Fearless Faith

A friend sent me the link to this video.  I'm reminded of Jesus' words in the high priestly prayer, 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from evil.

Can we hold on to a nation without God

A great article, with thoughtful insight. Here's just a bit of it,
If repudiation of its past and its identity is all that Western civilization can offer, it cannot survive: it will give way to whatever future civilization can offer hope and consolation to the young and fulfill their deep-rooted human need for social membership. Citizenship, as I have described it, does not fulfill that need: and that is why so many Muslims reject it, seeking instead that consoling “brotherhood” (ikhwan) that has so often been the goal of Islamic revivals. But citizenship is an achievement that we cannot forgo if the modern world is to survive: we have built our prosperity on it, our peace and our stability, and—even if it does not provide happiness—it defines us. We cannot renounce it without ceasing to be.

What is needed is not to reject citizenship as the foundation of social order but to provide it with a heart. And in seeking that heart, we should turn away from the apologetic multiculturalism that has had such a ruinous effect on Western self-confidence and return to the gifts that we have received from our Judeo-Christian tradition.

Understanding God

In the gospel of John Jesus consistent tells us that if you know him, you know the Father.  If you have seen him, you have seen the Father.  One place we get a taste of this is in in John 8.19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, a“You know neither me nor my Father. bIf you knew me, you would know my Father also.”  As I consistently come across this truth is has led me to wonder, "How does this truth change the way that we understand God as we encounter him in the Old Testament?"  Could it be that when we read the Old Testament and see the face of God in the Old Testament in the mirror of Jesus in the new that we get a different understanding of the Father?  Could it be that we may need to reread and reinterpret how we see the Father at some level if we take seriously Jesus' claims about being the true picture of God?  

Great Lines from the Bible

Imagine that Jesus was your pastor, what would you do with this kind of response to a crisis--especially if you knew you were one of his favorites,
John 11:5   Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

A Song

I was listen to a compilation of songs today and this is the first I heard.  It is called "A Prayer".  Words are by Euston Jones.  It was not what I expected listening to a song style connected with Lord of the Rings

Lord
I must be strong now
I don't belong now
In this world anymore

I'll say a final prayer for
Those I care for
Who've kept my company

My destiny is clear
I'm dying to have you near
To me

Lord
I don't belong now
If you are waiting
I am not afraid to die

I'm prepared to go
Divide my body and soul
Won't you

Lord
I won't be long now
If you are waiting
I am not afraid to die

Have mercy, Lord
I'm told it's paradise
To have and to hold you

Lord
I must be strong now
I don't belong now
In this world anymore

Lord
I won't be long now
If you are waiting
I am not afraid to die