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Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Farming families know what it means to have strong women. Families who have lived in rural areas for generations can tell stories of mothers and grandmothers who delivered six babies on the kitchen table, who kept the farm running when husbands were called up for military service, who prepared meals for dozens of workers, who scrubbed and baked and canned and ran a household with very few resources and very little help from faraway neighbors. Men may have driven cattle and plowed fields, but women were the invisible force behind them. Women played as much of a role in the taming of the West as their sunburned, hardworking husbands and sons.
Leah T.
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Loft 107 is a sober-living facility located in the heart of Brooklyn. It was opened by Joe Schrank in October 2009. Schrank was troubled that the best established facilities were located in the countrysides of Arizona and California. He questioned why the urban dwellers of New Your City had to leave their native habitat, seeking rehabilitation in a foreign land. Schrank said, "I kept thinking, 'Why do we have to send people to California and Arizona? Our lives are here.' I am attempting to take what's good and translate it to an urban mentality." Loft 107 is a labor of love.
The story of Rebekah and Isaac is one of love. After they were married the scriptures tell us, "and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death." This is more than a story of marriage, for it is a story of being comforted in love. Loft 107 is a story of comforting love for the urban dwellers of New York City who are recovering from an addiction. It is a story that is found everywhere that an open hand and an open heart are extended to another.
Ron L.
Romans 7:15-25a
The term "brainwashing" was first used in a 1950 article in New Leader magazine. A journalist was recounting the methods he learned about mind control techniques used in the early years of the Maoist regime in China and subsequently in the Korean War. Using various methods such as sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, group coercion, and others, it was believed that several American POWs were actually forced to make statements that suggested they switched allegiances. Some of those claims have since been disputed. However, the effect of brainwashing has been seen in cults and paramilitary organizations over the years, such as the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s and the mass suicides of the People's Temple and the Heaven's Gate cults.
While the notion of brainwashing is relatively new, all of humanity has suffered from a form of "spiritual brainwashing" as a result of sin. Our nature has been reprogrammed to tend toward sinfulness rather than righteousness. Paul himself gives a clear, disturbing picture of the struggle we now face to be "deprogrammed": "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing" (v. 19). Thankfully, he also gives the remedy to this predicament: "Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (vv. 24-25).
Craig K.
Romans 7:15-25
Augustine in his Confessions tells of an incident in his boyhood when he decided to steal pears from a nearby orchard. One night he and "a group of young scoundrels" went into the orchard to shake the trees and rob the pears. They carried off a huge load of pears, not to eat for themselves, but to dump among the hogs. They committed the crime simply because it was forbidden. Augustine exclaimed: "It was foul, and I loved it."
The apostle Paul could not overcome his own inner tensions and contradictions: "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do" (Romans 7:19).
Like Paul, Augustine was to discover that he could not resolve the issue himself but only God's grace could enable him to do it. In Paul's words, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:25).
Richard H.
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Glenn Beck lost his viewers, 400 advertisers, and his relationship with Fox News when he said President Obama had "a deep-seated hatred for white people." Beck had a substantial following because of his outspokenness. But there comes a time when the sensational becomes unacceptably derogatory.
Jesus said, "I am gentle and humble in heart." It was a calling that we all ought to be the same. It is a lesson that many others who engage in controversial rhetoric must learn. It is a lesson that you and I must practice each day.
Ron L.
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
You can't please everyone, as they say. Teenagers: dress to impress your friends, and I guarantee your mother will not approve. Parents: buy only healthy food to please your doctor, and I'm sure your kids will have something to say about it. The seller wants higher prices, the buyer wants low. Cheap art reproductions are an easy way to spruce up your walls, but make real art lovers cringe. In the case of today's gospel: a messenger from God who fasts makes people think he's loony for not eating or drinking or having friends. A messenger from God who likes to eat and drink with his friends is criticized for eating and drinking with his friends.
Leah T.
Farming families know what it means to have strong women. Families who have lived in rural areas for generations can tell stories of mothers and grandmothers who delivered six babies on the kitchen table, who kept the farm running when husbands were called up for military service, who prepared meals for dozens of workers, who scrubbed and baked and canned and ran a household with very few resources and very little help from faraway neighbors. Men may have driven cattle and plowed fields, but women were the invisible force behind them. Women played as much of a role in the taming of the West as their sunburned, hardworking husbands and sons.
Leah T.
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Loft 107 is a sober-living facility located in the heart of Brooklyn. It was opened by Joe Schrank in October 2009. Schrank was troubled that the best established facilities were located in the countrysides of Arizona and California. He questioned why the urban dwellers of New Your City had to leave their native habitat, seeking rehabilitation in a foreign land. Schrank said, "I kept thinking, 'Why do we have to send people to California and Arizona? Our lives are here.' I am attempting to take what's good and translate it to an urban mentality." Loft 107 is a labor of love.
The story of Rebekah and Isaac is one of love. After they were married the scriptures tell us, "and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death." This is more than a story of marriage, for it is a story of being comforted in love. Loft 107 is a story of comforting love for the urban dwellers of New York City who are recovering from an addiction. It is a story that is found everywhere that an open hand and an open heart are extended to another.
Ron L.
Romans 7:15-25a
The term "brainwashing" was first used in a 1950 article in New Leader magazine. A journalist was recounting the methods he learned about mind control techniques used in the early years of the Maoist regime in China and subsequently in the Korean War. Using various methods such as sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, group coercion, and others, it was believed that several American POWs were actually forced to make statements that suggested they switched allegiances. Some of those claims have since been disputed. However, the effect of brainwashing has been seen in cults and paramilitary organizations over the years, such as the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s and the mass suicides of the People's Temple and the Heaven's Gate cults.
While the notion of brainwashing is relatively new, all of humanity has suffered from a form of "spiritual brainwashing" as a result of sin. Our nature has been reprogrammed to tend toward sinfulness rather than righteousness. Paul himself gives a clear, disturbing picture of the struggle we now face to be "deprogrammed": "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing" (v. 19). Thankfully, he also gives the remedy to this predicament: "Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (vv. 24-25).
Craig K.
Romans 7:15-25
Augustine in his Confessions tells of an incident in his boyhood when he decided to steal pears from a nearby orchard. One night he and "a group of young scoundrels" went into the orchard to shake the trees and rob the pears. They carried off a huge load of pears, not to eat for themselves, but to dump among the hogs. They committed the crime simply because it was forbidden. Augustine exclaimed: "It was foul, and I loved it."
The apostle Paul could not overcome his own inner tensions and contradictions: "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do" (Romans 7:19).
Like Paul, Augustine was to discover that he could not resolve the issue himself but only God's grace could enable him to do it. In Paul's words, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:25).
Richard H.
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Glenn Beck lost his viewers, 400 advertisers, and his relationship with Fox News when he said President Obama had "a deep-seated hatred for white people." Beck had a substantial following because of his outspokenness. But there comes a time when the sensational becomes unacceptably derogatory.
Jesus said, "I am gentle and humble in heart." It was a calling that we all ought to be the same. It is a lesson that many others who engage in controversial rhetoric must learn. It is a lesson that you and I must practice each day.
Ron L.
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
You can't please everyone, as they say. Teenagers: dress to impress your friends, and I guarantee your mother will not approve. Parents: buy only healthy food to please your doctor, and I'm sure your kids will have something to say about it. The seller wants higher prices, the buyer wants low. Cheap art reproductions are an easy way to spruce up your walls, but make real art lovers cringe. In the case of today's gospel: a messenger from God who fasts makes people think he's loony for not eating or drinking or having friends. A messenger from God who likes to eat and drink with his friends is criticized for eating and drinking with his friends.
Leah T.
