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- Just Like Peter? - Water, Water, Just Like Peter? Did you know this? Jerusalem is the only major city with no river. None. The Jordan River, you say? Yes, maybe two miles east, as the crow flies, but nearly 2,000 feet down, below the city, into the Jordan Valley. So, no river flowing through the city. How does one become a major city without a water supply? Wait, I didn’t say the city didn’t have a water supply, just not a river. The amazing Gihon Springs provided an adequate supply of water for first century Jerusalem. The city was built on a hill of hard limestone, in which underground water created caustic caves, with various flutes or cracks. During seasonal weather changes; rain fall, snows, etc., water builds up in pools underground and is forced to the surface, creating an intermittent artesian-type water supply. Continue reading
- Coming Attractions - Previews of Coming Attractions: Picture this: A 1,000-piece jig saw puzzle, all spread out on the table, each piece separated from the others. You pick up one piece and look carefully at it, at the colors, the shape, and you try to image how does it fit into the picture on the box. Where does it belong? Picture this: You are captivated by the scene, right there before you. A young mother and her daughter wrapped up in a moment of love, and that same moment brings tears of joy and remembrance to your eyes, and you feel a warmth in your soul. Have you ever wondered what heaven will be like? Maybe God is showing it to us, one puzzle piece at a time. A little glimpse, maybe a single bloom, or a whole field of flowers. The smell of fresh-cut grass on a light breeze one spring morning. A sunset over Lake Michigan. Heaven, one tiny preview at a time. Continue reading
- God’s Own Time - God’s Own Time: Consider this: during the centuries from the days of Joseph in Egypt to the Exodus, the people of Israel, in the land of Goshen portion of Egypt, multiply and their wealth expanded. They met and inter-married with Egyptians, and, turned their backs on worshiping God and adopted the idol worship of Egyptians. Overtime, the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites out of fear they would take over their land. The enslavement became more and more restrictive and violent. Enter Moses, and the plagues, and finally Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to leave. God’s punishment rained down on Egypt for their idol worship. Not only the loss of most of their army in the Nile, but their loss of millions of slaves that their economy was based on. All the construction and services represented by those people was gone. Paying for their sins in God’s Own Time. The Israelites were free! Or were they? Heading for the promised land, but 40 years later. Why 40 years to travel a distance of 450 miles? Continue reading
- Ash Wednesday - Ash Wednesday – Lenten Week #1: Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting. As it is the first day of Lent, many Christians begin Ash Wednesday by marking a Lenten calendar, praying a Lenten daily devotional, and making a Lenten sacrifice that they will not partake of until the arrival of Easter. Ash Wednesday derives its name from the placing of repentance ashes on the foreheads of participants to either the words "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" or the dictum "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” You are invited on a journey into God’s love. During this period of Lent, a Watchword has been prepared with appropriate Scripture passages, and, instead of a Meditation, a series of questions, for you to consider the wonder of God’s love. Continue reading
- Lent - Lent: Ash Wednesday. The first of 40 days of Lent, leading up to Good Friday. A season of darkness, but also a season of ministry for Jesus. My research for two of my stories, made me aware of significant events during the weeks before Jesus arrived in Jerusalem for Passover. These events, in the order in which they occurred, included: Jesus had been ministering to the towns of the Decapolis, and had arrived at the southern-most town of Gadara. There, on the hillside, He taught a crowd estimated at 4,000+ and, then, miraculously fed them. (Matthew 15:29-39) Continue reading
- Feed My Sheep - Feed My Sheep: In Chapter 17 of A Life for Barabbas, there is a scene where Barabbas, standing at the top of a sand dune, looking down at the beach on the Sea of Galilee and sees Jesus alive for the first time since Calvary. It is from this vantage point that he witnesses the “feed my sheep” conversation between Jesus and Peter. It would be much later before Barabbas understood the meaning of that phrase. How about this reenactment: “Stanley, son Nathan Ellsworth, do you love me more than these?” I reply, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus then says, “Feed my sheep.” That is a conversation that Jesus has with each one of us. Like Peter, we have denied our Lord in so many ways in which we have lived our lives, and Jesus meets us on the beach of our regrets and asks us if we love Him. From our behavior, it doesn’t seem like we do. But, we say, “Yes, Lord, You know I love You.” Then, the puzzling answer in His forgiveness: “Feed my sheep.” Continue reading
- Free Will - Free Will: “God created things which had free will. That means creatures could go either wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of all automated—creatures that worked like machines—would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His Higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that, they must be free.” CSLewis, Mere Christianity Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. So, what does love have to do with free will? Maybe everything? Lewis speaks of “rapturous love between a man and a woman.” Oh, boy! What? Oh, I see, he also calls it “mere milk and water”. Yuck! What is he talking about? Oh, yes, he is talking about happiness. Continue reading
- Taking the Oath - Taking the Oath: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So, help me God.” That is one oath. It is right there in our Constitution. Real and readable. The oath of office. The swearing in…. I swear allegiance... I pledge… How did that go? Let’s see, “I, Stanley Bosworth Escott, do solemnly swear to execute the duties of a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God, and will to the best of my abilities, protect, preserve, defend and enforce the ten commandments and all the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, so help me God. Amen. You remember that? Remember taking that oath of office? How’s it going? How are you handling the “Big Ten”? Wait, you say you didn’t take that oath? Really? What about the Nicene Creed, or the Apostles Creed, or the 'Profession of faith' found in Romans? No, those are not oaths! Continue reading
- The Holy Spirit - I Believe in the Holy Spirit: Are we back to hearing voices? The whispered voice of the Holy Spirit, ever present, guiding, inspiring. The presence of God, i.e. Holy Spirit, has been with us, pre-conception, and is with us still. Sacred voices, often in our heads, but sometimes they sound just like loved ones, or a person in authority, or a stranger. Sometimes not even a voice, perhaps a scene of intense beauty, creation calling us, granting us peace. Something Holy and Spiritual. Adam Hamilton, in his book Creed, makes this statement: "When we speak about the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God, we are speaking of God's active work in our lives; of God's way of leading us, guiding us, forming and shaping us; of God's power and presence to comfort and encourage us and to make us the people God wants us to be...And in listening to this voice and being shaped by this power, we find that we become most fully and authentically human." Having said all that, then "I Believe in the Holy Spirit", would seem to be the most understated line in the entire Creed. Think about that. Continue reading
- in Jesus Christ… - I Believe in Jesus Christ… We can’t transport ourselves back to first Century Judea or enter the temple in Jerusalem at that moment of Pentecost. It must have been an amazing event, the sudden rush of wind, the tongues of fire, the babble of multiple languages and all present understood what was said. For the disciples, it was a moment of realization. Yes, they had followed the Master these many years, had witnessed miracles, healings and teachings, but this was something else. Fifty days prior, the Resurrection had occurred before their very eyes, and then their master had met with them. This was the Messiah, long promised. But who would believe? Certainly, not the Sadducees, and probably not the Pharisees. There had been too much anger and negative thought towards this Carpenter-teacher-miracle worker. So, who would believe his story? Perhaps all of that served as motivation, as the Twelve filed out of the temple and gathered to digest and understand what had happened to them. Continue reading
- I Believe in… - I Believe in… In the course of our Christian walk, and I suppose depending on the Church that you attend on a regular basis, certain elements of worship become second nature. Those elements become an important part of how we approach our worship of God, whether it is music; specific and often repeated prayers, i.e. The Lord’s Prayer, or whether the entire services follows a liturgy outline or is free-form. Whatever you have discovered in that walk with Christ, what you count on, that has increased in spiritual value. Continue reading
- When In Doubt - Reading the Instructions: I think too often I am guilty of that old saw, “When in doubt read the instructions.” For many of us, the last resort is often the simplest, pick up the sheet that came with the gadget, read and follow the instructions. What happens when you buy or trade for a new phone? If it’s a ‘smart phone’, then it had to be programmed for you. All your data from your old phone was transferred to the new one, something an expert had to do for you, probably a sixth grader. In a weird sort of way, we are a bit like that smart phone. From conception on, a set of instructions is being inserted into our memories, and those basic instructions will guide us on to what is next. In a sense, you and I get programmed. When we are young, our minds are constantly being programmed by the experiences we have. Continue reading
- Greek Mythology - Greek Mythology? Over these months, Watchword meditations have touched occasionally on the idea of God speaking to us, or our paying attention to the voice of God. We referred to tapping into the spiritual side of ourselves for direction, comfort and the resolving of conflicts. But, there are other voices out there. If you are steeped in Greek Mythology, there is the tragic story of Echo. You’ll remember her, she was an Oread, one of the beautiful nymphs living on Mount Cithaeron. Zeus loved Echo and she often visited him on earth. Hera, Zeus’ wife became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymph. True to Greek tragedy, Echo protects Zeus and incurs the wrath of Hera. Then, Hera then puts a hex on Echo so she is only able to speak the last words that were spoken to her, which came from Zeus. So, when Echo, fickle nymph that she is, meets Narcissus and falls in love with him, she was only able to speak what he had spoken to her, he falls in love with himself. Don’t you love Greek myths? Other voices. But, we don’t live in a Greek Myth. Continue reading
- Therefore If Everyone… - Therefore, everyone who hears these words… : The other night I spoke with my daughter, who is an elementary school administrator, and she was lamenting the fact that she had just lost two of her teachers for two weeks of quarantine. She described a blasé approach, not only those two, but others, to following the guidelines of wearing a mask and maintaining distance. She said she had cautioned them in the past when they were chatting, without masks, despite the fact that they both had been in their classrooms with children. It seems that some people have a difficult time understanding the message and following it. In just a few days I will journey to the VA in Fort Wayne and receive the first of two Covid vaccine injections. I’m looking forward to this because I know that the vaccine will give me, and others, a degree of protection and that will have a positive impact on my confidence, and security. That is just one step in getting control of this pandemic, but it is one step in the right direction. Continue reading
- What If…II - What’s Next…? Yesterday’s meditation was built around the rather frivolous idea of What If…, a kind of fantasy which oftentimes provides the basis of story or other forms of narrative. If we incorporate reality into the what if…, it leads us to What’s next…? Think about it, what if dinosaurs returned and they were friendly as golden retrievers and did our bidding? I know that’s a ridiculous assumption but, what if… and what, in your imagination, would follow next? Over these nearly eleven months of Watchwords, the meditations were written with careful intent to avoid commenting on politics, in anyway. However, sometimes it is not possible to totally avoid a political slant when the Lord is nudging us in that direction. Think about it. In the book of Micah we read, “What does the Lord require of us? To act justly, Love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” Walk humbly with God?” Continue reading
- What If… I - What If… : I think we have all played the game of what if... as we have grown up into adulthood, and even then, we may continue to play. You know, What if... there are no taxes to be paid. What if... pigs can actually fly? What if... this virus disappeared? What if... dinosaurs returned and they were as friendly as golden retrievers and they know how to fetch all the good stuff. Or perhaps this, what if... the Israelites obeyed all of God’s commandments and didn’t have to wonder for 40 years, but had gone straight to the promise land in about nine months? How would that have changed things? Or even earlier, what if... Adam had said to Eve, “You ate What? I’m telling Father.” Continue reading
- Not In The Dictionary - A Word that Doesn’t Exist?: It is Saturday, let’s get a little silly -- Merriam-Webster tells me that the words, Pentance and Pentant, aren’t in the dictionary. If words aren’t in the dictionary, are they real words? Do they exist? If they aren’t words, how can I pronounce them? Why do they sound like real words? How can I spell them? I mean after-all, aren’t they derived from the word repentance? We know that repentance means ‘the action or process of repenting especially for misdeeds or moral shortcomings’. That being the case, then pentance could mean an awareness that I have done wrong and should do something about it, but then I do nothing. Or, how about this, someone says or does something that offends you and you double-down back at that person. Now you know you over-reacted, and should apologize, but you think, ‘they started it and they deserved it. I am not going to apologize’. That would be you being pentant. Continue reading
- Wisdom of Solomon - Wisdom of Solomon: One of my favorite Bible verses, and one of the few I have committed to memory, is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” But if you look at all of Proverbs 3, there is so much more there. Right at the start we have the author, Solomon, giving advice to his son, a warning not to forget the Word of God. This was more than a mental exercise of memory, this was saying to actively practice obedience to God’s Word. Practicing obedience to God’s word goes far beyond the simple memorization of Bible verses. If one knows the Word but does not practice it, that is, in effect, forgetting the Word of God. Continue reading
- Submit and Resist! - Submit and Resist! Did you see this in the passage above, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”? This is an interesting passage and it raises the question, how do we resist the devil? I guess the answer is found in the first part of that passage, when we submit ourselves fully to God we are indeed resisting the devil. As we read portions of the Holy Scriptures we should realize that God’s position has not changed, and has not moved, and, certainly, has not been compromised. The Word is very clear, we know where He stands--if we would but obey. Continue reading
- Bit of History - John, a Bit of History: Our Bible study group had just finished Genesis, and we were in agreement that the experience had been good and deepened our knowledge and understanding of this foundational Book of God’s Word. We then turned our attention to what would be next. Two suggestions were offered and, by consensus, we decided on the Book of John. We know that John and his brother James were fishermen, in partnership with their father, Zebedee, in the region of Galilee. Their home was probably near the town of Bethsaida, but they favored the marketplace at Capernaum for their catches. Continue reading
