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Posts Tagged ‘Christ’

Fortune-Telling is Real

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on December 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 16:16b
… we [Paul and Silas] were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.

This is the part that people miss: there are lots of powers in the world and people who can tap into those sources of power and use them (or abuse them).

Why else would this situation with the fortune teller cause concern? Why does Paul “cast out” the divining spirit from the girl? She was actually proclaiming the truth…. but something was amiss.

When I was younger, before I stepped into the waiting arms of a loving God, I was intrigued by all things supernatural. I pursued the entire spectrum of “experiences” from astral projection to channeling to communicating with the dead. I read books about the “point of power” and “creating my own reality.” I practiced. I didn’t just want to use magic, I wanted to be magic.

I suppose it’s a blessing I wasn’t very good at any of these things. I had an insatiable interest but no natural talent. In the end, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have turned to Christ if I had been more successful… if I could have “done it all” on my own. If I could have manipulated the world around me to satisfy my own dreams and schemes.

The major mistake people make with supernatural power is thinking they have the wisdom to use it. Like “Bruce Almighty,” folks end up acting like a children in a candy shop…. and ultimately, they over-eat and over-indulge with little understanding of the repercussions. Power used only for selfish ends becomes self-destructive. But of course, any person with that kind of power doesn’t see or believe it.

Personal power is rarely used with others in mind. Whatever power I was seeking was for myself. I wanted to use it to direct and control my life. I was not interested in helping, loving, or transforming the world around me except for personal gain. It was all about me. I wanted to be the center of my universe.

It is those with power, whether supernatural or circumstantial, who must submit their power to God. The more powerful the person, the more difficult it is to let go.

Here’s another trap I fell into: once I became a follower of Jesus, I also discovered there was a “Christian” version of power…. acts such as casting out demons, healing with a touch or a word, or prophesying the future. Can God use a person to broker these things? Sure. Is it real? Absolutely. But it is not intended that we seek power for itself. My call is to seek a deeper and more intimate relationship with God and Christ Jesus … power becomes a by-product. Power used without the wisdom and direction of God is no different from all that other supernatural stuff.

Oh yes, it’s real. And so are miracles. Who is the giver?

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This Time, This Place

Posted in Advent, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 17:26b
…and he [God] determined the times set for them [people of the Earth] and the exact places where they should live.

If I could get it deeply rooted in my heart and mind that this is my time and this is my place then I believe I would flourish. My petty complaints and resistance are my stumbling blocks. It’s not that complicated.

I am a woman. I am living in America, born in the latter part of the 20th century to immigrant parents. My mother lost four other children; I survived. I am healthy and whole. I am strong. I am intelligent. I have many gifts and talents.

I met Jesus, the Christ of my soul, in a real and powerful way in my late twenties.

I am ordained to live in this time and place. I am ordained to walk this life now, whether with ease or troubles. This is my time. This is my place. I have a purpose here.

When Paul was stunned by God on the road to Damascus, he heard a voice say, “…It is dangerous and turns out badly for you to keep kicking against the goads [to keep offering vain and perilous resistance].” [Acts 26:24, Amplified] God wants to work with us but it is we ourselves who resist.

I choose to accept the now. As Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord…” [Luke 1:38a]

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Freedom with Strings

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 15:19-20
It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.

Well, this threw a little wrench in my understanding today. By only looking at small pieces of Bible text at a time, at one moment there seems to be complete freedom and then the next chunk adds the strings. This shows how important it is to have the ability to see the forest and trees.

But I am not a bible scholar. Each day I’m just trying to find what God might be saying to me through the Word and how to apply what I read to my heart walk.

The verses of Acts 15:19-23 put unexpected boundaries around the freedom I had felt in earlier verses. I would need to do much more reading, but from the little I did read this morning (Here a Little, There a Little website), I realize that it’s important to understand more about that time period and culture.

The believing Jews did not expect or want the incorporation of Jesus into their world and faith to separate them from their Judaic heritage. Jesus was/is the Messiah and therefore the completion of many prophecies. He was a Jewish phenomenon and, from their perspective, Jesus was providing a way for the gentiles to be adopted into the faith.

As mentioned in the “Here a Little, There a Little” article, James released the gentiles who were coming to Jesus from circumcision but they would enter the faith with the same restrictions as “strangers” who wanted to live among the Jews (as written in Leviticus 18). And then, they would learn about the law of Moses (verse 21) in their local synagogues. In other words, the disciples expected everyone who came to Jesus to ultimately become a Jew with faith in the Messiah.

This makes sense. But, history shows that things did not work out that way. Instead, over the years, the “Christians” or Christ followers who were gentiles, absorbed their faith in Jesus into their own traditions and faiths.

The strings that James attached to the Christ followers of Asia Minor were not strong enough and Jesus faith morphed and morphed and morphed. Many bible readers say we are following the word of God literally… but if that were true, then we would all be Messianic Jews. That’s not a bad thing at all, but it hasn’t happened that way. And at this point in our world, I doubt it ever will.

So, where does that leave us gentiles today? Hanging onto grace… that’s all we can really do.

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Resurrection Starting Point

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 10, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 13:30
But God raised him from the dead…

God raising Jesus from the dead is pretty much the starting point.

This miracle part of the Jesus story is essential to the faith. None of it quite works if this part didn’t happen. Otherwise, it’s all smoke and mirrors.

I mean, if he didn’t die at all and just pretended to be raised from the dead, that would pretty much go against everything else Jesus had ever taught or said. He would be a charlatan and we would all be fools.

If Jesus died and that was the end of the story, then that’s exactly what would have happened: the end of the story. The story lives because Messiah Jesus lives. And what about all those witnesses? They all lied? That doesn’t exactly go with the teaching either. What would be the point of promoting a lie so that you could teach people to love each other, share with one another and ultimately, not lie?

Nope, I’ve never had trouble with any of the miracles. Once I accepted the idea of God in Christ, then I figured anything could happen. If people can be raised from the dead, then people can be healed. If people can be raised from the dead, then a virgin can have a baby. If people can be raised from the dead, then blind people can see, deaf people can hear, and crippled people can walk. If people can be raised from the dead, then criminals can be forgiven and turn their lives around. If people can be raised from the dead, I can be whole.

If we start with the miracles, then our lives become a miracle as well.

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And the Guards were Executed

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 12:18
After Herod had a thorough search made for him [Peter] and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.

These four guys were the extras. You know, as in one of those huge lavish movies, there are tons of extras. They are nameless and virtually faceless. They have some small task and that is all. They get their one minute of screen time and that’s it.

These four guards are no different. This was their time and in the end, they are memorialized … they are to be remembered that they lost their lives in exchange for Peter’s freedom.

If I allowed free reign to my imagination, I could create entire families and scenarios for these guys. They had lives that were lived outside the prison walls of Herod’s fortress. Perhaps one was older, whose children were grown or another was a new recruit, given a special assignment.

What happened when they discovered Peter was missing? There were two on each side of Peter and two outside the locked cell door. The angel of light came, opened Peter’s shackles, told him to rise and dress and they walked out the door What were the guards doing? Surely they were not asleep. Were they mesmerized? Were they put into an unnatural trance? It was not until morning that the alarm sounded. What were they doing? Did they know sooner? Did they know that there death would come the next day?

I can’t help but consider that these guards, like the guards at Golgotha, may have come to a realization. This was a miracle and it was worked on behalf of a follower of Christ. Perhaps they became believers and died, not as executed guards, but as martyrs. Who knows? Perhaps their testimony at the cross examination to the miracle of Peter’s release was Herod’s last opportunity to accept Christ. Herod did not change.

What role will we play when it is our time? Can we trust God with our last moments… with our lives… with our deaths?

These men had a testimony. And their stories probably flew through Herod’s soldiers and servants. These guards were good, reliable men. And all four were witnesses to a miracle. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, their deaths did make a difference.

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Looking to My History

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , on October 13, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 7:3
“Leave your country and your people,’ God said [to Abraham], ‘and go to the land I will show you.” [retold by Stephen]

All history has lessons and truth for us today, whether it is on a national, local or personal level. It is important to remember. It is important to tell the stories. It is important to learn from our histories. They put our present into perspective.

So much of who I am today is because of my past. Whether I like it or not, my decisions are all colored by my personal history. I cannot escape my past nor can I pretend these things did not happen.

The fact that my mother was the primary breadwinner and bi-polar while my aged father succumbed to alcoholism and died in my ninth year has colored every relationship I have ever had. Among other things, I learned from my mother fierce independence and self-preservation; from my father I carried away a distrust of men and a fear of abandonment. As a first generation American, I learned what it means to be “different” and an outsider. Growing up in a poor environment, I learned the importance of hard work and commitment.

There are so many things, it’s too difficult to enumerate them here. But my point is that these “history lessons” must be integrated into a life and tempered with the new information of today.

There are blessings and obstacles from the past. All must be remembered and assimilated.

I don’t believe we do enough remembering. Out of my broken past, I have lost much. I assume these lost memories have been locked away in a box somewhere deep inside of me. I am sorry now that I cannot retrieve them and address them as an adult.

But there is still a treasure of later memories. I have known Christ now the majority of my life. It is time to remember and tell the stories of this way that changed the very direction of my life. I am here today and alive (literally) because God touched me, beckoned to me and I followed.

Christ is my story. Christ is my history and my today and my tomorrow. It means something. This partnership changed everything.

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Courage to Speak

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 3, 2009| 1 Comment »

Acts 4:13
When they [Sanhedrin] saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

There are many types of courage and there are many ways to gain courage. Just because one has courage does not mean one does not have fear or uncertainties. Courage is moving through uncertainty, moving on despite the fear. Courage is believing that something else is more important than self-preservation.

Courage comes easier with practice. This is one reason group wilderness experiences, ropes courses, and other challenge building exercises have become so popular. They build an individual’s tolerance for fear and a history of success in the face of fear.

Of course, what requires courage for one person is not the same for another. I enjoy speaking in front of a group unlike many of my friends and colleagues. I can probably say that much of that “courage” comes from my theater background. But, there is also a confidence that comes with a group setting because I rarely have a sense of disapproval from a group. However, put me in a one on one situation where I can read a person’s body language, their expressions, and can observe their dismay or disagreement, I freeze up. It takes great courage for me to say something to an individual that I suspect will cause disagreement or anger or disappointment.

Basically, I want people to like me. Don’t we all? And so often, I have chosen silence in the name of keeping the peace or maintaining a friendly connection. But, in the end, this is giving people a false impression. It’s a lie.

It is my hope that I may grow in courage to be more transparent and authentic… to speak my heart, to speak from love, but honestly… to speak of my faith and why I follow the Christ. That’s all. One does not have to be “schooled” in theology to talk about the power of change and faith.

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