BeGods

Sorry once again for the delay - I have simply been distracted.

One of the books I have been reading lately is "The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation" by Brad Young. Really thought provoking so far. One thought that hit me, as I obviously have politics on my mind with the election and all the talk surrounding me in DC, is a point Young raises on p 10.

Young is explaining the meaning of parable, Mashal in Hebrew. In ancient Hebrew tradition, parables are a way of telling a story about God, as we know from what is recorded about Yeshua throughout the gospels. It is a way to reveal something about God and also conveys a moral story.

What I was struck by is the description of this verse "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God things that are God's" found in Luke 20:25, Matt 22:21 and Mark 12:17. Young says, "In Judaism, Haggadah inspires esteem for others by calling to remembrance God and each person who is created in his image...The Bible simply describes the story of creation, Haggadah reveals the ones created in God's image in the nameless faces of all humanity."

The verse above is a parable - something I wouldn't have thought until I opened up Young's book. When Yeshua is asked about if its lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, he makes one simple point: this coin has Caesar's image on it. Therefore, it belongs to Caesar. On the contrary, we all bear the image of God on our likeness. Therefore, we belong to God.

This hit me hard. Whatever I feel about myself, I belong to God. Whatever you may feel about God, you cannot escape him for you are made in his image. Whatever happens, we belong to God because our image reflects him. period. for good or for bad too - which is a scary thought. Let us hope we reflect at least a fraction of his goodness.

shabbat shalom

Rejoice!

Two thoughts, neither of which are my own but nevertheless..

“I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to " rejoice" as much as by anything else”.
-who else but CS Lewis

You have been invited to meet The Friend
No one can resist a Divine Invitation
That narrows down all our choices to just two:
We can come to God dressed for dancing
or
be carried on a stretcher to God's ward
-the lovely Hafiz

I think I'll take the dancing!

CSL

I adore CS Lewis. In fact, I used to joke that he was meant for me, if I had been born at a much earlier time and until I met my dear love. CSL was wholly devoted to his Maker, as a good skeptic can only be. As an atheist that discovered God he met his doubts face to face and took them on. I'm not saying that to truly believe, we have to doubt, but to know that we know that we know (yikes, I just quoted Sarah Palin!), sometimes we need to dig deep into ourselves and lay the doubt out before us. I love his balanced approach to spirituality. I also love how he dwelled in the details, like any good philospher, without losing sight of the vision. He reminds me a bit of rabbi - writing and observing his faith, aware of the irony, facing the difficulties, and always, with humor. I also love how he made nature so romantic. One of these days, I shall journey to the rolling green hills of the UK so I too can experience what inspired him.

So over the course of the next days, I will share some of my favorite CS Lewis quotes with you:

"Looking for God - or heaven - by exploring space is like reading or seeing all Shakespeare's plays in the hope that you will find Shakespeare as one of the characters or Stratford as one of places. Shakespeare is in one sense present at every moment in every play. But he is never present in the same way as Falstaff or Lady Macbeth. Nor is he diffused throughout the play like a gas. If there were an idiot who thought plays existed on their own, without an author...our belief in Shakespeare would not be much affected by his saying, quite truly, that he had studied all the plays and never found Shakespeare in them.

"I am not suggesting at all that the existence of God is as easily established as the existence of Shakespeare. My point is that if God does exist, He is related to the universe more as an author is related to a play than as one object in the universe is relatd to another...To some, God is discoverable everywhere; to others, nowhere. Those who do not find Him on earth are unlikely to find Him in space. (Hang it all, we're in space already; every year we go a huge circular tour in space.) But send a saint up in a space ship and he'll find God in space as he found Him on earth. much depends on the seeing eye"
-The Seeing Eye, Christian Reflections.

A more lovely autumn!

The colors have been amazing this fall! I feel so blessed to be able to experience nature's last hurrah before the coming winter.

I don't remember such color in the years past. As the saying goes, its not necessary to experience new landscapes, but to have new eyes. A car is also handy...