If Jesus is not the Light
all paths are dark.
If he is not the Way
they lead only to darkness.
If he is not the Truth
the signposts are lies.
If he is not the Life
we will not find it.
— — —
My faith has been here.
It’s very simple:
My last dollar
I bet on Him.
dw
Grace and peace to you…
There is nothing new under the sun.
What we bemoan now we bemoaned seventy years ago
Seven hundred years ago
What we give away now, we gave away then
The freedom Jesus promised
To burn at the stake
To defy a tank
To hang on the cross
For the truth
dw
p.s.
I posted this earlier in response to a quote from Thomas Merton about how we are so inclined to go along with whatever group(s) we want to belong to.
Nothing New (2022)
This time, I’ll add another quote:
“You are a king then? ” Pilate asked.
“You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
“What is truth? ” said Pilate.Gospel of John, chapter 18. Christian Standard Bible. CSB Reader’s Bible (p. 1603). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Grace and peace to you…
dw
You may be tempted to read the letters written by the Apostle Paul.
My advice: Don’t. Not yet.
Not until you’ve soaked in the Gospels for a good while. And John’s letters. And James’s letter. And Peter’s letters. And maybe a good bit of the Old Testament.
Why? It’s easy to get things all turned around otherwise.
It’s easy, because of Paul’s logic and eloquence and personal story, to make Jesus about Paul instead of Paul about Jesus.
Paul would scold us for that.
But the church has split itself into hundreds of factions because it got things turned around, mostly about what Paul wrote.
Reading Paul is like handing a dangerous chemical: if you don’t handle it carefully, it can can be deadly to you and others.
So, stick with the Gospels. And the letters of John and James and Peter. For now, anyway.
(Even Peter struggled a bit with Paul’s writings…he writes about it!)
Grace and peace to you…
dw
Once you have read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John…
If you find yourself wanting to move on
(maybe you’re thinking “Ok, I’ve read that bit, now let’s get to the rest of the story”
or maybe you’re not)
Don’t do it. Stay right here.
You’ve just met the person you’ve been longing to meet your whole life
And he wants to hang out.
(Maybe you remember reading “Abide with me” – that’s what he means.)
So, hang out. Read John’s gospel again. Find out more about this person, what he’s really like, who he really is.
Read slowly, hear what he is telling you. Ask questions, tell him what you think. Like you are on a walk together, or in a coffee shop.
Getting to know Jesus is the best part, the whole reason to read the Bible. As you get to know him, he’ll tell you about the rest.
You’re already where you long to be, need to be – with him.
Linger.
Grace and peace to you…
dw
p.s. Go here to see the rest of this series on reading the Bible.
God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created [man and woman] to make [them] share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to [them]. He calls [them] to seek him, to know him, to love him with all [their] strength. He calls together all [people], scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites [all] to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1
To me, these words are beautiful. They express the “good news” in a deep and rich way I don’t often hear. They tell of a God who is good and seeks to share goodness with the likes of me. They acknowledge how broken and scattered we are. They invite us to seek God, to know him, and to love him. To be family with him and with each other.
The words can also be jarring. I’m sure you noticed I replaced all the references to man and men with more inclusive words. I’m sure this will offend some. But leaving the original words may offend more. More importantly, they may be a barrier to someone who needs to know there is a God and that God loves them.
The word Church can be jarring. It’s easy to think that if the Church is indeed God’s family, we might not want anything to do with either him or his family. Sadly, the church deserves most of the bad reputation it has. I hope we can put aside whatever bad experiences or associations we have and try to hear the bigger message about God’s intentions and actions.
Grace and peace to you…
dw
p.s. I’ve written about this paragraph before, here.
becoming flame 