Love and the Holy Spirit

 

[Jesus said:] "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

John 14:15-21

 

Christ in the House of His Parents (The Carpenter’s Shop)

MILLAIS, Sir John Everett

approximately 1849

Tate Britain (Gallery)

London

Great Britain

 

The Pre-Raphaelite period was marked by extreme realism and symbolism.

Details

 

 

 

This is Millais's first important religious subject, showing a scene from the boyhood of Christ. When it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1850 it was given no title, but accompanied by a biblical quotation: 'And one shall say unto him, What are those wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.' (Zech. 13:6)

 

More:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-christ-in-the-house-of-his-parents-the-carpenters-shop-n03584

 

The painting depicts the young Jesus assisting Joseph in his workshop. Joseph is making a door, which is laid upon his carpentry work-table. Jesus has cut his hand on an exposed nail, symbolizing the stigmata and foreshadowing Jesus’ crucifixion. Some of the blood has fallen onto his foot. As Jesus' grandmother, Anne, removes the nail with a pair of pincers, his concerned mother, Mary,  offers her cheek for a kiss. Joseph examines Jesus' wounded hand. A young boy, who would later be known as John the Baptist, brings in water to wash the wound, prefiguring his later baptism of Christ. An assistant of Joseph, who represents Jesus’ future Apostles, observes these events. 

In the background of the painting various objects are used to further symbolize the theological significance of the subject. A ladder, referring to Jacob’s Ladder, leans against the back wall, and a dove which represents the Holy Spirit rests on it. Other carpentry implements refer to the Holy Trinity. Millais likely used Albrecht Dürer's print Melanchoia I as a source for this imagery, along with quattrocento works. The sheep in the sheepfold seen through the door represent the future Christian flock.[1]

The painting was immensely controversial when first exhibited ...

 

See more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_in_the_House_of_His_Parents

 









I read a wonderful quote from the twelfth century mystic, 

Hildegard of Bingen, that gave me pause.  

She described the Holy Spirit as ‘the Greening Power of God.’  

Of course she did not intend that in the context 

that we might mean by “Greening” something, 

that is, making it more environmentally friendly.  

She meant, I believe, that as plants are greened 

by water, sunlight, and soil, the human soul 

is ‘greened’ by the Holy Spirit’s presence in one’s life.  

Because of the Holy Spirit the human soul can ‘flower and bear good fruit.'

~ Sandy Olson *

 

 

 

 

There is a LIGHT in this world.  

A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter.  

We sometime lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain.  

Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge 

through the lives of ordinary people 

who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.  

~ Richard Attenborough

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yushi and Reina Skakibara with Meishi, their son, in Tokyo.

Yushi and Reina met when they played soccer together in 7th grade.

 

 

Pastor Susan with her delightful family.

 

We had another Zoom coffee hour last Sunday.

 

<gr>

 

 

Liz Bublitz, during our Painted Toe Zoom lunch, showed pictures of Bighorn sheep

in the streets of Georgetown.

 

 

They must have decided to take the place of all the missing tourists.

 

 

Photography class — working on my f-stop settings.

 

 

Bath Time!

Oh, dear.  Look at that dirty water.

 

 

JAK badly needs a haircut, but he is certainly cleaner.

 

 

 

 

There’s never a wrong time 

to do the right thing.

~ David Cameron **

 

 

 

 

 

May 10, 2020   Fifth Sunday of Easter Year A

 

Previous OPQs may be found at: 

 

*  Alternatives for Simple Living, Rev. Michael Mortvedt and Deacon Sandy Olson

https://simpleliving.org

 

** Also attributed to others.

 

 

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

 

 

 

color_white_1.jpg

 

Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:8-20
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21

 

 

Acts 17:22-31

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him — though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.'

"Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

Psalm 66:8-20

Bless our God,
   O peoples,
let the sound of God's praise
   be heard,
who has kept us among the living,
   and has not let our feet slip.

For you, O God,
   have tested us;
you have tried us
   as silver is tried.

You brought us
   into the net;
you laid burdens
   on our backs;
you let people ride
   over our heads;

we went through fire
   and through water;
yet you have brought us out
   to a spacious place.

I will come into your house
   with burnt-offerings;
I will pay you my vows,
   that my lips uttered
and my mouth promised
   when I was in trouble.

I will offer to you burnt-offerings
   of fatlings,
with the smoke of the sacrifice
   of rams;
I will make an offering
   of bulls and goats.

Come and hear,
   all you who fear God,
and I will tell
   what God has done for me.
I cried aloud to God,
   and extolled God with my tongue.

If I had cherished iniquity
   in my heart,
God would not have listened.

But truly God has listened;
   God has given heed
to the words of my prayer.

Blessed be God, because God has not 
   rejected my prayer
or removed God's steadfast love 
   from me.

1 Peter 3:13-22

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you — not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

John 14:15-21

[Jesus said:] "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."