Good Friday

Christ on the Cross

Diego Velasquez

Museo del Prado, Madrid (250 x 170 cm, c. 1632)

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Y miré, y oí la voz de muchos ángeles alrededor del trono y de los seres vivientes y de los ancianos. El número de ellos era miríadas de miríadas, y millares de millares, que decían a gran voz: El Cordero que fue inmolado digno es de recibir el poder, las riquezas, la sabiduría, la fortaleza, el honor, la gloria y la alabanza. (Spanish: La Biblia de las Américas (1997))

Καὶ εἶδον καὶ ἤκουσα φωνὴν ἀγγέλων πολλῶν κύκλῳ τοῦ θρόνου καὶ τῶν ζῴων καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων, καὶ ἦν ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτῶν μυριάδες μυριάδων καὶ χιλιάδες χιλιάδων λέγοντες φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ἄξιόν ἐστιν τὸ ἀρνίον τὸ ἐσφαγμένον λαβεῖν τὴν δύναμιν καὶ πλοῦτον καὶ σοφίαν καὶ ἰσχὺν καὶ τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν καὶ εὐλογίαν. (Greek NT)

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." (New American Standard Bible, Revelation 5:11-12)

In any language, the message is the same. The only way to Easter Sunday is through the cross of Good Friday and the only way to the Father is through the Son. The deed has been done; the debt has been paid. Blessed be His name.

Art Truth

"The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection."

-Michelangelo

Winter is for Memories

The snow-covered yard and feeders brimming with hungry birds are a pleasant change after the holidays. The white snow washes the world creating a fresh new start for a fresh new year. It's time for reflection, warmth, quietude, and joy. It's time for closeness by the fire, laughter around a lively board game, serenity on a walk in a hibernated landscape, and sweet slumber beneath fluffy blankets as heavy flakes fall lightly just outside the window, creating their own blanket for the wintry world.

“Winter must be cold for those with no warm
memories”

Make some winter memories to last you through the dark months ahead. Reflect on the joy that 2007 brought to your life in large or small doses. Say good bye to the worst of 2007, reassured that whatever trials came your way, you are stronger because of them and more ready to be blessed in 2008.

Of Carpenters

There's just something about working with wood, the process of turning a living tree into a useful or beautiful object using your hands and a few tools. There is a certain connection with nature in the process. The smell of the shaved and sanded wood, the smoothness of a finely sanded surface as you run your hand across it searching for areas of roughness to even out. The weight of the dense hardwood in your hands. Substantial, durable.


Working with wood is a mind-freeing activity. The kind of activity you can engage in as the hours slip by and day turns to night without your notice. Your attention is captured by the wood.


There is time to think when you work with wood. There is the buzz of a power tool, like white noise, blocking out the world. There is the repetitive stroking of a block plane or the gritty dragging of sandpaper, back and forth. There is the smell of newly planed wood shavings and of tung oil. There is the muffled softness of a workshop floor covered in discarded shavings.


Sometimes in our too-busy world we need to find an escape, a solitude, a meditation. For me it has been my art. The hours fly by. For others, carpentry is that vehicle they use to escape inside for a while, completely focused on the work at hand. What do you do to find that place of solitude and meditation in your life?

My walking stick. Shawn made this lovely stick with its serpentine, wood burned designs for me out of tiger maple. It is as smooth as glass and almost too beautiful to use, but since it is maple it wears well and is much more than a showpiece.

Walking stick detail. I still need to add a cord through the hole. A cord twisted around the wrist provides security against loosing it down a slope while hiking!

In Shawn and Earle's workshop a blizzard of shavings all but obscure a wooden ruler that belonged to my father. I love the mellow hues of the aged wood with its worn patches and faded markings.

Beautiful maple curls. Shawn took all three of these shots of shavings as part of his photography class last year.

A lovely, wooden rosette!

Joseph was a carpenter. Jesus, before he began his ministry, was a carpenter. A humble profession, yet valued and connected to the earth. I have been reading a fictional story about Joseph and Mary. I am gaining great insight into life during that time period. The story is touching and the characters come to life. I am about two-thirds of the way through the book and am eager to finish, even though I know the story already! If you are interested in such a story, a story of a carpenter and his young bride, take a peek at Two From Galilee. It makes good Advent reading.

Why Church?

Someone asked me the other day why I go to church, in essence, what's in it for me, how does it help me to have a better life.

There is certainly companionship, a traveller through life can always use the support of others. We were not meant to be an island unto ourselves.

Also, we were created by God, made in his image, for a purpose. We are to have a relationship with him. Imagine, the Creator of everything there is wants to get to know me and me Him. I am but a speck of dust on an insignificant planet in a nondescript spiral galaxy among millions of other galaxies, yet He wants me to know Him. Who could refuse an invitation like that?

But He isn't out there, He is everywhere, He is inside me. You know that voice, the one that keeps nudging you on to find something new to fill that longing within your soul. You can try to fill it with many things in this world: friends, activities, work, things, but the shape is all wrong. After a while the newness that seemed just right begins to rub the wrong way like a pair of shoes that seemed comfortable in the store but give you blisters on the backs of your heels when you've walked in them all day. Nothing of this world can fill that longing. That hole is God-shaped.

Church isn't a building, it is a relationship and a community. What's in it for me? A chance to experience being surrounded by other Christians, to support them and be supported in return. The opportunity to join together with those other Christians to worship the Creator of the universe, jointly. To give Him the honor He deserves and to give it publicly and with a loving heart. Sometimes it isn't enough to pray, to think about praise and honor in your own head. Sometimes it is necessary to come together with others, to become one voice just as the millions of galaxies of the universe He created sing His praises together. One of them doesn't step out of its orbit and say, "Look at me, I'm special, more special than the others."No. When we do that we bring the focus of worship to ourselves. In the corporate body of the church the focus remains on the one being praised.

I told my friend church can be a wonderful place, but be sure you will not find perfection there. There is not perfection on the Earth. We are all fallen creatures, imperfect is so many ways. Church isn't about celebrating our perfection, but His perfection. If we were not broken we would have no need for Jesus as our savior. If we could get it all right by ourselves we would be gods- perfect, whole, all powerful. I am certainly no god.

Sometimes church is a frustrating place to go to. There are people we don't especially like and truths we don't especially want to hear. Maybe we'd rather have different music or a different color carpet. Perhaps our preference is for guitars, but this Sunday we sing His praises accompanied by the piano or organ. As C.S. Lewis said, "We are all fallen creatures and all very hard to live with."

People often criticize Christians as being hypocrites. How can we claim we are Christians and "saved" when we are still so imperfect? What's so good about that? There is the expectation that churches are full of people that are somehow "better" than the rest or at least think they are. Really, churches are filled with people that know and freely admit they are no better than anyone else, they freely admit their need for Jesus to have died to pay for their sins so they can have the relationship with God that He always intended.

That's what's in it for me, a place to come together with others who are imperfect like myself and let go of the burdens this world puts on us to be perfect and to lay those burdens in the hands of a loving God who gave up everything in order that we, in our brokenness, could know his love and forgiveness. It is not a place to worship myself and my success and a human being. When we are free of the burden of trying to perfect ourselves by our own power then we can really live. Everything we do takes on new meaning. We no longer do them for ourselves alone, but for Him and for others out of gratefulness and thanksgiving and love.

God beckons us to worship because he knows we need it and we need Him. Church is not the building, it is the people and the experience. It is the chance to fulfill the words of the Bible:

28One of the religion scholars came up. Hearing the lively exchanges of question and answer and seeing how sharp Jesus was in his answers, he put in his question: "Which is most important of all the commandments?"
29-31Jesus said, "The first in importance is, 'Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these."
32-33The religion scholar said, "A wonderful answer, Teacher! So lucid and accurate—that God is one and there is no other. And loving him with all passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as well as you love yourself. Why, that's better than all offerings and sacrifices put together!" Mark 12:28-33

The Creator of the whole universe doesn't need our worship on Sunday mornings, he knows we need it. How wonderful to know He cares for this tiny speck of dust as if it was the most precious jewel in the whole universe. How can I not be grateful and praise Him in return?