A Prayer from Sojourners:

Prayer of the Day: Gift of Tears

05-19-2009

May God bless us with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

Source: Four-fold Franciscan Blessing

Categories: Prayer of the Day, Verse and Voice

Free to Censor?

Roland S. Martin recently wrote an op. ed. piece for CNN in which he chastises Lifeway Christian Bookstores for removing an edition of GospelToday magazine that featured a cover of women ministers, from its shelves because the Southern Baptist Convention, with whom Lifeway is affiliated, has officially sided with the school of thought that scriptures indicate that only men can be ordained ministers.

My main problems with Lifeway's actions are this:

1. They did not give the magazine any warning. The polite thing to do would have been to issued some sort of statement to GospelToday saying, "We are sorry but our views on women in the pulpit have led us to pull this particular edition of your magazine from our shelves, etc. etc." You get the idea. But they took the measures without warning or any contact.
2. Pulling the magazines in such a secretive way also pretty much hindered the possibility of a healthy discussion of the issue. Roland Martin puts in his 2¢ on the issue, but it is sort of awkward and ill-placed. It is not a forum for healthy discussion on the topic. And when a topic is shrouded in an unhealthy controversy such as this, healthy and educational debate becomes nearly impossible.

See Earlier for Cross Application: A Kingdom Divided

On Loneliness

We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.
-Orson Welles

Because of man's sin, he is separated from God and separated from other men, created a remarkable sense of loneliness and isolation within each individual. My thought on loneliness:

Loneliness is unbearable because it is the most unoriginal sentiment. Every other human being to walk the earth has felt a complete disconnect from the rest of mankind. This is frustrating, not only because we are incapable of bonding over our shared feelings of solitude, but also because we can find no uniqueness or special quality about ourselves within this feeling of seclusion.

Kiss Series: The Kiss of Death

By The Message. Note, I have chosen this translation because of its dramatic style and in spite of its translation flaws. The language is pretty funny. But regardless of how you may feel about the Bible and about Jesus, there is still something rather sad about being abandoned by your friends, no? A more accurate translation, as well as the full context, can be found here.

---

At that very moment, the party of high priests and religious leaders was meeting in the chambers of the Chief Priest named Caiaphas, conspiring to seize Jesus by stealth and kill him. They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. "We don't want a riot on our hands," they said.

...

That is when one of the Twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the cabal of high priests and said, "What will you give me if I hand him over to you?" They settled on thirty silver pieces. He began looking for just the right moment to hand him over.

...

On the first of the Days of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Where do you want us to prepare your Passover meal?"

He said, "Enter the city. Go up to a certain man and say, 'The Teacher says, My time is near. I and my disciples plan to celebrate the Passover meal at your house.'" The disciples followed Jesus' instructions to the letter, and prepared the Passover meal.

After sunset, he and the Twelve were sitting around the table. During the meal, he said, "I have something hard but important to say to you: One of you is going to hand me over to the conspirators."

They were stunned, and then began to ask, one after another, "It isn't me, is it, Master?"

Jesus answered, "The one who hands me over is someone I eat with daily, one who passes me food at the table. In one sense the Son of Man is entering into a way of treachery well-marked by the Scriptures—no surprises here. In another sense that man who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man—better never to have been born than do this!"

Then Judas, already turned traitor, said, "It isn't me, is it, Rabbi?"

Jesus said, "Don't play games with me, Judas."

...

They sang a hymn and went directly to Mount Olives.

...

[H]e prayed, "My Father, if there is no other way than this, drinking this cup to the dregs, I'm ready. Do it your way."

When he came back, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn't keep their eyes open. This time he let them sleep on, and went back a third time to pray, going over the same ground one last time.

When he came back the next time, he said, "Are you going to sleep on and make a night of it? My time is up, the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the hands of sinners. Get up! Let's get going! My betrayer is here."

...

The words were barely out of his mouth when Judas (the one from the Twelve) showed up, and with him a gang from the high priests and religious leaders brandishing swords and clubs. The betrayer had worked out a sign with them: "The one I kiss, that's the one—seize him." He went straight to Jesus, greeted him, "How are you, Rabbi?" and kissed him.

Jesus said, "Friend, why this charade?"

Then they came on him—grabbed him and roughed him up. One of those with Jesus pulled his sword and, taking a swing at the Chief Priest's servant, cut off his ear.

Jesus said, "Put your sword back where it belongs. All who use swords are destroyed by swords. Don't you realize that I am able right now to call to my Father, and twelve companies—more, if I want them—of fighting angels would be here, battle-ready? But if I did that, how would the Scriptures come true that say this is the way it has to be?"

Then Jesus addressed the mob: "What is this—coming out after me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I have been sitting in the Temple teaching, and you never so much as lifted a hand against me. You've done it this way to confirm and fulfill the prophetic writings."

Then all the disciples cut and ran.