The Worship Of Holy Week: Holy Thursday

The days between Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his resurrection are the high point of the Biblical narrative. Large portions of each gospel focus on what Jesus did and said during those days, and some of his most famous teaching comes from this week. Most of all, this week focuses on the story of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.

Christians all over the world celebrate these stories with worship services during Holy Week,  Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. Each service focuses on a different theme, using ritual and symbolism to rehearse the story of salvation. As we head to Holy Week, let’s explore each of the traditional services and their message.

Just a note: I am most familiar with the Western worship tradition, that is the Catholic Church and the churches that follow her traditions. While the Orthodox have a rich worship tradition, I don’t know anything about it. So, the following will focus primarily on the Western church.

The Worship Of Holy Thursday

Depending on your tradition, you may call the Thursday before Easter, “Holy Thursday” or “Maundy Thursday.” While the name you choose doesn’t change the service, there is meaning behind them. Holy, of course, reminds us that this day is set apart to remind us of the most important time in Jesus’ life, the week of his death and resurrection.

“Maundy Thursday” comes from a Latin word, “Mandatum,” which means, “command.” It refers to one of the stories celebrated on this night. Jesus gathered his disciples in the upper room, and he have them a new command. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).

The Stories of Holy Thursday

Jesus did a lot, and suffered a lot, on Holy Thursday, so it would be difficult for any single service to focus on all of them. On this day, Jesus:

• Ate the last supper with his disciples
• Washed the disciples’ feet
• Prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane
• Was betrayed and arrested
• Was put on trial before the Sanhedrin

That is a lot of narrative ground to cover. A church could focus on Jesus’ prayer in the garden, discussing the words, “Thy will be done.” A church could focus on the disciples, who fell asleep while Jesus prayed and ran away when he was arrested.

But they don’t. These stories are part of the Good Friday liturgy. Instead, the Revised Common Lectionary appoints two different stories for Holy Thursday, when Jesus washes the disciples feet (John 13:1-17, 31-35), and when Jesus eats the last supper with his disciples (Matt. 26:17–30, Mark 14:12–26, Luke 22:7–20).

The Last Supper

The last supper happened on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, also called Passover. The passover celebrated the day that God saved Israel from slavery in Egypt. God commanded all of his people to sacrifice a lamb at their front door. They took the lamb’s blood and painted the door frame with it. Then, they roasted the lamb over the fire and ate unleavened bread while they were dressed in travelling clothes. God wanted them to be ready to leave.

While they ate, God killed the firstborn sons in all Egypt. Every household, from the richest to the poorest, was affected. Every household, except for the people with the doors painted in blood. This is what God said in Exodus 12:13, “The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”

To remember this day, God commanded that the Israelites hold the passover feast every year. For seven days, there were not to eat anything with yeast. Then there would be a festival to celebrate the passover.

Jesus The Passover Lamb

We don’t know much about what Jesus did and the rituals they followed when they ate the last supper. Many churches host a seder dinner to show Christians how that ceremony prefigures Christ, but we don’t know when that ceremony actually started. Depending on who you ask, you may get dates as early as 70 AD or as late as the middle ages.

What we do know, however, is that Jesus gave the disciples bread and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” He took the cup of wine, and he said, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

The Jews in Egypt sacrificed and ate the passover lamb, and they used its blood to mark them for salvation. Jesus sacrifices himself, and he offers his body and blood to the disciples. They are marked by his sacrifice, so death will pass over them when it comes.

Jesus Washes The Disciples Feet

The second story for Maundy Thursday focuses on Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. Jesus removes his outer garment, and he ties a towel around his waist. He takes a bowl of water, and he begins to wash each disciple’s feet.

I think that would be gross if we had to do that, today. I know what my feet smell like after a day in dress shoes. But it would have been worse in Jesus’ day. The disciples walked around in sandals on dusty roads. They were fellow travellers with all sorts of animals, too. There would have been any number of donkeys, sheep, or whatever else you can think of crammed into Jerusalem. So, it wasn’t just dirt on the disciples’ nasty feet.

Yet, Jesus, the Son of God, slips down onto his hands and knees to serve his disciples. When Jesus gets to Peter, we see how shocking this was for all of them. Peter cries out, “You shall never wash my feet.”

A master doesn’t serve, and Peter knows this. Instead, the servants are supposed to serve. Peter thinks that it is far beneath Jesus’ dignity to wash his feet, so he protests for Jesus’ sake.

But this is exactly the point Jesus wants to make. Jesus wants us to know that even he did not come to be served but to serve. Jesus, the creator of the universe, gets his hands truly dirty. If that’s how God acts, how could we not do the same. Jesus says, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet” (John 13:14).

The Pope Washes Feet

The Roman Catholic Church remembers this story each year with a special ceremony. The Pope, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, washes the feet of twelve people on Holy Thursday. This is exactly the model that Jesus leaves us. Leaders are not there to be served but to serve. This annual example reminds us what true leadership is in the church.

Many Catholic churches celebrate their own version of this on Holy Thursday. Several selected members of the congregation come forward, and the priest washes their feet. He moves from person to person with a basin and towel, just like Jesus did. This ritual action brings the lesson closer to home, when the people watch their spiritual leader serve.

The Stripping Of The Altar

After the Holy Thursday worship service concludes with a benediction, the congregation prepares the sanctuary for Good Friday worship with a ceremonial stripping of the altar. As the congregation looks on, altar attendants remove the candles, paraments, stands, crosses, and any other decoration near the altar.

They do it slowly, ceremonially, to symbolize how Jesus was abandoned by the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, after Jesus was betrayed. It can be a powerful moment, especially in ornate sanctuaries, as the decoration slowly leaves, and the area around the altar becomes stark, barren.

Congregations practice a number of traditions as the attendants strip the altar. One of the most common is reading or singing Psalm 22 which begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” Sometimes a lector simply reads the text. Others a choir might sing the psalm with a congregational refrain. Either way, it provides a background of God’s word while we ponder the abandoned, betrayed savior.

After the altar has been stripped, the congregation leaves in silence. The respectful silence prepares them for the somber service to follow on Good Friday when the congregation will gather in the same silence as they left on Holy Thursday.

Holy Thursday Worship

This dramatic worship service celebrates what Jesus and his disciples did on the Thursday of Holy Week so many years ago. Jesus shows the disciples and us how he serves, either by offering up his body and blood as a sacrifice or by washing their feet. He shows us how much he loves us.

The days between Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his resurrection are the high point of the Biblical narrative. Large portions of each gospel focus on what Jesus did and said during those days, and some of his most famous teaching comes from this week. Most of all, this week focuses on the story of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.

Christians all over the world celebrate these stories with worship services during Holy Week,  Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. Each service focuses on a different theme, using ritual and symbolism to rehearse the story of salvation. As we head to Holy Week, let’s explore each of the traditional services and their message.

Just a note: I am most familiar with the Western worship tradition, that is the Catholic Church and the churches that follow her traditions. While the Orthodox have a rich worship tradition, I don’t know anything about it. So, the following will focus primarily on the Western church.

Palm Sunday or The Sunday Of The Passion

Palm Sunday or The Sunday of the Passion is the Sunday before Easter. The service focuses on two different themes: Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and the story of his crucifixion.

The Palm Sunday Story

The Palm Sunday service begins with a procession to symbolize Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Jesus comes with his disciples to the outskirts of Jerusalem, and he sends them into the city to get a donkey. They bring the donkey out to Jesus, and he rides into the city on it.

As Jesus rides into the city, the crowds gather to see him. They start to throw their outer garments on the ground in front of him. People cut down palm branches and place them on the road before him.

They shout, ““Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” The crowd expects a king to save them, and God gives them one, Jesus. He’s a king who comes to suffer for their sins.

The Palm Sunday Procession

Many churches celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem with an entry procession of their own. Many churches gather the congregation outside the church building. The pastor may bless the palms, and then he reads the story of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem from John 12. Then the congregation processes into the sanctuary to continue in worship.

Some congregations have a children’s procession instead of the whole congregation. They give them palms to wave while they walk down the center aisle singing.

Palm Sunday In Madrid

Depending on local tradition, the Palm Sunday procession can be a really big deal. Catholics in Madrid mark the whole week with several processions. On Palm Sunday, they march through the streets with palms in their hands. Many people carry large floats on their shoulders with scenes from Holy Week. Their clothes are also unusual. Many people wear tall conical hats, called capirote. Unfortunately, they look like a KKK hood, but they date from the middle ages.

Palm Sunday In Nairobi

Palm Sunday in Nairobi is just as big a deal, though they don’t have the crazy clothes. The members of the congregation march around the town with palm branches in their hands. So many people gather that they fill the streets.

The Sunday Of The Passion

After the procession, the worship service turns to focus on the whole passion story. Congregations that follow the Revised Common Lectionary read the story of Jesus’ betrayal and death from Matthew, Mark, or Luke. They read the whole story from the Last Supper to Christ’s death.

Why such a long reading? Many people don’t come to worship services on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, or Holy Saturday. Each of these services focus on one piece of the passion story. If you miss those services, you miss the worship services that emphasize the most important stories in the whole Bible.

Even if you attend all the services of Holy Week, the Sunday of the Passion lets you hear the story all at once. The services during the week focus on each piece of the story, but this Sunday gives you everything in one shot. Sometimes we spend so much time on the parts of the story that we forget the examine the whole.  

Palm Sunday, the Sunday of the Passion, begins the celebration of Holy Week. It takes us from Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem all the way to the cross. It’s an overview of the whole story of the passion to prepare us to focus on each part during the rest of the week.

Blessed Are The Meek, For They Shall Inherit The Earth

Blessed Are The Meek, For They Shall Inherit The Earth

The Beatitudes, from the sermon on the mount, are some of the most popular passages in the New Testament. Not only do they introduce the whole sermon on the mount, perhaps Jesus’ most famous sermon, but they also have deep meaning in themselves. Each sentence applies deeply to our lives, offering wisdom and grace for every Christian. If you want to learn more about the beatitudes in general, check out the introduction.

The title, The Beatitudes, is the first word of the Latin translation of this passage. “Beatitude” comes from the Latin word that means, “Blessed.” They truly do bring us blessing when we study them. This series will look at the blessings that Jesus gives us through the beatitudes. We will also look at some illustrations, symbols from stained glass windows, to help guide our exploration.

Blessed Are The Meek

One of the most common images for believers is a sheep. Psalm 23 describes God’s relationship between himself and believers is like the shepherd to his sheep. Jesus describes God’s desire to save his people in the parable of the lost sheep.

The Sheep And The Shepherd

Jesus describes himself as the shepherd to the sheep in John 10.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd.

Notice who the active parties are in Jesus’ teaching. There’s the shepherd, the hired hand, and the wolves. When the wolves menace the sheep, the shepherd flies into action. There’s only one group that isn’t active at all: the sheep.

Sheep are lowly. They huddle together, hoping that their numbers will keep them safe. They’re weak. They don’t have claws or sharp teeth. They can’t fight back when they’re attacked. They’re not clever enough to outwit the wolves nor are they fast enough to run away. When the wolf comes, the sheep have no defense.

That’s what it means to be meek. Being meek isn’t a state of mind or a way about thinking. Being meek is a condition in which someone is unable to defend themselves, take care of themselves, or act for themselves.

The Meek Christian

Psalm 37 describes the relationship between the Christian and the evil doer.

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
   be not envious of wrongdoers!
For they will soon fade like the grass
   and wither like the green herb.

Christians shouldn’t worry about wickedness in the world. When we see evil people succeed, we shouldn't be concerned. We just wait, because God has it under control.

The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
   he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
The Lord helps them and delivers them;
   he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
   because they take refuge in him.



God defends the the Christian. He protects them from evil, from people who wish them harm. He takes care of his people.

Psalm 27 says something similar. The Psalmist talks about all the dangers he faces and the problems around him. There are evil doers who want to destroy him.

What does the Psalmist suggest he do? He shouldn’t destroy him or fight against him. He should simply wait.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
   in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
   be strong, and let your heart take courage;
   wait for the Lord!

The meek wait for the Lord to save them. They wait for God to do his job, what he promises to do.

For They Shall Inherit The Earth

We Christians have no power to save ourselves. We can’t defend ourselves from the devil, the world, or from our own sinful nature. We have no power at all, so we need to wait for God.

Jesus, The Meek One

That is why Jesus became meek himself. He became a human being just like us. He could be hurt. He could get sick. He could die.

When evil doers came against him, he didn’t do anything. When the falsely accused him at his show trial in front of the high priest, he was silent. When they called him a traitor and rebel before Pontius Pilate, he said nothing. When they beat him, whipped him, and insulted him, He didn’t do anything.

He didn’t even do anything when they nailed him to the cross. He could have fought, but no. Jesus just took it. When they insulted him from the foot of the cross, he didn’t insult them back. He forgave them. Jesus waited for God to save him.

And he did. The Father raised Jesus from the dead, and he gave him the name that is above all names that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

We Inherit The Earth

Because of Jesus, we, the meek, inherit the earth. We can’t defend ourselves, but Jesus can. We can’t fight against sin and Satan, but Jesus can. We can’t keep ourselves holy, but Jesus can.

There is only one thing we can do. Wait. We have to wait for the Lord to save us. When Christians are arrested or killed for the faith, we wait. When we are insulted or rejected for Jesus, we wait. When people hurt us, we wait. We have only one move: we wait for the Lord.

And he will come. He will come on the clouds. He will come when the last trumpet sounds. He will come with the voice of an archangel, and he will raise the dead from their graves. Then we will live forever with him.

But there’s more. We won’t just live forever. We will reign with Christ over all of creation. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 says, “The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him.” We will share Jesus’ glory and honor for all eternity.

So, Christians have one job: we wait for the Lord. We wait with trust and hope, knowing that he will save us. That’s it. We wait until Jesus returns to save us.

When You Feel Down And Out: Romans 8:31-37

Of all our Christian T-shirts, the Bible Emergency Numbers is easily the most popular. You can see why. It lists 25 important Bible verses for 25 different situation you might face. Each verse can help guide you through a tough time, remind you to be faithful, or give you the lift you need to get through the day. In this post, we’ll dive into the first of those Bible emergency numbers to help you understand how that particular passage can help. Today we’re going to look at Romans 8:31-37, for when you feel down and out.

Feeling Down And Out

It’s normal for all Christians to feel down and out sometime. While our lives can be wonderful (God gives us fantastic blessings), they can also be terrible. People have accidents or get sick. We lose jobs or have friendships that fall apart.

In Romans 8, St. Paul talks about waiting patiently in this broken world.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

All of creation groans under the strain of the futility and pain in the world. Even the rocks themselves look forward to the day that Jesus returns to give freedom and glory to his people. We, too, groan under the strain, waiting for our glory and our freedom.

Yet, we hold on to the promise that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” That helps us wait patiently, knowing that God is with us.

Hard Times And The Church

Not long ago, hard times used to drive people back to church. We’d realize that we need help, and the church would be the perfect place to get it. That’s where you hear the message of God’s love and gather with God’s people for support.

Now, however, feeling down and out tends to drive people away from each other. I’ve seen it in my church. There are people who are faithful and committed to a congregation. They’re in worship every Sunday, and they volunteer.

Then something bad happens. Suddenly, they’re nowhere to be found. Pastors call, visit, and offer support. But they disappear.

Why? There are lots of possible reasons, but I suspect that too many of us expect God to bless us with health, wealth, and happiness. Life is great, and we stay committed to God, as long as everything is good. When life goes bad, however, we leave. They act as if God isn’t with them in difficult times.

God Is With You

That’s the opposite of Paul’s message in Romans 8. He says that we should expect pain, sadness, and loss. All of creation lives through this pain just like we do.

Greek and Roman Christians understood this. They saw what happened to Paul when he went from town to town. He produced miracles, evangelized thousands, but he also was persecuted. Here is what he says about his life in 2 Corinthians 11:

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

If that could happen to Paul, why not us?

The Message of Hope

Through all this, however, Paul’s wants us to have hope to wait patiently for God to deliver us. We wait, because God has promised to save us. This hope keeps us going.

To emphasize how certain our hope is, Paul writes these powerful words in Romans 8:31-37:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is with us no matter what, no matter how sick, how hurt, how depressed, or how poor. God is always with us.

Jesus Shows Us Hope

That Father promises to protect us the same way he did for Jesus. He was with Jesus, supporting him, through his earthly ministry. He watched and protected his son.

But Jesus still faced persecution and rejection. He still lost loved ones. He still got hurt. He even died terribly on the cross, feeling as much pain as any human being has felt.

But the Father never left him.

Not even when Jesus gave up his spirit. Not when he was pulled down from the cross and wrapped in a funeral shroud. Not when they rolled the stone closed over the tomb. Our Father was with him.

And our Father stayed with him on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. The promise of God came true for Jesus when his body returned to life and became perfect.

Jesus Is Our Hope

We have the same promises through Christ. Because the Father was with him, the Father is with us. Because God took care of Jesus, God takes care of us. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we too will rise.

Paul tells us that nothing, nothing, can separate us from the love of God. He gives a long list of terrible and powerful things. They have no power. Nothing can separate us from God.

Waiting In Hope

That’s an important promise to hear when we’re feeling the weight of the world on our shoulders. LIfe doesn’t always go well. In fact, Christians should expect it to go poorly and be pleasantly surprised when it doesn’t.

But we should also expect to hear God’s promise to be with us. He will never leave. He will never go away. He will never abandon you, even in your graves.

When you feel down and out, wait with patience. Trust that God will be with you through it all. He was with Jesus when the worst happened. He was with Paul through all the beatings, the stoning, the shipwrecks, and everything else. He will be with you, too.

That’s why Paul can say that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Even though life can be tough, and it can get us down, Jesus’ love stays with us. He comforts us with the promise that Jesus will return to give us the glory and freedom of the sons of God.

Don’t Withdraw

Christians who are down and out, who feel crushed by the world, need to hear this promise. That’s why it’s so important not to retreat when life goes wrong.

We need to have our brothers and sisters around us to tell us it will be ok. We need to hear our pastors promise God’s love to us through our whole lives. We need to have people who will hug us and cry with us.

God uses our brothers and sisters in Christ to help us. They comfort us. They support us. They keep us focused on the God’s power and his love. We need to be where they are. We need to gather with them in worship.

Listen to God’s word. Listen to the people he sends to help you. Take comfort that he is with you no matter what.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

The Beatitudes, from the sermon on the mount, are some of the most popular passages in the New Testament. Not only do they introduce the whole sermon on the mount, perhaps Jesus’ most famous sermon, but they also have deep meaning in themselves. Each sentence applies deeply to our lives, offering wisdom and grace for every Christian. If you want to learn more about the beatitudes in general, check out the introduction.

The title, The Beatitudes, is the first word of the Latin translation of this passage. “Beatitude” comes from the Latin word that means, “Blessed.” They truly do bring us blessing when we study them. This series will look at the blessings that Jesus gives us through the beatitudes. We will also look at some illustrations, symbols from stained glass windows, to help guide our exploration.

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Who are those who mourn? That’s the first question we have to answer. Just like the poor in spirit, those who mourn are people who find themselves in a low estate. They mourn, not because they’re particularly pious, but because terrible things have happened to them.

Mourning And Self-Righteousness

Mourning isn’t a state of mind that someone can conjure. You don’t dig down deep into your heart to make yourself mourn. That only leads to self-righteousness.

Jesus On Fasting

Jesus described how the Pharisees use their fasting and mourning in a self-righteous way. When Jesus talks about how Christians ought to fast, he says in Matthew 6,

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Jesus refers to people who use fasting, the symbol for mourning, as a way to show off their own righteousness.

The Parable of The Pharisee And The Tax Collector

Jesus makes this even more explicit when he tells the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14.

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

For the Pharisee, fasting is a sign of his righteousness before God. He’s a super-awesome follower of God, and he wants to make sure everyone, including God, knows it. He is self-righteous. He is proud, and it covers up his hypocrisy in his own mind.

True Mourning

The tax collector, on the other hand, was truly mourning. He wasn’t putting on a show or attempting to tout his own spiritual achievements. He was truly horrified by his own sin.

You can tell it by how he prays, not just the words, but his posture. Jews typically prayed standing up with their arms lifted up with their eyes to heaven. Christians still use this prayer posture today, too.

But the tax collector can’t even bring his eyes to look up into heaven. Instead, he lowers his eyes, beats his breast, and says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

For They Shall Be Comforted

What’s the difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector? There’s not a lot, actually. Both are sinners. They both didn’t love God with their whole hearts. They didn’t love their neighbors as themselves. They both deserved nothing but punishment for their sins.

The difference is that one knew it, and the other didn’t. The Pharisee was proud, and the tax collector was ashamed. The Pharisee boasted, and the tax collector was humble. The pharisee thought he was better than everyone, but the tax collector knew he was the worst.

Miserere Mei

The image for this beatitude has a set of praying hands before a cross that reads miserere mei, which is Latin for “have mercy on me.”

We mourn when we recognize our sin, and we feel the terrors of conscience that come from it. Mourning drives us to say what the tax collector says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

And Jesus always responds with mercy, because he came to lift up the lowly. He came to raise up sinners. He came to comfort those who mourn.

He did it by becoming a mourner himself. While he didn’t sin, he felt the pangs of sin. He faced temptation, he suffered our weakness, and he took the punishment we deserved by his death on the cross. If there is anything that would make someone mourn, it’s death by torture on a cross. His resurrection means mercy for everyone who mourns.

When You Grow Bitter And Critical: The Verse Behind The Christian T-Shirt

1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most recognizable passages from the Bible. Most people hear it at weddings when the bride and groom choose a passage that says something about love.

There’s a good reason why it is famous. Paul writes beautifully about the power of love over everything else. Love is greater than prophecy, than speaking in tongues, than great wisdom, than anything else in the world.

It’s Not About That Kind Of Love

What is wedded love? We talk about falling in love. It’s a feeling you have. You’re head-over-heels in love. You’re passionately attracted to each other. Sparks are flying.

When wedded love grows older, the flames may burn less brightly, but they’re still there. The fire of love is a glowing coal.

Does that sound like the kind of love Paul describes? No, and here’s why.

Division In The Congregation

Paul writes his letter to all the Christians in the city of Corinth in response to division within the congregation. And there’s a ton of fighting going on.

Paul, Cephas, Christ

In the first chapter, Paul describes ideological factions within the church. He writes:

For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

So, some people followed what they believed was Paul’s teaching, others focused on Cephas, while others tried to take the high road by claiming Christ. Yet, all it meant was fighting.

The Rich and Poor

The Corinthians also divided themselves by wealth. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul chastises them for how the practice the Lord’s Supper. He writes:

When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

The divisions become clear when you understand what a Greek or Roman dinner party was like. When a rich man hosted a celebratory meal, he would feed a ton of people. But they wouldn’t all get the same treatment.

The host would gather the most important people in the best room of the house, and he would feed them the best food. The next most important guests would get slightly worse food and slightly worse accommodations. The host continued to arrange the party according to rank until you reached the outer edges, the lowest ranks, where they would get the least appealing food.

The Romans might think that was a fine way to hold a dinner party, but it’s not the way the church should do it. They imported the dinner party scheme into the Lord’s Supper, creating division between the rich and the poor.

Spiritual Gifts

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul takes a whole chapter to describe the equality we have in Christ regarding spiritual gifts. “All [spiritual gifts] are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”

Some people thought they were super-spiritual by the spiritual gifts they thought they had. The more spectacular the gift, the more spiritual they regarded themselves. But that’s not how Jesus works.

The manifestation of the Spirit doesn’t make one more or less spiritual, because we are all one in Christ.

Passionate love between a man and a woman is not the answer to these problems. The way we act when we’re in love, that kind of love might make the problems worse!

It’s Christ’s Love

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes love that brings people together in peace and unity, Christ’s love.

Paul writes about love in absolute terms. Everything love does, it does to the max. “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

He doesn’t qualify what love does. There is no “love is patient unless you get on my last nerve.” No, “love is kind to the people who love you.” He doesn’t write, “it is not irritable or resentful unless that guy’s a jerk.”

There is only one man who has ever practiced that kind of love, Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ Love For Us

Jesus shows his love for us throughout his life. He descended from heaven to take the form of a human being, to live under the curse of the law just like us. He suffered through weakness, hunger, sickness, and pain. He faced betrayal, hurt feelings, disappointment, and rejection.

He didn’t have to do it. He could have stayed up in heaven as the eternal Son of God and watched us walk the road to Hell. He came down, because he loves us.

We see his love best through his suffering on the cross. Jesus loved us so much that he put us before his own body and health. He was falsely accused, judged a criminal, beaten, mocked, and whipped.

When they nailed him to a cross, the people who put him there shouted insults at him from below him. It wasn’t enough that they had him executed. They also needed to humiliate him while he was slowly dying.

Yet, Jesus responded with love. ““Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

When You Grow Bitter And Critical

We, on the other hand, do not live love the way Jesus did. When we get hurt, we get bitter and critical.

In Congregations

If you’ve spent much time in a congregation, you’ve seen the ways that Christians can fight. Most congregations are no better than the Corinthians.

There are divisions between groups of Christians who have different views about what the church should do. There are people who plain dislike each other. Congregations develop cliques that act like little tribes fighting against the others.

Most of the time, these groups live in an uneasy peace. But when there’s major conflict, watch out. I have seen people work behind the scenes to get others riled up. They gossip. They stir up trouble. The whole congregation goes into an uproar.

In Life

It’s not just congregations that fight among each other. We can get bitter and critical in the rest of our life as well.

Sometimes we’re just so broken by our circumstances that we don’t have the energy to love and forgive. Problems with finances, relationships, or even just general malaise can drive us to be critical of others.

Sometimes we get critical to cover up our own sin. The fastest way for a person to feel righteous is to condemn sin in someone else. When we point and shout, “Sinner,” we start to feel like the holy, righteous judge. And it leads us to do terrible things.

Love Is The Answer

Jesus Christ’s love is the answer, first, when we receive forgiveness and second, when his love flows through us.

Forgiveness

When we’re bitter and critical, we need forgiveness from Jesus. It’s terribly difficult to love when we’re overcome with guilt at our own behavior. It can even lead to more bitterness!

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross pays the penalty for our sin, and it wins forgiveness for us. Because of him, our Heavenly Father forgives us.

The best way to receive that is through confessing your sin to someone, especially if your church practices confession and absolution. Go to your pastor, confess your specific sins, and hear him proclaim forgiveness to you. There is nothing like the freedom of face-to-face forgiveness.

Christ’s Love Through You

Forgiveness isn’t the only gift that Christ gives you by his grace. He also gives you his own love to flow through you to others.

Paul describes it as the mind of Christ in Philippians 2:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

“Which is yours in Christ Jesus” is the key phrase. The love that Jesus shows for us on the cross is yours by Jesus’ grace. When he unites with us, he changes us.

Take look at Romans 6, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

In baptism, we are united with Christ in death and united with him in his resurrection. The new life that Jesus lives in perfection is ours. We died to our sin and we rose to Christ’s love.

Living Christ’s Love

But it’s difficult to live that way. Very often, we don’t feel love toward others.

But that shouldn’t get in the way. Feeling love is way overrated. Instead, we should act with love.

Friends fight all the time. Our human nature wants us to hold a grudge, to act out our anger. Christ’s love wants us to forgive, even when we’re angry.

Congregations are divided all the time. Our human nature wants us to use power and treachery to conquer and destroy other people. Christ’s love wants us to speak well of each other and forgive each other even when we’re angry.

Feelings are overrated, what matters is love in our actions.

1 Corinthians 13

That’s what 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us to do. It reminds us how amazing Jesus’ love is to us. He loved us so much that he suffered and died for us.

Jesus is patient and kind. He does not envy or boast. He isn’t rude, angry, irritable, or resentful. Instead, Jesus bears all things, believes all things, and hopes all things.

This passage reminds us to love like this in our actions toward others. In our friendships, Christ’s love brings us together. In our homes, Christ’s love binds the family as one. In our congregation, Christ’s love expresses the unity we have in his body. Christ’s love is the answer to when we are bitter and critical.

Last-Minute Christian Gifts For Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner. Pretty soon, the family will gather around the Christmas tree. The smells of your Christmas feast in the air, you unwrap your presents, one by one. A wonderful family tradition.

Of course, the kids are usually pretty easy. The latest movie has various kinds of merchandise. There’s always the coolest new video game. They always want something.

Christian Gift Giving Guide

But, if you’re like me, most of the adults have just about everything they want, or at least the kinds of things that make for a good Christmas present. My wife and I spend most of the lead-up to Christmas racking our brains to find the right presents for our parents and siblings.

So, what do you? Sometimes you just need to have some fun and get them something they never would’ve gotten on their own. We think it’s a great time to introduce a Christian t-shirt or Christian jewelry. Check out a few of our favorites from Our Lord Style.

Bible Emergency Numbers Christian T-Shirt

Easily our most popular t-shirt, the Bible Emergency Numbers Christian t-shirt is a fantastic gift for the dedicated (or not so dedicated) Christian. The shirt, black with white letters, lists a series of possible problems we might face, and it gives a passage from Scripture to help. Here are just a few examples:

• When in sorrow...John 14
• When God seems far away...Psalm 139
• When you want Christian assurance...Romans 8:1-30
• If discouraged about your work...Psalm 126
• When you want peace and rest...Matthew 11:25-30

Each passage describes how God answers our need by his love and grace. You can check out our blog for a series of explanations. These are not just great gifts for friends and family, try these for a small group or men’s Bible study.

If a t-shirt isn’t your style, Bible Emergency Numbers comes on mugs, posters, notebooks, and more.

Vintage Lord’s Prayer Cross Bracelet

The vintage Lord’s Prayer cross bracelet is a fantastic Christian gift for guys who love Christ. It’s look is great for guys who don’t typically like jewelry. The black and gold metallic cross stands out over the black background, leather and strings.

While looks are important, the symbolism is even better. The Lord’s prayer is etched into the cross with gold letters on the metallic black. The most important prayer of the Christian faith, the only prayer Jesus taught us to pray, it’s a great reminder of the power of prayer and our need to stay in constant contact with our savior.

Cross Of Faith Necklace

The cross of faith necklace is a beautiful cross with three layers. The bottom cross is made out of stainless steel with flourishes on each end. On top of that, there is an acrylic cross in metallic blue. The last layer is a smaller stainless steel cross, smaller than the rest. A beautiful piece, the cross is a great gift for men and women.

Christians have always used the cross as a symbol for the salvation Christ won for us by his death and resurrection. Despite the beauty of the piece, the cross, a symbol of death and torture, reminds us that the Christian faith isn’t beautiful. It’s about broken people who need a savior, not one who comes as a conquering hero, but one who suffers for us.

A Christian Mug

Nearly everyone needs that jolt of caffeine every morning. Why not use that as a moment to reflect on our Christian faith. We have a series of Christian mugs with messages that remind us of what Jesus has done for us.

• Bible Emergency Numbers
• You say...God says: Our objections and how God answers them
• Coffee: Christ Offers Forgiveness For Everyone Everywhere

Your morning with coffee is a great time to read your bible or do a devotion. These Christian coffee mugs are a great reminder for everyone to stay connected with God.

Fear Not (Isaiah 41:10) Stainless Steel Necklace

Shaped like a dog tag in gold with a gold necklace, this Fear Not (Isaiah 41:10) Stainless Steel Necklace is a great reminder that God is with us at all times. We all need to be reminded. We can be afraid. We can feel alone. We can feel depressed. But God promises to be with us no matter what. Here’s what it says:

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10

Just like our other pieces of jewelry, this is a way for you to remind the person you give to be a faithful Christian. The cool jewelry against his or her skin will be a subtle way to keep the faith in mind every day.

Our Christmas traditions are a great way to gather family and friends around the birth of our Savior. We give gifts to do just that, to remind us that the greatest gift God gave us is Jesus. He was the eternal Son of God, but he became a human being. He took on our flesh so he could die for us and rise for us. These Christian gifts can help you remind your friends and family about the reason for our celebration.

When You Are Lonely And Afraid: The Verse Behind The Christian T-Shirt- Bible Emergency Numbers

Of all our Christian T-shirts, the Bible Emergency Numbers is easily the most popular. You can see why. It lists 25 important Bible verses for 25 different situation you might face. Each verse can help guide you through a tough time, remind you to be faithful, or give you the lift you need to get through the day. In this post, we’ll dive into the first of those Bible emergency numbers to help you understand how that particular passage can help. Today we’re looking at the book of the Bible that it suggests for the situation, “When you are lonely and afraid.”

The Lord Is My Shepherd

The Bible Emergency Numbers Christian T-shirt points us to Psalm 23, perhaps the most famous Psalm of all. The psalm uses a shepherd metaphor to describe God’s relationship with his people. God is the shepherd, and we are the sheep.

God As The Shepherd

The Bible uses this metaphor throughout the Old and New Testaments, most commonly with God being the shepherd and the people being his sheep. Let’s take a look at some of those passages:

The Psalms repeatedly call God the shepherd of his people:

Psalm 80:1 “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock.”

Psalm 28:9 “The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed. Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever.”

The prophets also use the metaphor when he describes how God will gather his people together, especially after they are taken to Babylon. God, the shepherd will fight their enemies and save their people:

Isaiah 40:11 “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

Ezekiel 34:11-12 “Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.”

Throughout the Old Testament, the Bible describes God as the shepherd of his people. They are a flock that needs protection and provisions, so God defends them and leads them to green pasture and still water.

Leaders As Shepherds

Even more frequently, however, the Bible uses the word, “shepherd,” to describe Israel’s human leaders. This wasn’t just a biblical image, either. Rulers throughout the ancient Near East described themselves as the shepherd of their people, and they regularly include a shepherd’s staff in their ceremonial. In this photo, (by Kaveh CC BY-SA 2.5) you can see that the Pharaoh holds a shepherd’s crook.

Psalm 78 describes how God chose King David to be a shepherd over God’s people. David is the positive example from the Old Testament, who should set the pattern for all the leaders to follow:

He chose David his servant
   and took him from the sheepfolds;
from following the nursing ewes he brought him
   to shepherd Jacob his people,
   Israel his inheritance.
With upright heart he shepherded them
   and guided them with his skillful hand.

But the shepherds did not lead their people well. Jeremiah spends a great deal of their time calling out the shepherds of Israel as bad shepherds:

Jeremiah 10:21 “For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the Lord; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.”

Jeremiah 23:1-4 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

Ezekiel, too, describes the bad shepherds. He uses all of chapter 34 to condemn the shepherds who used God’s flock for their own enrichment rather than protecting them.

Ezekiel 34:2-3 Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.

But God will also raise up a new, good shepherd to lead his people:

Ezekiel 24:23-24 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.

In the Old Testament, then, God is the ultimate shepherd, who guided Israel as a shepherd guides his sheep. He gave them everything they needed, food, safety, guidance, and comfort.

God also set up shepherds among his people to do the same. The best example was King David. Though he had a few missteps, David served God’s people as a good shepherd. He did just as God wanted. The shepherds that followed him, however, did not. The shepherds used the sheep to enrich themselves rather than providing for them.

When those shepherds failed, God promised to raise up a new shepherd who would take care of the people in righteousness, doing everything a shepherd is supposed to do.

Jesus, The Good Shepherd

All of this comes together in Jesus. Jesus is the true shepherd that God will set over his people in Ezekiel 34. He is the shepherd who is the heir of King David, the best example of a shepherd king in the Old Testament. He is God, himself, who comes to shepherd the people, to comfort them and gather them together.

Jesus himself says that in John 10:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Jesus d a shepherd over Israel is supposed to fulfill, but he goes one step further. He lays down his life to protect the sheep. We know what he means. Jesus laid down his life on the cross so he could save us from the wolf, that is Satan. He dies to protect us, and he provides eternal life for us.

Psalm 23

All of this leads us back to Psalm 23, the perfect psalm for someone who is lonely or afraid.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
   He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
   He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
   for his name's sake.

David writes that God does everything that a shepherd is supposed to do. He provides food and water, so we have what we need to survive. He guides us along the paths of righteousness so we do not get lost in evil or vice.

When we are feeling lonely or afraid, it can seem like there is no one with us. Will someone be there to help us? Will we get what we need? Of course! Even when it seems like no one is with you, we know that God is. He will protect. He will provide. Even after we die, he will be with us to guide us to eternal life.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
   I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
   your rod and your staff,
   they comfort me.

This next passage is for those who are afraid. God protects us through the most difficult and dangerous times. David writes, “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

A few years ago, I heard a sermon by a pastor originally from Africa. He described how shepherds in his corner of Africa continue to protect their people. The rod, he said, was for the lions. He held it up for us. It was a club, about three feet long, and the club end came to a point. It was designed so it could split the skin of an attacking lion.

The staff, however, was for the sheep. It was a thin reed with a hook. Shepherds used it to direct the sheep away from danger. If a sheep started to wander off, the staff would gently guide it back. It could even hook around the sheep’s neck to pull the sheep in an emergency.

When we are afraid of danger, whether physical or spiritual, God’s rod is there to protect us. He uses it to destroy our true enemies, Satan and Death. Like the rod splits the nose of the Lion, Jesus destroyed their power when he rose from the dead, giving us eternal life.

God’s staff, then, is how he directs us away from that danger. He leads us along the right path, directing us one way or another. Sometimes it might not feel good, as a swat from a staff might, but God uses it to move us closer to him so we can be safe.

You prepare a table before me
   in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
   all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

In these verse, David moves away from the shepherd metaphor, and he applies it to our lives. God’s protection means that we are safe, even in the midst of our enemies. He has chosen us, anointed us with baptism, and he promises to protect us all the days of our life and even beyond death.

When we are lonely or afraid, Psalm 23 reminds us that God is with us as a shepherd. We, the sheep, cannot navigate life safely without him. He protects us, guides us, and provides all that we need for this life and the next. God is our true shepherd.

Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The Beatitudes, from the sermon on the mount, are some of the most popular passages in the New Testament. Not only do they introduce the whole sermon on the mount, perhaps Jesus’ most famous sermon, but they also have deep meaning in themselves. Each sentence applies deeply to our lives, offering wisdom and grace for every Christian. If you want to learn more about the beatitudes in general, check out the introduction.

The title, The Beatitudes, is the first word of the Latin translation of this passage. “Beatitude” comes from the Latin word that means, “Blessed.” They truly do bring us blessing when we study them. This series will look at the blessings that Jesus gives us through the beatitudes. We will also look at some illustrations, symbols from stained glass windows, to help guide our exploration.

Blessed

To understand this beatitude, we need to know what each phrase means. We use the word, “blessing,” to refer to just about anything that’s good. Parents call their children a blessing, at least most of the time. When a friend is healed, we call it a blessing.

When Jesus uses the word, however, he talks about salvation. Blessing is eternal life, which Jesus gives them by his death and resurrection. Matthew 11:2-6 describes Jesus’ mission, “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

It’s a fulfillment of what Isaiah predicted in chapter 61:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
   because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
   he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
   and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

The blessing that Jesus brings, then, is a fulfillment of God’s promises in all of scripture. When Jesus brings blessing, he brings all of God’s kingdom.

Are The Poor In Spirit

Next comes “the poor in spirit.” It means, “spiritually poor.” They’re not filled with spiritual riches. They don’t have an extensive spiritual resume. They are the weakest, the saddest, the most broken.

The Spiritual Resume

Paul talks about what it took to be spiritually rich among the Jews in Philippians 3. He writes, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

Paul has an impressive spiritual resume. He was born to the chosen people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, meaning that he can trace his lineage back to Benjamin, son of Jacob. His parents followed Moses’ command to circumcise their children on the eighth day after birth. Ever since then, he did his best to follow God’s law, offering sacrifices for sin and obeying the commandments. He even went so far as to persecute Jews who turned from following Moses to following Jesus. The scribes, the pharisees, and all the religious leaders would have had the same resume.

Sometimes we also point to our own spiritual resume. Occasionally, people will talk about it with their pastor, usually when they want him to do something. It goes something like this: My parents were founding members of this church, and I have been here my whole life. I volunteer in the board of outreach, and I give to the church. That’s why you should (fill in the blank). I know pastors for whom the pastoral office goes back generation, and they can name all the men who were pastors in their family. That’s a powerful spiritual resume.

Our Spiritual Resume Means Nothing

But a powerful spiritual resume means nothing. Paul reflects on his spiritual resume again in Philippians 3, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

His resume, and ours, is worth nothing, because it means nothing to God. God doesn’t care how many people were pastors in our family history. He doesn’t care whether you have a Ph. D. in theology. He doesn’t care whether you give 99.99 percent of your income. It’s all worth nothing.

Sin is the only thing on our resume. The crimson stain of sin blots out any accomplishes we might have. It floods over our spiritual ink, and stains the paper. Every thought, even the most noble ones, are tainted, so nothing we have can be pure.

That means we’re all spiritually poor, even if we don’t know it. That was the problem with Paul before he became a Christian. He didn’t know he was spiritually poor. He only thought he was strong, strong enough to stand before God on his obedience to the law.

The Kingdom of God

Jesus says that the spiritually poor receive the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, the normal translation doesn’t help us understand what St. Matthew is writing. A better translation would be something like, “the reign of heaven.”

Kingdom typically refers to a place. Normal kingdoms have rulers and borders, but the Kingdom of God is different. The Kingdom of God is more like God’s kingly activity in the world. He forms a kingdom of people rather than places, and he does it through Jesus Christ. God breaks into the world to bring salvation to his people and judgement against his enemies.

They had heard the prophets talk about the kingdom of God. Isaiah writes:

“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
   that the mountains might quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood
   and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
   and that the nations might tremble at your presence!”

The prophets were waiting for God to come down from heaven to save them and to destroy their enemies.

How Does He Bring The Reign of God?

Jesus brings the reign of God to his people by his death and resurrection. The stained glass window that goes with this beatitude shows a shepherd’s staff and an altar for burning an offering. Jesus’ death is the sacrifice that covers up our terrible spiritual resume and turns in his own holiness instead.

The Old Testament uses sacrifice in the same way throughout the life of Israel. When God gathered his people into his kingdom, he knew that they would be spiritually poor. He set up the sacrificial system so their spiritual poverty wouldn’t matter. It would be covered with the purity that sacrifice brought. But those sacrifices were imperfect. They needed to happen over and over again.

Jesus’ sacrifice, however, is eternal. His death on the cross is the eternal sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world. That sacrifice gives the reign of God to the spiritually poor.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Jesus gives salvation and eternal life, to people who are spiritually poor. When they are broken by their sin and call on God for help, Christ gives it to them.

Nearly every country has a holiday or a season where we give thanks. Americans celebrate it on the fourth Thursday of November every year. The holiday harkens back to some of the first European settlers on North America, and how they gave thanks for surviving what became a deadly trip for many.

Thanksgiving has become a day for gathering with family and friends around a feast– usually turkey, mashed potatoes, and the like– to recall the good things we have. Like every family holiday, it’s not always fun. Family gatherings can be contentious when people are resentful. They can be mournful when we’ve recently lost loved ones. Sometimes, that crazy uncle just gets drunk and ruins the fun.

Sometimes, people just don’t have much for which they feel like giving thanks. Families break up. People live in poverty. Children get sick or even die. What is Thanksgiving when life is terrible?

Giving Thanks At All Times

It is difficult for us to give thanks at all times, even in bad times. But that’s what Christians should do. St. Paul writes, in Phillipians 4, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

He tells the Philippians to offer their requests, i.e. the things they want God to change, with thanksgivings. When they asked God to protect their families from the Romans who wanted to kill them, they were also supposed to give thanks. When they prayed that their children might be healed, they also had to give thanks.

Christians Can Always Be Thankful

God always gives us something for which we can give thanks. He gave us Jesus, who died and rose from the dead for us. Jesus, who is with us through joy and sorrow. Jesus, who forgives us when we sin and comforts us when we mourn. Because of Jesus, we have God’s grace that leads to eternal life. This is God’s true, most precious gift, a promise that whatever happens in this life, we will rise to a perfect life when Jesus returns.

That’s why Paul can remain content in all circumstances. He continues in Philippians 4, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” He knows that Jesus is truly all we need, and our present circumstances are always temporary. Good will come and go. Evil will come and go. But Jesus remains forever.

Giving Thanks For Everything

But even that way of looking at life divides the gifts that God gives us into things for which we should be thankful and things for which we should not. If all life is a gift from God, shouldn’t we be thankful for everything we get, the good and the bad. If all history is moving toward uniting heaven and earth in Christ, shouldn’t we give thanks for every moment that moves toward that end?

Henri Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest, who taught at a University for two decades before moving to Ontario, Canada, to with with adults with intellectual disabilities. A prominent theologian, his words often move people to a deeper desire for spirituality . He once wrote this about gratitude:

To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let's not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.

All of life is a gift from God. Everything we have comes from him, both what we call good and what we call bad. God sends rain that waters crops, and he also sends rain that floods cities. He gives us fire to warm our houses, but he also sends wildfires that burn homes to the ground. He is there when a police officer protects the innocent and when a thug steals a purse. How can we give thanks for the bad as well as the good?

Evil Is Still Evil. Good Is Still Good.

Some people try to answer this question by calling everything good. If God does it, then it must be good. Here’s how it might go. Say a little girl gets stabbed. That’s a terrible thing. But the knife helps the doctors find cancer early so it’s treatable. Then the stabbing must be good, right? Since all things work for the good, bad things lead to even greater good.

But that is just a way to rationalize away the bad that happens. We want to push away the idea that God might actually bring about suffering. When a girl gets stabbed, it’s bad, even if it leads to finding and treating a dangerous cancer. When bad things happen, they are still bad.

Giving Thanks For The Bad

Nouwen suggests that we should thank God for bad things that happen to us. Life is a gift, and everything encompassed in that gift is a gift, even when it’s awful.

As he says, “that requires hard spiritual work.” It’s hard spiritual work to remember that sickness, though bad, is still a part of God’s gift of life. It’s hard spiritual work to remember that our good God provides difficult times as part of his gift of life. Nothing happens to us as a mistake. It’s all from him.

How do we do that? How do we develop that spiritual muscle? It begins with Jesus, of course. We know that God is good, because he sent us Jesus.

Jesus, himself, offered thanks in the middle of suffering. When he died on the cross, he cried out with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” While that might not look like a thanksgiving, it is. Jesus was quoting Psalm 22. When someone quotes a portion of a passage, he wants us to keep the whole thing in mind.

Psalm 22 vacillates between complaint and calling on God’s goodness. It begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” Then it quickly changes to trust in God. “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.”

This tension is the heart of giving thanks for everything God sends us. God is good, and he brings about things that hurt us. So, we trust him. He is in charge, and he gives us what we need. Then, we can give thanks even for that which hurts us.

The Difference Between All Saints Day and All Souls Day

Christian holidays help us to remember important things in our history. We remember the lives of great men and women who have gone before us. There are holidays to remember different stories in the life of Christ, to help us understand the mission of the church, to remind us of great Christians, and to remember important days in Christian history.

Two such holidays happen in the beginning of November. All Saints Day and All Souls Day are on November 1st and November 2nd respectively. They both remind us of a host of Christians past, but they each have a difference emphasis. In many churches, we combine the two themes into one day, but it means we lose a little of each one in the process. Let’s look at the history and practice of both days to see how what role they were intended to play in our Christian lives.

The History of All Saints and All Souls

Christian holidays never spring fully formed from the mind of some Christian leader. They often begin as a local or regional celebration which grows and changes as Christians celebrate it more and more. This is true for both of these days.

Not A Pagan Holiday

Before we get to the true histories of these two days, we need to address a common misunderstanding about the two holidays. The Christian church did not choose November 1st to “baptize” a pagan holiday.

We explain these arguments in a previous article on this blog, so this article won’t go into the details. Here’s a quick summary. The November 1st celebrations did not come from the region where Samhain was supposedly celebrated. We don’t even have records that Samhain was truly celebrated the way modern pagans claim.

All Saints Day

According to Catholic Straight Answers, All Saints Day started just after the Roman Empire legalized Christianity in 313 AD. Both St. Ephram, died in 370 AD, and St. John Chrysostom, died in 407 AD, reference this kind of celebration in their preaching. Many churches began celebrating a common day for multiple saints. Following the persecution under Emperor Diocletian, there were hosts of martyrs that each church wanted to remember and to celebrate. There were, however, too many martyrs for each to have it’s own day. So, they used one common celebration to remember everyone they missed.

Different cities celebrated it on different days. Edessa once celebrated in on May 13th. Others celebrated it the week after Easter. Antioch remembered them on the first Sunday after Pentecost.

As the Christian church became more organized and unified in practice, they regularized holidays across the church. November 1st became the assigned day under Pope Gregory IV, who reigned from 827 AD to 824 AD, and we’ve celebrated it that way since.

The theme of All Saints Day, then, is not every Christian who ever died. Instead, we remember the witness of the martyrs. They held true to Christ even to the point of death. Their stories deserve to be remembered.

All Souls Day

The church began celebrating All Souls Day as a way to remember every Christian who has ever died. Just like All Saints Day, All Souls Day developed over time. At first, they celebrated it on different days. Some did it near the Easter season, while others celebrated it after the day of Pentecost. Between 998 AD and 1030 AD, St. Odilo of cluny ordered that all the monks in his monasteries celebrate it on November 2nd. Soon that commemoration spread to the whole church.

Image By Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0

It started out of the Roman Catholic system of merit and purgatory. They believed that most Christians went to purgatory after they died. Supposedly, Christians needed to be purged before they could enter heaven. They also believed that our prayers and efforts could affect how long their souls remained there.

So, All Souls Day became a day to remember the dead and to offer up prayers and indulgences for them. Protestants, however, don’t believe in purgatory, since it denies the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to forgive our sins. So, when Protestants celebrate All Souls Day, it becomes a day to remember all of the Christian dead, but especially our lost loved ones.

It’s also a day to remember the communion of the saints, which is the unity that the whole church has in Jesus Christ. Since the church is the body of Christ, and all Christians are in him, that means the church in heaven and the church on earth are all united in him. In Christ, we have communion with each other.

Why We Should Distinguish The Two

We can see how the two holidays could be conflated. First, protestants often state that all Christians are saints in Christ. Every Christian is holy by the grace won for us by Jesus on the cross. There is, then, no distinction between the most famous Christians and the rest of us.

Second, American churches don’t typically celebrate these holidays separately. If you have trouble getting people to come to worship on just one special day, you’re certainly not going to get them to come on two days in a row. So, they mash the two together into one celebration, usually on the Sunday before or after.

We should distinguish the two, because each day has a different theme. All Saints Day reminds us of the martyrs. We tell their stories to help us bravely remain true when we face persecution or rejection because of the faith. When we consider that many Christians died rather than deny the faith, it can spur us to remain brave when we might face social rejection for ours.

All Souls Day reminds us of the faithful departed. Christians need a way to remember the dead, especially the ones we still mourn. Many churches will read the names of their members who have died, giving thanks for the grace that God gave them in life. All Saints also gives us a day to remember the communion of the saints. We should celebrate the unity we have in Christ so we understand that there is no distinction. We are all one in him.