One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names:
Simon (whom he named Peter), Andrew (Peter’s brother), James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (who was called the zealot), Judas (son of James), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).
Prayer: Lord Jesus – You chose the twelve prayerfully… and carefully. They were your friends – the people you lived and died with. You spent more time with them than anyone else on earth – you taught them, trained them and sent them out in your Name. You envisioned great things for them and they became bearers of your Good News throughout the world.
Lord Jesus – Make me a bearer of your Good News as well. Help me to chose my friends and associates with the same amout of prayer and care. Surround me with people who love you and will help me become more like you. Teach me, train me, send me out as an agent of your truth and grace. That I might glorify you, in all I do. Amen.
Spiritual Song: “Be Glorified” – Bob Kilpatrick (1978) (YouTube)
Peanut Gallery: “Words mean things.” And President Obama choses his words very carefully. That’s why his substitution of the word worship for freedom in his Religious Freedom Day proclamation (Jan 16) was important – and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty called him on it.
Religious Freedom Rally
Perhaps this mismatch between words and deeds can be explained by the phrase “freedom of worship,” which the President uses in the first sentence of his proclamation. Religious freedom certainly includes worship, but it extends beyond the four walls of a church. If it is not to be an empty promise, religious freedom must also include acting on one’s deepest religious beliefs when one is feeding the poor, caring for the sick, educating the young, or running a business.
The Becket Fund focused on the HHS mandate affecting churches and religious institutions but the word switch (worship for religion) would also limit evengelism beyond the four walls of a church.
So what is he up to? Maybe he thinks if he says it often enough and long enough people will accept the change… and stay in their place? Out of sight and out of mind.
I don’t think God is going to go for that.
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Today (Wed, Jan 16), President Barack Obama continued the tradition of observing Religious Freedom Day with a presidential proclamation. But this year, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty critiqued his use of “freedom of worship” rhetoric—a debate that first arose in 2010.
“Foremost among the rights Americans hold sacred is the freedom to worship as we choose,” begins Obama’s proclamation (full text at bottom), which later asserts “religious liberty … is a universal human right to be protected here at home and across the globe. This freedom is an essential part of human dignity, and without it our world cannot know lasting peace.”
Becket challenged the president’s statement in light of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, which currently faces 43 legal challenges (many led by Becket) based on religious freedom concerns. Continue reading ““Religious Freedom Day” – not so much!”→
On another Sabbath day, a man with a deformed right hand was in the synagogue while Jesus was teaching. The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.
But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” So the man came forward. Then Jesus said to his critics, “I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?”
He looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.
Prayer: Lord Jesus – You made enemies by doing right. I confess, however, that I have made enemies by doing wrong. Please forgive me and show me how I can make right the wrongs I have done. For Your Name’s sake, I ask it. Amen.
Peanut Gallery: “Freedom of Religion” in America is considered a basic human right guaranteed by the US Constitution’s First Ammendment.
As Americans, we take for granted our right to believe or not, to share our faith with others or not, to change our religious affiliation or not… in other words, freedom of religion includes freedom of religious choice. Proclamation and persuasion are the means for religious proselytizing. Discrimination of any kind based on religious affiliation is illegal.
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion. The freedom to leave or discontinue membership in a religion or religious group — in religious terms called “apostasy” — is also a fundamental part of religious freedom, covered by Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (Wikipedia)
Nadia Mohamed Ali and her seven children have been jailed for 15 years in Egypt after converting back to Christianity from Islam. (dailymail.co.uk)
Under Egypt’s new regressive government, the only religious conversion allowed is to Islam… and there’s no going back… as Nadia Mohamed Ali and her 7 children discovered. Her motivation to return to her Christian origins, apparently, was more monetary than religious… it involved an inheritance. But that’s really beside the point. Only God truly knows why people do what they do… and in this case the State’s job was simply to record the change.
But that’s by American standards, not by Egypt’s new Sharia-friendly Constitution. The future does not bode well for Christians in Egypt. The new government only embolden’s the religious zealots to act out their worst impulses.
“Now that Sharia law has become an integral part of Egypt’s new constitution, Christians in that country are at greater risk than ever,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice.
The 15-year prison sentence given to a woman and her seven children by an Egyptian court for converting to Christianity is a sign of things to come, according to alarmed human rights advocates who say the nation’s Islamist government is bad news for Christians in the North African country.
One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples broke off heads of grain, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grain.
But some Pharisees said, “Why are you breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”
Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests can eat. He also gave some to his companions.”
And Jesus added, “The Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath.”
Prayer: Lord Jesus – Your Kingdom spans all of life – our rising and sleeping, eating and drinking, coming and going, working and resting – You are Lord of all. Conform our lives to Your Kingdom purposes… and so enter into Your joy – today. Amen.
Spiritual Song: “God Rules” – Rick Muchow (All About Love)
He rules today, He rules forever
The kingdom of God means God rules
He rules is our hope, He rules is our reality
The kingdom of God means God rules
Open your heart, Turn from your old ways
Then you will start, Dancing to the rhythm of Grace
Give Him your life, Give Him your whole life now
The kingdom of God means God rules
The kingdom of God means God rules
He rules the world, With truth and grace
The kingdom of God means God rules
He rules in love and righteousness
The kingdom of God means God rules
The kingdom of God means God rules
Simon (whom he named Peter), Andrew (Peter’s brother), James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (who was called the zealot), Judas (son of James), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).
