Sprague Hall, Cape Elizabeth
Picture by Richard Sawyer
Our Blog is inspired by The Holy Spirit.
Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Lent
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
Emphasis mine Psalm 145:8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18
We decided to take out the repeating response, and just print the psalm to see how it would flow and I Love it.
The Lord is gracious and merciful. I recently read from Fr. Richard Rohr, that many, and at one time I, early in my life, didn’t fully believe God was gracious and Merciful. Read the Old Testament. God commands the Jewish people to kill all men, women and children of conquered countries.
When I first read this I was shocked, this wasn’t the God I thought I knew.
Once again, we have started reading the Old Testament. What jumped out at me was the people God told the Jewish people to wipe out were the people who refused to let the Jewish people pass through their lands on their forty years journey. Moses said they would not pass through field or vineyard and pay for the water they drank from a well. That they would walk along the King’s highways, not turning to the right or to the left, until they passed through the territory. They said, “No!.”
The countries they wiped out were these countries.
A few days ago we read Deuteronomy 28, 29 and 30.
Remember, reading three chapters a day of the Old Testament, 1 Psalm or Proverb, and 1 Chapter in the New Testament, and you will read the entire Bible in a year.
In chapters 28, 29, 30 of Deuteronomy, God clearly lays out what will happen if the Jewish People obey God’s Commandments, and what will happen if they don’t.
What will happen if they do is “Fantastic,” and if they don’t, “hell”.
A person emailed me, who is in a lot of pain, and they wanted to talk about the Iran war. We asked her, “How is being concerned about the war helping you to solve your pain problem?” Answer, it didn’t help her pain problem. In fact, as she thought about it, it could have made it worse. Question, who wants you in more pain, God or satan? She answered satan.
We next suggested, “Get satan out of your life and live in the Spirit of Truth, and grow in the Love, Joy and Peace of the Holy Spirit, and that will help reduce your pain even more.
She agreed, and hopefully she is experiencing some relief from her pain because The Lord is gracious and merciful.
The three chapters were being lived in her life, and at this moment in her life she chose satan, and sadly we all do it.
If you really want to make a difference in this war, PRAY!
Pray psalm 91 that all of our troops will get home safely, pray that ALL who die will go to Heaven. I, yes I, have finally come to the conclusion that God loved everyone into life, for a purpose that I don’t know or understand, and I have faith that God will judge everyone fairly.
I recently learned that over one million Iranians have converted to Christianity. Prayers work!
I refuse to be the person that in prior wars knew who was good and who was evil. That’s God’s job, not mine.
These can be tough times, but if we let God take over our lives, these can be the best of times. Just like the Jewish people four thousand years ago, we have to make a choice.
Prayer:
If you want to grow in Love, Joy and Peace, this is a result of growth in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
Fr. Richard Rohr opened my eyes this morning when he talked about Original Sin. We will paraphrase what he said.
In Genesis God says that what He created was “Good” five times and “Very Good” once.” Genesis 1
Adam and Eve ate the apple from the tree of knowledge of Good and evil, and sinned.
Saint Augustin in the fifth century put forward the concept of “Original Sin.” Original sin was passed down to us, and the churches changed from emphasizing the Good to the evil. This is, in fact, a very merciful teaching. Knowledge of our shared wound ought to free us from the burden of unnecessary and individual guilt or shame and help us to be forgiving and compassionate with ourselves and one another. CAC Daily meditations 3/9/26
Fr Rohr, next wrote we have to get out of our negative and exclusionary thinking, and start with a positive attitude towards humanity, and ourselves.
As I read what Fr. Rohr wrote, I realized, (The Holy Spirit) that this is what we have been writing about for the past four years.
Control what you can control, and let God take care of the rest.
Easy!
And,
What you control is your relationship with God!
Please read the three chapters in Deuteronomy and live a life filled with Love, Joy and Peace.
Picture:
Sprague Hall has always been an historic part of Cape Elizabeth reflecting strength and endurance
Picture by Richard Sawyer
Please keep Snapping!
And if you want the ten calling cards shown above, email me and I will send you my address, send me a STAMPED self-addressed envelope and I will send you ten cards.
The offer for the cards is for American readers only. The Post office won’t accept foreign stamps.
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed.
Send an email to: fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, please do not include people. We have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
