Saturaday, Morning Prayer- Philippians 2: 2-4, 14-16

Shalom, today I would like to start with a verse to reflect on: "Complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking of one thing." How is this even possible, when we  live to project our own individualism. The same mind, one thought process. Let's go back to the beginning, Genesis. The story of the heavens and earth, told by an storyteller who recorded the events as they unfold or told to him as an child. We know it was an him, because only recently has women played a vital role in today's church and society. God is this dominant male in the sky and Earth is the woman for God setting. Let's begin with the border of the Bible, there was a creation from heavens to mankind. The first seven days of creation in God's counting is good, however, come the eight day sin enter into the world and that was bad. The question here, is this actually the main event or something leading up to the event that will end life as we know it?  Did God not already know this in his planning stage, before creating something so magnificent? Seriously, a bite from an apple from the wrong tree, actually sent the world into total chaos? No, there is something else and according to the Bible that I am using all 2,595 pages, there is a reason why these words some billions years later is at our disposal. The ole saying "God is trying to tell us something" and it is up to us to "want" to find out what that something is and what it means to our human society. Let's reflect on the above verses in Philippians and then retrace the steps from our ancient ruins. While we can, its time to dig deeper and uncover the path, never travel before. Being of one mind as a people of God.

Genesis 1:1 God Turned Water to Wine

Good Morning!  I know you are wondering why I quoted a verse that is not in Genesis or is it? Actually the first scripture in Genesis reads "In the beginning, the spirit of God hover over the face of the earth." The earth was void and then the passage leads us into the journey of the creation story. Later on in the New Testament, the wedding at Cana, we hear the story about Jesus turning water into wine,(John 1:9). In John 19:34, "but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.  There are these unique systems here that God is trying to communicate to us, the tidal wave that God rescues Israel from the jaws of Egypt, the crossing at the Jordan, the fishers at Galilee, the stone jars being filled with water, the samaritan woman at the well, the breaking of the bread and the resurrection of Christ. We are giving a time frame where God and man is one from the beginning of time and still continuing through our existence, why? 

Let's look at our own creation story, I live in the heart of Seattle downtown and there is constant building going on throughout the city, it's a city of continuing growth, that started out just a small  mustard seed surrounded by water and wilderness. We have actually design a system that structure is taller than the human life, tall high rises, corporations, man made villas, lakes, mountains and rockets, space crafts, technology that reflects our own images. However, we have not design a blueprint to sustained life, for me and you. After the many warnings of global warming, we don't stop and rip our garments and beat our breast, we just keep thrusting that soldier spear into our sides and dying to the will of God.We have forgotten about us, the important of breathing in fresh air, appreciate what has already been given to us for free and at no charge. We have built structures that has suffocated and buried the natural soil for the price of profit and a ground that is not solid for our own welfare. We have settle for overprice organic products and gadgets that gives us temporary happiness until the next wave of must haves, signals our brain and we drop nature and run after the sign that reads detour.  Stop right here in our own tracks! This is not our life, we are traveling back into the time of void and only destruction is a choice that is irreversible. Choose to live a natural life and lets breathe life and drink water together. 

You don't have to be religious, the different religions of the world was to house that essence of God and I have to say in some case, we went too far and lost our way to God's will. I am being honest, one of being religious and seeking the face of God. However, God has out grown the man made temples, as well as his people. We are now back from where we started, at the beginning of time, as one people here on earth, regardless of ones belief system. We are treading on deep waters, only to be consume in our own selfies. A journey for the people need to be planned and to embark on this journey to a new land. For the lord of host goes before us and your rear guard is the God of Israel, (Isaiah 52:12). The choice is now, because we have already came around full circle, created from the beginning of time. Together, we must give the steering wheel over to God, so that he may lead us to the new land, our new Jerusalem. No longer the walls that suppressed us, but through the living waters of Christ, that will flow into eternity. 

Read, Reflect, Meditate and Listen: The books of Genesis and John. For those of you new to scripture text, Genesis is in the Old Testament and John is in the New Testament, but begins with "In the beginning".

 

Communal Life

Today is filled with silence and floating thoughts. I picked up my Sunday Missal and begin to read the passage of Acts 2:42-47 and I stop at the word communal. This word struck me different today, because I have actually lived in communal life with a religious community.  However today it strikes a different chord within me. Communal takes me to a different place, where all I can do is sit in idle and reflect. Why am I moved different today, than before?

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles: Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one's need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread int their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

As we do with the Lord's prayer, I would ask you to read this passage of scripture slowly and reflect. What does communal mean to you in or outside of the temple or church?  What is God, Jesus Christ, the apostles, his followers, is asking us to obtain from these words as believers? I sense a deepness here that is worth investigating this week from within. Communal-

Sneeze

I just recently had the pleasure of receiving my spring cold. The day that Jesus Christ was led away from his disciples to be judge by the pharisees, I watched a co-worker be led away in handcuffs for stealing. The day of the passion of Christ, I received this gift of illness. The day of the risen Lord, I rose slowly, but I rose. For me the realization of the Passion of Christ is that, we are all equal. Regardless of who we are, our circumstances, our life choices...we are the same. Life is a sneeze and with each sneeze there is a message to behold. It's time to really sit down and re-evaluate our life, not what we think we can accomplish, but how we implement the words of God into our own life journey. To sit and be still and read the Bible, not just look at it. The passages is to lead us through a passage towards God harmony. God is merciful, he gives each one of us a piece of clay and see what we can create. It's our piece of life, our own life and the beauty is that, if we mess up, we can return the clay back to it original without form self and start over again. If it took God three times to recreate our world, God knows our piece of the world will take an eternity. Relax, and get to know our God, a word at a time.

I Am Still In Genesis-The Truth

I am still in Genesis!  Genesis is a place to know where it all began and also the place to see everything branch out from that garden of Eden. The first few chapters, in my case chapters 1-8 is a study on it's own. The places, names and the writing styles, sets a solid foundation for the story of God to be told over a host of generations. I would encourage anyone to sit down one evening and write out Genesis chapter 5, make three columns beginning with the life span until the birth of the first son, then the life span while having other sons and daughters and the last column being the life span until death. A lot of people may motion towards this being some numerology scheme, but  I recognized that the center column being the 2nd column, represents life all throughout the generations from Seth to Noah. A line of people chosen by God to carry out his spirit and then branch out even more after the flood and through the seed of Noah sons. I know that this seed continues throughout the Torah, the first 5 books of Moses and continue into the writings, which Christians identified as the Old Testament. If you have not already came to this question, here it is: what happen to that "line" that was created by God through Noah? Yes, the obvious answer for Christians would be Jesus Christ. However, we forget there is a gap between Jewish writing versus Greek and the Christians writers. Jesus is Jewish and so was his apostles. He commanded his own followers to stay put, whom he put Paul in charge to continue his story. This is a mystery, it's not about the story, but how the writing style has change from the Torah and Jewish writings to the Old and New Testament texts. This puzzlement carries through the arrangement of books in the Bible, whether we read from right to left, down and up, or the resources that we find in the commentaries and cross references.   There is a language that is well hidden beneath the writing of the Torah and it's not a foreign language. This language is one that was set by God and only the truth will decode it's meaning. In the meantime, I continue on my journey and I am beginning to see that God, is leading me through the valley of truth.

Reflection: Genesis chapters 1-8

Gravity

If you have not already, please go and see the movie "Gravity". A great 1 1/2 hour well spent, regardless of the price of the tickets. Which is a great way to start out my reflection on the Book of Genesis. There is so much to say in the wonders of our existence, our connection to planet earth and the ring of fire, that protect us from unknown objects or other external life. I realized that we are still at civil war because, any human being that fights against another human being, is at war against humanity. I'm beginning to believe that we would rather hold onto the past and die, than reach outside our comfort zone and live forever.  The word "power" is a concept that we have yet grasp, it's something we all want, but the force of power is way out of our control. I personally don't know the full truth of the beauty of being a human, which brings me to this point: Jesus Christ, had a full plate in his hands. God really did not have a one on one relationship with his people, until Jesus walked with us. Dying on that cross had to be the most difficult task, that God himself had to choose, against his own will. Although he acknowledge the sin in us, Jesus love those moments and having that one on one relationship with his people. However, just like any parent today or yesterday, there is an authority decision to be made. Jesus had to choose from enjoying his time with us, leaving us to die forever or drink from the cup, that would station himself on the cross so that we can live forever. As I reflect on the first words of Genesis 1:1 "In the Beginning"...  I realized that the gravity of my decisions makes life unnecessary difficult and all I need to do is to let go, so that I can walk with God forever lasting.

Visualize this:
Genesis:2:10- A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the four rivers are Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates and then Genesis begins the story of "man".

Visualize this: The New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, goes on to tell the story of Christ, Jesus, the son of "man" from Genesis.

Exodus from Genesis to Revelation

Wow, I woke up this morning and realized I have to do this. Beginning from Genesis all the way to Revelation. Therefore, there are a lot of versions out on the market and I am resisting the temptation to go and purchase a new one. I already have several Bibles here at home and I enjoyed the New Inductive Study Bible. This Bible does not have the double columns in the old or new testaments, which makes it easy to read. However, the New King James version and KJV with their all color editions looks very tempting. I see how long I can resist the temptation.

I've noticed after reading the same stories over and over again, I have those ah ha moments. I jump for joy and then wonder why I have not seen that before in the readings. At 5:00 am this morning, as I look out my window at the two Seattle Westin Hotel Towers, I actually gasp, because I realized that both God and Jesus was always on the move and they cover only a certain amount of territory in these stories. There is a lot to be seen in the skyline of Seattle. One of my joys is bird watching, I love to see them take off in sequence and put their flying skills to test. I called it flight training school,  they mark their route and cover only a certain amount of territory of their flight plan. They just don't start flying all over the place, they leap out in faith together, maintain their flight plan and return back to their base together. It's a beautiful sight to watch and just grab my attention each  and every time. This is what my journey is all about, allowing God to give me a flight plan that does not require me to cover more ground, than I am able to handle. I will for the first time of my life, begin to read from Genesis to Revelation and I know this will be a long drawn out process that will require a lot of patience on my part.  It will be interested to see how this reading journey will guide me, help me to use the word as a reflection tool, teach me to implement God's word into my prayers and help me to grow in faith and grace. Therefore, I apologize up front, I'm always all over the place and my reading habits is not excused from my normal living habits. Keep checking on me though, giving me a nudge and cheer me onto victory.... Genesis to Revelation, here I come-