Tag: Jesus Christ

The Teacher

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Poetry2 Comments

schoolhouse ch

The Teacher

Teacher, tell us,

they say,

clutching rulers and texts

against their chests.

Teacher, tell us.

 

Sun-scorched hands loose fettered bands.

Stigmata stretch to gather hatchlings

squabbling over foreign coins and spousal deeds.

Sand-ground feet tread foot-ground trail,

Stone pillow nights await grey dawn cleft.

Weeping flute unravels dancer’s shroud.

 

Broken bread,

water jug wine,

a table spread valley-wide

for open-eyed children.

 

Offered flesh receives frightened flail,

Honest heart meets jealous scorn,

Molested shoulders bear run-away shame.

 

Love, he says, sweating anguish.

Love, he says, bleeding sorrow.

Love, he says, opening arms.

Love, he says, dying.

Love, he says, rising.

Love, he says, pleading.

 

Teacher, tell us,

they say,

tightening robes

against the winds of his breath.

 

Teacher, tell us,

Will this be on the exam?

 

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)

The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law. (Mark 1:22)

But What Will People Think?

On By Charis PsalloIn Animals, PhotographyLeave a comment

chickens IMG_5654

Sensitive people are often keenly aware of the feelings of others. Too keenly, sometimes.

For many of us the first question that comes to mind when faced with a decision is, “What will people think?”

I read a lot of opinions. You probably do too. Sometimes I feel intimidated by the fashion ranters and political pundits and scientific prognosticators and religious worriers and outrage-of-the-day promoters.

I used to spend lot of time trying to create a persona that would be acceptable to people in the various communities I was involved in — or at least tried to avoid their ire. But one day I realized I was letting people who I did not particularly admire set my standards.

Then I asked myself, Seriously? Do you want to be like this person? Is this someone whose life illustrates who Jesus called you to be? Then why does their approval mean so much?

There are some people I do admire. I would like to be like them. One  of their main characteristics is that they look to Jesus Christ as their model and allow him to be the author and finisher of their faith.

What will people think? What does it matter? Some people will be irritated or critical no matter what you do. They don’t even like themselves let alone anyone else.

I’m not there yet – not by a long-shot – but I hope, that when all is said and done they will think, there goes someone who knows the Creator of the Universe, the God of love. You can tell. 

Open

On By Charis PsalloIn Flowers4 Comments

lavatera flower IMG_4400

There is a difference between shyness and quietness. Shyness is based on fear. Quietness is based on peace.

A person at peace can be open to others without being driven by either the need for attention or the need to hide imperfections. They are neither wrapped up in themselves nor demanding the spotlight.

A person at peace knows who they are and that they are loved perfectly by the One who created them.

A person at peace can afford to open themselves up to others and quietly share the Father’s love because there is plenty more where that came from.

The Father’s love demonstrated by Jesus the Messiah is the only love that satisfies the cravings of the soul.

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  – Jesus of Nazareth

Enter In

On By Charis PsalloIn Uncategorized3 Comments

IMG_2153 worship art ch repent road turn

The teacher asked us to reflect on what “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” means to us, then paint it.

This is not a detailed work of art. It’s a quick painting done during an evening of worship. As I thought about her question, this image is what came to mind.

I understand “repent” to mean change thought and direction.

The cross of Christ is the intersection where time and the eternal, and the physical and supernatural meet.

Jesus has broken every barrier down and his grace gives us the ability to change direction.

We enter everything God has for us — the Kingdom — through the cross.

Zeal

On By Charis PsalloIn Flowers, Photography6 Comments

IMG_3363 yellow flowers left cool

 

Zeal without knowledge is disappointing.
Zeal without wisdom is damaging.
Zeal without purity is dangerous.
Zeal without love is deadly.

But zeal,
submitted to
Jesus Christ
and his knowledge,
wisdom,
purity,
and love
can change the world.

Victory and Suffering: Both

On By Charis PsalloIn Uncategorized2 Comments

I have often felt I’ve been in the awkward position of having to choose between being with those who pursue a life of victory in Christ or those who glory in suffering.

My life verse has been, “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection…” The problem is that I cannot ignore the next part: “and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)

Victory, yes, but suffering…

I came across this video by Ryan Matchett (one of the pastors at River of Life Church in Lethbridge, Alberta) talking about this problem. It’s about realizing the purpose and value of suffering without getting stuck there.

Thomas believed in Jesus enough to be willing to die with him. His doubt was about his difficulty transitioning from a willingness to suffer with Jesus to a willingness to also share in his resurrection. “When we don’t believe in resurrection in the midst of suffering we make agreement with death.”

This is well worth the 38 minutes of listening time.

Under Construction

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography3 Comments

Calgary airport crane vertical IMG_7167

“God always keeps the revelation of Himself in Christ bound up with practical situations. You and I can never get revelation other than in connection with some necessity. We cannot get it simply as a matter of information. That is information, that is not revelation. We cannot get it by studying. When the Lord gave the manna in the wilderness (type of Christ as the bread from heaven) He stipulated very strongly that not one fragment more than the day’s need was to be gathered, and that if they went beyond the measure of immediate need, disease and death would break out and overtake them. The principle, the law, of the manna, is that God keeps revelation of Himself in Christ bound up with practical situations of necessity, and we are not going to have revelation as mere teaching, doctrine, interpretation, theory, or anything as a thing, which means that God is going to put you and me into situations where only the revelation of Christ can help us and save us.”
– T. Austin Sparks

 

clagary airport crane IMG_7166

 

 

Shine in Our Hearts

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Sky5 Comments

sunset branches IMG_0313_edited-1

 

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,”

has made this light shine in our hearts

so we could know the glory of God

that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

(2 Corinthians 4:6)

A Rose In One Vast Howling Wilderness

On By Charis PsalloIn Black and white, Flowers, PhotographyLeave a comment

jerusalem rose white IMG_0711

You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm.

– Robert Murray McCheyne

Merry Strawberry Season! Wait…. what?

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography6 Comments

IMG_0720

 

Someone sent me a wish for a happy Hanukkah this week and mentioned that it is officially strawberry season (in the Middle East). We are singing songs like “See amid the winter snow, born for us so long ago,” and “In the Bleak mid-winter,” and “Let it Snow” and “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.” Strawberry season couldn’t be farther away.

I keep running into slogans on social media: “It’s Merry Christmas, not Season’s Greetings or Happy Holiday!” I don’t know if the intent is to come across as being rigid and somewhat less than gracious about this, but it doesn’t exactly exude warm wishes. I’m particularly concerned that it is aimed at poor harried store clerks who are just following store policy. It is a Christian’s job to bless people who don’t know about the love of God, not theirs to give us “the proper greeting.” When I talked about it some people told me that the issue is that they feel an attack by governments and lobby groups to deny their traditions and they’ve had about enough of this political correctness stuff that denies folk the right to express themselves freely.

Ah. That’s the reason for the defensiveness — defending tradition. One simply does not mess with someone’s traditions. Someone told me that saying Merry Christmas was standing up for Jesus. Hmmm. I have found that putting myself in charge of God’s public relations by using my own disgruntled methods seldom puts him in a good light. He’s more likely to say, “Thanks, but I’ve got this,” and then he just pours out his goodness on those who speak ill of him.

There is a difference between “standing up for Jesus” and “standing up for our traditions.” I don’t see any instructions to say “Merry Christmas” anywhere in the Bible. In fact I don’t see any command to celebrate Jesus’ birth on an arbitrary date chosen to give an alternative to winter solstice rituals. (A good case can be made for Jesus’ birth being around the time of Sukkot, or the Jewish Festival of Booths, by the way), but I consider every day a good day to celebrate Jesus, so why not Christmas Day as well? I’m good with that.

To me “standing up for Jesus” is about standing up for what Jesus taught and acknowledging that he is who he said he is. I have a hard time seeing him scold someone for not upholding the traditions of man according to some unwritten rules. In fact, the only people he scolded were the ones who burdened people with the traditions of man to the point where they no longer accurately communicated the nature of God.

Our tradition in northern Europe and northern America is that Jesus was born amid the winter snow. It’s a rather self-absorbed man-made tradition that does not take into consideration that in other places in the world, it’s strawberry season. Whether it’s winter or summer where you live, whether Jesus’ birthday was on December 25 or September 25, his law is love and his gospel is peace. Putting Christ back into Christmas means being Christ-centered in all our choices and extending his love and peace.

May the love and peace of Christ be with you this day and every day. He absolutely adores you, you know.