Added later

As I have posted in the past, there are a number of stories in our scripture that were not a part of the original Bible.

The story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8, is not in our oldest manuscripts.  It was added later.  And if you look at the story, it is unJesuslike.  [is that a word???]  He shames the guilty party which is unlike him, and he only calls out the woman, not the man.  Not illustrative of Jesus normal treatment of women.

The ending of Mark was added later.  Thank God, we don't have to handle snakes or drink deadly poison.  By the way, the reason for the addition of the expanded ending is worth reading about.  Evidently early Christians were not satisfied with how the book originally ended.  I am not going to get into it here, but there is plenty to read on the internet about why these verses were added.

There are other verses that were added for various reasons.  Usually because it supported that particular scribe's theology.

Today I want to mention the books of 1 and 2 Timothy.  Although attributed to Paul, scholars will tell you that they were not written by Paul.  They are works of later authors.  There are three reasons for this.

1. The grammar is markedly different than other books attributed to Paul.
2. The organization of the church shows a later date... deacons and elders exist in 1 and 2 Timothy. In earlier works, the church is organized by spiritual gifts.
3. Finally, the attitude toward women is generally unlike Paul. The beloved apostle who writes that there is no Jew nor Greek, no male nor female, in Timothy is quoted as saying that women should not speak in church. Yes there is a parallel passage in 1 Cor, but this attitude is not reflective of Paul's normal attitude toward women.

Why does this matter?  Well, we should stop handling snakes.  It is dumb.  And we should stop telling people to go and sin no more.  People are people and they are going to sin.  Finally, we should stop quoting scriptures that demean women.  We are better than this.  The days of controlling and silencing women are long gone.  As are the days of slavery.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Way, truth and life

The following is based partly on a Richard Rohr devotional, I think from last week...

In John 14:6, Jesus says...
"I am the way, the truth and the life..."

Denomination "A" has their "way."

Denomination "A" has their version of the truth.

Denomination "A" thinks that the life that Jesus was referring to was eternal life.

Denomination "A" wants us to believe that their version of way, truth and life is what Jesus was talking about.

Hmmm.  I disagree.  If their way is exclusive or judgmental, it is not Jesus' way.  If their version of truth includes being unkind to others, well, that is not a Jesus thing.  And life, well, it is more complicated, it is bigger than their idea of it.

In fact, all of God's ideas, all of Jesus' ideas are bigger than ours.  What Jesus meant by the "way" the "truth" and the "life" has to be bigger than the borders and boundaries set by narrow human definitions..

 Don't worry about the dogma of Denomination "A."  Just get up every day and do your best to follow the way of the loving God.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good. 

At Caesarea Philippi

Cave at left = gates of hell.  Note alcoves cut into the rock for idols.

peaceful, parklike setting

Old man saying his prayers.

On every Holy Land trip, there is a visit to Caesarea Philippi. This is a lovely park like setting in the northern part of Israel. This is where people came to worship their Gods for centuries prior to Jesus. This is where the gaping cave is, that is referred to in the new testament as "the gates of hell."

This is also the place where Jesus had his famous discussion with the disciples about "who do you say that I am?"

Mk 8:27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
The Way of the Cross
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.

In my experience, the church was very big at celebrating Peter's recognition of Jesus as the Messiah.  And we were taught that we should believe in him too.

The church I grew up in however, totally ignored the next group of teachings, which is all about Jesus' suffering, where Jesus' followers are invited to take up a cross.

In the scripture, Peter is celebrated for the Jesus as Messiah remark, but then chastised by Jesus for missing the rest of his message.  So should we modern Christians be.

It is not enough to confess Jesus as lord, if we don't follow him into a life of self denial, kindness and other centeredness.  It is not that they go together... the first, without the second, is meaningless.

It will always be better to follow than to believe.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Believing and following

You know that my brain has been stuck here for a number of years...

When we believe in Jesus, we can begin feel like we "got it right."  Too often, this goes to the head of a Christian and they begin to tell others that they are right and the others are wrong.  Christian brains, full of knowledge and belief can be very detrimental to the actual work of Jesus.

When we focus on knowing and believing it in just the right way, we forget that the real work of Jesus is not to convert people to belief in him, but to convert people to his lifestyle.  Followers get this.  Believers miss this.

What Jesus wants, is not people whose brains are full of doctrines.   What Jesus wants are people whose hands are reaching out to the poor and needy.  He wants people who's hands are reaching to everyone.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to do the good.

Please tell me that I am ok

Someone please tell me that I am ok.  I get that feeling from time to time.  Do you?  I don't think that makes us weak, I just think that it makes us honest.  Don't worry about me, I am ok.

Life brings it's changes.  Some of them leave us feeling lost and confused.  The last few weeks I have not had much work, and I don't sit still very well.  I also went to the doctor, the dermatologist, and had six spots burned off, frozen off of my carcass.  Three were on the top of my head.  If that does not make a person feel old I don't know what does.

I look at my arms and they look like my Dad's arms.

I love going to church because my friends there make me feel like I am ok.  But the world is still a very big place and sometimes I wish my Dad was around to talk to.

I am ok.  You are ok.  We are all ok.  Sometimes we need to remind ourselves, and one another that God loves us and we are ok.  Nothing is wrong.  Everything is ok.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Life is not fair

Life is not fair.  No amount of praying, no insistence on our part will change that.  No wishing will make a difference.  You can create a fable about how God makes the world fair if you have enough faith, but it will never be true.

Life is not fair.

In this life, we cannot expect to sculpt circumstances that make us happy.  We can do what we can, but there will always be those days when the world does not align itself to our liking.

And, we are Americans!  Fat, comfortable, and enjoying one of the highest standards of living of any people, ever.

The people in Turkey know that life is not fair.
Canaanites, killed by Moses and the invading Israelites knew that life was not fair.
Ukrainians know that life is not fair.
If you are born in Haiti, you know that life is not fair.

Life just isn't fair.

We Americans need to complain less.  We need to work harder to make the world a better place.  Life will never be fair, but we can do what we can to make life more tolerable for those who have less that we do.

It's a beautiful, though unfair day in God's world, be sure to see and work for the good.

MAD

I was mad.  MAD!!!

I needed gas.  My car was down to 25 miles to empty.  Now my car needs premium these days because otherwise it runs like a dog.  I buy the premium gas at Sams because it is significantly less expensive than the other stations.

I also go there early to avoid the lines and crowds.

I woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head.  I jumped into the car and headed to Sams gas station.  The pumps were open.  I pulled up to one.  I hopped out, grabbed my wallet and then realized that my Sams card was at home.

Before my recent trip, I had taken out all of the extra cards, not needed in Israel.  No card.  I drove eight miles for nothing.  I was mad!!!

Who was I mad at?  I wanted to blame someone.  My wife?  You???  I wanted to blame someone else but then I realized that the only person to blame was me myself.  

Sometimes in life we just have to take responsibility for what’s happening and stop trying to blame others. I forgot. It was my fault. But I finally went home, got the card, and gassed up. Now I’m happy.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

The Osprey

I had just finished my handyman job.  It was 11am and I had been working at a home a few hundred yards from the beach.  I loaded my tools into the vehicle and settled into the driver's seat.  That is when I noticed the osprey [sea eagle, bird of prey].

He/She was calling out repeatedly.  I rolled the car up closer and took his picture.  Then I got to wondering what he was up to.  I honked the horn, and he flew off.

And then I got to see what he was all excited about.  LUNCH!!!  Whether he was inviting a mate to join in the feast or telling others to keep away, he was pretty excited about his catch.

The fish on the other hand, not that excited.

And so, here is another chapter in the daily story of paying attention.  What is out there that we can see?  What is out there that we can value?  What is happening in God's world that we could see if we were paying attention?

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Last thoughts from a friend

My friend Maribeth passed away. Her service was last week.
One of the last things that She posted on her Facebook page said…

Things to do today:

• Breathe in
• Breathe out
• Giggle
• Hug
• Give
• Receive
• Sparkle
• Be Grateful
• Repeat

Please read this again, and stop to consider the advice.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

I didn't know

I didn't know.  I didn't know that there was a right side up and an upside down.  I didn't know that the smelly oil would leak onto the counter.

When I was a kid, these things did not exist.  They are another one of many creations invented by someone for us to spend money on.  Who needs them.  

Anyway, without permission, I unplugged one to charge a razor.  Then a couple of days later, I plugged it back in, evidently upside down, and all of the good smelling juices drained out.

Stupid husband.

I didn't know.  Well, now that you mention it, there are many things that I did not know.  Many things that I do not know.  I think that we would all be better off if we recognized the limits of our knowledge.  No one in this life should act like a know it all.

We don't know it all.  Therefore, approach every situation with grace.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

The Gospel

Kate Bowler, in her book, Everything happens for a reason, and other lies that I have believed asks the question: "What if being people of the gospel meant that we are simply people with goodness?  God is here.  We are loved.  It is enough."

Bingo!  Score!  Hit the nail on the head!

The gospel is not about having enough faith to be healed.  The gospel is not about what you think or don't think about the Bible.  It is not about being wealthy.  It is not about a social standing.  It is not about worshiping in the correct way.  

The Gospel or good news is simple.  That is why they call it good news.  God is here.  We are loved.  We are here to share it.  Go thou and do likewise.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Subtraction

Our entire lives, we have been taught that spirituality is a matter of addition.  Add this practice to your life.  Add this list of beliefs.  Go to this seminar and learn the truths of the end of times.  Buy this product.  Believe this junk.

Enough.

Adding more ideas to our brains has only complicated our living.  We need to jettison much of the junk that we have collected over the years, so that love, which is centrally important, can take it's rightful place.

Many great teachers have taught that spirituality is not found in addition, but in subtraction.  We need to have a garage sale of the heart and mind.  Throw out into the trash, ideas and beliefs that are simply just piling on.

God doesn't care what you think of Biden.  God doesn't care what I think of spiritual gifts.  God isn't hung up on our beliefs about worship styles.

God does care that we are people of love.  Subtract the rest.  Get rid of that which is getting in the way.  

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Hatred is a weight

The natural state of the human heart is happiness. But because of our upbringing, because of our programming, our lives can get filled with negativity. Negativity and selfishness hold us down and hold us back from our God designed purpose. Sometimes hatred blinds us and prevents us from listening to our hearts.

I believe that there is within us, a goodness, and we know that it is down there, but it can’t rise to the top because we’re so angry or hurt, or seized upon by negativity.

Oh, for the moments when we can let the negativity go so we can drop the anger and hatred. That is when the love will rise to the top. That is when we can enjoy the wholeness that we were created to experience.  That is when we can find freedom and joy. 

Try it. Release yourself from your anger. Let the thing go. See if your heart doesn't rise a little bit higher.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Hearts attached

I think that some of the hardest things in life to fix are the things that are closest to us.  The more our heart is attached to a thing, the more we feel the pain.

And when I think about it, others can have similar problems, but since they are not my problems, I don't feel the pain quite so intensely.  

We should keep working to fix what we can.

But sometimes, we need to release ourselves from the idea that we have to fix everything.  Some things are crosses to be borne.  Sometimes we have to make friends with difficulty.

Sometimes, in spite of the painful things that our hearts are attached to, we have to go on.  We have to press on.  We have to live our lives.

And so, it is a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to do your best, no matter how your heart is attached to a thing, do your best to see the good.

Valentines Day

1 Cor 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Only love matters.

What we think about the trinity does not matter.

What every you think about the second coming does not matter.

Catholic?  Methodist?  Baptist?  Irrelevant.

Being a Chiefs fan or an Eagles fan does not matter.

Republican?  Democrat?  meaningless in the larger scope.

Sprinkled?  Immersed?  Not baptized... it doesn't matter.  Only love matters.

We humans get full of ourselves for all sorts of reasons.  None of them amount to a hill of beans.

Being a person of love and sharing love is all that matters.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Words from Egypt

How do you end posts about a trip that was so cool?

Not sure.  It was fun to share the pictures with you all.  It was a great trip with great folks.

A couple of things that I picked up about our culture from ancient Egypt.

We refer to death as a crossing over, or a crossing over the river.  In Ancient Egypt, the people worshiped on the East Bank of the Nile.  That is where the temples were.  The tombs were on the west side of the Nile.  So when someone died, they "crossed over" from one side of the Nile to the other.  They crossed from the world of the living to the place of the dead.

Temples on one side, tombs on the other.  They crossed the river.

Steve Elkins in one of the tombs in the valley of the Kings.
West side of the Nile.

Carving/Paintings inside one of the tombs.
The deceased is in a boat, crossing over.

Second thing that I learned.  It is said that when one died and they were mummified, their heart needed to be lighter than a feather.  If your heart weighed more than a feather, then you did not enter life after death.  So there was much emphasis on being kind and gracious, and thus, light hearted.

Heavy heartedness was bad.  Light hearted was good.  And God hardened Pharaoh's heart.  Light hearted is much better.

May we all cross over, when the time comes, with a light heart!!!

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Baptisms

One of the highlights of the trip to the Holy Land is always the baptismal site on the Jordan River.  43 folks were on our trip, 20 or so remembered their baptism at the Jordan.

me, Rob Lundeen, Sherri Swanson

Dawn Viets prepares to remember her baptism.

It is hard to explain these heartwarming moments.  Such memories will stay with us as long as we live.

We felt God's presence and we felt his love.  Due to the pandemic, I had not been to the Holy Land for four years... I hope to get back next year.  The trip was that good.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Temples

 Words cannot describe the temples that we have seen.  They are incredible and they should be considered "wonders of the world."  The talent of ancient stone masons is beyond belief.  The size of the monuments is way beyond what I was expecting.  They left me with my mouth hanging open...

Every now and then, we humans need something that reminds us that we are not "all that."  We are not as smart or as important as we think.  Every now and then we need to be brought back down to earth.  There is something bigger than you and I.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Travelling on the Nile River

This is awesome.  I am in denial.  [the Nile]

After our visit to Israel, 29 of us continued on and toured Egypt.  Part of the trip was a Nile Cruise.  Along the river, we saw great ruins, lots of river cruise boats, and daily life of the common Egyptian.

typical Nile cruise ship.  Temple ruins behind.

sitting on the balcony, watching the Nile go by.

simple life along the banks

One of the things that I have been struck by on this trip is the great riches of ancient Egypt, and the abject poverty of so many in modern Egypt.  Children and adults, begging for food.  Children going thru dumpsters for food.  Street vendors being negotiated down to where they plead with the buyer to help them feed their family.

We are so so so very very very fortunate.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Bus Breakdown

So we are travelling across the Sinai desert in two busses.  Our group and another group.  We are following the path of Moses in the wilderness.  One of the busses decides to break down.  After a long discussion and several attempts to fix the bus, it becomes clear that it is dead.

It became my job to inform the passengers on our bus that 35 people from the other bus would be joining us.  Most took this in stride.  One person, not from our group complained, and I told them to go and talk with the guide them self if they wished to do so.  They stopped complaining.

We had 9 open seats, so there were lots of people who had to stand.  It was a full bus.  Way over OSHA or DOT standards.  But we did what we had to do.

The wait along side of the road was about an hour.

Ladies turn everything into a photo shoot.
Mackenzie Veits, Dawn Veits, Pam Dittmer and Sherri Swanson.

Police cars behind us.  Evidently when travelling through the Sinai Desert, there is always a police escort.  And, now being stuck on the side of the road for an hour, we were glad that they were there.

Steve Elkins shouts hallelujah behind the group. 
Abby Pepper is added to the right.

You can't always control what happens to you, but you can always control your response.  I was very proud of our group and how they handled the hour long ride into Sharm el Sheik in a very overloaded bus.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

The Tomb is Empty

There is some debate about the exact place of Jesus burial.  Since 350AD, Catholics, Orthodox and most believers recognized the Church of the Holy Sephlechur as the place.  In 1867 a rock hewn tomb as unearthed outside the city walls that many visit on pilgrimage today.

It is likely that neither place is the exact place, but both are in proximity.  The garden tomb however, has the feeling of what we learned in Sunday School.  At the site there is a beautiful garden.  We gather as a group for singing and Holy Communion.  Then the crew gets to go in and visit the tomb.

Bobbi Myers

John Carlson

Bill Carpenter

Christin Drake

It was a lovely experience at the tomb.  It has been four years since I was last in the Holy Land.  Visiting there made me want to return.  Next time, with a better knee.  Let me know if you are interested in a future trip.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

The Israeli Holocast Museum

We visited Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust museum.  Pictures are not allowed inside, but no pictures are needed, as the sights inside will not be forgotten by those who visit.

I am sure that you all know that this is a place that is dedicated to the need to remember the six million Jews that were killed during WW2.  There is a similar museum in Washington DC and one in St. Petersburg, FL.  If you have not visited one, I highly recommend it.

From time to time, we human beings need to stop and take stock in what evil may lurk within.

One of the quotes that I saw in the museum, "A country is not defined just by what it does, it is also defined by what it allows."

What are we in the USA allowing to happen in our world, that we have the power to stop?

There is an avenue of trees planted in honor of those
who helped Jews escape death during WW2

There is a room with maybe a million lights,
where the names of the murdered children are read.

When you come out of the museum, you are greeted with a view
of the skyline of Jerusalem with cranes building for the future. 
May we all remember the past, but also celebrate and invest in the future.

It was a sobering day in God's world, may we all stop and see the good.  May we all strive to be the good.

 

Western Wall and Teaching Steps

 The Western Wall is the only part of Herod's Temple that is still in existence.  It is actually a foundation wall that holds up the temple mount.  It is a historic place for Jews to pray.  Woods Chapel has a prayer wall in the coffee bar area that is styled after the Western Wall.

The teaching steps are on the Southern end of the temple mount.  They were uncovered during archaeological work in the last few decades.  These are steps where Jesus would have stood to teach the people and have discussions with the Pharisees.

We ran into musicians that are hired for Bar Mitzvahs.  
They played and we danced!!!

Bill and Pam Carpenter on the teaching steps

Tom and Duanna Mathis, Sandy Lavelle, Dawn Viets.
Back row: Gina Harris, Joni Horn.

First Century street.  Pile of rubble is from when the
Romans pushed down the temple stones.

Many Bar Mitzvahs are celebrated here.
The Father has raised the son, and now he is 
celebrating the son's coming of age.

The Western or Wailing wall

Steve Potter and Kent Bradford at the wall.

A cute Jewish boy was posing for pics by his mom.
I got a couple of good pictures too.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.