Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Sweet potent perfume

Anointing His Feet

36-39 One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him.”

40 Jesus said to him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Oh? Tell me.”

41-42 “Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?”

43-47 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.”

“That’s right,” said Jesus. Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, “Do you see this woman? I came to your home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and dried them with her hair. You gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn’t quit kissing my feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she has soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn’t it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal.”

48 Then he spoke to her: “I forgive your sins.”

49 That set the dinner guests talking behind his back: “Who does he think he is, forgiving sins!”

50 He ignored them and said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

The Message (MSG)

she didn't come to correct even when there were obvious issues and needs ( not to say there is not a time to speak the truth in love to help another)

but on this occaision

quite possibly she never spoke at all
if she did, her words are nor recorded for us

just her actions

She saw only one person in that whole full room

she came to pour out on Christ
it came with a breaking
an irrevocable breaking (other translations state the jar of perfume had to be broken to release the perfume)

but then the smell of the perfume broke upon the scene
wafting gently through the air
carried to every hidden corner
every nook and cranny
filling the house
anoiting all who were present

affecting all who were nearby
none could avoid it
all in proximity were affected

some for the better
some for the worse
but none were the same

this passage from 1Peter 2: 21- 3:4 is complex and easily misunderstood but I believe it shows one thing clearly

I can have a powerful affect on others
even difficult others
by focusing on Jesus
on how he lived, responded and interfaced with our suffering, our need

1 Peter 2:21-3:6The Message (MSG)

21-25 This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.

He never did one thing wrong,
Not once said anything amiss.

They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.

Cultivate Inner Beauty

3 1-4 The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition.

4-6 Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands. Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him as “my dear husband.” You’ll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, unanxious and unintimidated.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

seeing his love,
his humility
his care
his selflessness

it changes me
it draws my heart to his beauty

all else fades into the background (see note below)

seeing him changes me

as I change - the aroma of his sweet love can spread from me

this person in front of me
who ever it may be
with all their complexity
with all thier difficulty
and difficultness

is really just the opportunity Jesus is giving
to pour out
not even my own perfume
but the most expensive
the most lovely and beautiful aroma there is

sweet Jesus

showing mercy with cheerfulness
showing care and bringing hope
patient and kind and strong as steel
firm and unchanging and brave
yet gentle and kind and tender

sometimes I feel so frustrated
so helpless
there is so little one can do to really change circumstances or another person
even one's own self

difficult and challenging relationships and situations

I am so glad he does not say it is simple
or a quick and easy fix in three steps

He of all most knows that relationships are difficult
painful
even bloody and cruel
it was so for him
to the extreme

but it is not really about that other person at all

it is about you

they don't deserve _______ !
I don't deserve _________ !

I can't love them with what they need
they can't love me with what I need

we all need you, sweet Jesus

I cannot choose for another
I cannot change another

I can only choose to come to you, sweet Jesus
and pour out my soul to you
all my longings and despair
all my passion and desire
all my words
all my heart
all my tears

you listen
you care
you understand
you empathize

you do not excuse
you do not minimize
dismiss or make light of any of it

You know what it is to be human, fully human with all its confusion and complexity

You cool my burning
You soothe my wounds
You calm my mind
You comfort my heart
You bring new life
new hope
new love
forgivenes and the opportunity
to begin again

we pour out on you by pouring out your love on those who are in front of us
to love the one God has put in front of me
this is how I pour out love on you

it has an effect

Ephesians 5:1-2New King James Version (NKJV)

Walk in Love

5 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

New King James Version (NKJV)

2 Corinthians 2:14-15The Message (MSG)

In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life.

a perpetual victory parade not because it all goes the way I want it to
or I do everything right

but because I am seeing you in all your beauty
I am inhaling your life changing chemistry

and even the exhale can be sweet to you and all around

we love because you have first loved us

(NOTE - if you think you might be in an abusive or unsafe relationship - please be honest and admit this is a possibilty and get help. Find a counselor, neighbor, friend, family member to help you be safe.)

(Second note - The passage in 1 Peter 3:1-6 is focusing on the relatinship between wives and husbands, I believe the same overall principle applies to any relationship - as I change through my relationship with Jesus Christ, it affects how I view and interact with others in any relationship because I am an active ingredient in this relationship!

Monday, September 1, 2014

Living in Love Without Shame

"the man and the woman were both naked and were not ashamed" Genesis 2:25 ESV

God did not create us to live in shame but in relationships of care, truth and intimacy with himself and others.

Shame corrodes and corrupts and isolates from God and from others

"Weary of selfishness and pride,
False pleasures gone, vain hopes denied,
Deep in Thy wounds my shame to hide,
Christ crucified, I come."
from the hymn "Drawn to the Cross, Which Thou Hast Blest"

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/nt/1049/j=a&jbl=30&pt=c&pn=9&pjbl=25&nt=c&nn=12&njbl=15&lpn=1&clpn=1&jil=30#ixzz2hocThtPv

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. Jesus went into the Pharisee's house and sat down at the table. A sinful woman in the town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house. So she brought an alabaster jar of perfume. She stood at Jesus' feet, crying , and began to wash his feet with her tears. She dried his feet with her hair, kissed them many times and rubbed them with them with the perfume. The Pharisee who asked Jesus to come to his house saw this. He thought to himself, 'If Jesus were a prophet, he would know that the woman who is touching him is a sinner!"

Jesus said to the Pharisee, 'Simon, I have something to say to you.'

Simon said, 'Teacher, tell me.'

Jesus said, ' There were two men. Both men owed money to the same banker. One man owed the banker 500 silver coins. THe other man owed the banker 50 silver coins. The men had no money; so they could not pay what they owed. But the banker told the men that they did not have to pay him. Which one of the two men will love the banker more?
Simon, the Pharisee, answered, 'I think it would be the one who owed him the most money.'
Jesus said to Simon, 'You are right.'
Then Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, 'Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave me no water for my feet.

But she washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

You did not kiss me, but she has been kissing my feet since I came in!

You did not rub my head with oil, but she rubbed my feet with perfume.

I tell you that her many sins are forgiven.
This is clear because she showed great love.
But the person who has only a little to be forgiven will feel only a little love.'

Then Jesus said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven.'

The people sitting at the table began to think to themselves, 'Who is this man? How can he forgive sins?'

Jesus said to the woman, 'Because you believed, you are saved from your sins.

Go in peace.'"

Luke 7:36-50 International Children's Bible

He has sent me to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness... He has sent me to comfort all those who are sad. He has sent me to the sorrowing people of Jerusalem. I will give them a crown to replace their ashes. I will give them the oil of gladness to replace their sorrow. I will give them clothes of praise to replace the spirit of sadness. Then they will be called Trees of Goodness. They will be like trees planted by the Lord and will show his greatness." Isaiah 61:2-3 ICB

"But he took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us. We saw his suffering. We thought God was punishing him. But he was wounded for the wrong things that we did. He was crushed for the evil things that we did. The punishment, which made us well was given to him. And we are healed because of his wounds." Isaiah 53:4-5 ICB

Shame

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shame

Shame is, variously, an affect, emotion, cognition, state, or condition. The roots of the word shame are thought to derive from an older word meaning "to cover"; as such, covering oneself, literally or figuratively, is a natural expression of shame.^[1]

^ Lewis, Helen B. (1971), Shame and guilt in neurosis, International University Press, New York, p. 63, ISBN0-8236-8307-9

A "sense of shame" is the consciousness or awareness of shame as a state or condition. Such shame cognition may occur as a result of the experience of shame affect or, more generally, in any situation of embarrassment, dishonor, disgrace, inadequacy,humiliation, or chagrin.^[3]

A condition or state of shame may also be assigned externally, by others, regardless of one's own experience or awareness. "To shame" generally means to actively assign or communicate a state of shame to another.

^ Broucek, Francis (1991), Shame and the Self, Guilford Press, New York, p. 5,ISBN 0-89862-444-40-8236-8307-9

Psychoanalyst Helen B. Lewis argued that, "The experience of shame is directly about the self, which is the focus of evaluation. In guilt, the self is not the central object of negative evaluation, but rather the thing done is the focus."^[6] Similarly, Fossum and Mason say in their book Facing Shame that "While guilt is a painful feeling of regret and responsibility for one's actions, shame is a painful feeling about oneself as a person."^[7

Following this line of reasoning, Psychiatrist Judith Lewis Herman concludes that "Shame is an acutely self-conscious state in which the self is 'split,' imagining the self in the eyes of the other; by contrast, in guilt the self is unified."^[8

Simply put: A person who feels guilt is saying "I did something bad.", while someone who feels shame is saying "I am bad". There is a big difference between the two.

Jump up^ Lewis, Helen B. (1971), Shame and guilt in neurosis, International University Press, New York, ISBN 0-8236-8307-9

Jump up^ Fossum, Merle A.; Mason, Marilyn J. (1986), Facing Shame: Families in Recovery,W.W. Norton, p. 5, ISBN 0-393-30581-3

Jump up^ Herman, Judith Lewis (2007), "Shattered Shame States and their Repair", The John Bowlby Memorial Lecture

Simon the Pharisee said,
'If Jesus were a prophet, he would know that the woman who was touching him is sinner!"
Luke 7:39

But Jesus did know...
He knew even more than Simon knew....

He knew it all..
every last sordid detail of every wrong and destructive choice

But he also knew
the regret
the shame
the desperate cry for love
for being loved

to be cherished
to be beloved
to be welcomed with open arms, full embrace and eyes lit up with joy

to belong
to be a part
to be meaningfully connected
in deep, personal, intimate and mutually desired relationship

He knew that she loved him

He knew she knew that she only loved him because he had loved her first
you love a person not a choice not an action but a person

She knew she was not worthy
did not merit or do anything to earn his love

But she was loved, this she knew

loved completely, absolutely, thoroughly

there was no need to try to hide anything from him
there was nothing he did not see
there was nothing he did not know
He was perfectly clear about
the selfishness
the rebellion
the destructive pride
the refusal to listen
the persistence in sin
the putting of other people and things before him
the rejection of his grace before

But he saw beyond
the acts, choices, attitudes and words

to who he had made her to be
to who he wanted to make her to be
to who he was able to make her now

He saw her, all of her
He saw with kindness, with empathy, with understanding, with crystal clarity
He did not make excuse, deny, deflect or shift blame

He atoned
He forgave
He covered her
He accepted her
He loved her
He cherished her
He desired her
He hoped for her
He longed to transform
to renew
to recreate
His likeness in her
to bring her to what he has always intended for her

He knew the power of God
to cleanse
to forgive
to pardon
to justify
to change
to transform
to create anew

He knew who she was
He knew who He was

She knew only Him in a room full of those who did not know who was really there with them that day

She knew she could pour out her love on him and he would not reject
he would not scorn
he would not despise or disdain

He would receive
appreciate
admire
respect
respond in love and gratitude

They were all in the same room but these two knew a completely different universe

Oh, Simon, if only you knew who it was who was in your house that day,
who it was among you
with you

You would have poured out your tears on his beautiful feet
for they were bringing the good news of the gospel of peace

You would have been free from caring what anyone else thought at all
free even from what you thought about yourself at all

a burning, fiery, passionate love would have consumed you so completely
as to leave your old self
old life
old desires
old pursuits
old wants
old vices
all behind in a blinding flash

an all consuming, passionate love
a blazing connection
igniting

"For our God is a consuming fire" Hebrews 12:29 KJV

"Put me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm. Love is as strong as eath. Desire is as strong as the grave. Love bursts into flames. It burns like a very hot fire. Even much water cannot put our the flame of love. Floods cannot drown love. If a man offered everything in his house for love, people would totally reject it." Song of Solomon 8:6-7

If human love can be described this way, how much more God, who is love himself
able to burn away all impurities, all traces of contamination, to purify
to bring us to himself
he wants love in return
not only things and actions
but my whole person
actions springing from this source of love

Oh to see you, to know you
to let your holy fire burn within
so that we are nevermore the same old selfish, stale, self-centered sinner

but pouring our our love on you and on one another for all to see
tears of amazement
gratitude
wonder
crazy love
kneeling
wiping with our hair
You
the one whom all our hearts truly long for

She alone, in this house, knew who He was
a priceless treasure none could ever take away from her
a precious person for whom all could be sacrificed

"The slave girl gave a name to the Lord who spoke to her. She said to him, 'You are 'God who sees me.''' This is because she said to herself, 'Have I really seen God who sees me?'"

Genesis 16:13 ICB

Your love was enough to enable Hagar to return to a difficult situation and remain there instead of fleeing away.
You can enable me to love the one or ones that you have put in front of me
to love them as I would love you as you are loving me

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did for me" Matthew 25:40 NIV

There is therefore now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

an example of one such woman: Perpetua
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/martyrs/perpetua.html

I have been really helped by the community formed at writewhereithurts.com

Saturday, August 23, 2014

The Uninvited Guest

Luke 7:36-38New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

A Sinful Woman Pours Perfume on Jesus

36 One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him. So he went to the Pharisee’s house. He took his place at the table.

37 There was a woman in that town who had lived a sinful life. She learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house. So she came with a special sealed jar of perfume.38 She stood behind Jesus and cried at his feet. She began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair. She kissed them and poured perfume on them.

New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

The Uninvited Guest

He was invited to dinner at the house of Simon the Pharisee. It was a lovely house, a delicious dinner elegantly served. The perfect evening for host and guests.

But then the uninvited guest showed up.

She was not of the same social status

She was not of the same class

She was not of the same economic status

She was not dressed properly

She did not know how to speak properly

She did fit in in any way

She was not respected, wanted or even politely tolerated

Talk about awkward...

Even Luke who wrote this episode down for us did not even know or give her name

She is know simply as a woman who had lived a sinful life.

We all sin

some sins are not easily seen by others except God

But this woman was identified by hers

Was there anyone in that room who did not immediately recognize her, know her

but only by her wrongs

only by her wrong choices

they saw nothing more about her

Why did she come and put herself into this most extremely awkward of situations?
uninvited, unwanted?

She had heard Jesus was there

She did not know when she would have another opportunity

So, she took an albastar jar of most precious perfume

and she came

uninvited

unwanted

dispised

and judged

her life a foregone conclusion

no hope of change in the minds of most

But

She came to love

She came to bless

She came to worship

She came to pour out

She came to be with HIm

She gave Him what Simon, the host, could not

She gave Him what the delicious dinner and the polite guests and the beautiful house did not

Love is messy

it interrupts and distubs

it upsets and shocks

She loved him and was not afraid to show it

She gave what she had

her love

her worship

her tears

her hair

clean feet

She was not stopped by viewing herself as unworthy to come to him

she was not stopped by viewing what she had to give as unworthy

she was not deterred by the location or the people there

She was determined to get to him

to be with him

to pour our what she had
for his sake alone

She saw you more clearly than anyone else present who thought they saw so much more clearly than her

She saw you

not the house, not the guests, not even what they thought of her

She saw your beauty

She could not stay away

How you love those whom we despise

How you transform those whom we deem hopeless

How you recieve those who are outcasts, rejected, abandonded

You don't make cheap excuses for any of us

you see the depth of my need for you

you see clearly the selfish choices

the hurtful choices

my sin

But

You are not deterred

you seek me out in the most difficult of places

in the worst of company

through my most unfriendly reactions and respones to you

You come

the uninvited guest

the shepherd diligently seeking out the one lost sheep when there are 99 others elsewhere

you come to love

you come to pour out

you come to give

you come to heal

you come to transform

you come to give hope

you come

Oh praise you! You come!

You weep over those you seek

You are willing to disrupt, interrupt, shock, disturb and mess up all my polite refusals and plans

You love passionately

completely

thoroughly

securely

1 John 4:10-16New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

10 What is love? It is not that we loved God. It is that he loved us and sent his Son to give his life to pay for our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we should also love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. His love is made complete in us.

I love you Lord

Please come please enter into my house

enter into my life

enter into my relationships

as with this woman

your love is enough

it is enough to enter an immensely awkward and difficult social situaion and see only you

it is enough to pour out love on you and be free from what others think

it is enough to enable me to love those who I live with, love with, share this messy experience of life with

it is enough to love the most unloveable

the most difficult

because

You are enough

You are here

help me to love the other you have placed here with me with the love you have poured into me

1 John 4:19New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

19 We love because he loved us first.

New International Reader's Version (NIRV)