It’s always hard to lose a hero. Jimmy Carter is one. Continue reading
Christianity
8 posts
It seems Mitt Romney is suffering from a case of what I call ‘Not Christian Enough’. At the recent Values Voters Summit, Baptist minister Robert Jeffress took a swipe at Mr. Mittens calling him:
“a good, moral person, but someone who is part of a cult” [Bloomberg.com]
Michelle Bachmann decided she wants to be President of the United States of America. Supporting her in this run at the White House is her loving husband Marcus. Marcus, a PhD in clinical psychology, operates a clinic where allegedly homosexuals can become heterosexuals, a fact Marcus has denied. Some wonder what Marcus Bachmann’s investment in the myth that people can change their sexuality is. As for myself, I really tried to deny that I’m attracted to men. It didn’t work out for me. This is my story. Continue reading
I’m sure you’ve heard or come across people who sit there and talk about how the Bible condemns homosexuality. I’m here to tell you that those folks are . . . misguided at best. Some of them are just plan full of it, but I’d like to think that most of them just haven’t actually looked it up. I’d really like to think that they’ve just followed what other people have told them, like so many other popular culture things in America. So, hopefully this will be a quick(ish) guide to what the Bible really says about homosexuality. Continue reading
So I hear New York State passed some law or something? I woke up this morning to find Crasstalk excitedly celebrating the passage of marriage equality in New York, and deservedly so. (Don’t get too excited though, New York gays. The associated taxes and fees that Albany will inevitably add to applying for a marriage license may cause you to reconsider your feelings on getting married there. You might be able to be legally married now, but it’s still New York after all. Everything is treated as an opportunity to generate new tax revenues.) Continue reading
Jesus answered: Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, I am the Messiah, and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew 24:4-8
The Easter holiday in Sweden is different, to say the least. Small children (girls and boys) get dressed up as påskkärringar (Easter witches, or bitches) on Easter Eve (the Saturday afternoon after Good Friday). They dress in old worn out clothes, cover their heads with scarves or old dishtowels, put on exaggerated ugly face makeup, and visit family members or neighbors in the hopes of getting some candy or coins in exchange for giving out a Good Easter card or sometimes a small drawing they made. It’s a bit similar to what Halloween is like here in the US.
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When one thinks of Christians and their religious celebrations, one tends to think of Christmas as the ultimate Christian holiday. In fact, they’re wrong.
As a Catholic Christian, I really am an Easter person. Huh? What do I mean by that? Catholics celebrate Easter each and every week at Mass. Easter is all about the sacrifices and Resurrection of Jesus. Each week at Mass, Catholics receive Communion which celebrates and makes real for us Christ’s resurrection. Not all Christian religions celebrate Communion each week; for many it is reserved for only certain times per year.
Bustedhalo is a great Youtube channel that explains Christian religious practices or beliefs in highly visual, brief clips. Below is the one for Holy Week, the final week of Lent which is also the week before Easter.
Holy Week is an especially reflective week of Lent. Christians contemplate the sacrifices Jesus made for us, the betrayal he must have felt by Judas’ actions, as well as the promise of everlasting life for us. Easter Day ends the Lenten period. Easter is coming out of the darkness of Lent and into the celebration of Life and light.
I especially love the fact that on Easter we sing Hallelujah again after the forty days of Lent where we do not say it. My father used to joke that we didn’t say Hallelujah during Lent because on Easter, when you could finally eat/drink/do whatever you gave up, you would say “Hallelujah!” Actually, it is much cooler than that.
During Lent, we are focusing on the “Kingdom coming” (Jesus’ resurrection), but rather than the fact the Kingdom already came. As my priest wrote: “The readings in the Masses for Lent and in the Liturgy of the Hours focus heavily on the spiritual journey of Old Testament Israel toward the coming of Christ, and the salvation of mankind in His death and resurrection. We, too, are on a spiritual journey, toward the Second Coming and our future life in Heaven. In order to emphasize that journey, the Church, during Lent, removes the Alleluia from the Mass. We no longer sing with the choirs of angels; instead, we acknowledge our sins and practice repentance so that one day we may again have the privilege of worshiping God as the angels do.”
Hallelujah returns to the Mass on Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil — a Mass in which I never attend because it is sooooo long — because Jesus has risen. I enjoy the Hallelujah on Easter Sunday.
Hallelujah indeed.