Tag: resurrection

Morning, Psalm 25; Evening, Psalms 9 and 15;
Jeremiah 44:1 to 14; 1^st Corinthians 15:30 to 41; Matthew 11:16 to 24:

“But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”  (1^st Corinthians 15:35)

I have talked about this subject not more than two days ago, last Saturday in fact.  I don’t know the answer about how the dead are raised but what I do know is that I want it. I want to be raised into eternal life. So, I’m going to re-post my words from last Saturday about our Resurrection:

[Indeed, it is for life after death that I am hoping in Christ. Except for books and movies, I have no experience or evidence of life before I was born. It is like I was dead before I was alive. It was Mark Twain who said, “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

While I don’t think I fear death, I am very curious about it.  What is it like to not have to breathe, or eat, or any of the human functions we have depended on for all of our mortal lives?  Or, will some of these creature customs continue in the afterlife?  I don’t know.

What I do know is that whatever level of existence God will let me have, I want it.  This is why I am a Christian. As Paul says, being a Christian is not about this life, it is about our resurrection in Christ Jesus. This is our hope. This is why we pray in the Name of our Lord Jesus. This is why we believe the way we do.

Personally, I don’t believe that God has set a date for us to die (as many Christians do), but I do believe that God, in Christ Jesus, is always waiting for us when we do.  While death is sometimes untimely, death is not ungodly. God is present in this world and the next.

There are many human beliefs about our relationship with God. Christianity is just one and there are many versions of it.  As our past Presiding Bishop says, “We are on the Episcopal path of the Jesus movement.”  And, Paul again, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” To this I will add, that our Lord Jesus did teach us how to live in love of neighbor while we walk this earth. And so, I will leave what happens to me after my death in His most capable and loving hands. Thank You Lord Jesus.]

Perhaps the only note I would add for today is that I will do my best to be as compassionate and as patient as I can be with all people while I am still in this life. I want God to be happy to pick me. And maybe my practice of compassion and patience will be of some value in the next life as I see who else is joining me there, some of whom, I might have thought shouldn’t be there, but God’s Will be done. Amen. 

Today, October 20, we remember Cornelius the Centurion, (February 7 NT) and his information may be found at: Cornelius the Centurion.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Let us pray: (BCP p. 505)

Merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life: Raise us, we humbly pray, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness; that when we depart this life we may rest in him, and at the resurrection receive that blessing which your well-beloved Son shall then pronounce: “Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.” Grant this, O merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen.

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of Proper 6: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 119:97-120; Evening,  Psalms 81 and 82;
1^st  Samuel 2:12 to 26; Acts 2:1 to 21; Luke 20:27 to 40:

“Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection:” (Luke 20:36).

We humans so often try to project our own existence on life beyond our known world. We try to make God in our image rather than accept that some part of our existence is patterned after God. We also try to make our resurrected life like life on this side of the resurrection. It simply doesn’t work. We have to be open minded. For one thing, as Jesus points out to the Sadducees, we are done with the idea of death after our resurrection. Marriage too, like racism, war and money are all human constructs that don’t exist in that “next generation.”

There are two things that I believe about the resurrection. The first is that while we will not die again, we might tend to cease to exist if we can’t let go of human constructs that don’t work in heaven: that is, we will return to the nothingness from whence God brought us in the beginning.  The second is that there will be some accountability at our resurrection. This is why we should practice some sense of morality in this life. For me, it means giving all human constructs the lowest level of heavenly priority they deserve. It also means giving love the highest priority that it deserves; that Godly construct which eternally exist in the resurrection, that house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. 

My personal living creed is; “I trust in the Creating Word through the Holy Spirit of the Incarnate Word, in whom I live and move and love and have my being, and to whom I must give an account.”  Our lord Jesus says that at our resurrection we will be like angels and children of God, being children of the resurrection. I pray the crafters of Luke’s Gospel got this right. I am living my whole life in these words. Thank You Lord Jesus.

Today we remember Bernard Mizeki, Catechist and Martyr in Africa (June 18, 1896) and his information may be found at: http://www.satucket.com/ltionary/Bernard_Mizeki.htm.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Let us pray: (BCP p. 505)

Merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life: Raise us, we humbly pray, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness; that when we depart this life we may rest in him, and at the resurrection receive that blessing which your well-beloved Son shall then pronounce: “Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.” Grant this, O merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen.

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of the 6^th Week of Easter: Year 1

Morning,  Psalm 119:97 to 120;
Baruch 3:24 to 37; James 5:13 to 18; Luke 12:22 to 31:

Eve of Ascension: Evening, Psalm 68:1 to 20;
2^nd  Kings 2:1 to 15; Revelation 5:1 to 14:

“He is our God, the God of our salvation; God is the Lord, by whom we escape death.” (Psalm 68:20)

As we prepare to remember and celebrate the Ascension of our Lord Jesus into Heaven tomorrow, we reflect today on God’s Presence with us in the person of the Resurrected Jesus.

The Resurrection itself, Easter, is the significant Christian event.  Our Lord Jesus came back to life after being put to death.  In his Resurrection many came to believe in him, this includes members of his family who formerly were not numbered among his disciples, his brother James to mention one.

The Resurrected Jesus visited with the apostles behind locked doors, and on paths to different towns, and even on the shore as they were fishing. Scripture informs us that there were many more times that he was present with different people that were not written in the scriptures. His Resurrected presence lasted for forty days, a little longer than a month. This living defeat of death sealed the faith of Christianity forever and eternity.

But the time came when our Lord Jesus would let us know that he will depart back to his eternal glory where he is preparing a place for all who both believe, and live out that belief, in the way they live their lives.  For more than a month Jesus has shown us that there is life after death. You and I will not be able to return to this world as he did but we will be among the family of the faithful who continue to walk in the love of God, and of one another, forever. We will do this because we have an awesome God. “He is our God, the God of our salvation; God is the Lord, by whom we escape death.” (Psalm 68:20)

Today we remember Mechtild and John Calvin and their information may be found at: Mechtild of Magdeburg and John Calvin, respectively.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Let us pray: (BCP p. 226)

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also in heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.