Excerpts From: The Messenger |
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Jesus said, "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me... In my Father?s house are many dwelling places" (John 14:1, 2a)
I think such sayings might disappoint some people. All your life you've heard that there are going to be mansions waiting for the faithful, it is a commonly used Scripture text at most funeral services. But I must to make it clear ? we don't have a mansion waiting on the hilltop when we die. I'm afraid if we did, our desire for heaven would be very, very materialistic, and earthly.
We're not looking forward to some extravagant palace somewhere hidden away in some lovely lush valley, awaiting our quiet residence. That's not the heaven the Bible speaks about. If I could translate this literally, ?In My Father's house are many apartments.? It doesn't sound very exciting to think that we are going to be entering an apartment. But it simply means ?a place of residence, a dwelling.? ?In my Father's house is a place to live.?
So first of all, He says, ?Heaven is a place. The Saviour goes to prepare a place for you.? ?And if I go (Jesus says) and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself;??
I think it is interesting that the Lord never does say, ?I'm going to take you to heaven.? He says, ?I'm going to receive you to Myself.? And in those prophetic passages dealing with our hope, or our assurance, we're never promised just heaven. We are told that we are going to a Person ? not just a place, but a Person. This means that our hearts will have to be right to enjoy that place.
St. Augustine in his confession said: ?The thought of You stirs him so deeply that he can not be content unless he praises You, because You made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You.? The soul, having come out from God, is not satisfied until it rests in God (a Person). Oh! How marvelous is the unsearchable grace of God.
Therefore, we're not looking forward to some great big multi-roomed dwelling. We're looking forward to a place where the person of the Lord Jesus will be, where our relationship will be face-to-face. We will see Him as He is. And just think about that for a minute. I think that thought is a therapy in itself, especially if you have a burdened heart as a child of God.
The future that we have is very, very bright. We're going to a place and we're going to a Person where He is going to fulfill His promise, ?I will come again.? Heaven is the Person of Jesus Christ. ?Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you? (Ps.116:7).
Your friend and pastor,
Samuel King-Kabu.
As we learned in last month?s newsletter, there are seven round churches in Denmark, four of which are located on Bornholm. On Bornholm the village/city is often named after the church. The ending ?ker? means ?church? so this church which is named ?Ny church? is placed in the village ?Nyker?. The geographical relation of these 4 churches to each other is still being studied, as is the topic of the Templars and whether the churches were used for defensive purposes. Nyker - Nyker Round Church or ?rundkirke?, (Nyker, a contraction of Ny Kirke or New Church), is the smallest of the Bornholm round churches.
Nyker was first built in 1250-1275 and was never finished the way it was intended from the beginning. The square holes just under the roof are not meant for shooting arrows out of but were made to channel rainwater out of the church.
The wooden tiled roof was added when the church stopped being used as a defensive fortification against the frequent attacks by the Wend pirates and Baltic tribes on Bornholm. Before that the roof was flat, and the stairways leading to the former roof are still in place inside the church. The conical roof was not added until the 17th century. The church underwent extensive renovation in 1960.
The church spire is both meant as decoration, but also as a lightning rod and weather vane.
The bell tower is, as is customary for the round churches, a separate building apart from the church itself.
The Nyker Round Church has several inside decorations from 1600 and later, including a board listing the plague victims of the area in the 17th century and a list of priests that have served in Nyker Round Church since the 18th century.
The strong column in the middle of the church is richly decorated with murals from several periods.
During the Catholic period the church was dedicated to All Saints.
Nyker is located near the west coast of Bornholm, north of the capital, Rønne. Stay tuned for the next Round church instalment in the June newsletter.
The Quilt of Belonging: The Quilt of Belonging is a stunning, collaborative textile art project that shows there is a place for all in the fabric of society. This rich tapestry is 120 feet (36 metres) long and 10.5 feet (3.5 metres high. Its? 263 blocks portray the rich cultural legacies of all the First Peoples in Canada and every nation of the world.
The 300 page companion book, Quilt of Belonging: The Invitation Project, as well as the website resonate with cultural histories and personal stories, some shared for the first time.
From beaded caribou hides to gold-embroidered silk to the gossamer wings of butterflies, the astonishing range of materials and their stories connect to the threads of our past to the limitless possibilities of our future.
The quilt has been on tour throughout Canada and will be exhibited at Maison de la culture Frontenac, 2550 Ontario East, Montreal (behind the Frontenac metro) from April 28 to June 5. Hours are Tuesday to Thursday from 12 noon to 19:00. Friday and Saturday from 12 noon to 17:00. Web site: www.quiltofbelonging.ca.
The Danish square was designed and executed by several women from St. Ansgar?s Church.
Stewardship is a theological belief that humans are responsible for the world, and should take care of it. Stewardship is a spiritual exercise, an issue of faith development expressed in generosity and commitment to the funding of Christ?s work in the world.
Historically, stewardship was the responsibility given to household servants to bring food and drinks to a castle dining hall. The term was then expanded to indicate a household employee's responsibility for managing household or domestic affairs. Stewardship later became the responsibility for taking care of passengers' domestic needs on a ship, train and airplane, or managing the service provided to diners in a restaurant. The term continues to be used in these specific ways, but it is also used in a more general way to refer to a responsibility to take care of something owned by someone else. It is also doing something willingly without getting paid. Some religions consider humans to be stewards of the earth.
In Christian tradition stewardship also refers to the way time, talents, material possessions, or wealth are used or given for the service of God. A biblical world view of stewardship can be consciously defined as: "Utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation."
The central essence of biblical world view stewardship is managing everything God brings into the believers life in a manner that honours God and impacts eternity.
Stewardship begins and ends with the understanding of God's ownership of all:
Stewardship is further supported and sustained theologically on the understanding of God's holiness as found in such verses as: Genesis 1:2, Psalm 104, Psalm 113, 1 Chronicles 29:10-20, Colossians 1:16, and Revelation 1:8.
(Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
During the American Civil War a West Virginia woman named Ann Jarvis led a group of women who held Mother's Work Days, to improve sanitation for both armies on both sides.
After the war she worked hard to bring reconciliation between neighbours who had fought on opposite sides.
Also, in 1862 Julia Ward Howe wrote the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
These two women may have influenced each other.
In any case, both worked towards rights for women and peace.
In 1870, disgusted and saddened by what she had seen during the war, Howe wrote the words below, calling it her Mother's Day Proclamation.
Ann Jarvis died in 1905. Her daughter, Anna, to honour her mother and her mother's work for women and peace, in 1908 called over 400 people together in a West Virginia Methodist Church on May 10, and distributed 2 white carnations to each mother there.
By 1909, 46 states plus much of Canada and Mexico were celebrating this Mother's Day.
It was decreed an official Day by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. By 1920, Anna Jarvis was campaigning against the commercialization of the holiday. She would spend her entire inheritance in this fight, and died unmarried, poor, blind, and childless in 1948.
Her kind of Mother's Day, I can get behind.
Here's Howe's Proclamation of 1870:
Mother's Day Proclamation
Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice." Blood does not wipe out dishonour, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace, Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, But of God.
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask That a general congress of women without limit of nationality May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient And at the earliest period consistent with its objects, To promote the alliance of the different nationalities, The amicable settlement of international questions, The great and general interests of peace.
Submitted by Hanne Armstrong
Web Page prepared by:
Roger Kenner
& Jette Blair.
Content-New Topics Last Updated: 2010/07/15
St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church - Montreal