Tag Archives: light of the world

Commission

Commission: (n) a duty given to a person or group of people.

It is pretty universally known as the “Great Commission”–the words Jesus imparted to his disciples before ascending to heaven. (You can stop reading at any point where you no longer believe.)

He said to them, “Go unto all the world and preach the Gospel to every living creature.”

Truth is, you’d be hard-pressed to find any corner of the globe (an oxymoron) where an awareness of Jesus and his deeds is not known to at least some extent.

So when you consider projects, the Great Commission has been a relatively successful one, though it has taken two thousand years.

But what weakens the Great Commission of going “into the world and preaching” is that the simpler commissions that precede it are often ignored.

The Initial Commission:

“I am not hot shit. I need to humble myself and realize that I become stronger by recognizing my weaknesses.”

You see, that Initial Commission is not nearly as popular. Why? Because you don’t get to preach at people. Yet if you try to share the Great Commission while thinking you’re better than everybody else, it will be rejected by the hearer.

Then there is the Expanding Commission:

“If I am the salt of the Earth and the light of the world, I should probably bear some fruit to prove the point.”

It always astounds me that God collects some of the laziest, broken-down, ignorant and bitter people to follow Him and attempt to convey His message of love through their hatefulness.

So you see, I don’t think the Great Commission works very well–getting a platform to preach the Gospel to the whole world–if the Initial Commission–finding out you’re a sinner–and the Expanding Commission–“well, since I’m a sinner, I might want to de-sin before I preach to others”–is not in full bloom for the world to see and smell.

I am very proud of my ancestors for sharing the message of Jesus throughout the whole world.

Now, since we’ve got a good start on it, why don’t we reinforce it by embodying his message?

 

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Chant

Chant: (n) a repeated rhythmic phrase, typically one shouted or sung in unison by a crowd.

“If a powerful thought is repeated intensely by many people over and over again with greater volume, it has even more impact.”

Lots of people believe that.

It’s like being at a rally and hearing the crowd chant, “Give peace a chance,” or at church, with the congregation repeating with vigor, “God is so good.”

The truth is, we will continue to breed dictators, evil forces, charlatans and murderers as long as we insist that strength lies in the number of chanters.

After all, it was a raucous mob chanting, “Crucify him!” that instigated the assassination of the Light of the World.

Enough said.

 

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Bright

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Bright: (adj) giving out or reflecting a lot of light

Incandescence–a word we don’t often use.

We only associate it with light.Dictionary B

But it is essential for all people who are bright–that is, mentally acute–to also be bright–showing forth some brilliance, so that their intelligence can be noticed.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where intelligence gets awards and ignorance gets attention.

You can see that might create problems.

I’m not suggesting that ignorance receive awards, but it would be nice if those who are bright were actually… bright.

I’ve had parents explain to me that their son or daughter is “a bookworm,” and that their miracle child had read several hundred volumes. But the problem is, you see, that the kid was incapable of speaking.

The child cast no shadow–so all the knowledge was locked up in a big, black box–with no key.

On the other hand, I’ve met kids who never touched a book for fear of getting a disease from the cover. But they had personality, leadership–brightness.

If our best and brightest don’t possess the incandescence to illuminate themselves for consideration, then our world is in some serious trouble.

When you’ve been given a message to be “the light of the world,” there is a responsibility to also nurture the function to be human, kind and able to interact with your fellow-travelers.

 

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Asian

Asian: (adj) of or relating to Asia or its people, customs, or languages.dictionary with letter A

True ignorance is any notion or false concept that would lead us to believe that we’re not ignorant.

I have spent my entire life trying to free myself from the ignorance of suspicion which was infused in me as a young man growing up in Middle America.

Although I can speak of my triumphs of creating a section of my brain that is prejudice-free and bent on equality, I must tell you that I will never be totally absent “eyeballing bigotry.”

“Eyeballing bigotry” is that first thought that pops into our minds when we see anybody who’s different from us and therefore doesn’t immediately gain acceptance. Of course, we reject this first impression in favor of more enlightened views, but it is still there.

  • Black people still see white people.
  • White people still see Asians.
  • Asians still see Hispanics.

Well, it goes on and on.

I think there are three keys to achieving the kind of natural maturity that will help us get along with each other, accept one another, find our similarities and generate tolerance:

1. Deep in my heart, I don’t believe there’s any difference between races and genders.

2. Yet in some corner of my brain, I still see your color and sex.

3. So let’s laugh about it.

When my son returned from China with his wife, who was most certainly Chinese, I was completely comfortable, overjoyed and pleased with his glorious emotional acquisition. Yet the Midwest boy returned and I felt a bit uncomfortable at first–being “whitey” in the presence of the Asian girl. Rather than taking it seriously, I laughed at it, because not only was she intelligent, beautiful, valuable and present, but also in many ways she was more American than me. At least in a “hip” sense.

So it’s not so much that we occasionally burst forth with the ridiculous statement that Asians are “good in mathematics but horrible drivers” as it is essential that we follow that with the immediate realization of the limitations of such a proclamation–and giggle at ourselves.

In so doing, we won’t be looking for evil empires, dark religions and sinister terrorists, but instead, take the world on one by one–as solitary people.

 

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Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday: (n) the first day of Lent in the Western Christian Church, marked by services of penitence.dictionary with letter A

I like making lemonade.

The recipe is simple. Make it strong and sweet, and then add water to taste. If you’re going to put it over ice, you don’t really need to add any water.

You don’t have to come up with the perfect blend as long as you don’t make it too weak to begin with. Because after all, it is impossible to make stronger lemonade after you’ve already watered it down.

The same is true with people.

I would much rather have them strong and let time, experience and wisdom add the water of humility to them. Making them weak through anemic philosophy and then being upset with them when they fail at tasks or don’t have the gumption to keep up and continue is mean-spirited.

Faith offers us the pungency of life and then nature waters us down with humility. We don’t need religion to come along and tell us how weak we really are or smear ashes on our faces during Ash Wednesday to confirm our decrepit condition.

Life does a real good job with that.

So when we tell people they’re “filthy sinners” and they’re “unworthy” and they come face-to-face with life, which will also mercilessly point out their inadequacies, we are not raising children of the kingdom of God, but rather, nervous, twitching, frustrated and cowering victims.

  • Jesus did not come to take away our lives, but instead, to give us life.
  • Jesus did not come to temper our joy, but instead, to give us full joy.
  • Jesus did not come to tell us that we are bland and have no salt, or dim and have no light. He proclaimed us the “light of the world,” flavored with the “salt of the earth.”

As for me. I do not need ashes smeared on my face to remind me that I am often sullied by my own vices and weaknesses.

What I need is a faith that lifts me up so that when my lemonade is diluted … it still tastes sweet.

 

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Anti-hero

dictionary with letter A

Anti-hero (n): a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.

Is it an oxymoron or just redundant?

For after all, there are no true heroes who fit the criteria we normally assess to such an honor.

  • All heroes come from nowhere just in the nick of time.
  • They cannot be manufactured–though we have hammered away.
  • They cannot be educated, though classes continue to be held.
  • They cannot be ordained, though religious institutions anoint at will.
  • And they are not born heroes.

One of the greatest misconceptions in our culture is the notion that people are born any particular way. We are all birthed with the need to be born again–emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically–or else to be cast in the role of being mere understudies of our parents’ stage work.

No one would expect a scrawny attorney from Illinois to be the central figure for the emancipation of the black race and the maintaining of the union of our country.

No one could ever have anticipated that a young man who struggled with math would later convince us that E does equal MC squared.

Could anyone have foreseen that a gentleman of great promise who was struck with polio and was confined to a wheelchair would be elected president four times, guiding us through a national depression and a world war?

Looking at a string of poets, musicians, authors, statesmen, inventors and liberators, there is not one of them who was naturally inclined to greatness.

It is those we preen to be heroes who disappoint us and those who we have cursed to obscurity who end up astounding us.

After all, could anyone have thought that a refugee to Egypt, who grew up in a village of less than five hundred people, the son of a carpenter, would be proclaimed the light of the world?

 

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Aladdin’s Lamp

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter A

Aladdin’s lamp: (n) a talisman enabling its holder to gratify any wish

I guess I’ve thought about this. Who hasn’t?

What would I do with three wishes?

It’s been the plotline of dramas and comedies throughout the history of entertainment. And indirectly, both religion and politics have alluded to such an unlikely possibility.

I guess, for me, it’s easy. Before pursuing three wishes, I would have to deal with my own needs. Maybe I should use a wish for it: “I wish I understood my own heart better.”

What is my heart?

  • It’s the emotional part of me which controls who I am, which I publicly deny as having any authority over my being.
  • It is how I carefully learn to maneuver my selfishness into a practical application which still includes room for others.
  • It’s where I learn to budget sufficiency until it becomes wealth.
  • My heart is a place where I am no longer afraid to express my feelings for fear of transparency
  • It is a journey into a cave with the hope of finding light at the end of the tunnel.
  • It is admitting that I have love for myself which I should translate equally to others.
  • It is taking my position as the “light of the world” and the “salt of the earth” without it ending up being a pompous boast.
  • It is stopping to think that if I am thirsty, someone else might need a cup of cold water.
  • It is clearing out my inner being without being afraid of discovering too many rats and spiders.

Yes, before I could rub Aladdin’s lamp and promote my three wishes, I would have to understand what I really desire and why it is of value to me.

After all, what is of more consequence?

The idea? Or the person who thinks?

The prayer? Or the faithful soul?

The well-sung hymn? Or the passionate singer?

Sometimes we forget: wishing for things means they have to be used by people.

In order for that to be effective, we should wish for understanding.