Magis et Magis

Wednesday 24 January 2024

invenire iter

in domum nostram

Psalm 102:27

… but you are the same, and your years have no end.

Matthew 28:20

… and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

yInchoHpu’DI’ qeylIS wa’DIch mawjaj. ‘a leS Qaw’be’taHvIS hoSchoHbe’ wIta’rup. matay’Daq malja’ wIchenmoHlaHbe’ ‘e’ wIpIH. nItebHa’ ghob ‘ej potlhbej ropvetlh wIta’pu’. tugh qaStaHvIS poHvam wIpab je ghe”ordaq malja’ wIHuqlaHbe’chugh. nughochmeyMo’ ghu’ luleghbogh nuv’e’ ‘ej tugh bIHoH ‘e’ wIHar. maSaHbe’chugh, vaj maQmIghbe’ jaj wa’DIch vIvanchu’meH HochHom ghIlghameS ‘ vIqelchu’pu’bogh. qatlh Qu’vam?

…

from the Klingon:

God may be the same from time before time to after all time, from before creation to after creation’s end,

but we change as we age, often not for the better,

until we die.

So we worry about what to teach others, instead of learning to live as God created us to live.

We worry about the price of china in tealand and how that affects the price of dirt on the moon for our next new vacation home there.

We worry about invasions from the Andromeda Galaxy and how we can make pre-emptive strikes to wipe out other civilizations that might find us a threat to their existence and seek to wipe us out.

We worry about everything we can do nothing about, and forget

to live as we are created, forgiven, renewed and equipped to live, free from worry and full of energy to help others live in the blessed freedom only God can give.

Whaddayathinkfortoday?

Confess

Our Proud Sins?

Tuesday 23 January 2024

Old Photo, Old Problem:

Confessing Sins.

Psalm 25:11

For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

Mark 2:5

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’

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Words of Grace For Today

…

There is nothing more difficult for proud, rich humans to do than to admit their guilt.

There is nothing more difficult for proud, poor humans to do than to admit their guilt.

We spend so much time trying to make it look like we are good enough.

Only when we are assured that God will forgive us are we capable of being so bold as to confess our sins.

And then, as promised God forgives us.

So what are we to do with that forgiveness?

Live lives blessed by forgiving others, maybe?

Whaddayathink today is for?

Dismal, Desperate Visions

Of Renewed Creation

Monday 22 January 2024

Hungering For

Creation Renewed,

As Fresh As New Snow

Covering Every Past Evil

Isaiah 45:8

Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness;let the earth open, that salvation may spring up, and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also; I the Lord have created it.

2 Peter 3:13

But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

While the reality of everyday life is quite dismal, more so for many than for us, even the poor and homeless in Canada, for war and famine are things very few of us struggle with and many across the globe face that and worse …

So dismal is life, as it can be seen by any set of eyes, for travails is something humans are always able to create no matter their circumstances, good or bad …

So dismal is life when all is going so well and nothing is satisfactory, for we humans always dream of more, and more and more until we out dream the possibilities of being anything at all …

So dismal is it all

that the vision of water pouring down from on high on the parched earth and into our parched hearts, bringing blossoms and crops to grow in abundance, abundance to feed all our hungers and pains of dreams unmet …

that the vision of showers raining down righteousness and justice for all so that no more do any suffer the evil of lies and greed of others, stealing life out from under us …

that the vision of God bringing from this old creation, so corrupted by our collective and accumulated evils that we have a hard time finding the goodness God declared was there when God created it from the void and chaos – God bring from this old creation a new creation, a creation good from the beginning to the end, untainted by our sins and evils done to others …

that the vision of God’s hand extending into our lives and making things right is so yearned for and dreamt of that we are like the parched land starved for more than 40 years …

So dismal is it all and our God given vision of God putting it right almost takes our breath away …

and then we realize that God has already accomplished this

and this dismal world is already redeemed and made new by God’s mercy and steadfast love, so clearly demonstrated in Jesus’ life, healing, death and resurrection, that

we can only remember now

to breathe in the fresh air

that has renewed what

we saw as so dismal

and made it new

wonderfully

new.

God’s Purpose

For the Good and the Bad

Sunday 21 January 2024

Beauty, Gold And White,

Shall Also Pass.

As We All Will.

What Purpose Has God In All That?

Job 2:10

But he said to her, ‘You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Romans 8:28

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

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Words of Grace For Today

…

But what is God’s purpose?

Job suffers. No one really can figure out (though many theorize) why God does such terrible things to Job.

Jonah gets the call from God. Jonah runs away because Jonah knows that the task God has for him is, first of all, a thankless task. The Ninevites will not repent. Secondly, they more than deserve to be destroyed. So why should Jonah bother!

God knows otherwise and persists with extraordinary measures to get Jonah on task.

Finally Jonah relents and gives the Ninevites a lacklustre warning, “Repent or be destroyed.”

God’s surprise for Jonah starts with the Ninevites all repenting.

And God continues with the surprise by relenting and not destroying these terribly evil people.

History shows that Nineveh was destroyed eventually.

So I guess God is merciful and loving, but it’s really hard for us people to change and stay changed.

What are we to do with that today?!

Maker

Maker Glue

Saturday 20 January 2024

Even the ‘glue’ that holds snow

to the branches

under the bright sun

in the c.c..co..cold.

Jeremiah 10:12

It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.

Colossians 1:17

He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

To the tiniest piece of physical reality (a quantum is it now?) to the greatest galaxies turning about themselves and in themselves,

and also here on earth as we twirl moving around the sun,

each held in place in relation to the rest by

gravity and …

well held in place by far more complex physical and sub- and meta-physical things than I can name

–

all this God created

and God holds it together.

So also God created each of us, our hearts, minds, and spirits,

holding us together as we breathe and live and move and hope and love and

…

and everything we do and are.

This day again we pray in thanks for all things that keep us alive, especially for the Grace of God that gives us life and hope

and everything.

Things

For Life

Friday 19 January 2024

No Matter How Many Planes We Have ….

Proverbs 30:8

Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need,

1 Timothy 6:7-8

… for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

The things of life are many,

but the things necessary for life are far fewer:

clean air, clean water, nourishing food, adequate clothing, sufficient shelter, meaningful labour, and love (the ability to love others and that others love us.)

All these are things that we receive as gifts from God, added to the gifts of life (given to us at birth) and the Holy Spirit (given to us at baptism), forgiveness and renewal (given to us each day as God promised us and made clear in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection).

We have since the beginning of time fooled ourselves into thinking that we possess many things in our lifetimes, and that these things make a great difference in our lives, for ourselves and among other people.

But

all that we think we possess are really only things entrusted to us by their owner, God. So many things God entrusts to us, that we will be good stewards of them, giving life to as many people as possible, with our voices, hands, and feet, working, working, working

working out God’s love and mercy, grace and generosity, forgiveness and renewal for all people.

What works against life for all people are lying and falsehoods.

If only we could leave them out of life!

Like all people, what we really need is

everything God gives us

to share.

Serving

One God

Thursday 18 January 2024

The Things That Make Life

Joyous

Are the Simplest,

And Free For the Noticing

First Kings 18:21

Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ The people did not answer him a word.

Matthew 6:24

‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

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Words of Grace For Today

…

Today’s world, as it always has been, promises that if we serve the ‘godlet’ of greed, money, and power, we will live a meaningful and happy life.

That ‘godlet’ competes in most people’s hearts with their fear and love of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

and thus most people are very unhappy, dissatisfied with this life for there is never enough money to secure happiness. There is only enough money to make one deluded that happiness is just around the next corner, where more money is available.

God comes and heals us of our every ill, including our fever of chasing wealth.

Also this day,

we pray, come heal us, that we may know the joy God provides to us each day.

Orphans

Not Ever.

Wednesday 17 January 2024

Walking Alone,

No More.

Hosea 11:3

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them.

John 14:18

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

Orphans.

Orphans and bastards disowned by both parents.

Orphans and bastards and others set to the side by society

left homeless, without a country

without an inheritance or past or future.

God knows there will always be way too many of these in all generations.

God promises that, once God claims us as children, God will not abandon us.

We will not become orphans.

Jesus came, Jesus walks with us each day, Jesus will come again to finish the transformation of all creation to God’s will that we love God, one another, ourselves, and all creation.

A small promise fulfilled each day.

Also this day.

So what will we do with this promise today?

Hurry

Hurry and Come Down

(Me?! But I Worked So Hard to Get Up Here!)

Tuesday 16 January 2024

From the Ur-Waters of Precreation,

to the Storms of Today,

God Claims Us.

Isaiah 43:1

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Luke 19:5

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

How hard we all work to get where we are!

Like Zacchaeus we may have taken advantage of others, but the work was not easy and the price we paid, over and over again, was not nothing.

It’s cost us so much, really.

Then Jesus calls us, “Come Down. Hurry!”

God formed us, named us, and claimed us, and

did God ever intend for us to climb so high up where we’ve gotten,

on the backs of other people

paying the price with our hearts

minds

and souls?

Coming Down can be harder than climbing up. It’s not easy. It’s hard to give up what we think we’ve earned.

Down with Jesus, breaking bread with him, celebrating the goodness of life, we see again how far we’ve wandered away from God’s love and life

given to us in the beginning.

…

The beginning of each day

each minute.

Fear

And Love

Monday 15 January 2024

No Matter the View,

Far or Near,

God Deals With Us ….

Psalm 147:11

… the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Romans 8:15

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’

…

Words of Grace For Today

…

God, the Almighty, – if we recognize the power God can wield – rightfully strikes fear into our hearts.

And, so many people attempt to strike as much fear into other people’s hearts … all so that they can force their will on others … always to detriment of the one striking fear and to the detriment to those who fear.

We have more than enough reason to be fearful of these people, and of the future yet to unfold for

so much in our recent past promises worse days ahead.

God works to save us from such fear and worry,

saving us

and all creation

so that we might

live, blessed and capable of working within what is, not what is not that is so fearful, and with God’s greatest blessing as our basic mode of being for ourselves and with others:

love.

God is to be feared, but even more-so to be loved, for God loves us with a steadfast and unending love that is more powerful than all the fear of all time stacked up together against us.

Such is God’s power

to be used

wondrously

each day.