New Beginnings ...

New Year’s Eve: Just the mere phase conjures up questions on what the New Year will hold for us or perhaps what our resolutions may be.  The completion of a year on our calendar is a worldwide event of note.  It is celebrated in every country and culture.  Some mark the occasion with fireworks, or dropping balls and apples, with parties and concerts; most stay home and watch all these events on their televisions.  Families may get together to just “be together” to mark the occasion.  What is it about annual advancement that seems to stimulate within us the idea that somehow tomorrow is substantially different that yesterday?

It is interesting to me that our culture embraces the idea of “New Year’s Resolutions” as if they had any merit at all.  A careful self examination of any past self-declared resolution, would likely find it was abandoned within the first few weeks of the new year itself.  A few last through the first quarter.  Some diehards make it into the 2^nd or 3^rd quarter.  But almost no-one on New Year’s Eve can categorically state strict adherence to last year’s resolution.  In fact, most people can hardly remember last year’s resolution, unless they intend to use it again this coming year.  But despite the facts, we continue to embrace the process over and over and over again.

The funny thing about a New Year’s resolution is that once you blow it, you’ve blown it.  The calendar date only moves forward one day in 365, so if you give up on a resolution, it takes quite a few days before you can make another New Year’s declaration.  And that is pretty much how society treats these statements.  I think they are meant to inspire us, to try harder to improve ourselves or our community in the coming year; or perhaps to remind us of what we did not finish in the last year.  I guess the feelings are positive while we make them.  The intentions seem to be affirmative.

But isn’t that all a load of hooey (note the extreme language – hooey being heretofore defined as cattle excrement in large quantity)?  We all know full well, we are not going to end the year having kept our resolution.  We may not enjoy admitting it, but history is prologue.  Our record on keeping promises and resolutions is dim at best.  Dads try real hard to keep a promise to their children, but sometimes life or a boss has other plans.  Moms try real hard to keep promises to their families, but the unexpected can certainly throw a wrench into that process.  Even special occasions like New Years do not impact our ability to follow through on our promises.

Is it that we over-commit perhaps?   We pledge more than we expect to be able to perform (again in order to inspire us to shoot for the stars).  Or do we consider “circumstances” as viable disclaimers to our intentions of good will?  And yet what is the impact of our lack of follow through on the resolutions we declare?  The world does not stop revolving.  Life goes on.  The planets align as they should.  No cataclysm.  No catastrophe.  Nothing really bad happens when we do not actually follow through on the good works we planned to do.  But then again, nothing gets better either.  It is the lack of improvement that is the invisible catastrophe in our inevitable malaise.  We do not realize what it is we are missing.  Poor, blind, naked … comes to mind.

But if our intentions are truly good, and motivated to do good, then isn’t that in itself enough?  Isn’t the point of this process to inspire good thoughts within us, and to help us to look for things that could be improved?  But if so, then seeing without doing is of what value?  Yet none of us seems to languish in guilt over broken annual commitments to make our world a better place.  I never hear a single person making a new resolution, consumed in guilt over losing the last one.  It is rarer still to hear a success story of a resolution either.  Does this make us sociopaths?  I doubt it.  But it does give a clear indication of how much we expect the success we are willing to commit to.  And rightly so.

Christ said it best.  “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’.”  The idea of making verbal commitments beyond a simple answer is meaningless.  If you do not have absolute control, you cannot make absolute commitments.  Since almost every bit of life is beyond your control, your promises of any kind are simple vanity.  You commit to mark your intentions, but not your reality.  And yes, this affects a great many things beyond simple New Year’s resolutions.  It includes the promises we make to our children; the promises we make to each other, like a marital vow for instance; and even more disturbing the promises we make to ourselves.

So does this mean we should not swear to anything, or make any promises or verbal commitments?  Sounds like it, but if you look closely enough there is more the story.  Take a marriage vow for example; we make all these commitments to each other, yet 50% of us end our marriages completely, and even those who survive often do so because of forgiving the breakage of vows of our partners.  Not promising, and not committing, does not lessen our obligations or more importantly our intentions in the process, so what is the answer?  How about recognizing what does last?  How about seeing what is eternal and unchanging and making commitments based on Him.

What if the promise I made to my wife began as follows:  “It is my clear intention to honor you as my wife, to love and serve only you for the remainder of my life, to be with you both in this world and the world to come – so I recommit myself to my Lord and Savior, and I trust to His strength to see my intentions become reality.  I pledge now and always to take our struggles to Him, to employ His forgiveness when we both fall, and to embrace His redemptive power to change what must be changed within me to truly be your husband.”  In so humbling myself before my wife and my God, I place my words in His hands for fulfillment – A God who has NEVER failed me or anyone I know.  My commitment now extends beyond the boundaries of even our life on this planet, as God is eternal, so is the intention of my marriage.  If I am looking for death to cut my bonds, I must ask myself why.  When we say we want to be together forever, do we truly mean it?  This kind of vow has that potential.

My promise only has merit when based on my humility in accepting God as my guarantor.  Where my words cannot be backed with control, His grace is able to overcome any obstacle the world may present.  Even my commitment to my God, must be backed with the strength of my God to see it last and not rely on me in any way.  All my promises must be made this way.  Some have shortened this idea to the phrase “God willing”.  But this over-simplifies what it is we are saying and negates what we should truly feel when committing before God.  It is not God’s willingness that affects our abilities to keep our commitments, it is our trust in Him that does so.  Letting God lead.  Allowing God to change us, mold us, and recreate our very thoughts in His own image.  This rebirth is our only surety.  It does not make our words any stronger.  It does not make us more faithful.  It acknowledges that He alone is faithful.  It is a testament to all who know us, and who hear us commit in this way, that we know our own unworthiness and therefore trust completely in the faithfulness of our God.  His strength.  His ability.  His love.

When we learn to think this way, New Beginnings can happen all the time.  We do not need to wait for New Year’s Eve, a birthday, or some other special occasion in order to mark what our lives will be like going forward.  And what is more, when commitments are made in this way, they last.  For it is not us that sees to their fulfillment, it is our God that does.  We are effectively giving God the carte blanche He needs in our lives to keep us moving forward.  He is able to remind us, to inspire us, to alter our perceptions, increase our abilities, and provide us with the motivation we need to complete the works He sets before us. 

As this process increases, we promise less and less.  It is not our fear of commitment that deters us, but the realization that God must lead and not us.  We become more content to follow than to strike out on our own.  This is how it should be.  It is our pride that must be killed in order for humility to truly be born in us.  As our own self interest disintegrates, selfless service is put in its place.  Becoming changed is a process that begins as soon as we let it.  It was designed this way.  No need to wait for heaven to start.  No need to postpone freedom from the self-inflicted-pain we call evil.  The time to begin is now.  Success is not in our hands, and so therefore is a surety from our God.  Will you join me in humbly accepting His gift to us? …

Unwrapping Ecstasy ...

Tis the season one more time!  Oh I know the purists out there realize this is not the actual date of birth of Jesus Christ, in point of fact this date has clearly pagan origins.  And I know the politically correct crowd would wish me a Happy Holidays rather than a Merry Christmas, after all I may celebrate Hanukah or Cuanza as well.  And still the militant Christians are careful to remind me that the only reason for the season is still Jesus.  But this year, none of that matters, I finally unwrapped ecstasy and my world may never be the same.

I often wonder where the custom of exchanging gifts came from as it is tied to the celebration of the Birth of Christ.  Maybe in honor of the greatest gift ever given to the world, we make a pitiful attempt of our own to commemorate it?  Or perhaps since Jesus is no longer available in the flesh to us, we give gifts to each other in His place?  But if this is so, then perhaps we should not give to those we know, but to those in need – that would seem to be more Christian than the current practice.  Nonetheless, it cannot take away from the present I was given this year.  Ecstasy wrapped in a rather plain wrapper, a no frills packaging, I guess you could call it.

The present was not even kept under our tree this year.  Strangely it was kept in the bathroom, my bathroom to be precise.  Strange place for a gift I imagine; particularly since I do tend to be spending more and more time in there these days as I get older.  The wrapping paper was red and black, with gold trim, but there was no bow to speak of.  And no really clear tag of who it was from, it seems as though several folks who care about me got together on this gift and each made their own contribution.

Most guys I know would love a HUGE flat screen TV in full 1080p high definition, with a surround sound BluRay player to go with it.  My gift was better than that.  Other folks I know would love a new computer with dual quad processors and 20 terabytes of hard disk storage running a 64 bit OS.  My gift contained more capability, more speed, and is more reliable than that.  Some guys I know would settle for something ornate to wear on their wrists, a new Rolex or Omega perhaps with rose colored gold bracelet, and a meteorite face place.  My gift is more accurate than that, and worth far more.

When you think about all the things you have collected and received in your life, you can conjure up some fond memories.  But most of the things in your life tend to get old, fade, and ultimately lose their value.  I’ll grant you it takes much longer for a watch to lose utility than a new computer, but the truism still holds.  The relationships you have in your life can be much longer lasting, and more rewarding, but they too are impacted by the effects of evil and self interest.  Some relationships expire due to these two inexorably bound concepts; so even memories of people and of your interactions are sometimes limited in scope and length.

There is however a gift that can last a lifetime and more.  It comes like everything else of an infinite nature from the source of all infinite gifts.  Beyond the gift of Salvation, which is our only road home; beyond the gift of our Savior’s birth, which was the miracle that began the enactment of our Salvation is a gift of truth in a world of half-lies, darkness, deception, and despair.  The present I unwrapped was packaged in my Bible, it’s now faded red cover, gold trim, and black ink reached out and took hold of my heart.  A common text, a common memory verse every child learns, a billboard held up at NFL football games by a clown in a brightly colored wig – John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son …”

So many new truths jumped out at me from this old text of scripture.  First, was WHO God loved.  It says God loved the “world”; NOT God loved those who professed faith in Him.  God does not love ONLY those who say they love Him, He loved every single life on planet earth, every single human who has ever lived regardless of their status in the faith.  The world is God’s enemy and yet God follows His own advice and truly loves His enemy.  The world takes from God without so much as a thank you.  And God’s response was to give it more and more, and finally everything in the form of His Son.

I cannot even begin to imagine, WHY God loves the world.  It is certainly NOT because the world deserves His love.  We have done nothing to earn love, rather we have done much to earn punishment and contempt.  We are known for our hatred of each other, more than our generosity.  We do little to honor our example of love and much to destroy it completely.  So the question of WHY God loves His enemy must be answered only in the definition of love itself.  Perhaps as a parent loves a child because they are biologically connected.  Even when the child has mis-behaved, or like in our case, has contracted a fatal debilitating disease that impairs judgment and inflicts pain on everyone around.  Maybe only in this was can we begin to comprehend WHY.

Regardless of WHY remains the FACT that God does love us.  Love that holds nothing back.  Love that defines happiness.  Love that is eternal.  We have been looking through blinded eyes, at blurry images, with distorted sound for so so long.  Our vision is worse that our old TV’s not even the black and whites were this badly deformed.  But for so long the devil has made us think that God had nothing good to offer us; and sin and evil were the fun things, the cool things, the only things were having.  He was putting poop on our plates and calling it caviar.  And like idiots we were eating it by the handful.  But when our vision is corrected, when we open our eyes for the first time without our disease impacting our sight, the truth becomes clear.

We have relied on the wisdom of men, and on our technological prowess, substituting the simple wisdom of God, for the complex situational ethics of evil.  We hope for Google to have our answers, and our hard drives to have the capacity to store them.  But the simplest of people, the lowest of IQ’s is able to grasp the simple concept in action of love.  It is God’s love for us His enemy that can boggle the mind, and make meaningless our technical accomplishments.  We need no answers beyond a love that would give us EVERYTHING.  We need no search engine to define the meaning of sacrifice that would offer us EVERYTHING and demand in exchange nothing.  God offers us complete release from our pain, and our evil, as nothing more than a gift.

This truth is ecstasy.  It cannot be taken away.  It cannot be changed.  It cannot dull over the years but in fact only gain in strength over the years.  It’s meaning and its definition only continue to become clearer and more in focus as we experience the transformational love of our Savior.  To realize that God only ever wishes to offer us ecstasy on a level we are hardly ready to experience; there is nothing more under my tree that can move me like this.  There is nothing under heaven as important or meaningful to me as this.  Truth is worth more than any lie ever told.  It is worth more than the entirety of man’s ‘wisdom’.  It is not just a matter of faith to me, but a matter of fact to me.  For I can see no other transformational power in all the universe, that is at work in the lives of men to redeem them from the pain they are diseased with, than that of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Happy birthday to our God [belated as it may be] and thank YOU for a gift of sheer ecstasy that continues to warm my very soul.

Honoring Mom ...

One precept in the Bible important enough to make the top 10 list by God was the idea of ‘honoring your father and mother …’  Of course in our world today, we seem to understand little of the idea of ‘honoring’ anything and therefore have reduced this commandment down to – have some general respect for your elders – and you have it covered.  So are we off the hook (i.e. compliant)?  Or like so many other precepts in the word, have we totally missed the point and lost sight of the motive behind the mandate?

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day here in America, another Hallmark institution designed to ‘honor’ mom and sell greeting cards.  Outside of her birthday, mom’s rarely get this kind of attention throughout the year.  Let’s face it Christmas, and anniversaries are mutual holidays where mom’s giving skills are equally employed with her receiving skills.  But for her birthday, and perhaps on this manufactured holiday, we give mom some long overdue credit for just being a mom.  Just the idea that mom may deserve some credit is interesting to me.  Could it be that we use this occasion to call to remembrance the infinite number of times mom has sacrificed her own well being and interests for us?  Could it be in our normally self-obsessed and self-interested world, we pause briefly to acknowledge that our mom may have given up a few of her own dreams to insure ours were possible?

Of course all these sentiments could equally be expressed for dad on his day as well.  So I am not trying to say either parent deserves or doesn’t any less attention than the other.  But I find it interesting how we view our mothers, and how often we think of them as saints for their seemingly tireless efforts on our behalf, and their willingness to sacrifice for us.  The most famous mother of all time seems to have been Mary, the mother of Christ.  A young, devoted, pure bride whose burden it was to carry our Lord while still a virgin.  Christians have faith to accept this premise.  The entire rest of the world does not.  She was ridiculed by her own, and since then, decried as nothing more than another out-of-wedlock teen who got caught in her own illicit behavior.  Ironic the unwarranted shame that would be expected for her to bare.  Yet she should feel none.  Also ironic that Mary quickly achieves saint-hood in the eyes of the Christian church for not much more than simply being the mom of Christ.  While Joseph on the other hand barely gets a mention.  The surrogate earthly father of Christ lives and dies a righteous life in relative obscurity while his more famous mate lives on in sculpture, paintings, and sermon topics.

Perhaps the second most famous mom on earth is Mother Teresa of India.  Here was another woman who while having no children of her own, was the adopted mother of millions of orphans.  Her fame spread far and wide for the sake of her work.  After her death, her doubts and humanity came to view, but her work remains unquestioned.  What is the lesson of these mom’s?  Does God offer us mothers to teach us how willing He is to sacrifice His own well being for our interests?  Can Christ be anything but the supreme example of self sacrifice for us?

What about the bond between mother and child, what lessons are to be learned there.  We watch the momma duck walking towards the water‘s edge with each baby duckling walking in a line behind her.  She has only to quack at a certain tone and a certain volume and her chicks will gather close around her struggling to get under her wings.  So with us, our very young struggle to be close and feel safe near their mother’s.  Our court systems have long deferred to the idea that mother’s seem uniquely suited to put the needs of their children ahead of their own.  Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but in general this idea has proven true for years.  Men and Fathers tend to be more practical, and while they will sacrifice for their families, they tend to be more big-picture than tuned to the needs of the individual child.  Mom’s tend to tune-in there.  Does the bond between mom and child also represent the bond God wants between each of us and Him?  Does the very inspiration to sacrifice and preserve the specie itself originate in the heart of a creator God who Himself gives all for His creations?

So what do we truly owe our mothers beyond our existence?  Giving birth was her choice after all not ours, so it seems we owe little for that.  But the care for us, the love for us, the concern for us, and the sacrifice for us – how do we go about repaying that?  It might begin with the realization that indeed our moms owe us NOTHING.  Wait a minute you say, having children comes with responsibilities.  You can’t just produce kids and have nothing to do with them afterwards.  Really?  OK you should not produce them and have nothing to do with them.

A child of choice and a child of accident may face different parental reactions.  And while we reasonably expect a parent to bare the responsibilities of having a child – responsibility hardly is the right term to measure the depth of love most mother’s show to their children.  The sacrifice most mom’s make on behalf of their children could hardly be put under the term responsibility from any other perspective than that of a completely selfish child.  Mom’s give and give and give because they love.  So it is with God.  He gives to us because He loves.  The child may not seem worthy of the gifts he is given in our eyes, by his mom, or by his God – but worthiness is not the reason gifts are extended – love is.  God gives even more than mom gives – because He loves.

Ever wonder what it is like to face an angry lioness in the wild?  Attack a child in the presence of it’s mother, and you will witness this simulation.  There is a reason why the metaphor of lioness is used when discussing the defensive posture or nature of a mother with her child.  Mom’s seem to be able to summon super-human strength, speed, and agility when it comes to defending their young.  It is not so much that their physical prowess is intimidating to an intruder, but the tenacity in their eyes, and the determination in their hearts can frighten the largest assailant.  Now extrapolate this lesson to God.  God who tenderly sees all of us as His children, the treasures of His eyes; Those who would dare to attack his little ones face not just an angry determined woman – but the God of an entire universe with unlimited power, strength, and determination.  The instinct to protect that a mom feels begins in the heart of her creator God.

What does it mean then to honor mom or dad?  Perhaps it means recognizing our own unworthiness, and the gifts we have been given in spite of it.  Perhaps similar to how our salvation works, our parents give us unconditional love, acceptance, protection, and care.  We did not ask for this as babies, in fact, we were incapable of asking for this as babies – but it was given not because of how much we loved – but because of how much our parents loved.  Despite the imperfections of humanity, we have an example of what it means to love someone with regards to self.  We have an example of what it means to care for someone who may or may not be able to acknowledge the extent of your gift.  The younger the child, the more the care required, and the less the recognition they are able to discern of it.

What does it mean to honor mom or dad?  Maybe it means that as we grow older and as our parents lose their status as being at the top-of-their-game due to age – that we become the patient care givers.  Maybe it means that we begin to forego some of our dreams or ambitions for the sake of care for an elder.  Perhaps it means that we return some of the unconditional love that forgives a parent’s mistakes and remembers only their love.  Perhaps to honor our parents is to remember how much MORE than responsibility was their gift to us.  Perhaps to truly honor their sacrifice is to strive to become worthy of it.  To be people who are able to give to others even when it means inconvenience to self.  This is the lesson of a mom.

No matter what the family structure, no matter how traditional or untraditional a family may choose to be, there is always a place for mom.  To that person in your life who loves you, cares for you, raised you from your youth – to that person you should add your blessing.  A recognition, and a thanks, even on a manufactured holiday, seems little enough for the enormity of what they have done.  If you wish to honor them, move beyond greeting cards, frequent hugs, and constant well wishes – become a person of sacrifice yourself.  In this way, your days will not only be long in the land in which the Lord gives you, in addition your days will be worth living in His land.  A life of love is a life of happiness…

Christian Holidays ...

This weekend marks a worldwide celebration of Easter.  Not many religious holidays are prominent throughout the entire world.  A few Muslim, Jewish, and Christian occasions dot the calendar.  Atheists and agnostics look at these ‘superstitions’ and are usually just grateful for an extra day off, and at the same time, offended by our collective ‘ignorance’.  The criticism is somewhat well placed when you consider some of the symbolism that gets interwoven with the more spiritual traditions.  Concepts like an Easter Bunny, who comes (I guess at night) and hides chocolate eggs for children to uncover the next day.  None of this is Biblical, Jewish, or Muslim tradition, so why is it so ingrained in our celebrations?  In fact, given the nature of our relationship with God, are any days, or events more important than any regular day in our lives?  Does God honor holidays at all?

The Atheist is right to point out the sheer number of religions that have existed throughout written history.  Man seems to have found a way to worship many things, in many cultures, and almost all of it is today considered ‘superstition’, even by educated Christians.  Although within Christianity there are several hundred different denominations and belief systems.  In general man seems to have an ingrained need to worship, but a poorly defined ability to determine how to express that need.  The origins of non-God worship date all the way back to the inception of Satan.  Once having completed his transformation from Lucifer, Son of the Morning, to Satan, Father of Lies – the need to divert worship from the true God was paramount in Satan’s planning. 

And again, what more effective way to hurt God, than to deceive man into worshipping the very things God created for man’s survival and for his enjoyment.  So Satan set about, causing man to believe that the Sun, our Solar centerpiece, was the real god to worship.  After all the Sun gives us light, warmth, etc..  You can see the Sun everyday with your own eyes.  It is regular, predictable, reliable, and of course seems to require no real changes in our character or lives.  What’s more the basis for non-God worship becomes predicated on man saving himself, by his own strength and determination.  So if the sun would be our day god, then it stands to reason the moon would fill in at night.  And of course while the sun may be a bit of harsh god as years go by, the moon can be the fun one, full of sexual orgies, and self indulgence.  Nightly ceremonies based on sexual lust would be a quick draw to many new followers who are taught indulgence not restraint, and of course objectifying people rather than true intimacy.

These two solar neighbors found a basis of worship in many cultural religions.  And Satan was not happy enough by diverting the minds of thousands into false forms of worship, he further introduced the concept of sacrifice – but instead of God sacrificing for man, Satan would have man sacrifice himself to earn favor with a cruel God.  And so, human sacrifice was born into the world.  Soon enough, reasoning volunteers were hard to find, so purity was sacrificed.  Kill the virgins first.  Then eventually the children.  In fact, let’s breed children at the nightly orgy ceremonies, throw the male babies in the fires for sacrifice, the female babies can grow up to be temple prostitutes to continue this process.  Satanism prizes the most horrific and decries anything noble.  Satanism craves power and mastery over others, while God asks for voluntary obedience, and only offers help not insists on it.  The polar opposites of philosophy and religion.

So what does all this have to do with Easter Bunnies and holidays you ask?  The Easter Bunny was a symbol of fertility, as was the chicken egg, back in the days of the Roman Empire.  These pagan symbols were merged into the Christian celebration of Easter, as were other symbols and timing merged into Christmas, and Lent, etc..  Descendents of Sun worship, and Moon worship, superstitions representing the very government of Satan were smoothly blended into the Christian holidays we observe today.  And no-one bats an eye.  Christian parents hide the chocolate Easter eggs for their children and in so doing perpetuate the traditions from generation to generation.

But does this mean, that God does not like or enjoy holidays?  Actually No.  God setup a good number of special holidays and rituals throughout the Old Testament for us to both enjoy, remember, and point forward to Him.  God seems to like the idea of feasting on occasion, and for specific reasons.  The Passover holidays proscribed specific foods to be eaten, in order to remember the exodus from Egypt.  There were a variety of feasts to be observed, even a year-long celebration of the year of jubilee every 50 years to commemorate the releasing of all debts.  Every slave was to be freed.  Every bound-man/woman (people in servitude to pay off debts) were to be sent back to their lands, free and clear of all debts.  These were examples of the kind of feasts God proscribed.

And today, what about our holidays, are there any in the New Testament we could observe?  Not too many, only the gathering together to worship (Sabbaths) and the practice of Communion (a special practice of washing feet, and eating unleavened bread, and drinking pure red grape juice) are remnants of the traditions found as well in the new testament.  The old feasts of atonement were gone since there was no more need to sacrifice lambs as symbols of Christ.  Christ had come and fulfilled the symbolism.  Now the atonement could be looked at historically instead of pointing forward.  It changed the nature of the observance but did not call for its termination.  It simply became optional, and altered in its state, by the reality of Christ.

And what about Easter, or Christmas, is there any value in the observation of these holidays?  Perhaps.  We do believe in the factual birth of our Savior come to save our world.  The gift of ‘Christmas’ to us was indeed real.  It did not happen on December 25^th, (the actual date of the birth of Tamuz, a sun god derivative blended by the Romans), in fact it was probably closer to September.  Easter, or the giving of himself to die and be reborn in our place, was also a real event for Christians.  It probably did happen sometime in March/April and sans the bunny and chocolate, did give us a real shot at life and reconciliation with God.  There is no harm in calling to remembrance these events.  There is great harm in reducing an entire religious experience to going to church these 2 times per year, and disregarding God entirely for the remainder.

It is not our church attendance that God demands, it is our love he desires.  Going to church has never been the mechanism for saving a soul.  In fact it is quite the opposite.  Church attendance, or fellowshipping with like believers, was something of a benefit offered to us by God as a result of being saved, not as a prerequisite.  We fellowship in order to strengthen each other, to console each other, to commiserate with each other, to learn from each other, to lift each other up, to serve each other, and to hope with each other.  We find the power of the Spirit in the unity of purpose we find with each other. 

As a group works together for the benefit of others, the power of the Spirit of the Lord is poured over them, and unity becomes acute, affectivity is raised, and walls fall from the faith of a few.  Subjecting our individualistic tendencies to the goals of the group, and working in humility without attention centered on ourselves, presents the true picture of a real church belonging to Christ, to our fellow man.  Without these ingredients and absent this spirit, we look simply obnoxious, arrogant, and self-absorbed.  A church should be a fortress of healing for believing sinners.  A church should be a place of comfort one can come after begin harassed and experiencing failure in the cruel world around us. 

A church is not the building, the ornate decorations, or the beautiful music.  A church is simply the group of people who attend it.  So it is the imperfect character of this group that is reflected to the world.  As this group of people become truly converted, and learn to love, they are able to grow.  It is the spirit of condemnation that inhibits the growth of our bodies.  We suffer as we criticize.  And we grow as we learn to embrace unconditionally those around us.  Embracing your neighbor does not have to equate to accepting the sin within them, rather it is an expression of the unconditional love the Father has already made to them, and an admission of the imperfections in ourselves, that continue to require divine intervention on our own behalf to fix.  We are all equals under the Lord.  Therefore we are free to love each other as God loves us all, each and every one.  The work of transforming our lives will be left to the only one who is able to do it.  Our role is only to love.

I look forward to the holiday God will observe with us in heaven.  Isaiah prophesied that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, we would gather together in heaven, and enjoy the company of our God.  This is a holiday, I believe in.  This is a holiday, I want desperately to be a part of.  This is a holiday, that will mark the end of the existence of evil, and beginning of real life.  I cannot wait …