I have moved on to reflecting on the phrase "Give us this day our daily bread" in the Lord's Prayer. Albert Haase in "Living the Lord's Prayer" suggests that praying this is to be childlike and admit our dependency, helplessness and need as is how little children are. It is not necessarily just the innocence aspect of children (which is a common interpretation)but also their total trust in and dependency on their parents for their needs that Jesus challenges us in Matthew 18:3 to change and become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven.
There is a French saint called Therese de Lisieux who died of tuberculosis at the age of 24 in the late 1800's. She spoke of spiritual childhood as acknowledging our nothingness and expecting everything good from the Lord. In her simple faith she wrote saying that she was looking for a "very straight, very short, a completely new little way" to heaven. The elevator had just been invented saving people the long walk up the stairs. She wanted to find an elevator to lift her up to Jesus because she was "just too little to climb the ladder of perfection." She found Isaiah 66:12,13 that says "As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you ... You shall be nursed and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees." She realized that the elevator to lift her up to heaven was the arms of Jesus. She says "For that I do not need to become big. On the contrary I must stay little."
Oh, that I may never grow up, that I may never outgrow my need for God. May I remain dependent on and fully trusting in my heavenly Father as a child depends on and trusts in their parents. And may I always find myself in Jesus' arms when I think I have lost my way.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
God bless you
I have had some niggling questions over the past few months. As I drive around Detroit I see the many homeless on the street corners with their signs requesting a hand out (or hand up as I like to consider it). Many of these signs say "God bless you." More often than not, when I give a dollar to them, they say "God bless you." Just yesterday I gave a newcomer to a corner frequented by them a dollar and he said the same words and I asked myself as I so frequently do, "Does this guy really mean it? Does he know God enough to bring God's blessing on me? Can someone who is not in God's family bless me? Is he saying this out of sincerity or is it just the "in thing" to say?" Lately I have begun to wonder about this.
It seems that "God bless you" is said very frequently one to another in Christian circles very sincerely. I will often say it to my Christian frineds and acquaintances in saying good-bye. I have even tacked it on the end of my voice mail messages. I know that I sincerely wish God's blessing on that person. It is not really something my non-Christian friends would say to me - it's just not in their vocabulary.
I do not necessarily give money to the homeless to get God's blessing. I do it because God has given me the resources and many times as I see a homeless person, I am thankful for what God has provided for me and at the very least I can share some of it with others who are more needy than I. In a way it is passing on God's blessing to me to another person.I do not give indiscriminately - many times I give because I feel God nudging me to give. And while I do appreciate a "thank you" or a smile, I do not expect anything in return.
I do believe that those who are poor and impoverished have a greater awareness of how God provides for them than those who are not in need. And I know that many of the homeless, regardless of how they use my dollar, are truly grateful. Perhaps they do have a right to request God's blessing on the giver.
I have briefly tried to find a Scripture relating to this but have not really found anything. Certainly someone saying "God bless you" is a short prayer of request by that person for God to bless another. So can someone who is not a Christian request God's blessing on another and expect God to answer that prayer? Acts 20:35 (NIV) says "...remembering the words of the Lord Jesus himself said 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" So therefore just by my act of giving a dollar I already receive a blessing from God. Does it matter then if someone wishes God's blessing on me when I give something to them?
I am afraid I just have questions at this time. I will let them niggle at me as I drive away from each homeless person but will not lose sight of the satisfaction I feel knowing that I have blessed the receiver of my dollar with the blessings that God has given me.
It seems that "God bless you" is said very frequently one to another in Christian circles very sincerely. I will often say it to my Christian frineds and acquaintances in saying good-bye. I have even tacked it on the end of my voice mail messages. I know that I sincerely wish God's blessing on that person. It is not really something my non-Christian friends would say to me - it's just not in their vocabulary.
I do not necessarily give money to the homeless to get God's blessing. I do it because God has given me the resources and many times as I see a homeless person, I am thankful for what God has provided for me and at the very least I can share some of it with others who are more needy than I. In a way it is passing on God's blessing to me to another person.I do not give indiscriminately - many times I give because I feel God nudging me to give. And while I do appreciate a "thank you" or a smile, I do not expect anything in return.
I do believe that those who are poor and impoverished have a greater awareness of how God provides for them than those who are not in need. And I know that many of the homeless, regardless of how they use my dollar, are truly grateful. Perhaps they do have a right to request God's blessing on the giver.
I have briefly tried to find a Scripture relating to this but have not really found anything. Certainly someone saying "God bless you" is a short prayer of request by that person for God to bless another. So can someone who is not a Christian request God's blessing on another and expect God to answer that prayer? Acts 20:35 (NIV) says "...remembering the words of the Lord Jesus himself said 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" So therefore just by my act of giving a dollar I already receive a blessing from God. Does it matter then if someone wishes God's blessing on me when I give something to them?
I am afraid I just have questions at this time. I will let them niggle at me as I drive away from each homeless person but will not lose sight of the satisfaction I feel knowing that I have blessed the receiver of my dollar with the blessings that God has given me.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Our Father, Who Is In Heaven
I am reading a fascinating book about the Lord's Prayer. The author takes each phrase and expounds on it in ways I have never heard before. In the liturgy at my church we say the Lord's Prayer before communion. This book has totally changed this well-known prayer for me and I will never take any word of it for granted again and I am only at the "Who art in heaven" chapter!!
The chapter discusses the difficulty we have as humans in understanding just who we are praying to - "When we locate the presence of God "in heaven" in the Lord's Prayer, we are not confining God to a snail-mail address or physical location.... No word or image can accurately describe this ineffable, unapproachable and incomprehensible God who lives in heaven."
So many times I think I have arrived at finally understanding God, only to be frustrated by His revealing something else of Himself to me. And when I pray, I think I know this God I am praying to - but do I really know Him - the God who is in heaven?
The author continues: " God refuses to become an object that can be contained by the human mind. God lives in heaven! God dwells in unapproachable light. God is like the air we breathe: we can never grasp it in our hands. God is like the horizon: we can never take in its length in one single glance. ... Indeed it is an arrogant presumption to think God can be captured, photographed, contained or described by the human mind or heart. God is God: totally other, totally transcendent."
Wow, how liberating this is. I don't have to figure Him out! I just have to believe in who He is, allow Him to be outside of whatever box I put Him in and let Him be the God that He is. Even though the nature of God puts Him way outside of what I can understand, it is not discouraging - for He meets me where I am at - He is my (our)Father, my Abba, who lives in heaven. What more can I ask for?
(From "Living the Lord's Prayer" by Albert Haase)
The chapter discusses the difficulty we have as humans in understanding just who we are praying to - "When we locate the presence of God "in heaven" in the Lord's Prayer, we are not confining God to a snail-mail address or physical location.... No word or image can accurately describe this ineffable, unapproachable and incomprehensible God who lives in heaven."
So many times I think I have arrived at finally understanding God, only to be frustrated by His revealing something else of Himself to me. And when I pray, I think I know this God I am praying to - but do I really know Him - the God who is in heaven?
The author continues: " God refuses to become an object that can be contained by the human mind. God lives in heaven! God dwells in unapproachable light. God is like the air we breathe: we can never grasp it in our hands. God is like the horizon: we can never take in its length in one single glance. ... Indeed it is an arrogant presumption to think God can be captured, photographed, contained or described by the human mind or heart. God is God: totally other, totally transcendent."
Wow, how liberating this is. I don't have to figure Him out! I just have to believe in who He is, allow Him to be outside of whatever box I put Him in and let Him be the God that He is. Even though the nature of God puts Him way outside of what I can understand, it is not discouraging - for He meets me where I am at - He is my (our)Father, my Abba, who lives in heaven. What more can I ask for?
(From "Living the Lord's Prayer" by Albert Haase)
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Up in the trees
Recently I went on a weekend where we did technical tree climbing. Basically you wear a harness which is then clipped to a rope which is suspended very high in a tree. You ascend by pushing up a knot attached to main rope. Then depending on how much weight you are working with you pull yourself up until the harness reaches the knot. Where we were the ropes were 60-90 feet up in the trees. We had the option to pull 1/5th, 50% or 100% of our weight. We also had the option of using an addition which enabled you to use our legs to help. I chose to do 50% of my weight and using the leg attachment not trusting my core or upper body strength. I pulled myself up over 60ft. It was quite an accomplishment for me as I am a little afraid of heights and do not consider myself terribly physically fit - though I have improved greatly in the last year thanks to yoga classes that I have been attending. Here are some photos.
Looking up anticipating our turn
What it looked like from below
That's me getting started. Unfortunately I did not pick a good photographer!!
Looking up anticipating our turn
What it looked like from below
That's me getting started. Unfortunately I did not pick a good photographer!!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Religious Beliefs - Martyrdom or Suicide?
I know about it a bit from my nursing classes - respecting one's beliefs and I have read about it in the news - refusing treatment due to religious beliefs. But a few nights ago I experienced it.
I had a 46 year old patient in the ER who came in with some vague symptoms of weakness. She did not look very good - her eyes and skin had a yellowish tinge and almost looked pale. Her history was cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcoholism. Her lab results told the story - a hemoglobin of 2.7 (normal in a female is 12-14 and normally we would transfuse when below 8) This is probably the lowest I have seen in my 19 years of nursing. Anything lower than this is very close to incompatible with life. Transfusion of several units of blood though can easily reverse the symptoms.
The problem with this patient was that she was a Jehovah's Witness and was refusing any blood transfusions. She was an adult so she had the right to make her own decisions and I as a caregiver had to respect her wishes. The doctor and I tried to communicate that this decision would lead to her very imminent death yet she still refused. She kept asking for something that could be done to build up her blood without a transfusion - but did not seem to grasp that there was no other option at this point. I have tried to think about what she would be feeling. It's easy to choose to refuse a treatment when healthy - but when death is staring you in the face and can be easily prevented - how does one refuse the help that is there? And she was only two years older than me.
I began to think about whether it was worth dying because of one's religious beliefs. I am sure this is a discussion that takes place in many circles. I wondered if this was the same as if I was given the choice to give up my Christian beliefs and live or stick to them and die. But in thinking more about it - this would fit more into the definition of martyrdom - "to publicly persist in your beliefs in the face of threats of death and to actually submit to being killed in testimony of your beliefs." Refusing a blood transfusion for religious reasons is not being killed for your beliefs by someone else. In a way, it is a form of suicide - defined as "the act of causing one's own death." Somehow martyrdom seems more acceptable and honorable than suicide.
At this point, I am not sure what the answer is - but I am leaning towards me dying for my being a Christian being a whole lot different than dying for a religious belief which denies treatment for a medical condition. I have to admit though, that I did admire her courage and determination. I certainly hope I will have the same courage if martyrdom ever confronted me.
I had a 46 year old patient in the ER who came in with some vague symptoms of weakness. She did not look very good - her eyes and skin had a yellowish tinge and almost looked pale. Her history was cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcoholism. Her lab results told the story - a hemoglobin of 2.7 (normal in a female is 12-14 and normally we would transfuse when below 8) This is probably the lowest I have seen in my 19 years of nursing. Anything lower than this is very close to incompatible with life. Transfusion of several units of blood though can easily reverse the symptoms.
The problem with this patient was that she was a Jehovah's Witness and was refusing any blood transfusions. She was an adult so she had the right to make her own decisions and I as a caregiver had to respect her wishes. The doctor and I tried to communicate that this decision would lead to her very imminent death yet she still refused. She kept asking for something that could be done to build up her blood without a transfusion - but did not seem to grasp that there was no other option at this point. I have tried to think about what she would be feeling. It's easy to choose to refuse a treatment when healthy - but when death is staring you in the face and can be easily prevented - how does one refuse the help that is there? And she was only two years older than me.
I began to think about whether it was worth dying because of one's religious beliefs. I am sure this is a discussion that takes place in many circles. I wondered if this was the same as if I was given the choice to give up my Christian beliefs and live or stick to them and die. But in thinking more about it - this would fit more into the definition of martyrdom - "to publicly persist in your beliefs in the face of threats of death and to actually submit to being killed in testimony of your beliefs." Refusing a blood transfusion for religious reasons is not being killed for your beliefs by someone else. In a way, it is a form of suicide - defined as "the act of causing one's own death." Somehow martyrdom seems more acceptable and honorable than suicide.
At this point, I am not sure what the answer is - but I am leaning towards me dying for my being a Christian being a whole lot different than dying for a religious belief which denies treatment for a medical condition. I have to admit though, that I did admire her courage and determination. I certainly hope I will have the same courage if martyrdom ever confronted me.
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