My Sunday Scripture 2009.12.27
Every year his parents used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover.
When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual.
When the days of the feast were over and they set off home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it.
They assumed he was somewhere in the party, and it was only after a day's journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances.
When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.
It happened that, three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions;
and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies.
They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, 'My child, why have you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.'
He replied, 'Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?'
But they did not understand what he meant.
He went down with them then and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority. His mother stored up all these things in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people.
Luke 2:41-52
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My Reading Notes:
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The question is: How important is a family? Is the family superior to everything?
or, something more important are superior?
It is obvoius that the love of God, and the love of all are more important. And this is the very basic difference between the Confucius thought and a Christian.
In Confucism, the value of a hierarchical system is most important. And that would lead to the suffocation of truth, because the criterion to truth had been put in the hands of the authority.
2009年12月26日 星期六
2009年12月18日 星期五
Do You have the Blessing
My Sunday Scritpture 2009.12.20
Mary set out at that time and went as quickly as she could into the hill country to a town in Judah.
She went into Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.
Now it happened that as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
She gave a loud cry and said, 'Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord?
Look, the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy.
Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.'
Luke 1:39-45
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My Reading Notes:
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This is one of the most interesting stories from the Bible. An ordinary girl Mary had been, but suddenly she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus.
All of a sudden, she was blessed with the good will of the Heaven.
and with a sword, too.
She was destined to suffer the lost of her child.
One would admire her of her way to receive God.
And one would also had to have some wisdom to understand that by taking up the important task, she must also suffer.
No other suffer could be bigger then the suffer she had.
To compare with her, we are but small creatures.
Mary set out at that time and went as quickly as she could into the hill country to a town in Judah.
She went into Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.
Now it happened that as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
She gave a loud cry and said, 'Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord?
Look, the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy.
Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.'
Luke 1:39-45
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My Reading Notes:
------------------
This is one of the most interesting stories from the Bible. An ordinary girl Mary had been, but suddenly she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus.
All of a sudden, she was blessed with the good will of the Heaven.
and with a sword, too.
She was destined to suffer the lost of her child.
One would admire her of her way to receive God.
And one would also had to have some wisdom to understand that by taking up the important task, she must also suffer.
No other suffer could be bigger then the suffer she had.
To compare with her, we are but small creatures.
2009年12月12日 星期六
HE will give us the Holy Spirit and Fire
My Sunday Scripture 2009.12.13
When all the people asked him, 'What must we do, then?'
he answered, 'Anyone who has two tunics must share with the one who has none, and anyone with something to eat must do the same.'
There were tax collectors, too, who came for baptism, and these said to him, 'Master, what must we do?'
He said to them, 'Exact no more than the appointed rate.'
Some soldiers asked him in their turn, 'What about us? What must we do?' He said to them, 'No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!'
A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to wonder whether John might be the Christ,
so John declared before them all, 'I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing-fan is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.'
And he proclaimed the good news to the people with many other exhortations too.
Saint Luke 3:10-18
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My Reading Notes:
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In the kingdom of heaven, we wash ourselves not with water, but with fire.
We wash the flesh with water, but clean the soul with fire. When we can see deep into our sin, we had washed our soul with fire: the fire HE had given us.
And the clean souls could proceed. They could march ahead, with a Holy Spirit, they are free and they can go anywhere.
When all the people asked him, 'What must we do, then?'
he answered, 'Anyone who has two tunics must share with the one who has none, and anyone with something to eat must do the same.'
There were tax collectors, too, who came for baptism, and these said to him, 'Master, what must we do?'
He said to them, 'Exact no more than the appointed rate.'
Some soldiers asked him in their turn, 'What about us? What must we do?' He said to them, 'No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!'
A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to wonder whether John might be the Christ,
so John declared before them all, 'I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing-fan is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.'
And he proclaimed the good news to the people with many other exhortations too.
Saint Luke 3:10-18
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My Reading Notes:
--------------------
In the kingdom of heaven, we wash ourselves not with water, but with fire.
We wash the flesh with water, but clean the soul with fire. When we can see deep into our sin, we had washed our soul with fire: the fire HE had given us.
And the clean souls could proceed. They could march ahead, with a Holy Spirit, they are free and they can go anywhere.
2009年12月5日 星期六
A cry from the desert
My Sunday Scripture 2009.12.6
In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar's reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the territories of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
and while the high-priesthood was held by Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah, in the desert.
He went through the whole Jordan area proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the sayings of Isaiah the prophet: A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight!
Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be levelled, winding ways be straightened and rough roads made smooth,
and all humanity will see the salvation of God.
Saint Luke 3:1-6
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My Reading Notes:
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I have been reading Al Gore's book recently. He said the Founders of America had put "faith" and "reason" in an opposite direction. He mentioned the idea from the founders of the States, that America is not a Chiristian country, nor it a Jewish or Mohamedan country. By putting the same importance to different sects, they had eliminated the religious power in the country. May be it is due to this idea, that the American people had given "reason" ultimate importance. They thought reason is the opposition of faith. However, we from the far east can see that, the balancing power of reason is spirit, not faith.
A country with high reasoning power, but lacking a spirit to balance it, is bound to have problem. This is the real problem of America, not terrorism.
What is a "spirit"? Is the "American Spirit" a spirit?
No. American Spirit is but the conclusion of some "reasoning power". It is a theory.
We can see that a spirit is coming from within, it is from the mind, it is life force, it is religious, but not necessary a religious doctrine.
In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar's reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the territories of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
and while the high-priesthood was held by Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah, in the desert.
He went through the whole Jordan area proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the sayings of Isaiah the prophet: A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight!
Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be levelled, winding ways be straightened and rough roads made smooth,
and all humanity will see the salvation of God.
Saint Luke 3:1-6
-------------------
My Reading Notes:
-------------------
I have been reading Al Gore's book recently. He said the Founders of America had put "faith" and "reason" in an opposite direction. He mentioned the idea from the founders of the States, that America is not a Chiristian country, nor it a Jewish or Mohamedan country. By putting the same importance to different sects, they had eliminated the religious power in the country. May be it is due to this idea, that the American people had given "reason" ultimate importance. They thought reason is the opposition of faith. However, we from the far east can see that, the balancing power of reason is spirit, not faith.
A country with high reasoning power, but lacking a spirit to balance it, is bound to have problem. This is the real problem of America, not terrorism.
What is a "spirit"? Is the "American Spirit" a spirit?
No. American Spirit is but the conclusion of some "reasoning power". It is a theory.
We can see that a spirit is coming from within, it is from the mind, it is life force, it is religious, but not necessary a religious doctrine.
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