The Fairy Tale World

~~~ Acts of the Apostles 20:17-27 ~~~ Psalm 68 ~~~  John 17:1-11A ~~~

Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God...

Jesus goes on with his prayer to the Father...
I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.

The message here is for us to also glorify God
 in the work that we do while on earth.

We too have a role given to us by God for our time here.
There may be more than one path to glorify God,
but each must be for this same purpose.
If what you are doing with your life
does not glorify God do something different.

All that we do must be for the glory of God.

Imagine for a minute what a different world this would be
 if each person acted in a manner to glorify the Lord.
Of course this is a fairy tale world from a Disney movie.
But you can join others who have made the choice
to make their life about glorifying God.

I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.

Jesus singles us out of the world in his prayers.
While we pray for the world Jesus is praying for us.
This is how we can believe that it is possible
 to glorify God while we are here on earth.

We do not have to wait until we get to heaven to give God glory.
It must be with every beat of our heart the God is glorified.

Jesus taught us how to glorify the Father...
he gave us all that the Father had given to him.
We have within all that we need;
if only more people would bump
 it to the top of their consciousness.

Glorify God with your whole being
and you will be abundantly blessed.

It is His peace we seek.
Let us give glory to God on the highest.

This is No Fairy Tale

~~~ Acts of the Apostles 2:36-41 ~~~ Psalm 33 ~~~ John 20:11-18 ~~~

In John's writing right after the Resurrection of the Lord,

we find Mary Magdalene inspecting the tomb.

She was weeping, understandable as she was in mourning.

...she bent over into the tomb
and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.

Angels were sitting inside the dark empty tomb.

Things had changed once again.

At the birth of Jesus angels sang heavenly songs;

now at his death they are sitting in silence.

They sit one at the head and one at the foot where he had been,

honoring this holy space.

This space where the Father raised up Jesus,

giving him his new glorified body.

Mary comes to the tomb not certain of what she will find,

but she was prepared to love him even in death.

Jesus appears to her in her grief and in her confusion.

He brings her comfort.

He calms her fears...He answers her questions.

He speaks her name...the voice she had become so accustomed to hearing.

He speaks her name...Mary.

The voice she thought she would never hear again.

Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me,
for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

He has previously told the apostles 

he was going away, that they could not come.

Now that he is risen he tells Mary 

she must not hold on to him.

Things had changed.

He cannot stay. This is not where he belongs.

He must return to the Father who sent him.

So why does Jesus make these appearances after he is risen?

Does he appear to others, not recorded in the Gospels?

Personally, I believe that he most certainly 

appeared to his mother, Mary.

Jesus knew that his friends wanted to believe 

all that he had told him about his death and resurrection;

he wanted them to see him.  Now there would be no doubt.

There would be no fairy tale stories about his resurrection.

Jesus is the 'happily ever after'.

This is no fairy tale, this for real.

He is the promise come true.

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Jesus blesses us with his promise of life eternal.

Peace.