When six disciples decided to join Peter after Jesus’ resurrection and go fishing for lack of anything else to do, they were met by Jesus the next morning on the beach. Their boat was empty of fish and they had headed back to shore when Jesus, standing on the beach, asked if they had any fish. When they said “no,” he told them to cast on the right side of the boat, and they made a great haul of a hundred and fifty-three fish. Jesus asked them to bring some to him on the beach where he had a fire and bread, and some fish already. (John 21: 1-14) In this transaction Jesus supplied food for his disciples and asked them to supply food for him that he had given them: Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught. . . Come and have breakfast!” (John 21: 10 & 12). Jesus gave the catch of fish to the disciples, and then asked them to give it to him. Together they ate food he had brought, and food they had caught.

Sometimes it feels as if Jesus might be playing games with the disciples, but he is not. The encounter on the beach was vital to Jesus’ relationship with these seven disciples. And was part of Jesus’ formation of his future church. It was there that Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved him. Finally, Peter replied, “You know everything, Lord. You know that I love you.” (John 21:15-17) Far from a game, Jesus was planting forgiveness and renewal in the spirit of Peter after Peter had denied he knew Jesus three times.

Today we stand at the altar and eat a piece of bread and drink a cup of wine or grape juice to affirm what Jesus gave to his disciples; but even more to share the intersection of human and divine life with Jesus. When Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” he made the communion a covenant between us and him. (Mark 14:22-24) This is the closeness that he shared with his disciples as he told them that it was his own body and blood that they shared. The communion is more than a memorial to Jesus. For the rest of their lives the disciples could commune with Jesus through the new covenant. The churches of today renew this covenant regularly and experience Christ’s words as spoken to each one. The communion is an enduring link between a holy God and His much loved people. He desires it more even that we do. The communion is more than a memorial to Jesus; it is a reunion of our spirits.

Love in Him,

Prue

When St. Paul was imprisoned in Rome for the last time, and waiting for his execution, he wrote his second letter to his much loved friend and companion Timothy. In the letter Paul explained that he was not ashamed to be in prison, for the simple reason that, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” ( 2 Timothy1:12) It seems like a simple sentence, but for me it contains the heart of the Gospel message. In it is the certainty of a close, real and vital relationship with the living God, as well as an acquaintance with God’s character of faithfulness to Paul. Here is an expression of faith that is born out of experience with the Spirit of God in Christ. Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus had taken root in Paul, and was the beginning of a ministry to Jews and Gentiles alike that has lasted for more than two thousand years.

In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul wrote of a Christian’s expectations in regard to the second coming of Christ: “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven. . . After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” (1Thessalonians4:17) I thought that Paul couldn’t be trusted to give a real message about Jesus, since Paul seemed to base his faith on the belief that Jesus’ return to earth was imminent. It’s one thing to believe in someone who will remove death from your future, and another thing altogether to believe in someone who died an excruciating death himself, and will allow you to die as well.

Paul’s second letter to Timothy, though, was written in the full knowledge of Paul’s own mortality. He expresses a fulfillment without the slightest regret: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. . . .”

(2 Timothy 4: 6-7) When I read these words, I knew that Paul was a new creation in himself. It mattered not at all to him that he was about to die. It did not in any way diminish his faith in Christ or his Father God. To me, Paul’s unequivocal embrace of his own death validates and shines on every part of his preaching and teaching. I believe that Paul did indeed know and trust whom he believed, and that his message will in fact endure until the end of time.

Love in Him,

Prue

The first story that Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) published in the Atlantic Monthly magazine was a true story he had copied from a former slave woman who was his sister-in-law’s cook. The woman’s name was Mary Ann Cord; and the Clemens family was sitting on the porch with her when Samuel asked, “Mary Ann, how is it that you’ve lived sixty years and never had any trouble?. . . I’ve never heard you sigh and never seen your eye when there wasn’t a laugh in it.” Samuel wrote, “It was no more trouble for her to laugh than it was for a bird to sing.”

May Ann told Mr. Clemens that she and her husband and seven children had been slaves in Virginia when her mistress told her that they would all be sold at auction. When the time came she clung to Henry, her youngest child, but before he was sold he told her that he would escape and come back for her. He was eight years old.

Several years later, when the Union officers were occupying the house that her owners had deserted, groups of soldiers would sometimes come into her kitchen and disrupt her preparations. At one such time, Mary Ann clenched her fists onto her hips and said, “I wasn’t bown in da mash to be fooled by trash! I is one of the ole Blue Hen’s chickens, I is!” It was an expression that her mother had used when Mary Ann was a child, and one she had used with her own family before the separation. “Den I see dat young man looking up at de ceiling,like he forgot something. .. and as another man was going out, I heard him say, ‘Jim. . .deys something on my mind. . . I don’t sleep no mo this night.’”

The next morning , just as Mary Ann was pulling a tray of biscuits from the oven she looked down and the young man’s face was looking up at her. She stared and stared; then the pan fell to the floor as, “all of a sudden, I knowed!!” She grabbed his hand to find a scar that Henry had had, and pushed back his hair for another scar, and cried out, “De Lord God ob heaven be praised! I got my own back again!”

The poignancy of this story is powerful, and even more powerful is the character of Mary Ann Cord, who displayed the victory of spirit in the laughter and joy that was evident to Samuel Clemens. As Nehemiah said to the people who had returned from exile: Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)

After the war Henry took his mother to Elmira, New York, where he was a successful barber, and she became the paid cook of Mark Twain’s sister-in-law.

From “A True Story Repeated Word For Word As I Heard It” by Mark Twain

Love in Him,

Prue

The green anole’s natural color is green, but it is enough related to the chameleon that its color changes with its immediate surroundings. One morning I walked by a rose bush in my back yard and saw a small green anole spread-eagle on a rose leaf in the sunlight. What surprised me was that the very small lizard wasn’t green, like the leaf, but entirely brown. I was puzzled about it until I learned that the anoles sometimes sunbathe, and when they do, they turn brown until they return to a green leaf in a shady place. I felt as if I had discovered a unique phenomenon, and the world of nature glowed in my mind like a gem. I continued to stare at the small creature and marvel at what I was seeing. I felt as I imagined Adam felt at observing for the first time the animals God had created.

Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

In the Old Testament God enlists His natural creations in revealing truth to human beings. When Jonah was whining about the worm provided by God, (Jonah4:7) that destroyed the plant that God had provided for Jonah’s comfort, Jonah learned about the character of God.: You pity the plant. . . and should I not pity Nineveh. . . ? (Jonah 4:11)

Most of us love and appreciate at least some of the natural world, and even see it as a gift. It was a gift to Jonah, but God wanted him to see more than his own comfort in God’s creation. When St. Paul wrote that we have no excuse for disbelieving, he saw in nature the outline of God’s own presence. When we watch a spectacular sunset, or a placid lake by moonlight and we never think of the creator of these, we have no excuse, for we share the same creator. Even before He sent the rainbow, God intended us to remember Him in nature, and made it a covenant with all people. The green anole carried a miniature message to me of the wonder of God’s work, and the need to pay closer attention to His presence in our world.

King David wrote: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have put in place. . . “Lord, Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Love in Him,

Prue

Lydia, the five year old foster child who came to live with us, was afraid of men and boys. She had been abused by her mother’s boy friend since she was only two years old. She asked me if Jack was “safe”, and I told her, “ Yes, He won’t hurt you.” It wasn’t long before she did trust him, and one day Jack invited her to go to a nearby park and look for turtles. She was delighted and they went off with a bucket to hold the turtles they would find.

It turned out to be a futile search, but as they were turning back toward home, a boy walked up to them holding a bucket full of dewberries. He asked them if they knew where the berries grew, and Jack had to say “no”, so the boy told them that the berries were quite close, and how to find them. “Then,” said Lydia to me later, “he picked the biggest berry off the top of his bucket and gave it to me!” She marveled almost as if she had had a supernatural experience. I said, “Was it good?” “Yes,” she said. It was really good! They didn’t find the berry patch, as it was getting late, but I thought that they had found something better, better even than a turtle. That night I thanked our Lord for that boy and his gift to Lydia. I felt as if the boy was an unknowing messenger of grace to a little girl who desperately needed it in her life, and my gratitude has never disappeared.

With the foster children I was daily praying for help, as each child had problems I had never confronted . Each had had experiences I had never had, and I needed “Someone else” to enter the relationship and place a path at my feet. That “someone else” actually worked on each child. I can honestly say that I didn’t achieve anything with them, but the Lord achieved great things: This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy one of Israel, says: In quietness and trust is your strength. (Isaiah 30:15) Both the Old and the New Testaments offer a relationship of ease and even rest with a sovereign God: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

When I pick up the “burdens” of everyday life, it’s easy for me to forget this promise,and that reality; but He never forgets. He always offers something better.

Love in Him,

Prue

A great deal of time, energy, and imagination is spent in making projections of the time and place, or places, of Jesus’ return and the end of the world as we know it. It seems incongruous to me to speculate on something so clearly addressed by Jesus in the books of Matthew and Mark, that he, Jesus and the angels as well, did not have knowledge of the date or the place of Jesus’ “Second Coming.” (Mark 13:32)

On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus did impart serious mews about himself and his Father. He gave his disciples knowledge of their new relationship with their Father and his Father: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you . Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in His love. . . My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (John 15:9&12)

In Exodus God addresses Moses when He delivers the Ten Commandments: “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. . . showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6)

This message resounds throughout the Scriptures. David in the Psalms expressed his love for God: “For the King trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken.” (Psalm 21:7)

With all the other issues at stake in the formation of Israel and in confronting the enemies and the temptations of their state, the theme of God ‘s love, and His desire for the love of His people is an unbroken theme throughout the history of His people. When Jesus contemplated the sacrifice he was about to endure, it was in terms of love. On the same night that he spoke to his disciples of his Father’s love, he said: “Greater love has no man than this; to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) Jesus saw his very life as an expression of love. It was a love for his Father as well as for his disciples and those others who followed him. That night he prayed, “I have given them the glory that you gave me. . . so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:22)

This is a powerful, unmixed message of love worth spending my life to experience, full of the knowledge of God Himself.

Love in Him,

Prue

The pursuit of pleasure is surely at least part of the root of all the the evil on earth. The many addictions, the ignoring the suffering of others, the struggle for money, are all at least tinged by the search for pleasure. For this reason some historic Christians have seen “pleasure” as the very core of selfishness, having no value or role in a life devoted to Christ. Jesus said, in the parable of the seeds that represented the word of God, “The seed that fell among the thorns stands for those who hear. . . but they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures and they do not mature.” (Luke 8:14)

There is, however, a thread of references to “pleasure” in the Bible, that connect it with a holy God. Beginning with Genesis, there is a vision of a pleasure that is experienced by God Himself in creation: God saw all that He had made, and it was very good..” (Genesis 1:31) David in several places expresses his pleasure in his relationship to God: You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:11) In this psalm David sees pleasure as an integral part of God’s Kingdom, and of our relationship to Him. This is only the beginning of finding holy pleasure on earth, a pleasure that the psalmist asserts lasts eternally: His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in His unfailing love. (Psalm 147:10)

The earth is full of pleasures that God welcomes us to share with Him, though Jesus warned that worldly pleasures can distract us from the lasting pleasures of God. The power of God’s pleasure is displayed in all creation, but the temptation to love the creation instead of the Creator is the subject of warning from St. Paul as well as Jesus: People ( in the last days) will be lovers of themselves. . . treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having the form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2 Timothy 3:2&5)

Christianity has been accused of “taking all the pleasure out of life”, while God has displayed a transcendent level of pleasure in His word and in His son. To his disciples Jesus gave this assurance: Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. (Luke 12:32)

In his Spiritual Diary, Pope St. John Paul II wrote: “God finds pleasure in those who find pleasure in Him.” Jesus said, Seek and you shall find (God’s pleasure).

Love in Him,

Prue

When Jan, a friend of mine from church, stopped at my house to drop off some materials for a project on which we were working, brought her four year old son Evan along and warned him to sit on the couch and not interrupt us. I thought it was quite a tall order for one so young, but Jan said, “Don’t worry, he knows he’ll be in trouble if he makes trouble.” My daughter was in school, and so we were alone in the house. I watched as Evan ‘s face grew sadder and sadder as he sat with his hands folded in his lap on the couch. I mentioned to Jan that I could supply some crayons and paper for him, but she declined, and said, “He’s fine; you don’t have to entertain him.” Finally I said to Evan, “Close your eyes,” and I excused myself to go upstairs to my daughter’s bedroom, and her pet miniature rabbit. I vividly remember the light in Evan’s eyes when he opened his hands and found the rabbit in them. It was as if he was surrounded by rainbows. We laughed and talked as we watched the small rabbit while Evan petted her. Even Jan smiled with delight and suddenly the visit was transformed.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak. (Isaiah 40:28-29) God is in the very business of transformation. While we lose touch with the joy that we have once experienced, He never does. While we some times sink into despair, He never does. The powerful words of Nehemiah echo through the millennia: “The Joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)

There is much in theology that explains our relationship to a perfect God, but if His character is truly “Love”, then we are the objects of love in God. With that love goes unimaginable joy and pleasure and peace, so far beyond our understanding that we often miss the strength in Him to transform our lives. As St. Augustine wrote, “ Your love must migrate; cast off your moorings from creatures; moor yourself to the Creator.” (Saint Augustine, sermon no. 313A) We lose nothing in loving God more, as He Himself loves all those persons and things even more than we do. Mysterious as it is, the Scriptures themselves express the truth of Augustine’s words. We can welcome transformative power into our lives by embracing Jesus, the son of our creating, saving God. Both the Old and the New Testaments show us individuals who have left their moorings and taken on the supernatural moorings of God for their lives. Their stories are meant for you and for me.

Love in Him,

Prue

One of he least known of the apostles of Jesus was Thaddaeus, often referred to as ‘Judas (not Iscariot)’. Some scholars assume that after Iscariot’s betrayal of Christ, the other “Judas” needed to use another name, and that is Thaddaeus. Thaddaeus speaks only one line in the Bible, but it comes at a pivotal moment in Jesus’ life on earth. At the Last Supper, Jesus gave rich and lasting information to the twelve about himself and and his Father. He told the disciples about his own leaving, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. He told them that they, the disciples, would know and understand true things that the “world” would reject, and that they would find themselves much at odds with the “world” They would still have access to him, Jesus, but the “world” would not. (John 14:21-24)

Jesus did not frame his answer about “the world” in an attitude of foreboding or warning against evil. Instead, his words were in personal terms of himself and his Father’s very character of love: Thaddaeus said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:22-23) Jesus expressed the deepest need of the disciples on the night that he would be arrested: the need of himself in their lives. In his answer he placed his entire ministry in front of them. “If a man loves me, he will be united both with me, who you know, and my Father, who is our God Himself.”( paraphrase). It would be too much to fathom if it were not for Jesus’ humanity, about to be tested to the extreme on the cross.

Thaddaeus, like all the disciples, was waiting for a leader to establish God’s people as an independent nation again, fulfilling so any prophesies and hopes based on Israel’s history with their God: A star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. (Numbers 24:17) It must have been nearly impossible for the disciples to believe that there could be something even better than the triumphs of their nations’ past, but Jesus knew that they had acquired a love for him that would grow and be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus prayed, I pray also for those who will believe in me, through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in me, and I am in you. (John 17:20) Jesus’ words to his Father were spoken literally of you and of me.

The Armenian Christian Church traces its origin to the ministry of Thaddaeus.

Love in Him,

Prue

In the Houston area where we once lived, we had frequent afternoon showers. During one of these, a neighbor called me to say that there was a cat lying in her driveway not moving and she thought that it was our cat Scuffy. I went to he driveway and found that it was indeed Scuffy and carried him home. He was alive, but limp, and couldn’t stand up. Praying all the way, Stephanie, my nine year old daughter and I took Scuffy to our veterinarian Stan. He took Scuffy in his arms and told me that he would have to keep him over night and would call me in the morning. I agreed, and left Scuffy there. At home we prayed some more.

The call came the next morning, and Stan said that we could pick up Scuffy any time. “He’s standing, and purring , and eating and drinking,” he told me. “Wow!” I said. “You really did a good job on him!” “I didn’t do a thing,” he answered. “Someone Else

worked on that cat. Remember how his mouth was open? That was a sure sign that he was dying of kidney failure. I fully expected to find a dead cat in the morning. I was surprised that he lived long enough for you to bring him in, and now he’s up and ready to go home. He doesn’t even need any of my medicine. All I have given him is food.”

Scuffy lived to be an old, much loved cat in our family.

Don’t be deceived my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17) One friend laughed to think that we would ascribe Gods intervention to a dying cat’s recovery, but no one could deny that we had received a “good and perfect” gift. It seems intelligent to doubt the presence of “Someone Else” at work in our lives in usual and unusual ways, but the Bible makes sure that we understand that “Someone Else” is at work in the world, and that ultimately everything besides that Someone will be changed. “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5)

It is easy to see evil and sadness in the world, but St. Paul has a different vision: If any of you is in Christ, that person is a new creation . The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Which is easier, to heal a dying cat, or to transform a human being? In my experience, God is able to do both, and much, much more.

Love in Him,

Prue