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Thoughts Today

How many people have cast the movie Noah or any movie for that matter aside and labeled it a disappointment because there were items that were different that shouldn’t be?

If you are like me then the answer is yes. I am a avid reader and there have been several times in my life that many of the books that I have read have been made into a TV Show or Movie. I can tell you that whenever it didn’t reign faithful to the book that I had read it upset me a bit, but this past week as I have seen review after review saying that Noah or any movie for that matters is a failure my view has been changed a bit.

Do we cast ourselves aside because of one thing that happened in our life?

You may say that is completely different, but no its not. Difference is not something to fear, but something to celebrate and certainly not something that deserves to be cast aside.

The truth of the gospel is that He doesn’t cast us aside…no matter what you do you are never a disappointment to Him.

Hear that.

You are NEVER a disappointment to God.

So, today celebrate the difference in this world because it is a reason to Praise God! May we all see as He sees, love as He loves and extend His grace as He has called us to.

Amen.

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Feels like Forever

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Focus on one thing.

A door.

For most of Elsa and Anna’s life they have spent it in the comfort of their own home. Elsa was limited to just her bedroom while Anna was giving the ability to walk anywhere in the palace, but there is limited amount of people in her life and the gates to the palace are always closed.

Think of the pain that this would cause a young child. We are designed to develop in relationships, to learn who we are and what we do by our interaction with others. Elsa and Anna are limited this opportunity. However they are coming from two totally different places with this.

A door.

To Elsa it is protection.

To Anna it is a prison.

Then comes Coronation Day and the doors are swung open and the gates are commanded to open as well, this would many emotions to both of them wouldn’t it? One would feel excitement while the anxiety.

It feels like because it literally has been forever.

For most of the Old Testament there is a narrative of God residing in a tent in the community of Israel and even when they build a temple in Jerusalem where they are worship, God is believed to be in Holy of Holies, which is a place that is separated from the rest of the temple by a massive curtain. To make matters even more separated only the High Priest of the Temple is permitted to entering the Holy of Holies.

What do you think this taught the people of Israel?

Maybe that God was separate from us?

Not involved?

Looking down on us?

I imagine this is the message that Anna felt many times when she approached Elsa’s door. The message of frozen is that we have made mistakes, and we all have our baggage, but…and this is a huge but.

They do not define you because during Lent we know that Easter comes and we know that the truth of Easter is that God gets involved, comes down from heaven, lives the life as a man named Jesus and dies on a cross for us because separation is not what God wants for our lives. He wants us to know that we are accepted. If you look closely at this movie you will see this same fear in them that is in us. That we are not accepted, not loved, and not worthy.

Rejoice in the Lord because that is not the case.

Jesus does accept you, love you, and died on the cross to define you as WORTHY. So fear not because God has commanded that gates be opened forevermore because He desires that all of creation know that He is involved, accepts us and loves us and wants to walk with us through the good times and the bad times. That’s the kind of God that we worship, a God that is all in for us and is completely invested in our lives.

So, know that you are loved, accepted and God is for YOU!

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Noah

Noah

  So, last night Amy and I went to go see the latest biblical story that came to the big screen. We had done our homework, trust me. We read the book, we read review after review and article after article, and we were ready.

Mind you we knew that this would have things we probably wouldn’t agree with, and I myself actually when I go to movies that have come from another source I go into the movie expecting that this will not be the same. I think that is a healthy understanding of Hollywood, and I think and believe it is an expectation that we should have more often, but more than that. We need to have an open mind and open heart. We have to because this is the vision of someone else and that is not a bad thing, a new interpretation can be a great thing. That being said I really enjoyed the vision that was presented on screen by Darren Aronofsky is a very good one and one that I believe is about as true to the story of Noah that Hollywood is going to get.

Of course there are items in this vision that we all may not agree with, but isn’t there always and won’t there always be? Let’s remember that this is not a bad thing, but a part of the creative vision God has for creation. That we are all unique and different and although at times we may not agree but through that we may see things with fresh eyes. This movie is very good and I highly recommend you go see and figure out what you think and I pray that we don’t let reviews tell us what we think. We should do that for ourselves. So, a couple of things.

“I heard that they don’t mention God’s name at all?”

This is not a fair statement at all. Throughout the movie God is referred to as “The Creator,” which of course is still mentioning God. No the word God is never mentioned, but God is The Creator so I think this is a needless picking to say that they didn’t mention him. They do.

“It really is too dark for me…doesn’t remind me of the story I was told in my childhood.”

Ok let’s be honest. The childhood telling of Noah’s Ark is a terrible telling. This story is not cutesy, sweet, or innocent. It is dark, raw, and very violent. God wants to annihilate the world with water. This is not a cute idea. God is burdened by the wickedness of the world and wants to wipe the slate clean, and what gets wiped is lives, lots of lives. Let’s remember what the story is and what it is not.

Like I said previously do I agree with every minute of this movie? No I don’t, but I most certainly do not think it is the worst ever as many have said. I encourage to go see it and to have an openness about this new interpretation. We cannot ever think that we know best, because we don’t. Be open, ask questions, talk it out, struggle with it. This is what I believe Jesus calls us to do. Don’t close your mind or your heart, but be open, ask questions, challenge these things.

May we always be open to God and to people and may we love as He loves and show grace as He has shown it to us.

Amen.

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Engaging in Prayer

 

This lenten season has been one that has been a truly blessing to engage in, not that every year is not a blessing, but this year feels particularly fresh.

That is something unique in ministry with something we do annually.

We always try to create freshness with Lent, Easter, and Christmas, but when we (the church) do something annually in a repetitive manner we tend to lose the true meaning of it overtime, not completely, but to a certain extent the freshness begins to wear off, little by little.

Which is why this lenten season has been especially exciting.

Take a moment and think of what it was like to be the disciples during this time. Think of what it was like to see your friend and the person you believed was the Christ sent from God die in such a violent way. Your whole being would be quivering with fear, which would affect everything you do.

What a joy it is to have the sight of the empty tomb through Lent, but what a joy it was also to see the first Easter. Blessings and Joy are all around us everywhere in every way and all the time, from the beginning of time to the end there will be blessings and joyfulness all around us. We just have to engage in the ability to have the sight.

So I pray today that we engage ourselves, immerse ourselves in the loving grace and faithful love of Christ. Immerse yourself in it…don’t just slip your toes in the water, but immerse yourself in the oceans of His grace. May we see as He sees, love as He loves, and be as He has called to be.

Amen.

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Day 5: Something Loved

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Day 6: Something Loved.

During Lent this year Amy and I decided that we would engage in prayer more as a couple, and it has been quite an awesome experience to wake up every morning and share morning prayers together and end each day with praying evening prayers together before we go to bed. It sets our day in motion by first recognizing the sovereignty of God and when we come home by recognizing what God has done during this day. There is a particular narrative that has blessed me deeply that I would like to share with you. 

Morning Prayer

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you; may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm; may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you; may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors. 

Midday Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. 
Where there is hatred, let me bring love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much seek as to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we born to eternal life.  

Evening Prayer

O gracious light, 
pure brightness of the ever-living Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed! 

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the evening light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
your glory fills the whole world.

O Lord, you have taught us to call the evening, the morning,
and the midday one, and you have made the sun to know its
going down. Dispel now the darkness of our hearts, that by 
your brightness we may know you to be the true God and
eternal light, living and reigning forever and ever.

May the Lord bless us and keep us all from harm, and may
God lead us to eternal life. Amen.  

I have found that when I don’t do these prayers with Amy that my day is not the same as it would be when I do, do these prayers. I pray today that you are blessed by these prayers because they truly connect us to the ever-living Father through Christ our Lord. 

Amen.