prosperous enough to praise God until I leave
whatever heaven I have to earth to find
the more permanent version.
What pain do you need to let go of?
What personal hell do you need to vacate?
The grace of God calls you to be in his presence
and know the joy of being content in his providence.
Grace, and peace,
Ron
Psalm 30 – NRSV
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Influence: oblivious strength
It was a dark and stormy night.
Well, actually it was a dark night but not so very stormy. At church camp it was late enough for the younger kids to be in bed dozing to the burr of a dozen fans, but early enough for the older campers and staff to be playing a game. Or perhaps having a learning experience.
They are playing a game called angels and demons. The campers are blindfolded, which considering the darkness of the night, is virtually redundant. The campers have an objective. They are supposed to move somehow, as individuals or groups, to a place called Heaven. They are to depend upon their ability to touch and to hear. They cautiously feel their way forward with feet carefully shuffling step-by-step, while listening to the voices of staff members, some of whom are “angels” and some of whom are “demons.” The angels can’t physically guide their humans to Heaven; they have to rely on persuasion. The demons are obviously not intent on getting the kids to heaven; they have a different Plan H. They seek to convince the kids that they are the true guides leading them to the place that they really want to be. Neither angel or demon can come straight out and give their true identity, but they do have to answer any question that the kids ask of them. Or appear to answer the question. Kids are spread out all over camp, as angels lead a group here, or persuade a girl or boy there; demons distract some of the members of a flock here or there, and one leads his group away at a speed close to a goosestep.
One of the demons is stressed. She is (in her true identity) one of those sweet young women who couldn’t put more than two mean words together in a sentence without feeling guilty for a week because she even thought the sentence. Because she thinks that it would be fun for people to not think of her so much a “Miss Goody Two-shoes,” she volunteers to be one of the demons. The problem is, she is spectacularly successful at it. The younger girls hear her voice and circle around her like so many June bugs around a porch light. Only this time she isn’t the light. In a metaphorical way, she is a temporary agent of the Pit of Darkness, the Hub of Hatred, the Lair of the Liar. She did not expect to experience the power that she wields. She is stunned; shaken, even. Eventually, her eyes fill with tears. In her frustration, she calls over an angel of some years and experience to use his considerable persuasive skills to convince her flock to leave the edge of this imaginary cliff. Even his calm and steady voice is not enough to distract, much less dissuade, her charges. Finally, in frustration, she breaks the rules (which causes her no end of cognitive dissonance and guilt) and tells her followers that she is a demon. They refuse to believe such an obvious piece of nonsense. They won’t leave her. The dear little “demon” is stunned and physically shaken by the whole experience.
The word for today is influence. We all have influence; the questions are: With whom? How much? What kind?
Our little demon knew that some of the younger girls were fond of her. What was so shocking to this young woman was the unexpected reality that so many young girls looked up to her, and that they would follow her unflinchingly. Apparently, they would follow her even through Hell, yet refuse to believe that Hell was where they were. Because it couldn’t be Hell if she were there, could it? “If I have this kind of influence over this many souls,” she thought, “how careful of a life am I going to have to live? What kind of life am I going to have to live?”
Very frequently, even the best of us can be oblivious to the power of our influence over others. We influence those that we know, especially those who care about us. Those who care about us take much more seriously the causes that we choose to be passionate about. Those who think that we are wise wonder if they shouldn’t use their time the way that we use our time. Even our demeanor when we enter a room can change the temperature of the place, because others wish to be in sync with how we are seeing the world today.
Paul was aware of the power of his influence:
For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone's bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.
2 Thessalonians 3:7-10 – NRSV
Be alert today to the ways in which every smile or frown, every silence or every word, every commendation or correction, shapes the way those around you see their little universe. Be aware, be deliberate, and be wise, because you are making choices for more people than you may realize.
Grace, and peace,
Ron
Well, actually it was a dark night but not so very stormy. At church camp it was late enough for the younger kids to be in bed dozing to the burr of a dozen fans, but early enough for the older campers and staff to be playing a game. Or perhaps having a learning experience.
They are playing a game called angels and demons. The campers are blindfolded, which considering the darkness of the night, is virtually redundant. The campers have an objective. They are supposed to move somehow, as individuals or groups, to a place called Heaven. They are to depend upon their ability to touch and to hear. They cautiously feel their way forward with feet carefully shuffling step-by-step, while listening to the voices of staff members, some of whom are “angels” and some of whom are “demons.” The angels can’t physically guide their humans to Heaven; they have to rely on persuasion. The demons are obviously not intent on getting the kids to heaven; they have a different Plan H. They seek to convince the kids that they are the true guides leading them to the place that they really want to be. Neither angel or demon can come straight out and give their true identity, but they do have to answer any question that the kids ask of them. Or appear to answer the question. Kids are spread out all over camp, as angels lead a group here, or persuade a girl or boy there; demons distract some of the members of a flock here or there, and one leads his group away at a speed close to a goosestep.
One of the demons is stressed. She is (in her true identity) one of those sweet young women who couldn’t put more than two mean words together in a sentence without feeling guilty for a week because she even thought the sentence. Because she thinks that it would be fun for people to not think of her so much a “Miss Goody Two-shoes,” she volunteers to be one of the demons. The problem is, she is spectacularly successful at it. The younger girls hear her voice and circle around her like so many June bugs around a porch light. Only this time she isn’t the light. In a metaphorical way, she is a temporary agent of the Pit of Darkness, the Hub of Hatred, the Lair of the Liar. She did not expect to experience the power that she wields. She is stunned; shaken, even. Eventually, her eyes fill with tears. In her frustration, she calls over an angel of some years and experience to use his considerable persuasive skills to convince her flock to leave the edge of this imaginary cliff. Even his calm and steady voice is not enough to distract, much less dissuade, her charges. Finally, in frustration, she breaks the rules (which causes her no end of cognitive dissonance and guilt) and tells her followers that she is a demon. They refuse to believe such an obvious piece of nonsense. They won’t leave her. The dear little “demon” is stunned and physically shaken by the whole experience.
The word for today is influence. We all have influence; the questions are: With whom? How much? What kind?
Our little demon knew that some of the younger girls were fond of her. What was so shocking to this young woman was the unexpected reality that so many young girls looked up to her, and that they would follow her unflinchingly. Apparently, they would follow her even through Hell, yet refuse to believe that Hell was where they were. Because it couldn’t be Hell if she were there, could it? “If I have this kind of influence over this many souls,” she thought, “how careful of a life am I going to have to live? What kind of life am I going to have to live?”
Very frequently, even the best of us can be oblivious to the power of our influence over others. We influence those that we know, especially those who care about us. Those who care about us take much more seriously the causes that we choose to be passionate about. Those who think that we are wise wonder if they shouldn’t use their time the way that we use our time. Even our demeanor when we enter a room can change the temperature of the place, because others wish to be in sync with how we are seeing the world today.
Paul was aware of the power of his influence:
For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone's bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.
2 Thessalonians 3:7-10 – NRSV
Be alert today to the ways in which every smile or frown, every silence or every word, every commendation or correction, shapes the way those around you see their little universe. Be aware, be deliberate, and be wise, because you are making choices for more people than you may realize.
Grace, and peace,
Ron
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