#so i called a chaplain this morning can we get him in to bless the building'

[rowenabean]

.

[wildcard47]

green pastures (pg); fitzier

prompt: James proposes to Francis; Francis misunderstands and thinks he’s being officially asked to marry James to someone else a la that scene in The Vicar of Dibley.

I promised @full-of-terrors this adorable little prompt fill ages ago and finally get to post it! Hope you enjoy!

When the knock sounded at his front door just after three bells, Francis could find no reason to avoid answering it, even if he had meant to go to bed within the next few minutes.

He’d been so damn dispirited since James’s stupid bloody boyfriend came into town. Not that he would have admitted this to another soul.

Not as if Le Vesconte was actually James’s boyfriend, either. By all accounts they were only mates; Henry never seemed like the type to go bi all of the sudden, given how much harping on he’d done about his on-again, off-again girlfriend.

But James did keep mentioning all these hot bumbly dates he’d had while he was down in London – whatever that meant – and since Francis did not drink anymore, the only way anyone could find out he was depressed about this turn in events was if they came to his living room and stopped him eating bagfuls of crisps while watching a bunch of old Frasier episodes.

What did it matter if his ex-boyfriend was going on other dates? They’d only gone out six and a half times, more than three years ago. And now he’d moved back to town all of the sudden. The man was free to go anywhere he liked.

Expecting it was Jane Franklin come to complain about Neptune, Francis was startled to see James standing there when he opened the door.

“Hi.”

James smiled at him; it looked strained and unnatural. “Hello.”

“So, er.” Francis’s mind was full of questions it was probably rude to voice, especially to someone you’d been avoiding for nearly a week. “How – how are things?”

“Actually,” James did not even hang up his coat, just turned by the rack, one hand now tracing over the spine of a closed umbrella. “Can I – I’ve something important to ask you, if you don’t mind. Well. Obviously I can ask you questions without you minding them, only this pertains to the type of question rather than the principle of the thing.” He scratched at the back of his neck. “Not here to give a lecture on forms of the interrogative.”

“Er. Yeah, obviously. You can talk to me about whatever you like.” Francis narrowed his eyes. “Are you all right?”

You seem…. anxious, he wanted to point out.

“Me? Fine. A bit jumpy, you know, but had a lot of caffeine today, so that’s understandable. Four flat whites. Can you believe – sorry. I’m rambling now. Suppose I may as well ask this right out. Francis, have you ever thought about, er, marrying anyone?”

“Oh.” Francis could not have said why this question left him so disappointed. He didn’t think topics as boring as Naval protocol would bring James to his front door at eleven thirty at night. “Well, yeah. I mean, strictly hypothetical, mind. Not had reason to yet.”

Most of the people he’d served with so far were already married or far too young to try. And barring that, none of them had wanted to be married on the ship. Or by Francis.

“Yes. Not as if you’re imagining it daily. You’ve always been a practical sort. Aren’t given to flights of fancy.”

“No,” agreed Francis.

“No.” James swallowed hard, bit his lip. “Anyway, you’ll remember from – I mean, the conversations we had – that I have always admired marriage. As an institution. Even before I actually aspired to be part of it. You know? It’s a, ah, very good thing to my mind. Or it should be, given the many benefits.”

“Time can change even the most stubborn man, I suppose.” Francis tried to smile. “So, you’re, ah, ready to take the plunge at last, hm?”

“Yeah. Yes.” James seemed to steel himself. “I mean. Not just for the sake of it. I want to. Have wanted to, really. For a long time.”

“Makes sense,” said Francis, in an attempt at being neutral.

“Does to me, as well.” That brief, strained smile was back.

“Well, that’s – great news.”

He had not decided what the rest of his sentence would be, but it apparently didn’t matter, because James blurted out something very loudly.

“Francis, would you – do me the honor of marrying me?”

Francis’s heart sped up, and his stomach twisted with distress, but he tried not to showcase any of these feelings to James. Can’t hurt him.

“You… want me to marry you?”

Christ, he could picture it now: James blindingly handsome in his dress blues, in the local church or outside in the park or even aboard Battalion, standing hand-in-hand on the quarterdeck with some stupid blonde blockhead while Francis stood between them, a borrowed, well-worn Bible in his hands, thumbing through the chaplain’s notes on love and honour and duty and wanting to pitch himself off the crow’s nest instead.

“Can’t imagine asking anyone else,” said James, voice hitching slightly.

Oh. Damn it.

“Well, ah – I don’t mean to make you wait for an answer, obviously, it’s just – I’m a bit – surprised, is all. No one’s ever – asked me before.”

“Really?”

Why was James looking at him like that, as if he were afraid taking his eyes off of Francis for even a second meant he might disappear? The man seemed to be one sentence away from a total nervous breakdown.

“And it’s been a long time since we’ve. Er. I mean, of course it would be – wonderful – ”

“Yeah.”

“Let me just have a look at my diary,” Francis said, by way of stalling, hoping against hope that James had his heart set on a specific date and time and that he was going to be out of the country on that blessed morning. Or perhaps dead. Dying would get you out of marrying your ex-boyfriend to his new boyfriend, wouldn’t it? “Knowing you, you’ve already got your heart set on a specific month.”

“God, no,” answered James in a rush. “Honestly, Francis, if it helps, you can pick any day of the year you damn well please.”

“Right.” Francis turned another page, then another, with no clue as to what he was bloody reading. “Well. Er. That’s….a lot to choose from. Plenty of options.”

He meant to say something about how most people liked summer weddings, or that all the good reception places would be booked years in advance so James shouldn’t get his heart set on having it done anytime soon – the sort of vapid, oddly-prophetic comments Sophia used to say to him all the time when she was turning him down. Course, Francis was actually asking her to be his wife, then, so it was different.

When James spoke again, after a long, agonizing silence, it was in the quietest voice Francis had ever heard. As if he might weep.

“You don’t want to do it, do you?”

“What?” At James’s raised eyebrow, Francis deflated. “James, it isn’t – obviously, I don’t want to rush into an answer if it’s the wrong one. You – well, you’re important to me.”

“I know that.”

“And I’m really touched that you’d ask me after all this time. Truly I am. But I – should probably think about it, before I answer one way or the other.”

James’s expression slammed closed, then, almost as suddenly as it used to whenever Admiral Franklin walked aboard.

“Don’t tiptoe around it. Not with me.” He cleared his throat, gave Francis a jerky nod. “It – if that’s what you feel, then your answer’s already no. Which is all right. Erm. Silly of me to have thought…”

It was as if Francis were reliving the day they broke up, three years before; he could not understand why saying I’ll think about it would provoke such a fierce reaction.

“I should go,” murmured James.

Oh, god, why was he going so soon? Was he angry? James couldn’t be angry when the words he was saying were so kind and understanding.

“You don’t have to.”

“I do. I really do.”

They had reached the door; James opened it, clearly ready to step out without another word. He’d leave forever and it would be all Francis’s fault. Fucking hell, why could he not agree to put his own bloody pride aside when it came right down to it?

“Stop – bloody walking, damn it!” Francis squeezed his eyes closed, summoned every last ounce of strength. “I’ll do it, all right? James, I’ll – if you want me to perform a ceremony, I can do. For you. I – owe you that much. I want you to have that.”

A terrible silence settled over the room as James turned away from the open door.

“Perform the ceremony?”

“Yeah.” Francis opened his eyes, tried to tamp down the avalanche of curse words that were building in the back of his mind. He would not stutter. He would not weep. “Ship’s captain, powers that be, whatever. I’ll do it, you’ll be married, and then you’ll – well. Be happy.”

Without me.

“Francis, no.” James opened and closed his mouth, threaded the distance between them before taking Francis’s hand in both of his. “No, no, no. That’s not what I meant at all. I – good god, man. Who the bloody hell else am I in love with? I’m saying I want to marry you. I’m asking for your hand, Francis.”

“Mine,” was all Francis whispered.

James peered closely at his baffled expression. “I – you know how I feel about you. Don’t you?”

Francis was now so shocked he couldn’t speak.

“Why d’you think I’d come here in the middle of the night and ramble on about marriage if I didn’t want to propose? For Christ’s sake, I’ve not stopped thinking about us for three years. Every day I wanted to call you. Write to you. Just – see you getting coffee on the way to work. And then we end up living in the same town again, going to all the same events, and it – I mean, you’ve no idea how terrified I was, to think you’d moved on with your life. And now….Francis, I honestly can’t imagine being anywhere without you at my side. I want to marry you. I want us to get – old and fat and weird together. Think we’d be rather good at that last bit, actually.”

“So you,” Francis could hardly draw air into his lungs. “You mean you’re – ”

“Marry me, Francis.” James squeezed his fingers, encouraging. “Please.”

Unable to say anything else, Francis sat right down on the carpet, because his knees would no longer hold him up, and covered his mouth with a shaking hand to suppress the high-pitched squeak trying to claw its way from his throat.

“I’m all right,” he kept whispering, although he was not: he was swiping big fat tears from his face with the back of one hand, and James was hovering at his side, still babbling away although Francis couldn’t hear any of the words; meanwhile, Neptune was barking like a bloody demon dog, rushing in and out of the open door in obvious confusion, wagging his tail and licking Francis’s salt-damp fingers every so often, and Jesus bloody Christ.

James wanted to marry him.

“Francis.”

Glancing up with a very unromantic snort, trying to swallow the knot of tears in his throat, Francis met James’s concerned gaze and finally – finally – managed to say something.

“Okay.”

James’s face brightened. His grip on Francis’s shoulders tightened. “Oh my god. Really?”

“Yeah.” Francis was grinning now. “I’ll marry you, James.”

Squealing in delight, now peppering Francis’s face with kisses and hugging him tightly, James eventually pulled away and let out a victorious howl of a cheer. Hearing this, Neptune decided to join in, baying joyously at the open front door before trotting forward to see what was going on on the front stoop.

James had already jumped to his feet to join him, calling out to the entire neighborhood with his hands cupped around his mouth. “Francis is gonna marry me!”

“Jesus Christ. I have neighbors!”

“Francis is gonna marry m – oh, Neptune, no!” A black blur darted out of the doorway, running pell mell toward the street. Cursing, James took off after him, now sounding much less cheerful. “Come back here this instant – no! Right – now!”

Judging by how fast James was now sprinting down the driveway and toward the curb, as well as the yowling, Neptune was probably after Mrs. Franklin’s tomcat again.

Laughing hysterically as James tried and failed to capture a boisterous Newfie with nothing more than his bare hands, Francis watched with faint pride as his fiancé – a romantic, dashing hero of a man – stumbled and fell into the side of next door’s recycling bin, knocking it backwards onto the lawn. A delighted Neptune stopped his mischief to come back and run circles around James and all the now-visible rubbish, occasionally stopping to look back at Francis and bark loudly.

“Well, he’s killed me,” James called theatrically from his prone position, as a very happy dog decided the best thing to do was sit in James’s lap. With a huff, Neptune sat down, then flopped sideways, draping his chest directly over James’s ribs. Four enormous paws splayed out around James’s middle. James groaned and winced as he absorbed the full weight of this gift. “I might die before we get to celebrate.”

“Yeah, you’re stuck now,” offered Francis as he walked closer. On an impulse, he tossed the jacket in his hand onto the damp ground and lay down next to them.

“Nnngh,” whined James, but he was grinning.

Francis leaned over, pressed a kiss to James’ forehead. “See? Completely stuck.”

[scotianostra]

On February 8th 1587 Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle.

Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantome was a member of the French nobility who accompanied Mary during her internment. He provides us with a sympathetic account of Mary's execution that begins with the arrival of a delegation from Queen Elizabeth announcing that the former Queen of the Scots is to be executed the next day:

"On February 7, 1587, the representatives of the English Queen, reached the Castle of Fotheringay, where the Queen of Scotland was confined at that time, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. In the presence of her jailer, Paulet, they read their commission regarding the execution of the prisoner, and said that they would proceed with their task the next morning between seven and eight o'clock. The jailer was then ordered to have everything in readiness.

Without betraying any astonishment, the Queen thanked them for their good news, saying that nothing could be more welcome to her, since she longed for an end to her miseries, and had been prepared for death ever since she had been sent as a prisoner to England. However, she begged the envoys to give her a little time in which to make herself ready, make her will, and place her affairs in order. It was within their power and discretion to grant these requests. The Count of Shrewsbury replied rudely:

'No, no, Madam you must die, you must die! Be ready between seven and eight in the morning. It cannot be delayed a moment beyond that time.' " It was that sudden, very little time for Mary to prepare, a brutal way to spend the last few hours on this earth........Mary spent the rest of the day and the early hours of the next morning writing farewell letters to friends and relatives, saying goodbye to her ladies-in-waiting, and praying.

At 2 am on Wednesday 8 February 1587, Mary Queen of Scots picked up her pen for the last time. Her execution on the block at Fotheringhay Castle was a mere six hours away when she wrote this letter. It is addressed to Henri III of France, brother of her first husband. The letter was written in French, the following is a translation and is a fascinating insight into the mind of our Queen hours before her murder. Mary had only learnt her fate a few hours earlier.

Note, even though she had been forced to abdicate, and had been a prisoner of her cousin for 19 years, she still called herself, Queen of Scotland.

Queen of Scotland 8 Feb. 1587

Sire, my brother-in-law, having by God's will, for my sins I think, thrown myself into the power of the Queen my cousin, at whose hands I have suffered much for almost twenty years, I have finally been condemned to death by her and her Estates. I have asked for my papers, which they have taken away, in order that I might make my will, but I have been unable to recover anything of use to me, or even get leave either to make my will freely or to have my body conveyed after my death, as I would wish, to your kingdom where I had the honour to be queen, your sister and old ally.

Tonight, after dinner, I have been advised of my sentence: I am to be executed like a criminal at eight in the morning. I have not had time to give you a full account of everything that has happened, but if you will listen to my doctor and my other unfortunate servants, you will learn the truth, and how, thanks be to God, I scorn death and vow that I meet it innocent of any crime, even if I were their subject. The Catholic faith and the assertion of my God-given right to the English crown are the two issues on which I am condemned, and yet I am not allowed to say that it is for the Catholic religion that I die, but for fear of interference with theirs. The proof of this is that they have taken away my chaplain, and although he is in the building, I have not been able to get permission for him to come and hear my confession and give me the Last Sacrament, while they have been most insistent that I receive the consolation and instruction of their minister, brought here for that purpose. The bearer of this letter and his companions, most of them your subjects, will testify to my conduct at my last hour. It remains for me to beg Your Most Christian Majesty, my brother-in-law and old ally, who have always protested your love for me, to give proof now of your goodness on all these points: firstly by charity, in paying my unfortunate servants the wages due them - this is a burden on my conscience that only you can relieve further, by having prayers offered to God for a queen who has borne the title Most Christian, and who dies a Catholic, stripped of all her possessions. As for my son, I commend him to you in so far as he deserves, for I cannot answer for him. I have taken the liberty of sending you two precious stones, talismans against illness, trusting that you will enjoy good health and a long and happy life. Accept them from your loving sister-in-law, who, as she dies, bears witness of her warm feeling for you. Again I commend my servants to you. Give instructions, if it please you, that for my soul's sake part of what you owe me should be paid, and that for the sake of Jesus Christ, to whom I shall pray for you tomorrow as I die, I be left enough to found a memorial mass and give the customary alms.

This Wednesday, two hours after midnight. Your very loving and most true sister, Mary R

To the most Christian king, my brother-in-law and old ally.

We rejoin de Bourdeille's account as Mary enters the room designated for her execution and is denied access to her priest:

"The scaffold had been erected in the middle of a large room. It measured twelve feet along each side and two feet in height, and was covered by a coarse cloth of linen.

The Queen entered the room full of grace and majesty, just as if she were coming to a ball. There was no change on her features as she entered.

Drawing up before the scaffold, she summoned her major-domo (steward) and said to him:

'Please help me mount this. This is the last request I shall make of you.'

Then she repeated to him all that she had said to him in her room about what he should tell her son. Standing on the scaffold, she asked for her almoner, (chaplain) begging the officers present to allow him to come. But this was refused point-blank. The Count of Kent told her that he pitied her greatly to see her thus the victim of the superstition of past ages, advising her to carry the cross of Christ in her heart rather than in her hand. To this she replied that it would be difficult to hold a thing so lovely in her hand and not feel it thrill the heart, and that what became every Christian in the hour of death was to bear with him the true Symbol of Redemption."

Standing on the scaffold, Mary angrily rejects her captors' offer of a Protestant minister to give her comfort. She kneels while she begs that Queen Elizabeth spare her ladies-in-waiting and prays for the conversion of the Isle of Britain and Scotland to the Catholic Church:

"When this was over, she summoned her women to help her remove her black veil, her head-dress, and other ornaments. When the executioner attempted to do this, she cried out:

'Nay, my good man, touch me not!'

But she could not prevent him from touching her, for when her dress was lowered as far as her waist; the scoundrel caught her roughly by the arm and pulled off her doublet. Her skirt was cut so low that her neck and throat, whiter than alabaster, were revealed. She concealed these as well as she could, saying that she was not used to disrobing in public, especially before so large an assemblage. There were about four or five hundred people present.

The executioner fell to his knees before her and implored her forgiveness. The Queen told him that she willingly forgave him and alI who were responsible for her death, as freely as she hoped her sins would be forgiven by God. Turning to the woman to whom she, had given her handkerchief, she asked for it.

She wore a golden crucifix, made out of the wood of the true cross, with a picture of Our Lord on it. She was about to give this to one of her women, but the executioner forbade it, even though Her Majesty had promised that the woman would give him thrice its value in money.

After kissing her women once more, she bade them go, with her blessing, as she made the sign of the cross over them. One of them was unable to keep from crying, so that the Queen had to impose silence upon her by saying she had promised that nothing of the kind would interfere with the business in hand. They were to stand back quietly, pray to God for her soul, and bear truthful testimony that she had died in the bosom of the Holy Catholic religion.

One of the women then tied the handkerchief over her eyes. The Queen quickly, and with great courage, knelt dawn, showing no signs of faltering. So great was her bravery that all present were moved, and there were few among them that could refrain from tears. In their hearts they condemned themselves far the injustice that was being done.

The executioner, or rather the minister of Satan, strove to kill not only her body but also her soul, and kept interrupting her prayers. The Queen repeated in Latin the Psalm beginning In te, Damine, speravi; nan canfundar in aeternum. When she was through she laid her head on the block, and as she repeated the prayer, the executioner struck her a great blow upon the neck, which was not, however, entirely severed. Then he struck twice more, since it was obvious that he wished to make the victim's martyrdom all the more severe. It was not so much the suffering, but the cause, that made the martyr.

The executioner then picked up the severed head and, showing it to those present, cried out: 'God save Queen Elizabeth! May all the enemies of the true Evangel thus perish!'

Saying this, he stripped off the dead Queen's head-dress, in order to show her hair, which was now white, and which she had been afraid to show to everyone when she was still alive, or to have properly dressed, as she did when her hair was fair and light.

It was not old age that had turned it white, for she was only thirty-five when this took place, and scarcely forty when she met her death, but the troubles, misfortunes, and sorrows which she had suffered, especially in her prison."

The account of Pierre de Bourdeille was originally published in 1665 and republished many times thereafter.

[sancarlo]

Teresita Castillo, a ten-year-old from Spain, died as a missionary. She saw Carlo in one of her dreams.

Keep her on your radar. She’s going to be canonized.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210315193346/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicnewsagency.com%2Fnews%2Fteresita-the-spanish-10-year-old-who-became-a-missionary

The full letter:

Dear Priests,

This time I am not writing to call you to a meeting or to ask for statistics or communications. This time I am writing to you, plain and simple, to notify you of the death of a little girl who has had a great impact on my personal life and as Vicar. A little girl: Teresita; and parents: Teresa and Eduardo, a Christian family!

Let me explain briefly. Last February 11, Day of the Sick, this year I went to celebrate the Eucharist at La Paz Hospital. I celebrated the Eucharist accompanied by the chaplains and a varied assembly: doctors, nurses, relatives of the sick, etc. At the end of the Eucharist, I usually go with the chaplains to visit some of the sick to administer the Anointing or give them communion. This time the chaplains, knowing my habit, had suggested that I go to visit a seriously ill girl, who was to be operated on the following day for a tumor in her head. I gladly accepted the proposal. We arrived at the ICU properly equipped, I greeted the doctors and nurses, and then I was taken to Teresita's bed, which was next to her mother Teresa. A white bandage was wrapped around her head, but her face was sufficiently uncovered to perceive a truly brilliant and exceptional face. I greeted her with all affection, indicating that at that moment I was coming on behalf of the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid to bring Jesus to her.

I now quote Teresita's expressions; she said to me: "You bring me Jesus, don't you?", yes, I answered her, I bring you Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit with the Anointing. Then she said to me: "Do you know what? I love Jesus very much". Her mother hears this and addressing her daughter, she says: "tell Angel what you want to be". She looks fixedly at her mother and says: "Do I really tell him?" and her mother says: "You will see". Teresita tells me: "I want to be a missionary".

I was so impressed by her answer, totally unexpected for me, that I took strength from where I had none, because of the emotion that her answer produced in me, that I told her: "Teresita, I constitute you right now as a missionary of the Church, and this afternoon I will bring you the document that accredits it and the missionary cross". She added: "Fr. Angel, do you know what: I pray that many children may come to know Jesus". Then I administered the Sacrament of Anointing, gave her communion and the Apostolic Blessing of Pope Francis. It was a moment of prayer, very simple but deeply supernatural. We were joined by some nurses who spontaneously took some photos of us, totally unexpected for me, and which will remain as an indelible memory. We said goodbye while she and her mother remained praying and giving thanks.

That morning I had a meeting of the Archpriesthood; as soon as I finished it I went directly to the Vicariate and helped by the secretaries Miguel and Mª Pilar, we prepared the missionary office under a truly precious parchment. I picked up the missionary cross and at five o'clock in the afternoon I returned to the Hospital of La Paz. The chaplains were waiting for me and we went straight to the ICU again. As soon as my mother saw me, she said out loud: "Teresita, I can't believe it! Mr. Vicar is coming with the gift for you". The little girl, who was half asleep, woke up immediately and took the document and the cross in her hands. The mother read it aloud to her, while she listened attentively and what we had imagined happened, she got excited until her mother consoled her, and Teresita said aloud: "put that cross on the bar so that I can see it well, and tomorrow I will take it to the operating room. I am already a missionary". We said goodbye with these words of Teresita: "So, Fr. Angel, am I a missionary?", and I answered "you are a missionary".

Here I could end the story of this simple and profound experience. What I could not imagine is that through the contacts of the fathers, this testimony reached the ears of the National Delegate of Missions. He called me the next day and asked me this question: "Have you constituted a missionary girl in the Hospital of La Paz?" Yesterday, after giving her the anointing and communion, I constituted her as a missionary with the mandatory prayer and then I took her the document and the missionary cross". Then she tells me: "this testimony has gone around the whole missionary world of Spain and they have already made Teresita a new protector for the children in mission". Subsequently the parents have been forwarding me messages from different people impacted by Teresita's testimony.

On Sunday, March 7, at 9:00 a.m., Teresita departed for heaven. A wake was held at the Funeral Home of El Escorial. While I was praying the Rosary with the parents and the maximum capacity allowed, Cardinal Carlos Osoro called me to be present. They have been words full of hope that have openly consoled the parents, relatives and children companions of Teresita. Carlos concluded by giving the blessing to Teresita and to all those accompanying her.

When I thought that everything was finished, Teresita's aunt told me in a loud voice and in front of everyone in the room of the Funeral Home: "Fr. Angel, would you allow me to play the audio that Teresita sent me the same day that you constituted her as a missionary? Of course, I answered, and textually we heard with a very soft voice, like someone who is tired, but who gets strength from where he has none, and says: "Hello auntie, let me tell you something very important: this morning, after receiving the Anointing and communion, the Vicar of Madrid has declared me missionary. So now, I am a missionary". As you can imagine, I was speechless.

The funeral will be tomorrow, March 8, at the same time as the Eucharist for D. Tomás Juárez. The parents have fully understood that I will not be able to accompany them physically. I will be at the Mass of Glory that they will celebrate at the end of March.

I apologize for the length of this letter but if I do not share this testimony with the priests, consecrated life and laity of Vicariate VIII, with whom am I going to share it?

I invite you, then, to pray for Teresita and, above all, to entrust yourselves to her intercession because I am convinced that she will protect in a special way all of Vicariate VIII, where she was declared as a missionary. I send you a strong and brotherly embrace.

Ángel Camino Lamela, osa.

Episcopal Vicar. Vicariate VIII

Source (in Español):

https://es.aleteia.org/2021/03/09/fallece-teresita-la-nina-con-cancer-que-murio-siendo-ya-misionera/

[dailyaudiobible]

01/09/2018 DAB Transcript

Genesis 20:1-22:24, Matthew7:15-29, Psalms 9:1-12, Proverbs 2:16-22

Today is the 9th day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today around this roaring global campfire that we call our community, where we can come in out of the cold, out of the dark, out of the struggles, and just center ourselves in the presence of the Lord and allow His word to wash over us. So, we’re all set. Nice cup of steamy coffee here to my left, a nice microphone right in front of my face, and off we go. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week and picking up from where we left off yesterday, Genesis chapter 20 through chapter 22 today.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in the book of Genesis we have the fulfillment of the promise. Isaac is born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. This child that this couple had longed for for so many years finally was in their arms as God promised, and they obviously raised him up until he could walk and talk and travel. But then God asks Abraham to do something pretty much unthinkable and he gets up the next day and heads out to do just that. And we need to step out of the story for second and just talk about the Bible. I mean, a story like this one with Abraham and Isaac, it makes you go, wait, wait, wait, what is going on here? This doesn't feel right. That's on purpose. The Bible will disrupt us in all sorts of ways as we move through it this year. It has no problem doing that and it will happen on a lot of levels and when that does happen it's intended to stop you in your tracks. You're supposed to then invite God into what it is bringing up in you, no matter what that is. So, yes, this story of Abraham and Isaac going to a mountain where Isaac will become a sacrifice to God is disruptive, but as the story goes, Abraham believed God, he put his faith in God and that was credited to him as righteousness. And God entered into covenant with Abraham, which fundamentally meant what's mine is yours, what yours is mine, I will fight for you, you will fight for me, whatever I have you can have, I will withhold nothing from you. And although the idea of covenant is ancient, it is also very modern. Many, many of us are in covenant. Right? The covenant of marriage. And don’t we say basically the same thing, I will withhold nothing from you, all that I have is yours, all that you have is mine. So, Abraham's in covenant with God and one of the promises of the covenant is that Abraham's offspring will grow to be a multitude that cannot be numbered and will bless the nations of the earth. In other words, God is beginning a new thing with a new people. And God had promised that that would come through Isaac. So, when Abraham set off with Isaac to go to this Mount Moriah where this sacrifice would be made, he knows all of that. This is cryptic. It's counterintuitive, what he's being commanded to do, but he knows all of that. And we get clues into Abraham's state of mind when he and Isaac have this conversation, when they kind of depart together. Isaac asks him, we have all of this stuff for the sacrifice, but what about the Lamb? And Abraham's reply is, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And when the time comes, that's exactly what God does. And when Abraham is halted it's very clear that Abraham will withhold nothing from God, which becomes an amazing foreshadowing, because God will withhold nothing from those He is in covenant with. So, Isaac was spared and God sent His son. And one of things we can get out of this is the fact that God will withhold and is not withholding things from us that are good for us. But we also have to acknowledge that we're not the ones that get to define that. So often our estrangement from God is that we cannot seem to find a way to get Him to do what we want Him to do.

But that's not the posture that Jesus is showing us in the Sermon on the Mount. It's almost backward to that. Our identity and our hope itself can only be centered and rooted in God alone. Everything starts there and spills outward, not the other way around. And as dramatic as the story of Abraham and Isaac is, that's what Abraham is modeling. The covenant with God is the central thing. Nothing can be withheld with God. It begins and ends with God. So, Abraham knew God had promised through Isaac would be this multitude of people and he believed that and he believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. So, he didn't know how this was going to work, but it was going to work out. He was in covenant with God. So, the question then becomes, what am I withholding from God? Is my motivation the benefits of this covenant? Am I trying to make God my squire that I can order around to do things and throw promises in his face that He has to do them? Am I making myself shiny and sparkly and running around trying to show off my spirituality because, somehow, I think that's what's going to get me what I want from God? That posture isn't going to work. And we hear that from Jesus as we’re concluding the Sermon on the Mount today. Jesus says, ‘not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, didn’t we drive out demons in Your name, didn’t we even perform miracles in Your name. Then Jesus says, ‘I will announce to them. I never knew you.’ And all the sudden we see how big of a deal were talking about here between the Old and the New Testaments today. God wants to know us and be known by us in a covenantal relationship that is faithful and that is loyal and that is deeper than even our own marriage covenant. And God withheld nothing from us to make that happen. He offered His Son. So, what are we withholding from God. When you answer that question, you have identified idols in your life.

Prayer:

Father, this is disruptive. This makes things shake inside of us. This opens our eyes and lets us have a glimpse of clarity. This explains so much about how we’ve been trying to make our relationship with You work. And we confess, we've withheld plenty from You and we’ve lived backward a long time just trying to jump through whatever hoops that we feel like are in front of us so that You will do what we want You to do. When what You want is our heart. What You want is to know us and for us to know You intimately. And, so, we invite You to continue the work that You’ve begun from Your word today. May it continue to churn inside of us. We invite your Holy Spirit to bring up the ways that we been living backward and the ways that we’re withholding from you, that we’re giving our heart in worship to something else besides you, in pursuit of life. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what's going on around here. Couple things.

And I’ve been mentioning for a few days that the 14th of January, which is this coming Sunday, I'll be speaking in Louisville Kentucky at New Song Christian Fellowship Louisville. So, love to see you. If you are in that region, you can get all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Events section.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, then I give you humble, heartfelt gratitude. This global campfire that we have, this community that we share is something that sprang up out of the dust of the Internet and is what it is today because we did it together and it continues into the future because we’re doing it together. So, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello, my Daily Audio Bible Community. This is Brett M. From Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. I called in for the first time for the Christmas Holiday Party. I’m calling in this time because I have a surgery on my ear on January 9th. And I’m just praying that, I’m requesting prayers that my hearing will improve after this surgery. I am in the process of becoming a chaplain for the United States Army and this is kind of put a wrench, if you may, in the process. It’s kind of caused everything to be put on hold until they figure out what’s causing my hearing loss. So, we are hoping that this surgery will improve my hearing. And just please pray for my ear to heal after the surgery. I’m actually driving down to Murfreesboro Tennessee, where my brother is an ear nose and throat surgeon and he will be doing the surgery for me. And this, again, is on January 9th. If you would please remember me in prayers that would be great. And please know my friends, I hear all your prayer requests and I pray for you all on a daily basis and I am thankful for the Daily Audio Bible. This is year number two for me. This is my second time around going through the Bible with Brian. And, so I am very thankful. I have three of my family members on board and I’m working on the other ones to join us as well. Thank you. I love you guys and I am…

Hello DAB family. This is Marsha from Colorado. This morning, while listening to Brian talk about the growing pains DAB has experienced, I was stunned to hear that there have been 5 to 10 requests per second to access the Daily Audio Bible web player and the new app. So, Beloved By Him from the UK, it looks like your prayer for people to find the DAB app has definitely been answered. My prayer is that everyone that listens on a daily basis would prayerfully and financially support this ministry so that the added expense to deal with the influx of new people wanting to hear the word of God in 2018 would never be a concern for Brian and his team. The people that called into the prayer lines today blessed me so much. His Little Sharee from Canada, what you said about this life on earth being the only chance we have to love and worship God in the middle of our messes really spoke to me. And John from Bethlehem Pennsylvania, your prayer of blessing over Brian, reading back to him what he read over us on the last day of 2017 was so special. Thank you for doing that. Jordan from Michigan, I want you to know that I’m praying for you to finish well in 2018 as a teacher. The world needs teachers like you and I know God will give you the strength that you need this year to finish well. And Purely Pampered from Maine, all I can say is, wow! You have been faithful to pray for people you’ve never met all this time. I was humbled by your call. And today I am asking for personal prayer. I was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and after seven weeks of treatment I will have a PET scan the first week of February to determine if the cancer is gone. So, I’m asking God for a good final report and for healing of the many side effects that resulted in my treatment. I’m humbled and I’m thankful for your prayers. God bless you.

Hi Daily Audio Bible. I have been listening for several years but this is my first time calling and leaving a prayer request. I really need prayer for my family. I went to a part-time position this year because of serious migraines that I get, chronic migraines that I’ve had for over 40 years. And my husband is a realtor and business has really just come to a complete halt. And, so, I would just ask that God would pour out his provision and open doors for business for him. And then, we also have a 16-year-old son who’s making some terrible choices, rejecting godly values, and getting into drugs, and believing all of the enemies lies. And we know that he has a strong foundation in the Lord. And, so, I’m just asking that you would lift him up in prayer, that he would stop believing those lies, and that he would remember who he is in Christ, and that you would just unify our family with all of these challenges were faced with. So, thank you for your prayers and bless all of you. Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible community. Happy New Year. It’s the 5th January today. My name is Judith, I live in England, south of England. And I’m calling for two reasons today. One, was really encouraged by someone who called in from Canada yesterday, 4th of January, talking about praising God in our brokenness. You were talking about when we’re going to be in glory with God and everything’s going to be perfect but how…and how wonderful that will be…but how it’s great that we can come to him in our brokenness now. That was so encouraging to me. So, thank you very much. Number two, I have an adopted brother. I myself am married and with my husband and baby. So, I’m not at the family home. But I do have an adopted brother who I won’t name for security reasons, but he lives with my parents and he’s been with us…oh…with my family for eight...coming up for nine…I think…years. He’s just turned 13. He’s very, very difficult. He has a lot of problems based on his background and it’s getting really, really difficult for my parents and there’s potential it could get to the point where the adoption will be ended, which is not of course what my parents want and not what would be good for my brother. So, please, please be praying for him, that my parents get the support that they need, and that he will be able to stay as part of our family and…yeah…please be praying for that. It’s really important. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. You might also hear Isaac, my son, in the background. Please be praying for us too, but mostly for my brother at this time and for my parents and family, that they would get the help they need. Thank you so much. Lots of love to you all. And happy New Year again. Bye.

Happy New Year Daily Audio Bible family. This is Michael in Compton California calling to wish the DAB family a happy New Year and a happy New Year to all of the new listeners for this year. If you’re new to the forum this year you will enjoy this ride because it is a wonderful blessing to be able to listen to God’s word each day. And I thank you Brian and Jill and China and the other Hardin family members and the workers behind the scene that make sure that this podcast gets played 365 days of the year. What a blessing. And, I understand Brian, at the end…what you mean when you say at the end of…when you read the very last of the Bible for the year. There’s an overwhelming feeling of…its indescribable…it’s…I think we…it’s a glimpse of God’s glory and His grace that He’s allowed us to do this for a year, to be able to stay in His word and to listen to His word and enjoy it with an international family. So, God bless everyone. Looking forward to a great 2018 and looking forward to Daily Audio Bible every day. God bless you all. Bye.

[woodworkingpastor]

The Stubborn Older Brother Luke 15:25-32 Fourth Sunday of Lent March 22, 2020

Call to Worship

Do you feel it? God's kingdom is beneath our feet.

We live in the new creation shaped by God out of our brokenness.

Do you know it? God's reconciling love in Christ has shattered our ways of viewing people.

No longer do we label people based on their past, but we welcome those who turn back to God with open arms, calling them “Sister” and “Brother.”

Do you believe it? God has made everything, including us, new,

and sends us forth to share this good news with everyone!

Hymn, You are salt for the earth, # 226

The last time I worked at Camp Bethel as a chaplain, I served a Junior High age camp.  To prepare for our evening Vesper services, I would make an announcement each day during lunch on what the youth needed to bring with them to worship. One day I stood up in The Ark and said, “For worship tonight, you need to bring a rock.” 

Perhaps you can imagine the questions that came next: “How big of a rock?”  My reply was simply, “Bring a rock.”

We met that night at the Quarry Pond.  Most of the kids brought a smallish rock, ranging in size from a good skipping stone up to baseball or perhaps softball sized.  But there were a few who went out and found the biggest rock they could find—small boulders would be a better description of some of these rocks!

I remembered that story when I read this apocryphal story about Jesus:

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “I’d like you to carry a stone for me.” He didn’t give any explanation. So the disciples looked around for a stone to carry, and Peter, being the practical sort, sought out the smallest stone he could possibly find. After all, Jesus didn’t give any regulations for weight and size! So he put it is his pocket. Then Jesus said: “Follow Me.” He led them on a journey. About noontime Jesus had everyone sit down. He waved his hands and all the stones turned to bread. He said, “Now it’s time for lunch.” In a few seconds, Peter’s lunch was over. When lunch was done Jesus told them to stand up. He said again, “I’d like you to carry a stone for Me.” This time Peter said, “Aha! Now I get it!” So he looked around and saw a small boulder. He hoisted it on his back, and it was painful, it made him stagger. But he said, “I can’t wait for supper.” Jesus then said, “Follow Me.” He led them on a journey, with Peter barely being able to keep up. Around supper time Jesus led them to the side of a river. He said, “Now everyone throw your stones in the water.” They did. Then he said, “Follow Me,” and began to walk. Peter was dumbfounded. Jesus sighed and said, “Don’t you remember what I asked you to do? Who were you carrying the stone for?” (Tim Keller, The Prodigal God, 58).

Last week we focused our attention on the younger brother in this parable, and I asked you to consider this question:

How valuable am I to God?

This week, we turn our attention to the other brother in the story. The inclusion of the older brother is an interesting choice.  Typically, we focus our attention on the younger brother, but he is not the point of the story. Jesus tells us about the younger brother so that he can help us understand the older brother and examine our lives through him. 

The older brother’s choices present a different question:

Upon what have I based my relationship with God?

What does the older brother’s outrage tell us about his relationship with his father?

“His elder son was in the field…”

When we first meet the older brother, he is out in the field working the family farm.  And we say, “Of course he was! This is what life is.” This man lived on a small family farm and there was a never-ending list of things that needed to be done to sustain their lives and their livelihood.  That’s just how it was. 

And to a certain degree, this is what a relationship with God is.  I wonder if that was a difficult statement for you to hear, or if it was not what you expected to hear.  We might not first think about our relationship with God involving things we do.  So let’s talk about this carefully and correctly. One way I like to think about it is by how much I appreciate the fact that while we have pews to sit in on Sunday morning, we are not saved to sit in pews. We’re not called out of darkness and into the light just so that we get a good seat on Sunday morning! When we surrender our lives to Jesus, we are brought into a family. Families are normally wonderful things that bring much blessing and structure and love and nurture to our lives.  But families also take a lot of work.  Families are neither simple nor easy. Newlyweds generally think theirs is the most amazing love story ever written.  It’s often my job to help them celebrate that. But it’s also my job to tell them that at some point you’re going to be cleaning up vomit in the middle of the night!  Love is expressed there, too.

Life in this family of God brings some work.  Isaiah 58 gives us a picture into this family life.  What does our life together look like?  We are asked to

We’re part of this family to make room for other people to become part of the family.

1 Corinthians 12 gives us a different picture of family life:

This life together in Christ comes with an expectation to step up and do our part.  We are given both the means and the opportunity to serve.  And here’s the thing: that’s exactly what the older brother has been doing. He was the dutiful older son: working out in the field, doing his part to ensure the strength of his family, all while his younger brother was off carousing with despicable sinners, spending down his share of the family wealth until it was all gone and he was neck deep in the muck of the pig pen.

During all those years he was busily tending the cows and the crops, he was also tending a grudge.  You can almost see him out in the field with his hoe, angrily cutting into the soil; or out in the woods with his axe, getting angrier and angrier with each swing toward a downed tree.  And when the younger brother came home, the dam broke and all that pent-up resentment came tumbling out.

It didn’t matter that the father had just saved his younger son’s life by welcoming him back into the family. It didn’t matter that the picture of the Prodigal being welcomed back into the family by the father is one of the best examples of healing we could possibly imagine.  Whatever issues that may have arisen by the younger brother’s extreme hunger and poverty were taken care of when he came home.  He had a place again—and not just any place, his place.  Restoration had happened and the older brother doesn’t care.

The sin of the older brother

All these years that the younger brother was gone—and even all the years before the younger brother left—the elder brother had everything that he could have expected: he had a family, he had the security of that family unit working together on the farm; he had the daily relationship with his father. He had never hit rock bottom or known the crushing suffering that the younger brother had brought upon himself.  But he missed the significance of that.

The older brother had to know what his father would do if the younger brother came home. I know that he is just a character in a story and that I’m making an assumption. But when we are around people we pretty quickly become able to predict their responses and their preferences. He had to know. 

But when the moment comes and he hears the music and sees the party and can look over into an empty pen where the fatted calf had previously lived, his heart is revealed.  He’s been living in his father’s house for years with a man who would do almost anything to welcome a wayward son home and he has not allowed his own heart to be transformed. 

The younger brother “squandered his essence” in the pig pens of a foreign land and is essentially physically dead before he returns to his home.

The older brother has squandered his time with a loving father and is spiritually dead, standing outside a party the likes of which his village has never seen.

This is where that bit about there being work to do in the family of God comes in to play.  The older brother has been doing the necessary labor in his father’s house, but he’s never understood the necessary love of his father’s house. He’s angry because he’s never been given a party.  Parties are nice, especially when they’re thrown in your honor. But what about the day-to-day interactions where relationships are built and character is formed? The older brother has done everything right in his life, but he is just as lost as his younger brother who has done everything wrong.  He’s been in the house doing the work of the household alongside his father, and he is completely spiritually lost. 

He’s never “drawn near” to his father so that he can be transformed and have a heart like his Father, one that responds to the suffering and stubbornness of others with grace and with welcome.  Because of that, all the time they spent together and all the work they did together was done from self-righteousness and misery rather than from the joy of being together with his father in the family business.

So what have you based your relationship with God on? This week I came across a hymn I’d never seen before; it was written by John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace. It tells a somewhat similar story to Amazing Grace, except from more the day-to-day experience of our life in Christ.  The verse I want to share with you is verse 5:

[aion-rsa]

The Teleprompter Interview: Andy Nyman ‘The First Poster I Ever Had On My Wall Was Joanna Lumley’

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

 “It’s a classic ghost story with one of the best filmed jumps ever,” sums up Andy Nyman of Herbert Wise’s 1989 TV movie of The Woman in Black, “It properly delivers, and it properly delivers in a fantastically old fashioned way. It’s a proper ghost story at Christmas.” He’s not wrong. Now restored and released on Blu-ray with a load of new extras, the movie is still incredibly effective. Nyman has recorded a new commentary for the film along with fellow horror experts Kim Newman and Mark Gatiss. Nyman has a personal connection to the film too – it was his very first TV role, playing legal clerk Jackie, opposite Stephen Mackintosh as his sidekick. 30 years on and coming back to do the commentary was a joy, he explains.

“Oh, look, I honestly love it all so much,” he beams. “I never take anything for granted.” Nyman and Gatiss have known each other for years. “The first words Mark ever said to me were, ‘Have you seen the new Chaplain? He eats his boots, Mr Kidd!'” laughs Nyman, doing an impression of a line he delivers in the film. “It’s amazing that The Woman In Black was the first thing we ever talked about. He was a fan of it.”

Nyman recorded the commentary on lockdown, “It was just amazing to see how beautiful it looks. The restoration is amazing,” he says. “Also, just that slow burn power – it just takes its time bit by bit and creeps up on you. And how profoundly bleak the ending is. Christmas Eve, holy shit. You’re going out like that.”  

Adapted by Nigel Neale from Susan Hill’s celebrated novel, the story follows young lawyer Arthur Kidd (Adrian Rawlins) who is hired to settle the estate of a reclusive widow who has passed away, but out at the remote Eel Marsh Manor Kidd experiences strange goings on that drive him half mad, including the apparition of the titular woman in black.

Nyman says it’s reminiscent of public information films in the 70s. “There’s something very unforgiving. I think that’s one of the things that’s incredibly British about the sensibility of The Woman in Black, in all its incarnations. Susan Hill’s story, the play version, this first incarnation of it, is there’s a sort of quiet misery that is so British,” explains Nyman.

British storytelling is important to Nyman, whose hit play, and later movie, Ghost Stories is steeped in a similar Britishness.

“It’s easy to forget we’re a little island where it rains 80% of the time. That’s part of who we are,” he says.

We can expect to see more of that once production starts up again – Nyman and writing partner Jeremy Dyson have written their next play and film already. He’s closed-lipped about the details but both are genre, “and born of our sensibilities and some of the things we’ve touched on in Ghost Stories that we wanted to explore a little bit more,” he says. 

Nyman reveals the shows that shaped him…

Is there a TV show that inspired your career?

Well, not inspired my career necessarily, but Thriller when I was a kid, the Brian Clemens’ series, had a profound effect on me. It terrified me. There was one episode in particular that truly, truly terrified me. I was probably seven and the babysitter was around, and my sister was like, “Let’s watch it, it will be fine.” I got as far as the titles, there was a little two-minute pre-sequence and then the titles, and the music, holy shit, it’s so disturbing. So that really terrified me, and laid dormant for years until I started digging into horror again and re-found that series. 

Hammer House of Horror was another thing that when I was at school everyone would talk about. I used to love it. I had these books all about horror films and stuff, but I just could not watch them. But those two were ones that really played a big part growing up in just feeling like there was a subversive world that I didn’t want to go near, but I wanted to go near. It was both things at once. 

How could I not have said Doctor Who? Those Jon Pertwee Doctor Whos, oh my god. Again, you’re toying with that fear, it’s like probing the fire, so I really liked that when I was growing up. 

Who or what was your first TV love?

You mean in terms of like, “Oh my god I’m in love with them.” 

It’s up to you. You can answer it that way. 

Joanna Lumley. 

In which show?

New Avengers.  The first poster I ever had on my wall was Joanna Lumley in that. It was the three of them, it was Steed, her and Gareth Hunt. Terrible. But she was the only one I cared about. I wasn’t even aware of “I fancy her.” It was just like, “Who is that? Amazing.” Also, the fact she did karate, just fantastic.

When did you last cry watching television?

Oh I’ll cry at anything. It won’t be long ago. All right, two nights ago, you know what I cried at? I re-watched Rambo: Last Blood. 

I was in floods at the end of it, at the pictures. I cried again watching it the other night, because number one, I loved it. I know it’s got its flaws, but I loved it and I love him. Watching that end montage sequence just brought back … It’s a character and an actor who has been with you for 30 years, and it’s my dad. I mean, my dad wasn’t John Rambo, but the first video we ever rented was First Blood. It’s like emotionally intertwined with it. So the question should be, when did you last not-cry at something?

What was the last TV show you recommended to a friend?

Unorthodox, which we just finished. But we watch loads, recommend loads. I’m really enjoying Perry Mason at the moment, I recommended that to someone today. There’s brilliant TV out there. I’m halfway, two-thirds of the way filming Unforgotten. I’m one of the guest leads in the new series of that, which I’d never seen until I got offered the job and then watched it. It’s amazing. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it, it’s all on Netflix. It’s phenomenal. It’s the thing with Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar, the cold case thing. It’s British, the casts are always brilliant, it’s brilliantly written and acted. Just fantastic. So I think it’s a golden period for TV. TV has changed. 

Which TV theme song do you know all the words to?

That’s a really hard question, because I bet if one started now, I’d be able to sing it. There’s loads I know, but most of them are from my … So the first one that comes to mind is Record Breakers. [Sings] “If you’re the tallest, the smallest …” The next one that comes to mind is Minder. [Sings] “I could be so good for you.” I love a TV theme. I’ve got albums of them up here, Great TV Themes. I love them. That’s one of the things I really miss about streaming as well, skip the titles and all that. I love a good theme, I want a good TV theme. 

Which TV show would you bring back from the dead if you could?

Maybe Thriller, Brian Clemens is a bit of an unsung hero. The stuff that he wrote and created is just amazing. Those scripts are so good. It’s very dated now, but some of the plotting and stuff, and the writing is just great. 

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had making television?

Probably Dead Set. It came at the most amazing time. My dad had literally just died, they postponed the shoot for me. God bless them. All you hear about are the stories of producers being awful and this and that, they were just amazing. So we had a week, I’m Jewish, so we had the shiva period, the week of mourning for my dad. Finished that on a Sunday night, Monday morning I was being chased by Davina. It was Charlie Brooker’s first drama, an amazing script, Yann Demange’s brilliant direction. It had this ragged energy to it. Then to get my head ripped off, to have all that blood and guts. I’ve been blessed, I’ve had a wonderful varied brilliant career. I cherish them all, but that was definitely a highlight. 

Andy Nyman in Dead Set

Which TV show do you wish more people would watch?

I’m laughing, because I’m going to say Dickinson’s Real Deal. I don’t know, there’s just so much material out there, isn’t there? So much material. Do you know what? There was this stupid reality show that we loved called Hardcore Pawn, P-A-W-N. Oh, my god. I think it’s set in Detroit. We absolutely loved that show. I miss that, I wish they still showed that. Dumb answer, but …

Register your interest in the standard Blu-ray edition of The Woman in Black coming soon from Network.

The post The Teleprompter Interview: Andy Nyman ‘The First Poster I Ever Had On My Wall Was Joanna Lumley’ appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[betweenandbeloved]

Rounding Out the Trip

Well, for someone who loves to write and blog, this was not the trip for it! I was so exhausted each night and even now as I’m recovering and getting back to work, everything seems like it was a blur. It was a wonderful trip, and I guess exhaustion is a sign of that!

Thursday was a great workday! We ended the day with our cultural learning activity with Chief Duane Hollow Hornbear at the Sundance Grounds. He explained the ritual to us and talked about Lakota life and culture. The ceremony of the Sundance is the most important one because, as Duane says “The only thing I can offer is this body of mine.” There are many days of preparing the grounds, as we learned from working there for four days. The ceremony begins with 4 days of abstaining from food and water in the wilderness, then a time of purification in the Sweat Lodge. Then there are 4 days of dancing before the actual sacrifice of flesh. Men are pierced with a small bone that is attached with rope to a tree in the center of the grounds. They then pull and dance until they break - they are released from their bond to the tree.  The ceremony ends with 4 days of reflection. There will be more than 100 dancers, but only the men will pierce.  Duane explained that people come to the Sundance because they are crying and hurting.

(Photo at Tree of Life)

Duane ended his talk by saying something along the lines of this: It is easy to say I am related to everyone and everything, but it is a harder thing to live it. We allow ourselves to become too humanistic but we belong to the earth, we do not own it. No one can tell us how to pray or who to pray to, that is our own decision. I chose to pray here at the Sundance and don’t draw any lines to who can participate or observe as long as they come with respect. Let your spirit dance and use your body.

It was really special to have all the youth present in the Sundance grounds to learn about the ceremony. In the beginning, it was hard to see the significance or importance in the work we were doing weeding, mowing, and preparing the grounds, but I think after hearing from Duane, it made all the work so much more meaningful.

Friday was our final workday and the youth powered through the heat and sweat.  We finished painting a local church, we finished painting the music room and building the stage, we almost finished building a deck, made significant progress in helping prepare for the Sundance, and spent lots of time organizing and sorting donations to Tree of Life.  The youth are rockstars and I am so proud of all their hard work on these projects.

(Group in front of the church we painted)

After finishing up our workday, we had the opportunity to visit a ranch and spend some time with therapy horses. Equine Therapy is so beneficial because it teaches you how to confront your emotions and process them. It’s something I wish I had more access to! The horses could really tell what we were feeling and what we needed, they then responded in the same manner. Some of the kids got to ride bareback on the horses and I got to cuddle a horse named Nala who really did cuddle! 

(Equine therapy is a necessity in life)

We then had some time with a man named Greg Grey Cloud who shared his experiences and the importance of equine therapy.  Greg shared that his experience growing up around horses helped teach him to deal with problems directly instead of trying to avoid them.  He spent a long time talking about feelings and emotions, that once we can communicate our feelings, we have the foundation of any relationship.  It was really a wonderful learning opportunity, and it was great to relax with the horses for a bit.

We got back to Tree of Life and had Indian Tacos, courtesy of the staff. What makes an Indian Taco so spectacular is they are made with fry bread, fried bread. They’re a piece of heaven.  

(Love me some Indian tacos)

While waiting for dinner I had the opportunity to sit with a woman selling her beaded crafts. I bought a cross necklace from her and she said the beading was called peyote, meaning each bead was individually placed and it took four hours to make. The black represents the sunset and death, red represents north and the Indians in the USA, yellow is sunshine and birth, and white is warmth and light.  I’m so in love with my necklace and hearing about the woman’s life made it even better.

(The woman who made my necklace)

After Indian Tacos we had our final cultural learning opportunity with Anne Whitehat who told us about her medicinal plants and herbs. It was interesting to hear how all these native plants that we’ve been looking at, can actually be used to heal - sometimes better and faster than anything a hospital might prescribe.

It was sad to leave on Saturday morning but we had a wonderful goodbye with Linda and we were able to bless her as she continues her work with Tree of Life in the years to come.  It was a blessing to work with her again and she is a blessing to all she meets.

(Blessing Linda)

Back on the road we drove through the Badlands and stopped at Wall Drug before making it back to Rapid City for our Chuck Wagon Dinner.

It was a great touristy day, but my favorite part was our closing worship.  We shared stories and experiences and ended our time together with communion.  It was a blessing to serve as a Chaplain on this trip and I will forever be changed by this group of youth who worked so hard despite the heat, the sun, and the sweat.

(Our communion table with our offering of stories written on post cards to send to each persons church)

[dmmowers]

The one who changes the world

The One Who Changes the World A sermon for Trinity Episcopal Church, Baraboo, Wis. Christ the King Sunday | Year A, Track 2 | November 26, 2017 Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 | Psalm 95:1-7a | Ephesians 1:15-23 | Matthew 25:31-46

I was leaving my church. I had thought for a while that things weren't going well, that I wasn't as good of a fit as I had been during my first couple of years of college. I had started to read more theology, to ask more pointed and critical questions and to grow frustrated with all of the cliches that I heard both in sermons and as I worked as a volunteer in our youth ministry. Then the phone rang, and the man on the other end of it told me that he and several other people had heard a particular rumor about me. The rumor was not true, but by the time the man called me, it had spread to almost all of our small congregation. He told me who he had heard the rumor from, and as we compared notes we realized that a person in a position of leadership - a person who should have known better - was the person who started the rumor. I remember my reaction to being told that this rumor was out there very well. "Isn't Christianity supposed to change the world?" I sputtered into the phone. "Aren't we supposed to be the people who feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty and visit the sick and those in prison? And isn't that supposed to be how we are known? Instead, we're the people who spread lies about the people we don't get along with. We're the people who stab other people in the back. We're the people who hear someone saying something that we might disagree with and assume that the person talking has the worst possible intentions. I thought the gospel of Jesus was supposed to change the world, but all that's in this church is a bunch of fake Christians." I was 21, and I was kind of a hothead.

I. 

In my response to that phone call, you heard maybe the most famous line from our gospel reading this morning, now the third week we've read from Matthew 25. "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And wen was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'"

This parable has significant differences from the ones we've read in the last couple of weeks. It doesn't begin with Jesus saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like this." It doesn't have particularly obscure symbolism that is hard to figure out. It is more like a picture of future history than it is a parable: he compares the righteous people to sheep and the wicked people to goats, and they get separated and judged based on how they have fed the hungry, given water to the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, and visited the sick and those in prison. Those who don't feed the hungry or clothe the naked or visit people in prison go into eternal punishment. It seems crystal clear. It seems like my reaction to the rumors at the little church I attended in college was about right: it's not that hard to figure out who Christians are and who they are not. The people who live out Jesus' teaching by showing tangible mercy to the poor: those are the Christians. Those who don't, aren't. Those who show mercy to the poor are showing mercy to Jesus, and they inherit the kingdom. Those who don't show mercy to the poor are turning their back on Jesus, and they will go away into eternal punishment. The people who lose track of what's important, who spread rumors rather than feeding the hungry, it sure seems they get sent off forever. It seems clear, it's clean, it's black and white. We're the good people, and they, those other people, are the bad people. But this gospel does not let us off that easily. When the righteous get commended for extending mercy to Jesus, how do they react? They say, "Yes, Lord, thank you for recognizing how righteous we are. It was such a privilege for us to be able to serve you. We are blessed to be your people and to inherit this kingdom. Thank you Jesus." Except that's not how they react. They say: "Umm, Jesus? Excuse me, Jesus. We just heard you say that we are going to inherit the kingdom of God. I mean, we're grateful, and you must be right. But could you tell us when exactly we did what you said? When did we feed you? When were you sick or in prison and we visited you? We don't remember when we did that." They're surprised. They didn't expect to be rewarded. They're just as befuddled as the ones who are sent off to eternal punishment. Neither group expected to be in the group they were in. It turns out that it's not as easy as I thought at age 21 to figure out who was a Christian and who was not. II. Figuring out who's a Christian and who isn't really matters to people. I've been asked questions about how to know if a dying loved one or friend is really a Christian, and if they could be sure that they would go to heaven when they die, more than almost anything else. When our idea of what Christianity is about is fire insurance - that is, Christianity is what keeps us out of the fire of eternal punishment - then this is the whole point. When I worked as a hospital chaplain in the year that I was a deacon, I ran into more than one patient whose family was concerned about their eternal destiny - they wanted to know for sure that if their loved one died, they would go to heaven. Sometimes they would call the chaplain's office to see if we could pray with their loved one, the thinking being that if the chaplain prayed a particular prayer with their loved one before they died, that'd be enough to get them into heaven. But our gospel passage this morning frustrates these people too. Just like the self-righteous who think they can just figure out who is a Christian and who isn't, the parable of the sheep and the goats frustrates though who are looking for assurance about who's going to heaven when they die. The Jesus of the gospels seems to be far less interested in who goes to heaven when the die than we are. Even in this parable of judgment, there's nothing that says, "Here is the bar to clear to get to heaven when you die. Here's just how much feeding of the hungry you have to do. Here's just how much welcoming of the stranger you have to do." This passage doesn't give us any of that. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not fire insurance meant to get us to heaven when we die. The twenty-one-year old hothead was right: Christianity is supposed to change the world. III. But the way Christianity changes the world is surprising. Jesus doesn't come to change the world by overthrowing Rome with a violent revolution. He doesn't come to change the world by being Israel's king. He does not come wearing a red baseball cap that says "Make Israel Great Again." He comes as a vulnerable baby, born under suspicious circumstances, to poor parents. They have to take him out of the country because the power-hungry king has all of the babies his age killed, and so he and his parents become undocumented immigrants in Egypt. After they return and Jesus grows up, he goes around Israel feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and healing them, giving water to the thirsty and living water to the ones who never knew they were thirsty. He goes to the people who were written off by society and says, "I'm coming to your house for dinner today", and in so doing scandalized the leading citizens of his communities. This was a man who preferred to be welcomed into the filthy, smelly house of a hoarder instead of eating a fancy dinner with the mayor in a mansion on the hill. This is the man who leaves his disciples with the parable of the sheep and goats as his last teaching. After this parable, the march to Calvary begins. The last thing Jesus teaches his disciples before he goes to the cross is that he has identified himself with the hungry and the one in prison rather than with the successful and the effective. Those are the people with whom Jesus still identifies today. Those are the people in whom we can still see Jesus' presence today. In the midst of squalor and chaos. Against the crushing deadline of the debt collector and the the no-win choices that poverty forces people into. Jesus is king over the world, and his kingdom, though now hidden, will one day be revealed as the mysterious force that fed the hungry and comforted the poor, the force that motivated ordinary Christians in all times and places to love and to cherish people who were manifestly undeserving. That revealing will look like judgment. That's uncomfortable for many of us - too many of us can't shake the image we picked up in parochial school of God being like a nun just waiting to crack her ruler over our wrists. But for the prisoner who has been behind bars for decades for a crime he did not commit, for the rape victim who never saw her assailant prosecuted, for the abused child and the abandoned wife, this judgment will look like freedom, like healing, like the justice that they sought and were denied. If Jesus didn't judge the people responsible for these acts, that would say that he endorses their violence, that he stood with the oppressor rather than the victim. Even though Jesus has gone, Jesus' people still carry out the very same mission that Jesus himself carried out. For Jesus' people, the first step in that mission is to understand whose people they are. That is, the first step in our mission is hear the gospel of Jesus and to trust that the way of seeing the world that it describes is true. We trust that the gospel is true when we live like the gospel is true. When we live like Jesus is the man standing on the side of the road with the "Will Work for Food" sign, when we live like Jesus is the people who get vouchers from St. Vinny's for their clothes, when we live like Jesus is the one-month-sober drug addict who's trying to learn auto detailing from Pastor Bill Harris at People Helping People while staying one step ahead of homelessness, that's evidence that we believe the gospel. If the gospel is true, not matter how bad things seem to get, Jesus is Lord. If Jesus is Lord, our politics are not. If Jesus is Lord, our bank accounts are not. If Jesus is Lord, our fears and failures are not. If Jesus is Lord, he has become Lord by being with and for the poor, and by dying on the cross, he has set in motion a plan that will ultimately result in the entire world being finally and forever changed, a world that will be what the Garden of Eden was supposed to be from the very beginning. IV. For lots of us, this is the moment that changes everything. When we realize that Christian faith is about the world being made new and death being defeated, we can no longer believe that our faith is an entirely private matter between us and God whose purpose is to forgive our sins so that we can go to heaven when we die. When we realize that the point of the gospel is to change the world, we become a part of God's rescue mission for the world, a mission that includes us but is so much bigger than just us. It's a mission that involves hope -- and food -- for every hungry person. It's a mission that involves dignity -- and clothes -- for every poor person. It's a mission that involves personhood -- and friendship -- for every shut-in, homeless person and prison inmate. The point of today's parable is not that we should live our lives however we want and then say a prayer on our deathbed so that we can die and go to heaven. The point of today's parable is that we must trust with our whole lives that Jesus' gospel truly describes the world we live in, and we must do it now, because there will be a time when we will account for the way we have lived. And so we take up Jesus' mission to the stranger, to the sick, to the hungry not as saviors who try to fix people but rather as humble listeners who try to discern the presence of Jesus within each person we come across. Yes, we'll fail. Yes, we'll sin. Yes, we'll have times where we're the biggest hypocrites and utterly forsake what we believe. If the one who came to judge us was Santa Claus, putting us on a list of naughty and nice people, we'd be in trouble. But the one who judges us is Jesus Christ, the one who knows just what it is to be human, the Judge who was Judged for the sins of the world. If there is anyone who can sort through the complexities of our lives, if there is anyone who we can trust to deal with us fairly and with mercy, it is this one. When I got that phone call about the rumors in my college church and said, "I thought Christianity was supposed to change the world," I wasn't wrong: it is supposed to change the world. But what I didn't know at the time was that even though Jesus had gone to the Father, his presence could still be found in the poor, in the hungry, in the prisoner, in the victim, and that in serving them, I was serving him. What I didn't know is that in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, God has already changed the world.

[pastorhogg]

Texas Shooting Kills 26 at Southern Baptist Church

Tragedy at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs is deadliest attack on a house of worship in US history.

Emergency personnel respond to a fatal shooting at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

During its 11 a.m. worship service, a Southern Baptist church in rural Texas suffered not only America’s latest mass shooting but the deadliest church shooting in US history.

At least 26 worshipers, ranging in ages from 5 to 72, have died from First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, according to Texas authorities. Another 20 worshipers were injured. YouTube videos of the church’s weekly service indicate that recent Sundays drew about 50 attendees.

Among the victims, 23 died inside the rural church’s small sanctuary, 2 outside the church, and 1 at a hospital. The shooter was identified as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley of New Braunfels, about 35 miles away.

The Texas tragedy is only the 14th mass murder at an American house of worship since 1963, according to statistics compiled by church security expert Carl Chinn. It is also the deadliest shooting in the Lone Star State, taking place on the anniversary of the Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people on an Army base in 2009.

Texas governor Greg Abbott said, “The tragedy of course is worsened by the fact that it occurred in a church, a place of worship, where these people were innocently gunned down.”

“The death toll will mark this as the worst [church shooting] in US history,” Chinn told CT. Fewer than 40 percent of church attacks happen during Sunday worship or other official church events; however, Chinn said the ones that occur during services tend to be worse.

Kelley entered the church, located about 40 minutes southeast of San Antonio, after its worship service began. According to reports, he wore black ballistic gear and carried a Ruger military-style rifle.

“Violence and evil once again have made an impact at one of our churches,” stated Frank Page, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. “Innocent men, women, boys, and girls went to church to worship, pray, and study God’s word, and were met with unspeakable violence.

“Our prayers are for the people of Sutherland Springs and the people of the church,” he continued. “One does not get numb to this kind of egregious violence. God help us all.”

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association dispatched chaplains and response teams to Sutherland Springs to assist the congregation in its grief and recovery. “We pray God’s mercy and comfort on those who are grieved and those who are wounded,” stated SBTC executive director Jim Richards.

TV news anchors discussed the fact that the church posts its services to YouTube, and thus there may be a recording of the shooting that investigators will be able to study.

In a small town with a single blinking stoplight and a population of about 500, the Baptist church was located down the street from a post office and a gas station. Last week, church members dressed in costume for its annual fall festival, complete with carnival games, farm animals, and bales of hay. The October 31 event was still advertised on the marquee sign in front of the church when the attack took place.

In videos of Sunday services, a singer signs lyrics to praise songs like “Your Grace Is Enough” and hymns like “Are You Washed in the Blood?” while kids dart through the front pews. “We can bless the Lord in anytime, in happiness or in sorrow,” the guitarist tells the congregation one week. “So let’s bless him this morning.”

Last Sunday, a green Harley Davidson was parked in front of the stage as a prop for surviving pastor Frank Pomeroy’s sermon on Proverbs 3, entitled “You Don’t Need Training Wheels. You Need Christ.”

Pomeroy and his wife, who both happened to be traveling out of state, told TV news outlets that their 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, was one of the victims. Community members have begun to identify other victims, including a pregnant mother and the leader of a prison ministry known for playing his ukulele for the inmates.

Facebook users have been posting prayers to the small church’s page. One wrote:

To the martyrs of Southerland Springs [sic]: Remember God is our comfort, God is our patience. God is our refuge. We fear nothing that man can do to the body, and then have no more they can do, for we are dead, and our lives are hidden with Christ in God.

Baptist churches have suffered 345 deadly incidents since 1999, or 1 in 5 of all attacks in Chinn's database of “deadly force incidents” at faith-based sites. This is far more than any other American denomination (though not entirely surprising, as the SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the US). Chinn tallies 370 incidents at nondenominational churches, but this figure also includes attacks where he could not ascertain a targeted church's affiliation.

A previous mass shooting took place at a Southern Baptist church in East Texas back in 1980, when five worshipers were killed and ten injured by a fellow member of the church.

“Another church shooting. Lord have mercy,” tweeted Russell Moore of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

Ronnie Floyd, past SBC president and head of the National Day of Prayer, also offered his prayers. “When attacks of hate and terror happen in our places of worship, they shake us to the core,” he said. “We must beg God for his mighty hand of protection on our nation and the world. May God be with the victims of this shooting. Only God is our refuge in these times of trouble.”

“May God bring healing and hope to the church and the city,” current SBC president Steve Gaines told Baptist Press. “May God bless all the police officers serving in that area. And may God prevent further incidents like this throughout our nation in the days to come.”

Violent incidents in churches are on the rise, including high-profile shootings in sanctuaries. In September, a shooter killed one person and injured seven others after Sunday worship at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ outside Nashville.

“The prevailing problem is denial,” said Chinn. “People think, ‘It won’t happen here.’ If they were following the news, they would know it’s happening at small churches in small towns and big churches in big cities.

“The denial is worse in churches because we believe God will protect us,” he told CT. “I believe God will protect us … but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to be intentional about security.”

Chinn previously reported that 2015 marked a record year for violence on religious property or involving senior pastors, with 248 incidents and 76 deaths.

“I don’t know how many wakeup calls it will take,” he said.

The most prominent that year, of course, was the attack on Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, which set the record at the time for the deadliest church shooting in American history. (CT followed up with the families of the nine victims on the first anniversary of the shooting in 2016.)

“I would say we are at one of those critical times in church history that truly calls for prayer,” Chinn told Church Law & Tax, a CT sister publication. “I believe our churches are under attack in a way rarely seen in world history, and never before seen in American history.”

He advises all churches to train and enlist a security team, with at least one person stationed outside the church and one person in the building to keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

Earlier this year, Texas passed a law making it easier for houses of worship to enlist volunteer security guards—a policy proposed in response to the Charleston shooting. Prior to the law, which went into effect September 1, churches had to seek licensure from the state for their guards or risk fines.

Chinn said many churches may remain unaware of the policy, and many small churches lack security personnel.

“This news makes me realize how much I wish those of us teaching churches to get ready were wrong,” Chinn told CT. “When I first heard [the news] today, I wanted nothing more than to later hear it was a false report. But it is true, and there are more coming.”

Last month, CT reported on the Bible verses Americans seek most after mass shootings.

CT has previously reported how the surge in church shootings has prompted pastors to improve security, as well as how the White House taught American churches to “run, hide, or fight” when gunmen attack.

CT also reported what New Life Church did right when a gunman showed up in its parking lot, as well as how a YWAM director forgave the shooter.

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[faithfulnews]

LISTEN: Correctional and Prison Chaplaincy, Part 6 (Ordained Chaplains: Work of the Chaplain #48 with Daniel Whyte III / Gospel Light Society University)

Daniel Whyte III

Our Work of the Chaplain Passage for this episode is Matthew 18:10 which says, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”

Our Work of the Chaplain quote for this episode is from Elisabeth Elliot. He said, “The clothes we wear are what people see. Only God can look on the heart. The outward signs are important. They reveal something of what is inside. If charity is there, it will become visible outwardly, but if you have no charitable feelings, you can still obey the command. Put it on as simply and consciously as you put on a coat. You choose it; you pick it up; you put it on. This is what you want to wear.”

In this podcast, we are going through the fine book: “The Work of the Chaplain” by Naomi K. Paget and Janet R. McCormack.

Our topic today is: Correctional and Prison Chaplaincy (Part 6)

— Ministry Tasks

As educators, correctional chaplains are often called upon to teach classes or facilitate support groups. They may teach seminars on grief recovery, stress or anger management, life skills, or conflict resolution. Depending on their faith tradition, they offer scriptural instruction, catechism classes, or discipleship programs. They teach inmates how to cope with their circumstances, prepare for employment, or get training or education for new jobs or vocations. In many cases, chaplains are also educators for the institution—teaching the staff and administrator some of the same skills.

In the correctional setting, the chaplain’s role as minister may seem less critical, but many prison chaplains also have the opportunity to organize religious services. They officiate at weddings and funerals and perform liturgical duties as required by their own denominations or faith traditions. They provide individual and corporate prayer for inmates and the institution.

Correctional chaplains are also crisis interventionists. They provide a calm presence in chaos. As inmates experience bad news—rejection for parole, divorce, or other crises that disrupt their emotional balance—chaplains are called upon to provide acute psychological support. They may engage in suicide intervention or assessment of referral needs. When there is crisis in the correctional institution, the chaplain is often the reminder that God, too, is present in the chaos. Finally, correctional chaplains act as a vital advocate for the inmates and liaison between the institution and the community of faith, raising awareness about the needs of the incarcerated and their families. They advise community clergy on matters pertaining to prison ministry and promote an understanding of how to assist inmates as they make the transition into the community after being confined. However, in their work with inmates and their families, correctional chaplains must be careful not to imply advocacy in terms of lawlessness, nor may they ever give legal, medical, or psychological advice.

If the Lord tarries His Coming and we live, we will continue learning about the Work of the Chaplain in our next podcast.

————

— PRAYER —

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, here’s how.

First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9-13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

God bless.

Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.

He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.

He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.

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[dailyaudiobible]

03/31/2019 DAB Transcript

Deuteronomy 16:1-17:20, Luke 9:7-27, Psalms 72:1-20, Proverbs 12:8-9

Today is the 31st day of March. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I Brian. It's great to be here with you. I can't believe it but we’re about to end our third month of the journey this year today and this will conclude the first quarter of the year. So, well done. Look at all that has happened in three months time. We began the story in the beginning and we wound our way here and have covered some serious ground not only in the biblical narrative but also in our own hearts and we’re moving ourselves into the changing of the seasons. So, well done, well done for getting here. If you are hearing me now, chances are better than not that we’ll be talking to each other on December 31st. Well done. And the truth is, yes, we have come three months into the year, the first quarter has passed us, but oh the treasure that is out in front of us. So, let’s just take a moment here, take a deep breath and realize where we are in the year, where we are in the Bible as we take the next step forward. So, we are at the end of a month, but we are also smack at the threshold of a shiny and sparkly, new week that we’re stepping into together. This week we’ll read from the Christian Standard Bible, and we have indeed been working our way through the book of Deuteronomy. Moses is telling the people the last things that he's going to tell them and they're all important things that he feels like they must remember, or they will destroy themselves. And, so, we are reiterating and reviewing the law at this point. Today, Deuteronomy chapter 16 and 17.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this brand-new week. We thank You that this brand-new week will lead us into a brand-new month and this brand-new month will take us through the rest of the season of Lent where we are contemplating what it cost to give us our freedom. And this month will lead us to Easter where we will rejoice like never before at Your victory. So, we are thankful Father that You have brought us this far and we mark it as we have been doing all year. We take moments to look around at where we are in the year and in our lives and in Your word and we pray once again, come Holy Spirit into all the days that are out in front of us as You plant within us and make it bedrock all the days that have gone behind. Come Holy Spirit and lead us deeper into Jesus, lead us deeper into Your word, and lead us deeper into our relationship and Your work in this world. Come Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

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Ahhh, I’m just taking a moment to realize, three months, it really has gone by pretty fast and we have gone to the land of the Bible and we’ve done so much in the community and coming up just in a couple weeks is the More Gathering for women. So, we are certainly moving forward in time and moving through our year. And speaking of the More Gathering for women, today is the last day to register for the More Gathering for women and it's coming up here in a couple of…well… like a week and a half, April 11th through the 14th and this will take place in the mountains of North Georgia outside of Atlanta about an hour and you can get all the details at moregathering.com or go to dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section and you'll find the same thing and you can get all the details and we hope to see you there. But this is it, this is the last day to register for the final More Gathering that will take place in the mountains of North Georgia. And, so, speaking of kind of marking things and remembering, that's one of the things that we are doing with this More Gathering. The Lord's inviting us forward and we don't know exactly what that's gonna look like. We just know last year that the Lord was saying next year's the last year up on this particular mountain for now. So, that's all…that's it. So, hopefully you can come and be a part of this remembering so. So, yeah. Registration closes today. moregathering.com is the place to go to get the details and we do hope to see you.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link, it’s on the homepage and I thank you. I thank you humbly and profoundly for those of you who have clicked that link. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here next month.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi Daily Audio Bible family, this is Oscar out of Denver calling in. __ to say…guys I’m calling because I am reeally blessed, really blessed by God and His grace, His grace endlessly astounds me. I am currently having some issues with my wife. We’re expecting our first kid here in like anywhere from three weeks to six weeks and although my wife and I have been married for two years and change we’re sort of restless right now. We called __ with the service of chaplain with the Navy instead of the Marine core and I just feel that the enemies doing everything he can to stop that and to hinder that in and to __ our marriage. So, if you guys could just pray for unity for my wife and I that we can grow closer, that we can speak each other’s love language better and better and we can have better communication, that we can grow to be one, God as one __ that. I would really appreciate that. I know that she is the one for me, I’m the one for her. I’ve prayed for that many, many times, but I just know that there’s some barriers here that only He can break through, that only he can tear down those walls. So, I just pray for strength and I pray that these things will happen. Thank you, guys for what you do, and I will keep praying for you guys and encouraging you guys and please know that God’s got us and no matter we’re His children of the King of believers and that’s pretty awesome. I love you guys and keep being so mild to the world.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is John Corrado calling from Bethlehem Pennsylvania. It’s been just way too long since I’ve called in, but I do want you to know that I absolutely listen every single day. It’s the first thing, generally speaking, that I do when I wake up after I discover that God has granted me another day that was never promised to me and I thank Him for it and I get my feet up on a bed and so on and so forth but shortly thereafter, the good Lord willing I listen to the Daily Audio Bible and I listen intently to you all every day. And I just want to reach out today and let you all know that.  Like, every single one of your calls that come into this amazing program, this amazing platform, they’re being listen to, they’re being heard, there are people out there praying. You know that already, you hear people say that all the time. And, you know, today’s the 26th, I’m sorry…no…the 27th of March and there was a prayer that came in this morning from a woman and Chicago and your name…your name was just muddy…I couldn’t hear what it was but you were calling with regard to your son and how’s there’s just a lot of trouble and had to throw him out of the house and I just want to lift you in prayer right now. God knows your name, I don’t. I heard your prayer request and I’m praying with you. Heavenly, Father thank You so much for this day that You never promised to us. Father You are graceful, You are all grace, and You are all glorious and You are merciful and You are loving and we thank You. We thank You Father God so much for the work that You’re doing in our lives every day. The way that Your transforming us Father God. You heard our sister’s prayer from Chicago. You know the pain that she is in right now from having to turn her son away from her home Father, but You see the abuse that he’s verbally giving her his mother Father God and You know what’s right in that situation. We trust You we trust You Father God thank You for giving us the ability…

Good afternoon Daily Audio Bible. This is Scott from Alaska and I’m actually back in Alaska. Made my trip here. I’m actually about 80 miles from home overlooking a beautiful Matanuska glacier. It’s so incredible and so beautiful. An amazing, amazing story too. You know, I was thinking about what Brian said today on the podcast of we go through our desert times and then we go through our happier times or blessed times and it’s so important to remember the desert times that we don’t forget God. I don’t know about you guys but sometimes in the happy times it…well…I’m ashamed a little bit to admit it but it’s hard to always remember God. Really important when I’m in the desert times to take note of the desert time and take note of God’s provision. As beautiful as the day is today and as happy as I am, even in all of the hard times I know God has been with me just as much in the desert as here overlooking the beauty of the Chugach mountains and the Matanuska glacier. Thank you so much for keeping the podcast going Brian and I’ve been praying with all of you my trip up here and I know that some of you been praying for me and thank you very much. That’s an amazing thing with this technology that we can pray together to make this journey together. And for those of you in the desert times, well, look around at the manna that God is providing and call us back and tell us about it so we can remember and rejoice and pray with you and pray you through the desert too. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That’s all for now.

Hi DAB family it’s James here for the UK. I’m just calling back. I called you guys about a month ago to put in a prayer request for somebody called Ben. He’s a young man whose been really struggling with mental health issues and in any case the long and the short of it is this. Ben was released from the institution he was put into after a lot of time spent with myself...well…much more time spent with my friend Nigel praying with him and just bringing him to a place where he had a much better understanding of Jesus and the Christian faith, which was a huge help and we saw Ben really change over those weeks and months that he was in hospital. Ben was released from hospital and we’re not sure where he is now. So, it’s a burden on our hearts and we think he’s…he’s most probably, obviously, gone back to the old way of living but he’s someone who has such a potential in front of him and he’s such a character and he’s such a lovable person and he’s so vulnerable. And this is thing family, I don’t know want to pray anymore. I don’t know what to say. I’m not in…I just don’t know what else we can do and I just have to put all this back into Jesus hands. I hope desperately that we’ll see him again. I hope desperately that he’s okay. And I know some of you have been praying for him, you know. So, there you go. That’s my prayer request. Humbly just asking for Ben’s health, well-being, so that fundamentally there would be a change inside of him that would unlock…just unlock him from the way that he has been so tied to…

[dmmowers]

The Word Became Flesh

“The Word Became Flesh” A sermon for St. Martin's-by-the-Lake Church, Minnetonka Beach, Minnesota The Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord | December 25, 2016 | Year A Isaiah 52:7-10 | Psalm 98 | Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12) | John 1:1-14

"I don't believe in that God either." I was in a hospital room in Shakopee, working as a chaplain intern at St. Francis' Hospital a few years ago as a part of my training to become ordained, and those words came out of my mouth. Here's a little chaplain pro-tip for you in case you were wondering: when you're a chaplain and you go to visit someone, people do not expect you to say that you don't believe in God. I was visiting a fifty-something man who had come in with diabetes-related complications. He hadn't asked for the chaplain to visit, but his condition was serious and I had a few minutes, so I thought I'd just pop by. I go into the room and introduce myself as the chaplain, and immediately, the patient grimaces and says, "Well, I'll talk with you if you want, and thanks for coming by, but I don't believe in God."

Now, for most people the conversation would be over right there. Maybe I'm a little stubborn, or a little persistent, or just a bit dense, but I shrugged, pulled up a chair, raised my eyebrows and said, "Oh really? What sort of a God don't you believe in?" He was a little surprised by the question, but he went with it. "I don't believe in an old man sitting up in the clouds, blessing some people and sending other people to hell, just sitting around, doing whatever he wants while the world falls apart."

I leaned forward, looked him right in the eyes, and said, "I don't believe in that God either."

I. 

What kind of God do you believe in? My patient didn’t believe in a God that was faraway and distant. When we hear the Gospel passage for today read, it’s easy to think that distant God is what the passage is talking about. All of this talk about the Word, the Word becoming flesh, feels strange and foreign. We don’t talk like this, and so we wonder what this passage might mean. And, apart from this gospel, for a lot of people, when they think about what God is like, they think about the old-bearded-man-in-the-clouds. Or we think about our parents, especially if your parents happened to be stern disciplinarians who crushed you if you stepped out of line, and you figure that God is just that only bigger and meaner. 

We hear politicians invoke God at the end of speeches frequently, and surveys tell us that something like 80% of Americans believe in some kind of God. But that is not the same thing as believing that God became human, that Jesus – whom John calls the Word – became human on Christmas Day. If you asked the politicians who say God Bless America what they meant by that, what do you think they would say? If you polled everyday American Christians and asked them, “What are the top 5 most important beliefs that are held by the Christian faith?” How many of them would say, “Jesus Christ became a human being just like us on Christmas Day.”  

I bet that doesn’t make the top 5. In fact, twelve years ago, a major sociological survey was made of American teenagers asking about their religious faith. You might think, “Well, sure, but that’s just teenagers.” Let’s hear the top 5 beliefs those teenagers listed, and I won’t ask anyone to raise their hands, but I’d ask you to see whether you find any of these matching something that you believe.

Number one: “God made the Earth and watches over it.” Number two: "The Bible teaches that we should be good and kind to each other, and pretty much teaches the same thing as the other world religions." Number three: "God just wants all of us to be happy and to feel good about ourselves.” Number four: “God doesn’t really need to be involved in our lives unless we really have a big problem.” And finally, number five: “Good people go to heaven when they die.” 

Most of those statements are only half-true, and some of them are untrue, but these are what Christian teenagers said that their faith believed. But you’ll notice that none of them mentioned God becoming human as being important, and so they miss the point.  The central claim of Christian faith is that, without ceasing to be God, God came to the earth and became human to reach into all the places our world in order to make us whole. God came to earth and became human to bring justice to all of those who have wronged. God came to earth as an act of judgment against anything that would stand against his making the world right. Jesus making himself human remakes our world. 

II. 

Christmas morning is one of those times when we can count on seeing lots of visitors as well as lots of people who don't attend Sunday services at St. Martin's regularly. Similarly, there are a few people here who are here pretty much every Sunday. But no matter which category you might fit into, I imagine that you probably are asking yourself, "Isn't this Christmas? Where is the Christmas story? If this is Christmas shouldn't we have Linus standing up in the middle of the stage telling about angels and the shepherds and the baby Jesus?”

But instead, this morning, we read John’s account of the Christmas story. In the beginning, Jesus existed; he was with the God, and he was God. Nothing that is outside of God has come to be without Jesus - alongside his Father, Jesus is directly responsible for the creation of the universe. And then, in the very last verse of the reading, comes the stunner: the word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only Son, full of grace and truth. This is the Christmas story - Jesus Christ became human, and we have seen his glory. 

But that glory is not like any other glory that we have ever seen. When we use the word glory we think about military units parading down the street, or about Michael Jordan dunking over his much taller opponents, or about musicians who can get football stadiums full of people to chant their names. But Jesus does not come to Earth as a conquering hero. Jesus, the Word, the one through whom all things were created, comes to Earth as a tiny, crying, vulnerable baby, born to two refugees far from home, laid a camel's feeding trough. God's glory looks like Jesus setting aside everything the power to create the universe, the intimate relationship with his Father, to come to Earth to be born from a virgin mother as a baby, a tiny, vulnerable, crying baby. 

In this week's New York Times Sunday Review, columnist Nicholas Kristof asks New York City pastor Tim Keller about his own doubts in the virgin birth and the resurrection. Keller points Kristof to this very passage in John, "this taught that the power behind the whole universe was not just an impersonal cosmic principle but a real person who could be known and loved. That scandalized Greek and Roman philosophers but was revolutionary in the history of human thought. It led to a new emphasis on the importance of the individual person and on love as the supreme virtue, because Jesus was not just a great human being, but the pre-existing Creator God, miraculously come to earth as a human being." (NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/opinion/sunday/pastor-am-i-a-christian.html)

This taught that the power behind the whole universe was not just an impersonal cosmic principle but a real person who could be known and loved. And not just a real person, but a baby, snoozing against his mother's chest. And not just a baby, but a man. And not just a man, but a friend of the depressed. Not just a friend of the depressed but a fierce advocate for the poor and for every person who suffers. Not just an advocate for the poor but a friendless, abandoned criminal, executed for a crime he did not commit to conquer death, to conquer illness, to set us free from the places we get ourselves stuck in that we cannot get out of. 

Jesus came to earth as a human being and saved the world. 

III. 

And because Jesus came to earth as a human being and saved the world, we can trust him with our own lives, not because he just wants us to be happy, but because he promised to be with us and to help us become like him. 

In that hospital room in Shakopee, when I said to my patient that I didn't believe in a distant, faraway God who sits on his clouds and zaps people who arbitrarily blesses some while damning others, far removed from the pain and the chaos in our world. That is a god that we are good and right to deny. Because Jesus didn't come into our world with some buffer against the pain and the chaos: he entered into it. Just in what's written in the gospels, Jesus' friends die and he grieves, he gets angry about people taking advantage of the poor. He came as a baby, and he was just as apt to get hurt or sick as our babies, and as he grew up, he was just as apt to be stressed out and tired out and angry about how messed up the world is as we are.

But Jesus' mission wasn't limited to his own life. He rose again, and Jesus is alive, and he is just as willing to enter into our pain and chaos today as he was all those years ago. Lots of people think that they have to get their lives put together and cleaned up before they can come to trust in Jesus and follow him. But Jesus didn't enter into a world that was put together and cleaned up at Christmas. He entered into a world that was a total mess. And just like that, Jesus enters our lives not when they are put together and cleaned up, but when they are a total mess.

If we're being honest, I imagine that all of us, your preacher included, have areas of our lives that are a mess, things that we hope that Jesus will overlook or that we can hide before Jesus finds out about them. We all do things that are opposed to the saving work of Jesus, that hurt ourselves or other people, and we hope that they will somehow go away. Jesus doesn't just sit up on a cloud somewhere waiting for us to get our stuff together. If we look for him, what we find out is that in the most out-of-control part of our lives, in the part of our lives that we can't get put together for anything, Jesus is already there, in the midst of our chaos, in the midst of our pain. Jesus goes to the chaos to bring it into order, Jesus goes to the pain to bring healing, Jesus goes to those whose lives are most out-of-control and says that he loves them.

This is what the glory of God looks like. "[We see] the glory of the only-begotten of His Father, full of grace and truth. But [we see] only indirectly. What  [We see] directly is only the little child in His humanity; [We see] the Father only in the light that falls upon the Son, and the Son only in this light from the Father. This is the way, in fact, that the Church believes in and recognizes God in Christ." (Barth, CD, I/2, 125). There is no other God other than this God, who has freely entered our world to come into our pain and our chaos and to as close to us as a nursing mother to her baby. There is no God other than this God who comes to the world as a human. 

What pain do you bring with you to church this morning? Maybe it's your dysfunctional family, maybe it's aging parents, maybe it's the cancer that everybody you know seems to be catching. What chaos do you bring with you to church this morning? Maybe your life is out of control and you're drinking too much. Maybe you're going to those places on the internet where you know you should not go. Maybe you've just been dragged down by life. Jesus came to Earth on Christmas day to meet you right in the middle of the pain and the chaos, and he is faithful to keep his promise.