Wawa shall...

...work for the Sabbath.



Not all that easy though - what with working under Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

This is where a strength beyond my own is needed.

sigh.

In God's Name

Early this morning, the Husband took the car as he was going for a day-hike about 3 hours out of Melbourne. Problem was, my house key was in the glove compartment, so I was stuck at home. With nothing much to do, I turned the TV on, which is something I don't do often. Incidentally they were showing the documentary In God's Name, by Jules and Gedeon Naudet.

12 of the world's most influential religious leaders were interviewed and followed around for a day - The Pope, the chief Rabbi of Israel, some Christian leaders (including the head of the Russian Orthodox church), two Muslim leaders, the Dalai Lama, the Sikhs' leader, a Hindu spiritual leader, and the Japanese Shinto High Priest.

I watched in awe, not only of the massive diversity of followers and ways of practice, but even more so the COMMONALITIES of the beliefs and hope that they shared. It is hard to imagine the commonalities between these people from extremely different backgrounds is due to coincidence. It is easy to say the commonalities shared is due to our humanity - which is precisely right. The question is, where would our humanity come from, if these commonalities are not a coincidence?

What's in a name?

“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name” [Deut 5:11]

For years and years I couldn’t actually bring myself to use the name Jesus.

It could be due to years of being exposed, directly or indirectly, to bible-bashers – generations of people who use the name Jesus to run their own agenda; from the Crusades to the Inquisition to the “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” picket signs.

It has been misused; and now we all feel yuck. We feel yuck to associate ourselves with the “god” that people have been portraying; we feel yuck to associate ourselves with the “jesus” that some ”Christians” have been portraying.

A fellow speechie and I were talking just the other day about sensory issues; how certain experiences in the past will make us aversive to different textures or sensations in the future – like being forced to eat that one green pea on our plate may lead to an aversion to peas for years to come, because of that immediate negative association we’ve made.

Perhaps similarly, we now make an immediate negative association with the name Jesus or Christianity. Even I do that – but really as a product of being exposed and aware of all the crap that has gone on, or is going on.

SPTG talked about the Ten Commandments were given to Moses as rules or guidelines to building a life*-giving community; given to a people who were entrenched in slavery for years, and now suddenly had freedom. He also mentioned how the relevance of this particular commandment is more for the above, than merely using “God’s name in vain”, e.g. merely saying something like “Oh My LOOORD!”

I used to be told off at school to “not use God’s name in vain” whenever I exclaimed “oh my god!” as it was “in the 10 Commandments” (WHICH IRRITATED THE HELL OUT OF ME!).

I wonder which was more destructive to humankind – the Spanish Inquisition, or my exclamation?

My God – let me be careful to not use your name to run my agenda; to leave people with “no choice” since “GOD had a say in it”; to use you. Continue to reveal to me, and others, how indeed beautiful and powerful and pure the name Jesus is – untainted by men; so let it be.

refreshed and rejuvenated...

... and ready to roll!

i'm hurting too.

I shouldn't, I suppose, but.

quotation

H (after dinner): I should have bought some fruit. Never mind, we'll have ice-cream. Chocolate is a fruit.

forbes billionaire list

Hubby was checking out Forbes 2010 Billionaires' list and came across the Malaysian billionaire Ananda Krishnan, worth US$7.4b, ranked #89 on the list. A short biography ends with "Has a son who is a monk and lives in a forest". Random, but thought it amusing.

Calibration

O LORD, God-of Heaven, the great and awesome God, loyal to His covenant and faithful to those who love him and obey his commands [from Nehemiah Ch 1]

Nehemiah starts his prayer with a exclamation of how awesome and great God is, and making mention of his loyalty and faithfulness. I suppose for a while there it had seemed to me that Nehemiah was (i) sucking up or shoe-shining to God, before asking for whatever it is he wanted ("Oh Santa, that beard is so soft - what conditioner do you use? Oh, and could I have an iPad pleeeaaase, pretty please with a cherry on top?");

or maybe others have thought Nehemiah was just (ii) telling/informing God how cool and wonderful he is ("Hi God you may-or-may-not be aware that you are great and awesome"). Much like how some folks think that God needs our worship; he needs us to tell him how great He is. Like He is Ultraman with His light beeping indicating low levels of energy and how he needs our worship to recharge his power (perhaps this is too far-fetched an analogy...)

God doesn't need anything. God is not someone we have to manja (sorry, there is just no English word for this) to get things our way.

I think Nehemiah starts his prayer as such, like Jesus starts his prayer in Matthew 6 ("Our Father in heaven" - no, it's not that Jesus needed to remind God his "address"), to recalibrate themselves their perception of God. To realigned themselves to who God is, in order to realign to His purpose. It's to remind us, wee humans, who we're dealing with.

I think worship is similar. We sing songs of God's goodness and hope and promise, not to make God happy because he likes the E major 7 chord. We sing such songs to remind us and to recalibrate ourselves to Him, and that makes Him happy.

Remind me to be recalibrated; remind me to remember who You are. Remind me that I will never stop needing reminders.

Word and Prayer; Map and Compass; Truth and Grace

I'm excited for what this year will bring. I'm excited to see how God moves this year. There is emphasis at Expedition to delve further and focus on the Word and prayer this year, and I'm actually excited, believe it or not.

So much about prayer I do not comprehend; my scope limited to asking for what I want, like a kid asking Santa for a list of things. Not like there's anything wrong about asking; most of the time it's hardly a problem about what we're asking for, but I suppose I have been a bit shallow with the "why we're asking".

A structured tool to help me rookie get started on this involves the acronym p.r.a.y:

1. Praise(Adoration; 'Eucharistia' thanksgiving)/Pour out (Immersion) - "Our Father in heaven"
   Be honest about where you are; what are you thankful for/disappointed at
   
2. Refocus/Reach forward (Adherence)- "Hallowed (kept holy) be Your name; Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"
   Think about what's ahead ("After all that Jesus has done, I believe that..."). Share your goals and how they align with kingdom purposes. Intercession. What's my hope? What has been promised?
   
3. Ask/Appropriate together/Cooperation/Communion - "Give us today our daily bread; Forgive our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors"
   The Spirit is already at work around you - request boldly. What can I pray for? Itemise your obstacles and needs.
   
4. Yearn together/ Yield (Consecration) - "[For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever - so let it be]"
   You have been given all you need - now let go. "I dedicate this to You - may...". Hold hope together before God.

This seems to give me more clarity as to what I'm praying, and hoping for. It has helped me refocus a bit more on what goes on in my daily life; what I pray for; or what I hope to pray for.

Admittedly I haven't been a gung-ho prayerful person. I'm often caught up with what I can do, or what I ought to know. But when living life, SPTG likens Word to a map, prayer to a compass.