Jesus Dies Everyday

March 13, 2018 Leave a comment

Jesus Dies Everyday

This morning I greeted one of my church friends at St. Francis who has cancer. He recently began chemotherapy. Today we said good morning, but I did not recognize him immediately until he passed by because either is hair had fallen out or he had his head shaved. I exclaimed his name, when I recognized him. He had just walked a long way from the parking lot into the church in order to faithfully worship with us, as is his habit.

Part way through Mass, he got up with two people, one on each arm to go out. I was serving as an usher this day and I recognized the problem and started up to help, but seeing two people already helping, I sat back down. He collapsed to the floor, the people helping him not able to hold him up. I rushed across the room, but he was already surrounded with others in his seating area helping him. Silently I prayed, with tears, and assisted a woman who had called 911 in flagging down the fire trucks who arrived before the ambulance to help. The ambulance arrived and he was put on a stretcher while conscious and rolled out of the sanctuary with applause by the congregation.

Later, after church, several of us held hands and prayed for him, and recited the “Our Father” at the end. As I write, I don’t know how he is doing, but as I am doing my Examen this night a thought occurred to me: Jesus dies every day!

What do you mean, John, that Jesus dies every day? He died only once, on the cross, for all of mankind and Jesus said, “It is finished.” Jesus also lives in each of us and the image of God lives in every man. We can find God’s presence in everything that exists, in every sparrow which falls to the ground which God knows. Why? Because He lives, and in Him we live and move and have our being. God is in all things.

By now you may have figured I am not going to thump on the Bible for scripture references concerning what I am writing, and what I am imagining. Let’s just think about it, and if I imagine something wrong, I stand corrected.

Thus, I imagine that God who lives in us also dies with us when we die. When we are in pain, so Jesus is in pain. He knows. We are supposed to die daily to ourselves, putting away the old man of sin. Why would a little of God not die when we die too, to be later resurrected?

Jesus promised to draw all men unto himself. Even if Jesus does not do that in our life time in this physical body, what prevents Him from drawing us to Himself at our (our and Jesus’) death? He could just show us in brilliant light, in a love filled way, what with God is really like and let us choose life. If you want to live forever as He draws us to the loving light and unto Himself, now is the time to believe. Don’t count on the unknown future. I will overlook the objections that Jesus cannot save us immediately because we have to pay for our sins, or be purified in purgatory. I wonder if Jesus does not in a way die again with us, experiencing our pain, our suffering, His hands held out in compassion and love for those who live in Him and Him in us, and if we fall, to raise us up again?

What about my friend who collapsed in church today? He has lived a good life already. Every day is a gift to him from God who gave him life and who lives in him. Maybe God will answer his and our prayers and miraculously heal him, or maybe not.

Either way, God knows how to die, every day. He knows how to raise from the dead and how to take care of those whom He loves. In the interim, if there is an interim, let us trust in Him, as does my friend.

Grace & Peace,

John Cooper

Filed under Afterlife, Catholic, Christ, Christian, Communion of the Saints, Consciousness after death, Cross, Death, Grace, Holy Spirit, Kingdom of God, Mary Magdalene, Uncategorized

Jesus, You Here?

November 4, 2017 Leave a comment

Jesus, You Here?

It was a beautiful day yesterday, a fall day at the end of October in 2017. Leaves are changing and I am at St. Ignatius House in Atlanta, GA, for a class in Spiritual Direction. I arose very early this morning intending, I thought, to do my daily reflections with Scripture and do some review of material for the class, but I didn’t.

It came to me to go first into the Adoration Chapel to just sit with the Host and Jesus (Catholics believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist). I did some centering prayer, trying not to think of anything, just breathing in, “Yah” and out “weh” or “Yahweh.” I did that a while and since I was very close to the Monstrance,[i] I got up just to be sure the Host was actually in there.

Now I believe that God is in all things and all things are in God. The Apostle Paul noted a Greek poet, “In Him you live and move and have being.”[ii] I believe that, but some theologians don’t believe Paul really believed what he quoted. I recently talked to one of them who does not believe that. But I do.

I was reminded while I sat in meditation of the last complete sentence my Uncle, Bill McCulley, said to me as I, my wife, Wink, my sister Janelle Deblois, and I heard as we put him to bed toward the end of his life and Bill looked up in a fleeting glimpse of his old self and asked, “John, you here?” Bill soon died of Alzheimer’s, an insidious disease. Bill didn’t know anything much, even most of the time what his name was. Of course I “know” a lot more how to talk, how to add and subtract, how to read and write, etc. Bill did not know anything. It was like he was in a vast cloud of unknowing[iii] But as I looked down on him and heard the words, “John, you here,” it was so precious to me. I hope to remember those words all my life. Maybe he is looking down on me now as a part of the vast cloud of witnesses or the Communion of Saints.[iv] Maybe he will welcome me again when we meet again and I arrive wherever he is, in God, in heaven, wherever, and Bill greets me in a loving voice, with the words, “John, you here.”

Now I was not supposed to be thinking of anything in my centering prayer, attempting to enter the vast cloud of unknowing, the Divine union with the Mystery, the One God, but my prayer turned into meditation and I went up to the Monstrance and looked closely, knowing not to touch it, and looked to be sure the Host was present there, it was, and I asked, “Jesus, You here?”

I sat back down and wept silently since other people here are in a silent retreat, although I was all alone in the Adoration Chapel, excepting with Jesus, of course. Jesus was there too. If you don’t believe that, believe Jesus was is in me and He is in you, at least the image of the Divine and Mysterious One is in us all. I thought that as little as I know, and all the religions and religious institutions of the world know, including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Islamic, if all poured together in a bucket, would know nothing, being just be a drop in the ocean compared to what God knows. God knows how to talk in all languages including Angelic ones, He knows how to read and write in all languages too, and how to order and create the whole universe, how to create life and how to take life, just at the right time, like he took my uncle Bill’s life and received him unto Himself.

I know God heard me when I asked, “Jesus, You here?” I know He was looking down when I asked Him that, thinking I am precious in His sight, that I am a beloved sinner and He knows all of my sins since He lives in me, and I live in Him. I love you Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Divine One, and you too, Bill McCulley, and you too, the reader whom God loves, and is in, at least by His image inside of you.

Please ask yourself, if you do not believe, or if you do believe, “Jesus, You here?”

John Cooper

[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstrance

[ii] Acts 17:28

[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cloud_of_Unknowing

[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communion_of_saints

Filed under Afterlife, Catholic, Christ, Christian, Communion, Communion of the Saints, Consciousness after death, Cross, Death, Eucharist, Grace, Holy Spirit, Identity, Kingdom of God, Lord's Supper, New Covenant, Nonviolence, Peace, Prayer, Uncategorized

Cooper White – Cooper Black

February 17, 2016 Leave a comment

Cooper White – Cooper Black

 

For me it has been a day of Desolations and Consolations…

The consolations came at the end of the day and this is what I want to tell you about…

 

Wink called, asking me to pick up some food for supper on the way home. I was in West End, where our business is located, and she mentioned Long John Silver’s/Taco Bell restaurant. I mentioned I did not know if it was Long John Silver’s anymore. I went by and the sign said Taco Bell, not a combination of restaurants as I do believe was once there.

 

I went in and asked the girl behind the counter, a light skinned black girl, if this was a Long John Silver’s too anymore. She said no, but offered to look one up for me. I noticed she had a Silver Christian cross hanging from her neck and sensed a common Spirit between us. I said that is OK, I will just order something here. I finally figured out what we needed, with her assistance, and she asked for a name to place on the order. I said Cooper… (BTW., I am writing this in Cooper Black type set…) [This is not showing in this font on WordPress] She said, I am a Cooper too, and explained that that is her name now or that she is related to Coopers in South Alabama and Jacksonville, Florida. I said, “Good, we may be related.” I told her my Great Great Grandfather was a conductor on the underground railroad, and asked her about her family history, but she did not know much about it..

 

I mentioned that I did not recall any of my ancestors having slaves, because we were from up North in Illinois, but that we could be related in some way. I offered her my hand and said, that it was good to meet her and we may be related.

 

When the order came up, she brought it out to me and we struck up another conversation about the family name. She told me about her second cousin in Jacksonville, FL and thought of his name. I asked her if he was fully white or partially white, and she said fully white. I said we may be related, and told her about a Genealogical book my Brother, Joe had written, about our ancestry going back to the Mayflower. I gave her my business card and asked her to email me and I could share it with her. We hugged each other, and I told her my shop was right down the street, just over the viaduct, and asked her to come down to see me one day.

 

I was thinking on the way home with our Taco Bell food, how the day had been cycles of desolations and consolations, and how this was a wonderful consolation to share one’s inner spirit with another created in
God’s image. I still do not understand why we cannot all get along in the world….

 

I think we are all related; all of us brothers and sisters, and we should all love one another… I know I am naïve, but I hope to die that way…. What is it we cannot understand about the unconditional love of God, which is supposed to be in us, if we wear the cross around our necks, or symbolically carry the cross, or even if we are not Christians at all, that we do not understand about this love of God?

 

Cooper White, – Cooper Black… What is the difference? I just can’t see any difference….

 

Grace & Peace,

 

John Cooper (White)

 

 

Filed under blood, Christ, Christian, Cross, Holy Spirit, Race, Uncategorized Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Mary Magdalene

April 8, 2015 Leave a comment

Mary Magdalene

Today is Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday. Our St. Ignatius reflections today focused on John 20 and the resurrection event.
My personal focus today was on all of this in relationship to Mary Magdalene. What I write is mainly out of my imagination. I think when one dies it would be good to have at least one person who really loves you, more would be better. I imagine Mary Magdalene loved Jesus the most, perhaps even more than Jesus’ mother, Mary, or even more than the Apostle John. It was a different kind of love for each of these people.

 
Mary Magdalene is said to be a sinner, but we are all sinners and need to know how big of sinners we are, just like Mary Magdalene. Some say she was a prostitute, but there is no evidence of that being true that I know of. There are other ways to sin. Mary was rich. She gave lots of money to support Jesus. She loved Jesus. Jesus was broke. All He had worked for all his life physically was gone. He had some good years too, and had money at times in his life when some wealthy people around Capernaum would hire Him. One time Mary hired to make a chest of drawers for her clothing. She had some nice clothes. Some people said she should have worn more of them sometimes, but she wanted to look good to the men and be compelling to them. She was about 30 years old, a beautiful woman with long red hair. Oh, the chest Jesus built had dovetail drawer joints, hand cut ones too. The drawers opened smoothly on wood runners one would put a little wax on occasionally to make them slide easily. The air would whoosh out just right as one closed the drawers. Jesus always remembered making that chest for Mary. She paid him well and gave him a hug when delivered it to her home. Jesus loved Mary.

 
After Jesus died, Mary cried all night. It was the Sabbath and she knew she should be sleeping and resting, but she just couldn’t do it. All she had ever believed in Jesus and other “religious” stuff and how He said one should overcome the evil and sin she had done, and overcoming evil with good, which to her was the Goodness and presence of Jesus in her life had been taken away.

 
Mary did not know what to do. Mary was a “true believer”. It was cool that Sunday morning and Mary got up very early, having tossed and turned all night, and slid out one of the drawers in the chest Jesus built for her as she gently wept in the subdued light of the blood moon that year. There aren’t many years the moon looks like that, but the Jewish sages had talked about blood moons before and Mary wondered if maybe God had caused something to make the moon look that way, just because Jesus had died. She put on more clothes than normal, heavier ones, but not her best because she would be out in a garden area close to where the tomb was. Most everybody knows the story about Mary and how she went to the tomb and the angels were there and the tomb was empty. Jesus was not there. I read it again and I cried as Mary realized it was Jesus, really, alive again and she loved him so much and hugged him again, a long time, just like when Jesus built the chest of drawers. Jesus had to tell her to let loose, it was getting too emotional for both of them. But all of us who know Jesus want to cling to him too…

 
Most everybody knows about these things; her story has been told and retold for thousands of years. I am just filling in some details of how it could have been, how I imagine it and how Mary ran with long hair flowing, and danced as she skipped along the Judean hills to go to tell Peter. Mary was the very first Evangelist, telling this good and wonderful news. A woman was not supposed to be a witness back then, but she did it anyway because Jesus, whom she loved, told her to do it. “Go and tell” Jesus said.

 
Let us go and tell it too…

 

John Cooper

Filed under Catholic, Christ, Christian, Cross, Death, Easter, Mary Magdalene, Uncategorized

One Cup

March 23, 2015 Leave a comment

One Cup

In asking for the grace to understand and appreciate the Eucharist’s as Jesus’ self-gift, my meditations today were on Matt. 26: 26-29.  This is where Jesus instituted the symbols that are elements of this observance.

“Take, eat, this is my body”. ..….

“Drink of it, all of you.”…..

Jesus stated “this is the blood of the covenant”.

I thought of ways people are remembered after they die, tombstones, pictures, stories, buildings, etc., but none of these things last like the living symbols and an ordinance or Sacrament Jesus gave us by which to remember Him.  I thought back to Psalm 22, which has been on my mind this week.  The Psalm which starts “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”, this Psalm was on Jesus’ mind too as he died on the cross.  Some think, and I have heard Fr. Joseph Tetlow say, that Jesus recited the whole Psalm on the cross.

 

The final verses of this Psalm are (v. 30-31).

“Posterity shall serve Him;
men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation,

and proclaim His deliverance to a people yet unborn,

that He has wrought it.”

I do not think these symbols, the Eucharist; this Sacrament should be closed to anyone.  It should be shared with all who want and need Spirituality, and want to hear of this living story.  The Eucharist is exactly how Christians have told Jesus’ story as a living memorial for thousands of years to the coming generations.  Also I think there should be one cup, and we all drink out of it.  I am about tired of those little plastic Protestant types of cups 🙂 🙂      Oh, and for me, make that “real wine” 🙂 🙂

 

In addition to the above, which was a part of my St. Ignatius, 19th Annotation, Exercises today, I think these thoughts fit into the theme of Peace…  I understand that Islam is a religion of Peace, that it is really bad if a Muslim does not show hospitality to a stranger or a friend.  One of my Muslim friends, a Sunni, (one of those Pharisee types,) in fact, came with me to eat at a Hooligan’s , a Mediterranean restaurant here in Tuscaloosa, and brought his own tea, and cups, in a little kit with a thermos to keep it hot, and we drank together, and ate together.  He even attempted to evangelize me to the Muslim way.  I appreciated that he cared for me…    If it were up to me, which mostly it isn’t, but it used to be, and I were serving the Eucharist, I would offer the bread and the wine to him, but warn him first, if you take out of this One Cup, unworthily, you might die…  I think he would respect my beliefs, as I respected his, and we would continue to be friends, not enemies…

 

Love & Peace,

 

John Cooper

Filed under blood, Catholic, Christ, Christian, Communion, Cross, Death, Easter, Eucharist, Lord's Supper, Palm Sunday, Peace, St. Ignatius, Uncategorized

Brother’s Blood

August 26, 2014 5 Comments

Brother’s Blood

In this terrible world of the past month and a half, let us not let Evil creep up on us and invite us to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…

Accepting what is evilly inspired…

Let us hear the cry of our brother’s blood rising up from the earth,

Let us be aware that a major culprit of the violence and killing of the past few weeks is religion…

Let us walk in the Garden with God, as did Adam, and Eve, before religion…

Let us believe in God, as did Abraham, before religion…

Religion is a temporary phenomenon in this world’s history…

Religion is created by man in his own image as a bridge to reach the One God whose Kingdom already lives in us, and we in Him…

Relationships with God, and each other, and the supernatural ability to hear our brother’s blood cry from the ground are primal gifts we should strive to possess….

Not to strive against each other,

I think we are our brother’s keeper, all of our brothers…

Listen to your brother’s blood, and the survivors of our brothers’ blood who have bled under the altar of Evil, and have gone before us…..

Grace & Peace,

John Cooper

Filed under blood, Christ, Christian, Cross, Death, Grace, Holy Spirit, Kingdom of God, New Covenant, Nonviolence, Peace, Politics, Uncategorized

Fool For Christ

June 6, 2014 Leave a comment

Fools For Christ

 

I have not always made the wised decisions in life, obviously, or maybe I would not be continually getting myself in the precarious situations in which I often find myself…

I admit, if my concerns were only about wealth, I have been so gullible to believe in and trust the inherit goodness I believe lives in every human being created in the Image of God.  I am just a fool, according to some.  I hope it is not all my fault, concerning my business problems, that is, although I believe much of it is obviously my fault, but I believe the economic conditions of our United States economy decimated by our warlike inclinations affirmed by the President Bush administration, and confirmed by the current King of Drones, President Obama, causing a collapse in our economy, which, just today, has been pronounced as “healed,” according to the jobs report that indicates we have recovered every job we lost…. (what about the millions who have entered the job market since 2007?)

“Oh, here we go again!”  According to some I know and love, it is just John the radical preaching and ranting again…  Really?

Am I just a fool?

I would rather be a fool, if I am to be one, for Christ!

Take a look at this link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolishness_for_Christ

A lot of people have been fools for Christ, Western, and Eastern, and even some in the Sufi sect of Islam, (which I would like to be in, if I were Muslim) have been just “crazy” for God.  Pope Francis has chosen his name from St. Francis of Assisi, whose followers gave up their possession and preached Jesus in the streets.  Just Fools, in their day….

 

Reminds me of the lady I and others call “Preacher Lady” here in Tuscaloosa…. I have written about her before….   I just spoke to her again this past week.  She was standing in the middle of the street beside our business property, open Bible in hand, preaching away.  I went over and talked to her again for quite a while.  I asked her if she was a Prophetess, and offered her a glass of water.  We spoke of the Bible.  Apparently she feels called to preach to the City of Tuscaloosa…  Reminds me of Peace Pilgrim, who walked thousands and thousands of miles in the 1950s, 1960s, and up into the 1970s preaching about Peace….  Reminds me of the Prophet Jonah, whom Ben Talmadge is preaching about this month, who knew in advance he would be a Fool for Christ because of the message he was to preach to Nineveh.  Jonah knew God was Gracious and Merciful and would change his mind, and Jonah did not want to look like a fool… Reminds me of the Jewish Fool for God, Isaiah who walked around naked for a while…

 

Reminds me of the Apostle Paul, giving up his “religious”  position, to be quoted:

“We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.” (KJV).

And also:

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” (1 Corinthians 3:19)

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

“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 1:21)

 

Reminds me a little of myself too, with my concerns for the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Peace, which few seem to deem important in our United States warrior society…  Give us a gun, not give us peace….

Oh Well….

Just one more reminder, and I will shut up my foolish mouth….  I am reminded of Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, and a fellow Pacifist and  “Fool for Christ.”  Below is a link to a one woman play about Dorothy Day, entitled “Fool for Christ:”

 

http://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/fool-christ-dorothy-day-story

 

It is a long play, so I will shut up and give you time to watch it. I would advise you to watch and consider our belief systems…

But, I am just a fool…

While you are watching, I will put on my dunce cap, and go sit in the corner on a stool…

Let me know what you think!

 

Fool for Christ,

 

John Cooper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under Catholic, Christ, Christian, Cross, Dorothy Day, Fool, Grace, Holy Spirit, Nonviolence, Peace, Pope Francis, Uncategorized

Just Jesus

April 18, 2014 Leave a comment

Just Jesus

I just received the inspiration for what I am about to write from a post on the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s (of which I am a member) website http://forusa.org/blogs/tom-morrison/reflections-walter-winks-last-book/12927 written by Tom Morrison, entitled “Reflections on Walter Wink’s latest book, “Just Jesus.”

The term, Just Jesus recalls American Evangelicalism’s creed that Salvation is by Jesus and Jesus alone, and that there is no other way than just Jesus. I quote from John 14 below, versus 1 and 6:

Vs. 1: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Vs 6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

At first reading, this seems clear, however some time parameters are not mentioned at the first reading…

What about all those who lived and died before Jesus made this statement? Do they have no eternal future, excepting the holy men of old and the prophets, who envisioned Jesus to come in the future? What about little babies, and aborted fetuses, and those who die before they are baptized, and know any language at all, and have never heard of Jesus and never accepted Jesus as their Savior? We make up all these exceptions because we feel it is just, but is it really just?

I write this in the Passover/Easter season of 2014, having just last night attended the Roman Catholic Holy Thursday service with a Catholic friend, Fran Viselli, and his wife Kathie, and another friend from Grace Church, where I attend worship services, Phil Bishop and his wife, Brenda. It was a wonderful service and I got to sing in Latin for the first time since 1967. However, this is not about the Catholic Church, who appears to be a little more pluralistic than some Evangelicals, or any church, for that matter… I am writing just about Jesus.

What does one mean “just?”

Does one mean just as in only, or just as in fair and equitable, or does one mean both?

I just don’t think it is fair that little babies who die before accepting Jesus are never saved because they have not confessed belief in Jesus. Most religions and Christian belief systems make exceptions for little babies… Why should they? Who made them the judge of it anyway?

What about those I mentioned who lived and died before Jesus? Who were clearly not Christians, and never believed in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior? What about those you have never heard the Gospel of Grace and Peace? What about those who know all about the Grace part of the Gospel and little or nothing about the Peace part? Are they too lost and damned for eternal separation from God? And those damned Atheists… :):)  What about those folks?

It just is not fair.

I believe with all my heart that Jesus is “just” and that it is just Jesus… Yes, both Jesus is the only way, but also that Jesus is just and has made a just and merciful and gracious provision for all who ever lived and died. I believe Jesus suffered and died to show his love for all mankind. I don’t intend to get religious and quote a whole bunch of Scriptures from the Old and new Testaments, from Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, but I would like to mention a few things that those who know will recognize and those who don’t know Jesus may want to look into sometime.

Let’s consider the end of the book, the book of Revelation, where the crucified and risen Christ is said to come back to claim his church, all of it, who believe in him, or will believe in him. He comes back in robes soaked in his own blood, before the battle, just as they were during the battle of the cross where he overcame evil with good. Jesus will do it again, overcome evil with good. He just seems to never change his purposes and intents. We see a tree of life again, just like in the first garden, for the healing of the nations. We see a new city, whose gates will never be shut. We see a light emanating from inside the city, and there is no need for the sun anymore because of this everlasting light. And we hear a proclamation of the Gospel, for all those who have not yet believed, and are outside the gates, in hell, saying, “Come, Come.” For all those who are resurrected, as is mentioned in this last book, for all who ever lived and died to come to a judgment, (not by us, not by the rules of religious systems, but by Jesus,) I expect a just judgment. I also expect some and I hope all that are outside of the gates of the city to eventually come to the just, just Jesus.

Just thinking…

John Cooper

Filed under Christian, Communion, Cross, Death, Easter, Grace, Lord's Supper, Nonviolence, Peace, Uncategorized

Jersulem

March 16, 2014 4 Comments

Jerusalem

When we are stripped of power…

Will we still go up to pray?

When the answer is no..

Will we still go up to pray?

When the sword won’t work…

When we ask the God of the possible…

If it is possible?

Is there any other way?

We go up to pray…

Alone…

Naked…

Stripped of Pride…

Without conceit…

With God it is possible…

Will it be?

To still go up to pray….

To Jerusalem we go…

Is there Peace in Jerusalem?

If the answer is no…

There is no other way…

Will we still go up to pray?

John Cooper

http://www.jcooperFORpeace.org

Filed under Christian, Cross, Death, Easter, Grace, Identity, Jersulem, Lent, Nonviolence, Palm Sunday, Peace, Uncategorized

Ukraine

March 9, 2014 1 Comment

Ukraine

I was grazing on the Internet today, spending a little downtime after a day of trying to play some golf, and taking a nap, and working some too… In the process I was thinking about just one of the current hot spots in the world that has the possibility to develop into a melting point, similar to the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown that was also in the Ukraine.

 

In the process, I looked into this web site, http://kubik.org/ukraine/03-02-14.html which is the web site of Victor Kubik, the President of the United Church of God, which is a split off of the Worldwide Church of God, now called Grace Communion International. I knew some of the founders of United Church of God personally, especially Ray Wooten, who recently died, as a personal friend. Victor Kubik is from the Ukraine, as you will see in checking the link out. I especially like the map he presented, and actually had forgotten Ukraine also adjoins Romania.

 

Ukraine is a historic Christian nation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Christianity_in_Ukraine, as is Russia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Russia. Valdimir Putin proclaims to be a Christian, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3d_yxJhmjk, and President Obama also claims to be a Christian, http://crossmap.christianpost.com/news/president-obama-affirms-jesus-as-his-savior-and-lord-stands-for-religious-freedom-at-the-62nd-national-prayer-breakfast-8829. I know all these links would take a long time to research, but I wanted to document this premise that the leaders of both nations are self proclaimed Christians. It is crucial to me that Christians recognize one another, and refuse to go to war with one another. It seems that every time there is a political disagreement since 325 AD that Christians as a whole line right up behind the Politics of this fallen world, and not the Politics of the Kingdom of God ruled by the Crucified and Risen Jesus.

 

Perhaps Putin and Obama are not Christians as some view themselves as Christians, and perhaps Russian Orthodoxy is not viewed as highly in America as Roman Catholicism in the West or various split offs of the two most ancient Christian religions mentioned, but I am reminded in consideration of our two predominately “Christian” nations again facing off for war of the dreams of Jesus. I believe that Jesus had dreams of his followers to actually love one another, and that the whole world would be a better place because of the shining light, the salt and light of his followers exuding their love for one another. To me, this love means we absolutely refuse to kill one another, or any other human, for that matter. (However, I am just a Pacifist.) I believe that Jesus dreamed of his followers even loving their enemies, even of other faith based traditions. I believe it is apparent that men are incapable of ruling one another based upon any other government principle than this love relationship, of ruling “under” and serving, not ruling “over” and abusing one another. I believe hatred and selfishness is why the world suffers so much and is in so much pain while awaiting a better Kingdom to come.

 

We all have dreams that do not work out so well in this life. Nations have dreams, people of all faiths have dreams of peace, and a better world for their children. I have had dreams too, which appear to have failed… One of the dreams I have, which has historically failed for thousands of years, is to dream of peace, as Jesus did, as Tolstoy and Rasputin of Russia, as Martin Luther King and Einstein and many others have dreamed. This Peace will never happen, in my view until those who call themselves “Christians” first give up hate and embrace the love for each other Jesus dreamed of.

 

The Christian season of Lent just began a few days ago in this year of 2014. This is the season some Christians give up things to help in their worship of Jesus and preparation of the celebration of Easter.

 

Why don’t Christians give up hate for Lent, at least? Why don’t Christians give up violence as a solution to their disagreements? And war, and threats of war, let’s give them up for Lent, at least. I need to do it too. Recently I have had bad thoughts about someone whom I think has taken advantage of me. I need to let go of these bitter thoughts and feelings. When we fail to love each other, it is hate. When nations of the world, whether Christian or not, but especially when they are Christian, line up their warships and nuclear warheads, it cannot be fulfilling the dreams of Jesus for a better Kingdom to come… Unless, we blast ourselves to kingdom come, that is…

 

You have just read my analysis of the situation in Ukraine, which would apply to other hotspots in the world too… Peace and love is the way, there is no other way…

 

John Cooper
http://www.jcooperforpeace.org

Filed under Christian, Cross, Easter, Grace, Lent, Nonviolence, Peace, Politics, Ukraine, Uncategorized

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