"You should bring the concerns of a father to every state conversation"

 https://open.spotify.com/episode/6uESsh6ilE7U6FmPlF2JW2?si=tQikTdE-Qz-SH8VmfhKPpA

Thucydides, Pericles' Funeral Oration

... For it is difficult to say neither too little nor too much; and even moderation is apt not to give the impression of truthfulness. The friend of the dead who knows the facts is likely to think that the words of the speaker fall short of his knowledge and of his wishes; another who is not so well informed, when he hears of anything which surpasses his own powers, will be envious and will suspect exaggeration. Mankind are tolerant of the praises of others so long as each hearer thinks that he can do as well or nearly as well himself, but, when the speaker rises above him, jealousy is aroused and he begins to be incredulous. However, since our ancestors have set the seal of their approval upon the practice, I must obey, and to the utmost of my power shall endeavor to satisfy the wishes and beliefs of all who hear me.

... Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. Our government does not copy our neighbors', but is an example to them. It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. But while there exists equal justice to all and alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also recognized; and when a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit. Neither is poverty an obstacle, but a man may benefit his country whatever the obscurity of his condition. There is no exclusiveness in our public life, and in our private business we are not suspicious of one another, nor angry with our neighbor if he does what he likes; we do not put on sour looks at him which, though harmless, are not pleasant. While we are thus unconstrained in our private business, a spirit of reverence pervades our public acts; we are prevented from doing wrong by respect for the authorities and for the laws, having a particular regard to those which are ordained for the protection of the injured as well as those unwritten laws which bring upon the transgressor of them the reprobation of the general sentiment.

And we have not forgotten to provide for our weary spirits many relaxations from toil; we have regular games and sacrifices throughout the year; our homes are beautiful and elegant; and the delight which we daily feel in all these things helps to banish sorrow. Because of the greatness of our city the fruits of the whole earth flow in upon us; so that we enjoy the goods of other countries as freely as our own.

Then, again, our military training is in many respects superior to that of our adversaries. Our city is thrown open to the world, though and we never expel a foreigner and prevent him from seeing or learning anything of which the secret if revealed to an enemy might profit him. We rely not upon management or trickery, but upon our own hearts and hands. And in the matter of education, whereas they from early youth are always undergoing laborious exercises which are to make them brave, we live at ease, and yet are equally ready to face the perils which they face. And here is the proof: The Lacedaemonians come into Athenian territory not by themselves, but with their whole confederacy following; we go alone into a neighbor's country; and although our opponents are fighting for their homes and we on a foreign soil, we have seldom any difficulty in overcoming them. Our enemies have never yet felt our united strength, the care of a navy divides our attention, and on land we are obliged to send our own citizens everywhere. But they, if they meet and defeat a part of our army, are as proud as if they had routed us all, and when defeated they pretend to have been vanquished by us all.

If then we prefer to meet danger with a light heart but without laborious training, and with a courage which is gained by habit and not enforced by law, are we not greatly the better for it? Since we do not anticipate the pain, although, when the hour comes, we can be as brave as those who never allow themselves to rest; thus our city is equally admirable in peace and in war. For we are lovers of the beautiful in our tastes and our strength lies, in our opinion, not in deliberation and discussion, but that knowledge which is gained by discussion preparatory to action. For we have a peculiar power of thinking before we act, and of acting, too, whereas other men are courageous from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection. And they are surely to be esteemed the bravest spirits who, having the clearest sense both of the pains and pleasures of life, do not on that account shrink from danger. In doing good, again, we are unlike others; we make our friends by conferring, not by receiving favors. Now he who confers a favor is the firmer friend, because he would rather by kindness keep alive the memory of an obligation; but the recipient is colder in his feelings, because he knows that in requiting another's generosity he will not be winning gratitude but only paying a debt. We alone do good to our neighbors not upon a calculation of interest, but in the confidence of freedom and in a frank and fearless spirit. To sum up: I say that Athens is the school of Hellas, and that the individual Athenian in his own person seems to have the power of adapting himself to the most varied forms of action with the utmost versatility and grace. This is no passing and idle word, but truth and fact; and the assertion is verified by the position to which these qualities have raised the state. For in the hour of trial Athens alone among her contemporaries is superior to the report of her. No enemy who comes against her is indignant at the reverses which he sustains at the hands of such a city; no subject complains that his masters are unworthy of him. And we shall assuredly not be without witnesses; there are mighty monuments of our power which will make us the wonder of this and of succeeding ages; we shall not need the praises of Homer or of any other panegyrist whose poetry may please for the moment, although his representation of the facts will not bear the light of day. For we have compelled every land and every sea to open a path for our valor, and have everywhere planted eternal memorials of our friendship and of our enmity. Such is the city for whose sake these men nobly fought and died; they could not bear the thought that she might be taken from them; and every one of us who survive should gladly toil on her behalf.

I have dwelt upon the greatness of Athens because I want to show you that we are contending for a higher prize than those who enjoy none of these privileges, and to establish by manifest proof the merit of these men whom I am now commemorating. Their loftiest praise has been already spoken. For in magnifying the city I have magnified them, and men like them whose virtues made her glorious. And of how few Hellenes 1 can it be said as of them, that their deeds when weighed in the balance have been found equal to their fame! I believe that a death such as theirs has been the true measure of a man's worth; it may be the first revelation of his virtues, but is at any rate their final seal. For even those who come short in other ways may justly plead the valor with which they have fought for their country; they have blotted out the evil with the good, and have benefited the state more by their public services than they have injured her by their private actions. None of these men were enervated by wealth or hesitated to resign the pleasures of life; none of them put off the evil day in the hope, natural to poverty, that a man, though poor, may one day become rich. But, deeming that the punishment of their enemies was sweeter than any of these things, and that they could fall in no nobler cause, they determined at the hazard of their lives to be honorably avenged, and to leave the rest. They resigned to hope their unknown chance of happiness; but in the face of death they resolved to rely upon themselves alone. And when the moment came they were minded to resist and suffer, rather than to fly and save their lives; they ran away from the word of dishonor, but on the battlefield their feet stood fast, and in an instant, at the height of their fortune, they passed away from the scene, not of their fear, but of their glory.

Such was the end of these men; they were worthy of Athens, and the living need not desire to have a more heroic spirit, although they may pray for a less fatal issue. The value of such a spirit is not to be expressed in words. Any one can discourse to you for ever about the advantages of a brave defense, which you know already. But instead of listening to him I would have you day by day fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, until you become filled with the love of her; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it, who in the hour of conflict had the fear of dishonor always present to them, and who, if ever they failed in an enterprise, would not allow their virtues to be lost to their country, but freely gave their lives to her as the fairest offering which they could present at her feast. The sacrifice which they collectively made was individually repaid to them; for they received again each one for himself a praise which grows not old, and the noblest of all tombs, I speak not of that in which their remains are laid, but of that in which their glory survives, and is proclaimed always and on every fitting occasion both in word and deed. For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men. Make them your examples, and, esteeming courage to be freedom and freedom to be happiness, do not weigh too nicely the perils of war. The unfortunate who has no hope of a change for the better has less reason to throw away his life than the prosperous who, if he survive, is always liable to a change for the worse, and to whom any accidental fall makes the most serious difference. To a man of spirit, cowardice and disaster coming together are far more bitter than death striking him unperceived at a time when he is full of courage and animated by the general hope.

Wherefore I do not now pity the parents of the dead who stand here; I would rather comfort them. You know that your dead have passed away amid manifold vicissitudes; and that they may be deemed fortunate who have gained their utmost honor, whether an honorable death like theirs, or an honorable sorrow like yours, and whose share of happiness has been so ordered that the term of their happiness is likewise the term of their life. I know how hard it is to make you feel this, when the good fortune of others will too often remind you of the gladness which once lightened your hearts. And sorrow is felt at the want of those blessings, not which a man never knew, but which were a part of his life before they were taken from him. Some of you are of an age at which they may hope to have other children, and they ought to bear their sorrow better; not only will the children who may hereafter be born make them forget their own lost ones, but the city will be doubly a gainer. She will not be left desolate, and she will be safer. For a man's counsel cannot have equal weight or worth, when he alone has no children to risk in the general danger. To those of you who have passed their prime, I say: "Congratulate yourselves that you have been happy during the greater part of your days; remember that your life of sorrow will not last long, and be comforted by the glory of those who are gone. For the love of honor alone is ever young, and not riches, as some say, but honor is the delight of men when they are old and useless.

To you who are the sons and brothers of the departed, I see that the struggle to emulate them will be an arduous one. For all men praise the dead, and, however preeminent your virtue may be, I do not say even to approach them, and avoid living their rivals and detractors, but when a man is out of the way, the honor and goodwill which he receives is unalloyed. And, if I am to speak of womanly virtues to those of you who will henceforth be widows, let me sum them up in one short admonition: To a woman not to show more weakness than is natural to her sex is a great glory, and not to be talked about for good or for evil among men.

I have paid the required tribute, in obedience to the law, making use of such fitting words as I had. The tribute of deeds has been paid in part; for the dead have them in deeds, and it remains only that their children should be maintained at the public charge until they are grown up: this is the solid prize with which, as with a garland, Athens crowns her sons living and dead, after a struggle like theirs. For where the rewards of virtue are greatest, there the noblest citizens are enlisted in the service of the state. And now, when you have duly lamented, every one his own dead, you may depart.

1 "Hellenes" is another word for "Greeks."

Madness, Long and Short

Thought 1: Weekly dose of my main man, Matthew Henry on Luke 6

"They were mad at Christ, mad at the people, mad at themselves. Anger is a short madness, malice is a long one; impotent malice, especially disappointed malice; such was theirs." 

Thought 2: Do this to get your email read.

"So keep paragraphs short. You know what they’re thinking if they see one massive wall of text? Unabomber manifesto. Aim to stay under five lines per paragraph."

-Erik Barker

Thought 3: 

Thinking about how as a kid, I did not do the things I expect of my students. Yea, indeed, things I am verily disgruntled to find lacking in my students. 

And how, God, in His omniscience and eternal now, had to perceive some humor watching my younger self backtalking my teachers/ authority figures. 

Dramatic irony, that. 

"It is good being where Christ is, wherever it be."

Matthew Henry on John 1:

"They enquired not how they might be accommodated with him, but would put that to the venture, and make the best of what they found. It is good being where Christ is, wherever it be."

"He knew there was enough in Christ for all; and, having tasted that he is gracious, he could not rest till those he loved had tasted it too. Note, True grace hates monopolies, and loves not to eat its morsels alone."

Thomas Jefferson on God's justice re: America: 

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest."

Alistair Begg on Feelings:

 From Sarah Rowell's Blind Mule Blog, that's already made me tear up 2x this evening... 

"That eternal essential Wisdom"

 Thought One:

HOW do I explain the Logos to 3rd graders?!?

Thought Two: Matthew Henry!

"Of whom he speaks—The Word—ho logos. This is an idiom peculiar to John’s writings. See 1 John 1:1; 5:7; Rev. 19:13. Yet some think that Christ is meant by the Word in Acts 20:32; Heb. 4:12; Luke 1:2. The Chaldee paraphrase very frequently calls the Messiah Memra—the Word of Jehovah, and speaks of many things in the Old Testament, said to be done by the Lord, as done by that Word of the Lord. Even the vulgar Jews were taught that the Word of God was the same with God. The evangelist, in the close of his discourse (John 1:18), plainly tells us why he calls Christ the Word—because he is the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, and has declared him. Word is two-fold: logos endiathetos—word conceived; and logos prophorikos—word uttered. The logos ho eso and ho exo, ratio and oratio—intelligence and utterance. "

"By him, not as a subordinate instrument, but as a co-ordinate agent, God made the world (Heb. 1:2), not as the workman cuts by his axe, but as the body sees by the eye. (2.) The contrary is denied: Without him was not any thing made that was made, from the highest angel to the meanest worm. God the Father did nothing without him in that work." 

Thought Three: The Memra in the Jewish Encyclopedia

"MEMRA (= "Ma'amar" or "Dibbur," "Logos"):"

"...  a term used especially in the Targum [Aramaic dynamic equivalent + commentary translation of the Hebrew Tanakh] as a substitute for "the Lord" when an anthropomorphic expression is to be avoided."

"Instead of the Scriptural "You have not believed in the Lord," Targ. Deut. i. 32 has "You have not believed in the word of the Lord"; instead of "I shall require it [vengeance] from him," Targ. Deut. xviii. 19 has "My word shall require it." "The Memra," instead of "the Lord," is "the consuming fire" (Targ. Deut. ix. 3; comp. Targ. Isa. xxx. 27). The Memra "plagued the people" (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xxxii. 35). "The Memra smote him" (II Sam. vi. 7; comp. Targ. I Kings xviii. 24; Hos. xiii. 14; et al.). Not "God," but "the Memra," is met with in Targ. Ex. xix. 17 (Targ. Yer. "the Shekinah"; comp. Targ. Ex. xxv. 22: "I will order My Memra to be there"). "I will cover thee with My Memra," instead of "My hand" (Targ. Ex. xxxiii. 22). Instead of "My soul," "My Memra shall reject you" (Targ. Lev. xxvi. 30; comp. Isa. i. 14, xlii. 1; Jer. vi. 8; Ezek. xxiii. 18). "The voice of the Memra," instead of "God," is heard (Gen. iii. 8; Deut. iv. 33, 36; v. 21; Isa. vi. 8; et al.). Where Moses says, "I stood between the Lord and you" (Deut. v. 5), the Targum has, "between the Memra of the Lord and you"; and the "sign between Me and you" becomes a "sign between My Memra and you" (Ex. xxxi. 13, 17; comp. Lev. xxvi. 46; Gen. ix. 12; xvii. 2, 7, 10; Ezek. xx. 12). Instead of God, the Memra comes to Abimelek (Gen. xx. 3), and to Balaam (Num. xxiii. 4). His Memra aids and accompanies Israel, performing wonders for them (Targ. Num. xxiii. 21; Deut. i. 30, xxxiii. 3; Targ. Isa. lxiii. 14; Jer. xxxi. 1; Hos. ix. 10 [comp. xi. 3, "the messenger-angel"]). The Memra goes before Cyrus (Isa. xlv. 12). The Lord swears by His Memra (Gen. xxi. 23, xxii. 16, xxiv. 3; Ex. xxxii. 13; Num. xiv. 30; Isa. xlv. 23; Ezek. xx. 5; et al.). It is His Memra that repents (Targ. Gen. vi. 6, viii. 21; I Sam. xv. 11, 35). Not His "hand," but His "Memra has laid the foundation of the earth" (Targ. Isa. xlviii. 13); for His Memra's or Name's sake does He act (l.c. xlviii. 11; II Kings xix. 34). Through the Memra God turns to His people (Targ. Lev. xxvi. 90; II Kings xiii. 23), becomes the shield of Abraham (Gen. xv. 1), and is with Moses (Ex. iii. 12; iv. 12, 15) and with Israel (Targ. Yer. to Num. x. 35, 36; Isa. lxiii. 14). It is the Memra, not God Himself, against whom man offends (Ex. xvi. 8; Num. xiv. 5; I Kings viii. 50; II Kings xix. 28; Isa. i. 2, 16; xlv. 3, 20; Hos. v. 7, vi. 7; Targ. Yer. to Lev. v. 21, vi. 2; Deut. v. 11); through His Memra Israel shall be justified (Targ. Isa. xlv. 25); with the Memra Israel stands in communion (Targ. Josh. xxii. 24, 27); in the Memra man puts his trust (Targ. Gen. xv. 6; Targ. Yer. to Ex. xiv. 31; Jer. xxxix. 18, xlix. 11)."

...!

But wait, there's more!

"Mediatorship

Like the Shekinah (comp. Targ. Num. xxiii. 21), the Memra is accordingly the manifestation of God. "The Memra brings Israel nigh unto God and sits on His throne receiving the prayers of Israel" (Targ. Yer. to Deut. iv. 7). It shielded Noah from the flood (Targ. Yer. to Gen. vii. 16) and brought about the dispersion of the seventy nations (l.c. xi. 8); it is the guardian of Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 20-21, xxxv. 3) and of Israel (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xii. 23, 29); it works all the wonders in Egypt (l.c. xiii. 8, xiv. 25); hardens the heart of Pharaoh (l.c. xiii. 15); goes before Israel in the wilderness (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xx. 1); blesses Israel (Targ. Yer. to Num. xxiii. 8); battles for the people (Targ. Josh. iii. 7, x. 14, xxiii. 3). As in ruling over the destiny of man the Memra is the agent of God (Targ. Yer. to Num. xxvii. 16), so also is it in the creation of the earth (Isa. xlv. 12) and in the execution of justice (Targ. Yer. to Num. xxxiii. 4). So, in the future, shall the Memra be the comforter (Targ. Isa. lxvi. 13): "My Shekinah I shall put among you, My Memra shall be unto you for a redeeming deity, and you shall be unto My Name a holy people" (Targ. Yer. to Lev. xxii. 12). "My Memra shall be unto you like a good plowman who takes off the yoke from the shoulder of the oxen"; "the Memra will roar to gather the exiled" (Targ. Hos. xi. 5, 10). The Memra is "the witness" (Targ. Yer. xxix. 23); it will be to Israel like a father (l.c. xxxi. 9) and "will rejoice over them to do them good" (l.c. xxxii. 41). "In the Memra the redemption will be found" (Targ. Zech. xii. 5). "The holy Word" was the subject of the hymns of Job (Test. of Job, xii. 3, ed. Kohler)."

"Possibly on account of the Christian dogma, rabbinic theology, outside of the Targum literature, made little use of the term "Memra." " 

Experts, Influencers, and Environments of Reverence

Or, councils of the godless vs. God-filled

Thought One:

"[A godly man] does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He is not present at their councils, nor does he advise with them; though they are ever so witty, and subtle, and learned, if they are ungodly, they shall not be the men of his counsel. He does not consent to them, nor say as they say, Lu. 23:51. He does not take his measures from their principles, nor act according to the advice which they give and take. "

-Matthew Henry, Commentary on Psalm 1

Thought Two: On how to care about the things of God:

" To meditate in God's word is to discourse with ourselves concerning the great things contained in it, with a close application of mind, a fixedness of thought, till we be suitably affected with those things and experience the savour and power of them in our hearts. "

Here, he emphasizes meditation. A recent workshop on catechesis emphasized reading Scripture with imagination. "Is it I, Lord?"

 Sometimes frustrated by how to teach reverence when my students lacked it this past semester (looking around, not praying, drawing attention to themselves during prayer, giggles*), I thought, "Man, I wish - - - were here!" as I entered a recent Anglican service where a ton of grown men genuflected, bowed, kneeled and obeyed the order of service with absolute solemnity. Environment and community can make irreverence hard to imagine. But there is a place for converting commonplace settings to places of worship, and that takes a perception of the divine, even when senses are not giving witness to Him. 

(*Side note- also wondering whether it was just a discipline issue or my own lack of spiritual maturity - I seriously doubt it was an issue with their previous teacher, a master teacher and very godly woman)

Thought three:

Why isn't foot-washing a sacrament? (Transformation of commonplace nouns/verbs to a spiritual revelation) 

... Or is marriage the equivalent?

(!)

Or a life of service, I guess, per "hospitable widows."

A Protestant (Reformed) Response 

Dear John, getting it right, again. 

"N. J. Opperwall, in his entry s.v., “foot washing” in the revised ISBE (1979) suggests that when John the Baptist said that he was unworthy to unloose the sandals of the coming Messiah, he was referring to the act of foot washing, which was typically left to servants as menial work.  "

Maybe it could be a sacrament:

" Obviously, since Jesus’ actions are in conjunction with the Passover, just before his death, and in connection with the institution of the Supper, the impulse to make foot washing into a sacrament has been strong in the history of the church. By the late Patristic period (5th century) it was a ritual in places (e.g., North Africa and elsewhere). In the modern Roman communion it is a ritual associated with Maundy Thursday, just before Good Friday. Among non-Romanists, the Pietist Moravian Brethren have practiced foot washing as have the Anabaptist Mennonites as have the Seventh Day Adventist sect (vide Opperwall)."

FTW!

Team Anglican:

"The “rule of worship,” which is intimately connected to the “rule of faith,” i.e., that handed down to us by the Apostles in holy Scripture, says that we may do in public worship only what the Lord himself has commanded. In the modern period this rule has come to be known as the “regulative principle of worship” but the RPW and the Rule of Worship are one and the same. In Belgic Confession (1561) art. 7 we confess:

We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein. For since the whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in them at large, it is unlawful for any one, though an apostle, to teach otherwise than we are now taught in the Holy Scriptures….

This is our answer to those who have a “good idea” about a practice we ought to adopt in worship: Has Christ instituted it? If not, then we may not do it. The Lutherans and Anglicans/Episcopalians have an alternative principle. They confess that they may do in worship whatever is not forbidden."

Thought Four: What is this thing we do? 

I think to define public worship by what is commanded is wise as the basis and substance. It's important, and don't get something so clear wrong. You miss this, you're not really participating in the Christian legacy. You're making something else. 

But Jesus, Himself, did not lay out a set of rules of worship. Paul gave some guidelines, but A LOT is described and corrected/ clarified when  in error, or to a particular church in explanation. (Not exactly a rulebook.) Leviticus, though, that's specific. Salvation is of the Jews. (Theirs is the legacy.) But now, God calls everyone to repent, and to come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, not of ritual worship. 

Now, Jesus is the temple, the sacrifice, the priest. Paul says WE are His temple, His body, living sacrifices, priests and kings. (Maybe Hebrews gives some guidelines to public worship?) Jesus did- once and for all- everything that used to be needed to be done in public worship. The Scriptures, so poured over in synagogues, were about Him, the Person, all along, and the Law meant to be a tutor to lead us to Him. 

He, the Person, is what all the religion was about. OT by interaction (by hook and by crook) with Yahweh; Pagan nations by reaching out, if per chance, they could grasp Him through reason, philosophy, myths. The Cross was all "religion" in a day, complete. The Logos of God uniting the Logos of Man eternally. And what He did was to restore us to a LIFE of worship. Life as sacrament. Even death, the last enemy, subjugated to be a servant to our eternal communion. All time as worship time, all people priests, all places sacred, all matter consecrated. 

So what's the weekly thing? 

Well, we walk on holy ground, but we forget. We have holy hands, but we forget. Sometimes we stain them. We dwell in a people of unclean lips, and sometimes we repeat what we hear. We eat blessed food, but we don't always think about it. Sometimes we grumble about manna. We take things for granted, not as gifts to be received and given. Matter seems pretty basic, not a portal to God. 

We always, continuously, need to remember and repent. To pick up our cross daily... And to remember as often as we eat together. We need to realize what's been done, what we're supposed to do, what will be done. We need to be strengthened (and strengthen), to be focused (and focus), to witness (and be witnessed to) in one voice. All the time. Songs and Psalms and spiritual songs. God saved individuals to form the family of God. We need to be united. So we must meet with one another to fulfill the law of love. We meet as couples, families, friends, communities. At home, in work, in common life. 

We meet to visibly form an expression of the church that is an invisible reality. We need to worship together. We need to remember together. We need to encourage and remind one another. We need to, in spirit and in truth, together celebrate, together love Christ, together receive, together give thanks, together share, together repent, together bear our cross, together pray and forgive, together discern, together care for each other. 

We need time with each other focused on what's been done. Something eternal permanently on the calendar. Nay, making our calendar. 

We follow the tradition of meeting to worship on the first day because that's what Christians have always done, not because it was commanded. (Why did they meet? I need to look into this.) 

It has turned out to be a very cultural (time + place) expression. Even reductionary churches add a lot, assume a lot, and create "new" traditions. I dunno. Maybe we could get down to the basics. But seems like there'd be a lot of blanks because we're not 1st X Jews. And what is Jesus' (and Paul's) reponse, generally, when faced with diversity? 

"Whoever is not against us is for us." 

Re: even heretical worship: "If you knew who is the One who is speaking to you, you would have asked Me, and I would give you living water."

 "Salvation is of the Jews, but God is seeking true worshippers to worship Him in spirit and in truth."

Re: even bad motives on the part of preachers: "What then? Only that in every way, whether pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice." 

Specific instructions... So many! And those just to a handful of cultural contexts. What would Paul say to us?! 

By yourself or when meeting:

Don't eat "meat" sacrificed to idols or commit sexual immorality. (Don't be idolatrous- don't worship false gods or cause idolaters to stumble. Don't confuse the lost. They should clearly see what worship of the true God looks like- 24/7 and especially when you're together. Their hearts and conscience should be able to be touched by coming among you.) 

Don't respect persons because of income or standing. In fact, discuss, think about, and care for the poor when you are together. (Love each other like brothers. Take care of the poor and marginalized.)

Ladies, don't make worship about you. Don't distract others. Humble yourselves like Jesus.  Give your body to God for others like Jesus. Teach your disciples like Jesus. Wash their feet like Jesus. Feed hungry people like Jesus. Let the little children come to Jesus. Pray for the weak like Jesus. (Submit like Mary. Repent like Peter. Then you will see clearly the speck in your brother's eye... And the lambs Christ has for you to feed.) 

Men, don't fight, argue, divide and then stand up to pray and worship God. Jesus cleansed the temple and rebuked the teachers because it was Hjs responsibility to do so. But the way Jesus showed He was right was by DYING in love for the Father in obedience, healing on the way, silent except for brief truth (let the one who has ears hear) and words of care, intercession, faith, and forgiveness. The Father showed He was right by raising Him from the dead. 

Don't trample the work of God and treat the elements like any old thing. You should never be getting drunk or pushing to be first and best. But at "the Lord's table"...! (Discern the sacred.) 

Don't follow lies. Expose, prepare, and guard against falsehood. 

Strong should care for the weak. Carry each other's burdens. Confess your sins to one another. Anoint each other. Seek healing. Pray for each other. Pray for the authorities. Pray for the nations. Pray to enter not into temptations. Pray to endure. Pray to forgive and be forgiven.

Meeting on Sunday is using the first fruits of our time to what the whole harvest is for anyway: worship, love, gift-giving, provision, thanks. 

How to Motivate Kids

 “Fred must train himself, and you must feed him with motives. Run over with him what we have been saying about attention. Let him know how the land lies; that you cannot help him, but that if he wants to make a man of himself he must make himself attend and remember. Tell him it will be a stand-up fight, for this habit is contrary to nature. He will like that; it is boy nature to show fight, and the bigger and blacker you make the other side, the more will he like to pitch in” 

Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character

Smooth and Easy Days with Charlotte Mason by Sonya Shafer

Reminds me of my sister-in-law telling her kids that fighting their bad attitude was like fighting a troll, and telling her niece about la Señora Placera y Malera who was so rude, no one came to her husband´s funeral and she had to bury him all by herself. 

Lincoln, on the complicated intersection between morality and "practical" politics

Found while I fell into a rabbit hole while searching for Lincoln's motivation to get into politics in the first place for a reading lesson.  

"I can not but hate [the declared indifference for slavery's spread]. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world -- enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites -- causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty -- criticising [sic] the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest.

Before proceeding, let me say I think I have no prejudice against the Southern people. They are just what we would be in their situation. If slavery did not now exist amongst them, they would not introduce it. If it did now exist amongst us, we should not instantly give it up. This I believe of the masses north and south. Doubtless there are individuals, on both sides, who would not hold slaves under any circumstances; and others who would gladly introduce slavery anew, if it were out of existence. We know that some southern men do free their slaves, go north, and become tip-top abolitionists; while some northern ones go south, and become most cruel slave-masters.

When southern people tell us they are no more responsible for the origin of slavery, than we; I acknowledge the fact. When it is said that the institution exists; and that it is very difficult to get rid of it, in any satisfactory way, I can understand and appreciate the saying. I surely will not blame them for not doing what I should not know how to do myself. If all earthly power were given me, I should not know what to do, as to the existing institution. My first impulse would be to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia, -- to their own native land. But a moment's reflection would convince me, that whatever of high hope, (as I think there is) there may be in this, in the long run, its sudden execution is impossible. If they were all landed there in a day, they would all perish in the next ten days; and there are not surplus shipping and surplus money enough in the world to carry them there in many times ten days. What then? Free them all, and keep them among us as underlings? Is it quite certain that this betters their condition? I think I would not hold one in slavery, at any rate; yet the point is not clear enough for me to denounce people upon. What next? Free them, and make them politically and socially, our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this; and if mine would, we well know that those of the great mass of white people will not." 

-Abraham Lincoln, October 16, 1854: Speech at Peoria, Illinois

Reconfirming why I am an elementary school teacher and not a politician. But, wow, the irony that a man with conflicting ideals could have such a radical effect on the country and slavery itself... it really boggles my black-and-white thinking mind. 

Cold hearts, hot tears

 Thought 1: the devil as a hobgoblin

"One day the devil was in a very good humor because he had just finished a mirror which had this peculiar power: everything good and beautiful that was reflected in it seemed to dwindle to almost nothing at all, while everything that was worthless and ugly became most conspicuous and even uglier than ever. "

-The Snow Queen, Andersen

Thought 2: Innocense and Eternity in The Snow Queen

" As soon as the glass is lodged, Kay turns upon what he once held dear, thinking himself mature and “sensible.” He ridicules Gerda, rips apart their beloved roses after spotting “a crooked stem” and “a worm,” and mocks his grandmother behind her back as she tells the children once-beloved stories. Kay forgets his prayers and becomes obsessed with mathematical figures and stark orderliness. Kay’s “maturity” is a false maturity, paralleling the modern passage from a belief in wonder to the nihilistic rejection of anything that numbers can’t “prove.” The “sense” wrought by the shards removes Kay from the wonder he shared with Gerda and leaves him vulnerable to a frigid emptiness... "

Thought 3: 

"[The Snow Queen] lives in a frozen wasteland, throned beside a lake she calls the “mirror of Understanding.” This lake is no better than the goblin mirror — its surface is broken into thousands of ice chunks, passing off disintegration and fragmentation for “understanding” (rather than coherence and correspondence, which lead to true understanding).  When the Snow Queen beckons to Kay in his “sensible” state, he no longer has the inner sense to resist. " - Emelie Thomas

Thought 4:

" Gerda’s innocence is the shining light in this story.  Although she is rejected and marginalized by Kay, she does not become embittered or join Kay in his distorted sensibility. She maintains her inner sense, and with it, she chooses to see Kay as he is in essence — a dear friend in dire need of rescue. Gerda sees Kay the way Christ sees us, with an almighty affection, despite  our callousness and outright rejection."

-Emelie Thomas

Ties in so well to Christ as the great High Priest, interceding, not accusing. 

Thought 5: The devil and perspective 

"We have discussed previously the manner in which the Devil operates as a gateway into the unconscious, and not only that, but functions in the role of ‘accuser’; it is not the Devil himself in this universe who makes things ugly—indeed, nothing at all is being truly affected by the Devil’s doings—but rather the mirror, the perspective he provides. In his role as accuser he stands to diminish the significance of goodly, Godly things and leave the world instead a depraved and disappointing place, the imperfect world of gnostic belief rather than the perfect Kingdom of God.  "

-Spelling ETERNITY, the Alchemy of the Snow Queen 

The devil, the father of lies, on getting "in the room where it happens"

"Satan boldly alleged that these kingdoms were all delivered to him that he had power to dispose of them and all their glory, and to give them to whomsoever he will"...

"But I rather take it that he claimed this power ... as delivered to him not by the Lord, but by the kings and people of these kingdoms, who gave their power and honour to the devil, Eph. 2:2. Hence he is called the god of this world, and the prince of this world. 

It was promised to the Son of God that he should have the heathen for his inheritance, Ps. 2:8. “Why,” saith the devil, “the heathen are mine, are my subjects and votaries; but, however, they shall be thine, I will give them thee, upon condition that thou worship me for them, and say that they are the rewards which I have given thee, as others have done before thee (Hos. 2:12), and consent to have and hold them by, from, and under, me.”

-Matthew Henry's Commentary on Luke 4

Manna for the Hungry Soul

Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

"Though God has appointed bread for the strengthening of man’s heart, and that is ordinarily made the staff of life, yet God can, when he pleases, command support and nourishment without it, and make something else, very unlikely, to answer the intention as well. We might live upon air if it were sanctified for that use by the word of God; for the means God ordinarily uses he is not tied to, but can perform his kind purposes to his people without them. Our Saviour quotes this scripture in answer to that temptation of Satan, Command that these stones be made bread. “What need of that?” says Christ; “my heavenly Father can keep me alive without bread,” Matt. 4:3, 4. Let none of God’s children distrust their Father, nor take any sinful indirect course for the supply of their own necessities; some way or other, God will provide for them in the way of duty and honest diligence, and verily they shall be fed."

- Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deut. 8:3 (quoted by Jesus in Luke 4:4)