Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, is the beginning of Holy Week.  When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on this day we call "Palm Sunday",   on a colt-a colt on which no one had ever ridden before, people threw their coats in front of Him as a sign of honour. Soon large crowds followed Jesus waving palm branches:

"...the great crowd that had come for the Feast 

heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 

They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

'Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!~ 

Blessed is the King of Israel!'"

(from John 12:12-13)

Today I was reminded of how we spent the Palm Sunday weekend four years ago.  We had flown into Mexico to visit our kids who had just moved to the city of Torreon for their work.  A majestic landmark and tourist attraction which can be easily seen from the air as you fly in, is the "Jesus statue", second only in size to the one in Rio de Janeiro.  Situated on possibly the highest point in the city, nothing prepared me for the overwhelming emotions that gripped me upon first seeing this huge statue from close-up with arms extended, symbolically welcoming one and all into His fold of love.

Because it was this particular weekend, many people had made their way up to visit this shrine picking up sheaves of palm branches which vendors were selling along the way.  We had to walk up quite a distance because of the traffic.  And so when I heard sacred choral music majestically crescendoing as we rounded the corner to the Catholic Church that is connected with this site, I was taken aback at the image and the personal meaning it had for me...Jesus welcomed me here with open arms.  It was a special sacred moment for me.  I am so thankful to the Lord for His supreme sacrifice which I want to focus on this week. I am also so thankful that I had the opportunity to visit this site.

Everything You Need...

Just can't get away from the prophets...  I'm reading in the New Testament now-the Epistles of Peter1 & 2 since I'm following a series of expository teachings on this.  But before I go back to the beginning of the New Testament and into the Book of Matthew my Message fell open to the last chapter of Hosea which I read before I thought of journalling some of my gleanings.

Hosea is a most unusual Book, a remarkable Book, since the prophet was asked to do such an unusual thing in order to show how God was feeling about His people with their total disdain and disregard for Him and His teachings.  (Check it out and see- BibleGateway.com has tons of stuff).  The last four chapters are worth rereading again and again.  This morning, however, my eyes fell on the last chapter of the Hosea from verses 4-9, a message of hope and confidence, indeed the ticket to success:

"'Everthing you need is to be found in me'.

If you want to live well,

make sure you understand all of this.  

If you know what's good for you, you'll learn this inside and out.  

GOD's paths get you where you want to go.

Right-living people walk them easily; 

wrong-living people are always tripping and stumbling."  

___________________________________________________________________

 To finish off with the "Church Buildings" theme I'm including postcard pictures of two beautiful cathedrals we have visited in the past:

- Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia and 

-St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria

 

Smolny Cathedral- a stunning blue-and-white building, a masterpiece of the Italian architect Rastrelli, was built between 1748-64.  It was the main church of a convent built adjacent to it for Peter the Great's daughter. 

Today Smolny Cathedral is used as a concert hall and the surrounding convent buildings houses government offices.

St. Stephen's Cathedral or Stephen's Dome

This is the oldest church we have ever visited.  The original section was begun  back in 1147 and progressed in stages.  It began though as a fairly large basilica-type structure with designs in place for the towers.  The cathedral, then already looking much like the present edifice, was severely damaged through fire in 1945 near the end of World War 2.

Restored remarkably quickly to its present state, this cathedral is a most impressive building, dominating the entire central area of Vienna. Its grandeur really took me by surprise.  As we entered the cathedral, which seems to be mostly a tourist attraction with souvenirs to buy, a service to a small group of parishioners, cordoned off from the masses, huddled near the front. Although we weren't allowed to go past a certain marker I listened intently from the distance to catch what the priest might be saying.  I did hear a few phrases spoken in German-my mother tongue -which I recognized but unfortunately can't recall.

Malachi and the Church

Malachi, the last of the three postexilic prophets, appears on the scene about 100 years after the return of the Jewish exiles from their 70 years of Babylonian captivity.  His concern isn't about getting the temple restored, since Haggai and Zechariah had looked after that much earlier.  Malachi's concern was for the people - that they get their lives restored into right living with God.  The people had become morally lax in their daily living and indifferent towards worshiping God and he urgently tells them to return to God.   The prophet is God's voice to them.   In response to their query:
                                  "But how do we return?"

            God answers: "Begin by being honest." 3:8

Several of my favorite verses in this 4-chapter Book are:

"Then those whose lives honoured GOD got together and talked it over. 

GOD saw what they were doing and listened in. 

A book was opened in God's presence and minutes were taken of the meeting, 

with the names of the GOD-fearers written down,

all the names of those who honored GOD's name."  3:16

"The sun of righteousness will dawn on those who honor my name,

healing radiating from its wings" 4:3

St. Isaac's Cathedral in Moscow is huge and magnificent, topped off with a massive dome.  When we toured the inside of this place we were really impressed  with the gorgeous emerald green malachite columns inside the building.  It remains largely a tourist attraction and museum although a section is set apart for some kind of services. 

We were able to climb up to the first ring encircling the outside of the dome from where we could overlook the city.

Now, like in Malachi's day, the church buildings are repaired but what about the people...what about us?

The prophets throughout have spoken, actually thundered most of the time it seems, about the importance of getting our lives straightened around and the importance of preparing ourselves for the coming of the Lord.  Malachi closes off the Old Testament by referring back to Moses in order for us not to forget what God has done for us and then ahead to Elijah the prophet who will come to clear the way for the Big Day of GOD.

Four hundred years later God sent one final prophet known as John the Baptist to prepare the way for the promised Messiah.  John is identified by Jesus (Matthew 17:10-13)  as the Elijah promised in Malachi 4:5

Zechariah and the Church

Zechariah shared the task, along with his contemporary Haggai, of mobilizing the people in rebuilding the temple.  But he did more.  According to Mr. Peterson in his introduction to this Book in The Message:

"Zechariah was a major factor in recovering the magnificence from the ruins of a degrading exile.  Zechariah reinvigorated their imaginations with his visions and messages...(his) enigmatic visions, working at multiple levels, and his poetically charged messages are at work still, like time capsules in the lives of God's people, continuing to release insight and hope and clarity for the people whom God is using to work out his purposes in a world that has no language for God and the purposes of God."

"I know their pain and will make them good as new.  

They'll get a fresh start, as if nothing had ever happened. 

And why?  Because I am their very own GOD, 

I'll do what needs to be done for them." 10:6

(Pictured above is the Kazan Cathedral-1801-11- in St. Petersburg, Russia scanned from a postcard of the site we visited:

"The cathedral was named after the "miracle-making" icon of Our Lady of Kazan, which the church housed till the early 1930s. The Bolsheviks closed the cathedral for services in 1929, and from 1932 it housed the collections of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, which displayed numerous pieces of religious art and served anti-religious propaganda purposes. A couple of years ago regular services were resumed in the cathedral, though it still shares the premises with the museum, from whose name the word "atheism" has now been omitted.

Location: 2, Nevsky Prospekt, Kazanskaya Square"

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/virtual-tour/kazan-cathedral.asp)

     Wow, wouldn't it be terrific if these splendid churches which have been restored to their former beauty,  would now flourish with people who have similarly been restored in their inner being and set free?

Haggai and the Church

"Then...the people with them listened, 

really listened, 

to the voice of their GOD.  

When GOD sent the prophet Haggai to them,

they paid attention to him.  

In listening to Haggai, they honored GOD." 

Haggai 1:12

It seems that the prophet Haggai was commissioned by God to encourage the people to rebuild the temple after their return from captivity.  This must have been a daunting task but the key verse I cited to begin with is so wonderful - that the people listened, really  listened and did it.  Wow, tons of room for improvement for me in this area.

This rebuilt temple must have been a much simpler design than the original.  I reflected on the churches I've been a part of and their design.  We had simple churches.  Not long ago I took some pictures of the three churches here in Abbotsford that have been such an important part of my life:

This is the church my family attended when we first moved to Abbotsford more than fifty years ago.  This building, although the front was improved much later, was almost completed when we arrived.  The small wooden building which housed the congregation at that time was off to one side of this property.  This is also the church where Al and I were married 44 years ago.

The South Abbotsford Church:

Al and I attended here for twelve years with our children when we moved to Abbotsford from the Surrey/Delta area in 1979.  This building was made a number of years after we left but the location remains the same.

Northview Church where we've attended since 1991.

Back to Haggai:

"Yes, get to work!  For I am with you. 

The GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies is speaking! 

Put into action the word I covenanted with you when you left Egypt. 

I'm living and breathing among you right now.  

Don't be timid. 

Don't hold back."

Haggai 2:5

Zephaniah

The last few postings have unintentionally become rather dual tracked: showing churches we've seen or visited and sharing something from my daily Scripture reading.  Let's see how they'll mesh today.

The above photo is of the Cathedral in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. This is an enormous edifice.  When we first saw it at night all lit up, we were thrilled with the spectacular sight.  This cathedral, as in many other places in Mexico, is the heart of the city, as the Temple was the heart of Jerusalem during the times of the Old Testament kings.  

When we stepped inside this beautiful church that evening, completely full of people intently listening to a priest's message, we soon realized to our amazement that there was no live speaker on the dais.  The congregants were receiving a recorded message.

 Zephaniah too, was speaking and recording messages in Jerusalem as a warning to the people to leave their wicked ways.  Idolatry was rampant and that God was going to do something about it, is what Zephaniah prophesies.

A few key verses for me:

"Seek GOD, all you quietly disciplined people who live by GOD's justice.  Seek GOD's right ways.  Seek a quiet and disciplined life.   Perhaps you'll be hidden on the Day of GOD's anger." 

Zephaniah 2:3

Earlier in the Intro to this Book Mr. Peterson writes:

 "...the prophets step in and interrupt us, insisting,

'Everything you do or think or feel has to do with God.  

Every person you meet has to do with God.' 

We live in a vast world of interconnectedness, 

and the connections have consequences, 

either in things or in people - 

and all the consequences come together in God.  

The biblical phrase for the coming together of the consequences

is Judgment Day. 

We can't be reminded too often or too forcefully of this reckoning. 

Zephaniah's voice in the choir of prophets  

sustains the intensity, 

the urgency."

But Zephaniah (3:17*) concludes with a glorious promise from God: that God has not finished with His people and that after the exile is complete God will use the  faithful ones to resettle the land:

"The LORD your God is with you, 

he is mighty to save. 

He will take great delight in you, 

he will quiet you with his love, 

he will rejoice over you with singing,"  

*this verse from NIV

Comfort and Hope

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, 

as the waters cover the sea."  

Habakkuk 2:14 NIV

Today it's the little Book of Habakkuk-little but deep in content, that was my reading in The Message by Eugene Peterson.  I really find The Message refreshing and informative although I always have my NIV and other references on hand for easy cross referencing.  Interestingly, today on "Listen Up" with Lorna Dueck, she showed a clip of an interview she had with Mr. Peterson.  Apparently it's the only interview for tv that this amazing man has ever done.  I caught part of his comment - "...just read the Bible as a novel and let God's Word flow into you as you read"- just love that.  That's how I try to read it and it works.  There are so many riveting stories always containing the thread of  God's plan, that of "rescuing us all", skillfully interwoven throughout.  A great heroic epic - and it's true!

Mr. Peterson includes great intros to each Book of the Bible.  Here's a few paragraphs I've highlighted in regards to the prophet Habakkuk:

"Living by faith is a bewildering venture.  We rarely know what's coming next, and not many things turn out the way we anticipate.  It is natural to assume that since I am God's chosen and beloved, I will get favorable treatment from the God who favors me so extravagantly.  It is not unreasonable to expect that from the time that I become his follower, I will be exempt from dead ends, muddy detours, and cruel treatment from the travelers I meet daily who are walking the other direction.  That God-followers don't get preferential treatment in life always comes as a surprise.  But it's also a surprise to find that there are a few men and women within the Bible who show up alongside us at such moments...

...But this prophet companion (Habakkuk) who stands at our side does something even more important: He waits and he listens.  It is in his waiting and listening - which then turns into his praying - that he found himself inhabiting the large world of God's sovereignty.  Only there did he eventually realize that the believing-in-God life, the steady trusting-in-God life, is the full life, the only real life.  Habakkuk started out exactly where we start out with our puzzled complaints and God-accusations, but he didn't stay there.  He ended up in a world, along with us, where every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good."

Those paragraphs are so reassuring, so comforting, so full of hope.

Habakkuk, a prophet to Judah, lived in the 7th century BC, before the destruction of the magnificent temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BC .  No doubt he will have offered sacrifices and worshiped here before God's judgment fell on His people at that time.

My upbringing was in simple church buildings.  Thinking about the great diversity of church structures and the hardships that often occured as a result of raising up these impressive structures, can be dismaying.   And yet I hope it also signals the workings of the inner desire within the human heart to give our very best, our very most and our very finest to God, not as a means of gaining our rescue but as an offering of gratitude and thanksgiving to our God who has given us life.

 

 While in Moscow I got a good shot of St. Basil's church which was right across the street from our enormous hotel.  I was thrilled that my photo scanned so well just now and that I was able to enhance it somewhat using i-photo.  I had planned on only including the scanned postcard picture below that I bought while there:

 

 All the beautiful churches in Russia were desecrated from 1919 and on.  It was not until the end of the 20th century that registered services could be conducted.  Most of these churches remain secular today and serve as museums.