29 Gifts: Day 4

Gifts of time and books

It took me a while to get to my gift today. I had a list of things to do and as so often happens not a lot of spare time it seemed. But the truth is I did have spare time. I puttered around, I perfected my molasses bread (mentioned in Gift #2) and I got a number of things done for "me." But as I drove around in my newly-repaired Pilot, it occurred to me that I hadn't really given a Gift yet. Not really. 

I hadn't spent extra time with my kids or picked up the phone to talk to anyone or given anything away... I just hadn't. 

29 Gift Challenge - Day 3

Today was a pretty good day. We got up way too late, we spent time puttering around the house (had to skip church because the car window is shattered and it was not safe to drive in it to get there), the kids spent time with their friends and I spent a chunk of the day trying out a different version of a new bread I'm working on (Multigrain Molasses Bread, in case you're interested.)

And then I checked my FaceBook messages. I got a message asking for my Molasses bread recipe.

...

Hmmm... This could present a problem.

29 Day Gift Challenge - Day 2

Today, I gave something special to my girlie and her friend to use. I have had a little girl's tea set for years. It's a little "Hollie Hobby" thing, with four cups, four saucers, etc. And Buttercup is finally old enough to use it, I think. So when she asked if she and her friend could have a tea party, I pulled it out and it is hers now. I set up a nice little tray for the girls, with carrots, graham crackers, four little sweet pieces and four banana chunks. We put it on a special tray that was given to her before we moved from Maryland. She had a great time and I loved seeing something that I enjoyed once-upon-a-time being loved that way again. That was my first gift yesterday.

But the funny thing about giving gifts is that a) the more you give, the more you find new ways to give, and b) the  more others end up blessing you.

29 Gifts Challenge

In the past, the boys have done prank wars to varying levels of success, until someone gets too overzealous and ticks someone else off in a real way. So with our birthday and holiday season upon us, and the house ready to hit high levels of

 fun and tension, I have challenged the boys to two things: The 2nd is to do "sneak" gift attacks on one another, without looking for the "glory" of a thank you or the accolades, etc. of doing something good for someone else. Doing good for the sake of doing good.  (The 1st I'll talk about a bit more below.)

Got downstairs after tucking everyone in to find these goodies on the counter waiting for me: (the oj is a prize as it is the last in the house and EVERYONE loves it!)

The Cruelty of Lazarus and the Rich Man

Last Sunday in church was probably one of my least favorite Bible readings. It was the telling of Lazarus and the rich man. It has always seemed to me to be a very cold, unforgiving, in-your-face sort of story. Leaving church, I mulled over my thoughts on the verse, before I had time to read more on it. My thoughts were that it is a cruel thing for Lazarus and Abraham to sit there and watch the rich guy burn and offer not even a word of consolation - just hard, cold you-should-have-acted-differently admonition. No empathy (is that the touchy-feely Politically Correct person in me? Probably.) is shown for his plight at all. (It does not help that I forgot that it is a parable and not necessarily a literal event.)

The reading was this:

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Copied from the NIV version as printed at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+16%3A19-31&version=NIV

The Lesson of Repentance

Jeff pointed out the "often unnoticed key to the story: the rich man never asks for forgiveness."

Hmmm... 

Jeff continued, "in fact, he goes right back to his old ways, demanding that Lazarus bring him water to quench his thirst."

Well, there is that. And it occurred to me that not giving him water may have been an act of mercy in and of itself. Like when you're hungry but you're trying to eat healthier or on a diet, so you take just a bite of something. Then you want More, but you can't have it, and it becomes it's own torment. The pain of the fire the rich guy was feeling would hardly have been quenched by dipping a finger in and having that drop might have been torture since he couldn't have more.

More from Jeff, "I don't think it's so much that Heaven is denying him water, as that Heaven is no longer allowing him to exploit Lazarus for the sake of his material comfort. Note that his first instinct, from within the very mouth of hell - is not to say, 'I see now what I have been and I have done. Father forgive me and comfort my victims,' but to brazenly tell Heaven, "Send Lazarus with water - I'm thirsty."

Heaven's answer: Lazarus is safe from the likes of you now.

I mentioned that I thought men have an easier time being cold when it comes to discipline than moms do. 

So Jeff pointed out one more thing, and it was a good one: If you look at the "guff" as proceeding from the rich man himself, from his own impenitence and intransigence, it may seem less cold. It was merciful of Heaven to allow the rich man life at all.

How long are the rich men of the world supposed to have to come around? How long are the Lazarus of the world supposed to endure it? The hard truth is, not everybody repents.

The Unforgivable Sin is to refuse forgiveness - how can it be otherwise?

To be clear, he was not railing about rich vs. poor here - there are good and bad people in each group, but those questions caught me. How long...? 

Asking for forgiveness should be our first priority. Treating others well and being kind should take place over our own comfortable little world. But there is a place for being put out of the larger group until you can behave well.

What Many Children Are Taught Using Lazarus and the Rich Man... 

The meaning to this group of verses is often taught (and certainly was to me in some of my Sunday schools growing up) from a literal viewpoint, and presented to Christian children as a means of teaching how to treat one another and as a description of the firey place of Hell. As a child, I found this idea that my loved ones - or even myself! - could be burned in a pit for all eternity, and further that God could allow such a place to exist when He was supposed to be a good and loving God, terrifying. I worried over it for years, actually. There is an example of that here in this Sunday School handout lesson.  

The message is very watered down in the lesson, of course and left open to interpretation. There are many interpretations of Verse, so the takeaway here could well be to keep a close tie with your children and discuss what they are told by their teachers whatever class they are in! 

Two Different Ideas on Lazarus and the Rich Man from Other Sources 

The ideas as presented in the two resources below were never presented to me in Sunday School, but I can see validity to both of them. Whether those more learned that I on each side would agree with one another, I don't know, but they both make sense to me.

I found a pretty thorough explanation of the various symbolism on Tentmaker.org in which the assertion is that the symbolism actually posits the listening priests of the day as the Rich Man and the "five brothers" as the other Jewish branches, and Lazarus as a stand-in for the Gentiles of the day, who will come to God and salvation through Christ. This series of verses one of many parables that Jesus told to send a message to his listeners. I am not educated enough in all the various symbolism of the Church and the Bible to speak about that (but I am studying on it with these verses to try to understand more). 

Orthodox-Christianity.com offers a somewhat different explanation. In this second version we're back to a slightly more literal meaning in which Jesus is said to be describing a state of the sinner's soul as it relates to the (for lack of a better word) energy of God. In this telling, that energy is felt by both Lazarus and the sinning Rich Man, but felt differently. The Rich Man feels that energy as a fire as he is in need of cleansing and not ready to perceive that energy as a loving, warming Light; Lazarus had his time of scourging while on Earth and so perceives God's Light as a warm, healing energy. 

What have you found to be the message in Lazarus and the rich man? 

How has your Bible affected you today?

Kindess at the Checkout Counter

This was posted on a Yahoo group that I'm part of by a woman named Cath. It was originally in response to a younger military wife who has five children. The issue was that she was embarrassed at the commissary check out register because so many of the items that were WIC approved at the local Wal Mart were not okay at the commissary for some reason. Cath put out this post as a reminder to us all (and echoing the general support of this poor young wife) - I asked her if I could share her words here as we approach the holidays and as our economy continues to slide. Please share with others, so that all may be blessed. (no pictures today while I am on a different computer - my laptop will be righted again soon as will my 2000 pictures therein!) ~ Melissa  ***And also this is a good reminder for those of us not in your situation to POLICE OURSELVES. Stand up for the mom with a full cart, busy kids, and a blur of coupons and/or WIC slips. They are not a nuisance, they are our sisters in this military family. We should never get so old and comfortable in our pay grades (which all started equally teensy) that we forget the struggles of the early days of babies and military life. So how can I with 22 years in and kids who are 10 and over help? Help a mom unload her cart. I get my kids to help the people behind us in line often. Sometimes they have babies and busy kids, sometimes it's an older person. Help a mom engage a child in line. My oldest is a pro at playing peek-a-boo with toddlers. She has even squatted down to floor level in long checkouts and played finger games (itsy bitsy spider) to help keep the kid focused in place. Compliment the mom! Do you remember how hard it is to carry a diaper bag, chase a child with another one latched on nursing, and not lose your place in line? Well, remember quick and offer the mom some loving affirmation. Even or especially if she is doing an imperfect job! That mom whose frustration level has her standing there yelling at her kids may well have been up all night with a child throwing up and a husband deployed and the rumblings of her own stomach getting the virus. Don't assume you know white trash when you see it (or brown trash or Asian trash.....). You do not know their life story but you can remember your own. Reach down into your soul and affirm that girl: offer empathy, share warmth. Reassure the person ahead of you in line with an issue that "it's just a checkout line" and that you are in no hurry. EVEN IF YOU ARE IN A BIG HURRY because ladies--- it's just a checkout line and scowling and muttering does not make it go faster. And finally, when you can, be generous. Last winter I was at the checkout with a mom getting just bread, peanut butter, jelly, and milk. It didn't even cross my mind that she was a WIC mom because she had a credit card. Reading up on this, that is what Texas has is a card system. She must have had the wrong bread or was at her bread limit or whatever -- I thought her debit card was at its limit because she was handing the bread over to the checkout lady to reshelve it. I butted in and said can I get that for you and handed her a few dollars. For me it was no big deal. She hesitated and I said, I would love to be able to help, I've been there, too. She looked uncomfortable accepting but she did. If we can fund a federal government program to support young families in need with our tax dollars, why can't we also start even closer to home with our neighbors in the checkout line? We can't always do this but when you can, people, be generous.

Christianity in Orthodox Countries?

I  haven't written in a while. Sometimes life gets in the way, and it has lately, but I aim to fix that. But I am also jumping on here quickly to Rant for a brief moment. 

I receive posts-by-e-mail of probably a dozen different blogs on various subjects: several "organizing" blogs, a few home school blogs, Thomas Jefferson education blogs, and, of course, several that are put out there as "ministries" of various kinds by Protestant women. I like some of what they write; in spite of having never met these women, I can say that they seem to be good and decent folk and I appreciate some of the points they make. However, one of the blogs I follow (and have only been following for a few months) has included a comment that hits a hot-button point for me. It is this:

(Note from the translator: In the Ukraine, there are two kinds of Christian… the orthodox church which is essentially pagan and just Christian in name only. The other kind is typically called “Believer” instead. There are only 0.4% Believing Christians in the Ukraine. To the Ukrainian being Christian reflects something on the outside but a believer is one who believes in Christ. Very Different Concepts. That is why there are very few believers in her school, even though Marina says 40% of people are Christians. There is a difference in the Ukraine between believer and Christian.)

She had done an interview of a 16-year-old girl in the Ukraine on her daily life as a Christian there, and this was a comment, as you can see, by the translator. Here is why it sticks in my craw:

I have heard many western Christian people talk about a need to go to traditionally-Orthodox countries and "teach" them about Christianity and "convert" them from their pagan beliefs. I have heard missionary types talk about how they need to "reach out" to the folks in Orthodox countries because "many of them have never heard of Christ." I respectfully (though adamantly) disagree. So I've responded to the blog post above (the rest of the interview was not worthless, so here is the original post) and share my response below - and open myself up for comment, question or criticism, as your own beliefs lead you to respond. I also see there is a need for more of my own posts to introduce Orthodox faith and practices down the line!

Here is my response:

To start with the positive, I want to say that I look forward to reading more interviews and sharing parts of the answers with my home schooled children. However, I must confess to being somewhat irritated. As an Orthodox Christian in America, I get tired of hearing people say that people in Orthodox churches in other countries (or even in our own country) are “pagan”. I have heard MANY Protestant folks talk about a need to go to these countries and “convert” them to Christianity, when they are practicing the Christian faith as the earliest Christians practiced that Faith. We are *not* pagans, our faith and love for God is real and abiding – at least as much as one finds in churches populated by humans everywhere, whatever your professed Christian following (Baptist, Catholic, ‘Non-denominational’, etc.) The thing of it is, because so few people know about Orthodox Christianity, they assume that because we use icons that we “worship” those icons (we don’t), because we have liturgical services (instead of services that are ‘non-scripted) that our prayers are not real or genuine (they are – and our use of ‘scripted’ prayers gives us a *starting* point for our own prayers), and on and on. I am fairly new to your blog and have enjoyed it thus far, but this is a sticky point for me because we do not need to be “converted,” we are Christian already. In fact, my husband and I were both raised in the Baptist church and the Church of Christ, respectively, and converted to Orthodoxy as adults after much research and travel – when going to Israel, the oldest churches look VERY much like the churches in which we Orthodox worship today, it is similar when traveling to Ethiopia – again, an ancient bed of Christianity.

I will not throw the baby out with the bath water; your interview here was an interesting one to read and I appreciate it, but had to address that one aspect and I hope you’ll forgive any offense if I have made any.

I'll make my own posts later about Orthodoxy, from my - still-being-educated - perspective.

Melissa