I started in Genesis again in January.
Beginnings.
I'm in 2 Samuel. The time of the judges ending and beginning of the kings.
I'm reading over a familiar passage now. David's lament for Saul and Jonathan.
David speaking after being told that Saul and Jonathan have died in battle.
"The beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places; how are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neithter let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings; for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away. the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided, they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions........."
Wait!
Did David say that Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives?
Yes, Jonathan was. He was David's best friend. And knew that the Lord had taken the kingdom away from his father, Saul, and given it to David. And Jonathan still loved David. He risked his life for David. He swore an oath to David.
But Saul was lovely and pleasant?
Really Lord?
The previous chapters tell me that Saul was not pleasant. At least to David. He hunted David to kill him. He threw spears at David in the palace. He put impossible demands on David to keep a promise of his daughter in marriage. Saul made David an outlaw.
And yet throughout the narrative of Saul's kingship, David is always honoring him as God's anointed. David fights the Philistines for Saul, He sings to Saul when Saul is morose and melancholy. He encourages Saul, is obedient to his demands on David. David will not let his men kill Saul when the opportunity presents itself. He always honored Saul as God's anointed.
It's amazing.
We live in an inhospitable world. Either nature, accidents, illnesses, famines, wars, abuse, anger, difficult relationships at work, home or community put a stress on our ability to live the way the Lord intended.
David, though by no means perfect, gives us a window into love, grief, and honor.
Unconditionally.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Friday, April 1, 2016
Ressurection
Easter
My childhood was in the late 40's and early 50's, so it was vastly different from today.
My parents were married shortly after World War II and I was born two and a half years later.
The times were simple and life was less complex. Slower as I remember it.
And my memories of Easters past are more vivid than my Christmas'.
Easter was a time when my sisters and I were each bought a new dress. And a hat and gloves, and a purse and white patent leather shoes. Actually, it was the only time I can remember that we got new clothes. School and play clothes just appeared. But Easter clothes were planned and anticipated. An exciting time in little girls lives!
Palm Sunday we'd received palms, either made into crosses or just long strains of palms, given in remembrance of a triumphal entry, riding on a donkey.
A big Easter egg hunt for neighborhood children on the front lawn of an estate near our street.
Easter was special. We dressed up, more than the average Sunday! My dad in his suit, which he wore every weekday I can remember, my mom in a dress and my sister and I had our Easter bonnets on and proudly wore our new white gloves clinging to our purses. Going to church and after to our grandparents house for a big Easter dinner.
It was spring! The hyacinths and daffodils were blooming, dogwoods were arrayed with blossoms, and the forsythias, were yellow mounds in hedges.
It was Easter!
This year, 2016, we had almost all our immediate family up for the weekend.
Big doings! Family from Atlanta, Long Island, and Canton. Good Friday and Easter church services, and a baby shower somehow fit in between..
And I have the grown up Jesus now.
A realization again that this, this birth, this life, this death and this resurrection, is my life. His magnificent obsession in preparing a way for us, for me, back to the Father. The grief, alienation and abandonment not only of his family and his followers but of his Father;for me, for all. His gentleness and kindness as Mary, a woman, is the first to see him resurrected. His revealing himself to a few, his disciples, then more than 500. His revealing himself to me.
Easter will continue to be my wonderful childhood recollections, of dresses and gloves, of Easter baskets and candy, of family and spring. Of pictures of Jesus coming to Jerusalem, of the cross, of the three crosses, of the empty tomb. Of newness and life. Easter is not an intelligent understanding now, but a relationship with my Savior. A deep commitment to a person who gave me life, gave me hope, gave me gifts, gave me family, gave me forever.
My childhood was in the late 40's and early 50's, so it was vastly different from today.
My parents were married shortly after World War II and I was born two and a half years later.
The times were simple and life was less complex. Slower as I remember it.
And my memories of Easters past are more vivid than my Christmas'.
Easter was a time when my sisters and I were each bought a new dress. And a hat and gloves, and a purse and white patent leather shoes. Actually, it was the only time I can remember that we got new clothes. School and play clothes just appeared. But Easter clothes were planned and anticipated. An exciting time in little girls lives!
Palm Sunday we'd received palms, either made into crosses or just long strains of palms, given in remembrance of a triumphal entry, riding on a donkey.
A big Easter egg hunt for neighborhood children on the front lawn of an estate near our street.
Easter was special. We dressed up, more than the average Sunday! My dad in his suit, which he wore every weekday I can remember, my mom in a dress and my sister and I had our Easter bonnets on and proudly wore our new white gloves clinging to our purses. Going to church and after to our grandparents house for a big Easter dinner.
It was spring! The hyacinths and daffodils were blooming, dogwoods were arrayed with blossoms, and the forsythias, were yellow mounds in hedges.
It was Easter!
This year, 2016, we had almost all our immediate family up for the weekend.
Big doings! Family from Atlanta, Long Island, and Canton. Good Friday and Easter church services, and a baby shower somehow fit in between..
And I have the grown up Jesus now.
A realization again that this, this birth, this life, this death and this resurrection, is my life. His magnificent obsession in preparing a way for us, for me, back to the Father. The grief, alienation and abandonment not only of his family and his followers but of his Father;for me, for all. His gentleness and kindness as Mary, a woman, is the first to see him resurrected. His revealing himself to a few, his disciples, then more than 500. His revealing himself to me.
Easter will continue to be my wonderful childhood recollections, of dresses and gloves, of Easter baskets and candy, of family and spring. Of pictures of Jesus coming to Jerusalem, of the cross, of the three crosses, of the empty tomb. Of newness and life. Easter is not an intelligent understanding now, but a relationship with my Savior. A deep commitment to a person who gave me life, gave me hope, gave me gifts, gave me family, gave me forever.
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