Wonderful thoughts as we finish a tumultuous year! BEN Letting Go of Old Hurts
One of the hardest things in life is to let go of old hurts. We often say, or at least think: "What you did to me and my family, my ancestors, or my friends I cannot forget or forgive. ... One day you will have to pay for it." Sometimes our memories are decades, even centuries, old and keep asking for revenge. Holding people's faults against them often creates an impenetrable wall. But listen to Paul: "For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see. It is all God's work" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). Indeed, we cannot let go of old hurts, but God can. Paul says: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone's fault against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19). It is God's work, but we are God's ministers, because the God who reconciled the world to God entrusted to us "the message of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:19). This message calls us to let go of old hurts in the Name of God. It is the message our world most needs to hear.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
A Christmas Love Story
I just wrote a Blog entry about an amazing story I heard this morning over breakfast. Please read about it here!
http://drben54.livejournal.com/78091.html
http://drben54.livejournal.com/78091.html
Friday, December 18, 2009
The Fullness of Time - by Henri Nouwen
The Fullness of Time
Jesus came in the fullness of time. He will come again in the fullness of time. Wherever Jesus, the Christ, is the time is brought to its fullness.
We often experience our time as empty. We hope that tomorrow, next week, next month or next year the real things will happen. But sometimes we experience the fullness of time. That is when it seems that time stands still, that past, present, and future become one; that everything is present where we are; and that God, we, and all that is have come together in total unity. This is the experience of God's time. "When the completion of the time came [that is: in the fullness of time], God sent his Son, born of a woman" (Galatians 4:4), and in the fullness of time God will "bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth" (Ephesians 1:10). It is in the fullness of time that we meet God.
Share your thoughts on this reflection. These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey. Read the latest Nouwen release: Home Tonight. Watch Home Tonight with Henri Nouwen video.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Rev. Dr. Ben has shared a Huffington Post article with you
Rev. Dr. Ben has shared a Huffington Post article with you:
Michael Moore Threatens To Boycott Connecticut Over Lieberman - sent by Rev. Dr. Ben
Michael Moore Threatens To Boycott Connecticut Over Lieberman - sent by Rev. Dr. Ben
Senator Joe must go!
Check out this funny sock puppet video of Senator Joe Lieberman holding health care hostage for his list of personal demands. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vS6kIbJu64
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