dual personalities

Tag: scripture

April 28, 2014

Oh me of little faith*

by chuckofish

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

John 20:19

This Sunday’s Gospel reading was the scripture where Jesus does not bother to use the door which is locked anyway.  He just appears to 10 of the remaining 11 disciples. This is mentioned very casually. No one really makes a big deal of it. Because they don’t, one thinks it is probably just what happened. At least I think so.

The disciples, huddled in their locked room after everything that has happened, are both afraid and ashamed of their fear and their behavior in general.  We should try to remember the disciples when we are fearful and anxious. They were not paragons of strength. Far from it. Some of them were not even very smart. (Think of Peter.) They were just like us.  After this visit from Jesus, however, when he breathes on them and they receive the Holy Spirit, they seem to have gotten their collective acts together. It took a second visit for Thomas, because he missed the first and refused to believe without “touching and seeing”.

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Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

We all have our doubts, and that’s okay. Doubts, Frederick Buechner says, are “the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”

Well, my mind wandered during the sermon on this scripture, but this is what I was thinking.

Meanwhile this weekend I enjoyed the spring weather by working in the yard. I also went on a birthday outing with my best Grace girlfriends. Our fearless leader and party planner Carla reasoned that, because we never have room for dessert when we go out to lunch, we should just go out for dessert. Brilliant! So we ventured downtown to a place famous for its ice cream concoctions and had sundaes. When was the last time you had a sundae? I cannot begin to remember when that was. It really was a treat.

icecream

Art deco walls at the "Fountain"

Art Deco walls at the “Fountain”

We also went to the main branch of the downtown library which has been recently renovated.

Notice the 250th birthday cake in front and the spire barely visible behind of our Episcopal Cathedral

Notice the 250th birthday cake in front and the spire of our Episcopal Cathedral barely visible behind the library.

Intrepid explorers that we are, we had a super fun time.

I also re-read “The Snow Goose” a very short novella by Paul Gallico about  a lonely hunchbacked artist who participates in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 and the snow goose that watches over him. It gave me chills.

the snow goose

If you are looking for something to pick up and read at one sitting, I highly recommend this marvelous book.

Have a good week!

* Nickle Creek

2 Comments
April 7, 2014

Lazarus, come forth!

by chuckofish

Sunday’s gospel lesson was John 11:1-45 which is a long lesson, the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Our associate rector gave a really good sermon comparing the tomb of Lazarus to ourselves when we lose interest in life, when we are no longer fully alive. Our savior does not come into the tomb with us, but stands at the door and calls us to come out. I thought that he made a good point.

This made me think of the famous painting, the Light of the World by William Holman Hunt:

Hunt_Light_of_the_World

This is an allegorical painting illustrating Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me”. The door in the painting has no handle, and can therefore be opened only from the inside, representing (according to Hunt) “the obstinately shut mind”.

Here are some artistic representations of Jesus calling Lazarus forth:

A 3rd century version

A 3rd century version

Giotto's version

Giotto’s version

Rembrandt's version

Rembrandt’s version

Carl Heinrich Bloch's version

Carl Heinrich Bloch’s version

Vincent Van Gogh's Lazarus

Vincent Van Gogh’s Lazarus

None of them do much for me. These images are, however, as Frederick Buechner says, “the wordless, eloquent, tongue-tied, clumsy, joyous and grieving cry of centuries” trying to depict the un-depictable.

But to get back to what I started to say…We must come forth and live our lives and do the work we are meant to do.

Robert Powell as Jesus calls Lazarus forth

Robert Powell as Jesus calls Lazarus forth

Thoughts? Discuss among yourselves.

6 Comments
December 2, 2013

You know what time it is

by chuckofish

You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake up from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Romans 13: 11–14

Well, this reading from Sunday morning seems like a timely scripture for this Advent when the country goes en masse on a month-long frenzy of spending and partying which has nothing to do with the real “reason for the season”. I don’t know about you but I’m taping this one to the mirror.

I went to church twice this Sunday, because we had the annual Lessons and Carols service at Grace in the early evening. I got to be one of the readers and read the third lesson. This still makes me so happy. It doesn’t take much, right?

In other news, the boy came over and put up our lights.

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Not a great iPhone picture, but you get the idea.

Not a great iPhone picture, but you get the idea.

Don’t they look beautiful?

I also got out a lot of Christmas decorations this weekend. And I put away a lot of stuff to make room for the Christmas decorations. I set up my mantle.

Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sin release us, let us find our rest in thee.

Let us live honorably.

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