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DEacon Don Griffith

Law of the echo

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A woman was paging through the morning paper. Suddenly her eyes fell upon an ad in the personal column. It read: “Are you lonely, depressed, or desperate? Call 239-4305 and just listen.” Out of sheer curiosity the woman went to the phone and dialed the number. A pleasant voice answered and said: “Know that wherever you find yourself there also you will find God. God is within you. You are never alone. No matter where you are or in what situation you find yourself. God is always there to help you.” The voice then went on to talk about the “law of the echo.”

The apple tree

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There’s a short story by Richard Pindell called “Somebody’s Son.” It opens with a runaway boy, named David, sitting by the side of a road. He’s writing a letter home to his mother. The letter expresses the hope that his old-fashioned father will forgive him and accept him again as a son. The boy writes:

I am third

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Gale Sayers, who played with the Chicago Bears back in the 1960’s, ranks among the greatest running backs in the history of professional football. Around his neck he always wore a gold medal about the size of a half-dollar. On it were inscribed three words: I Am Third.

The Universal Christ Part II

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In the beginning, with the prologue to John’s Gospel (John 1:1-11), John is not talking about Jesus; he is referring to Christ. The Logos is the inner blueprint.

‘Not seven times, but I tell you 77 times’

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In case you have not noticed, Christianity is a religion in which the sinners have all the advantage. They can step on your feet fifty times, and you are supposed to keep smiling. They can talk bad about you every time you leave the room and it is your job to excuse them with no thought of getting even. The burden is on you, because you have been forgiven yourself, and God expects you to do unto others as God has done unto you.

In all the gospels, only two women make him change his mind

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Matthew’s account of Jesus’ public ministry confines him to the territory of Israel, the immediate object of his mission.

Jesus declares more than once that his God-given mission is “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In this instance, when Jesus approaches the northern border of Israel with that of Tyre and Sidon, things change. A gentile woman crosses over the border and pleads with Jesus to heal her ill daughter.

The end time

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In reading Matthew’s Gospel, it is a huge help to know he is writing for the Jews, but applicable for all. In his Gospel, a series of amazing signs accompany the death of Jesus. Darkness comes over the whole land for those hours from noon until His death. (Matthew 27:45)

The veil of the Temple sanctuary tears from top to bottom (Matthew 23:51), an earthquake fractures rocks and opens the tombs of the Saints outside of Jerusalem (Matthew 27: 51-52). The bodies of the dead are restored to life, and they make their way to Jerusalem and appear to many. (Matthew 27:53)

What are you looking for? Whom are you looking for? What are you living for?

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So we ask, what gives my life meaning? What is my focus? Two very important questions. How so? Our lives are shaped by the end one lives for. It has been written, that in the measure we desire him, we will find him. The things we love tell us what

Forgiveness

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Forgiveness is the beginning, the middle, and the end of the whole Gospels.

Forgiveness received and given breaks our meritocracy of quid pro quo thinking. Apparently hate is here to remain. Jesus obviously saw our need to be saved from our hates we harbor towards one another. First he had to expose the lie and illusion of hate, then love could show itself—and it did. How so?

He not only gave us textbook answers, but he personally walked through the process and said, “Follow me.”

Oh yes, the Jonah story

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The Assyrians were mean, violent, nasty and oppressive. They made life miserable for the Israelites year after year. Jonah was an Israelite and Jonah is told by God to take a message to the great city named Nineveh in Assyria. Jonah reflects— Assyria—our hated enemy and you God want me to go to the center of the beast and do something good for them? Seriously? No way!