Hopewit

Panama City from the Pacific approach For it is written:     “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;      the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.  (1 Corinthians 1:19-21, NIV) Paul’s primary purpose in the passage quoted above seems to be to reassure the church in Corinth that the message on which they’ve set their hopes is God’s wisdom , that it is not foolishness as unbelieving neighbours may claim. In his letter, Isaiah 29 is referenced, a chapter in which the prophet chastises his people for basing their “wisdom” on earthly, human assumptions while ignoring “the scroll,” the revelations of God apprehen...

All flowers are roses, except these. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12) It’s not hard to infer from the first chapter of James that a prolonged walk down easy street is bound to leave us juvenile, flabby and—in the Kingdom of God—pretty much weaklings. Conversely, being beset by and overcoming trials that require muscle and stick-to-itiveness lends maturity, strength and fulfillment. Of course, we all know that building physical muscle doesn’t happen in the recliner; to build strength requires exercise, exertion, perseverance. But how ...

Saskatchewan Cacti - Grasslands National Park “If anyone says ‘I love God’ and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too.” (1 John 4:20-21, NET) “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” (1 John 4:20-21, NIV) It seems simple on its surface: You say you love God, then demonstrate it in love for your faith family members. Conversely, mistreatment of your fellow Christians puts your love for God in doubt. Let’s assume for the moment that “love” here doesn’t mean “warm, fuzzy feeling,” but rather the active an...

  But now—apart from the law—the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3: 21-26, NIV) New Year, 2018.  My 76 th .  If New Year with its resolutions to do better actually produced a “step up” from the previous year, I should be a pretty remarkable person by now. A...

Shekinah Winter, December 2008 “Some few large men sat in the front parlors, without their collars, Uncles almost certainly, trying their new cigars, holding them out judiciously at arms’ length, returning them to their mouths, coughing, then holding them out again as though waiting for the explosion; and some few small aunts, not wanted in the kitchen, nor anywhere else for that matter, sat on the very edge of their chairs, poised and brittle, afraid to break, like faded cups and saucers.” A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas has become classic Christmas-time reading. Rich in imagery and detail, it opens for us a tableau of this ancient Christian celebration as experienced by children in Wales, ca. 1950s. Go back another 110 years to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol , ca. 1843, a story called by some “ a Victorian morality tale .” Scrooge, Marley, Bob Cratchitt, Tiny Tim and the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future still haunt our yul...

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. (Matthew 1:17, KJV) Before retelling the story of the birth of Christ, Matthew’s gospel establishes the lineage of Jesus’ adoptive father, Joseph, thereby setting up for the nit-pickers the opportunity for a question: why Joseph’s lineage and not Mary’s? And the answer is: because it was a patriarchal (inheritance through the males) culture and (it’s been suggested) that Joseph and Mary shared a common lineage anyway. Working in a developing interpretive centre here in Rosthern, I field many questions by people hoping to discover clues to their lineage going back as far as possible. We generally seek to track down our heritage patrilinealy with the primary research method involving surnames. This has meant that tracing back as far as Matthew d...

Martha and Mary, painted through the prism of bias As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.     She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.        But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”     “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42, NIV) Jesus and his disciples apparently stopped in at Martha's and Mary’s house as they traveled. It sounds like it was primarily Martha’s house: “. . . Martha opened her home to him.” Whether or not their brother Lazarus was home on this occasi...