Some Advent Considerations (Part I)
In the beginning was the Word, who was not only with God, but was God; an eternal mystery that tells us about the most complete and beautiful relationship of all, love.
Trinity UMC in Ewing NJ
Silent Night / Noche de Paz
As we are getting into the Advent season, we can take this opportunity to reflect on the meanings of a God who decides to become as a human being and embody the Word (John 1). Perhaps, we can read that Word incarnate through the life that was lived by Jesus, the carpenter of Galilee.
Jesus asks the Father for forgiveness for those who do not know what they are doing, not for those who do know
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing – Luke 23:34
This prayer concerns, among other things, our relationships with others. Sinners, brothers and sisters, religious leaders, and rulers.
The name of Jesus is not a ‘talisman’
Using the phrase “in the name of Jesus,” has become a Christian catchphrase that cannot be ignored in any prayer, declaration, decree, preaching, event, sermon, etc. For many years, it has been believed that this phrase has a certain mystical or powerful charge in the spiritual world, and its misuse can cause prayers to be ineffective, or simply ignored by God.
If God is the Lord of hosts, then God’s Son is the Prince of Peace (Part III)
In this scenario, Jesus comes up with a very interesting and revolutionary message for his time. He intends to introduce the image of God as the Father among the Jews. Let us remember that when Jesus walked in First Century Palestine, the entire territory was under the rule of Rome, achieved through war and barbarism.
If God is the Lord of hosts, then God’s Son is the Prince of Peace (Part II)
On the one hand, there is a group of believers who maintain that God indeed ordered each of the wars described in the biblical text, with all their barbarities, attacks, children dashed against rocks, etc. Most of those who defend this idea explain that God manifested himself in one way in the Hebrew Bible and in a different way in the New Testament, being the same God, but with different plans for each moment in history
If God is the Lord of hosts, then God’s Son is the Prince of Peace (Part I)
Embracing my inner atheist, I notice some situations that I would like to consider: Although God is the same yesterday, today, and always, in the Hebrew Bible we read that God is too violent. This is manifested in all the wars in which God ordered the annihilation of entire towns without having mercy on anyone (by the way, there is not much difference between these texts and the current actions of some extremists, violent groups in the world, specially in the Middle East).
Jesus was a refugee
I see on television and social media the atrocious images of terrified people seeking refuge after having risked their lives crossing the sea aboard small paper boats. Behind them is death that awaits them with its jaws open once again. Ahead, they find fences erected by governments that exude fear of the different, ordering their lackeys to repel the avalanche of nobodies. And I can only remember Jesus of Nazareth…
When prayers do not change circumstances
Many words have been dedicated to understanding matters around prayer. Almost every current of Christianity has a different position on its power or its applicability. Many debates even arise in different media, leading to heated discussions about the relevance of praying in one way or another according to the biblical mandate or personal and community experiences.
You won’t be the winner. Me neither
In war there are no winners, we are all losers. Oppressed people are those who bring, from their midst, the war victims, the deaths, the tears, the hunger, the hopelessness, the pain. War has been narrated in inks of different colors,...
Why a dove?
It is curious (to say the least) that, according to the gospels and in the context of the baptism of Jesus of Nazareth, the Divine manifests the Holy Spirit by flying like a dove. Having any animal symbol or metaphor available, God chooses that one.
“They wanted to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds!”
This Mexican proverb by Ernesto Cardenal1 represents the relationship between the current situation on our planet Earth and some activists around the world who are advocating in favor of the preservation of the environment in the face of climate change issue and the organized movement to resist it. The beauty of the metaphor lies in the image of a seed, representing life, directly related to the dust, the ground, the soil, and the mother.
Allow yourself to be human, even in sadness
For a few decades now, many believers have been taught that we should not experience sadness, anger, suffering, anguish, etc. Everything from the cliché, ‘you are a victorious child of God, therefore, you must not live in defeat’.
It is time to turn back to Jesus
If you cannot remember the 22 characteristics of a good husband or wife, the 10 things you have to do to overcome temptation, or the 4 types of love in Greek; it is time to turn back to Jesus.
