Bible

What is in a name?

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_____________, Princess of Cambridge

As we wait with curiosity for the name of the Princess of Cambridge, I wonder about the significance of a name, and taking time to choose just the right one.   Even God waited on hearing the names of the animals when He “brought them to the man to see what he would name them.”  (Genesis 2:19)  God called Abram, commanding him to leave his country, his people and his home to go to a land God wanted to show him, promising several things, including to make his name great.  (Genesis 12:1-3)  Twenty four years later God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning ‘father of many’, as He made His covenant with Abraham to make his name great by making him father of many nations, including kings.  This is an everlasting covenant for all of Abraham’s generations: to be their God.  The Bible details what many names mean, and their significance for the one named.  Another example, Isaac, meaning laughter, was named to reflect on the time when his mother, Sarah, laughed upon hearing that she would bear a child.  (Genesis 18)  Sarah’s advanced age points again to the waiting game!

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The greatest name is the one God gave Himself: ‘I am’.

He qualifies (for those of us in need of clarification) what ‘I am’ means throughout scripture.  Here are a few of His definitions.

“I am God Almighty.” Genesis 17:1

“I am the Lord who makes you holy.” Exodus 31:13, Lev. 20:8

“Glory in His holy name.” 2 Chronicles 16:10

“I am compassionate.” Exodus 22:27

“And there he called upon the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.” Genesis 21:33

“I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.” Zechariah 1:14

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The Name above all Names, the great I am, Jesus, further illustrates and embodies what “I am” means in His life and His fulfillment of scripture.

“I am the bread of life.” John 6:35, 41, 48, 51

“I am from Him and He sent me.” John 7:29

“I am the light of the world.” John 8:12

“I am the gate for the sheep.” John 10:7

“I am the Good Shepherd.” John 8:11, 14

“I am the resurrection and the life.” John 11:25

“I am the way and the truth and the life.” John 14:6

“I am the vine and you are the branches.” John 15:5

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Jesus, the King of Kings

“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Philippians 2:10-11

It is by the Name of Jesus we pray, should live, and are saved.

What is your name?  Who do you say Jesus is?  How do you see Him defined by His Name?  How do you apply God’s definitions of who He is to your life in Christ?

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Going back to London…I am naturally pulling for the new Princess to be named Mary:) 

(all photos in this post are from http://www.telegraph.co.uk)

Expecting!

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The news is out, Duchess Kate is expecting a sibling for Prince George!  A second pregnancy allows the couple to know a little bit of what to will happen during this season of expectation.  What to wear, what to schedule and not schedule, where to travel, what to eat, are all somewhat familiar things to manage as she/they/we await the arrival of the 4th in line to the throne.

prince-william3--a Prince William in Oxford in first appearance since announcing Kate’s pregnancy. getty images photo

Isn’t life full of expectations?  Some expectations are unrealistic, and find us disappointed, like (not) winning the lottery.  Others are routine, yet are still sources of great joy and pride, as in high school or college graduation.  What are you expecting?  What are others expecting from you?  And, most importantly, what is God expecting from you?

Set some goals

A new school year has begun which causes most of us to punch the reset button even if we have been out of school for decades.  At this time of renewal, set some new goals, both long and short term.  List three “expectations” for each goal, and routinely check to see how you have met your own expectations.

Disappointing others unintentionally

You may be frustrating someone without even knowing it by not meeting their expectations.  Take a step back to examine how you interact with those close to you, and evaluate if you could be missing the mark in any area.  Communicating expectations between siblings, spouses, children and co-workers can eliminate a blow up down the road.  By simply asking how you are, or are not, meeting their expectations shows a great deal of care for your relationship.

What God expects from you

God’s expectations of man seem to be quite low.  He knew we would not be able to live up to His standard, and had a plan from the beginning to send His only Son as the perfect and only acceptable sacrifice for our sin in order for us to finally meet His high expectation of being clean, forgiven, and in relationship with Him.

He expects us to sin, and He expects us to ask for forgiveness.

So, repent.

He expects us to be in relationship with Him.

So, pray.

He expects us to love others.

So, intentionally and actively GO love others.

He expects us to continue to mess up.

So, repeat this process over, and over, and over again.

God’s Expectations Condensed

Love God with all your heart, and love others as yourself.

If you do these two things, everything, including expectations, will fall into place.

“Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:37-40

Expecting some changes,

Mary Ellen

 

Happy Third Anniversary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

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Royal Weddings

I love weddings.  From the engagement to the altar there is much excitement, planning, and stress, too.  Once the day arrives, joy, hope and happiness seem to take center stage in this theater of emotions.  How true this was for the last several Royal weddings!  It takes something very important, or very special to get me up at 3:00am or 4:00am.  My memories of watching (before the crack of dawn) Lady Diana Spencer walk down the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and then viewing her son admire his bride traverse the aisle at Westminster Abbey, are priceless and treasured.  Sharing the Anglican tradition of worship made the ceremonies all the more meaningful to me.

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s Kirsty Wigglesworth via Getty images

God loves Weddings, too

God uses a wide variety of literary devices to capture our attention and illustrate who He is to us.  One of my favorite analogies is marriage as an example of how He feels, cares, and is committed to us.  After all, the first miracle Jesus performed was at a wedding!  Jesus describes Himself as the Bridegroom in Matthew 25:1-13 in the Parable of the Ten Virgins.  This is a lesson in being ready for His return.  Revelation 19:7 tells of the wedding between the Lamb and His bride who has made herself ready. Then, in chapter 21 of Revelation the bride of the Lamb is identified as the ‘Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.’  The apostle Paul understood this relationship analogy from his time with Jesus.  To the church at Ephesus Paul wraps up a marriage instruction with, “This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church.  However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”  (Ephesians 5:32-33)

The Old Testament lays the foundation for Jesus being the Bridegroom to the church (believers).  Isaiah says in 62:5 “As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will God rejoice over you.”

Ancient Hebrew Weddings

His chosen people, the Hebrew nation, had laws and customs given directly by God to order their daily life, as well as rituals throughout their lives in order to draw them closer to Him. There is much symbolism and great detail to the Hebrew Wedding Marriage Proposal process.  Here are a few of the most obvious analogies:

A suitor would bring something of great value in order to marry a certain maiden (Christ gave His life for us), he would then offer her a cup from which to drink.

To signify her acceptance of the marriage proposal, she would drink from the cup, thus legally binding herself to him.  Christ offers us the cup of salvation, as we drink it we are binding ourselves to Him.  (Matthew 26:18 & 26:27-28, Mark 14:13 & 14:23, Luke 22:8 & 22:20)

The bridegroom would leave his bride with some gifts for her to remember him by while he is away.  Christ left us the Holy Spirit and His many gifts by which to remember Him. (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5, Galatians 5:22-23)

Once the bride accepted the marriage proposal the bridegroom would go back to his father’s house to add a room where they would live after the wedding.  The bridegroom would continue to work on the room until his father said it was ready.  Then, and only then, he could go back to his bride’s home, marry her, and bring her home to live at his father’s house in the room he prepared for them.  Christ is doing the same thing for us!  He has gone back to His Father’s house to prepare a place for us, and only the Father knows the time when He will tell Jesus to come back to get us, His bride! (Acts 1:7, John 20:17, John 14:1-3, Mark 13:32-33)

There are more symbolic details to this process, but these are the highlights that might spark an interest to dig further.

Don’t you feel loved like a new bride?

 

Happy Birthday, Your Majesty!

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April 21 – Her Majesty, The Queen’s Birthday

Today marks Queen Elizabeth’s 88th birthday.  While her official birthday celebration occurs in June each year with the Trooping of the Colour, she will continue on with her Easter Court entertaining at Windsor Castle through the end of April.  Also marking this day is the unveiling of her latest photograph taken by renown photographer, David Bailey!  This magnificent capture of her vivacious spirit was taken at Buckingham Palace last month.  A new year in the life of this Monarch begins!

Birthday Portrait Of Queen Elizabeth II By David Bailey

Birthday Portrait Of Queen Elizabeth II By David Bailey via royalcentral.com

New beginnings and rebirth also mark today, Easter Monday

The egg is a universal symbol for Easter, almost more so than the Cross these days.  A symbol chosen as it represents new birth, new beginnings, and a fresh start.  This is just what Jesus accomplished on the first Easter morning with the Resurrection.  He rose from the dead in a fully healed body from the tortures and death three days prior.  This Risen Lord is the One who allows us the same new life!  John 3:16 says it most succinctly, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  He repeats this theme in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  John precedes this quote of Jesus by telling what you will find by following Him (Jesus), His way.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father’s house there are many rooms; if it were not so I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:1-4)

Jesus sets the example, the way, to live on earth as fully human and resurrected.  He showed himself to the disciples after the resurrection to not only prove himself as the One Messiah foretold in scripture and in person to them, but also to instruct them to get out there and tell the rest of the world!  In other words, Jesus was telling the disciples to also live “resurrected lives” a certain way.  A resurrected life is how one decides to live like Jesus, and as instructed by Jesus (his way/the way), after meeting and accepting Jesus as Lord.  It is not the life one lives just on Easter Sunday, looking like the model Christian sitting in the church pew flanked by her beautifully appointed family members.  As our rector said at the conclusion of his Easter sermon, it is the resurrected life you decide to live on Monday after Easter, and Tuesday, and so on that matters.

How do you live a resurrected life?

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Ask yourself if you are living life your way, or Jesus’ Way.

2. When you get that nudge, funny feeling in the pit of your stomach, or cannot stop thinking about the person you just heard is in the hospital or in need, GO visit him or her!  And, in the name of the Resurrection, please deliver a meaningful message.

3. Start your day a little earlier to create, or extend your quiet time with God.  Even 15 minutes toward this goal will cause new life for the rest of your days, weeks and months.  Journal what changes occur to this new daily beginning.  Share your growth and change with another.  It will almost always encourage another to do the same.

4. Seek to enrich the life of another on a regular basis.  Choose your regularity (daily, weekly, monthly), make the appointment with the agency or person you aim to enrich, mark your calendar, and DO IT.  Think of it as a doctor’s appointment that took months to schedule.  You would never break this appointment.  Treat your resurrected life changes as unbreakable appointments.

mow the lawn, or pull the weeds from the garden of an elderly neighbor

take dinner and/or flowers to a widow, elderly person, someone lonely or a family with a new baby

call a local elementary school to ask to be a regular reading buddy for struggling students

join a new service committee at your church and serve with gusto

offer to take the altar flowers to hospitalized parishioners on set Sunday afternoons

start a Bible study in your neighborhood or community

5. As you enrich others, ask God to give you the words He would have you say to those you are helping.  As He directs, speak His Word. (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.” John 1:1 Jesus is the Word.)  It can be as simple as saying, “Jesus loves you, and I do, too.”

Here’s to celebrating Resurrected Living Today!

Easter Travels

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British Royals’ Easter Travel

Many will have travel plans and various ways of observing Easter this weekend.  The Cambridge family of three will still be Down Under, Queen Elizabeth will participate in the Maundy Thursday service at Blackburn Cathedral in Lancashire, while the rest of the Royal family will head to Windsor Castle to greet The Queen when she arrives from Blackburn for her month-long stay for Easter Court.  The word “Maundy” is from the Latin word mandatum, meaning commandment, and refers to the Last Supper when Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment, “Love one another”.  So, in Blackburn, The Queen will keep the 13th century tradition of Edward I, and the spirit of the great commandment, by having alms (money) given to senior citizens.    Until 1689, the Kings and Queens of England would also wash the feet of the poor at Westminster Abbey to demonstrate what Jesus, the King of Kings, did for His disciples at the Last Supper.

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A month of Easter Court at Windsor Castle http://www.royalcentral.co.uk

 

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The Queen will observe Maundy Thursday at Blackburn Cathedral http://www.royalcentral.co.uk

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The alms pouches are in the platter on the yeoman’s head yeomanoftheguard.com

The Yeoman of the Guard will give out pouches of money to 88 men and 88 women, the same number as her age.  Each senior will receive a red pouch of money intended for food and clothing and a commemorative coin, probably to celebrate the birth of Prince George.  The white pouch will have 88pence, a nod to her age.

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alms pouches wikipedia.org

Jesus’ Easter Travel

Prior to the Passover, Jesus was in Ephraim taking cover from those who wished to kill Him.  Six days before Passover He came closer to Jerusalem and stayed in Bethany (a ‘suburb’ of Jerusalem), where He raised Lazarus.  Then, He made His way into Jerusalem for His final days.  Even in the city, at the dark of night, He traveled quite a bit, going from a Last Supper loft for the first communion, feet washing, final instructions and prayers, to the Mount of Olives to pray some more and be arrested, then to Annas’ house, Caiaphas’ house, and Pilate’s palace for questioning, then to the Governor’s city house for torture by the soldiers, to Golgotha for mocking and crucifixion, and finally to a new tomb.  As discussed in the previous post, Jesus was meticulous in carrying out God’s plan, which included all of this torture-filled travel.  God designed His itinerary in order to fulfill Old Testament scripture about sacrifice, atonement, Passover, and Messiah.  Everything, every event, every word, and every action had significance.

The most significant event of all is, of course, the Resurrection.  The guards kept watch, Mary Magdalene came in respect, love and grief, and an angel was present to explain and direct her about the miracle of all miracles.  The disciples were grieving in town, fearful of what would happen next.  Then, Mary Magdalene finds the disciples to tell them the Good (unbelievable) News, and Jesus was not far behind her to show the boys the Good News Himself.  He tells them, “Peace be with you!  As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  (John 20:21)  Matthew quotes Jesus as saying, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  (Matthew 28:19)  That is quite an itinerary for all who follow Him!

Your Easter Travels

Tradition will dictate what most families will do this weekend.  Will your travels take you to the Easter bunny more often than to the Cross?  Will the tradition you pass on to the next generation be about the contents of plastic eggs, or the empty tomb?  No matter if you travel on a plane, in a car across town, or barefoot to the backyard, how will you make your Easter travels significant? Here are five suggestions for your itinerary:

Immerse yourself in the worship service offerings this week. (Maundy Thursday service, Good Friday service, Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday)  Truly transport your mind to Jerusalem as scripture is read and actively interpreted.

Read all four Gospel passage accounts of The Last Supper through the Resurrection.  Note details amplified by each gospel writer, how harmonious they are, and decide which one makes the scene most clear to you. (Matthew 26-28, Mark 14-16, Luke 22-24, John 13-21)

Identify who you say Jesus is.  He spent three years teaching and demonstrating who He is.  He spent His last three days, not only continuing this pattern, but also paying the full cost of the sins of the world for all time.  Make a list of who you identify Jesus as, and compare this list to what the Bible says.

Tell someone the Gospel Easter account as you know it through scripture.  “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” John 20:21 says it all!  Or, “Just do it”, says Nike.  This final commandment is your proverbial “next trip” as you continue in your Christian journey.  The Christian who simply gains knowledge about God, and does not share it with others, is essentially staying home.  To truly be a Christian, one must “be sent out” as John says.   You are sent out as Jesus was sent out, to teach and show who He is to “all nations”, i.e. everyone.

Reflect on your Christian “travels”.   Think about where you first learned about Jesus, how God has helped you to grow, what you have learned about the Cross, and what does God want you to do next.

Use tradition as a vehicle to go to a new place God has for you to experience this Easter.  Add to your tradition something(s) that will take your love of the Lord with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength (the first commandment) to travel closer to loving your neighbor as yourself (the second commandment) by being sent out (the Great Commission).

May your heart and soul travel far this weekend, and may God give you your next itinerary.

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fineartamerica.com

Happy Easter!