Books fascinate me and there is nothing I like better than having a "good" book to read. I have read many books about Jesus and to my amazement more and more are being written. The Jesus book I am know reading is titled "JESUS MEAN AND WILD".
I find scripture itself to have new meaning each time I read it. I love Jewish writers that reveal a whole new meaning to the Old Testament. Then there are people like Johathan Goldstein, at an early age thinking he wanted to be a rabbi, has now written a book described as neurotic and irreverent all about the stories of the Old Testament. His relationship to religion is certainly not very "religous" and his approach to faith is "We try to reject it with the rational mind, but it hovers like a giant question mark that won't go away." So he uses humor to describe that God knows what he is doing.
We need to find more humor in holiness which seems almost like a contradiction but where would we be if we could not laugh at our own mistakes and see other people as different from us and yet in many ways the same.
At Colebrook church we sometimes do what is called sharing the peace of
Christ as we say "The Lord be with you" and we shake a hand of give a hug.
Several weeks ago I met the "hugger" so enthusiastic he rabs his arms around you and crushes the breath out of you. He did this to Shirley Fowler our dear elderly friend and hurt her. She had tears in her eyes and was shaken up. Evidently he has been told by the minister and by others and they put their hands up to show they do not want to be hugged. He apologized again and again to Shirley.
We had a beautiful church service where Randy, we do not call them reverent anymore, built on the theme of the celebration of Native spirituality. I had mentioned the week before that it was a day to remember their past and for us to help them on their difficult journey.
We came demanding them to learn our religion and took away their freedom to live out their stories. One thing I have learned reading is that we all have our opinions about faith, about Jesus and definetly about God.
I was so fortunate to have such good memories in my childhood to build a loving faith upon. This faith has changed from being simple to becoming complex but the wonder and the joy never leaves me.
I wish others could know the comfort and security and the amazing energy that radiates in the beauty of this world. My life has known many sad and lonely moments struggling with undiagnosed illness which was even wrongly diagnosed. I was told I had house wife's disease {what is that] to being told I had less than a year to live. The years of past poor health have had some lingering affect but I consider myself healthy and so fortunate that I can enjoy walking and seeing nature and meeting others and greeting them.
I have learned the wisdom that comes when you pray and the blessing that can touch others you pray for. I believe that we need to think positive thoughts about each other and that also can be a way of blessing them.
My dearest friend Jane and I do not agree on everything but she has helped me find a more balance way of understanding faith. I am learning to listen to others if they are sincere in their searching. Yes, we Christians have been told we think we know it all but I have never met an unbeliever that was not certain of what they believed and would mock the faith of us who are believers.
The world needs all kinds of people with different opinions and I am willing to learn but not to let go of my faith upon which I have built my life and which has carried me through "troubled water". I am no hero I do not think I have ever saved a life in some dramatic way but I have had an influence on others.
I find scripture itself to have new meaning each time I read it. I love Jewish writers that reveal a whole new meaning to the Old Testament. Then there are people like Johathan Goldstein, at an early age thinking he wanted to be a rabbi, has now written a book described as neurotic and irreverent all about the stories of the Old Testament. His relationship to religion is certainly not very "religous" and his approach to faith is "We try to reject it with the rational mind, but it hovers like a giant question mark that won't go away." So he uses humor to describe that God knows what he is doing.
We need to find more humor in holiness which seems almost like a contradiction but where would we be if we could not laugh at our own mistakes and see other people as different from us and yet in many ways the same.
At Colebrook church we sometimes do what is called sharing the peace of
Christ as we say "The Lord be with you" and we shake a hand of give a hug.
Several weeks ago I met the "hugger" so enthusiastic he rabs his arms around you and crushes the breath out of you. He did this to Shirley Fowler our dear elderly friend and hurt her. She had tears in her eyes and was shaken up. Evidently he has been told by the minister and by others and they put their hands up to show they do not want to be hugged. He apologized again and again to Shirley.
We had a beautiful church service where Randy, we do not call them reverent anymore, built on the theme of the celebration of Native spirituality. I had mentioned the week before that it was a day to remember their past and for us to help them on their difficult journey.
We came demanding them to learn our religion and took away their freedom to live out their stories. One thing I have learned reading is that we all have our opinions about faith, about Jesus and definetly about God.
I was so fortunate to have such good memories in my childhood to build a loving faith upon. This faith has changed from being simple to becoming complex but the wonder and the joy never leaves me.
I wish others could know the comfort and security and the amazing energy that radiates in the beauty of this world. My life has known many sad and lonely moments struggling with undiagnosed illness which was even wrongly diagnosed. I was told I had house wife's disease {what is that] to being told I had less than a year to live. The years of past poor health have had some lingering affect but I consider myself healthy and so fortunate that I can enjoy walking and seeing nature and meeting others and greeting them.
I have learned the wisdom that comes when you pray and the blessing that can touch others you pray for. I believe that we need to think positive thoughts about each other and that also can be a way of blessing them.
My dearest friend Jane and I do not agree on everything but she has helped me find a more balance way of understanding faith. I am learning to listen to others if they are sincere in their searching. Yes, we Christians have been told we think we know it all but I have never met an unbeliever that was not certain of what they believed and would mock the faith of us who are believers.
The world needs all kinds of people with different opinions and I am willing to learn but not to let go of my faith upon which I have built my life and which has carried me through "troubled water". I am no hero I do not think I have ever saved a life in some dramatic way but I have had an influence on others.
1 comment:
Hi, just wanted to check in, I am back to work and busy of course.
Did a quick read over the blogs I have missed.
Sandra
Post a Comment