Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Good Morning!

 

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 1:14-19

 

-- first off, we are doing more than two verses in a day -- Barclay picking up the pace a bit.

 

-- I mentioned yesterday that the passage reminded me of the Mercy Me song "I Can Only Imagine", and as it turns out, today's passage is even more evocative of that song than yesterday's.  If you are not familiar with the lyrics, here's a link to the lyrics:  http://www.lyricsbeat.com/lyrics/1464/Mercy_Me/I_Can_Only_Imagine.aspx.

 

-- when I read yesterday's passage, the first two verses of this section, talking about the golden lampstands, I got a feeling of calmness, of peace -- in my mind's eye it had that look of a movie scene shot in soft focus, the effect that is used when someone is thinking back or remembering something.  Today's passage is in sharp contrast -- sharp is actually a good word.  There is a fierceness about Christ in this description, a sharpness that goes beyond the idea of his tongue being a two edged sword. 

 

-- Even though this is supposed to be a book about the future, it is interesting how much this book is about the past -- building on the language of both the Old Testament especially.  But on the other hand, John has a very difficult task -- he is trying to describe in this case, the glory of the risen Christ.  I'm sure that is something that is almost beyond human ability to do, so the language and the imagery has to be severe and "out there".

 

-- Barclay backtracks a bit on his assertion that the John writing this is not John the apostle, when he talks about the idea that perhaps John had seen this view of Christ before -- at the transfiguration mentioned in the Gospels.

 

-- Here's a thought -- all of our lives, we have seen pictures of Christ, especially in church -- the shepard, standing and reaching out to children, a peaceful, serene man standing under a tree reaching up to Nicodemus, etc. -- we know that man, that picture, that image. We have a wonderful stained glass window in the front of our church of that Jesus.  But, to my knowledge, no where in the New Testament does any of the Gospel writers describe Jesus in any way -- they simply tell his story.  Here is an eyewitness description of Jesus -- in all his glory -- yet no one hangs a picture of this Christ up in the church.  I think that it's obvious why - it is a very different man, a very different picture than what we are used to seeing -- it might even be considered a scary picture.  Can you imagine if we had a stained glass window in the front of our church with John's image of Christ?

Today's Scripture

For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

 

Hebrews 4:12

Today's prayer requests:     Two prayer requests came in for today:

 

From Brigitte:

 

Good morning!  I wanted to add my Grandmother (Margaret Rose Severance) to our prayer list.  She fell in June 2005 and broke her femur between her total hip and total knee.  She is getting better, but she was admitted back to the hospital (UAB West) Sat and they are doing a bone scan this morning.  She has had a lot of set backs with this injury (infections, etc) and has been wheelchair bound the entire time.  Hopefully she will be able to return to Self Nursing Home this week, but she all the prayers she can get so she can get "back on her feet" if not physically then mentally!

 

From Megan:

 

Please make Nelson Ferreiro the prayer request for tomorrow.  He is a friend of the family.  We had him on the list a few months ago, when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was given only 6 months to live.  He underwent surgery to remove the tumor and they took as much as they could take without taking any of his functioning.  The surgery was successful and the tumor is no longer visible on an MRI.  He underwent his last Chemo treatment yesterday.  They will recheck in 2 months.  Let's pray for him to continue to improve.  (Jay's note:  We had Nelson on our prayer list in May and June, 6+ months ago.  At the time, he was given 2 - 6 months to live.  As John says in Revelation, God is almighty.)

 

Today's class member prayer:

 

Matt Rocksvold

 

Have a great day.

Jay