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Tag: family

  • Thanks-taking feasts of C.E. humankind

    Thanks-taking feasts of C.E. humankind

    A BIG meal of little thanks in a long season of thanklessness.

    Giving Thanks to the LORD

    O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

    1 Chronicles 16: KJV – v.34

    16:34 הוֹדוּ לַיהוָה

    We know the concept well — yāḏâ Yᵊhōvâ, from the Hebrew. This instance from a Psalm of David given to the priest for worship before the Ark of the Covenant. It is sometimes translated as ‘confess‘ (rather than ‘thank‘) the LORD.

    “THANK GOD,” we might proclaim as a call to worship, at the table of sacrifice or in the place of the feast.

    We also find Biblical lessons of thanks where God is involved but the ‘thanks‘ points to another or some provision by God.

    The New English Translation uses a negative application of thanks referring to original sin.

    But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

    Genesis 3:17 NET 
    What has fallen away from the grace of God on YOUR account?

    ‘When He had given thanks..’

    Our New Testament images of ‘thanks-giving’ mostly recall meals and feasts.

    And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people.

    Mark 8:6 KJV

    Some will recognize the Greek root from which we derive this:

    εὐχαριστέω – eucharisteō

    from G2170; to be grateful, i.e. (actively) to express gratitude (towards); specially, to say grace at a meal:

    And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:

    .. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

    Gospel of Luke 17:19-20 KJV
    Don't miss that feasts of the Lord God (by various names and in every season) ought to glorify God as WE give thanks for His provision, salvation and mercy.

    Recent Thanksgivings of the Common Era

    Scrooge - A Christmas Carol

    Any who have READ my Thanks-giving posts of previous years may observe that occasionally I am haunted by ghosts of holidays past. Indeed most recently I have chosen to neglect Thanksgiving more than Christmas.

    COVID – The Sĭn’ch WHO Stole Thanksgiving
    November 26, 2020 of the Common Era
    Thanksgiving: We’re a little late and Christmas a little early
    November 17, 2017 of the Common Era
    the Grinch who first stole then celebrated the 'holidays'

    Dr. Seuss
    Scrooge, Santa & the Grinch in days of sadness

    Thanksgiving toast by the turkey

    “Watch for the coming ‘blitzchris’ of ads and marketing this week leading with holiday headlines of Thanksgiving and Christmas. From television to social media, mega-marketing messages will be unavoidable and ruthlessly relentless.

    Thanksgiving turkey telling off Santa to wait till December

    Thanks-taking

    What is YOUR take away from the Thanksgiving and Christmas ‘holidays‘ of the Common Era?

    It all started when the ‘back to school’ specials came off the shelf.

    BLACK FRIDAY and beyond…

    Guess who I found on my own site when I searched for Santa?

    Thanks-giving in the days of our Lord by the ghosts of our Christmases past were long-ago lured into hurried holidays of Thanks-TAKING easily consumed in a ‘joy OF the world.’

    Taking it all in with OUR own spin

    In order not to offend the inner-human insensitivities of the pagan purveyors of nature-ruled consumers seated at our 'Thanksgiving' table, 
perhaps tolerance of our fleshly excesses must rule over traditional manners of this Thanks-taking family feast. 

(Just for a day, of course, NO thanks-giving to God AND especially NO glory to JESUS Christ, even by acknowledgement of God's only Son in OUR prayer of 'thanks.'

    Thanks-taking in 2023 of the Common Era

    Christ Jesus (of the former years of our Lord) after all, has no place at the table of sinners here briefly today to give thanks for all of our taking. AND

    Every American at the table this Thanksgiving must seek freedom FROM religion (rather than becoming a Pilgrim fleeing persecution for the faith of our forefathers).

    Please note intended ironic contrast of Thanksgivings ‘in the years of our Lord’ AND in the ‘Common Era’ of these recent years.

    WE are no Dickens or Spurgeon of the A.D. 19th century observing the hopeless tide of poor children begging blessing just beyond the churches of London.

    WE are no A.D. 18th c. Washington (an Anglican), Adams (a Congregationalist), Witherspoon (a Presbyterian signer of the Declaration of Independence) or Jonathon Edwards, President of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) who famously preached “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.”

    Source above: The Founding Fathers, Deism, and Christianity

    SINNERS IN THE HANDS
    OF AN ANGRY GOD
    “Their foot shall slide in due time” (Deut. xxxii. 35)

    AND certainly WE no longer reside in the New World of our forefathers but thank each other for our forefathers of REASON and idolic mother NATURE for the feast of this day.

    Shall WE thank God for our Thanksgiving?

    Common Era culture including many 'christians' have eliminated our previous acknowledgement of the Lord Jesus Christ as the center-line of our world's history. 

Before Christ NOW becomes B.C.E. (meaning INSTEAD of Christ). 

Before Thanksgiving became 'Thanks-taking' Before Christmas 
(Make that: Before the holiday crowds).

Yet B.C.E. perhaps most appropriately refers to the centuries of these last days when Christians could thank God at Thanksgiving, that is:
+ IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD = centuries A.D. 1- A.D. 20.

    A previous Thanksgiving

    Was it A.D. 2014 or 2014 C.E.?

    You decide from the link above or brief excerpts below.
    • Who does the heathen, the unbeliever, thank?
      • Do you thank yourself for what you have given yourself this past year… for your successes in this brief moment of your mortal time in human flesh? … Why would you have gratitude to any, if you have not gratitude to God?
    • 2 Samuel 22
      • Is there any question who David is thanking for his life – for his deliverance from Saul? David thanks God. David praises the Lord for saving him. David takes refuge in God. Do you?

    “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
    The One who is and who was and who is to come,
    Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.

    from the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostle John 11:17 NKJV

    Today, on this Thanks-giving of the Common Era, I praise our Lord God; the Father, Son and Holy Sprit Who IS, and Was and Will BE worthy of our continual THANKS and praise.

    And I thank YOU, dear reader and student of Scripture, for sharing your thanks with others of this Common Era in these Thanks-taking last days of 2023.

    Roger

    Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

  • 5 friends, a few mentors and family

    5 friends, a few mentors and family

    Paul – Barnabas and other Friends

    Recalling our journeys with friends

    How many friends have you had in this brief journey of your life?

    • Who are the first friends YOU remember?
      • And where are they NOW?

    In the cover photo from my copy of “Friendship” Emerson suggests that we miss much and mostly undervalue those dear souls we briefly encounter in life.

    Acts of the apostles’ friends

    Acts Apostolos - Acts 1 of the Apostles begins a 28 chapter account of the chronicles of Christ's Apostles - a history of Christ's Church

    Barnabas, I remind us here, was also an apostle (one sent out), from the Greek word indicating the authority of a delegate or messenger sent forth with orders.

    The mission of apostles sent by the Holy Spirit does not diminish any importance of their individual relationships — men maturing together as brothers of the family of Christ.

    The apostle Paul

    Chronologically the apostle’s account (from later in Acts) will recall what Luke recorded previously in Acts 9 and illuminates the timeline of Paul’s journeys as I noted last time.

    “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

    Acts of the Apostles 22:3 ESV – Paul recounting his pervious conversion to Christ ~ AD 37

    We will return to Paul’s second mission shortly & proceed observantly ahead from our half-verse of Acts 16:1a near the beginning of the apostle’s 2nd missionary journey.

    Yet something about the recent split between Paul and Barnabas still bothers me..

    39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 

    Acts of the Apostles 15:39-40 ESV

    What was it about the friendship of Barnabas and Paul breaking up that I found somewhat disturbing?

    WHY did these friends separate after this second argument?

    • Was it how Barnabas insisted on John Mark joining them — a young man who deserted these friends previously now replacing Paul as Barnabas and now has departed for Cypress with Mark?
    • Did the apostle simply expect loyalty to a co-worker in the Gospel?
    • Or perhaps loyalty of Barnabas to Paul who had witnessed the risen Christ Jesus?

    Recall from earlier, just before their first missionary journey:

    So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.

    Acts of the Apostles 11:25-26a ESV

    We know that Barnabas had been Paul’s mentor. And now this ‘son of encouragement’ seems to abandon the apostle for a new and younger co-worker in the Gospel?

    Did Joseph of Cypress now choose John Mark or perhaps witnessing to his family on Cypress over his long-time disciple and friend Saul of Tarsus?

    (‘How dare he,’ we mistakenly think while not considering roles best-known to the Holy Spirit.)

    We all question former choices of a friend when something goes amiss in the relationship don’t we? ESPECIALLY when something does NOT go according to plan.

    Yet the Apostle knew his Scripture well:

    And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

    Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV

    SO did Paul ask himself,

    ‘Might I need more than one friend to walk alongside and encourage me on my next journey life?’

    Reflections on Friendship

    ‘What ever happened to ___?’

    Not that you want to hear any stories of my missing friends, but this lament of mine for Paul’s loss of the companionship of Barnabas leads me to share such common wonderings. Perhaps my reflections could help us answer unasked questions of our own hearts about the roles of Very Important People in our lives.

    SO allow me to answer my own opening QUESTIONS.

    1. How many friends have you had in this brief journey of your life?
    2. Who are the first friends YOU remember?
    3. Where are they NOW?
    I would love to hear about YOUR friends in a COMMENT at the end of this post.
 
Reminder that no PRIVATE comment will be posted publically.
I may repost your PUBLIC comment as 'anonymous' if you include any identifiable information along with your COMMENT about your friend, mentor or anything else. - RH
    1. I thank God for more than a handful of close personal relationships over many years with several who at one time I cherished as a close friend, a near brother or a beloved sister.
    2. Several I first counted as a friend were classmates in school. Others in college. And still other first encounters of a best friend in a new workplace, local neighborhood or a new church. (I have recalled some recently: some in quiet times, others on a visit home with frequent memories recalled at a wedding or funeral.)
      • 5 friends who God brought to encourage me include:
        • a family friend from our church who mostly journeyed with me from elementary school through high school in the same class
        • a boy who moved to our school and became my best friend as we participated in the same things – in and after school, school and community groups, memorable journeys with other friends in the formative years of our early lives.
        • a mutual new friend who moved into our town whose affable intellect intrigued us
        • another young man whose seat landed alphabetically near mine and whose humor and wit brought joy to my heart. (I later asked this best friend to be the best man at our wedding.)
        • a mentor – actually several of a group of older friends in high school connected by mutual activities and interests who were close and valued friends of my earliest journeys toward commencement.
    3. Mostly, I have lost track of these friends, some with whom I hope to renew an even more glorious friendship in our eternal time together with the risen Christ Jesus. Now most are retired, a few working in places far distant from my everyday mortal life, some I have not and will never see again and others perhaps I might briefly touch before the inevitable failing of the moral flesh.
      • I might add that the mentor-friend who gave me the Friendship book married another friend of this mentor group and another played ‘taps’ a few years back at my father’s funeral.

      Paul’s friends and Mentors

      What was it about the friendship of Barnabas and Paul breaking up that we find somewhat disturbing?

      I miss many friends whose paths have parted from my own journey in life.

      Certainly as I miss my grade school, high school and college friends of so many years ago, Paul will miss his friend, mentor and fellow apostle Barnabas.

      In fact, Paul has had close friends before including teachers such as Gamaliel and Ananias, called by Christ to lead the blind Saul persecutor of disciples to apostles and disciples of Jesus in Damascus, Antioch and Jerusalem.

      Gamaliel and Ananias had more importantly been mentors to Saul of Tarsus, but Paul is about to become a friend and mentor to many new disciples of The Way of Jesus Christ.

      Will Silas become an equal friend to Paul, even as Barnabas had proven to be over the past few years?

      Jesus’ friends, followers and family

      We do well to consider the preciousness of every friendship, relationship and familial connection to others even as the Lord Jesus gives clear instructions to His friends and disciples, the Apostles, His earthly family and any heart yearning for the love of God.

      Gospel of Luke

      5:10b-11 And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

      8:20-21 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

      No special place for family, even His mother Mary or half-brothers James and Jude.

      9 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.. 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

      Jesus is a mentor to his apostles, yet more than that – with the authority of God their Teacher sends them out to begin the healing of sin.

      Later Jesus, their Teacher, will warn his Disciples of the rejection they too will suffer.

      Their friend and Master is about to be delivered up as a Sacrifice on a Cross.

      21:16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.

      QUESTIONS for each of us to ask.

      Who is an apostle, a disciple, a brother, a mentor, a friend?

      .. he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:

      Luke 6:13b ESV

      A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

      Gospel of Luke 40 ESV – μαθητής – disciple or pupil; διδάσκαλος – a teacher

      Acts of friends & apostles of Jesus

      Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

      No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

      Gospel of John 15:13-15 ESV
      Friend, how will you ACT when a brother in Christ asks you to Talk of JESUS?

Won't you comment about your friends? SHARE the Gospel with a friend by quoting my encouragement of friendship with you. Who is your friend who needs some Good News?

      Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

    • Obituary 2: Searching for souls of my family

      Obituary 2: Searching for souls of my family

      Giving up on God

      Today we hearken to the cries of family and the hearts of souls seeking lost meaning not only for the lives of dead (or nearly dead) loved ones, but also crying out for meaning to their own lives. We were born connected to the souls of a family and lament at the loss of any. But crying out to another, pleaing to ‘some One,’ differs from the self-talk of the meaningless question of yesterday’s obituary.

      Yesterday we began this series with a question in song, “Is that all there is? in Obituary: Soul-searching men & women of Dust. We recalled a sweet life which seemed to come up short and introduced the philosophy behind a most famous song where we discovered that these singers and entertainers were part of an extended family with a resolve to pursue life ‘MY WAY.’

      I also suggested your study of an important 20th century philosopher who famously addressed ‘Man’s search for meaning.’ His personal history was well known due to his observations of so many facing death in a concentration camp. Yes, even Frankl discovered that faith in God provides a light of hope in matters of life and death.

      Today’s musical questions

      All those people going somewhere
      Why have I never cared?

      “Is anybody out there? … Does anybody care?”

      What is the difference between the lyrics of these two questioner and the lyrics of yesterday’s post? (Is that all there is?)

      God. Stated differently, the faith of the questioner expressed in song.

      5min 5 sec (if you would like to listen as you read further) Recommend reading the YouTube Comments on this encouraging song focused on Jesus Christ

      What do these lives mean?

      Today’s philosophical question points back to the 20th century. The life and philosophy of Frankl (1905-1997) was grounded in the Great Depression and two World Wars of the 20th century. It is also rooted in Judaism and belief in the Lord God.

      • 1905 – Viktor Emil Frankl is born in Vienna
      • 1914-1918 – WWI – Frankl children sometimes had to beg for food
      • Roaring 20’s, until 1929; then the ‘Great Depression’
      • 1933 – Lillie Klot (stage name: Georgia Brown) born in London, England; Jerome Leiber & Mike Stoller (Is that all there is?) born in US
      • 1940 – Lillie, daughter of Mark and Annie Klot, East European Jewish immigrants, attended school during the London Blitz
      • 1940’s Viktor Frankl survives Nazi concentration camps as many family members perish before liberation by the Americans

      You may have memorialized a few sad biographies of lives cut short in these times. But believe me, as these two songs of today’s post point out God sees lives cut short in these last days of this 21st century as well.

      Family of God

      Is it significant that Frankl and other Jews survived with a higher focus from Scripture ingrained in their memories?

      Scripture instructs the chosen family of God to teach the generations about the Lord. In a follow-up to today’s post we will glance further back into Jewish history from a lesson from the Holy Scripture (of the Old Testament).

      The question today is:

      What do I do when a loved one from MY FAMILY goes against the Lord God?

      And the music playing out in my head:

      Is it a haunting melody of melancholy or perhaps some song which draws your heart to the Messiah of Israel and light of the love of Christ Jesus?

      Original talkofJesus.com post

      Is that all there is (for my family)?
      Summer Reruns! with picture of sun wearing sunglasses
      Summer 2021 AD {Scriptural} Reruns
      • CLICK “…Continue reading ” above,
      • THEN Ask a question or comment at the end of this post
      • OR email Roger@talkofJesus.com with your reaction, questions & comments.

      Stay tuned from more Summer of 2021 Reruns from talkofJESUS.com

      (ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)

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