Sixth Sunday after Sleebo/ the Feast of Holy Cross

Evening

• St. Matthew 19:13-26

Morning

• St. Mark 10:17-27

Before Holy Qurbana

• Genesis 42:29-36
• Psalms 84
• Isaiah 43:16-25

Holy Qurbana

• Acts 21:27-40
• I Corinthians 5:6-13
• St. Luke 18:18-27

by Heidi St. John

Do you remember "That Girl?" You know the girl I'm talking about: her spirit is unfettered, her hopes are high, her schedule is uncluttered. That Girl is a dreamer. She still flirts with her husband. She looks in the mirror and is filled with awe at the body that God has given her. She does not see stretch marks; she sees the unmistakable signs of motherhood. She does not lament over impending physical changes in her body, because she does not know that they are coming.

Sometimes I wonder whatever happened to that spontaneous, flirtatious girl that Jay wrote love songs to. Even though Jay and I have a wonderful, strong marriage, it is still easy for me to think of myself in the light of the grocery store checkout line magazine covers. You know, those magazine covers that tell me how I should see myself. The trouble is, magazines lie. The culture that we live in has its priorities all wrong. You need new thinking if you are going to be the woman God created you to be.

A few years ago, I began to pray specifically that God would help me be the girl that Jay married. I am not saying that I was asking to be nineteen again - goodness knows I don't want to go back and re-learn some of the lessons of my twenties - but I needed to see myself with new eyes. As much as I longed to be, I knew that I was not That Girl any more. Between pastoring, pregnancies, newborns, homeschooling and home making, I had somehow lost sight of the girl that I was when we were first married. My husband noticed, too. Time and stress had created a certain distance between us. Most people wouldn't have noticed it because from the outside, we had it all together.

In our case, the distance showed up in many areas of our marriage. Jay was at work too much, and I found myself caring less and less. We stopped leaving little notes for each other on the bathroom mirror. We kept right on going as if nothing was different. You see, that "distance" I am talking about didn't happen overnight. It took me a few years of being too busy and Jay being too absorbed in his work before we started to notice.

For my husband and me, our marriage has never reached a crisis point. But like many couples, we had taken our marriage for granted. Slowly, we had become so involved with other people and with raising our kids, that we had little time left over at the end of the day for each other. We had stopped dreaming together. With a full-time ministry position at a growing church and young children to raise, LIFE was in full swing.

One morning, my husband's parents offered to take our children out for breakfast, so Jay and I took the rare opportunity for uninterrupted conversation and headed to our favorite coffee shop. After a few minutes of sipping lattes and enjoying pumpkin scones, I sensed that Jay had something on his mind.

What he said surprised me.

"I miss you, Heidi. Are you in there somewhere?" he asked.

"You miss me?" I did not understand what he meant, until he began to talk about things I had not thought about in what felt like forever: date night, weekend getaways, long drives for no reason. He missed the woman that lit candles in the bedroom and who wasn't embarrassed by the sight of her own body. He too sensed the distance between us, and it was troubling him.

Please understand, Jay is my closest friend. He was not criticizing me: He really did miss me. He missed That Girl. Frankly, I knew exactly what he was talking about.

It's funny how certain conversations stand out as unforgettable. I remember that conversation in the coffee shop as clearly as I remember our first kiss and the day Jay proposed to me.

I think it's because that conversation forever changed the way I viewed my role in our mar­riage. Jay didn't miss me literally - I was there all the time (at least physically). He missed That Girl. When I finally stopped to think about it, I missed her too!

by Dr. Peter Beck

Philosopher Bertrand Russell said, "There is no reason to suppose that the world had a beginning at all." The poverty of Russell's thought begins not with the idea that all things must have a beginning but his own failure to see the value of that beginning.

The account of God's creating the world comes first in the biblical record for greater reasons than explaining how the world came into being. The Creation is the opening act of God's redemptive play. The Creation introduces the reader to the key players in this great drama. It sets the theological stage upon which the rest of history will be played out.

Consider the following five key elements of the beginning:

1. In the beginning God is introduced.

God, Moses writes, "created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1, ESV). He is Elohim, the creator God. This is the God with whom the Israelites would have to deal and this is the God with whom we must deal today.

He is God alone. He needs no help to create. He requires no consort as did the gods of the Canaanites. Instead, God operates according to His own will and creates according to His own great power. Moreover, this verse tells us that God is preexistent. He was before the universe. He was before time. He created them both. He created them ex nihilo, out of nothing – no big bang, no primordial soup, just God, His divine imagination, and His boundless power. Now that's a God worth worshiping.

Bound up in one short sentence is the majesty of God's character. If there was a beginning, there must be a God, a Creator who exists independent of the creation. By denying a beginning, man denies God His claim to authority and character.

2. In the beginning the Trinity is invoked.

Moses laid the ground work for later theological development. He writes of "the Spirit of God … hovering over the face of the waters" (1:2). This Creator God is unlike any other god. He is plural in Person yet One in nature. He is transcendent and He is imminent.

Later God would announce His determination to create mankind according to the plural image, "according to our likeness" (1:26). While scholars point out that any idea of the Trinity would have been foreign to Israel, the value of man according to Genesis 1 is determined by his creation in the image of God not the image of an angel. Taking into account the idea of progressive revelation, we find the first hints at Trinitarian theology in the beginning.

The New Testament further adds to our understanding of the Trinitarian involvement in the Creation. John 1:1 speaks of the Word being with God "in the beginning" because He "was God" and the Creator of all that was created (John 1:3). As such, with the Apostles, we interpret the Genesis account in Trinitarian terms. To deny the supernatural in the Creation is to deny the Trinity – a thought that is unacceptable and unchristian.

3. In the beginning the world is created.

The Creation provides a marvelous demonstration of God's power and care. He created according to His good pleasure. He created according to His great power. He said it and it was.

God superintended every step of the Creation and He did so according to His own time line. That which God began, He completed. He did not create a partial, imperfect world. He did not wind the world up and hope it turned out as planned. God created what He wanted, how He wanted, when He wanted. And, it was "good" because God created it.

Moses' account of the universe's beginning does not end there. The creation isn't the end; it is just the beginning. The story Moses is about to tell is greater than the stage that he has set. God did what He did for a purpose.

4. In the beginning man is introduced.

Many deny the historicity of Adam and Eve. It's another myth, they say, a metanarrative meant to give man a sense of self-worth. Well, at least they got part of it right. The Creation account does give us a sense of self-worth – a very high sense of self-worth. According to Genesis 1, the creation of man is the climax of God's creativity activity.

Every step in the creative process pointed to and prepared the way for God's greatest creation. He created a world in which man would live. He provided the foods man would need. All those things, God said, were good. When the time was right God created man. More than that, they are created in God's image, meant to be a human reflection of His divine goodness, His ambassadors here on earth. As such, man is more than an apex animal as evolution suggests. He is the apex of the creation itself. Everything has been done for this purpose.

With the creation of man, Creation was complete. God surveyed His masterpiece and pronounced it "very good." No other response was possible as the creation, like man, reflects its Creator.

5. In the beginning the end is in sight.

With His work finished, God rested. The seventh day, anointed blessed and holy by God, set the pattern for Jewish life and worship throughout the rest of the Old Testament as they followed His example. Christians, too, have applied the principle, if not the law, of the Sabbath to the Lord's Day.

Yet, such a reading of the final words of the Creation account seems incomplete. The wonder and the majesty of it all are lost, if the seventh day becomes little more than a holiday. On the other hand, if the message of the Sabbath rest is seen in light of the Creation itself, it takes on a greater meaning. God rested, not because He was tired but because His work was complete. He had created that He might be known and worshiped.

The rest of history has been the outworking of God's plan. The Fall, the Flood, the Covenants, they're all part of this great drama. Just as man, created in the image of God, was the height of the creative process, God sent His Son, the God-Man, the perfect image of God, to restore order, to renew hearts, to create new worshipers. Those that trust in Him will rest from their labors. What God began will be complete when God's people find their rest in Him. This is the end to which the beginning pointed.

Thus, the Creation account is more than a myth. It is greater than a metanarrative. The Creation is the beginning of God's greatest work in the universe, the redemption of mankind. Ignore the beginning and you'll miss the end. For without the beginning, there would be no end.

About The Author:

In 1945 a discovery was made in Upper Egypt, near the town of Nag Hammadi. Fifty-two copies of ancient writings, called the Gnostic gospels were found in 13 leather-bound papyrus codices (handwritten books). They were written in Coptic and belonged to a library in a monastery.

A few Gnostic scholars have gone so far as to assert that these recently discovered writings are the authentic history of Jesus instead of the New Testament. But does their faith in these documents square with the historical evidence? Let's take a deeper look to see if we can separate truth from fiction.

Secret "Knowers"

The Gnostic gospels are attributed to a group known as (big surprise here) the Gnostics. Their name comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning "knowledge." These people thought they had secret, special knowledge hidden from ordinary people.

As Christianity spread, the Gnostics mixed some doctrines and elements of Christianity into their beliefs, morphing Gnosticism into a counterfeit Christianity. Perhaps they did it to keep recruitment numbers up and make Jesus a poster child for their cause. However, for their system of thought to fit with Christianity, Jesus needed to be reinvented, stripped of both his humanity and his absolute deity.

In The Oxford History of Christianity John McManners wrote of the Gnostics' mixture of Christian and mythical beliefs.

Gnosticism was (and still is) a theosophy with many ingredients. Occultism and oriental mysticism became fused with astrology, magic. 8 They collected sayings of Jesus shaped to fit their own interpretation (as in the Gospel of Thomas), and offered their adherents an alternative or rival form of Christianity.1

Early Critics

A mild strain of Gnostic philosophy was already growing in the first century just decades after the death of Jesus. The apostles, in their teaching and writings, went to great lengths to condemn these beliefs as being opposed to the truth of Jesus, to whom they were eyewitnesses.

Check out, for example, what the apostle John wrote near the end of the first century:

Who is the great liar? The one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Such people are antichrists, for they have denied the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22, NIV).

Following the apostles' teaching, the early church leaders unanimously condemned the Gnostics as a cult.

Church father Irenaeus, writing 140 years before the Council of Nicaea, confirmed that the Gnostics were condemned by the church as heretics. He also rejected their "gospels." But, referring to the four New Testament Gospels, he said, "It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are." 2

Christian theologian Origen wrote this in the early third century, more than a hundred years before Nicaea:

I know a certain gospel which is called "The Gospel according to Thomas" and a "Gospel according to Matthias," and many others have we read - lest we should in any way be considered ignorant because of those who imagine they possess some knowledge if they are acquainted with these.

Nevertheless, among all these we have approved solely what the church has recognized, which is that only four gospels should be accepted. 3

Mystery Authors

When it comes to the Gnostic gospels, just about every book carries the name of a New Testament character: the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Mary, and so on. But were they even written by their purported authors? Let's take a look.

The Gnostic gospels are dated about 110 to 300 years after Christ, and no credible scholar believes any of them could have been written by their namesakes. In James M. Robinson's comprehensive The Nag Hammadi Library, we learn that the Gnostic gospels were written by "largely unrelated and anonymous authors." 4

New Testament scholar Norman Geisler writes, "The Gnostic writings were not written by the apostles, but by men in the second century (and later) pretending to use apostolic authority to advance their own teachings. Today we call this fraud and forgery."5

Mystery Versus History

The Gnostic gospels are not historical accounts of Jesus' life but instead are largely esoteric sayings, shrouded in mystery, leaving out historical details such as names, places, and events. This is in striking contrast to the New Testament Gospels, which contain innumerable historical facts about Jesus' life, ministry, and words.

Who would you be more likely to believe - someone who says, "Hey, I've got some secret facts that were mysteriously revealed to me," or someone who says, "I've searched all the evidence and history and here it is for you to make up your mind on"? Keeping that question in mind, consider the following two statements, the first from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas (c. 110-150 A.D.) and the second from the New Testament's Gospel of Luke (c. 55-70 A.D.).

These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Judas Thomas the Twin recorded. 6

Many people have written accounts about the events that took place among us. They used as their source material the reports circulating among us from the early disciples and other eyewitnesses of what God has done in fulfillment of his promises. Having carefully investigated all of these accounts from the beginning, I have decided to write a careful summary for you, to reassure you of the truth of all you were taught. (Luke 1:1-4, NLT)

Do you find the open and aboveboard approach of Luke appealing? And do you find the fact that it was written closer to the original events to be in favor of its reliability? If so, that's what the early church thought as well.

And most scholars concur with the early church's view that the New Testament is the authentic history of Jesus. New Testament scholar Raymond Brown has said of the Gnostic gospels, "We learn not a single verifiable new fact about the historical Jesus' ministry, and only a few new sayings that might possibly have been his."7

Thus, even though the Gnostic writings have impressed some scholars, their late dating and questionable authorship can't compare with the New Testament. Such contrast between the New Testament and the Gnostic writings is devastating to those pushing conspiracy theories. New Testament historian F. F. Bruce wrote, "There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament." 8

Endnotes

1. John McManners, ed., The Oxford History of Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 28.

2. Darrell L. Bock, Breaking the Da Vinci Code (Nashville: Nelson, 2004), 114.

3. Bock, 119-120.

4. Ibid.,13.

5. Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks, When Skeptics Ask (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1998), 156.

6. Quoted in Robinson, 126.

7. Quoted in Lutzer, 32.

8. Quoted in Josh McDowell, The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict (San Bernardino, CA: Here's Life, 1999, 37.)

by Jill Carattini

Swedish chemist Alfred Bernhard Nobel was once largely known as a maker and inventor of explosives. In 1866 Nobel invented dynamite, which earned him both fame and the majority of his wealth. At one point in his life he held more than 350 patents, operated labs in 20 countries, and had more than 90 factories manufacturing explosives and ammunition. Yet today he is most often remembered as the name behind the Nobel Prize, the most highly regarded of international awards for efforts in peace, chemistry, physics, literature, and economics.

In 1888 a bizarre incident occurred, which seemed to have afforded Alfred Nobel an unlikely opportunity for reflection. Many believe it was this event that ultimately led to his establishment of the Nobel Prize and subsequent change in his reputation. Alfred’s brother Ludvig died while staying in Cannes, France, but the French newspapers mistakenly confused the two brothers, reporting the death of the inventor of explosives. One paper’s headline read brusquely: “Le marchand de la mort est mort”- the merchant of death is dead.

I can’t imagine reading the headlines of my life written at the hands of my harshest critic, but I do remember laboring over an assignment in middle school in which I was required to write my own obituary. Some of the class was given the task of writing it as if they died well in their eighties; others had to write as if they died that year. The assignment was meant to incite reflection, and in most of us it did - particularly those of us who were designated early deaths. As in the case with Alfred Nobel, my premature obituary suggested headlines I did not want to live with; that I was the one writing them made this all the more sobering.

In a very real sense, I am still (as is each of us) the writer of my own obituary. But I am no longer thinking about the words and headlines in the way I was thinking about them in middle school. As I struggled to find the words, it seemed I had so little with which to work - no graduations, no family, no accomplishments worth mentioning, no overarching purpose for my life. I was imagining all the things I had not done and feeling quite insignificant about the things I had. At that point in time, it seemed clear that a few more years were necessary in order to make a meaningful headline.

Today I realize that a life well lived is not about time at all. The writers of Scripture seem less concerned with the reputation we leave behind as they are with the reputation we are moving toward. “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness” before people, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1). There is the sense that our hearts hold the words of an obituary that no one here will fully see. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

The headlines we write on earth are printed on pages that will eventually fade and crumble. But there is one who reads the words imprinted across our hearts, engraved on the lives we have affected, stored up as treasures in a greater kingdom. As he stood with his tempter high on a mountain taking in the kingdoms of the world and all of the splendor that was being offered to him, Jesus considered the reputation of God and not his own. As he hung on the Cross, scorning its shame, he took death instead of glory; he bore the disgrace of man instead of the splendor of God. His obituary was insignificant to all but a few. And then he rose from the grave, forever rewriting the headlines of all who would believe.

About the Author:

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Please help her, Father! She is so old and the weather is turning cold. I spent all my pocket money to buy food for her, but I did not have enough for a blanket. Please give me money to buy her a blanket."

Sardar Sher Singh retorts:

"Listen, Sundar! Over the years I have given that widow all manner of help. We are not responsible for her. The other people in town should also help look after her. They must also learn charity. You cannot be responsible for everyone all the time. Others must learn to play their part. Do not worry about her now. You have done more than enough for her."

Downcast, the boy turns away.

Has not Mother always said we should show compassion and pity? Has Father no heart? What if no one else helps her? She might freeze in the night. Is there nothing I can do? Maybe. No, I mustn't! That would be wrong. But then again, Father has so much; he will never miss a few rupees. It is for a good cause; I'm not stealing for myself.

Sundar was wrong. Father did miss it. In the evening, Sardar Sher Singh calls together the household and announces that he is missing five rupees.

"Has anyone taken money from my purse?" he asks, gently but firmly. Each one answers in turn. Sundar quietly says, "No Father, I didn't do it." The day closes somber and unresolved.

Sundar sleeps fitfully. He tosses and turns. In his dreams, he sees the stern face of his father, hears the disappointment in his voice: "How could you steal from me, your father? How could you secretly disobey me? Even now, after I ask for the truth, still you lie to me."

Sundar knows this is not dharma - devotion. This is adharma - sin. It is evil. The holy books speak of karma - the relentless cycle of sin and death by whose law every sinful act burdens the soul and carries painful consequences. The holy books warn that we will reap what we sow, in this life or the next. How can I escape this karma? How can I undo what I have done? What good is compassion for others in need if my own soul is burdened?

Sardar Sher Singh hears a quiet, frightened voice:

"Father! Wake up, Father! Something terrible has happened. It was I, Father. I stole your money to buy a blanket for the widow. Forgive me, Father. I want to escape the karma; I am ready to accept punishment; I am ready to accept it as penance for this sin."

Now awake, Sardar Sher Singh sees the anguish in the boy's face and sees the hours of anguish behind it. He takes hold of the boy - not to punish him, but to take him up into his strong arms; not with anger, but with love. Gently he says: "I have always trusted you, my child, and now I have good proof that my trust was not misplaced. Sleep in peace now, for you have shown courage to choose what is right. In this way, you have turned the wrong to good. I, too, am sorry that I refused you money for the widow. I will not refuse you such a request again."

by David Kennedy

[Editor's Note:

The following excerpts on toothpastes and preventing tooth decay are from the book 'How To Save Your Teeth: Toxic-Free Preventive Dentistry', by David Kennedy, Doctor of Dental Surgery. Excerpted by Dr. Ben Kim.]

1 can crushed pineapple in juice
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 bunches green onions, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, diced
Ground red pepper to taste (or fresh minced habanero pepper)
Spanish rice or fried rice or vegetable biriyani or shrimp biriyani
4-8 whole wheat tortillas, soft taco or regular burrito size

Directions:

Start with pineapple in a large mixing bowl. Add all peppers, onion, and cilantro. Add red pepper until it is spicy enough for you (should be a nice combination of sweet and spicy).

Chill while you make Spanish rice or fried rice or vegetable biriyani or shrimp biriyani.

When this is done, heat the tortillas in the microwave or on the burner.

Fill with a mixture of pineapple stuff and Spanish rice or equivalent.

If you want a healthier burrito, add some spinach leaves after the rice and pineapple mixture.

Roll up and eat.

Notes:

The burritos are pretty juicy, especially towards the end of the batch, so use a fork or else have a paper towel handy.

For a variation, put the stuffing and spinach in a pita pocket.

If you are only serving one, one batch of this should last you a whole week.

Serves 4 to 8.

FIVE RULES FOR MEN TO FOLLOW FOR A HAPPY LIFE:

1. It's important to have a woman who helps at home, cooks from time to time, cleans up well and looks good in a skirt or jeans.

2. It's important to have a woman who can make you laugh.

3. It's important to have a woman who you can trust, and doesn't lie to you.

4. It's important to have a woman who is good in bed, and likes to be with you.