After the Angels – First Worshipers

Merry Christmas Dear Reader,

Arriving at Bethlehem and finding a place to birth the child is accomplished.  Then we learn what the first order of business is to the Father.  He sees to it the birth of the Son is announced.

The angel tells the shepherds.  The shepherds leave their livelihood to see the child.  They come and worship him.  They are the first to know that their Messiah has come.  The sign is a swaddled child laying in an ox trough in a cattle shed. 

Do we ponder how important it is that the first thing the Father wished was for the Son to be seen and acknowledged as Messiah?  He chose a small place.  He chose humble workers.  Still the event was worthy of an angel Choir and immediate worship.

We forget, I think, that this Son of God is the Son of God sent to redeem us.  He is here, God with us to bring us back into harmony with the Father.  The events that will unfold are already known by the Father who sends him.  While there is time he wants his Son worshiped.   All too soon the real work will begin.  For now, however, we take a beat to celebrate the Child who is the Light.

Celebrate the Child – Michael Card

Celebrate the Child who is the Light

Now the darkness is over

No more wandering in the night

Celebrate the Child who is the Light

You know this is no fable

Godhead and manhood became one

We see He's more than able

And so we live to God the Son

Celebrate the Child who is the Light

Now the darkness is over

No more wandering in the night

Celebrate the Child who is the Light

First born of creation

Lamb and Lion, God and Man

The Author of Salvation

Almighty rapped in swaddling bands

Celebrate the Child who is the Light

Now the darkness is over

No more wandering in the night

Celebrate the Child who is the Light

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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The Road to Bethlehem – Angels Sing

Merry Christmas Dear Reader,

Remember at the beginning of our journey I asked you listen to song within the silence.  I asked you to see an angel dancing in the air.  This idea of angels singing transports me to the fields outside Bethlehem. 

I ponder too little what it means that Jesus mildly lays his glory aside; that the Godhead veils himself flesh; that deity incarnate walked among us.  He did this to heal our souls.  He does this to defeat death by dying.

As I keep saying we cannot celebrate the baby without knowing that the man will be crucified.  We celebrate the incarnation.  The angels celebrate its purpose.  They herald the birth knowing why their most beloved takes on flesh.  They obey without question the Father’s will.  They will watch over him until the moment when they are commanded to leave his side momentarily.

God and sinners (read all of us) must be reconciled.  We approach the celebration of the place, the day, and the moment when that became possible.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing – Amy Grant

Hark the herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild

God and sinners reconciled"

Joyful, all ye nations rise

Join the triumph of the skies

With the angelic host proclaim:

"Christ is born in Bethlehem"

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored

Christ the everlasting Lord!

Late in time behold Him come

Offspring of a Virgin's womb

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see

Hail the incarnate Deity

Pleased as man with man to dwell

Jesus, our Emmanuel

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings

Risen with healing in His wings

Mild He lays His glory by

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Entertaining Angels – Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

Christ followers often test as paranoid on most large psychology tests.  We believe we have an unseen enemy.  We believe an invisible force is controlling things.  We believe we are always being watched. 

All these things are true.  We need to treat the beings we see well for the sake of doing that.  We also need to do it because there is a vast sea of others watching us.  God gave his best for us to have life.  He let his Son die.  The rest of sentient creation watches to see what we do with this. 

What this leaves me with is yet another reason to be kind to others.  It leaves me with another purpose to obey the commands to love God and love my fellow humans.  It keeps coming back to this.  If I am to love God properly I have to love all humans including strangers.

I have to remember that all this is for God’s purposes.  He is unfolding his universe in the way he wishes.  I get to play a part but it is the part I am assigned.  He even lets me have the choice on how I play it.  I have control only over my choices.  It is the choice to love others unconditionally that gets me into the right place. 

“Be careful how you treat strangers.  Some had entertained angels without knowing it.”  You see they long to look into why God would pay for the party with his dearest blood.  They count on us to help them understand.  After all even though it is not about us, God made about us by doing just that.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Entertaining Angels – He Must Increase

 Greetings Dear Reader,

When John the cousin of Jesus compared his role to that of Jesus he made it clear.  He made it clear that he must decrease and that Jesus must increase.  Again the angels watch us to see which side of this we take.  We are required to put Jesus at the forefront. 

This does not mean in name only.  It means in action.  Everything thing we do that is good must be in effort to show Christ to others.  We do not feed the hungry just because they are hungry.  We feed them to increase awareness of Christ.   We do not care for the poor just because they are poor.  We care for them because it is Christ in us that is to care for them. 

It is reason of that there are people in need to meet those needs.  As a Christ follower I am to do so as my way of showing Christ to others.  It is Jesus is that it is about.  It Jesus who saves, nourishes, heals, and feeds.  It is in him that we live and move and have our being.

In light of that my actions are required to show Christ.  My actions are required to put him at the forefront.  I am to live out the Gospel in every act.  I must not use it for my own purposes.  I must not neglect it in any area of my life.  He must increase to the point where I am consumed.  It sounds obsessively radical but that is the way it works.  After all it is not about me.

Distressing Disguise – Michael Card

He is in the pain, He is in the need

He is in the poor, we are told to feed

Though He was rich, for us He became poor

How could He give so much, what was it for?

In His distressing disguise

He waits for us to surmise

That we rob our brothers by all that we own

And that's not the way He has shown

Every time a faithful servant serves

A brother that's in need

What happens at that moment is a miracle indeed

As they look to one another in an instant it is clear

Only Jesus is visible for they've both disappeared

He is in the hand that reaches out to give

He is in the touch that causes men to live

So speak with your life now as well as your tongue

Shelter the homeless, take care of the young

In His distressing disguise

He hopes that we'll realize

That when we take care of the poorest of them

We've really done it to Him

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Entertaining Angels – Control

Greetings Dear Reader,

We think we control our destiny.  We control our choices.  That in part leads to the unfolding of our destiny.  It is not, however, the focal point.  We focus on our rights, what we are owed, and what we want the world to look like. 

I have spent too much of my life trying to shape the world to be as I wished it.  When I stopped doing that living became much more enjoyable.  Beyond that I have realized how little I can control.   God has made is clear that everything is under his control.  It has become cliché to say it but he does have a plan.

As discussed over the last couple of days I am a single piece of the multidimensional chess game.  We all are.  The problem is that we all think we are the king or queen.  The billions of pieces are moved in harmony in a grand design.  The only purpose that we have been given for that design is to bring us back to good.

We think we are there but we are so far from it.  There are so many things that distort our view.  So many things we assume that we just do not know.   All the universe moves back toward what its Creator wishes it to become in his design.  This view is no longer popular but I still believe it. 

It may sound paranoid but others watch to see what I do with what I am given.  God already has the countermoves chosen to respond to my moves.  He wants me to choose good but has chosen moves to bring me to good no matter what I choose.  He promises to provide all we need to do what is right.

I must do what is right no matter how much it costs.  I must not try to control anything but my responses to the world.  Even the control of those must be given over to what God has asked of me.  I must predetermine that my responses are going to be loving and kind.  Sometimes this is so very difficult.  Then again if I obey all will unfold as it should because even though I am a valued part of the dance, it is not about me.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Entertaining Angels – Confusion of Categories

Greetings Dear Reader,

We are excellent at compartmentalization.  I have a friend who insists that his morals and values in his personal life have no bearing on his actions as work.  He claims that it is necessary to do his job to lie and cheat others.  He dismisses his actions and “just business”.  Please note that he is my friend.

It would be easy to compare my values and his and dismiss him.  That is not how it works.  It is, however, how we often operate.  We look at the failings of others and compare them to ours to feel better about our status with God.  Or we use them to show why our sin is not a bad as that of others.

The problem we create when we do this is simple.  We are judging by the wrong standards.  I do not get to compare my good to some other person’s bad.  That will only yield pride and condemnation.  I need to compare my standards to the immutable standards of God.  Only then will I truly see how much I need help.

I am not allowed to see my own good as a standard by which to measure others.  Neither am I allowed to see my sin as less condemning than the sin of others.   I spoke about abortion a few days ago and a beloved friend weighed in on the issue.  We disagree.  One of the things that I did not make clear is that I am not allowed to judge the individual who allows, commits, or agrees with abortion.

One of the places that Christ followers fail miserably is in separating condemnation of an act that is inherently evil with NOT condemning the individual that commits the act.  That is just not my place.  It is my place to provide alternatives to wrong by doing whatever it costs to do what is right.   What I must do is love and give.

It is the Father who will deal with his children not the siblings.  It is enough for me to work to follow in faith every day.  If we compare sin we exercise futility.  If I fail to love everyone I violate the great commands from God.  If I speak to anyone without love I am just creating noise that hinders the clear sweet call of Christ to everyone.

Christ followers need to shut up about social issues until they are willing to stop condemning people.  I must compare my sin to God’s standards.  Then and only then will I see clearly enough to know that I have no place to stand in condemning others.  If God loves me, with the strong coil I bear, then he loves everyone.  After all it is not about me.  It is about God and his love for us demonstrated by his giving us his Son to pay the price for the whole category of our sin.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Entertaining Angels – A Lover of Life

Greetings Dear Reader,

As the controversy around Planned Parenthood unfolds I am drawn back into the conversation about abortion by friends who know my faith and feelings.  I am not going to hear have a conversation about Planned Parenthood or abortion but what I say is relative to those things. 

What I have to do is consider life as a whole.  In the dance between Divine Sovereignty and free will there are some things that are to be un-violated guidelines.  It is one of the reminders that the world and all in it are not mine.  The earth does not belong to man.  This is true whether you believe in creation, evolution, or alien seeding (please notice that my tongue is firmly in my cheek on that last). 

My particular world view is that God created and owns it all.  He loves life and created us to live.  We invented and have applied killing with great fervor and success.  Through wars, genocide, and abortion we have destroyed millions of lives.  We treat human life as if it is an unlimited disposable commodity.   

In our arrogance we think that the lives of others do not matter.  Through abortion alone we have destroyed over 3.1 BILLION years of potential life in the United States.  That number is based on some very conservative math and only calculated since 1974 when abortion became “legal”.

We think we can legislate morality in either direction and that makes what we choose moral.  What we have evolved instead is a society with a multiple personality disorder.  I mean no disrespect to those who suffer from the actual malady.  My problem is that one face of our culture says that a child may be murdered in its mother’s womb based on her whim.  In some of the same states one can be charged with double homicide if one murders an expectant mother and both lives are lost. 

This is just a couple of the divergent personalities that our collective face shows to the world.  We have a diabetic epidemic in a nation where there are people still starving.  We demand our world view whilst trampling on the world views of others (whether you are liberal or conservative you are guilty of this so avoid the smuggary {I realize that smuggary is not a word but I am a writer so it is now.  Use it and enjoy it}). 

God is a lover of life.  His work in the world whether he is creating or redeeming is geared toward life.  As I develop my faith and following I must do the same.  We should avoid murdering others even if it might be only maybe wrong.  If there is any room for doubt we should err on the side of respect and value.  I am required to value, respect, and love all life.  After all, even if I am totally wrong in my beliefs living out this will give me a life full of yet another kind of love.  That alone would be worth the pursuit.  However, as I have said and will continue to say on this part of the journey:  It is not about us.

Bungle in the Jungle – Jethro Tull

Walking through forests of palm tree apartments ---

scoff at the monkeys who live in their dark tents

down by the waterhole --- drunk every Friday ---

eating their nuts --- saving their raisins for Sunday.

Lions and tigers who wait in the shadows ---

they're fast but they're lazy, and sleep in green meadows.

Let's bungle in the jungle --- well, that's all right by me.

I'm a tiger when I want love,

but I'm a snake if we disagree.

Just say a word and the boys will be right there:

with claws at your back to send a chill through the night air.

Is it so frightening to have me at your shoulder?

Thunder and lightning couldn't be bolder.

I'll write on your tombstone, ``I thank you for dinner.''

This game that we animals play is a winner.

Let's bungle in the jungle --- well, that's all right by me.

I'm a tiger when I want love,

but I'm a snake if we disagree.

The rivers are full of crocodile nasties

and He who made kittens put snakes in the grass.

He's a lover of life but a player of pawns ---

yes, the King on His sunset lies waiting for dawn

to light up His Jungle

as play is resumed.

The monkeys seem willing to strike up the tune.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Entertaining Angels – Strangers

Greetings Dear Reader,

A friend of mine who was, like me born and reared in the South visited my Midwest home for the first time.  As we walked down one of the streets dedicated to tourism and marketing he greeted people that passed.  He became increasingly frustrated by the lack of responses.

We grew up in a world where you said hi to each other as you passed.  The predisposition was to treat strangers well.  The culture was one of being polite.  Please understand that this culture also contains an undercurrent of passive aggressiveness that is mean and dangerous as well.

Still we are to treat strangers well.  One of the motivations is that we have at times been in the presence of angels without knowing it.  It seems that the command to love everyone would be motivation enough to be good to those we do not know.  It goes further than that. 

Everything is not about us.  Angels look at us to try and understand the Father more deeply.   They know he has allowed us to wound the Son for our own redemption.  They know the war that rages around us and the ungodliness in the world are all part of the great Passion Play that is our reclamation effort. 

So often we want our solitude and we attempt to just blend in with the background.  We are supposed to be good to each other.  This is to be active and purposeful.  Strangers are neighbors we have not yet met.  Since we are not alone it is not just the strangers that benefit from our kindness.

The watchers know what was paid so that we could be good to each other.  They understand the full cost and demand that we live up to it.  How we treat strangers matters to more than just the stranger.  Perhaps we should consider that when we stop and the gas station and are in a hurry.  It may be that the grocery clerk or the waitress deserves better attention than we give.  After all, it is not all about us and our impact matters.

Lost in Crowds – Ian Anderson

I get lost in crowds: if I can, I remain invisible

to the hungry mouths. I stay unapproachable.

I wear the landscape of the urban chameleon.

Scarred by attention. And quietly addicted to innocence.

So, who am I? Come on: ask me, I dare you.

So, who am I? Come on: question me, if you care to.

And why not try to interrogate this apparition?

I melt away to get lost in this quaint condition.

At starry parties where, amongst the rich and the famous

I’m stuck for words: or worse, I blather with the best of them.

I see their eyes glaze and they look for the drinks tray.

Something in the drift of my conversation bothers them.

So, who am I? Come on: ask me, I dare you.

So, who am I? Come on: question me, if you care to.

And why not try to interrogate this apparition?

I melt away to get lost in this quaint condition..

In scary airports, in concourses over-filled,

I am detached in serious observation.

As a passenger, I become un-tethered when

I get lost in clouds: at home with my own quiet company.

So, who am I? Come on: ask me, I dare you.

So, who am I? Come on: question me, if you care to.

And why not try to interrogate this apparition?

I melt away to get lost in this quaint condition.

Herald Tribune or USA Today.

Sauvignon Blanc or oaky Chardonnay.

Asleep for the movie.

Awake for the dawn

Dancing on England and hedgerows

Embossed on a carpet of green.

I descend and forgive me I mean to get lost in crowds.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Entertaining Angels – Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

During Star Trek Six: The Undiscovered Country Kirk and McCoy are accused of murdering the Klingon Chancellor.  His daughter makes a comment about the arrogance of humans in talking about their rights.  As I recently re-watched this movie it struck a very deep chord in me.

One of our greatest errors is our arrogance.  We think we are the IT factor in our world.  We believe for the most part it is about us.  In some aspects we are correct.  For the most part, however, we are creations of a being whom we do not completely understand.  There are other creations that watch us and wonder about us. 

Before you think I have gone off the rails more so than usual please hear me out.  God made us for a purpose.  We are very important to him.  We, however, are not all that gets his attention and energy.  Things are playing out on  a universal stage and we have very little insight into how that is playing out.

We think we “know” when our best knowledge is a slightly educated guess.  We think we understand but how can that be when we so often leave out the designer from the design.  We think we are wise when we often act foolishly. 

I want to take a look at how we are viewed and how we should view those who watch us.  We are not alone in the world and whether we wish it or not we interact with other creations.  If you are already dismissing this because you do not believe it, perhaps I at least can entertain.  Walk with me Dear Reader.  Share your thoughts.  I promise to treat you well.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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