For Good Friday

I am Barabbas.




************************

I am Barabbas; the sinner exchanged for the Lamb of God.

I am the woman at the well; shown the grace of God.

I am the leper, healed of my sin.

I am the Centurion, whose servant was healed.

I am the adulteress, who was spared.

I am Nicodemus, seeking approval and knowledge without having to own my faith publicly.

I am the blind man, given sight.

I am the possessed man, set free.

I am the tax collector, redeemed.

I am the fisherman who denied Christ, yet forgiven.

I am the doubter, assured of my faith.

I am the woman at the cross, weeping.

I am the thief, hanging, brought into the kingdom.

I am the lost sheep, found.

I am unworthy, but loved and saved.

"Oh! divine Redeemer, out of whose inexhaustible 
fullness I would daily draw a rich supply of grace 
into my needy soul, be pleased to impart unto me 
an undivided heart; that to please You, may be my 
greatest happiness, and to promote Your glory my 
highest honor. Preserve me from false motives, from
a double mind, and a divided heart. Keep me entirely
to Yourself, and enable me to crucify every lust,
which would tempt my heart from You. Enable me
by Your grace to walk in one uniform path of holy,
childlike obedience. When tempted to turn aside to
the right hand or to the left, may I keep steadily
Your way, until brought before Your throne, I see
Your face, behold Your smile, and fall in ecstasy
at Your feet, lost in wonder, love, and praise."
- Thomas Reade: On the Blessedness of a New Heart

A Lenten Reflection The Tender Love of God

A Lenten Reflection

The Tender Love of God

"Let us be glad and rejoice and honor Him. For the
time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb,
and His bride has prepared herself." Rev. 19:7

We cannot fully fathom the deep, abiding, wild love God has chosen to bestow upon us; that from and for all eternity, Christ has chosen to view us as His bride, precious and beloved.  He woos us, cherishes us, guides us, with a tenderness unmatched in all of creation.

 "Jesus sustains no relation to His Church more
expressive than this.... He asked her at the hands of her
Father, and the Father gave her to Him. He entered
into a covenant that she should be His. The conditions
of that covenant were great, but not too great for His
love to undertake. They were that He should . . . .

assume her nature,
discharge her legal obligations,
endure her punishment,
repair her ruin, and
bring her to glory!

He undertook all, and He accomplished
all—because He loved her!
The love of Jesus to His Church, is the
love of the most tender husband. It is . . .

single,
constant,
affectionate,
matchless,
wonderful.

Jesus . . . .
sympathizes with her,
nourishes her,
provides for her,
clothes her,
watches over her, and
indulges her with the most intimate
and endearing communion."
--Octavius Winslow from "Evening Thoughts"

In this season of the church year, in such solemnity, we see the price Christ undertook for His Bride.  As He walked towards Jerusalem, as He entered to Hosannas, dined with His beloved Disciples. prayed with passion in the Garden, stood quiet as a lamb in the trial and endured the torture, nails and rough cross....He proved His love, again and again.  He saw that we, frail and weak, could not pay our fines for our many sins, and so met our obligations for us.

He could not bear to lose us, so He sacrificed Himself to assure our safety and well being.  His love, so faithful and firm, unwavering and focused, envelopes up and urges us to come ever closer to the Bridegroom who has lavished such love upon us.

Shall we not fall ever deeper into love with Him?  Shall we not lead where He so carefully guides?  He goes before us, to make clear our way and prepare a table for us, so that all of our most crucial needs are met.  He leaves us lacking nothing, for in Him is everything.  And He has given all of Himself for us, held nothing back.

In this season of Lent, He calls us to a closer embrace with Him.  He knows of our struggles, our sins and our failures....He will embrace us even with them; taking the burden off of us if only we will surrender what our fragile shoulders cannot bear. He desires that eternal union, where He who delights to love and show mercy will have us with Him forever.  If we will but answer Him and be His!

He calls to us, "Beloved, here am I..."

How can one resist such love?

On towards the Cross,

-Beth Haynes Butler​

The wedding feast! (Octavius Winslow "Evening Thoughts")

The wedding feast!

(Octavius Winslow "Evening Thoughts")

"Let us be glad and rejoice and honor Him. For the 
time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb,
and His bride has prepared herself." Rev. 19:7

Jesus sustains no relation to His Church more
expressive than this. From all eternity He betrothed
her to Himself. He asked her at the hands of her
Father, and the Father gave her to Him. He entered
into a covenant that she should be His. The conditions
of that covenant were great, but not too great for His
love to undertake. They were that He should . . . .
assume her nature,
discharge her legal obligations,
endure her punishment,
repair her ruin, and
bring her to glory!

He undertook all, and He accomplished
all—because He loved her!

The love of Jesus to His Church, is the
love of the most tender husband. It is . . .
single,
constant,
affectionate,
matchless,
wonderful.

Jesus . . . .
sympathizes with her,
nourishes her,
provides for her,
clothes her,
watches over her, and
indulges her with the most intimate
and endearing communion.

The Lord Jesus will come in the clouds of heaven,
and this will be the occasion of His public wedding
of His Church. Her present union to Him is secret
and unknown—invisible to the world. But He will
appear, openly and visibly to take her to Himself;
and before His Father and the holy angels He will
solemnize her eternal union.

Oh what a time of splendor and of rejoicing will
that be! Arrayed in His nuptial robes, Jesus will
descend to make her His own; and she, "prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband," will go forth
to meet Him. Then will be heard the song of angels,
"Let us be glad and rejoice and honor Him. For the
time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb,
and His bride has prepared herself." Yes! "Blessed
are they who are called unto the wedding feast of
the Lamb."

Did Christ exist as a real person, or is the Jesus myth true?

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Did Jesus exist as a historical figure, or was He, as some atheists and secularists proclaim today, merely a collaboration of earlier mythical figures, constructed by later people as a God to deceive the masses?

Christians will point to the Bible as a source of proof, 66 books put together over a period of 1600 years, the most complete record of a people and their beliefs that exist in scholarship.  But for those who don't want to take the Bible as evidence, the following can be presented.

Below is a collection of what historians, rulers and enemies of Christianity wrote.  It goes to reason that if even those who persecute a faith acknowledge the faith's roots as being real, the person whom the faith is based upon as actually having existed, then Christ was as real a person as any other historical figure.  His divinity is not what is being discussed here, as that comes to a matter of faith (though for those interested in exploring the matter, I suggest C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, and Lee Stroble's "A case for faith.")  These notes purely deal with whether Christ Jesus, as a person, existed in Judea at the time the Bible places Him there.



1. Josephus - a Pharisee and Jewish historian

Writing about Ananias, a high priest mentioned in the Book of Acts in the Bible, Josephus,  the most significant Jewish historian of the period wrote:
"He convened a meeting of the Sanhedrin and brought before them a man named James, the brother of Jesus, who was called the Christ, and certain others. He accused them of having transgressed the law and delivered them up to be stoned." (Josephus, The Antiquities 20.200)
The Bible teaches that Mary had other sons after she bore Jesus. One of them was James. According to the New Testament, James did not even believe in Jesus before his crucifixion. Paul, in 1 Corinthians, says that Jesus appeared to James. It seems that this made a believer out of James. This passage from Josephus confirms important details in the New Testament and directly mentions Jesus, called the Christ.
Remember that not all Jews liked Jesus, and Josephus was not a Christian. He was known as an accurate historian. We have evidence then, apart from the Bible, that Jesus really did exist as a historical person, and that some called him 'the Christ', which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word Mashiach, or Messiah.
He also wrote: Antiquities 18.3.3 Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day.

2. Tacitus - A Roman Historian
In A.D. 115, Tacitus, the most important Roman historian of the first century, wrote as follows:
"Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberias at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome ... Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty: then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind" (Tacitus, Annals 15.44)
It is clear from this passage that Tacitus was no friend of the Christians. He called Christianity a 'mischievous superstition'. But at the same time, he tells us the following:
a. Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate, who was known of to Roman historians.
This is totally consistent with the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John on this point and is in fact part of the apostles creed - an important Christian statement of faith of the early church.
b. This happened during the reign of Tiberias (i.e. a time consistent with the A.D. 33 date which is the year most likely to have been the year of the crucifixion).
c. Christ's crucifixion briefly stopped the spread of Christianity ('for a moment') but then it broke out again from Judea and spread even to Rome. Its clear that Christianity started amongst JEWS.
d. Already an immense multitude believed in Jesus by the time of Nero and were arrested for their faith by Nero.


3. Pliny the Younger
Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia,  wrote as follows to the Emporer Trajan around 111 A.D.
"I have asked them if they are Christians, and if they admit it, I repeat the question a second and third time, with a warning of the punishment awaiting them. If they persist, I order them to be led away for execution; for whatever the nature of their admission, I am convinced that their stubborness and unshakable obstinacy ought not to go unpunished...
They also declared that the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this: that they met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately amongst themselves in honor of Christ as if  to a god, and also to bind themselves by oath, not for any criminal purpose, but to abstain from theft, robbery, and adultery ...
This made me decide it was all the more necessary to extract the truth by torture from two slave-women, whom they called deaconesses. I found nothing but a degenerate sort of cult carried to extravagant lengths."
        - Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.96
This letter, this time from a persecutor of the church, shows us that the Christians by the early second century most definitely considered Christ to be a god, if not God.

4. Other Jewish Writers
The Talmud is a collection of writings very important in Judaism. It mentions Jesus, but not favorably. According to the Talmud, Jesus was a false Messiah, who practiced magic and deceived the people. He was called a sorcerer. This corroborates the accounts of the gospels that Jesus did many supernatural signs and wonders - like healing the sick, feeding the five thousand with a few loaves and fishes and so on.

5. Lucian Of Samosata
From this satirist and playwright of the second century, we have two quotes from a play entitled "The Passing of Peregrinus." The hero of the tale, Peregrinus, was a Cynic philosopher who became a Christian, rose in prominence in the Christian community, then returned to Cynicism. Lucian's attack is not so much on Christianity, but on the person of Peregrinus who took advantage of the Christians' simplicity and gullibility. [3] He alludes to Christ as
"… the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult to the world … Furthermore, their first lawgiver persuaded them that they were all brothers ... after they have transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshiping the crucified sophist himself and live under his laws." [5 p. 82] Although, Jesus isn't mentioned by name, there is no doubt that he is referring to Jesus. No one else was ever worshipped by the Christians.



CONCLUSION
If we are to believe historians and writers hostile to Christianity who lived around the time of Christ or the early church, then Jesus really did exist. Furthermore, belief in Him was so strong amongst even a multitude of people that He was worshipped as God. He did supernatural things amongst the Jewish people, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate according to Tacitus, and was believed by many to be the Christ.

If we can believe anything in history we should believe these reports by the detractors of Christianity. They effectively put to rest the ideas, popularised by some, that Jesus of Nazareth never really existed, or if he did, the stories that went around about Him and who He was were not believed until much later.


*some notes taken from christian-faith.com, as well as the Free Apologetic Society

A Lenten Reflection So what cross are you carrying for Christ?

A Lenten Reflection

So what cross are you carrying for Christ?

In the west, where it is so easy to be a Christian, most of us look blankly at the idea, surprised that there might be such a thing.  Yet, Jesus warned, over and over again that to follow Him would bring suffering, persecution, that some would die for their faith.  And in some parts of the world today...people do.  I am always humbled when reading the stories in Voices of the Martyrs, oe Church in Chains (and other agency posts)...where people are harassed, disowned, imprisoned, tortured or killed all for their belief in Christ.  And what humbles me the most is that they, the believers, think their cost to believe in Christ is cheap...for they have their eyes set, not on earth, but Heaven. 

We in the west get awfully cranky when a political decision doesn't go our way, or a store posts Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, or a tv show makes fun of Christians.  We organize boycotts, and the talking heads on tv scream about how Christian rights in America are being stripped away, and the social networks twitter and post about how bad our neighbors are for not going to our Church.  And how much filth there is on tv, and by the way, did you watch the latest episode of ....

We need to wake up.  Yes, there are elements in our country that aren't as friendly to Christians as we would like them to be...but we can still shop wherever we want, we can go to services, we can post our beliefs on the net and in books, on tv and radio.  If we don't like what a show says about us, or if it mocks our faith, we can turn the channel, and find a dozen Christian stations on cable tv.  We have it so easy here to be a Christian, that even though most of us say we are followers of Christ...we aren't.  It's just a label, membership into an acceptable club, a political action group, or just the thing to do.  We aren't carrying a cross, we aren't doing the work.  We're not on fire, heck, most American Christians aren't even smoldering.

Because if we were...if we as a nation were truly followers of Christ...there would be no need for government social programs...WE would feed the poor, shelter them and help them up to a better life.  There would be no smut on tv, because we would not watch it, and therefore the revenues would go away and the shows would go away.  Our country would not be vastly polluted, because we would take care of God's creation.  Our country would not have a 50% divorce rate (or close enough to it) because people would mean their marriage vows, work things out, stick with it and become strong family units.  There would not be domestic abuse, for husbands would value their wives as Jesus does His Church, and wives would love and cherish their husbands, not belittle them or emasculate them.  Our children would not be killing themselves out of despair and confusion.  Our faith would be a faith in action, in love, in charity, in help, in compassion.

But if you read the Bible...you know that such a perfect country, or world, will not come until Christ comes again.  That humans are too selfish and prideful and judgmental to live in that kind of peace.  That within the larger scope of those claiming to be Christian, that most will be of the apostasy, not the true remnant that really follow Christ.

Are you one of the remnant?  The beloved chosen few of God?  The ones that don't follow the pack, either the secular world we live in, or the pseudo-Christian majority in our country and world that has corrupted our faith and image.  When you see someone in need, do you help them, even if they're drunk or high, or of another faith, or of a sexual orientation you don't agree with?  Because Jesus says you should.  Do you pray, not hate, those who don't follow Christ's path?  Because Jesus says you should.  Can you be marked different than even the "normal American christian" because of your love and service to the downtrodden?  Because Jesus says you should be. 

It's hard to be different...we all want to blend in.  But the Bible calls us to be apart of the World...

"James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

1 John 2:25 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Are you set apart from this world?  Do people see you and see the love of God within you?  Does your love of God translate into compassion for the downtrodden, the weak, the poor, the lost?

In America, in the western world...I think our cross is to break away from the norm, the pack, and stand apart for God.  Do not stand with those who claim to be christian, yet teach hate.  Do not stand with those who claim to be christian, yet teach not the Word of God.  Do not stand with the secular world when it deviates from the teachings of God.  It is hard to be apart, it is hard to be different, for you will lose opportunities, you will lose some friends and alienate some family members...who just "don't get it."  They will question your faith, and therefore question you.  And that is never easy.

But will you carry a cross for Jesus, or go your own way?

On towards the Cross,

--Beth Haynes Butler 

I believe

I believe we best show Christ's love to us by showing that love to others, that we are called to be servants helping those around us. We are to show love and compassion to everyone, but to not be pulled into the World and into popular politically correct ideals and shallow behaviors. I'm not interested in the angry, political God that many Christians cling to; God is not a weapon to be wielded like a club at any and all of those you disagree with. I don't think God wants us all to be wealthy yuppie suburbanites either. I am equally uninterested in the heresy of the watered down fluffy genie style god who is only supposed to exist to give us what we ask for; that is a cheap god, a tawdry god, one who exists to make religious salesmen wealthy. 

God is so much more than that. He is immense, holy, righteous; as CS Lewis said of Aslan, "He is not a tame lion." God is not tame, not controllable, but richer, greater and more awe inspiring than we can imagine. 

He wants us to remember that He is love and that He doesn't fit in the small boxes we try and cram Him into. He's bigger than our understanding. When God says that He is love, can we even comprehend how great that love is? Can we grasp how deep His mercy goes, how far His compassion reaches? 

We're not supposed to have all the answers, we're supposed to enjoy asking the questions and learning the answers as we're ready to receive them. 

I think God wants us to see His image in each and every person we encounter; both the lovely lady at the check out line and the drunk on the street- and He wants us to love them both. He wants us to live in a world of wonder and mystery, reveling in His grace and giving that grace to others....and to ourselves. I believe it is a Christian's duty to help the poor and needy, be compassionate to the elderly and weak, to help the young succeed and to take care of the planet God has entrusted to us. 

I saw a memorial piece for a well known Christian Evangelical leader last year, written by her son, in which he described her as a paradox. Someone who was a firm believer in conservative Christianity, but who loved people with the love of the most liberal of progressive Christians.

I thought about that, and that is how I hope I am. I firmly believe in Christ, the Triune Godhead, the teachings of the Bible, the foundations of the Church. My faith isn't an abstract issue with me, it is fully part of who I am. As much a part of me as my mind, my heart or my skin. It is interwoven into all that I am.

But I have friends and family who are of other faiths, or no faith. Who have wildly different political views and worldviews. I have gay friends. And I love them all. They are all treasured by Charles and I. Our hearts and hearth are open to them, our table always has room for one more setting. We may not agree on everything, or see the world the same way on all topics, but that doesn't lessen how important they are, or how loved they are. 

This doesn't contradict my faith. My faith enhances this view. Because Christ loved all who came to be with Him, He dined and conversed with all of the people the religious establishment found undesirable. The religious establishment then, and now, neglected to recall we are all fashioned by God, in His image, and are all precious.

So my dear friends and family, as many of you already know, even if your faith, worldview, sexual orientation, politics or whatever is different than mine, that doesn't change the fact I love you and value you. My faith doesn't diminish you in my eyes, it enhances you.

May you be blessed, my friends, and may you be a blessing unto someone else,
Beth Butler

I stand unapologetically for the concerns of the very poor; for single mothers and hungry children, for out of work men and struggling fathers. For broken veterans and families just trying to get by in a country that is slowly stripping away aid for them. If we cannot, or will not, stand for the "least of these" as a country, as a community, as family units and individuals....then what have we become?

I stand for these people because they need, and deserve, voices. I stand for them because they are, by and large, good, decent, hard working, dedicated family people who are just trying to make it. I stand for them because they are made in the image of God, and deeply beloved by Him....and by me.

And I wash my hands of any political group that looks down upon them, or exploits them for political gain (which pretty much means both parties are out) and forgets these are worthy people too.

We in America look the other way so often; we blame the homeless vet on the street for lacking a home, and for self medicating his illness (both physical and mental) with whatever he can find. Forgetting the service he gave. We scorn the single mother, and blame her for abusing the system, when she is trying to feed her kids. We curl our collective lips in mockery of the middle aged or older man doing whatever work he can find, because he still needs aid on top of that to pay his rent. We cross to the other side of the road rather than face the hand out, beseeching us to do something.

Yes, there are some people that abuse the system. Fine, hire auditors to go over records, hire more social workers, manage the problem. But don't yank the rug out from under those who are really trying, and barely managing. And if you do, then don't you dare call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ.

Beth

A Lenten Reflection ‎"Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

A Lenten Reflection

‎"Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

~1 John 4:21b

Whosoever loves God MUST also love his brother. Who is our brother? When Jesus was presented with a similar question, He gave us the parable of the good Samaritan- which teaches all are our brothers, and it is he who acts in love and good faith that honors God. It is he, or she, who reaches out to the hurting person in love that is truly doing the work of God.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the "righteous" pass the wounded man on the side of the road, and it is the Samaritan (a group of people the Jews disdained and would have no contact with) that aided the wounded man and paid for his care. When Jesus asks who was the good neighbor in this situation, we all know it is the man who actually stopped and did something for the injured- the man who didn't regard race and class separations but acted in love anyway.

The verse above tells us if we truly love God we absolutely must love our brothers. Who is your brother or sister? They are not just those who go to your church, your civic clubs, your gym, your workplace. They are not just your friends and family, your social peers. Your brother or sister is the homeless man or woman down on their luck and needing help. They are the disenfranchised youth, the ones you shake your head at and wonder what this world is coming to. They are the prisoners. They are the scared and lonely seniors, abandoned in nursing homes or trying to fend the best they can in their lifelong homes now in older, not so well kept neighborhoods. They are the people of other faiths, the people of other sexual preferences, the people of other race. They are anyone God puts you in contact with. Anyone.

Each person you meet is someone God set for you to meet. You are His ambassador to them. Are you showing His love to them? You're not going to like each person you meet- we're all human and some interactions don't go so smoothly. The Bible says we must love our neighbors as ourselves, which means we are to help take care of them. Let's be honest, do any of us like everything about ourselves? I know I don't...but I still value myself, take care of myself, love myself. We all do. We all take care of ourselves even when there are traits and characteristics about us that we don't like.

In the same manner, you can not like everything about someone else, yet still love them. Love, like forgiveness, is more an action than a feeling sometimes. We show love by acting in love. You may not like how that angry teenager cusses, but treat them in gentleness anyway. You may not like how pretentious your next door neighbor acts, be friendly and kind anyway. As you find actions of love to do for someone else- everything from a smile, to a prayer, to a plate of cookies or a warm jacket- you will find the feelings will follow.

Just remember as you meet each person- this is someone God loves. God loves them so much He died on a cross for them. Ask yourself, how can I show them a fraction of His love today?

On towards the Cross,

-Beth Haynes Butler​

A Lenten Reflection Knowing the Shepherd's Voice

A Lenten Reflection

Knowing the Shepherd's Voice


"The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice." Jesus, speaking in John 10:3-4

This world is noisy, clamorous, deafening.  We drown our selves in a sea of cacophony and uproar. Even the markets and grocers have talking advertisements now, competing with the music piped in through the store, telling you what to buy, what to cook, how to look. It is not enough that when we leave our homes, we are submerged in a world of sound...when we arrive home, to what should be a haven and harbor from the world, we bring the world's noise with us.

The televisions go on, warning of crisis and doom, cackling over scandal and gossip.  How will we ever manage if we don't know what celebrity committed the latest outrageous act?  How can we ever be prepared and safe if we don't listen to serious men, speaking in grave tones, informing us about the imminent disaster? Our computers and phones beep with updates and we rush to see what the latest tidbit could be.  Sensory overload is now a normal state of being for many of us.

I am reminded, often, of the old children's story "The Loudest Noise in the World," by Benjamin Elkin. (I have loved stories since my youth, and collect old fables and tales.) It begins, "Once upon a time, the noisiest place in the world was a city called Hub-Bub. The people of Hub-Bub never talked, they yelled. They were very proud that their ducks were the quackiest, their doors were the slammiest, and their police whistles the loudest in the whole world.Their favourite song was: Slam the door Bang the floor Days we roar Nights we snore. Hub-Bub! Of all the noisy people in Hub-Bub, the noisiest was a young prince named Hulla-Baloo."

I think many of our cities are trying to become that next "Hub-Bub."  We, as a culture, delight in the myriad of shades of noise....so many people keep the discordant symphony going as long as they're awake.

What are we hiding from, under that cloak of ever present din?  What are we doing to ourselves by the constant immersion in it?

CS Lewis said "We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.” (From The Weight of Glory.)

In the quiet....in those precious times of silence...we must come face to face with our own thoughts; we are forced to look into, and touch, our soul.  So many people find their thoughts, their tangled emotions, repellent, and they dare not look too closely at matters of the soul........for there we come squarely into the realm of God.

There are many, even within the church, who shy away from coming into the quiet, into the sacred, into the presence of God. We meet both our mortality of the body and the immortality of the soul in those moments; and that terrifies some of us.

So because we are not at peace with God, not at peace with who we are or how we're living, we turn up the volume of our lives. We keep the tv blasting, the radio blaring, the computer running and our phones now connect us to everything, everywhere.

There is a danger is this, my friends....for unless you are listening, in prayer, in the chambers of your soul, as you study God's word, you will miss the Shepherd's call.  You cannot heed and follow what you do not hear....and there are wolves all around, ready to devour the sheep that fall astray.

We need times of quiet, of rest, to listen, pray, study and abide in God's word, in Christ's peace.  What will you miss with the volume so loud?

You might ask...how did the young Prince, in Hub-Bub, fare?

The boy asked his indulgent father, for a peculiar gift. "l want to hear the loudest noise in the world," answered Hulla-Baloo. "I'll tell you what I've been wanting for a long time. I want to hear every person in the world yell at the same minute. If millions and millions and millions of people all yelled together, I'm sure that would be the loudest noise in the world."

The King agreed and set out to make it happen, sending decrees and commands, so that everyone would yell at the same time. But one woman thought..."I want to hear this noise too, so I'll be quiet and listen,"...and she told her husband, who wanted to hear it too....and they told their friends, and so on and so forth.  And when the great moment arrived....no one yelled.  It was silent for the first time ever in Hub-Bub.

Except for the clapping of the young Prince.

"For the first time in his life he could hear the singing of a little bird. He could hear the whispering of the wind in the leaves, the ripple of the water in the brook. For the first time in his life the prince heard the sounds of nature instead of the noise of Hub-Bub. The prince had been given the gift of peace and quiet and he loved it!"

That boy had missed out on so much already in his life by being surrounded by constant noise.  We, my friends, can miss out on something far greater....hearing the call of our beloved Shepherd.

Take time to listen, to still yourself in prayer before the Lord.  To bring peace into your home and your soul by turning off the devices and electronics at least a little while each day. To rest and escape the clamor of the world, and to find your refreshment in the presence of Christ Jesus.

"The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice."

Do you know His voice?  Are you listening to it?

On towards the Cross,

-Beth Haynes Butler​

A Lenten Reflection The Binding of Love

A Lenten Reflection

The Binding of Love


I was skipping a bit in the Gospel reading today, looking up a passage that was quoted in another reading, when I came upon the Last Supper and "The Farewell Discourse" in the Gospel of John.  (The Farewell Discourse is the talk Christ has with the Disciples after Judas Iscariot has left to betray Him.)

Take a moment to just imagine, even a little, what it must have been like.  That last, drawn out meal which began with Jesus shocking His followers by washing their dusty, tired feet.  The food upon the laden table, with the oils and herbs, soft bread, and wine in the cups. The men reclining, talking, enjoying each other's company, hanging on the words of their beloved Master.  You can almost see it, can't you?

The Apostle John, the beloved Disciple who is thought to have been a cousin of Christ's, sets out the dialogue.  We can read the words and almost hear the tones of Jesus as He instructs (with time so precious and quickly running out), and encourages, as He attempts to strengthen and prepare them for what is to come.

As I was reading, my eyes lingering over the passages, I was caught by how much Jesus used love as a binding.  You can feel His abiding love pouring through the pages.  These men, His Disciples, given unto Him by the Father.....He knew the turmoil and tumult they'd be thrown into...He knew they'd scatter in fear, that they'd fail Him, yet He loves them anyway.  He assures them of this love, over and over again.  (How both comforting and heart breaking it would be, as one of those Disciples, to remember His words of love during and after the crucifixion..to know that you had abandoned and failed the one who loved you so...the guilt would have torn me up.  It did Peter.)

Words linger in the heart.  The memory of the words of our loved ones shape us, they help to craft our decisions and choices.  Words can build us up or destroy us; they can change our complete perspective on life. In our encounters, especially with those we love, we need to consider whether we are speaking words that bring life and encouragement to someone, or deathly wounds to their soul.

Jesus, on that last Passover, spoke words of love and life to those who had left everything to be with Him.  He bound them closer to the Father, to Himself, and to each other, by speaking commandments of love, over and over again.

Three times alone, in the Gospel of John, are we told that Jesus told them to love one another.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

"This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you." John 15:12:

"These things I command you, that ye may love one another." John 15:17

Three times!  Three times in such a heartfelt talk with the Apostles, He tells them....love one another.  And Jesus adds, "as I have loved you."

He knew in the immediate time to come, and in the years to come of persecution, jail and death, that the Apostles, His misfit band of beloved Disciples, would need to rely upon the love they bore for one another.  Just as we, in our modern age and in these troubled times, need to be able to rely upon the love and fellowship of our fellow family in Christ.  Love binds....and that is so important in these days where everything is unraveling about us.

Jesus binds them with the deep bonds of true friendship, as He tells them, "Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you. No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known unto you."  (John 15:14-15)

He binds them with the understanding that love is more than just a feeling, but that it is action.  As He loves us, He went to the cross.  As we love Him, we keep His commands. Love is a moving force, not immobile, not empty.  He has shown His love for us by redeeming us, can we not bear Him enough love to do as He commands?

Christ uses familial titles for them, another way of conveying His love, when He calls them "Little children" (Jn 13:33)....can't you hear the tenderness pouring out of those words...as He tells them that He is going somewhere they cannot follow. And their confusion is great, for they want to follow (yet Jesus knows their frail natures, fraught with fear, will override that earnest desire), and He goes on to tell them that, in the end, it will be alright. That He is going away to prepare a place *for them*, so that where He is, there they will also be.

And I'm sure, seeing their confusion, and their fear, it must have been in gentle, loving pity that He said to them, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you {will} see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." (Jn 18-21)

I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.

He doesn't forsake those He loves, He does not leave them bereft and alone.  Even now, He gives His love and peace, His promises and strength to those that love Him and call upon Him.  In our storms of life, in our struggles and burdens, when we feel most alone, He is there...Jesus does not leave us as orphans either.  For the love and tenderness He gave to His Disciples, He gives to each of us; for He has gathered us as a Shepherd searches and finds their wayward sheep, carefully bringing them back to the fold.

Bindings of love....Jesus etched those words unto the hearts of His Disciples, and if we love Him, He does the same for us. Binding us to Him, and to each other, with ever deepening cords of love.

And as He told the Disciples, on their way from the Last Supper, to the Garden, He tells us yet still, "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love." (Jn 15:9)

Just as God loves the Son, He loves us...abide in that love.


Abide, in the dictionary, is defined as:

: to remain stable or fixed in a state
: to continue in a place :

The definition I liked the best said, "to wait or remain patiently." Christ is telling us to remain in Him, in His love, in His Word, patiently, resting, continuing.

He is offering us a shelter and a peace in this life; this life where suffering comes and death awaits, where fear and confusion are all about, and we cannot handle it on our own. He tells us, "abide...live...in my love."

The love of Christ, which spans time and conquers death, calls us home.  The love of Christ, which is peace in any storm, promises us we won't be orphans without a family.  The love of Christ binds us to not only Himself, but to all those who truly love Him and seek to do His will.

May the love of Christ Jesus, who went to the Cross out of love for you and I, transform your life, not only for this season of the church year, but for now and all the time to come. May we love Him and serve Him, and love and serve one another.

On Towards the Cross,

-Beth Haynes Butler​

A Lenten Reflection As we call out, "Lord, Lord,"...what shall He respond?

A Lenten Reflection

As we call out, "Lord, Lord,"...what shall He respond?


There are a great many people who claim the Christian faith in America...though the "numbers" are down from previous decades, still the vast majority of Americans claim some faith in a higher power, and of that number, most of them claim to be Christians.

You'd never know it, would you?

 I mean, look around out our country.  The violence....on the streets and in our televisions.  The greed...where we drool over celebrities. applaud the insanely wealthy but allow veterans fighting cancer to freeze to death, and we turn a relative blind eye to the skyrocketing number of school children who are homeless.  Where movies about sex have record profits, and the issue of domestic violence is quietly moved to the side.  In our some of our churches, we preach morality and then go home and live obviously immoral lives. Our government sends troops in to questionable wars, yet allows genocides and religious persecution to occur on a regular basis without seriously taking measures to stop either.  Our elderly suffer, our neighborhoods are deteriorating, and we're all fixated on what the next tv show or sporting event is.

This is America....look around.

We're not a Christian nation, and I don't know if truly we ever were.

But we're awfully good at beating the drums of a politically infused religion and telling ourselves how wonderful and sanctified we are.  And we love soft spoken religious adages, as long as they're not too pointed...and certainly as long as they're not pointed at us.

We have left the age old message, and traded it in for fuzzy feel good salesmen, who promise to give us lives of purpose, our best lives now, and wealth just because we're good (and tithe to them.)

We, in general in this country, have fallen far away from the message Christ taught, and that the Apostles faithfully delivered.

And yet..when you talk to a person claiming Christianity in America, and you ask them about what happens when we die, if we face judgement, if there is a heaven and who is going there, their answers are full of the assurance that because they are "nice" or "good" or "really love their families and friends and tried to do good"...then they're fine with God.

Christ didn't journey to Jerusalem to be betrayed, tried, whipped and crucified to save "nice" people.

He died to save those who repent of their sins and trust and believe in Him.

Simply being nice isn't enough.  Being nice to our friends and family isn't enough.  Trying to be good isn't enough.  For none of us are righteous, all of us are lost in sin.  And only Christ Jesus can save us.

I was reading Scripture today and came again across Matthew 7:21-23.  A set of verses that should terrify lukewarm believers...I know at one time they terrified me.

"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"-- Jesus speaking.

When I was an older teenager and first really studied these verses, it kept me up at night.  "Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness?"  I pondered...."Is He talking about me?"  It led to a great delving into prayer, of examining my faith, of study of Scripture...of analyzing my life.  And ultimately, of surrendering my life and will to Him who became my Lord, not just in words, but in truth.

We can't be half hearted Disciples.....an outward profession of religion, no matter how well stated or acted upon, will bring us unto salvation.  We can fool other people, but God sees into our hearts.  He knows whether we love Him, whether we seek to do His will for His glory...or whether we have a social faith, or a political faith...or a faith we wear as a fashionable outfit.

Matthew Henry's commentary says the following on both saying *and* doing the will of the Lord:  "That it is necessary to our happiness that we do the will of Christ, which is indeed the will of his Father in heaven. The will of God, as Christ’s Father, is his will in the gospel, for there he is made known, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: and in him our Father. Now this is his will, that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. If we comply not with the will of God, we mock Christ in calling him Lord, as those did who put on him a gorgeous robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews. Saying and doing are two things, often parted in conversation of men: he that said, I go, sir, stirred never a step (Matt. 21:30); but these two things God has joined in his command, and let no man that puts them asunder think to enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Oh my friends, use this season of Lent to examine your heart and your faith.  Do not be an outwardly professing Christian who is hollow on the inside, for that shall not save you!

Christ Jesus hung upon a cross so that you might have eternal life through Him; take hold of that, cling to it, believe and trust in Him who loves you so!  Do His will with love for Him in your hearts, so that you never hear those dreadful words, "I never knew you!"

Christ paid a high price for those who believe in Him and do His will, but He will not claim those who disdained Him with their lives, and mocked Him with the professions of their lips.

As we call out, "Lord, Lord,"...what shall He respond?  What will He answer to you?

On towards the Cross,

-Beth Haynes Butler​

A Lenten Reflection Why isn't Christ enough?

A Lenten Reflection

Why isn't Christ enough?


"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" Romans 6:23.

I'm someone who can be known to run down every scenario to a possible event, over and over again in my mind.  I imagine, for good and bad, all the possible outcomes, ramifications and consequences.  This often leads me to "fret" (a nickname I was once given long ago by a dear friend), and can bring me to dread actually dealing with what is before me.  It is strange that usually facing the situation it is far less stressful than the days and hours of mental anguish I put myself through beforehand.

So I can't fathom how I would have processed that last journey to Passover in Jerusalem, if I were Christ. Each step closer to cheers of Hosanna, each dusty step closer to a betrayal, each movement bringing the farce of a trial, whips and beatings nearer and nearer.  The cross and nails just over the horizon.

The dread of the pain, both physical and emotional (betrayal is never easy, after all) would have paralyzed me. In anxiety, in trepidation and indecision.

With this facet of my character very well known to me, it makes me marvel all the more at everything Christ Jesus did; when I contemplate His journey, the last supper, the garden and betrayal, the trial and last walk....and then the Cross, I am overcome by grateful and humble thanks.  For even just the *thought* of such things freezes my soul in pain and fear....and the realization of *why* He went through it often brings me to tears.

Because it was my sin- my ever abundant, wretched sin- that my Lord took with Him to the Cross.  It was for love of me- unworthy me- that He was whipped.  It was so that I could be saved- I who deserve no such salvation- that He allowed the nails to pierce Him.

My sins meant I had earned the wages of death...yet I was not called upon to pay that penalty; my Savior stepped in and said, "No, I will bear her cost, I will redeem her. She is mine."

There are churches led by wolves in pulpits that tell us we come to services so that we can ask of God what we want; that He will make us rich if we but speak it into being.  Or those same "teachers" tell us that worship is about us, and how we are glorified in God. They have made man and man's desire the object of worship, and God simply the means to lift man up. These entertainment venues which use Christ's name as a slogan or an assurance of how this life will be great, if you just give to the salesman...I mean pastor, what you are told to give.

They have reduced Jesus to a side show and gimmick...and they sell a message of "Jesus plus."  Whether it is Jesus plus riches, or Jesus plus politics, of Jesus plus culture.....the message is always the same.....that Jesus isn't enough.

I never understood the formula of "Jesus plus...."

Because the God who loves me enough to have died to redeemed me IS enough.  I need no other reason to worship Him, no other reason to call Him Lord.  I serve Him, not out of hopes that I will get "what I want" in prayer, but because He has saved me and called me His own.

The wonder and love that a lost soul, who has been saved and made clean, for the Savior cannot be fully expressed.  One of my favorite Bible verses says it far better than I can;

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."  2 Corinthians 9:15

The love and mercy of Christ Jesus are enough.  He alone is worthy to be worshiped, and I need no other incentive to do so.....He is enough.

"By this we know love, that He laid down his life for us,..."1 John 3:16.

Charles Spurgeon, speaking on the gift of Christ to men, said this; "Look down into this abyss of love. Be you sure of this, that this depth is unfathomable! It is idle to attempt a definition of infinity and, therefore, vain to hope to declare how wide, how high, how deep, how broad is the wondrous gift of God to the sons of men!"

The deep abyss of love, beyond what men can describe, is what kept Jesus walking that journey to Jerusalem.  That love is what endured the agony of torment in the garden, the betrayal, the whips and lashes...the nails and the cross lifted high.  That love is what bore my sins, and the sins of all who belong to Him, so that we might be redeemed and sanctified by His sacrifice and death.

Is Christ enough for you?  Only if He is enough will you cling to Him with love, trust and faith.  Only if He is enough will you elevate Him to lord of your life.  He is not a gimmick, a trick, a genie or an ideal to be used to make your life what you want it to be.  He is either Lord of all of your life, or master of none of it.

Do you love and trust Him? He who bore your sins?  He who redeems the lost sheep in love?  He who is worthy of all glory, honor and praise?

Is He Lord of your life?  Is He enough?

He is for me.

On towards the Cross,

-Beth Haynes Butler​

A Lenten Reflection The Old cannot hold the New

A Lenten Reflection

The Old cannot hold the New


As I was listening to an old song/chant of the Church, titled "Bless the Lord, my Soul" (taken after the verse in the Psalms), I was pondering on today's Gospel lesson. (Mark 2:18-22)  In  the reading of the Scriptures, it tells of a conflict between the Pharisees and Christ; where they chided the Lord for not keeping their additional, man-made fasts. (The Jewish people were encouraged to fast, but the Pharisees had set aside two days a week for fasting, not required within the Law, and then expected everyone else to keep those fasts as well.)  Christ rebukes them, and by doing so, negates the authority of their self imposed doctrine.

Self imposed doctrine.

We see that a lot in today's churches, don't we?  Who can eat what, who can drink which beverage, listen to certain musics, or wear such apparel.  We even argue over what Bible translations, prayer books and hymnals are acceptable...and while we should be on the look out for true heresy....usually it is just nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking.

The more rules we feel we keep, the better a person we are than someone else. The more puffed up we are, the more assured we are of our own importance.

Ahh....self righteousness...the fruit of self imposed, or man-made, doctrine.  Evil and rotten to the core.  It may look pretty, and holy, and devout from the outside...but it is sour and bitter fruit, not fit for consumption.  Because it all springs from pride, also known as vanity...the sin for which the fallen angels were cast from heaven.

For pride, often manifested as self righteousness, says, "I don't need God.  I may like having a notion of Him around, but I don't *need* Him. I can do things on my own.  I can manage myself and that around me just as well as He can."  In the worse cases...it makes one think they are par *with* God.....thus why the angels fell.

The Pharisees of Christ's time, and of ours, excel in saying, "You must worship just as I do," (with the implication that they know God better than you could ever.)  "If you don't do things just this way, you're sinning," and they heap law upon you, until you are buried under the weight and cannot breathe.

We all have things we do, if we are truly trying to drawn near to God, to bring us closer to the Lord.  It is not wrong to choose to fast (the Bible encourages us to do so) but we don't need to make others miserable during our fast, or drag them along and force them to join us.  We may love a certain music that praises God, and it is well and good for us to listen to it then, but not to belittle others who may not choose the same style of hymn to praise with.  We may choose to eat or drink only certain foods, but it is no sin of our brothers or sisters if they eat in a different manner.

When we focus more on what divides us in the faith, rather than focusing on the wondrous beauty of Christ and His message, we don't glorify God.  When we fight over non-essential matters of faith, and try to make those into laws and burdens, we fall into sin.

For we, my friends, are not bound by the crippling weight of a law we cannot keep. (Romans 6:14)  Christ came to save us from ourselves, and our fallen nature....a nature which could not only keep God's perfect law, but certainly could not keep the myriad of laws that men added on...laws of tradition and judgement.

" Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith."  But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"-- " Galatians 3:11-13

When Christ gave Himself up to the Cross, bearing our shame and our sin, paying our penalty, He freed us from a law we could not keep.  The gentle Shepherd laid down His life for us, His wayward and stubborn sheep, knowing we could not save ourselves.

So we enter into a new covenant with the Lord, where we live by faith and we are saved by grace alone.

" For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

And it is in that new relationship, that new understanding, that we come to the second part of the Gospel reading for today, "‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wine-skins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wine-skins." (Mark 2:21-22)

Christ is telling the Pharisees and the Disciples that you cannot live the new life of the Kingdom in the old manner of a sin bound soul trying to save itself through legalism and rule keeping.  Jesus is telling them that, in essence, "here is something new, and the old patches and worn wine-skins cannot hold it."

Living by faith and grace, in trust and love, of Christ Jesus is to admit we cannot save ourselves; only He can save us.  It means we forfeit the right to pride and self-righteousness...because we are so sin-scarred that we have NO righteousness of our own...but only that which is imparted to us through Christ.  It means that we can lay aside the struggle of a life of laws that we cannot keep, and simply rest in Christ. Don't we all get weary?  Don't we all long for a safe harbor to rest in?

St. Chrysostom, writing in the 4th century, says, “The souls of some are like an old garment, an old wine-skin- not as yet renewed by faith. Not yet renovated in the grace of the Spirit, they remain weak and earthly. All their affections are turned toward this life, fluttering after worldly show, loving a glory that is ephemeral.”(ACCS, p.34)

Jesus is saying, in His explanation to His Disciples and in stark contrast to the Pharisees, there is no mixing of the old ways of legalism with the coming of the Kingdom;for salvation by grace through faith is a brand new garment, a new wine-skin that cannot be mixed with a man centered works righteousness. That the old faith of works oriented religion cannot hold, cannot contain, the grace that God is pouring upon us. Grace requires new wine-skins.

From here on out, followers of Christ will be obedient to Christ's words not out of legalism and trying to gain heaven by works, but out of love and thanksgiving to the Lord who saved us.  We know our paltry works have no righteousness of their own, they are but a mere love gift to the Savior.  And should we err, should we fall and stumble, it is the love and grace of Christ which picks us up again.

Are you trying, my friends, to live a new life constrained by old laws and routines?  Is your faith life a struggle because you feel you have to earn your place? Are you trying to appease a self of imposed extra laws that are drowning you in feelings of inadequacy?

 The old wine-skins, with their patches, will burst and leave you hollow and drained....trade them in for a new life in Christ Jesus.

On towards the Cross,

-Beth Haynes Butler​

A Lenten Reflection Where did Christ find you?

A Lenten Reflection

Where did Christ find you?


Today's Gospel reading (John 1:43-51) tells of how Philip and Nathanael (also called Bartholomew) were called as disciples to follow Christ.  As I was reading the passage over with my husband Charles, a certain line kept catching my eye:

"The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, 'Follow me." (John 1:43)

Found and Follow.

Notice that Philip didn't find Jesus, but that Jesus found him.  Many scholars believe that Philip probably knew Andrew and Simon Peter, they lived in the same village after all.  For whatever reason Andrew did not think to bring Philip to Christ (it is thought by theologians that Philip was a quiet, thoughtful man...perhaps easily overlooked by others)....and Philip had not sought out Christ on his own accord.

Yet the Savior sought Philip out...He found him. Where, it isn't clear. We don't know if Philip was listening to John the Baptist teach (remember Andrew had been John's disciple before becoming the first of Christ's)....or if Philip was down by the fishing boats, maybe repairing nets. Perhaps he was reclining on a stone wall and eating lunch...we just don't know.  He was, most likely, just engaged in the process of living his every day life.

And then Jesus found him.

Everything changes when Jesus finds us, doesn't it?  Nothing is ever the same again once we've truly encountered the Lord.

Then Jesus said to Philip, "Follow me."

The mark of being a disciple of Christ is that of "are we actively following Jesus?"  Are we learning from Him, doing His bidding, keeping His commandments.  Are we living within His love and sharing what has been given with us to a lost and needing world.

So what did Philip do? He got up and followed Christ.  Not only that, but in the same narrative, we learn that Philip goes to his friend Nathanael and tells him, "'We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth."

(It is of note that Philip was so well acquainted with the Scriptures that he could tell that Jesus was the one foretold about by Moses and the Prophets....by being knowledgeable about God's Word, he was prepared when Christ called him. Are we keeping ourselves properly prepared to do God's work by immersing ourselves in His Word?)

Something in Philip's encounter with Jesus was so moving, so life changing, that he left what he was doing and followed Jesus; and he was so excited about it, he went and told his friend that same say. He didn't wait, he didn't postpone, he didn't keep this news to himself...he had to share it, and quickly.

When was the last time you were so excited over what God was doing in your life, or the lives of those you love, that you went and shared the Good News?  Philip didn't even wait a day before he had to tell someone!  How many of us are stuck in our daily lives, and while we keep the Gospel to ourselves, we haven't allowed it to fully infuse our lives, nor that of the lives around us?  How many of us are sitting on that life-giving news of the Gospel, while the lost languish all around us?

Jesus found Philip, and nothing was ever the same again in Philip's life.  Where did Jesus find you?  A call from Jesus changed everything for Philip.....what has knowing Christ changed in you?

On towards the Cross,

-Beth Haynes Butler​

A Lenten Reflection Hearing the Call

A Lenten Reflection

Hearing the Call

In today's Gospel reading (John 1:35-42), we are given a glimpse in how the first of the Apostles came to follow Christ.  Two of John the Baptist's disciples saw Jesus and heard John say, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" With that, they followed Jesus to learn more about Him.  Later, one of them, Andrew, would run to his brother Simon (who Jesus would rename Peter) and exclaim, "We have found the Messiah!"  And with that, Andrew took Simon Peter to Christ.

Do you remember when you first fell in love with the Lord?  Did you grow slowly in faith, perhaps raised in the Church and the decision to call Jesus "Lord" awoke after time in your heart?  Was it a sudden meeting, at a camp or through a service?  Did a friend or family member first tell you about the Messiah? Maybe it was after a long dance with the Lord, deciding if you believed or not, and is He the Lord of your life or not, before, like CS Lewis, you gave in and admitted "that God is God."

We all have our own stories, maybe similar yet uniquely our own, for Christ beckons each of us to a personal relationship with Him.  The Apostle Andrew's meeting with Jesus was different than his brother Simon Peter's, yet Christ drew them both to Him.  Just as He drew me, and you, and beckons yet to those who will come.

Sometimes though, after we've walked with the Lord for a while, we start to get immersed in our own lives. It is easy to do, we all have so much going on. Life is hectic, with families, work, health, friends, hobbies, etc.  Our days and weeks fill up very quickly. And in our busyness, we often forget to stop and listen for the small, still voice of Christ, who calls to us still.  He wants us to spend time with Him, in prayer, in reading His Word, and in doing His work.....He wants to give us His peace, His comfort, and His love.

But we have to be listening for Him to hear that call.  We have to be spending time with Him to really know Him.  So this Lent, this holy season of the Church year, I urge you, my friends, to set time aside each day to listen to Christ, and to go to Him in prayer.  To set aside time for extra Bible reading and to immerse yourself in His Word. To remember that He walked that long road to Jerusalem and Calvary, to the Cross, out of love for you and I.....it isn't too much then, is it, to love Him and return to Him daily with our whole hearts?

On towards the Cross,

-Beth Haynes Butler​

A Lenten Reflection, Taking up our cross

A Lenten Reflection

Taking up your cross

One of today's Lenten Scripture readings for the Gospel was the following:

"Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?” Luke 9:22-25

Jesus knew the fate He was journeying towards on the road to Jerusalem for that last Passover with His Disciples; He was aware of the literal Roman cross that awaited Him, the betrayal, the death and that He would be raised on the third day. He knew of the pain to come, and yet walked onward, for glory of the Father and the redemption of the lost.

How He must have valued us then (as He does now) to have kept taking step after step along those dusty, ancient roads!

The dread of something can be almost as bad as the experience itself; and while we know Jesus would ask His Father in the garden if there was anyway for the cup to be taken from Him (showing a dread of what was to come)...we also see Him bending Himself to the will of His Father and going willingly to bear the cross that awaited.

How often do we take up willingly the trials and burdens in our lives....and how often do we try and avoid them?

Christ tells us in the passage above that we will have to take up our crosses and follow Him, and if we should lose our lives for His sake, then we shall save our eternal lives. But if we play it safe, if we avoid the cross in order to preserve our lives in the state in which we want to live, we will lose the life that truly matters....the life to come.

Some of us, in the Christian family, will be called literally to take up our crosses and lose our lives for the Lord. How many are martyred around the world in the name of Christ? How many are prisoners in political jails because they will not refute His name?

We forget, often, here in the West the dangers that come with belonging to Jesus. Christianity is the most persecuted faith in the world. 11 Christians, on average, die every hour for their faith, and it is increasing. (Links below post) In many places in the world, to chose to follow Jesus, to become His Disciple, is to literally put your freedom and your life at stake; and people do so. The call, love and message of the Gospel is so powerful, the moving of the Holy Spirit is so great, that our brethren in those countries would rather face death than give Jesus up.

Their faith and lives humble me.

We are not in the position yet, here in the West, of facing any great persecution. We can live where we want (as long as we can afford it), we have schooling available, medical available, we can buy and trade freely for the most part, we can worship in gatherings in Churches and homes, and we can wear our Christian apparel. We're not being rounded up, locked up, tortured and killed because we own a Bible or wear a cross necklace.

And that security is lulling us to sleep.

We're closing our eyes to what is happening in the far reaches of our world, to our family. We're waiting on politicians to decide if matters are important enough for our government to intervene, instead of gathering in masses to protest, and flooding our "public servants" with so many cries for action that they can't ignore us. We think about getting involved, but you know...we're so busy with work, and the kids' sports, and movie night out with the girls or poker nights with the guys, and then, you know..our favorite tv show is on, and then the day is over. Maybe tomorrow...maybe tomorrow we'll have time to care.

And 11 more Christians die each hour while the "faithful" in the West go about their busy lives, and listen to music they shouldn't, read trashy books, watch tv shows that aren't fit for Christian consumption, and try and justify why we're spending money at the movies watching ungodly crap in the name of popular culture and self indulgence.

Harsh? Only if you're denying God's authority in your life by trying to be of the world and of God at the same time. You can't do it, you have to belong in one camp or another.

" Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[a]—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." 1 John 2:15-17

"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." Jesus, speaking in Matthew 12:30.

We in the Western world have our own crosses to bear, and we can bear them well for Jesus if we choose to do so. The first is being a deliberate, loving, godly Christian in our increasingly secular society. Doing so will cost you some worldly friends, it may cause you to be ridiculed, you may lose a promotion or even a job over it. True faith will cost you something; if you've never suffered or lost anything for the sake of Jesus, examine your faith and see how alive it is.

Paul says, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). True faith will cost you. There are no exceptions.

But if we face ridicule, persecution, and loss due to being faithful to Jesus, let us do so with grace and rejoicing. Christ did not bear His cross for us begrudgingly, so let us not moan and whine, be bitter and angry over what we do for Him. We act out of love for Jesus, and who wants to give with a stingy soul? If we do so, the gift is lessened. But if we bear our crosses with rejoicing, if we serve with a glad heart, then Christ is glorified through us.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Jesus speaking in Matthew 5:1-12

We have other crosses as well; each of us has something we struggle with or suffer from. (Sometimes multiple items.) Be it our own health, or being a caretaker to an ill loved one; we can do our duty, shouldering our cross, with a cheerful heart and a loving manner. Maybe you have a job that you don't like, but must be done; shoulder your cross and do it as though working for God. (Colossians 3:23-24) Maybe it is a habit, addiction or pattern of behavior you are struggling with; fight the battle to be free of the destructive issue, praying and trusting in Christ, and giving Him the glory for helping you through. We all have struggles, crosses, but if we choose to live for Christ, and to bear all things for His sake and to follow Him where He leads us, then His name in honored.

"Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me." Philippians 2: 14-18

We are all called to live a life for the Savior who redeemed us by His blood and love; we may not be called to literally lay down our lives like our brothers and sisters in the faith in far off lands, but we can still choose to bear whatever crosses are in our lives with the love we bear for Christ. We can pour out our lives before Him, in what we say, in what we do, in how we live.

And no matter how small, or great, your personal cross to bear is, remember that Christ Jesus, who suffered and bore our sins for us upon the Cross, will not let us suffer alone. He is with us in the storms, He guides us through the paths of this life, and will not forsake us, no matter how dark the night or great the trial.

If He can, and does, love us so deeply, will we not choose to live for Him?

On towards the Cross,

-Beth Haynes Butler

Links about Persecution and Christianity

http://www.independent.co.uk/…/christians-the-worlds-most-p…

http://www.religionnews.com/…/persecution-christians-reach…/

http://www.pewforum.org/…/religious-hostilities-reach-six-…/