#'but joseph said to them 'do not be afraid. am I in the place of God? even though you have intended to harm me God intended it for good

[tomcriuse]

All of that is true, and all of that is still in here, but that's not why I came here today. I came here today... I came here today... I forgive you.

MIDNIGHT MASS 1.03 'Book III - Proverbs'

[inkbagel]

Okay I gotta ask: who’s Clancy?

I’ve been listening to a little bit more twenty one pilots lately just because I found a couple songs I like and I noticed the name pop up in Paladin Straits.

Is this a real person? Is there lore behind the songs? I’m dying to know, tell me their secrets /nf

OKOKOK OMGG OK SO

Clancy is a fictional character, idk if there’s actually a name for the lore other than the tøp lore but he’s from there

The guy on the left is Josh Dun/The Torchbearer, and the guy on the right is Tyler Joseph/Clancy.

Clancys the mc in the story and the Torchbearer is his kind of romantically coded best friend who’s also the leader of the Banditos! A rebel(?) group that lives outside the city of Dema.

If you go to twenty one pilots channel on yt, they have a playlist with every major lore video (but there’s plenty of extra stuff outside of that playlist that you can find on the Wikipedia, plus a livestream they did in-universe which is v pretty I love it dearly I have a link if you ever want it)

The whole story is a mediphor for battling with mental health, and tells it really well!! It’s really impressive.

The basic plot of the story is Clancy is a citizen of Dema, a large depressing city in the gorgeous fictional continent of Trench. The city is controlled by the Nine Bishops who enforce their religion upon its citizens (which is essentially telling everyone to be depressed and kill themselves) so they can “seize them” (bc the bishops can control dead bodies)

The city is nearly impossible to escape thanks to a giant concrete wall, but Clancy has escaped multiple times. Outside the wall he meets up with the Banditos (led by the torchbearer) and just kinda lives with them and is happy and loved and everything good. But Nico (the leader of the nine bishops) keeps dragging him back into Dema.

At some point Clancy becomes well known in the city for being one of like three people to escape, (and also for having a website dedicated to spreading propaganda but that part of the story gets confusing and no one really understands what happens to Clancy there) and the bishops decide to use this to their advantage by giving Clancy pink hair and pronouns and forcing him to be an entertainer.

(Side note during this arc Clancy started to flat out hallucinate the torchbearer bc he was so lonely which I think is really cute he missed his best friend so much)

Eventually Clancy escapes bc Nico is betrayed by another bishop, Keons, and gets washed up onto an island called Voldsoy where he meets the Neds!

(They look like this I couldn’t find a picture from the actual story and am too lazy to go screenshot it myself)

The neds give him the gift of their antlers which allow Clancy to control bodies the same way bishops do!

Another side note, the REAL torchbearer has the Jesus-like power of controlling Clancy’s hallucination to “guide” Clancy to places he needs to go (he guided Clancy to the Neds and also guided him back to the Banditos later)

After Clancy meets back up with the banditos (and more importantly the torchbearer), they all prepare for a final battle with the bishops and go fight them. This is where for the bajillionth time the lore gets confusing.

This happened in the finale which btw, right before releasing the video, Tyler Joseph (lead singer) said “let me ask you, do you think this is the end?” Bc this most recent album was supposed to be the finale to the story but now he’s acting cryptic about it? So a lot of people are torn on if we’re getting more lore or not (I think we definitely are esp after what they’re doing with the world tour)

But basically in the finale all the Banditos fought the Bishop controlled zombies outside the walls of Dema so Clancy could sneak in undetected and take out the bishops, and he takes down most of them but right at the last second Nico grabs Clancy by the neck and starts talking to him and then Clancy opens his eyes to stare Nico down and send a message that he’s not afraid of him anymore and the screen cuts to black.

Once again this is supposed to be the end of the lore. A lot of ppl are assuming Clancy is dead rn but now that the tøp world tour started there’s more lore involving different characters writing letters to each other. This is so far unrelated aside from the fact that they all talk about Clancy inspiring them to take action.

All the albums after Vessel are based on the story. They’re supposed to all be in the pov of Clancy (ofc) and if you look closely at the lyrics you can catch a lot of extra lore.

Blurryface is what Nico calls himself, Trench is the name of the pretty continent they live in, Scaled and icy is an enneagram for “Clancy is dead” (which in their Christmas single they said was propaganda) and also a play on the saying “scaled back and isolated” (bc it’s the album where Clancy is kidnapped and alone) and finally Clancy, the “finale”. It’s a really cool story.

There’s a ton of extra details I left out like the significance of the color yellow but yea that’s the main story and who Clancy is :) my siblings and I have been digging up all the lore the past month and with each new tidbit I get a little more fixated on this weird cat guy hope you like this unprompted infodump

[she-of-seidhr]

I have so many thoughts about The Rings of Power S2 SDCC trailer and some of the news that came out from the SDCC panel, but I am so unwell after watching it that I don't remember it all. Here's what I recall though:

The trailer is absolutely the best we've had of all their releases going back to S1. The difference is night and day. I like that this trailer has clear direction of what the general plot is going to be instead of just a bunch of clips that makes no sense whatsoever.

The Rhunic masks looked a bit futuristic to me. It reminded me of some background race in an MCU film, can't remember if it was in Thor 3 or Ant-Man 3, but yeah it looked a bit out of place and silly.

I really am quite puzzled at their insistence in dressing Gil-galad in gold hues when we have Pharazon and/or Sauron, or even the dwarves for that. I am hoping they are saving the silver and blues for the later seasons if we're not getting it now. That would look so striking since they went with the dark hair. Remember Thranduil's silk orange robe from The Hobbit? Now make it deep blue. Ah, a girl can dream.

I know this is a trailer so there's misdirection, but I wonder if that scene where Galadriel asks Elrond to promise he will not stop who I am assuming is Sauron is an indication that she's going to put up her sword (at least in S3 onwards) to do other things, bringing her closer to the Galadriel in the books in terms of character and also what we know she was doing during the Second Age. That will give Elrond and (as it should be honestly) Gil-galad the space to be the actual main protagonists along with the other prominent Second Age characters.

I wanted more of Cirdan instead of just a hand, and I got a different shot of his hand, this time going underwater. Exciting.

Entwives!!! I'm glad to see them featured, but I'm also terribly afraid they're going to show us how they were wiped out lost.

The Siege of Eregion looks fuckin' amazing. The shot of Sauron walking away with an explosion on the background? Sign me the fuck up.

Gil-galad's banners flying amidst the elven charge scene. Fuck me sideways.

Charlie Vickers was the best actor for me in S1, I have no doubts he will serve in S2. Owain Arthur, Charles Edwards, and Peter Mullan too.

I love Gil-galad to death but to be perfectly honest I kinda don't like how Benjamin Walker portrays him. That said, it definitely is also because of how he's being written. I imagine Gil-galad to still have warmth despite the burden of his position that has a 100% mortality rate.

Pharazon better not be fuckin' stabbin' that eagle.

Daniel Weyman's line delivery sounds so Ian McKellen, but I am still hoping he is a Blue Wizard. Then again, maybe he is just taking inspiration from the most iconic wizard portrayal we've ever had (that's not up for debate).

I know I said Robert Aramayo as Elrond is ok, but for some fuckin' reason I'm convinced that those curls is going to make him better in all aspects.

I love Elrond's hesitation about the Elven Rings because it deepens the mystery of just how much of everything we know so far has been by Sauron's design.

Really curious to see what Sam Hazeldine will bring to the Adar because he's got BIG shoes to fill. Joseph Mawle was born for that role. The subtleties and the quiet menace he brought to the Adar was just incredible.

Look, I like Tom Bombadil alright? But am I ever really hyped to see an adaptation of him onscreen? Not really.

Barrow-wights. Why, but yeah cool whatever.

I like that every ring has a different design and we're going to see all of them in their full glory.

Celeborn will show up, as he should. When and where, no idea but at least there's confirmation.

Glorfindel can show up. If I talk about this any more than I already have (although it's to my family members who don't give a single fuck about any of this), I would really start losing my shit.

Lloyd Owens who plays Elendil made some eyebrow-raising remarks in the SDCC panel in regards to Elendil and Miriel's relationship, so it has me worried about them going for a romantic route between the two. Theirs could be a story of friendship, loyalty, and steadfastness in the midst of all the unrest and danger, and it honestly cheapens the last scene they shared in S1, so I really hope they don't try any funny business with them.

Somebody did ask the showrunners if there's going to be LGBTQ+ representation which one of them answered along the lines of maybe we've already seen one. Is it really necessary? Is it really proper representation? Does it serve the story? There's so many additions to this series already that it's going to be one more thing that takes away from the lore characters who really should be the focus.

I know I'm still missing some shit, but yeah this list is long enough. Lots of good, maybe a little bad, but overall I feel good about this new season and I can genuinely say I'm excited again even after the meh that's S1. August 29 can't come soon enough!

[saras-devotionals]

Quiet Time 9/6

What am I feeling today?

I wish I had been more productive today. Then again I was really tired and it was probably good for me to get that extra bit of sleep. Prayerfully all my plans can follow through today. Also, I’m trying so so hard to keep a level head. There’s a brother in the church who I’ve developed an interest in and I don’t want to spiral like I have the habit of doing in the past. I just need to trust in God and His timing and not fret and preoccupy myself with worrying about whether he likes me or will ask me out again or if he feels the same way about me etc.

Bible Plan: Rethinking Love and Romance

Finally, we turn to the New Testament’s Christmas story—wait, what? We associate angels, shepherds, and wise men with the Christmas story, but romance? Stick with us. There is something profound to learn about love from a character who does not have a single line in the story.

Matthew’s gospel tells us that Joseph was betrothed to Mary. In their world, betrothals were more serious than modern wedding engagements. The two were legally bound to one another, though they didn’t yet live together or consummate their relationship. During the betrothal time, Mary discovers that she is pregnant—and the baby is not Joseph’s (Matt. 1:18). Imagine being Joseph in this scenario. What is he supposed to do? In their culture, this would have been humiliating to both Mary and him.

Joseph shows lovingkindness to Mary by deciding to divorce her quietly (Matt. 1:19). That doesn’t seem very loving, but consider the cultural context. Joseph could have preserved his own reputation by publicly shaming Mary. He could have told everyone she was pregnant with a child that wasn’t his, leaving her to carry the burden alone. But Joseph won’t do it. He shows mercy toward Mary.

The authors say he wants to divorce her quietly because he is a “righteous” (Greek: dikaios) man. This word in Greek is deeply relational, describing someone doing right by another person and treating others as infinitely valuable creations of God. What could be more loving than treating someone with mutual respect and acknowledging that God built them for honor, blessing, and endless lovingkindness? Joseph wishes Mary no harm. He chooses to care for her.

Joseph is later awakened by a messenger, an angel, who instructs him to not divorce Mary. For Joseph, a quick and quiet divorce instinctively looked best for everyone involved. But Joseph chooses to trust the angel and, again, acts in a way that cares for and blesses (or gives life to) Mary—a picture of true love.

Most of us aren’t getting angelic instructions about who to stay romantically involved with. Wouldn’t that be nice? But we can still choose to act in love toward others in the way that Joseph did. Are we loving another person because of what they can do for us, or are we loving them so that they can be built up, cared for, and blessed with life? Are we choosing to do right by the other person regardless of what they can do for us?

In today’s video, learn more about the Hebrew word khesed that describes the relational and active love that God has for his people.

Matthew 1:18-25 NIV

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”

I never thought about this too deeply but let’s take a moment to reflect on this situation. Joseph is a man betrothed to a woman who is now pregnant with a child that he knows it not his. Think for a moment how that would make you feel, betrayed? angry? bitter? disappointed? disgusted? hurt? I can’t imagine what it must have been like initially for Joseph but take some time again to reflect on how he responded to the situation.

It says he did not want to expose her to public disgrace. Think about what that says about him and his character especially during this time period and cultural context. He loved Mary in a way of respect and kindness, he was looking out for her even when it may have seemed she wasn’t doing the same for him.

This can lead us to a great practical:

Are we loving another person because of what they can do for us, or are we loving them so that they can be built up, cared for, and blessed with life? Are we choosing to do right by the other person regardless of what they can do for us?

No matter what happens or how how people treat us today (and any other day for that matter) - we should show the same love that God has shown us. Let’s not grumble when asked to do something. Let’s build up other people with our words. Let’s take the time to encourage one another.

[acespaceacepilot]

wyll ravengard, my beloved

♘⚔♡ a wyll playlist on spotify with themes on leaving/going home, the weight of sacrifice, and atonement

(song list + lyrics that made me chose them below the cut)

don’t let them see you cry - manchester orchestra

so breathe while you're alive / let the big band play as you tap leather with your fingers / and i tried to write in style / but the words just come and i write them as soon as i see 'em

passenger seat - death cab for cutie

i roll the window down / and then begin to breathe in / the darkest country road / and the strong scent of evergreen / from the passenger seat as / you are driving me home

open arms - november ultra

love with open hands / love the fool who smiles / the wisdom of the damned / love with open heart / let it burn you, consume you / take over who you are

meet you at the gate - jayne trimble

there was a field, and at the brow of a hill / i had a vision, time stood still, you were holding / the world in your hands, you said / "come on up what are you waiting for? / you are willing, and i am able / to take your load, your heavy load— / i am stronger, than the beasts of this land / i have a softer touch than any human hand."

(no one knows me) like the piano - sampha

you know i left, i flew the nest / and you know i won't be long / and in my chest you know me best / and you know i'll be back home

love love love - the mountain goats

king saul fell on his sword when it all went wrong / and joseph's brothers sold him down the river for a song / and sonny liston rubbed some tiger balm into his glove / some things you do for money and some you do for love, love, love

17 - youth lagoon

surrounded by nothing / but the nothing's surrounded by us / but it's just me in my room / with my eyes shut / oh, when i was seventeen / my mother said to me / "don't stop imagining. the day that you do is the day that you die."

wheels roll home - the antlers

don't go before you leave / every second we got, we gotta make believe / that you'll be right back like you never left / like you mailed yourself to your return address / in a self-stamped envelope / you'll revolve 'round the globe / but / when your wheels roll home (x3) / no more you roam

don’t haunt this place - yellow ostrich

don't haunt this heart, don't haunt this place / your heart beating slow as it beats out of pace / … / this was hard, it was fun, we should do it again / give ourselves some time, ten years from the day / i need you now, i need you then / i never want to feel this again

only the young die good - saintseneca

if only the good ones die young / i'd pray your corruption come / swift like a thief in the night / right i pluck my right eye right out / yanked from your slumber / what ominous portent / dangles in your face / rife with sprites falling on knives / crowd into your gaze

the boy who blocked his own shot - the thoughtlife

i'll grow old, start acting my age / be a brand new day in a life that you hate / a crown of gold, a heart that's harder than stone / and it hurts a whole lot but it's missed when it's gone / … / and if it makes you less sad, i'll move out of the state / you can keep to yourself, i'll keep out of your way / and if it makes you less sad, i'll take your pictures all down / every picture you paint, i will paint myself out

salt circle - eliza mclamb

i'm tender as a soft warm palm / and i don't know how to deal with my anger yet / when i was younger i'd curse the thought / of thinking all of them / and i'm afraid of losing my mind / cause then i'd lose my place / oh, nothing keeps me here as much as / the sight of my own face

dyin day - anaïs mitchell

be it work or be it rite? / father, tell me / brings us to the mountainside / every day a dying day / be it work or be it rite / oh my sweet babe / we come to make a sacrifice / every day a dying day

welcome home, son - radical face

ships are launching from my chest / some have names but most do not / if you find one, please let me know what piece i've lost / peel the scars from off my back / i don't need them anymore / you can throw them out or keep them in your mason jars

believe me - james and the shame

i think you want an answer / i'm not prepared to give / 'cause the one i gave you said that, that ain't it / must be something that i want / … / i don't think it's true / i'm not asking you to agree / i'm just asking you to believe me / you say my heart was never true / that might say more 'bout you

boy with a coin - iron & wine

a boy with a coin he crammed in his jeans / then making a wish he tossed in the sea / walked to a town that all of us burn / when god left the ground to circle the world

devil’s resting place - laura marling

i woke up one morning to know that i had gone / finally taken the step and jumped right off the wall / when you come to call on me that's why my eyes are glazed / i've been with the devil in the devil's resting place / i am loathe to say that i have been to stay / i've been with the devil in the devil's resting place

little soldiers - the crane wives

now the aftermath will ring with songs you've sung / all of our words sent home in boxes / i fought with tooth and nail before the flag had flown / but you were already gone

c’mon baby, cry - orville peck

i can see the sadness in your eyes / you've been tryna hide what you left behind / they say it's darkest before the dawn / but you've been smiling for so long / a thousand teardrops can't be wrong, no

another travelin’ song - bright eyes

well i'm changing all my strings / i'm gonna write another traveling song / about all the billion highways and the cities at the break of dawn / well i guess the best that i can do now is pretend that i've done nothing wrong / and to dream about a train that's gonna take me back where i belong

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Jacob Returns to Bethel

1 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”

4 So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.

5 As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. 6 So Jacob and everyone with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There Jacob built an altar, and he called that place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed Himself to Jacob as he fled from his brother.

8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bachuth.

9 After Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Though your name is Jacob, you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead, your name will be Israel.” So God named him Israel.

11 And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

13 Then God went up from the place where He had spoken with him.

14 So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken with him—a stone marker—and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. 15 Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

Benjamin Born, Rachel Dies

16 Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. 17 During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.”

18 And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.

19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20 Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day.

The Sons of Jacob (1 Chronicles 2:1–2)

21 Israel again set out and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder. 22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons:

23 The sons of Leah were Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

25 The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.

26 And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher.

These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

The Death of Isaac

27 Jacob returned to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

28 And Isaac lived 180 years. 29 Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. — Genesis 35 | Berean Standard Bible (BSB) Berean Standard Bible is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. Cross References: Genesis 9:1; Genesis 12:6-7; Genesis 13:18; Genesis 15:15; Genesis 17:5; Genesis 17:22; Genesis 18:1; Genesis 18:19; Genesis 24:59; Genesis 25:8; Genesis 25:20; Genesis 25:26; Genesis 27:43; Genesis 28:15; Genesis 28:18-19; Genesis 28:22; Genesis 29:31; Genesis 30:5; Genesis 30:10; Genesis 30:22; Genesis 30:24; Genesis 42:4; Genesis 47:9; Genesis 48:7; Genesis 49:4; Exodus 15:16; Joshua 15:21; Ruth 1:2; Ruth 4:11; 1 Samuel 10:2; 1 Samuel 17:12; 1 Chronicles 2:1 Micah 4:8; Acts 7:8

Divine Terror

[clickerflight]

Esial: Part 7 - Forms

Masterlist

Part 6

Me, every time I post in this story: Here comes the boy! Hello boy! Welcome! There he is!

Content: Vampire whumpee, police station setting (mild and not for the whole post), grief, man out of time, mention of healing injuries from previous parts

.............................................

Esial sat in a quiet room. There was a looking glass in here, and after watching himself for ages, he started to grow more and more afraid, sensing that he wasn’t the only person watching himself, eventually hiding under the table, curled up on the floor. 

He wrapped his arms around his stomach and grimaced. He was starving. He still ached in places where the healing had slowed down, and it took all he had to not pick at the scabs on his arm. 

The door opened and he rolled to see who was coming through. It was Joseph, holding what smelled like a bowl of blood. 

"Hey," he said, and he was much quieter and gentler than before. "Do you want to come out?"

The very idea nade Esial's breath hitch and he shook his head. 

"Okay. I'll slide this to you."

Joseph knelt down and pushed the bowl forward. Esial took it and drank the blood quickly, licking the bowl to get as much out as he could. 

"Woah. Do you need more?" Joseph asked. 

Esial nodded. 

"I'll be back."

Joseph left and Esial kneaded his stomach. It hurt still, though he didn't know if it was because he was scared or because he was still hungry. The wounds on his arms were starting to heal up quickly and the last of the aches in his legs and ribs faded. 

Joseph came back with the bowl refilled and a blanket under one arm. He passed both to Esial and Esial ate first and then wrapped up in the blanket, glad for the extra protection. 

"Alright," Joseph said soothingly. "First of all, I'm sorry."

"What?" Esial asked, confused. He tried to think of what Joseph had done that would warrant an apology, but couldn't come up with anything. Maybe Joseph was sorry that he didn't let Esial make sure Kyle was safe?

"Yeah. I didn't explain what was going on," Joseph said. "You are probably very confused."

Esial nodded. 

"And you didn't know what they were doing with Kyle."

He nodded again. 

"And you went to go find him to make sure he was okay. And got very hurt in the process."

Esial shrugged. That didn't really matter. 

"So, I'll try and explain this, and if you are even slightly confused, say so."

"I'm confused."

"Now, hold on. We haven't started yet."

"Oh. Okay."

"Alright. So. You were around when there were Pharaohs, yes?"

"Yes."

"Okay. You have been, ummm, out of it for a really really long time. There are no Pharaohs anymore and you are very far away from where you used to live."

"Where am I?"

"This country is called America. This city is called Keaton. This is a police station."

"What is a police station?"

Joseph shifted, getting more comfortable as he said. "Well, police are people who keep people safe and make sure people aren't breaking the rules. A police station is where they gather and record people who broke the rules."

Esial realized something very quickly. "I broke the rules."

"A few of them, yes," Joseph replied with a strangely amused expression on his face. 

Esial dug his fingers into his blanket. "What are they going to do to me?"

"Nothing bad. They understand your situation now, and I'm here to help, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, let's go over what happened. I'm a little confused myself so maybe you can help me understand. When I left the room, what did you do?"

"Um... I wanted to find Kyle."

"And why did you grab the sheets to wear?"

"These?" Esial asked, plucking at his clothing. 

"Yes."

"They're.... better. I don't like shirts and pants."

"Okay. Is this more like what you used to wear?"

"Yes."

"That makes sense," Joseph said with a nod. "Okay, and then you left through the window. Then what happened?"

"I found Kyle's smell and then found the smell of the thing that took him away."

"The smell of the ambulance?"

"Um...... yes?"

"Okay. Then what."

"I followed it."

Joseph nodded. "There was a report about someone hitting a person with their car. Did you get hit by something?"

"Yes, but I am healed now."

"Okay," Joseph said, a strange look on his face again. "And did you end up scaring a guy on your way to the hospital?"

"Um. What's a hospital?"

"We'll get there. Did you scare someone?"

"Yeah, I didn't mean, well, I did. I wanted to find Kyle."

"Okay, fair enough. That building you found Kyle in is called a hospital. It's a place people go to when they get hurt so they can be healed. The people who were working on Kyle are called doctors. They were trying to clean his wound when you got there."

"I... I chased out the healers?" Esial asked, aghast. "Is Kyle going to be okay!?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Joseph said soothingly. "The healers got him closed up and now he just has to heal."

Esial sighed, relieved. 

"What you did was very dangerous, and you hurt a few people in the hospital while you were trying to get to Kyle. You're not in a lot of trouble. Kyle explained enough to the police about what happened and what your situation is and-"

"Situation?"

"Yeah. The, ahh, what happened to you and what's going through your head and everything. The police know and they're giving me to take care of you. You won't be in trouble as long as you don't run away and do anything like what just happened. At least talk to me first."

Esial nodded. 

"Now, can I see your teeth?"

Esial opened his mouth and Joseph nodded. "You're an Originus vampire. Did you have other vampires that you lived with?"

"No."

"Did you hate being alone?"

"No."

"Okay. That makes you a Ferox Originus, then. And, uh, earlier you said you just wanted your crocodiles?"

"I.... took care of a pair of crocodiles for a while," Esial said, a little shyly. "I would go spend time with them when I needed to. I just..... I miss them."

"I see. I'm really sorry, man."

Esial nodded. 

"Well, we have a couple of hours before the sun rises. You burn in the sun, right?"

"I do... don't you?"

"No. I'm a different kind of vampire. How about I take you to the rehab center and you can get some sleep, hmmm? This room isn't very comfortable."

Esial allowed Joseph to help him out from under the table and shuffled along behind him as he opened the door. 

"You said it would be alright if I take him, right?" Joseph asked the man standing nearby. 

"Yup. You should stop at the desk to fill out some forms and you're good to go."

"Great! Thanks."

Joseph stopped in front of a table covered in all manner of strange things, accepting thin sheets with symbols marked on it. He started to write on them and Esial tapped the table. 

"Desk?"

"Yes," Joseph said. 

"And those are forms?"

"Yes."

Joseph finished the last form with a flourish and put down the writing tool. 

"Okay, we can go."

Joseph followed quickly out onto the flat rock outside of the station. Joseph pointed to a car and opened the door, getting in. 

Esial stood there, looking at the car door. He wrapped his fingers around the bar in the divot of the door and pulled it experimentally. 

The door came open to his surprise and he got in rather awkwardly, unsure of how it was supposed to work, but guessing from the suppressed snort Joseph tried to hide, hopping in to land with your knees on the chair was not the right way. He pulled the door closed, hearing the satisfying click, and he sat, wrapping the blanket tightly around him and turned to look out the window. 

The car started to move, and Esial watched carefully, looking over to Joseph to see what he was doing to make the car move. 

...........................

Esial was very glad when the car ride was over. Joseph had asked him a lot of questions, and while they seemed friendly enough, Esial was tired and he was starting to lose his grasp on this very strange language. 

They drove through some gates and into a place with a whole set of buildings, all different shapes and sizes like a complex village hidden in the city. 

"We just have to make you a file and then you can lay down, okay?" Joseph said warmly, and Esial just nodded. He hoped that files didn't take too long to make, whatever they were. 

They took forever. Esial rocked back and forth, eyes closed as he waited. He didn’t even bother to try and understand Joseph while he muttered over more forms. Finally, Joseph took his arm and led him to a door. It opened to a tunnel made of glass, the sun rising now over the horizon. 

Esial watched it numbly before they entered a new building. Everything was so big and strange. Where were all the tools for living? It didn’t make sense. 

Joseph opened a door, still talking, though he stopped when he asked something and all he got was a befuddled look in response. He instead led Esial to a little room, dark and cozy with a bed set and ready. 

Esial would have jumped into it for joy if he had the energy. He instead crawled in, burrowing into the blankets and did not even care to see if Joseph had left before he closed his eyes and passed out. 

……………………………………

Joseph couldn't stop pacing around and around the kitchen as Muir sat, sipping at some coffee over his dinner. Muir was multitasking, reading through a file he needed to understand for the case he was currently on, while listening to his bondmate rant. 

"You should have seen him, Josh!" he exclaimed. "When I finally found him he was hiding under a table! Covered in dry blood and still injured. He had no idea what's going on and I don't know what to do for him. Nothing is familiar for him and I don't know what to do! He mentioned that all he wanted was his crocodiles! I mean, it's not like I can go back in time, but I wish I could, you know? I want to give him something!"

"Just spend time with him," Muir suggested, turning the page in his file, frowning as he mouthed the words of a detail that didn't add up. "He'll need someone to just be there for him."

"I would, but it's my night off and you and I were going to go to the museum!"

"We can reschedule-"

"No! We've already put it off once. I will lose my mind if we don't get to go before the roman exhibits close!"

Muir smirked. "Then he'll have to make do for the day. You can't have your cake and eat it too, Seph."

"AUgh! I need to do something!"

Muir looked up from his files thoughtfully. "Well, here's an idea. We'll sleep till 5, don't lie to me, I know you haven't slept since the day before Kyle got shot. Then, we'll stop by the store and see if we can't find some crocodile toys for him, drop that off, and go to the museum. Okay? It'll probably give him some comfort having something to hold onto like that."

Joseph thought it over for a minute and nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Josh."

"Course," Muir said, turning his attention back to his files. "Now, you should really get off to bed."

"Only if you do."

Muir sighed, rolling his eyes, but he closed the file anyways and went to get ready for bed. 

..................................

Esial woke up disoriented. He looked around the unfamiliar darkened room, getting more and more worked up. The place smells odd. He had never smelled so many vampires in one place, but they were all wrong, all different. 

He looked down at the blankets and, not for the first or last time, found himself frustrated to tears that he didn't know what they were made of. 

His gaze wandered to the end of the bed where two strange objects sat. He stared at them and leaned forward, touching their rough backs. They were too small to be adult crocodiles, but not proportioned right to be babies and they didn't have any blood inside of them. 

He lifted one up to his nose, and only got that unidentifiable smell that seemed to come from so many objects he'd encountered so far. He did smell Joseph's scent as well as another vampire he didn't recognize on it. 

They were gifts, then. Incredibly realistic toys. Esial stared down at the crocodile before reaching for the other, curling them to his chest and crying into the pillow. They weren't real, but he would rather die than let them go.

Part 8

Esial: @whumpsday @honeycollectswhump @writereleaserepeat @tragedyinblue @hyrules-sleepiest-knight

From Dust to Ashes: @whumpsday @writereleaserepeat @currentlyinthespiral @pigeonwhumps

[mstexalicious1961]

SOTK

devotion by Bernard Trippett, Jr

Trusting the sovereignty of God.

"Joseph said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive'" Genesis 50:19-20, NKJV.

In spite of his brothers and what he went through for all those years, Joseph came to find out what appeared to be evil, God turned it for good. God is powerfully sovereign.

There's a sovereignty of God that you can put your trust in right now. His hand is on your life. The Lord knows how to get you to an appointed place at an appointed time. Even the bad you've experienced or the wrong done to you, God is providential, and He is orchestrating it to bring about His ultimate good in your life. Nothing can stop His sovereignty. On the road you're on, nothing can stop Him from arranging what has happened in your life and using it to get you to your life's destination. Even as Joseph had to trust and know God was with him, so will you.

In light of what you're going through or who is being used to cause you to go through it, be deeply encouraged. God is over it all. He's overseeing it all. In time, you will see that it was only a stepping stone to escort you into a beautiful outcome, becoming the man you are ordained to be.

Prayer: Father, thank you for your sovereignty. You are in control of it all. You are overseeing my life and you are with me. May this bring me comfort in my moment. May it bring me peace and strength to stand in my moment. What hurts right now or what is being meant for bad, I praise you in advance that in the end, it will bring the greatest good in and for me. Like Joseph, cause it to even make me into a blessing. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Study: Genesis 50:15-21, Psalm 37:23 & 115:3, Romans 8:28-30

[renee-writer]

God wrote the Christmas story perfectly.

Every detail is important and can teach us something.

I’m always in awe of how I can read the same story each year and find a new message that my heart needed.

This year I have been so amazed at how I can learn from everyone involved in the accounts.

Like the shepherds who were just doing their work in the fields, and were met by an angel and a “great company of heavenly host”, who as soon as they heard the news about Jesus hurried off to find Him. And once they did.. they couldn’t keep their mouths closed about it. They shared about Jesus to everyone they could.

I want to seek Jesus like that. I want to be so excited about the good news of the Gospel that I can’t help but share it with everyone and anyone.

Mary is given probably the strangest and most important task basically ever- to be the mother of Jesus. Instead of questioning and doubting she says, “I am the Lord’s servant, May your word to me be fulfilled.”

I want to be obedient and courageous like Mary. God’s call on our lives don’t need to make sense all the time.. that’s what faith is. Trusting Him when we can’t see what He is doing.

Joseph learns the woman He is supposed to marry is pregnant and not pregnant by him. It’d be really easy to expose her. To shame her. Yet, Joseph is a “righteous” man and didn’t want to hurt her.

I want to have grace and mercy like Joseph.

Then the angel of the Lord confirmed to Joseph in a dream, “do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Joseph woke up and did what the angel said. He married Mary and named the baby Jesus, and raised Him as his own.

I want to be selfless like that. I want to see beyond what’s convenient for me and live in the plan God has established for me.

The magi, who were told by Herod to go find Jesus, find Him and are overjoyed. They bring Him gifts and worship Him. They know instantly there is something special about this baby.

They then go against Herod’s orders and do not return to Herod. They do this to protect Jesus, even though it easily could have gotten them in huge trouble (or worse).

I want to be brave in my faith like that. I want to stand for Jesus at all costs.

All the people in these accounts are just normal humans, but the thing that sets them apart is that they really listen to God. They follow where He leads.

I want to be like that.

And finally, that sweet baby born in the manger.

The one who left the glorious place He so rightly belonged- heaven- and came into this dark world.

The one who suffered in ways I’ll never understand so that the people He so unconditionally loves could spend eternity with Him.

Light of the world.

Wonderful counselor.

Mighty God.

Eternal Father.

Prince of Peace.

I will never even come close to being just like Jesus. Not even close.

But I sure hope I can shine His love into this world, too.

God’s story and His plan is so perfect.

He knows exactly who to use, and we get to learn from them.

And the beautiful thing?

His story isn’t over yet.

He wants to use you and I, too.

~Kelli Bachara, The Unraveling Blog

*If you’d like to get in on the 12 days of Christmas song devotional, it’s not late to do the whole thing before Christmas! Check out the link here. It’ll be delivered to your inbox instantly!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1599163812/12-day-christmas-song-devotional-journal

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

24th December >> Mass Readings (USA)

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle B 

(Liturgical Colour: Violet: B (2))

First Reading 2 Samuel 7:1–5, 8b–12, 14a, 16 The kingdom of David shall endure forever before the Lord.

When King David was settled in his palace, and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God dwells in a tent!” Nathan answered the king, “Go, do whatever you have in mind, for the LORD is with you.” But that night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said: “Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in?

“‘It was I who took you from the pasture and from the care of the flock to be commander of my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth. I will fix a place for my people Israel; I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place without further disturbance. Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old, since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you. And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.’”

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 89:2–3, 4–5, 27, 29

R/ Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

The promises of the LORD I will sing forever; through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness. For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”; in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.

R/ Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations.”

R/ Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father, my God, the rock, my savior.’ Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him, and my covenant with him stands firm.”

R/ Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Second Reading Romans 16:25–27 The mystery kept secret for long ages has now been manifested.

Brothers and sisters: To him who can strengthen you, according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation Luke 1:38

Alleluia, alleluia. Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Luke 1:26–38 Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

“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 Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[lordgodjehovahsway]

Genesis 50: Joseph Buries Jacob in Canaan

1 Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. 

2 Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, 

3 taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

4 When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, 

5 ‘My father made me swear an oath and said, “I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’”

6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt— 

8 besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. 

9 Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.

10 When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father. 

11 When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.” That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.

12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: 

13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. 

14 After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” 

16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: 

17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.

19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 

20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 

21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

The Death of Joseph

22 Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years 

23 and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees.

24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” 

25 And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”

26 So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

[betweenandbeloved]

Basilica of the Annunciation

My favorite place in the Holy Land and the first stop on this Holy Land tour-de-blog is the Basilica of the Annunciation: Mary’s House, located in Nazareth. In Jesus’ time, Nazareth was a neglected, small town, with a negative stigma around the people who lived there. This is why we hear in John 1:46a Nathaniel say “Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?” Needless to say, Nazareth was not the most popular place for the Messiah to have come from/been raised.

Pictured: The city of Nazareth behind me (view from Mount Precipice)

The story begins:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called to the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let  it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. - Luke 1:26-38 

This story of Mary is incredible and miraculous; but what I discovered when visiting Mary’s house for the first time in 2019 was not the grandeur of her story, but how ordinary she was. You can read about my first revelation with Mary here. In sum, even though the Basilica around her house is grand, her house is simple. It is a reminder that Mary was just like any other person, she didn’t come from wealth and she didn’t live a ritzy lifestyle.

Pictured: Basilica of the Annunciation from courtyard

Her house, like most first century dwellings in Nazareth, was a cave.  People couldn’t afford to build houses so instead they lived in caves; some natural, some carved. Mary’s house, protected inside on the first level of the Basilica, was a natural cave that has an inscription reading “Hail Mary” that dates to the first century; making it likely that this was in fact Mary’s house. 

Pictured: The first floor of the Basilica where we can find the cave that was Mary’s house as well as multiple spaces to gather for worship.

The Catholic tradition holds that the Annunciation to Mary took place in this house. To mark the significance of this place, a church was built: The Basilica of the Annunciation, and it was decorated with a variety of icons of Mary given by countries from all over the world. I have never seen a place with more images of a woman in the Bible and, these images depict a multitude of diverse cultures and representations. I could spend an entire day just looking at all the artwork and marveling in it’s beauty.

Pictured: some of the many incredible icons. If you want to look at them closer, check out this website which has all, or most, of them!

The other interesting piece about this location, is that it is known for more than just the Annunciation. In thinking about the Holy Family’s story, the Annunciation to Mary happened here at the house, then the Holy Family traveled to Bethlehem for the birth, escaped to Egypt per the Wiseman’s warning, and when they returned, they would have come back to this house in Nazareth where Jesus grew up.

Pictured: Caves outside the Basilica (Mary’s neighbors) similar to Mary’s House and other first century homes. These are also similar to the cave where Jesus would have been born.

It’s interesting to think about this house as not only the place where the Angel appeared to Mary, but also as the place where Jesus grew up; playing with the neighbors, learning to read and write, going to the Synagogue. It was also interesting to hear about the pilgrimage Jesus would have walked to get to the Temple in Jerusalem three times a year for the Holy festivals.  The journey would take two weeks with the landscape and political climate (they had to avoid Samaria), then spend one week in Jerusalem, and then spend another two weeks getting home.  This is certainly not the part of Jesus’ life we think about, nor was it something I thought of in relation to Mary’s house.

Picture above: me in my happy place

Pictured below: my wonderful husband taking as many photos as possible for me because he is the best

This is one of the things I love about visiting the Holy Land. You not only bring the Bible text to life, but you also get to see and experience it for yourself. Seeing the land and learning about the geography and culture brings a whole new level of understanding to the Bible stories. By just reading scripture we never really get an idea for what Jesus’ childhood was like, but seeing the stories in real life helps bring it to life and bring about sacred imagination to expand beyond what is written in the Bible.

[dailyaudiobible]

01/25/2023 DAB Transcript

Genesis 50:1-Ex 2:10, Matthew 16:13-17:9, Psalms 21:1-13, Proverbs 5:1-6

Today is the 25th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is fantastic to be here with you today as we take the next step forward together on the adventure that we have embarked on 25 days ago. We’re 25…well…once we read today, we’ll be 25 days into our year. This is a day of a bit of transition. We will finish our first full book of the Bible today and then move forward. So, we will be doing that right now. We’ll finish the book of Genesis and then we'll get into the second book of the Bible, the book of Exodus and we’ll talk about Exodus when we get there but we’ve got one chapter of Genesis to finish up the book. And one last thing before we get going, we will be going to the land of the Bible here in less…well…in about a week and a half and a bunch of us will be there actually in person and the rest of us will be traveling virtually. But hang out until the end today because we'll be talking about Israel 2024 next year. But let's dive into the Scriptures now. And if we will recall, we said goodbye to Jacob and we remember his name was changed to Israel, which is where we get this name, Israel. And Israel's children are the children of Israel. We said goodbye to Jacob yesterday as he passed from the story and into history. Today we finish the book of Genesis with chapter 50.

Introduction to the book of Exodus:

Okay. So, that concludes the book of Genesis, Jacob has passed, they took him back to the land. They took his body back to the land of Canaan, back to the cave at Machpelah in the Valley of Eshkol and buried him in the ancestral family plot, the only piece of land that's owned by any children of Israel. And, so, they go back to this place and then they returned to Egypt, and Joseph passes away at 110 years of age, telling his family that there's a promise and there’s a land and when God leads you into this land take my bones with you. And, so, now we are about to open up the second book in the Bible, the book of Exodus. And, so, as we open up the book of Exodus, when we flip that page, we’re flipping the page by several hundred years. And, so, all of these original children of Israel that we've met along the way and all of the family dynamics that we've been able to observe, all of these people have passed away. All of these original people that we been, walking alongside, they're all gone now but their families, the generations have flourished and the people have become numerous, numerous as the stars in the heavens, numerous like sand on the seashore like God had promised to Abraham. It's just that they're not in the land that they were promised, they’re in the land of Egypt and they’re growing more and more numerous and more and more powerful, and the Egyptians are starting to become afraid of them and starting to marginalize them. And now that we’re several centuries into the future Egypt has forgotten about Joseph and the way that they were saved from the devastation so long ago. And, so, the Egyptians enslaved the children of Israel in Egypt. And Pharaoh, seeking to stop them from growing more and more numerous and more and more powerful, instituted some population control that's horrible. Like if the baby is a boy, throw him into the Nile River. This is the command of the King. And, so, baby boys were being drowned in the Nile River. But there was a promise. There was a hope for a future for this people. And it's interesting because we flip into…into Exodus and we’re hundreds of years in the future and when we think about God's promises in our day and age normally, we are thinking about things that…that need to materialize in a hurry, right? And we don't really think that will give a promise that we won't get to see, like this Longview, like that…that…that we’re a part of a story that is centuries and centuries, even millennia old. We want the instant gratification of it all. But there's a story going on as we read through the Bible. There was a person, Abraham. And we followed his family and there was a promise. And it's still out there and it’s still unfulfilled and it's still going on and it's still a part of the…of the people. God finds Abraham and sends him to a land that he doesn't know. God promises a son of promise and Isaac is born and God appears to Isaac and Isaac passes the promise to his son Jacob. Then God reveals himself to Jacob who passes this onto his 12 sons, the children of Israel who are now marginalized and enslaved in Egypt. But the promise is still there. And they begin to cry out to God. And a baby boy is born, and this baby boy is put into the Nile as commended, but he was put into the Nile in a wicker basket and he was floating and this wicker basket was discovered, as we will see, by Pharaoh's daughter and she names the baby boy Moses. And we will be traveling a good distance with Moses. And, so, we begin. Exodus chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for the next step forward. And for the first time we get to experience transitioning from one book to another, and we thank You for bringing us through the book of Genesis, and that sense of accomplishment that we are under way. We are on our way. And even as we look back to the book of Genesis, how much You brought up and out into our lives for us to consider and for us to be transformed by. And, so, we are grateful for that, for that journey through the book of Genesis. And now as we move into the book of Exodus, we’ve met this baby boy who's going to be the mighty Moses. And as we engage with this story, we invite Your Holy Spirit to lead, guide and direct us. May we see what we need to see and hear what we need to hear as we continue this journey forward. We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. So, like I said at the beginning we will be going to the land of the Bible here in about a week and a half. And we’ll be spending the better part of a couple weeks in the land, moving throughout the land from the Mediterranean coast, the border of Jordan, from the Red Sea all the way to the borders of Lebanon and Syria in the north, north, south, east, west and the interior of the land. We have over the years created the most comprehensive biblical immersion into the land of the Bible that that we know how to do while making it a pilgrimage for our hearts. And, so, we’re certainly looking forward to that. And, so, the first thing is to ask the community here to begin to pray over all of the things that are involved in a trip like that - international travel, jet lag, time zone changes, culture changes, all kinds of logistics, all kinds of things that are set up to fire in a certain order and work in a certain way, and of course technology, the technology that binds us together each and every day continues to go forward no matter where we may be in the world. And, so, technology, safety, wisdom, all that we will need to take this journey, covering it with prayer. And this community is a community of prayer, and I have witnessed that over all of these years. And, so, just asking for everyone to begin to pray over all of these things is my…is…is my request, is my ask, that the Holy Spirit might hover over us as we take the journey and do the work in us that…that we need as we open ourselves to the experience. This will be our first journey back since the pandemic era that we went through. It was 2020 was the last time we were in the land and really truly rode the wave ahead of Covid, like literally got back in 2020, two weeks before the world locked down. And…and we had such an interesting strange year in 2020. In 2021, things were still on lock down as far as that kind of international travel goes. 22 went by. And in 2022 we decided as things were opening back up, as restrictions were going down, as things were…at least for international travel returning to something that looks a little more regular...we decided to go. And that's what we’re about to do. We decided in 2022 to go in 2023. And, so, we’re about to do that. But we've also looked at this surge coming into Israel, as things do return to normal. And, so, we weren't really able to go back and kind of then reevaluate and see how things were. It was like man unless you want to go in 2025 or 2026 you gotta…you gotta kind of make a commitment for 2024. And we have done that. And we have to do those kinds of things because we have a whole…an entire team, both on the Israeli side and on the American siding. And, so, keeping that all together and keeping everybody booked in advance kind of to know what's gonna happen, we’ve had to do that. And, so, we are going to go back in 2024 on a pilgrimage to the land of the Bible. This will take place between February 12th and 25th of 2024. So, just a bit over a year from now. Registration is now open. You can find out all about Israel 2024 and experiencing the land of the Bible on pilgrimage with Daily Audio Bible at dailyaudiobible.com or if you are using the app, you can press the little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner and that will open up a drawer. Either place. Look for the Initiatives section and in the initiatives you will find Israel 2024 and all of the kinds of details that you would want to know as you consider taking this pilgrimage, but registration for 2024, February 2024 is open now. Just a little bit of a heads up. When we announced the pilgrimage that we’re about to go on, the one for 2023, the one that we announced back last year, I wasn't really sure. I just knew that if we didn't take a step and return then years and years and years would go by. And this has been part of the rhythm of our year, but with all that had gone on in the world with all the sickness, all the pandemic, all of the restrictions, all of the cares of it, all of the uncertainty of it, we just didn't know. Does anybody want to go back to Israel? What ended up happening was very surprising and that was that the pilgrimage for 2023 had sold out within 24 hours. And even if there had been something that…that we could have or wanted to do about that, there was nothing that we could do. Like literally all of the rooms in Israel and all of the places that we were going were all full. So, there has been an extreme demand for…for the holy land. But even had we been able to expand, that's not really what we’re doing here. We’re not trying to take a dozen buses or even half a dozen buses or anything like that. That…that really really becomes limiting to the kind of schedule that we’re trying to keep and the amount of places that we’re trying to allow ourselves to be immersed in and just the entire breadth and depth and width of the country that we’re trying to see. And, so, we take two buses, just enough people that everybody can get to know everybody and we can be family together and a community together as we take the journey together. And, so, that is what we are planning for 2024 as well. And, so, if going to the land of the Bible is something that has been a dream or something on the bucket list, something that you feel compelled toward in your heart, something that you need to feel, like you need to see with your own eyes that you need to smell with your own nose that you need to hear with your own ears then registration is open for the 2024 Daily Audio Bible pilgrimage to the land of the Bible, than registration is available now for that trip. And I’ve told you where to find it. I will let you know again that…that that trip did sell out in a day and then we had a couple hundred people on a waiting list. And, so, if you are compelled to take the journey I wouldn't delay. So, check it out.

That is the announcement and that is it for today. I am Brian I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Dan from AZ and I'm calling to ask for a prayer request for my wife who's been suffering from migraine headaches for over a year every day. And I just…I've been praying for her. She's been praying but it just doesn't seem to help. She's been seeing doctors and stuff and I just would like to get a prayer request out there for all the DABbers. This is my first time calling. This is my first time listening to the daily Bible and it's been a blessing and I just want to reach out and ask for…for help in Jesus’ name. Thank you.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family I am reaching out for prayer. I am dealing with many issues in my life. My marriage needs prayer. My husband needs a lot of prayer. He's dealing with very difficult job depression, anxiety, anger issues, temper tantrums. He's quite abusive as of late and there is potential that he's having an affair. And if he's not having an affair, he's definitely hiding pornography. Anyway, I am also trying to declutter everything that I own for preparation for moving because it looks like this marriage is going to end. Not by my choice but by his and I just need help. I need willpower. I need the ability to let go of stuff that I do not need and to fight this hoarding pack ratting mentality. I don't have a ton of stuff, but I have so much more than is necessary and it's embarrassing, and I'm just appalled by myself as I pull things out of closets and just see how horrible it really is. On the surface the house looked great but underneath it's terrible. So anyway, please pray for me. Pray for my daughter in the midst of all of this. Pray for God to provide. Pray for my husband to come back to the Lord. And if it's God's will, to save this marriage but in such a way that my husband is no longer abusive on so many levels. And pray that I would have patience and be more like Christ through it all. Thank you so much family.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family my name is Evelyn and I'm calling from Germany. I would like to ask for prayers for my mother. Right now, she's at stage four cancer and it has spread to…according to the doctors the brain, the liver, the bones. And yeah, she has done some sessions of chemotherapy and she also did radiotherapy, and she was asked to do so more radiotherapy for the bones. I just could not look at __ yesterday because she broke down crying. And yeah, the doctors gave her news that we just…had broken. And for me it's also breaking my heart and I'm also trying to manage my emotional __ here. So, please ask that you join me in prayers for her. There is nothing impossible for our God to do. Our God will step __. Nothing is impossible for God to do. __ the Lord emotionally, financially. And even looking at her is…is…is…is really breaking my heart. But I trust God and we all trust God. Nothing is impossible for God to do. Thank you so much for sending in your prayers. I would really appreciate it. I've been blessed by following the Daily Audio Bible every day and it has really blessed my life and lifted my spirit and built my faith up. Thank you so much. Bye.

This is Nobody Gets Left Behind from Colorado calling in a praise report and a couple prayer requests. My mom, she is at a homeless shelter now. Praise God for that. Her tent went up in fire. Somebody rescued her saved her life. I just asked that my DAB family can just join me in prayer to put it in her heart to go to and assisted living. She's a bit stubborn but I thank God that she's still here. And I'm about to go pick her up for church today. I want to ask if you could pray for my brother. I had mentioned that he had been released from prison. He was there for 20 years, and I just ask that you join me in prayer that his life can worship Jesus and just be a light to people and that his repentance and his remorse for what he did wrong will always give him the contrite heart and that his music and his talents and all the things that he does that that can just clarify you Jesus. I just also wanted to say that I loved hearing Annette Allison’s story today. I love you sister. You always bring a big, big smile on my face. Praise God for you…you sister and for Blind Tony. I just always love your wisdom that flows from your heart Tony. I praise God for you and Lisa with stage four cancer you've been heavy on my heart, heavy on all of our hearts sister. And, you know, let God's will be done in our lives no matter what we go through. We have eternal mindset. Love you guys.

Good morning everyone __. My name is Gloria __. I'm just calling in to get some help with some things. I just need help with, you know, worrying about myself and staying happy, you know, because I don't want to be depressed anymore. I just want to be happy. When I come to work, I'm very depressed. Just thinking about work I'm very depressing for me. Like, you know, I'm happy to have a job. I was homeless before I even got this job. So, you know, I'm blessed for it. But, you know, it's not even the job. It's the people, you know. This new generation…I'm even in the new generation…I'm only 26 years old. So, you know, this new generation just wants to come to work, stay on their phone, not help others, not, you know, help out and it's kind of hard to endure. It's kind of hard to grasp, you know. I go home every day depressed. And, you know, even talking to someone. you know, here doesn't help. Supervisors doesn't help with it. The management doesn't help. I did therapy. Therapy doesn't work for me. I don't know what else to do, you know, because I go home and I’m so depressed that I don't even have time for my babies. And that's not an excuse. I know it. I'm trying. I just need your prayers you guys. So, please pray for me. Thank you Brian, thank you Jill, thank you China, thank you Ezekiel, thank you everyone, and most importantly thank you God. I am trying my hardest, you know, stay on the right path. Just pray for me please. I love you guys. Bye.

This is Sabina calling asking for prayers for myself and my family. I have been…in the last 15 years I've struggled with really deep tiredness, and I've been sick a lot and…and I have an education, I've been working and sometimes I can work for some months and then suddenly I just get so deeply tired that…that I can't work anymore. It's not possible. I get sick and sometimes depressed and a little stressed and I have a lot of pain and ache in my body. And it's been like this for on and off for 15 years. I've had good times as well but it's really hard sometimes, hard for me and for the family and financially very hard. So, I would just ask if somebody would pray for me and…and our situation and that somehow things will change and, yeah, that I may follow God's will whatever it is. I really want to work. I really want to do things and just…not only just stay at home and not have anything to do. I really want to do something for God and for my family for people around me and for myself as well. So, I pray that, yeah, somehow there will come a change and…and I will know what to do, what is in God's will.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

25th December >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 2:1-14 for Christmas Mass: ‘A Saviour has been born to you’.

Christmas Mass

Gospel (Except USA)

Luke 2:1-14

'In the town of David a saviour has been born to you'.

Caesar Augustus issued a decree for a census of the whole world to be taken. This census – the first – took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to his own town to be registered. So Joseph set out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee and travelled up to Judaea, to the town of David called Bethlehem, since he was of David’s House and line, in order to be registered together with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to a son, her first born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn. 

   In the countryside close by there were shepherds who lived in the fields and took it in turns to watch their flocks during the night. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified, but the angel said, ‘Do not be afraid. Listen, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly with the angel there was a great throng of the heavenly host, praising God and singing:

‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men who enjoy his favour.’

Gospel (USA)

Luke 2:1–14

Today a Savior has been born for you.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

   While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

   Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Christmas Mass

I am always struck by how well children act out the Christmas story. They love to play the various characters in the Christmas pageant, especially the plum parts of Mary and Joseph. They love to dress up as angels or shepherds or the three kings. Sometimes, one of them plays the role of the guiding star. I also love how children respond to the crib. When they visit it, their eye travels around all the various characters, including the animals. They immediately recognize that the central character in the crib is the child Jesus. Children can help us to wonder at the deeper mystery of Christmas, which can easily get lost amid all the comings and goings of this time of year. At the heart of this feast is the emergence of new life, the birth of a child to a young couple who lived in a small village in Galilee.

There is something wonderful about the birth of every child. Every new born child evokes in us a sense of wonder and delight. We feel very protective of this frail bundle of life; we sense its vulnerability, its need for care and protection. In one sense, the birth of a son to Mary and Joseph was no different to the birth of any other child at that time. The birth of this child happened in circumstances that was far from the clinical environment that would be considered desirable for giving birth today. Mary and Joseph found refuge in a place associated with animals because the local hostelry was full up. Mary placed her child in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. It could be said that the situation left a lot to be desired. Yet, this new born child was more wonderful than any other new born child before or since. This was the message given by the angel to the shepherds as they watched over their flocks at night in the hills outside Bethlehem, ‘A saviour has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord’. This new born child was God’s special messenger whose coming the prophets of Israel had foretold and for whom people had been waiting for centuries.

I have always been struck by that phrase ‘to you’ in the angel’s message to the shepherds. At one level, it means ‘to you shepherds, watching your flocks’. At a deeper level, it means ‘to you, whoever you are, wherever you are, however you are’. The child of Mary and Joseph was born to each one of us. This child is God’s gift to each of us. Tonight we celebrate the good news that God so loved the world – so loved each one of us – that he sent his only Son to us. The birth of any child touches the lives of so many people, not just at the moment of birth but for many years well into the future. The birth of Mary and Joseph’s child has touched all of our lives, ‘the whole human race’ in the words of Saint Paul. That is why there is a place for all of us at the crib; we all belong there. The writer, C. K. Chesterton, expressed it well in his poem, ‘The House of Christmas’, ‘Only where He was homeless, Are you and I at home’. We are all invited to kneel in the straw, alongside the shepherds and, later, the wise men. God is calling out to us through this child, inviting us to come close to this child, because in doing so we are coming close to God. We are to approach God as we would a new born child, with a sense of wonder and delight. The principal name of this child is ‘Jesus’, but one of his other names in the gospels is ‘Emmanuel’, a name which means, ‘God-with-us’. Through this child, God was entering our world, our own personal lives, becoming flesh, in a way that had never happened before, calling us home. There is a wonderful tradition of people coming home for Christmas. Perhaps the desire for home we experience at this time of the year reflects in some way our appreciation that Christmas celebrates God making a home among us through the child of Mary and Joseph, so that we can be at home with God.

The child who was born for you, for me, became the adult who lived for you, who died for you, who rose from the dead for you and who poured forth the gift of the Holy Spirit for you. The birth of Jesus reveals God to be God for us, and as Saint Paul says in his letter to the Romans, ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ We all have a sense of how much is against us, perhaps more so this Christmas than other Christmases. The War in Ukraine has not only brutalized a whole nation, but has borne down upon all of us. The rise in inflation, in fuel prices, in the general rising cost of living, is driving many people to the edge. The number of people who are homeless remains disturbingly high. There is much darkness in our world. Yet, this Christmas we celebrate the good news that the light that shone on the shepherds in the darkness of their night-watch continues to shine on each one of us, whoever we are, wherever we are, however we are. It is the light of God’s unconditional love, and if we open our lives to that light we ourselves, each one of us, can become God’s light in our sometimes dark work.

And/Or

(ii) Christmas Day (Day Mass)

 Many of us will have spent time and energy looking for gifts for people in recent weeks. We may have headed into the city centre more than once to buy the gifts we wanted for those who matter to us. There can be a great sense of relief when the buying is over and we feel that the job is well done.

 Why do we give gifts to each other at Christmas time? We probably feel that it is expected of us. It is the way Christmas has always been celebrated. Yet, perhaps at a deeper level, we give gifts because we are aware that at the heart of the feast of Christmas is God’s giving. In the words of John’s gospel, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son’. At Christmas, we celebrate God’s gift to us of his Son. That gift is, in the words of this morning’s gospel reading, a light that shines in the darkness; it is a light of love that guides and illumines us in our own particular valleys of darkness.

 Our giving of gifts at Christmas is always selective. Most of us probably make a list of those we have to buy for. God’s giving is not selective in that way. God gives the gift of his Son equally to us all. In the words of the gospel reading, Jesus, the Word, is the light that enlightens all men and women. Each one of us here is equally graced by the gift of God’s Son. Even if we have hesitated to receive this gift in the past, God continues to hold out to us all the gift of his Son. At this time of the year in particular, God is saying to each of us, ‘Come and receive’.

 The gifts we give at Christmas time make a statement to those who receive our gifts. In a sense, the statement the gift makes is more important than the gift itself. The value of the gift consists not so much in what it cost us financially as in what the gift expresses. In giving a gift to someone we can be saying, ‘I love you’, ‘I value your friendship’, ‘Thank you for your love’, ‘I appreciate your presence’, ‘I forgive you’. God also speaks to us through the gift of his Son. In the words of this morning’s second reading, ‘God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets, but in our own time… he has spoken to us through his Son’. Part of what God is saying to us through the gift of his Son is: ‘I want you to know me as well as I know you’. In giving us his Son, God became flesh, one like us; God drew as near to us as he possibly could. We can now say, in the words of the gospel reading, ‘we have seen God’s glory’. We see the face of God in the person of Jesus; we see the heart of God in the person of Jesus. In giving us his Son, God says to us, ‘Here I am. I open my heart to you. Come and see’. We usually only open our heart to those we love. The opening of God’s heart through the gift of God’s Son speaks loudly of God’s love for us.

 After the hard work of choosing and purchasing gifts for people, we take them home to wrap them. The whole exercise is only complete when we hand over the gift and the person receives it. The receiving of the gift is a very important part of the exercise. We can feel very hurt if, having gone to the trouble of choosing, purchasing and wrapping the gift, it is received only half-heartedly. We can feel that not only the gift but what the gift was trying to express has not been well received. Christmas is about receiving as well as giving. It is a feast that calls on us to receive God’s gift of his Son and all that this gift expresses. God’s gift of his Son was not always well received. In the words of the gospel reading, ‘he came to his own domain, and his own people did not receive him’. Yet, the very next sentence makes a wonderful promise to those who do receive God’s gift well. ‘To all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God’. When we receive God’s gift of his Son well, we become more like God’s Son; we become children of God, people who reveal God to others, as Jesus did in a unique way.  

 This Christmas morning we are invited to open our hearts to receive the gift of God’s Son. It is a gift that, in the words of the gospel reading, is ‘full of grace and truth’. God wants us all to receive from that fullness. Your presence here at Mass, your receiving God’s Son in the Eucharist, is a sign of your willingness to receive from the fullness of God’s gift. Our readiness to grow in our relationship with the one we receive in the Eucharist is a further sign that we are receiving God’s gift in earnest. We grow in our relationship with God’s Son when we pay attention to all he said and did, and allow that to influence and to shape what we say and do, when we take God’s Son as our way, our truth, and our life. Today’s feast calls on us to receive God’s gift by committing ourselves again to living as disciples of God’s Son. What better Christmas gift could we offer to God than this?

And/Or

(iii) Christmas Night

Earlier this week we had the shortest day of the year. Since Wednesday the days have been getting ever so slightly longer. I always find the shortest day of the year significant. The realization that from this day onwards, light is making a comeback always gives me a lift of some kind. The passage tombs in Newgrange and elsewhere may have been designed around the conviction that just as darkness is at its most intense, light is also in evidence. There is a chant from the monastery of Taize in France that I have always liked. It goes, ‘within our darkest night, you kindle a flame that never dies away, that never dies away’.

It is fitting that the Christian feast of Christmas more or less coincides with the time of year, when light begins to increase after the gradually increasing presence of darkness for the past six months. The opening verses of our first reading expresses the tone and meaning of tonight’s feast succintly, ‘the people who walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone’. It goes on to identify this great light with the birth of a child, ‘for there is a child born for us, a son given to us… and this is the name they will give him: Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace’. It is almost as if those lines, written many centuries before the birth of Jesus, were composed with this event in mind. They capture so beautifully why we are gathered here this night.

There are only two times in the church’s liturgical year when we gather in church long after darkness has fallen. The first is the Easter Vigil when we celebrate the night or the early morning when Jesus rose from the dead. The second is Christmas night when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The gospel reading we have just heard suggests that Jesus’ birth took place at night, ‘In the countryside close by there were shepherds who lived in the fields and took it in turns to watch their flocks during the night. The angel of the Lord appeared to them… and said, “Listen, I bring you news of great joy”’. The shepherds were the first to hear the good news that in the darkness of the night a great light has shone. It is the birth of Jesus, the light of the world, that brings us together in the darkness of this winter night. In the words of that Taize chant we celebrate the good news that, within our darkest night, God has kindled a flame that never dies away.

Over the past four weeks we have been gradually lighting our Advent wreath. Tonight, it is fully lit. All five candles are burning, as is fitting for this great feast of light. Our focus now shifts from the Advent wreath, to the crib, which you will find in our side chapel. The birth of a child brings a special light into the lives of the child’s parents and family. The birth of this child, the child of Mary and Joseph, brings a special light into the lives of every one of us. We are all caught up in the birth of this child. In the words of Isaiah again in that first reading, ‘there is a child born for us, a son given to us’, and in the words of the angel to the shepherds in the gospel reading, ‘Today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you’. This child was not born simply to Mary and Joseph; he was born to all of us, for all of us. This child is God’s gift to each one of us, to all of humanity. In the words of Paul that open tonight’s second reading, ‘God’s grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race’. We are all deeply invested in the birth of the child which we celebrate this night.

We could not all be present at the actual birth of Jesus, but we are all invited to celebrate this birth, because Jesus was born for each of us. What was announced to the shepherds on that night is announced to all of us, ‘you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger’. We are all invited to gather around this child. There is something powerfully attractive about every new born child. We are drawn to this bundle of vulnerable and amazing new life. We gather around in awe and wonder. We gather around the child of Mar y and Joseph with an even greater sense of awe and wonder. We are invited to find God in this child, to come close to God as we would to a child. This child is the human face of God. Here is Emmanuel, God with us. God has become flesh in this new born infant. God has come among us in this amazing way to welcome us. We are all welcome to gather around this child, the son of Mary and Joseph who is also the Son of God. God has become assessable to us through this vulnerable child who went on to become a vulnerable adult on a Roman cross. The wood of the manger and the wood of the cross both speak to us of God’s desire to embrace us in his love. They both proclaim that God’s light shines in our darkness and God’s deeply personal love for each one of us never dies away. We are sent from this feast to reflect something of the light of this love to each other.

And/Or

(iv) Christmas Night

 Last October Cardinal Newman was canonized a saint. Whereas most people will not have read much of his writings, many will be familiar with a poem he wrote because it was subsequently put to music. We know it as the hymn ‘Lead kindly light’ He penned that piece in a moment of great personal crisis. He had travelled to Italy with some friends in the winter of 1832/33. As his friends headed home from Rome, he went on to Sicily on his own.  While there, he became seriously ill with fever and almost died. While struggling with his illness, he had a kind of spiritual crisis as well. He began to think that much of what he had been trying to do in England had been driven by how own proud self-will. He blamed himself for quarrels he had with people. He became full of self-recrimination. Then when his fever was at its worst, it dawned on him that God had not abandoned him. He wrote that he had a most consoling overpowering sense of God’s love for him. Finally his fever passed and he set out by ship from Palermo on the first leg of his journey home. While the ship was becalmed between Corsica and Sardinia, on 16th June 1833 he wrote that wonderful poem, the first verse of which goes, ‘Lead kindly light, amid the encircling gloom, lead though me on! The night is dark and I am far from home. Lead thou me on! Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene, - one step enough for me’. He sensed that in the past he had been leading himself. Now he wanted the Lord, the kindly light, to lead him.

 Newman’s image of the Lord as a kindly light leading us on is very true to the meaning of the feast of Christmas. The opening sentence of tonight’s first reading expresses that truth very simply, ‘the people that walked in darkness has seen a great light’. There is another piece of religious poetry that, like the hymn ‘Lead kindly light’, speaks to me, and that is the prayer of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, in the opening chapter of Luke’s gospel. Towards the end of that prayer, Zechariah announces that ‘the dawn from on high will break upon us to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death’. Whereas in Newman’s prayer, the kindly light leads us through the darkness towards the morning light, in Zechariah’s prayer the kindly light of the dawning morning breaks into our darkness. Religious poetry has more than one way of expressing the truth of this feast as a celebration of light, the light of God’s loving presence. The light of God has broken into the darkness of the human condition through Jesus, and Jesus, the light, leads us on through the darkness until we reach the light of that eternal day. It is somehow appropriate that we celebrate the feast of Christmas just after the shortest day of the year. Just as the light of nature begins, imperceptibly, to make a gradual return, we celebrate the coming of an even more profound light, the glorious light of God’s gracious love in the dark night of a Bethlehem stable.

 We can all be tempted to succumb to a kind of darkness of spirit. We are very aware that all is not well with our world. We pray, ‘thy kingdom come’, knowing that our world is a long way from being an image of God’s kingdom, God’s just and loving rule. We sense that all is not well with our country, as evidence by the number of people who are homeless. We have been made more aware in recent years that all is not well with our church, which is called to be a kind of beachhead of God’s kingdom. We look into our own lives, and we sense that we are not all God is calling us to be. We haven’t always, in the words of today’s second reading, given up ‘everything that does not lead to God’. For all kinds of reasons, we can easily get discouraged, dispirited. Indeed, for some people, this joyful season of Christmas only accentuates that darkness of spirit that often troubles them. Yet, this feast of Christmas is fundamentally an encouraging feast. To each one of us, the Lord is saying what was said to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem, ‘Do not be afraid. Listen! I bring you news of great joy’. This feast proclaims that there is no corner of our own personal darkness into which the Lord cannot shed his glorious light. This powerless child born in an insignificant corner of the Roman Empire is all we could ever have hoped for. He can satisfy our longing for the infinite, for a light that is stronger than any darkness. Now as risen Lord, he assures us that those who follow him will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. In the earliest document of the New Testament to have come down to us, the first letter to the Thessalonians, written just twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Saint Paul calls on members of the church, ‘Encourage one another and build up each other’. Tonight we are invited to allow ourselves to be encouraged and built up by this Christmas celebration of God’s kindly light. We are being called to open our hearts to the Lord’s kindly light so that we can go out as his light bearers, bringing the light of the Lord’s loving presence into the dark corners of our world.

And/Or

(v) Christmas Night

 Apart from the Easter vigil this is the only time of the year when we gather at this hour of the night to celebrate Mass. We gather in the darkness of night, in what is the darkest time of the year. Many who will gather this Christmas night in churches around the country may also be experiencing a darkness within, a darkness of spirit. Some may be grieving the recent loss of a loved one, and memories of past Christmases may intensify the pain of loss. In these difficult economic times many will be trying to come to terms with the loss of a job and all that goes with that, especially for those who have people depending on them. Life for all of us can be a struggle in different ways, and Christmas can have a way of accentuating the struggle. Christmas can be an emotionally difficult time for many people. Yet, tonight’s feast invites us to allow God’s light, to shine upon whatever darkness we may be struggling with at this time. The first line of tonight’s first reading captures the tone of this Christmas feast, ‘The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone’.

 On first reading, the story that is at the centre of tonight’s feast seems to have some darkness of its own. Mary and her betrothed, Joseph, travel a long journey from their home in Nazareth of Galilee southwards to the town of Bethlehem in Judah. While in Bethlehem, Mary’s time to deliver her child arrives. However, because there is no room available in the place where travellers would normally find lodging, Mary gives birth to her son outside the town, in a place associated more with animals than with humans, in a manger or barn. According to Luke, the birth of Jesus takes place on the margins, on the edge of the human community. It was perhaps an appropriate beginning for someone who would die a marginalized figure, enduring the Roman death of crucifixion, which is normally reserved for criminals and slaves. Between his birth and his death, during his public ministry, Jesus spoke of himself as the Son of Man who has nowhere to lay his head. Yet, the paradox is that this carpenter’s son, this son of Mary, who so often received an inhospitable response from others, came to reveal to all something of the hospitable love of God. His ministry unleashed God’s favour. At his birth the angels sang in the presence of the shepherds, ‘Peace to all who enjoy God’s favour’. Jesus began his public ministry by announcing that he had come to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. That is why, in the language of the angel’s message to the shepherds, the birth of this child is ‘news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people’. This new born baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, is the most powerful word that God could have spoken to us. This vulnerable new born child powerfully proclaims God’s favour towards all, God’s desire to be in communion with us all, and for us to be in communion with God. This child is the great light that shines in the darkness, the light of a divine love, the light of a love that is stronger than sin, stronger than death, a light that penetrates and permeates every human experience, no matter how dark or how hopeless it may seem. In the child of Mary and Joseph, the human becomes the bearer of the divine. The child Jesus, the adult Jesus, the crucified and risen Jesus, is God’s gracious Word to us, a Word that assures us that we are profoundly loved, that we are of infinite value, and that we have an eternal destiny. God’s word to us in Jesus also encourages us to believe that, because we are so greatly graced, we are capable of great things, capable, indeed, of a love which is a genuine reflection of God’s own love.

 When a child is born into a family the lives of each family member is touched in a profound way. The birth of a new baby in a family will be felt for all eternity by each member of the family. The impact of the birth of Mary and Joseph’s child is felt by every member of the human family for all eternity because the breath of this child is the breath of God. Through this child God breathes his Spirit into the darkness of our lives. We celebrate the birth of this child on this night because we believe that in and through this child God has visited his people. Children need little encouragement to gather around the crib at Christmas. Instinctively they seem to sense the significance of the scene that is depicted before them. As adults we need to learn from the delight of our children, especially on this night of all nights. The adult Jesus would go on to say, ‘whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it’. This night calls on us to receive into our lives the gift of God’s Son who is Christ, the Lord. It calls on us to be as receptive as the shepherds were to this most precious gift of God, before whom all the gifts we might receive this Christmas pale into insignificance. We are to open our hearts anew to the light of the Lord’s presence, so that the Lord may continue to be born within our own lives, and so that we each become bearers of the Christ child for each other.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Saturday 17 November 1832

6 40

12 ¼

fine frosty morning F46° at 7am. breakfast with my father at 8 - George Naylor came at 8 ¾ to speak about the stone in his and in Joseph Hall’s land to ask if I would see it - yes! if I could get my price - but without a very good bid his friends (a Naylor and 2 others who have plenty of money) would have no chance - I should promise the 1st refusal long since and George himself had the 2nd - asked what he thought the stone was worth - he did not know - but when I said my own mind was nearly made up, he said well! perhaps I should be wanting 5/. or 6/. a yard - yes! said I that I shall - he is to let me know the answer on Tuesday morning early - off at 9 ¼ the old bank to Mrs Parker’s office (at 9 ½) - to ask him if I had not a right to reopen the old line of bridle road by upper brea house which I intended to do if Joseph Wilkinson would not engage to get me the one in Lower brea wood stopt at the Sessions - told him too of the dram I wanted driving under the Lower brea branch road - Mr P- to come over and view the ground on Monday at 12 - then to the bank and got £50 - that makes me sixty four pounds in arrear - then to Throp’s - ordered 1000 hollies and a few other things - sometime there - then to Stony royde - sat 3/4 hour with Mrs Rawson and left het at 11 ½ - at 12 ¼ to Lidgate Miss W- out - then to the Priestley’s - Mrs P- at her school - sat an hour with her - paid her for the Ootram shawl sent off on Thursday and walked with her about ½ hour (down the Crownest road and along the fields and backwards and forwards) she told me her surprise at Miss W-‘ s going to doctor Belcombe  I said it was my doing I was now put up on my metal to make it answer and would move heaven and earth if I could for this purpose  would introduce Miss W- to some nice people  Mrs P- thought I could not get her there again - at Lidgate at 1 55 sat down to dinner with them but did not eat much - had Miss W- for an hour afterwards tête-à-tête  in the dining room  gave the

 SH:7/ML/E/15/0150

 heads of Mr A-‘s letter that came yesterday and kissed her gently and made love  she afraid of the journey abroad and of my ever leaving her and thinks she shall not live to return afraid I shall be disappointed in her    her feelings cannot keep pace with mine  assured her not I know not how it will be   I fear I shall have no good take of it    she has neither head nor heart for me Miss P- rather grave after our long tête-à-tête   my manners shew too much influence she wonders I dare say and does not like it as I have never called on her and am evidently taken up with Miss W- - home at 5 40 - dinner at 6 ¼ - afterwards wrote the above of today - had Pickels and paid him £7.5.9 for draining at Lower Place - on returning, found note from Miss W- that she had sent this morning begged me not to send her Throps’ brother - Throp himself at Lidgate for me when I got there - set him to value the laurel and the one and the box at the Stags head and passed it off well as Sykes was there in (Miss W- had determined to turn off Sykes and have Throps’ brother) -  They told me at the bank this morning that Mr Rawson had been rather sharp with Carr who had said he would pay him as he was going to sell Godley and had already 2 applicants for it - then had a nap till nine - Then looking over Cordingley’s accounts (since 24 September last) till 10 ¼ - my aunt then came to me in the drawing room and by the large fire in the hall sat talking till 11 - when came to my room - wrote note dated tomorrow morning to ‘Samuel Freeman Esquire Southowram Lodge’ compliments and to say ‘I shall be glad to see him at Shibden Hall as soon as he can make it convenient to come - either this afternoon or evening (meaning Sunday) or the earliest time he will be so good as fix, except twelve o’clock tomorrow’ i.e. Monday – very fine frosty November day – F47° now at 11 25pm.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Living His Word

But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. — Genesis 51:19-21

Joseph had two dreams that revealed what God intended to do with his life (Genesis 37:5-11). Although highly symbolic like most dreams, it was clear that Joseph would one day be, at the very least, the head of his people. God had plans for him to save his family and many others from a famine, but he would have to go through a lot to get to that point---betrayal by his jealous brothers, slavery in Egypt, and then imprisonment there. Perhaps God gave Joseph the dreams to sustain him during the hard times.

When Joseph's dreams came true and he stood second only to Pharaoh in Egypt, his brothers feared that he would take his revenge against them. That's when Joseph told them not to worry. They intended to harm him but God intended it for good. And who was he to second-guess God? God took what was evil and turned it into that which made Joseph's purpose in life possible.

You may not have had a dream, but God has a plan for your life, a plan to accomplish some good. We are "God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10). Further, we know that God has given us gifts of the Spirit (I Peter 4:10) and what are they for other than to accomplish some good in the world?

Like Joseph, however, you may have to go through some hard times in order to get to the point where your gifts really begin to bear some fruit. During those times you can be assured that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).

God can take what is difficult and evil in your life and turn it into the very thing that makes your purpose in life possible.

© 2016 by Bible League International