"Imagery of Christ as a king is often exciting to Christians, and rightly so. We belong to a great and glorious king, who has made us His own." (Mueller, page 143)
"King of my heart, I crown you now. I fall at your feet, and before you I bow." I think that this is something we think a lot: we know that Christ is our King. But I agree with the fact that it says that this is sometimes viewed as a future. Christ is our king yesterday, today, and forever. He will stay our king!
"Our saviour is Christ, the annointed one, the prophet. He sreves us as our great high preiest who offeres himself as the greatest and final sacafrice for the sins of the world." (Mueller, page 143)
Ths verse in Hebrews is one of my favs. He is our priest - who makes the sacafrice and who loves us deeply.
Author reflections:
Christ is not only a king, but a great high priest. He loves us deeply, and cares for us beyond measure. What a priceless gift!
17.10.11
12.10.11
god help the outcasts
Yes, I know I'm just an outcast
I shouldn't speak to You
Still I seek Your face and wonder
Weren't you once an outcast too?
I'm struggling. I feel like an outcast - such an outcast. I don't fit the cookie cutter mold I feel it cut out for Christians. I'm "rough around the edges", sarcastic, and cynical. I don't know what exactly I believe about God, and I don't even know why I'm going into ministry. Maybe it's because I want to right the wrongs. Maybe it's because I want to prove to people you don't have to be perfect to be a Christian.
But Lord, I feel like an outcast. A crippled, limping, orphaned outcast. And the thing is?
I ask for nothing, I can get by
But I know so many less lucky than I
I have no reason to whine. No reason to complain.
So many more have it worse. I just want to help people.
To make a difference.
To help people not harbor bitterness like I have, because it's an awful way to live.
I shouldn't speak to You
Still I seek Your face and wonder
Weren't you once an outcast too?
I'm struggling. I feel like an outcast - such an outcast. I don't fit the cookie cutter mold I feel it cut out for Christians. I'm "rough around the edges", sarcastic, and cynical. I don't know what exactly I believe about God, and I don't even know why I'm going into ministry. Maybe it's because I want to right the wrongs. Maybe it's because I want to prove to people you don't have to be perfect to be a Christian.
But Lord, I feel like an outcast. A crippled, limping, orphaned outcast. And the thing is?
I ask for nothing, I can get by
But I know so many less lucky than I
I have no reason to whine. No reason to complain.
So many more have it worse. I just want to help people.
To make a difference.
To help people not harbor bitterness like I have, because it's an awful way to live.
8.10.11
An elephant never forgets
I like elephants. That's a bit of an understatement, I love elephants. I also love monkeys, but that's for another post. Well, I'm wearing a monkey t-shirt but the picture angle kind of hides it.
Elephants. An elephant never forgets, they say. A Nora never forgets, either. It in some ways a cool quality I have, I remember when my friends mention wanting something badly, and I try to make it happen for presents. I remember old nicknames and inside jokes. But at the same time, I remember old hurts, old aches, old pains. I don't forget easy, and it's hard because so many things I'd just rather forget. I'd rather forget how much pain I've been through and I'd rather forget where I've been. But forgetting the bad and remembering the good would hardly do me any good. It would only cause further pain.
But oh how I dream.
How I wish that I could just let go of all these things that have hurt me. And only remember the good.
"You can go on living as long as your heart believes,
although the scars of yesterday remain,
let's stay together always."
The scars will remain, both physical and emotional. The scars won't fade, but it doesn't mean I can't go on living and hoping and wishing and dreaming.
4.10.11
at the cross you beckon me
Descent into hell: is it humiliation or exaltation? Why would you say so?
Can't it be both? It's exalation, because as the words of the worship song "In Christ Alone": "For every sin on Him was laid, here in the death of Christ I live." If he took the sins, then he therefore has to take the punishment, which is eternal damnation. If he decended into hell, then we can see the qualities of exalation: he rose over it, he reigns over it, and hell now has no power over us because he is exalted above it for he went to it, and came back. Howver, if the other includes his death, burial, and suffering, it also intertwines with that, because clearly there was suffering in hell!
The classical Christian teaching about Jesus Christ as fully human and fully divine is confessed in the creeds and councils of the early church.
This is cool. I think we often (to use Christian-ese terms) get trapped in issues of dogma versus doctrine when talking about anything related to Jesus. And we collide on such things and get into verbal fistfights about who is right and who is wrong theologically. But in almost every single Christian cirlce, this is one universial truth. And so, it's cool to see how this one crucal thing goes all the way back and was even agreed on and acknowleded then.
Author Comments:
I like things that make me use vocab, such as the exalation versus humilation, but the English major still runs deep in me even though I switched to psych and ministry. I like how many classic Christian teachings aren't just tied to one particular church, but are more universial Christain truths.
Can't it be both? It's exalation, because as the words of the worship song "In Christ Alone": "For every sin on Him was laid, here in the death of Christ I live." If he took the sins, then he therefore has to take the punishment, which is eternal damnation. If he decended into hell, then we can see the qualities of exalation: he rose over it, he reigns over it, and hell now has no power over us because he is exalted above it for he went to it, and came back. Howver, if the other includes his death, burial, and suffering, it also intertwines with that, because clearly there was suffering in hell!
The classical Christian teaching about Jesus Christ as fully human and fully divine is confessed in the creeds and councils of the early church.
This is cool. I think we often (to use Christian-ese terms) get trapped in issues of dogma versus doctrine when talking about anything related to Jesus. And we collide on such things and get into verbal fistfights about who is right and who is wrong theologically. But in almost every single Christian cirlce, this is one universial truth. And so, it's cool to see how this one crucal thing goes all the way back and was even agreed on and acknowleded then.
Author Comments:
I like things that make me use vocab, such as the exalation versus humilation, but the English major still runs deep in me even though I switched to psych and ministry. I like how many classic Christian teachings aren't just tied to one particular church, but are more universial Christain truths.
3.10.11
holy, holy, holy
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 18:19 - HCBS)
The Great Commission, something that was taught to me as a child in the Nazarene church. It's such a simple command, but something that's hard to do. It sounds easy, to just go out and make disciples of all, but we all have our own comfort zones, and it's something that, well, feels kinda awkward to do. Doesn't change the fact it's commanded, though.
And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (1 Cor:21-22)
I just think this is a cool mental image. God sealing and anointing us. It reminds me of Isaiah 43: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine." It's a sweet image, God sealing us, anointing us, and guiding us.
Author comments:
Everything intertwines so well in scripture. We go out to make disciples and in turn those disciples are sealed and anointed by God. And then they go out and make disciples. rinse, lather, repeat.
2.10.11
Cause you're my little girl...
"We should fear and love God that we may not despise nor anger our parents and masters, but give them honor, serve, obey, and hold them in love and esteem." (SC - The Fourth Commandment)
I have long grappled with this. I don't know how to honour my parents. Without going into explicit details, I have no contact with either one of my parents. It's not because I'm a bad daughter, but I was professionally and legally advised to sever ties. I was not honured by them, instead, I was badly hurt by them. And so, I've been trying to figuring out what honoring and obeying them looks like. I understand that it can't be the traditional view of looking at honouring them, because it's not feasible for me to have contact nor a relationship. But what does honouring them look like? I still love them for I don't hate them, despite the wrong they did. I still protect them the best I can, and try to respect them. I also know that the Bible says this in a couple places:
And, you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Eph 6:4, KJV)
Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart. (Col 3:21, NASB)
It's frustrating, because I'm trying to find the balance. What do I do? Do I still honour God by not associating with my parents? What does that look like? I long to honour and respect my parents, for I know it's a commandment. But my physical safety has to be secure, my emotional health deserves to thrive. And finding the balance is beyond difficult.
(Sorta unrelated, but this is bringing to mind the Harry Chapin song "Cat's In The Cradle" And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me. And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon, when you coming home, son, I don't know when, but you know we'll have a good time then, yeah, you know we'll have a good time then. It reminds me of how parents treat their children turns out to be how they treat them when they get older. And how do I find the balance between honouring God and keeping myself sane? I think this is the one thing, hands down, that is my biggest struggle with Christianity).
So will we verily, on our part, also heartily forgive and also readily do good to those who sin against us. (SC, The Lord's Prayer, The Fifth Petition)
This, I think, ties in well with my struggles with my parents, yes. I realize that I need to forgive them, and have started the process of forgiving them. To do good with them, I know I need to honour them. It all comes full circle.
Author comments:
Heh. The more I go through these blog posts, the more I realize my beefs with Christianity. And, of the same accord, the more I want to fix them and use my story of brokenness to bring people back to Him.
I have long grappled with this. I don't know how to honour my parents. Without going into explicit details, I have no contact with either one of my parents. It's not because I'm a bad daughter, but I was professionally and legally advised to sever ties. I was not honured by them, instead, I was badly hurt by them. And so, I've been trying to figuring out what honoring and obeying them looks like. I understand that it can't be the traditional view of looking at honouring them, because it's not feasible for me to have contact nor a relationship. But what does honouring them look like? I still love them for I don't hate them, despite the wrong they did. I still protect them the best I can, and try to respect them. I also know that the Bible says this in a couple places:
And, you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Eph 6:4, KJV)
Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart. (Col 3:21, NASB)
It's frustrating, because I'm trying to find the balance. What do I do? Do I still honour God by not associating with my parents? What does that look like? I long to honour and respect my parents, for I know it's a commandment. But my physical safety has to be secure, my emotional health deserves to thrive. And finding the balance is beyond difficult.
(Sorta unrelated, but this is bringing to mind the Harry Chapin song "Cat's In The Cradle" And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me. And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon, when you coming home, son, I don't know when, but you know we'll have a good time then, yeah, you know we'll have a good time then. It reminds me of how parents treat their children turns out to be how they treat them when they get older. And how do I find the balance between honouring God and keeping myself sane? I think this is the one thing, hands down, that is my biggest struggle with Christianity).
So will we verily, on our part, also heartily forgive and also readily do good to those who sin against us. (SC, The Lord's Prayer, The Fifth Petition)
This, I think, ties in well with my struggles with my parents, yes. I realize that I need to forgive them, and have started the process of forgiving them. To do good with them, I know I need to honour them. It all comes full circle.
Author comments:
Heh. The more I go through these blog posts, the more I realize my beefs with Christianity. And, of the same accord, the more I want to fix them and use my story of brokenness to bring people back to Him.
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