This past Easter I was reminded of something I’d heard of most of my life but hadn’t spent much time observing—some people only attend church worship services at Easter and Christmas. This year I really watched for it. Sure enough, there was an influx of unfamiliar faces from somewhere. While I don’t have an official count, I could tell our pews had much fewer empty seats than non-holiday Sundays.
“Thank God it’s Friday!” Ever wonder where that phrase came from? I haven’t “googled” it or read a Wikipedia entry. I’m going to do my own digging for the idiomatic origins of this well-used blessing. Actually, all I’m going to say is that it must have started when somebody learned about or was reminded of “Good Friday” from the Christian tradition.
Dear Healed by Wounds,
Last night I had dinner with one of my coworkers. He is a practicing Hindu and, as you know, I am a practicing Christian. Eager to show that I knew something about Hinduism, I asked him how he could worship hundreds of millions of gods? Like, how did he know which god to pray to at any given moment?
He surprised me by saying he is part of a Bhakti sect of Hinduism and is devoted to his own personal god—which may or may not include many different manifestations, depending on where his journey takes him. While I sat there trying to work it all out, my friend asked me if it is true that I am part of a tribe of cannibals since I eat Jesus’ flesh and drink Jesus’ blood during communion at church. Whaaaat?!
—Saved by Grace
Have you ever felt overly drawn to the things of this world? Do you ever get drained by an attraction to undertakings that are at best fleeting pleasures but at worst leeching parasites on your soul? I know I get drained, and fairly often. Is enough ever enough?
Imagine an audio equalizer as an analogy for comparing humans to God. This tool—sometimes referred to as a “soundboard” or “audio mixer”—has physical sliders that move between a minimum and maximum value. Now imagine this equalizer has dozens of columns lined up, each with its own slider that ranges from zero to 10. Each column represents a different personal attribute like patience or love.
INDIAN TRAIL, NC—An anonymous local man—who goes by the name “Andy Hopkins”— who has recently come out as a blogger decided to take an early risk in his young writing career by writing a satire piece late in the day on Friday. With a hopeful smile on his face and a funny thought in his brain, he began furiously typing as a friend watched.
Dear Healed by Wounds,
I was on a flight recently where I had a conversation with a woman who told me that all religions are basically the same and that all of them lead to God. I told her that I believe Christianity is the one true religion. Which one of us has it right? Can we both be right?!
—Basically Blessed
Would it have been funny if I had simply answered with the word “Yes” and published this article? While “Yes” may be a good and accurate answer to this question, it wouldn’t make for a very interesting read. On the other hand, it may end up being more interesting than what I end up writing! Only time and the reader—hi Mom!—will tell.
Previously I asked the question, “What are they teaching you?”. My goal was getting us to think about who—or what—our teachers are and to pay close attention to what we are learning from them. I briefly touched on what might make a good teacher. Today I’d like to delve deeper into that topic, this time writing specifically about human teachers.
healedbywounds.com 