"Good" Friday?

Calling the day of the Crucifixion ‘Good’ Friday is a designation that is peculiar to the English language. For example in German, it is called Karfreitag. The Kar part is an obsolete word, the ancestor of the English word care in the sense of cares and woes, and it meant mourning. So in German, it is Mourning Friday. And that is what the disciples did on that day—they mourned.

They thought all was lost.

I’ve read that the word good used to have a secondary meaning of holy, but I can’t trace that back. There are a number of cases in set phrases where the words God and good got switched around because of their similarity. One case was the phrase God be with you, which today is just good-bye. So perhaps Good Friday was originally God’s Friday. But I think we call it Good Friday because, in pious retrospect, all that tragedy brought about the greatest good there could be.

I can see virtue in either terminology. If we call it Mourning Friday, as in German, we are facing reality head on, taking up the cross if you will, fully conscious that the Christian walk is seldom a walk in the park as most all of us know. But if we call it Good Friday, as in English, we are confessing the Christian hope that no tragedy—not even death—can overwhelm God’s providence, love, and grace. Either way seems to work for me!

Avshalom & Rebecca/The Last Kiss Was Missing

A true story ... A tearjerker even ... In 1915, Sarah Aaronsohn fell for the handsome & dashing Avshalom Feinberg. But she was heartbroken when fell in love with Sarah's, Aaron's and Alex's younger sister (who is not mentioned in the Wikipedia excerpt) Rebecca. He and Rebecca courted and, just before Avshalom set off on his fatal mission to Egypt, agreed to marry after the war. He said that he would come back to her; she said that she would wait for him. Avshalom, of course, never returned.

Rebecca was inconsolable. She never married ... The only knowledge regarding Avshalom Feinberg's fate was the testimony of Lishansky, a team member. He said that he & Feinberg were caught in the crossfire when their Bedouin guides became involved in a gunfight with local Bedouin (from another tribe) near Rafiah. He said that Feinberg was shot and killed.

Fast forward about 50 years. In 1967, after the Six Day War, the Israel Defense Forces established a military government in Sinai. IDF military government officers in the Rafiah area learned that a certain date palm in the area was referred to by the locals as kubr yehudi, "Jewish grave." They went to investigate and, lo and behold, discovered Avshalom Feinberg's remains (which were subsequently positively identified). The date palm had (in the 50 years since his death) sprouted from dates that Feinberg was carrying in his pockets when he was killed. The tree's roots were entwined around his bones. Feinberg's remains were re interred with full military honors at the IDF cemetery on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem. An elderly and frail Rebecca Aaronsohn was present and was given the flag that draped Feinberg's coffin. She passed away a few years later.

This is such an incredible story which gives even me watery eyes! He said that he would come back to her and he did; she said that she would wait for him and she did. I cannot help but think that now, at last, thanks to God in His great mercy, that Avshalom Feinberg and Rebecca Aaronsohn are together and that he is giving her the thousand kisses that he wrote about so beautifully.

Elef Neshikot, A Thousand Kisses

First kiss on your white forehead

like a bond in the middle of your figure

and from it come out in glowing abundance

of kisses to your hair

like a crown of pearls made of kisses

I will rain down on the ebony of your curls

that you'll be my beautiful girl

the perfect princess of all the girls in the city.

A thousand kisses to you my love

a thousand a kiss and a kiss

a thousand kisses to you my dear one

so small, so sweet and beautiful.

And also to your ivory white innocent neck

flexible like the neck of a swan

I will cover in chains of kisses

girl of (pure) water, my little one

and right now I'll just put my head on your shoulder

in order to find in it your heartbeat

and kisses for no reason too without lust or limit l

ike flowers thrown by a bride.

A thousand kisses to you my love

a thousand a kiss and a kiss

a thousand kisses to you my dear one

so small, so sweet and beautiful.

The sky isn't in front of my sinful eyes

and I'm not indulging in you till I'm fully satisfied

The light isn't in front of my impure lips

and my chest is scorched until the end

thousandth kiss is not possible, love

the last kiss is missing

only 999

sweet thundering kisses

but still I'll kiss you a thousand kisses.

A thousand kisses to you my love

a thousand a kiss and a kiss

a thousand kisses to you my dear one

so small, so sweet and beautiful.

~Avshalom Feinberg's

Tim ..... On the other side

Since coming home fron the hospital, barely surviving a major heart attack with complications, doing the near death thing .... I have been asked often in various forms, "What was it like?" Here is how the question was put in the Yahoo group "a_savedsinglesgetaway":

Tim, what was it like ? what were you thinking and feeling during the whole time ? Did you think you were going Home ? Any Visions ? Any Voices ? Was there a Light in a tunnel ?

Would you be interested in sharing ?

As you know we all were praying for you, Melissa and your family did you ever think at some time during the whole time going to the hospital or in the hospital that things may have turned out different ?

I'm not really ready to answer this question yet but this is the answer I gave to the group:

I'm afraid I'm going to be disappointing answering this. My experience through the whole thing is so much different than for my family those around me. Never once did I think about death or dying ... It just never entered my mind! I don't really know what happened the first days other than I dialed 911 to have the Chiloquin ambulance to the hospital. I remember only very little of the emergency room and nothing after that until I woke up in Medford a few days later. All I can really say is that whenever I went through big anxiety or whatever (I was real sick for a couple of weeks in Medford and had to have 3 more surgeries) the Lord always provided this peace, a feeling of warmth and assurance no matter how much "faith" I had at the time.

The effect on Melissa, Ben, Xalina and Shay, was totally different. They were told I had next to no chance of living more than a few hours. I can only begin to imagine what that was like! Xalina in fact was told that if she wanted to see her Dad alive she better get in the car right now and make the trip to Klamath. She lives 6 hours away (I guessed it was 5 hours this trip) in Lincoln City. It was only a couple of days later after the "life flight" to Medford and many hours of surgery that the story changed and I was going to make it after all. My eyes still tear up thinking about all this ...

One thing I would like to point out is that a whole lot of Christians were involved in this which shows to me Gods hand in all this. My main surgeon Dr. Yondell, the greatest heart Doctor on the Left Coast, is very up front about his faith as well as the other surgeons. Many Nurses as well.

One last thing ... Please keep us all in prayer. Melissa and I are still sorting things out, My son Ben has lost it more than a couple times but is coming around with me and other issues in his life. The toll of Ben and his stuff on our marriage has been high. Xalina still calls me everyday to see if I'm alright. I have to see her again someday soon so she can see with her eyes I'm getting better. Its going to take awhile for things to return to normal ... In fact it never will as this has been such a life changing thing for all of us. Thank God for each new day ... I know now how precious they are ... troubles, hurt or not ...

Have a blessed afternoon everyone!

Tim

The Brothers Karamazov/Father Zossima on Love

In The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Father Zossima’s humanity and his simple faith in the healing power of love were stressed. Now, another dimension is added. In these chapters we see that he can easily maintain an intellectual argument. Here is his response to a woman who tells him that she is afraid to die .... What do you think?

Go and Fear no More

"Don't be afraid of anything, ever. And do not grieve. AS long as your repentance does not weaken, God will forgive everything. There is not--there cannot be-- a sin on earth that God will not forgive the truly repentant. Why, a man cannot commit a sin so great as to exhaust the infinite love of God. How could there be a sin that would surpass the love of God? Think only of repentance, all the time, and drive away all fear. Have faith that God loves you more then you can ever imagine. He loves you, sinful as you are and, indeed, because of your sin. It was said long ago that there is more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ten righteous men. Go now, and fear nothing. Do not be offended if people treat you badly. Do not hold it against them. And forgive your departed husband all the harm he did you. Become truly reconciled with him. For if you repent, you love, and if you love, you are with God. Love redeems and saves everything. If I, a sinner like yourself, am moved and feel compassion for you, how infinitely much more will God! Love is such an infinite treasure it can buy the whole world and can redeem not only your sins, but the sins of all people. So go and fear no more."

Satan Smells

One of the more interesting things that I've come across ... Joyce Meyer in a book has claimed that she has smelled demons. For reals! So I was wondering has anyone other than Joyce Meyer smelled demons? Or could the smell be more likely something else? What would a demon smell like? It just couldn't be good I imagine ...

But when I think about it, I can't see why not that God could give a "spiritual smell" (for lack of better words) as a part of discernment. I won't be to quick to mock it because of that. For sure, it seems way out there, but then again, some of the things of God had the prophets do were pretty darn weird. And some of their visions? Lord knows how much some of us have racked our brains to understand them!

Anyways I'm just wondering where you may stand on it...

Elisha's Bones

Another interesting little passage I've come across in recent days ...

2 Kings 13:20-21

"And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.

And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band [of men]; and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet."

Apparently they were burying the body of their dead friend and a bunch of bandits appeared. So they tossed the body in Elisha's grave and took off. But then ... the body the body touched Elisha's bones, sprang to life, and one must assume fled from the bandits with his friends! Could you imagine??? He must have escaped as Rabbi's later on claim that he went on to have a large number of children.

What a story! A dead prophet of God has more resurrection power than a live prophet of someone else.This metaphor is in the New Testament as well.

Luke 9:24

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."

John 12:24

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

And Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:11-12

"For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

So then death worketh in us, but life in you."

The paradox everywhere in the Bible is that death springs from life. So those of us who put up with all sorts of things like humiliation, loss, the critical spirit of those around us, no credit for what we do ... Paul calls it "being given over to death." This dying also can bring life to others. Jesus was maligned and misunderstood for sure, but most would say, even nonChristians that he lived the most attractive life ever. Its in our dying that His beauty grows in us, light and salt in the world. Life from death ... Everything to the good ...

Tim, in an obscure passage mood ...

End of Days

Here's a quiz for you ... What is your eschatology?

A definition of eschatology is: 1 : a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of mankind ...

Alrighty then ... the link:


Click here: Quiz Farm - What's your eschatology?

http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=44107

My result:

You scored as Premillenialist.

Premillenialism believes that there will be a rapture and tribulation before Jesus returns and overthrows the antichrist and establishes his Kingdom. Current events are spoken of in scripture.

Premillenialist
85%
Amillenialist
70%
Left Behind
60%
Moltmannian Eschatology
55%
Preterist
55%
Dispensationalist
35%
Postmillenialist
30%

OK ... Sure ...

'Dem Bones/Sedlec Ossuary Chapel of All Saints

Ezekiel - Chapter 37:4 Then he said to me, "Speak to these bones and say, `Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to breathe into you and make you live again! 6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.' "


Now for something different I came across ...

Until it was bombed out in World War II, a Christian sanctuary called the Sacra Infirmary Chapel on Malta was decorated entirely with human bones. The three photos below show detail in the Sedlec Ossuary Chapel of All Saints, located in the Czech Republic. It is decorated with the bones of 40,000 saints!

http://www.ludd.luth.se/users/silver_p/kutna-1.html

Now this raises a theological question. If it is believed that those who are "resurrected with Christ" in the last day will rise up with their bodies, then what would one see if one was in one of these chapels at the moment of the Last Trump? Just had to ask ...

Holy Sonnet 10

This may be a little different to leave you all on this evening but I wanted to share this with you. Every now and again I need to post something of "culture" right? Any way ... Most of us has read at least a part of this before and many have read the whole thing. But as the last lines state, death is just a passage, a doorway if you will to our next life, a glorious life with God! Something to remind myself when the day to day seems unending as it were. Have a blessed evening everyone!


Holy Sonnet: 10


By John Donne


Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.