From My Devotions

Almost as an answer to my inquiries in my last post, this came up in my devotions today. I'm exhausted, so I'm not going to really expound upon this too much, but I do want to put it out there... these words are wise.

"Are we really a ray of light in the midst of so much darkness, or are we still held fast bound by laziness or human respect? It will help us to be more apostolic and to overcome the obstacles if we consider, in the presence of God, that the people whose paths we have crossed during our lives had a right to expect us to help them to get to know Jesus better. Have we fulfilled this Christian duty of ours? Let us hope they will not be able to reproach us, in this life or the next, for having deprived them of that help: hominem non habeo, I have had no one to give me a little light in so much darkness."

- "In Conversation with God" by Francis Fernandez (a FABULOUS devotional book. I personally discovered it at the Basilica but I'm sure it's available online... there are several volumes to take you through the entire year.)

I just... hmm. Am I really a ray of light in the midst of so much darkness? Rarely, if ever. Can I be? Yes. But only with the grace and mercy of God.

Just a little something to think about.

Habemus Papam!

We have a new pope! The world has been holding its breath for days, waiting to see who the next leader of the Roman Catholic church would be. Then, today, as I was walking to my 2:10 French class, I heard a shout from Caldwell as I was walking past: "White smoke! We have a pope! We have a pope!" The Caldwell chapel bells began to peal, as did the massive Basilica bells. The entire campus seemed to be singing and dancing with joy. I ran to French class (unfortunately, I had already skipped too many times to miss it today!), got through the hour with the goofiest grin on my face, and when I got out of class, the bells were still ringing, as they continued to do for yet another hour after that. I hurried to put my things in the music school and then dashed off to the Basilica. On my way into the shrine, I was stopped by a young woman who wished to interview me for her German blog... so, after saying a few things and praying I didn't say anything utterly ridiculous, I was finally able to get into the church. It was surprisingly empty, but I was actually almost pleased at the silence in that cavernous room. To me it said that while, yes, the world at large was celebrating, and the bells were ringing joyfully, and my newsfeed on facebook said things like "White smoke! New pope! Habemus papam!" inside the church, where the eucharist is reserved, respect and honor reigned surpreme. There seemed to be a buzz in the air, a quiet, expectant buzz. The juxtaposition between the two kinds of celebrating - the loud, raucous kind and the quiet, reverent kind - struck a chord in me as I walked into that beautiful place.

After spending a little time there, going to the Pryz to get food, and heading back to the music school, I was jolted back into reality. The Catholic University of America is one of the best places to be when a new pope is elected... the BTR School of Music is possibly one of the worst. I wanted so desperately to just stay happy and celebrate with everyone, but as I was sitting in the lower lobby, it was like yin and yang, with happy, ecstatic Catholics on one side of me, who couldn't stop talking about it and doing research and learning about Pope Francis... and on the other side of me, friends who were mocking the Catholics, the papacy, Christianity in general... basically my entire life. It stung. It stung a lot, actually. I found myself just biting my tongue... every now and then, someone would something like, "So this means we get off class, right?" or "New pope... I guess this is supposed to be exciting" and I just wanted to cry. I did respond to the second one and said, "I know it isn't exciting for you, but it is for me." It got worse... everyone had a snide comment to make about Pope Francis' stance on gay marriage, on abortion, on anything that could possibly comment about.

It made me feel a little better to get on facebook and find several of my protestant friends expressing best wishes for the new pope, hope for the Catholic church, and in general being excited as well. It was incredibly bittersweet, trying to balance my joy and my silence. I have chosen a career path that is certainly stretching me in my faith (musical theatre is not necessarily the best place for someone of the conservative persuasion!), as I'm trying to maintain my beliefs without completely alienating the people I love who do not in any way share those beliefs. I want to ask, my dear friends, how do you deal with this on a daily basis? I've been dealing with it for 21 years, but still really don't know what to do when situations like this come up. Protestant and Catholic alike, we share Christ, we share faith, and we share hope. We also share persecution and the daily struggle to live out our faith without completely shoving it in others' faces. I would like to extend a challenge to all of my friends to constantly uphold each other in prayer, Protestants and Catholics alike. The time is coming when the church will be whole again, and in the meantime, there's nothing wrong with jumpstarting the process! I'd like to challenge you as well to keep in mind that every interaction you have impacts another person's faith or lack thereof. I know a few people who I can tell live their faith, and I strive to be like them, but it's a long process, and I know I am nowhere close to even moderately good at it. But it is my goal in life, and I would like to extend that same challenge to you. Do people who look at you see a human being or do they see Christ? And how can that change without shoving our opinions down peoples' throats, angering them and turning them further away in the process?

-sigh-

Okay, back to the Pope. A few details: Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Although he basically had a palace at his disposal, he refused to live there, residing instead in a very small apartment, taking the bus to work, etc. He is a humble man who is incredibly orthodox in his beliefs about abortion, gay marriage, and other pertinent issues. He chose the name Francis as a nod to Saint Francis of Assisi, who is known for working hard to rebuild and strengthen the Church. I have great hope that Pope Francis will strive for the same thing, working to unify the Church and build great bridges for the future. I pray for our new pope, that he will have wisdom to guide the church well and lead us closer to God as a people. I'm encouraging you, my dear readers, to do the same. Every Pope has, literally, the weight of the world on his shoulders, and Pope Francis is no different. Whether you believe in the papacy or not, the pope has a huge responsibility and God alone can give him the strength to lead through all things.

Every day is a chance to start again, a chance to make a change. But with the election of Pope Francis today, March 13, 2013, there is no better time to begin to strengthen our lives as Christians (Catholic or Protestant). There is no better time to reopen discussion about all of the issues that have separated us, to reevaluate the beliefs that we share and the ones that separate us. My hope and my prayer is for unification of Church, of family, and a newfound joy in the lives we have been given.

~ Habemus papam franciscum. ~

~ Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen. ~

Purple

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am somewhat very frightened to post about this topic... I do not want anyone to hate or despise me for any reason. But I feel something must be said.

I'm sure many of you have learned about and are possibly participating in the "Wear Purple to Stop Homosexual Bullying" event. I will not be wearing purple, but please, before you jump at my throat, allow me to explain.

There is not a single person in this world who should be mistreated because of who they are. Kids being driven to the point of suicide because of internet sex scandals? Horrendous! The Devil certainly knows how to work his evil. I cannot and will not ever hate these kids, these people, nor can I judge them. It simply is not my place. My place is to love.

I've been doing a lot of thinking on this topic (and please, I welcome honest, friendly discussion, but any hateful posts from either side of the issue will be deleted), and have come to this somewhat shaky conclusion:

People are people, no matter what race, gender, sexual preference, etc. However, God made man and woman to compliment each other, and I cannot advocate anything other than what God created to be. I understand that many people in today's society (and throughout history, too) have felt otherwise, and I'm not going to spread hater spam or do anything else to hurt them. I have many, many friends and even a few family members who believe very differently than I about this issue, and I still love them. The phrase goes something along the lines of "Love the sinner, hate the sin." I know most homosexuals feel as though they were born that way... how I can I hate them when they've never consciously known differently? I cannot. But at the same time, I cannot advocate something that is against everything I believe in.

To those who have been touched, hurt, or are truly suffering because of the recent tragedies, I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart. I wish it had never happened. No family deserves to go through the pain of losing a child, no person deserves to go through the amount of torture and terror it takes to bring about suicide. I am also truly, deeply sorry for those who call themselves Christians but go about spreading hatred towards those who live this kind of lifestyle. I pray that God will prevail through everything, and give strength to those who need it and bring about righteousness and glory for Him. Anything less than that I fear above all.

I hope and pray I did not offend with this post... that was not the intent. I said at the beginning of this blog that it is about my journey and my faith and where God takes me, and this is an issue that every Christian - young and old - must address within themselves. This is simply my view on the subject. I will not wear purple for gay rights. However, be assured that on that day I will be praying especially for all those who have been victimized and their families. I will also be praying that my brothers and sisters in Christ remain vigilant and continue to develop their individual faiths, for it is only through faith that truth can be revealed.

I invite you to join me heartily and fervently in this endeavor. God bless.

It's Been Awhile....

It's been awhile since I've written anything on this or any other blog, but due to the occurrences of a government class today, I feel I have a good deal to write about.

The class? A basic government class. The topic? Amending the constitution. We were all to come up with an amendment that we thought needed to be made to the constitution of the United States. Of course, we had the typical: taxes, voting age, driving/drinking age, abortion, gay marriage....

I'm not here to preach about abortion or gay marriage (not today, anyway). I am here to preach on something that upset me more than the topics themselves (unfortunately, I'm pretty used to dealing with them. :-\ ). No... what angered me was how truly apathetic people in the class were. I realize it was not a debate class, but no one bothered to even mention people other than those in the amendment and how it would affect them! My class is full of good, moral, Christian people (Catholic AND Protestant), but there was not a single one who stood up for the fact that there might be issues. It did not require a huge debate, a screaming match, or anything of the sort. But if a person calls themselves a Christian, how can they sit back and watch while people defend their positions and not even mention ours?

There is a boy in my class who is enthralled by politics. I don't understand why... government bores me to death. But he is a Catholic boy, and I would think he would at least have something to say about the other side of the coin. But he didn't.

I'm not passing judgement on him at all, that isn't right. What I do want to put out there is that if you believe in something, you have to stand for it. Is it any wonder our nation is going to the dogs when we refuse to even bring God into the classroom? When our students, our teenagers, refuse to mention that they think something is wrong, because they're afraid it will be blown out of proportion?

We, as Christians, cannot be apathetic. We were told to make disciples. This doesn't mean hounding people until they are so sick of hearing about God that they want to scream. It means being an example, showing Christ in our words and our deeds, not just sitting back as the world pelts its nonsense at us. It is our job to be strong... not bend with the governmental winds.

Just A Brief Follow-Up

Several weeks ago, I found and began to read the Catholic catechism... mainly out of curiosity, but it sparked my interest in the fundamentals of Catholicism vs. protestantism, and therefore the fundamentals of Christianity. If anyone is interested, the website I found is here: http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm. Check it out... it's definitely interesting!

Catholicism vs. Protestantism

Growing up in protestant church, I was always made to think (not by my parents, who have a mesh of beliefs that strays between Catholic and protestant) that Catholics were messed-up, weird, even occultic in ways. They were wrong.

The more I visit the closest Catholic church, the more I realize we have in common. Having just come from a discussion with Pastor Krell, something he said comes to mind. He drew a Venn diagram on the wall with his finger as we were talking, and illustrated that the two circles, yes, are Catholic versus protestant, while the stuff in the middle is both - rather, the stuff in the middle is simply Christianity.

There are differences, yes, but the majority of the two denominations is the same! We both believe that Christ died for our sins, and that we must follow him with all that we are. This is the most important, the most fundamental of all Christian beliefs! Yet there are protestant who claim that Catholics are not Christians, and Catholics who claim that protestants are not Christian. There are those, yes, who are not Christians - Sunday-morning Christians, pew-warmers. These people exist in both the Catholic and protestant churches. It is not something that is individual to one church or another.

Christ is crucial. He is the only reason to live, whether you live as a Catholic or a protestant. And he loves each and every one of us, whether we are practicing Catholics or protestants. And there will come a day when it doesn't matter whether we were Catholic or protestant. There will be one church, one people of God. It will not matter whether we practice open or closed communion. It will not matter what we wear to church, it will not matter how or where we pray. Someday that time will come, and when it does, those who truly love God and want nothing more than Christ's sovereignty in their lives will go with him, and it will not matter what they practiced here on earth, denomination-wise.

Just a few brief notes on common Catholic misconceptions. Many protestants have misconstrued ideas of Catholicism, thanks to our prejudices and fears of anything that is different. My father once commented that we saw things that were wrong with the catholic church, and so good ol' Martin Luther tried to fix them... and threw the baby out with the bathwater. And now we've messed up the truth of Catholicism and Christianity so that many protestants are brain-washed to think that one or the other party is wrong, sinful, etc.

So, just two or three common protestant misconceptions:

• Catholics pray to the Virgin Mary, and believe they can only get to God through her. Not true. Catholics do pray to Mary, but they pray out of reverence, thanking her for what she did by being the mother of the Christ. They do believe that she can "put a good word in" for us, but what is so hard to believe about that? We ask our fellow Christians to pray for us when we fall on difficult times... if we can ask our fellow humans, why is it wrong to ask someone who is up there with God now? They can certainly get the message to him just as well as our fellow humans!
• Catholics pray to the saints, and have a patron saint for everything. They do have a lot of saints, but, like above, why not pray through them as well? We can pray to God, and that is the most important prayer, but is it not good to spend double the time on our knees, showing our sincerity and fervency in our prayers by asking the saints to help us? God gave them special places... that's why they're saints!
• Catholics think they're better than protestants, that's why protestants cannot take Catholic communion. Not true. Catholics believe that, rather than communion being symbolic, the bread and wine actually becomes the blood and body of Christ. They believe that you should be completely immersed in Christianity (and therefore, Catholicism) in order to partake of the sacred elements.

I know there are many more misconceptions of Christianity, because I remember I was so afraid and had so many questions when I first went to Catholic mass. But truly, Catholics are Christians just as protestants are, and someday, Christ will bring us together again in one great, everlasting, final communion... one that everyone will be able to partake of.

Divorce

Just a quick note on the ever-growing popularity of divorce. I know full well I'm only seventeen years old, I'm perfectly happy in my relationship with my first boyfriend, and I don't understand the commitment it takes to make a marriage work. I don't even understand what makes couples in high school break up. I mean, why would you go out with someone if you don't like who they are? Why date somebody just for their looks? If you know nothing about their personality and their dreams and their lives, why would you spend so much time with them? I love my boyfriend very much, but we started out as friends... actually, we started out as enemies, became friends, and gradually became interested in each other as something more. I know on my end, I was not that head over heels for him until we started going out, but I knew enough about him to make me want to know him more....

Now, my question is, why would you marry someone if you hadn't even gone through the above process? Why have sex and get pregnant, and then have to get married. Take the time to understand the person you're with... their hopes, their dreams, their futures. Don't get so caught up in the passion and heat of the moment that you ignore the logistics!

God created marriage as a one man-one woman union. There's a reason that the vows say, "Til death do us part." In Genesis, Adam said upon meeting Eve, "Now, this is someone whose bones came from my bones, whose body came from my body."

Matthew chapter 10 says, "Then Jesus left that place and went into the area of Judea and across the Jordan River. Again, crowds came to him, and he taught them as he usually did. Some Pharisees came to Jesus and tried to trick him. They asked, 'Is it right for a man to divorce his wife?' Jesus answered, 'What did Moses command you to do?' They said, 'Moses allowed a man to write out divorce papers and send her away.' Jesus said, 'Moses wrote that command because you were stubborn. But when God made the world, he made them male and female. So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one body. So there are not two, but one. God has joined the two together, so no one should separate them.' Later, in the house, his followers asked Jesus again about the question of divorce. He answered, 'Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman is guilty of adultery against her. And the woman who divorces her husband and marries another man is also guilty of adultery.' "

People, divorce is wrong. Adultery is wrong. Sex before marriage is wrong. It joins two people together in ways that cannot be separated, no matter how hard you try.

Creed by Steven Turner

We believe in Marx, Freud and Darwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy's OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything's getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes
UFO's and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha,
Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher
though we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same-
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation,
sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens
they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its
compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps
Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn

We believe in Masters and Johnson
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and
bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors .
And the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that
is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth
that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,
And the flowering of individual thought.

If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky and when you hear:


State of Emergency!

Sniper Kills Ten! Troops on Rampage!

Whites go Looting!

Bomb Blasts School!

It is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.



*What do you believe??*

Sanctinasium????

An on-going argument between myself, my father, and our youth pastor is that of sanctinasium versus cathedral or chapel. So, just to stir up a little trouble: my side of the argument.

First of all, what is a sanctinasium? A santinasium is a strange mix of sanctuary and gymnasium. It is a sanctuary that has thin, gym floor carpeting, basketball hoops, and portable chairs - no pews. Some see it as mainly functional, since it houses both church youth activities and church services. However, I see it much differently.

I see a "sanctinasium" as pure disrespect. Shoving God into a box. There is nothing wrong with a "youth center" or something else like that, even within the church, provided it is a tool used to reach others. However, there is no way that God would've allowed a basketball to even enter the Holy of Holies in the temple. So why allow it in the sanctuary? Of all places in a church, the sanctuary, the altar, is the place where God dwells, and the place that deserves the most respect.

It's true, the altar is just a bunch of two-by-fours nailed together, sanded, and finished. However, the symbolism behind the altar, that it is the place of God's great presence, the place where He can be reached, is so important, and very few people see it as such. They feel that since God is omnipresent, the exact place and style does not matter at all. However, this is undoubtedly not true.

God should be respected. Respected more than anyone or anything. And a sanctinasium is, without a doubt, very, very disrespectful.

NCN News - Church of the Nazarene

NCN News - Church of the Nazarene

The church in France is a very important part of my life, and I ask that you pray for it as I do. Although many people and churches assume that, being in Europe, France is a high point of culture and civilization and therefore, already established as a very Christian area, the church of the Nazarene has been present in France for only 27 years, and it is still very much developing.

I thank God for France, Paris, and the people that are working there. I hope you will do the same.