The Fruit of the Spirit is...Joy

I can't get it out of my head how the sermon on Sunday pushed up against the materials we're studying at Morning Blend...without even trying. This happens all the time. And, perhaps, it's because the story of redemption has themes that just match up all the time. Or, perhaps, it's because are ears are tuned to hear things when we're paying attention. Or, perhaps, the Creator is just making sure that we hear it over and over again in all kinds of places so that the message will stick.

Pastor Healy spoke on Sunday about keeping our oil lamps full...about paying attention to what fills the lamp so that, at a moment's notice, we are ready for the Bridegroom. So that, in fact, we never let it run empty. We don't leave the house without it. We don't put it off until later. And he mentioned the fruit that flows from a lamp full of oil - the fruit of the Spirit, of course. This is the very thing we're studying.

I was reminded of last year's study of One Thousand Gifts. And, it seems to me anyway, one of the ways that we receive oil for our lamps is through gratitude, which, in turn, brings joy. When we remember to be thankful our cup overflows with joy..."the oil of joy" (Isaiah 61).

This part of our study is so timely, also, as the season of Thanksgiving is upon us. If you haven't been over to Ann Voskamp's site in a while, it's worth checking out her thoughts on Thanksgiving: Why Thanksgiving is Radically Subversive {And Everything You Need to Have the Best Thanksgiving Yet}. I stumbled completely astonished upon these words in her post, which fit right in with Pastor Healy's sermon about the women waiting for the Bridegroom in Matthew 25, as though it was planned. Wow.

You can live your life as the bride married to Hurry, having affairs with Not Enough, Always Stress, and Easy Cynicism.

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement, vowed to Awe Himself, covenanted to Christ –and I took the whole of everything He gave in this gloried world into my open arms with thanks.

And here's something we do at our house to remember to give thanks and to allow our lamps to fill with the oil of joy: Last year we started the tradition of writing gifts/gratitudes on decorated squares of paper throughout the month of November and dropping them in a jar. At the end of the season, we hole-punched the papers and put them on a ring. We hung it from a hook on our mantle all year. We've got the jar back out this month again, and we're counting our gifts again.

 

If you want to read more on our previous studies of joy, gifts, and gratitude, click the "Joy" or "One Thousand Gifts" labels on the sidebar. 

If You Can't Say It About Jesus...

Beth shared a link to this article with me today: If You Can't Say It About Jesus, Don't Say It About God. Jason Micheli brings some fresh thoughts and new perspective to the theology of trinity:

Think about how many people you’ve heard, after a natural disaster or a tragic death or the diagnosis of disease, say something like: ‘It’s God’s will.’

     Trinity means that for that to be a true statement you have to be able to remove ‘God’ and replace it with ‘Jesus.’

     Trinity means that it’s not a true statement unless you’re able to say:

 ‘My mom’s cancer was Jesus’ will.’

 ‘Hurricane Katrina was Jesus’ will.’

 ‘9/11 was Jesus’ will.’

     For Paul, Trinity functions not as a philosophical concept but as a grammatical rule. Trinity binds us to the character and story of Jesus.

     We can’t say or think or act like God hates ‘sinners’ because we know Jesus didn’t.

     We can’t say or think or act like God doesn’t care about the poor because we know Jesus did.

    We can’t say or think or act as if God is against our enemies because we know Jesus loved them.

Click the link above to read the entire article. It tells a great story...one that also relates to the "fruit" of love that we've been discussing most recently.

The fruit of the Spirit is...Love

Last week we discussed the various words for love in the Greek language, and I made mention of C.S. Lewis' book, The Four Loves. It turns out you can find the book online here: The Four Loves PDF. As always, Lewis is humorous, straightforward, and thoughtful. I've put off reading this book for a long time because I thought it would be overly academic. I was pleasantly surprised.

For a "Reader's Digest" overview of the book, I recommend this article: Reflections on Great Literature: C.S. Lewis The Four Loves. From the article:

Our natural loves ... can be likened to a garden that needs tending. They cannot be their beautiful selves without allegiance to God.  Contrary to Augustine, who exhorted apathy to everything except God (in a fit of grief), Lewis sticks to the recommendation of Jesus and Paul that we love others, even if it means suffering for it.  We should accept all loves, and offer them to God.  Our loves can be inordinate, or out of proportion; they need ordering.  The way to order them is to relate them to the Love that is God.

God transforms all of our natural loves towards perfection or the ideal.  This results in their unification.

We have discussed love, especially as it relates to grace and action, in previous Morning Blend studies, and I thought it would add to the discussion to link back to some previous posts:

Jesus: The Revolution of Love
Grace: Love is the Bottom Line

For similar posts, find the labels in the right sidebar and click, "Love."

Confession & Repentence

In Week 2, Day 3 of Living Beyond Yourself, Beth Moore discusses some elements of confession and repentance. Interestingly, as we've found so many times before in our group, the discoveries and practices happening in the field of human psychology closely mirror what we already know is healthy from our studies and practices of scripture. Moore suggests that confession and repentance involve being specific about whatever it is we're confessing, experiencing and expressing sorrow, and turning from our behavior.

I believe it was Tesha, who pointed out how very similar this is to some recent articles that have been circulating the internet about how to apologize. (For example, A Better Way to Say Sorry.)

Is it so strange that God, who created us, knows our need to come clean, examine our actions, and take active steps to do something different? Isn't it amazing?

Trinity and Monotheism

Check out Hebrew For Christians for some Messianic Jewish/Christian thoughts on the trinity. This follows up our discussion on how sometimes Jews and Muslims, those who also hold to a strong belief in monotheism, struggle with the idea of the trinity. From John Parsons article, The Trinity: Multiplicity in Oneness:

The idea of the "Trinity," however, is clearly implied in the Scriptures. From the first letter of Torah (i.e., the Bet in the word "Bereshit") through the last letter of the New Testament (i.e., the Nun in the word "Amen") -- the letters of which spell the word בּן ("Son") -- we see God as defined as One yet expressing Himself in different Persons. God the Son is "First and Last" (Isa. 48:12, 44:6, Rev. 1:17, 2:8; 22:13).

And this article here: Hebrew Names of God: Hashilush Hakadosh - Is the Trinity Biblical?

Although the word "Trinity" (Ha-shilush Ha-kadosh) does not directly appear in the Scriptures, it is an entirely Jewish concept, derived from both the Tanakh and the Brit Chadashah.

And from the same article comes this lovely quote...

Monotheistic systems that attempt to reduce God to absolute monism are not unlike the ancient Greek pagan philosophers who said things like, "Everything is Water" or "Everything is Number." These systems attempt to be "rational" but end up limiting the power of God Himself... God is LORD over all possible worlds - the great cosmos as well as the subatomic realms - and He can surely do whatever He wills with creation. The triune nature of the Godhead implies that what is most real and true about ultimate reality is community and love.

Take some time to read the whole articles when you have the chance! They're dense, but totally worth the read!!

Other analogies for the Trinity

The previous post contains a video of the children's book, 3 in 1: A Picture of God, describing the trinity as a an apple. In our last discussion, we mentioned several other analogies for the trinity, and I thought I would search some of them out and post them here in our blog. The trinity is a difficult concept to understand, one that the church has been wrestling with for generations. These are some ways that the trinity has been conceptualized:

Water:

This analogy has a couple of variations. Some say that the trinity is like a molecule of water: H2O (two hydrogens, one oxygen). These are three atoms but they make up one molecule.

The second variation is that there are three states of water, solid, liquid & gas, but they are all water.

Egg:

The egg is made up of the shell, the white, and the yolk. Together they form an egg.(The following illustration is from a great article about how God is like an egg, but not like an egg; like water, but not like water: God is like...)

Three Leaf Clover:

3 Dimensions:

From Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, Chapter 23:

You know that in space you can move in three ways - to left or right, backwards or forwards, up or down. Every direction is either one of these three or a compromise between them. They are called the three Dimensions. Now notice this. If you are using only one dimension, you could draw only a straight line. If you are using two; you could draw a figure: say, a square. And a square is made up of four straight lines. Now a step further. If you have three dimensions, you can then build what we call a solid body: say, a cube - a thing like a dice or a lump of sugar. And a cube is made up of six squares.

And...

In God's dimension, so to speak, you find a being who is three Persons while remaining one Being, just as a cube is six squares while remaining one cube.

  The Points of a Triangle:

A Pretzel?

This is actually kind of cute, from a page about teaching kids the Bible: Jesus Did It All.

3 in 1: A Picture of God

The subject of our last discussion was the Holy Spirit, and, by extension, the doctrine and meaning of "trinity." Last week Nora mentioned a children's picture book that describes the trinity like an apple. It looks to me like the book is 3 in 1: A Picture of God by Joanne Marxhausen. I was so excited to find a youtube reading of the book! Check it out:

Living Beyond Yourself - Session 1 - Guilt and Self-Compassion

One of the things that came up in session 1 is the difficulty that people, especially women, tend to have with claiming forgiveness, with carrying around guilt and self-condemnation, despite our confession and God's promise to forgive us. Beth Moore brought us a wonderful quote with regard to this. From Brennan Manning's book Abba's Child:

Dare to live as a forgiven [person]. Take sides with [God] against your own self-evaluation.

If you aren't familiar with Brennan Manning's book, the following review describes it well (from The Book Report Network):

Manning begins by beckoning Christians to come out of hiding, the place to which we retreat out of shame or guilt in the misguided belief that God is berating us as harshly as we are berating ourselves.

It is only when we shed our false identity and accept the unconditional love of our Abba --- our heavenly "Daddy" --- that we can experience the passionate love relationship with Him that we have long craved.

Our fellow Morning Blend member, Beth, sent me an email this week, and suggested listening to a TED Talk by Kristin Neff on self-compassion. Beth said, "She [Kristin Neff] talks about the difference between self esteem and self compassion. Our culture and especially women seem to have a difficult time being gentle to ones self." Though Neff speaks from a secular and scientific point of view, she addresses this cultural problem in a way that might help up open ourselves to the forgiveness of God. Check it out here:

This also brought to mind for me, a discussion we had last year with regard to shame and regret. For that post and another wonderful TED talk, go here: Brené Brown: Listening to Shame.

Let us pray for each other to "come out of hiding" and be released from guilt, shame and regret, in order to be more fully open to the "Pouring In" of the Spirit of God and the "Pouring Forth" of the fruits of the Spirit from ourselves.

Living Beyond Yourself - Intro Session

If you were busy scribbling notes just as fast as you could scribble, and you missed some of the scriptures from this past week's video, here's the line-up:

John 14
Psalm 27:13
John 10:10
Galatians 5:22-23
Phillipians 3:12-14
2 Corinthians 1:8-9
Colossians  1:29
John 11:43

We have been encouraged to memorize Galatians 5:22-23 for this study in the NIV translation:

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

Together, we also practiced this verse in sign language. I found a quick video that can help review the signs:

Living Beyond Yourself

Morning Blend is gearing back up to begin meeting formally at Park Avenue Church on September 10th! And this autumn, we'll begin with the study Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore.

From the Lifeway website, Living Beyond Yourself is an...

"...in-depth women's Bible study of the fruit of the Holy Spirit as presented in the book of Galatians. Beth walks participants through each trait listed in the fruit and encourages women to know the freedom of a Spirit-filled life. Through this study participants will look at the supernatural aspects of the fruit and that you cannot grow, learn, or produce the fruit on your own. Beth challenges you to develop the fruit by maintaining an intimate relationship with the Spirit of God. A Spirit-filled life truly results in living beyond yourself."

Bird by Bird with Anne

Bird by Bird with Anne is a documentary featuring Anne Lamott and her story of writing, life and faith. It is available for rent on Amazon: Bird by Bird with Anne.

Enjoy!

Summer Book Discussion - Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne Lamott

Summer is quickly slipping by, and we're meeting at my house for the summer months to keep up with each other and to share some sunshine, coffee, treats & good conversation!

Tesha suggested that we pick an easy-read to informally discuss at our summer gatherings. The book Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott has come up in conversation a number of times over the last few years, and it seemed like a natural choice for summer reading.

To listen to a quick 7-minute podcast discussion with Anne Lamott about the book, check this out:
Anne Lamott Distills Prayer Into 'Help, Thanks, Wow'

From pbs.org (link also includes a video interview from November 2013):

Often called the "people's author," Anne Lamott writes about such personal subjects as substance abuse, single motherhood and Christianity. With her trademark conversational, frank and humorous style, her books have inspired countless readers. She's a Guggenheim fellowship recipient and has been a book reviewer and a California magazine restaurant critic. The San Francisco native has also taught at writing conferences across the U.S. and had one of her novels, Hard Laughter, dramatized on stage. Her latest book, Stitches, is the follow-up to her best-selling Help, Thanks, Wow and explores how people can make sense of life's chaos.

A bio and a complete listing of her books can be found at the Steven Barclay Agency website.

And, you can read excerpts from Help, Thanks, Wow in these places:

Anne Lamott's Three Simple Prayers - book intro at oprah.com
Spirituality and Practice - on joy
Anne Lamott: My Secret Little Prayer - on struggles and grief at salon.com

What is a Mezuzah?

From Hebrew For Christians:

A mezuzah (מְזוּזָה) is a kosher parchment scroll (inscribed with Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 on one side and the word Shaddai on the other side) that is rolled up and inserted into a decorative case. The case is then affixed to a doorway in fulfillment of the commandment given in Deuteronomy 6:9, "And you shall write them upon the doorposts (mezuzot) of your house, and upon your gates."

"Mezuzah" is the Hebrew word for "doorpost" and is a reminder that the blood of the Lamb on the doorpost identified those within as belonging to God and protected from the angel of death. The purpose of the mezuzah is to both identify those who dwell in the house as Jewish (or, for some, Messianic) and remind the dwellers of who they are and what they believe.

It has also been said that the mezuzah on the doorpost is a reminder to be mindful of what we bring through that door, of what comes into our homes. From aish.com:

If we want our internal world to reflect Godly ideals, we have to protect it against the outside world at the point of interface: the doorway. This means monitoring the contents of books, games and video that we expose our children and ourselves to.

As well, having a mezuzah on each room means that whenever we move from one domain, one sphere of activity, to another, we must renew our consciousness of God's presence and act in a way that sanctifies His Name. 

Once learned, the lesson extends beyond our home and into all areas of life. Just as a house has doorways, so too we have eyes, ears, nose, and mouth ― portals to the external world. The values of the Torah call for our mouths to eat kosher food and speak "kosher" words; for our ears not to listen to gossip; for our eyes not to run after empty desires.

Biblical Referenes for Mourning Customs

There are several references throughout the Bible to periods of mourning lasting for specified periods of time:

Genesis 50:7-10

⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸ as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. ⁹ And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. ¹⁰ When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

Numbers 20:29

²⁹ And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Deuteronomy 34:7-8

⁷ Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. ⁸ And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

1 Samuel 31:13

¹³ And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.

There are also many, many references to the tearing of clothes, wearing sackcloth, going barefoot, and covering the head. These are too numerous to quote here. See this website: 100 Bible Verses About Mourning.

Stages of Jewish Mourning

The Jewish process of mourning involves 4 to 5 specific steps that guide the bereaved through the first days, months and years following a significant loss:

1. Aninut - From the death through the burial, this is a time for burial preparations to be made, for candles to be lit and for mourners to sit with the body until the burial is complete. Once the burial is finished, the community serves the family a condolence meal, not to be shared with the community.

2. Aveilut - After the burial is complete, those family members for whom the death was of a parent, spouse, sibling, or child have a period of 7 days called shiva. During these days, the bereaved will not work, leave the house, wear shoes, or bathe. They will sit on low stools and cover the mirrors in their houses. The community comes to visit them, brings food, and participates in the recitation of the Kaddish prayer.

The recitation of Kaddish requires a minyan (a gathering of 10 people). This keeps those in mourning from isolating themselves from the community, and the community is continually called upon to be aware of those who are mourning.

Interestingly, the Kaddish prayer is not so much a prayer of grief and mourning, but a prayer acknowledging the greatness of God:

Exalted and sanctified is God's great Name (Amen)
in the world which He has created according to His will,
and may He establish His kingdom in your lifetime
and during your days, and within the life of the entire House of Israel,
speedily and soon; and say, Amen. (Amen)
May His great Name be blessed forever and for all eternity.
Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled
and honored, elevated and lauded be the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He,
beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations
that are uttered in the world; and say, Amen. (Amen)
May there be great peace from heaven, and life, for us
and for all Israel; and say, Amen. (Amen)
May He who makes peace in His high places make peace within us
and for all Israel, and say ye: Amen (Amen)

It is thought that during this time mourners need a reminder of God's sovereignty and those reminder will bring comfort.  (For more on Kaddish, visit Hebrew For Christians - Mourner's Kaddish.)

3. Sheloshim - For 30 days from the day of the burial (for the 7 above mentioned relatives), mourners leave the house for work or other necessary errands, but they do not participate in festive gatherings, listen to music, or cut their hair. They continue to recite Kaddish daily.

4. Shanah - For 11 months from the time of burial for those who have lost a parent, the bereaved continues to avoid celebrations and to recite Kaddish daily.

5. Yahrzeit - The anniversary of the death date is observed annually with the lighting of a candle and the recitation of Kaddish. The loved one, who has died, is also remembered with the lighting of a candle on the afternoon before Yom Kippur, the last day of Passover, the last day of Shavuot, and the day following Sukkot.

(More info on the stages of mourning can be found at: aish.com and  Judaism 101.)

Mourning in Community - Questions for Reflection & Suggested Activity

An article summarizing Lauren Winner's discussion on Jewish Mourning practices can be found here: Mourning in Community.

In Winner's perspective, the church has lost the sense of community and communal practice that is essential in Judaism, and one of the places where this is most evident is in "the way Christians mourn:"

Winner's upbringing has led her to value communal practices, which are integral to Judaism but have largely been lost in translation to Christianity, where religious practice has moved from being communal (in Israel) to being philosophical (in Greece), institutional (in Rome), cultural (in Europe), and now to being corporate (in North America). In her writing, Winner has established a pattern of diagnosing Christian isolationism: what others do in community, we try to do alone. One of the strongest such examples is her vision of the way Christians mourn.

...

Later, Winner says that mourning “is never easy, but it is better done inside a communal grammar of bereavement” (28). Christianity, living as it does on this side of Easter, often fails to provide an honest and accurate assessment of the cruelness of death and loss. So Winner turns instead to the grammar of Judaism, which lives in between death and resurrection.

These questions for reflection are taken from the longer chapter by chapter study guide:

When was the last time you were at a funeral, who was there, and what you were aware of when you were there?

How were you taught to mourn? Is mourning a private process or a community pilgrimage?

When was the last time you, personally, had to mourn? How long did you let yourself mourn? How long did the community give you permission to mourn?

Who is mourning around you now? What does it mean to mourn with them?

Suggested activity:

Read Psalm 77 a few times - aloud and silently. Consider writing your own personal lament. You may want to lament something personally in your life or something globally. You could lament a death, a broken relationship, a natural disaster, a current event disaster.

Teaching Kids About Sabbath

Pat shared an article with me on Wednesday that she found in Today's Christian Woman. I found the article online and wanted to pass it on to all of you!

Teaching Kids About Sabbath

Despite the title, the article is for anyone finding a way to practice Sabbath, not just for those trying to pass the practice on to their children

Homework - Praying the Divine Hours

I mentioned on Wednesday that the suggested activity for the next session is to go to a website, find your time zone, and pray the divine hour prayer for the time. Here's the link:

http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/

You may recall that one of the Animate speakers, Phyllis Tickle, wrote a series of books called The Divine Hours. The above link features Tickle's books and several excerpts from them.

The study guide also offers some questions for reflection on the subject of prayer this week:

What does prayer mean to you?

How do you pray?

What forms of prayer are uncomfortable/comfortable for you? (spontaneous prayer, liturgical prayer, recited/memorized prayers) Why?

Think of an experience when you were aware of God's presence while praying. What colors, tastes, smells, feelings, etc... might you use to describe this time in prayer?

What Christians Can Learn From Keeping Kosher

I found yet another book excerpt from Mudhouse Sabbath! Session 3 will deal with both the practice of hospitality and that of keeping kosher. Here's a link to what Lauren Winner had to say in her book about keeping kosher:

What Christians Can Learn From Keeping Kosher

Of note:

Food is part of God's creation. A right relationship with food points us toward Him.
Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Books/2004/04/What-Christians-Can-Learn-From-Keeping-Kosher.aspx?p=2#ohCrOt6i55ljftva.99

 Food is part of God's creation. A right relationship with food points us toward Him.

And...

The table is not only a place where we can become present to God. The table is also a place where He becomes present to us.

Food is part of God's creation. A right relationship with food points us toward Him.
Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Books/2004/04/What-Christians-Can-Learn-From-Keeping-Kosher.aspx?p=2#ohCrOt6i55ljftva.99v

Mudhouse Sabbath Session 3 - Hospitality - Book Excerpt

For those of us, who do not have the book, here is a link to a portion of Lauren Winner's book regarding the practice of hospitality:

Spirituality and Practice: Book Excerpt: Mudhouse Sabbath, by Lauren Winner

A sneak peak:

Sociologists might suggest that Jews do hospitality so well because they have spent so many centuries being the stranger and the friendless.

And...

Early Christian communities continued these practices of hospitality, attempting to feed the poor, host travelers, visit the imprisoned, invite widows and orphans to join them at mealtime — all expressions of a capacious notion of hospitality. 

If Jesus was/is a Jew, then what are we?

After last week's discussion, I realized that one of the things we are going to run into in our discussion is the nature of the current relationship between Judaism and Christianity.  It would not be surprising at all to find that we have differing answers to that question. Various denominations of Christianity have taken different positions on this issue over time.

Some of the discussion we had was in response to ideas drawn from this article: If Jesus Was a Jew, Then Why are We Catholic? Namely:

The term Jew is used in at least two senses in Scripture: to refer to those who are ethnically Jews and to those who are religiously Jews. Jesus was a Jew in both senses. In fact, he completed the Jewish religion by serving as the Messiah (Christ) whom the prophets had long foretold. 

And this:

Christians are those who Paul refers to as being inwardly (religiously) Jewish, while non-Christian Jews are those who he refers to as being outwardly (ethnically) Jewish. The former condition, he stresses, is the more important.

From Hebrew For Christian article "Israel and the Church" by John Parsons:

When studying the Jewish roots of Christianity, certain questions often arise regarding the nature of the "Church," the nature of "Israel," and the relationship between them. Do Gentile Christians become "Jewish" on account of their relationship to Jesus?  Does the "Church" somehow replace the Jewish people in God's plan as the "new Israel"?  Exactly how should we understand the relationship between the Church and Israel today?

I recommend a full reading of the above article (Israel and the Church) to sort through the 3 different theological positions in response to those questions:

1) Replacement/Supercessionism/Fulfillment/Covenant Theology
2) Separation/Dispensationalism Theology
3) Remnant Theology

The article is long and includes a history lesson on Israel and the Church before getting into the relationship between the two. I recommend clicking on the "Printer Friendly PDF" link above the article's title and printing it if you don't like to read on the computer screen. Also note that the article takes a strong position in favor of remnant theology.

If by Rudyard Kipling

Ava shared with us last week her transformative experience this Easter, and she mentioned the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling. Such great words, they warrant repeating: 

If  by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

From This One Place by Sara Groves

I wanted to share with all of you the Sara Groves song that Starr has mentioned over the last few weeks...for those moments when we feel "square in the dark..."

 
"From This One Place"

I was about to give up and that's no lie
cardinal landed outside my window
threw his head back and sang a song
so beautiful it made me cry

took me back to a childhood tree
full of birds and dreams

from this one place I can't see very far
in this one moment I'm square in the dark
these are the things I will trust in my heart
you can see something else
something else

I don't know what's making me so afraid
tiny cloud over my head
heavy and grey with a hint of dread
I don't like to feel this way

take me back to a window seat
with clouds beneath my feet

from this one place I can't see very far
in this one moment I'm square in the dark
these are the things I will trust in my heart
you can see something else
something else

Sabbath and The Shema

Central to the celebration of the Sabbath among Jews and Messianic Chistians is the recitation or singing of the Shema. It is a prayer that Jesus would certainly have recited countless times in his life and a prayer that affirms the nature of the One true Creator God. The Shema is drawn from Deuteronomy 6:4-9, which begins, "Hear Oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One." Many Jews recite (or sing) the Shema twice a day, in addition to recitations as part of holidays, such a Sabbath, and services at the synagogue.

A transliteration of the Shema in Hebrew:

Shema Yisrael, Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad.
Barukh shem kevod malkhuto le-olam va’ed.

And English translation of the Shema:

Hear O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD.
Blessed be His name, whose glorious kingdom is
forever and ever.

A beautiful version of the Shema, as performed by Anna Brooks, of Temple Israel in Bloomfield, MI:

Yet another rendition of the Shema by a Messianic group called 3b4jHoy:

PBS: Jewish Jesus; Huffington Post: Jesus 'Used to Be Jewish'?

In preparation for Session 1 of Mudhouse Sabbath, Judaism and Christianity, I recommend checking out this 7-minute PBS video interview with Professor Amy-Jill Levine (co-editor of the Jewish Annotated New Testament), Rabbi Schmuley Boteach (author of Kosher Jesus), and Professor Brad Young (of Oral Robert University):

Jewish Jesus

An especially poignant piece of the interview regarding the Jewishness of Jesus:

PROFESSOR LEVINE: He teaches like a Jew. He talks in parables, and Jews then knew that parables were not simple banal little stories. They were designed to shake us up, to get us to see the world in a new way, to challenge us. And Jesus is just a fabulous Jewish storyteller.

LAWTON (Correspondent): She says his teachings, such as in the famous Sermon on the Mount, are expansions of teachings in the Torah.

PROFESSOR LEVINE: He’s going to the law and bringing out the heart of it, which is also what Jewish teaching does. So he says not only don’t murder; he actually says you have to love your enemy, and he’s the only person in antiquity I’ve found who says that. But I think that gets to the heart of scripture.

An article in the Huffington Post by the author of Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew, Bernard Star, provides still more fodder for the discussion on Judaism and Christianity:

Jesus 'Used to Be Jewish'? That's Not What the Gospels Say

Of note:

When I interviewed Christians and Jews for my book "Jesus Uncensored: Restoring the Authentic Jew," I heard over and over "everyone knows Jesus was Jewish." But when I dug a little deeper I discovered that "everyone knows he was Jewish" really means "he used to be Jewish."

And...Something that has come up numerous times in our discussions during the Animate studies:

I even took a walking tour of the Renaissance galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. To my astonishment, Jesus, his followers and his Jewish community were consistently pictured as blond, fair-skinned, northern European latter-day Christians, often surrounded by latter-day saints, Christian clergy and Christian artifacts -- images totally at odds with biblical facts and without a trace of any Jewish connections.

Mudhouse Sabbath Book and Study Guides

Just to have these listed in one place...

Here is a short study guide to accompany the DVD sessions: http://site.paracletepress.com/samples/mudhouse-sabbath-study-guide.pdf

Here is a more complete study guide with quotes and discussion questions from the book, Mudhouse Sabbath: https://marshill.org/pdf/hc/books/mudhouseSabbathCompleteGuide.pdf

For fans of audio books, Mudhouse Sabbath is available for audio download! It is only 2.5 hours long and costs $10.98 here: http://christianaudio.com/mudhouse-sabbath-lauren-f-winner

Graitude List - Week 9

This list is an extension of our study of One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp. To see earlier parts of the list, click the label at the bottom of the post that says "Gratitude List."

Morning Blend Gratitude List:
310. Thanks for the release, strength, and desire to bring order to our basement
311. Thanks for the LOA so I could be with my sisters!
312. The camaraderie of this group
313. Tesha & Amy visiting Ceola
314. Courage from Jesus to do what we do
315. That Jesus gives us ALL that we need
316. Walking with me and talking to me
317. People praying for my specific needs
318. A pantry and freezer full of food
319. A working car
320. Birds singing in the morning
321. Hearing frogs singing
322. Getting a surprise tax return
323. An evening with family
324. Finding a place to replace a watch battery
325. Finding out what a great little watch it is!
326. A wonderful Seder with good friends
327. The opportunity to study and learn more about Jesus and Jewishness and theology
328. The many answers to prayer our group has seen this year
329. Such a trustworthy group to share our concerns
330. Fun planning a Hobbit feast

Brené Brown: Listening to Shame

We've been having some talks about regret, guilt and shame in our follow up discussions of One Thousand Gifts, and Beth sent me the link to the following TED Talk:

Brené Brown: Listening to shame
http://on.ted.com/i0AwA


From the website:

Shame is an unspoken epidemic, the secret behind many forms of broken behavior. Brené Brown, whose earlier talk on vulnerability became a viral hit, explores what can happen when people confront their shame head-on. Her own humor, humanity and vulnerability shine through every word.

It's a struggle when we realize that we have not been living in the moment the way we could have been, that we have not responded to people out of a place of grace and thanks. The Bible, though, is very clear that we aren't meant to live in regret:

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.   2 Corinthians 7:10

OpenBible.com has a list of suggested scriptures for those struggling with regret: http://www.openbible.info/topics/regret

What's Brewing at Morning Blend April-May 2014? Mudhouse Sabbath!

Beginning April 23rd, the women of Morning Blend will be studying  Mudhouse Sabbath: Seven Ways of Christian Formation Inspired by the Jewishness of Jesus by Lauren Winner. We heard from Lauren Winner in our previous study, Animate: Faith, in the 6th session, Bible: A Book Like No Other. Here's a quick video of Ms. Winner describing Mudhouse Sabbath:

The product description says this about her DVD workshop:

"Its not just that Jesus was a Jew, Jesus still is a Jew. Engaging Jewish practice and tradition is one important way of overcoming the gaps that we sometimes feel exist between Jesus and ourselves." So begins Lauren Winner on the powerful new Mudhouse Sabbath DVD. Designed to be a course in Christian formation all by itself, or as a companion to her bestselling book, this resource will challenge you to:

* Encounter the Jewish context that nurtured Jesus
* Explore spiritual practices of hospitality, mindful eating, prayer and fasting, and mourning
* Deepen your Christian faith by incorporating these things into your life

See the study guide PDF here: Mudhouse Sabbath Study Guide

And a link to a previous blog post: Interview with Lauren Winner.