We face a time of great change.
We want the stability we used to have.
Let's look at change.
What will we create in life to make a meaningful life? What lasts?
St. Botolph's Church, UK. Early English legends say the original church was founded by Botolph, in 654, with the source being the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. Archaeological records show a Norman church also existed on the location; a Norman stone pillar and a number of coffins from the period. The size of such a small church was inadequate for a booming town, in the 14th century, the church was built as a much larger building.
Psalm 52
1 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?
Why do you boast all day long,
you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
2 You who practice deceit,
your tongue plots destruction;
it is like a sharpened razor.
3 You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than speaking the truth.
4 You love every harmful word,
you deceitful tongue!
5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.
6 The righteous will see and fear;
they will laugh at you, saying,
7 "Here now is the one
who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
and grew strong by destroying others!"
8 But I am like an olive tree
flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God's unfailing love
for ever and ever.
9 For what you have done I will always praise you
in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
for your name is good.
Roman Bricks used today
Today, was a day. I was dealing with the archaeological remains of being mid-50 Years old. And what does this mean. In my family, we refer to this as, "Going through the box." And this is something Edward and I were discussing yesterday.
We have a few things from my great-grandfather Stephen, who was born 1865. We have his wife's Lena's sewing machine, which is driven from pumping the large iron petal. Lena lived to be 100 years old. We could call these two Estates.
We have books my Great Uncle Tate wrote on Transubstantiation, being an Episcopal Priest for 50 years and some of his furniture. 3rd Estate. We have a beautiful bowl from Edward's Great-Grandmother Doll, a good chair, she lived to be a 100 years old and Edward's father adored his grandmother and moved her to live near them and visited her all her life. 4th Estate. Doll loved her husband and loved him to work at home. Lovely things are said about Doll.
We have my Grandmother's Lake House was sold in College and she gave me family furniture from the Lake House. 5. Then Edward's Uncle sold his farmhouse from his family and we all got family furniture 6.
Remember, we are going back past 40 years now. And then 30 years: 7. Edward's grandmother died, my grandmother died, we were newlyweds. Then my Mother's Mother died. Edward and I became strippers. We learned how to strip. Furniture, stain it and seal it. And man, we stripped everything everywhere. And learned whom to take furniture to for a chemical strip.
Estate 7,8 and 9. And in this I learned about Chocolate Cake Cookbooks my Grandmother had. About 25 cake recipes. I found World War II rations, what, After The War. Really. My father's WWII metal, not paper, soldiers. I saw evidence my grandfather fished and hunted to the detriment of the local wildlife. And his marriage. I found my father's papers when he became a Warrant Officer in the Air Force. And a letter from his grandfather making sure he was safe during Korea.
I found Valentine cards from 1920 and 30 of my Anita Grandmother and her 50-Year widowhood wearing her wedding band. And 1930 love letters. We found out my grandfather's massive tombstone was a gift of his brothers and when Grandmother died in 1992, the ancient uncles, gifted the tombstone carved to include her. We were tombstone shopping at the time. And went out and wept a little.
And then another Uncle died. 10. We even found a Matthew Brady photo of a departed uncle. We realized how many members of our family never married, never had children. And my parents were both only children. Another Uncle who was marvelous. 11. A lake house 12.
We found in my father and grandmother's Estate, a wallpaper newspaper of Vicksburg detailing the siege of Vicksburg belonging to Great-Great Grandmother Sarah who was 4. And ate her cat. And never went to a July 4th Celebration for the rest of her long life. Who called this the Waaaar of Noooorthn Agggggresssssion.
My mother's house took a year to clean out. 13. Edward's mother had to go to a Care Facility. 14. We found family letters dating back before the Civil War. Astonishing. College photographs from 1920. We met through letters, my great-great-grandparents. And wanted to meet them so badly. And we will someday!
And today, coming across The Box of the Day, I found some stolen items from my side of the family. Dementia is an odd thing. But so is finding out someone steals. And a phone call complaint from a friend about theft, too. Dementia starting 33 years ago. In family discussions, this boggles us all. We don't forget, and we discuss the findings almost every time we gather. Another was found today. Items found 7. Plus the friend phone call. Maybe it was a mistake. And the time the items were shown to family members. Not a mistake of a lucid person. I guess. We found out this family member knew these items would be eventually found. And didn't really care. Leaving a scrap of paper, bedside, saying incorrectly, "The Lord loves us just as much when we aren't good."
This person, a family member, cried out to the Lord during a crisis. The Lord replied. We know He really did because when the Prayer Reply was repeated, a family friend identified the Reply as Psalm 50. This Prayer Reply was so important to this person, they spoke this for 50 years. Which did prove to be very correct.
Trouble arrives in every lifetime.
This is Saxon Glass from the 8th Century.
Stained Glass is mere sand, fired and pulled and fired
and formed to be something lasting and beautiful
to the Glory of God.
Let's look at Trouble and Overcoming Historically.
Ruins verse Remain -
People search and look for a way to make their lives prosperous, comfortable and to have meaning.
We’ve been taught, culturally, greed is good and gives us stability. We learned this in the 1980’s, the movie ‘Wallstreet’ proclaimed with gusto, “Greed is good!” If you look at this theologically, the temporal joys of here and now are the only joys. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
People search and look for a way to make their lives prosperous, comfortable and to have meaning.
We’ve been taught, culturally, greed is good and gives us stability. We learned this in the 1980’s, the movie ‘Wallstreet’ proclaimed with gusto, “Greed is good!” If you look at this theologically, the temporal joys of here and now are the only joys. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
This remarkable Church has something going on, not readily apparent. This is the way Churches looked in England before 1,000 A.D. the invasion of Norman's William the Conqueror. In fact, the Churches used to be like this and have timber. This Church has timber in it, from mostly 1000 A.D., but going back to 600 A.D. This is two hundred years before Alfred the Great ---- who began to Record History.
WOW.
In the early 100s, Christianity was spreading rapidly, even under the threat of death.
Temporal – no. In the 400s, Christianity was mainstream, but written history is scarce. About the 1000s, history is recorded and regarded less as myth and hearsay. Starvation was the largest reason of death, 1 in 3 until the late 1500s.
In 600 A.D.
The Saxons of Germany and Denmark began to invade kill, take the houses,
animals of the UK and live.
Now the thing was, the UK had been kingdom tribes of people seeking and worshiping Jesus,
while the Saxons were the old gods. Lots of rape, fire, murder, theft and brutality. War.
What did England do? When you look at Sutton Hoo archaeology of a Viking burial of an
East Anglain English King called Rædwald. Well, he has shown in his ship burial, he renounced the Saxon gods, knew they were part of his past and looked to Jesus Christ as Salvation, Heaven and the Promises of God. And his helmet assures us he is the personal founder of the Ray Ban Clubmaster Sunglass design of today.
Raewald met the enemy, was surrounded by the goy and found a Way, Truth and Life he wanted to proclaim Jesus as His Salvation. His cemetery is an importand find to know the Spiritual forces at work in a time of loss, injustice, diligent fight for justice. So large, we discuss the Saxon Anglican battles 1500 years later. And we find Churches built in Saxon architecture in about 19 Churches in the UK still today.
Fight the Good Fight. In the middle of the fight, we find Churches were Solace and Comfort.
Beauty. Endurance. Understanding of History. The forces of Good overcoming evil.
Ok, sure, sure but What Else?
Oh, let's see THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
Can we find traces not only of many, many Churches in the UK
still using parts of Saxon Churches, many, many more than just 19 Churches.
Yes, we can find Christianity embracing
Victory over the Roman Empire.
These Churches are built with Roman Empire Bricks.
St Cedes is 600 AD. Saxon Time.
Remember, this is the fake time to say,
Oh the Bible exists from 400 AD
University of Michigan, Papyrus 46 with 300 intact Chapters of the Bibles
c. First Century or verbs from 110 A.D.
says:
Don't just know History!
Know the Scriptures and the Power of God.
The archway is all Roman Empire Bricks.
Oh, only useful?
No, Churches build to reflect
Jesus as the Way, Truth and Life.
PSALM 52
Wow, all this UK History.
No, This St Paul Jarrow, is built by Gauls of 600 A.D.
And they built it to not just use Roman Bricks,
but Built these Churches to be interior Roman Empire Architecture.
Victory.
Victory of Jesus Christ.
Victory over Governments Collapse,
Borders Fail. Rape. Theft. War. Murder.
Deaths of Family Members.
Victory of Jesus Christ.
Yes, even during the Saxon blood thirsty invasion
The French crossed the Channel to Glory in God with the English.
International Christian Joy during bloody times.
They didn't even have Fargo riders or smoke signals in 600 A.D.
St. Peter Monkwearmouth and St Paul Jarrow
are both built by Gauls
and using Roman Empire Bricks
and in Roman Empire Architecture.
600 and 700 A.D.
How bad were the battles of 600 A.D.
We can find Trench warfare.
Alfred the Great build walls and trenches to fight of those
who would kill and rob and rape in the middle of the night.
And in these days, people wanted to Build Churches
with International Cooperation.
Not because of breached Borders and Pillage.
Because the Civil wanted to Rejoice In Jesus Together.
The Invited to Worship, Built Together.
To meet, to build,
to worship, to Believe
In Righteousness.
The Victory in Jesus Christ.
Injustice was being overcome with
Faithfulness, Peace and Jesus.
ENDURING
NOT CASTLES, Like You'd Imagine
Using England as an example: in 1086, William the Conqueror gave England the first stability from invasion against foreign cultures. He created the Domesday Book, meaning accounting or reckoning, to find out what was prosperous for taxation. It’s the largest historical document supporting serfdom or feudalism. People were, literally, dying to become part of the circles supported by a castle. To be part of the workings of a lord prevented starvation. When timber castles were ruined, people built stone castles and tremendous effort was put into holding on to this community of the castle.
Castles last right - nooo.
We watched a terrific documentary on the outcome of these castles and outcome of the generations of work. The timber castles were huge, with plenty of people living in them, they lasted about 150 years. Fire became a weapon of choice and stone castles were built in the same site or moved to higher ground, same community.
The castles, and the castle families, are the worldly temporal part of the history. What remains today after 1,000 years, and after 1,200 years, are ... the Churches. If you travel to the UK today, you can see a handful of the castles remaining, but 1,000-year-old Churches are plentiful.
The Churches were, at first, round tower churches which were beautiful and fairly simple; built with local materials. Later, as the community prospered, the Church became enduring and beautiful faith buildings men spent their lives putting their time and talent into. But the Church wasn’t just a building, the communities created by this fellowship became secure enough to move out of patrolled walls.
The Churches made the communities grow and remain today.
We hear all the time about the failures of the Body of Christ called Church. We are taught the failures in grade school, high school and college. We see them in comedy, in movies and in people truly hurt by the Church, but how often do we have the opportunity to take time realizing the hope and joy given to us by the community created by Jesus called Church?
A large part of the compassion and hope allowing mankind to take the time and care to have the effort to educate others, came from a desire to give the love of Christ.
The printing press was created to bring the Scripture forward into knowledge and love. Farms fed the poor and starving. Henry VIII is not recorded as having increased the starvation of his worldly reign into Critical, yet this is true because the monasteries fed the people.
The Church began Hospitals and Schools.
Feudalism is gone. Castles are mostly gone. Churches remain, some are being pulled down and sold bit by bit. Let's stop this and sell this as a Church to other Churches.
The family farms are diminished. The corporations don't remain. The love of the Lord is a pendulum, even Notre Dame saw heresy. Yet, the faith (I believe!), the hope (He means me!) and the Love (all there ever was and will be - towards me!) leads nations and multitudes Upward. The Scriptures tell us will praise Him in Eternity. As Handel's Messiah tells us... Forever and Ever..... Hallelujah!
The Church began Hospitals and Schools.
Feudalism is gone. Castles are mostly gone. Churches remain, some are being pulled down and sold bit by bit. Let's stop this and sell this as a Church to other Churches.
The family farms are diminished. The corporations don't remain. The love of the Lord is a pendulum, even Notre Dame saw heresy. Yet, the faith (I believe!), the hope (He means me!) and the Love (all there ever was and will be - towards me!) leads nations and multitudes Upward. The Scriptures tell us will praise Him in Eternity. As Handel's Messiah tells us... Forever and Ever..... Hallelujah!
Oh, The Places HE will Go!
Jesus and the Little Children by Carl Bloch
Abba, Father,
Valentine is our beloved brother in Christ.
In the promises of Jesus Christ, we have an eternity in front of us, Christ dwelling within us, to discovering the love and joy of Jesus Christ. Paul tells us our acts of faith, hope and love are known and appreciated, strengthened by Father God.
Our benefit to the Lord today... strengthening the bonds of love. Seeing to it the next generation knows the joy and comfort of God's Enduring, Eternal, Steadfast Love.
Father, we put our hands out to You, in prayer,
Our benefit to the Lord today... strengthening the bonds of love. Seeing to it the next generation knows the joy and comfort of God's Enduring, Eternal, Steadfast Love.
Father, we put our hands out to You, in prayer,
asking the work
of so many saints will be able to shine
even more brightly as we act upon Your Love.
Recognize us each day,
the lives of sinners redeemed from imprisonment
by Jesus to be Your beloved, Your saints.
May Your Love and Your glory shine brighter each day.
In the Highest Name of Jesus.
Amen.
Roads of Heaven
♔ LORD JESUS SAVES †
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