A tiny yet urgently important Greek word eludes most every English translation of the New Testament. This small word must rank among the most important words in the entire bible. Try this Hocus Focus Advent Edition.

Luke 1:31-38 NIV
You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of :his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the: holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Luke 1:31-38 NASB
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. “And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. “For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Do you see what I see? What’s the difference? What’s the missing word? (to be continued…….)

#254

“Hope” is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I’ve heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.

Emily Dickenson

Something about memorizing poetry does something in one’s spirit. Yet, poetry will not submit to mere memorization.

My 10 year old taught me a new word some time back: Rememberize. Memorization comes through rote repetition. I don’t know about you, but I find I can’t remember the vast amount of material I have memorized over the years. Rememberizing comes as a fruit of dwelling on and living with over time. It imprints on the soul in an indelible fashion. This is why people with Alzheimers disease forget everything and yet they remember hymns (sung poems). Noone sets out to “memorize” a hymn. They rememberize it over time and it’s theirs forever.

Try this: print this poem off. . . . better yet– copy it down on paper and carry it with you all week. read it a couple of times each day. over the course of remembering it, you will find that you have rememberized it. it will be part of you. you will be glad.

The calendar you keep determines the story you live by. Or does the story we live by determine the calendar we keep. Calendars abound don’t they? To name a few:

National Holiday calendar, academic year calendar, retail calendar (i.e. See Black Friday). The Roman Calendar (named for Roman gods) the sports seasons calendar, the hunting season calendar, the Jewish calendar, the Christian calendar, the Islamic Calendar, the Zodiac calendar, the lunar calendar, the agricultural calendar and please continue the list in the comment box.

To be sure, we simultaneously observe multiple of these calendars. The question: which calendar do we most deeply inhabit? Which calendar frames the other ones? Consider the analogy of the defunct “Picture in a Picture” televisions. The big picture of one channel fills the screen while the small picture(s) of another channel(s) plays in a smaller frame in the corner of the screen.

What is our big picture calendar? That’s our story. The rest tell the various subplots of our lives and communities.

In a few days the Christian calendar begins again with the season of Advent. For most, this calendar is at best a small one tucked in the corner of the screen, and for good reasons. Over the coming months I’ll be writing about the even better reasons to restore this calendar for the sake of the big picture of our lives and communities.

Nothing shapes our days more than the document we use to keep up with them.

Stay tuned. . . . . . .

Whatever it is that you have to get done today. . . . .

Just don’t do it!

It will be your biggest act of faith this week.

Keep Sabbath.

You will become more of who you really are.

Worship must become more about hearing and seeing and less about reading and thinking.

Think about it. ;0) We are born with the ability to see and hear but not to read. Why, then, have we made so much of reading? Jesus and the prophets don’t say, “Who has eyes to read– read.” No, they speak of “eyes to see” and “ears to hear.” Worship creates a revelatory setting for Scripture; one where hearing can lead to seeing. Scripture bursts with vision and gives birth to epiphany. To read along while Scripture is being read actually distracts hearing and disengages seeing. So why do we do it? Habit? Do we think the reader is going to try and slip something in on us? If so, we are in the wrong community.

Scripture was written to be heard, not read; else reading would be pre-requisite to salvation. (i.e. salvation by grace through reading??)

1.  Renounce distraction in the name of Jesus and welcome him to take captive your thoughts.

2.  Take whatever posture enables the most submissive attention. Pray for ILLUMINATION– ears to hear and eyes to see.

3.  Welcome the Holy Spirit to give “sight” and draw forth “in-sight.”

By learning to “hear” Scripture in a way that kindles sight, we will learn to “read”Scripture in a way that fosters hearing.  In this way we may break free from our “I think therefore I am” Cartesian worldview and into the “I behold therefore I become” view of God, the world and worship.