#Jesus

[crisaunty]

my faith is weak, i need his strength

[inhumanbeing]

I'm feeling mildly blasphemous, so let's muppet-cast the bible.

Non-negotiable: Animal is Jon the Baptists. "RE-PENT, RE-PENT, RE-PENT!"

Jesus is the only Human.

Sweetums is that guy who was possessed by Legion, and then they were cast out into 'pigs' (it's the chicken-girls wearing fake pig snouts, since pigs are actual people in this world)

Up for debate: Statler and Waldorf are Anas and Caiaphas.

I am taking suggestions for more. Also, I think Sam the Eagle should be Pilate.

[welcome-to-alice-in-helll]

[upliftourday]

[lovechristianity]

IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?

ROMANS 8:31

[lilaccoffin]

I spent way longer on these than I should have...

[mariliva-mello]

Ainda que caia, não ficará prostrado, pois o Senhor o sustém com a sua mão.

Salmos 37:24

[walkswithmyfather]

[all-saints-rise]

[gospel-art-project]

[momentsbeforemass]

I don’t feel God any more

“I don’t feel God any more…”

It may not start like this. But this is at the heart of countless conversations I’ve had with people about God. And their relationship with God.

I’m humbled by their trust. And I’m impressed by the courage that it takes to talk about it with somebody in a clergy collar.

For most of us, a moment like this comes from two places – kind of at the same time. Something traumatic. Whether it happened to us or we did it doesn’t make much difference. Plus our feelings about it.

Fueled by our memories of whatever it was, if we’re not careful (and sometimes even if we are) our feelings can grow until they come between us and others. Blocking our connections with others. Making us feel cut off from even our closest relationships. Including God.

When this happens to us, we need two things. Help dealing with whatever is at the source of our feelings that are cutting us off. And assurance that no permanent damage has been done. That someone is still there for us.

Which is why today’s Gospel is so important. No one who comes to God can be separated from God. Even by the worst things in life. Whether it happened to us. Or we did it ourselves.

As Jesus puts it, “No one can take them out of my hand.”

And that includes us. We can’t do it either. Which means that our relationship with God doesn’t depend on how we feel.

God loves us too much to let the worst things in life – or our feelings about them – get in the way.

If you think about it, this shouldn’t surprise us. Because the best relationships in our lives are like that.

As with real friends, healthy marriages, there’s more there than just feelings.

Why would it be any different with God? I mean, where do you think we got it from?

If this is where you find yourself (and we all do at one point or another, if we’re honest), don’t try to go it alone. And don’t beat yourself up.

Get the help you need. And know that God will always be there for you.

No matter how you feel.

Today’s Readings

[godslove]

[kolyviahrosette]

Take care of the family God has given you.

Part of me waited to feel like I had a "family" because it wouldn't feel official until my husband and I had a child of our own. I'm learning to feel blessed with the family God has given me in this season of my life, and take care of them how I would take care of my familial ideal.

My husband and I recently moved into a new home, and my sister in law and her husband are renting the spare room from us. Since we've all moved in together I've learned how much I enjoy taking care of everyone, from cooking, to cleaning, to encouraging their ambitions. I never expected this to be the case, but God has truly opened my eyes to how a Christian woman can be a homemaker even when she has no children.

This might look different for you. Perhaps you an adult daughter still living with her parents and siblings. Take care of them. Perhaps you are a college student with roommates. Take care of them. Perhaps you live alone in an apartment complex, but have many elderly neighbors on your floor. Invite them to dinner, and take care of them.

God is faithful to lead us to a community, but sometimes we get distracted by the fact that it isn't the ideal we see for ourselves, and overlook our ability to serve and love them nonetheless. I've been thinking a lot about how I would feel if I found out we would never be able to have kids — and whether I could be happy homemaking for a family that didn't consist of my children.

I think I could, but this realization has come only through God opening my eyes to the fact that we are all His children, brothers and sisters in Christ — family by default, and all responsible to serve one another.

[alwaysrememberjesus]

Live in the “here and now”

[justanorthodoxgirl]

When I started praying again as a young adult, I often had to force myself... I felt strange, sometimes perhaps even hypocritical today I can't pray enough. It is gratitude for all the things I have... that I was allowed to open my eyes again this morning, that God healed my back, that I am allowed to learn and study what I want, that I am allowed to serve other people like Jesus did, that I am free to choose what I eat and have an apartment where I feel safe.

I kiss Jesus when I wake up in the morning, when I leave the house, when I come home, when I am full of joy, when I am looking for help and at night when I go to bed.

I don't think the word praying is quite right... because it seems so one-sided... like I'm just talking, but that's not the truth... praying is a dialog, we just have to learn to listen.