Weekly Links!

~ LINKS TO SOME INTERESTING READING ~ Just a few this time, but they're all really good & meaty ~


-"How to Fix Christian Fiction: More Christianity": I love this so much. YES. Christian fiction is bad when it's generic Nice Literature. More dogma, more drama. Yes, PLEASE.




-"4 Reasons to Soak Yourself in the Psalms": I've been going through the Psalms every month for several years now, and I agree with all of this. I'd add: it sure helps your prayer life. It gives you words to say to God when you have no good words of your own.




-"What's the Point of Sex? It's Communication on a Biological Level" - This is about the intersection of fertility and the immune system, and it's fascinating.




I hope you have a lovely Sunday, full of worship and rest!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Psalm 4: A Meditation for These Times

photo credit: Betsy Barber

It is not a restful time in our country, or in history.

And, perhaps, if the truth were fully known, fully acknowledged, there has never really been a restful time in any country or at any point in history. As I read Psalm 4, the psalmist’s rhetorical demand sounds painfully familiar:

“O men…how long will you love vain words and seek after lies?”

Vain words and lies…sounds like what I read every time I turn to the internet.

I’m so grateful for this psalm, though, because it models what a godly heart does after beholding shame, injustice, and wrong in the world:

“Be angry, and do not sin;
Ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent
…and put your trust in the Lord.”

This is where good is to be found: in silence, in the quiet peace of the evening, when you close your eyes and your mouth, and you commune with your own heart, in the presence of the Lord. And though, as the psalmist points out,

“Many are saying, ‘Who will show us any good?’"

There is only one demand that will actually bring the good before our eyes:

"Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, oh God.”

Yes! This! Of COURSE no one else is going to show us any good! Why are we looking to the world and its troubles anyway? Look to the Lord...

This is the psalmist, talking to his own soul, and reminding himself to take the time to just shut up and meditate on the Lord's goodness.

And after that communing with his own soul, in his own heart, reminding himself of the Lord’s great works, here is the conclusion he comes to:

“You have put more joy in my heart
Than they have when their grain and wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

I love that God gave us this picture in the scriptures: this intimate picture of both of what godly agitation looks like (”Help, Lord! Look at what’s happening!”) and also what godly meditation and self-calming and recollection looks like (”ponder in your own hearts on your own beds, and be silent”).

It’s a pattern that shows up over and over again in the Psalms (see Psalm 11, for another good example), and it’s such a gift.

“Be angry…but sin not.”

It’s good just to know that that’s possible…and also good to know that we can turn from anger, and over to peace and to praise.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

the last verse of Psalm 119

I have gone astray like a lost sheep
Seek thy servant: for I do not forget thy commandments.


Parts 1 and 2

I'm going astray
but please come and get me.

I left,
but please come after me.

I am lost and afraid
and it is my fault
I went out and sought the places of fear and horror.

But I am afraid
And I am horrified.

I do not forget your law.
I do not forget the light.

Bring me back,
oh God of my salvation.

Weekly Links

"Guy in your MFA":

 Guy In Your MFA (Guy) was born out of a big stack of pieces I needed to critique for the next day and my frustration with this whole culture of pseudo-pretentious literary works, both in myself and in my colleagues.

"Five Things Every Christian Should be Doing with God’s Word"

. . . Psalm 119 is one of the best examples of Scripture speaking about Scripture.  It is the Word about the Word.
And in it, we find David interacting with the Word of God in five ways that should be paradigmatic for all believers . . .

"The Most Qualified By Far: On Clinton and Qualifications":

Mrs. Clinton is one times more qualified than Mr. Bush . . . at best.

"A Composed Salad Is a Meal Unto Itself":

 . . . it can contain almost anything the cook wants to arrange, roll, roast, poach, bake or grill, from thin shavings of fennel and whole kernels of local corn to dollops of ricotta and shards of country ham. Tossed together, the result would be sloppy and monotonous. A bit of order makes it satisfying and elegant.

Weekly Links

My weekly round-up of good reading around the web.


"Grace Lee: She Taught Me to See":

Mom taught me, at least a little bit, to begin to look at characters, all characters, on television as people. They did not exist for me, but for themselves . . . even in the story. 

"Passive Aggressive Dissent: It's a Trap":

Seven, tell your story often.  If it is not allowed to trump exegesis, church history, or reason, look sad. Ask why the Evangelical church always shoots her wounded. Don’t consider whether your story might not be enough for millions of people to change their mind.

"How Christianity Invented Children":

Today, it is simply taken for granted that the innocence and vulnerability of children makes them beings of particular value, and entitled to particular care. We also romanticize children — their beauty, their joy, their liveliness. Our culture encourages us to let ourselves fall prey to our gooey feelings whenever we look at baby pictures. What could be more natural? 

In fact, this view of children is a historical oddity. If you disagree, just go back to the view of children that prevailed in Europe's ancient pagan world.

"Kindness and Reasonableness: spread it, because it matters":

I am not anxious today because there is something deeply and particularly wrong with me. I am anxious today because like everyone in the world, life in it sucks my spirit dry now and again. I need to hear the truth over and over, as a corrective to the false promises and threats that are taken in in the air we breathe.

"The Psalms, A Holy WTF?! and Other Thoughts on the Cloister Walk":

The psalms do for us what we often can't do for each other, they let us be honest, and they let us just be. They do not insist that we pull ourselves together, get over it or move on. Their writers aren't uncomfortable or unacquainted with misery. They don't try to minimize it or explain it or tell you it is all for the best.

"Wired Binge-Watching Guide: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"

Thinking of it as the “dark side” of Star Trek is too reductive—not least because it’s a show that flirts with darkness but purposefully doesn’t embrace it—but maybe “the Star Trek that’s not uncomfortable feeling weird” would fit, instead. It’s the Star Trek for people who don’t think they like Star Trek, and the Star Trek for people who do, as well.

"3 Takeaways From My Recent Trip to Biola": Loved reading this positive take about my alma mater.

"First Things Essay Contest": I know there are some students and moms of students that read here, and I encourage you to take a look at this link - it's a great chance for a Christian student writer to get some experience and exposure!

"the shepherd verse"

My twins, Anna and Lucy, have just memorized Psalm 23, which Anna calls "the shepherd verse".

I think I'm going to think of it that way from now on.

As I've been listening to my girls recite it to me, I've noticed something new about it. (Isn't it funny how listening to something you've read a million times can make it feel brand new?)

What I noticed is that the part about "the valley of the shadow of death" comes right after the part about "the path of righteousness".

"You lead me in paths of righteousness," says the psalmist, "for your name's sake."

And immediately after that, he says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."

The path of righteousness, therefore, may very well go through the valley of the shadow of death.


I hadn't noticed that before. "You lead me," says the psalmist. And directly after that, he acknowledges the fact that he might well follow that lead into dark places.


And yet. And yet.  "I will fear no evil."

Why? "Because You are with me."


Amen.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Psalm 73: Talking to God About Talking to God

Psalm 73 is just a little bit meta: it's a conversation with God about the speaker's conversations with God.

I love that this is in the Bible.

I've listened to Psalm 73 several times this week during my devotional time, and I keep being struck by the simple, honest reflection, "I was as a beast before thee."

Because the psalmist isn't hiding from God. Instead, he's reviewing a time in his life that was particularly painful. It was a time when he was full of doubt and fear. And instead of hiding from God, he's laying it all open before Him.

He's reflecting on a time that was past, and trying to see what it all meant.

He's honest about his doubts; he's honest about his fears.

And he's honest about his own state: "I was as a beast before thee."

Animals are instinctual. And when we humans are at our worst, so are we.

But the psalmist doesn't hide this from God (as if God doesn't know).

Instead, he takes this hard time in his life - this time when he doubted that God would at the end make all things well - and he lays it out before his Lord.

He thinks about it. He reflects on it.

And he says, "Here I was: in despair. Until I went into your sanctuary.

"And then, I understood."

He sees the Lord's place. He sees the real place of the wicked.

And then - extra gift! extreme generosity of our Lord! - he sees his own place in the universe:

But it is good for me to draw near to God: 

I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.

Our place is to declare the goodness of the Lord.

And He is good.
Amen, and Amen.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Weekend Links: Lent, Psalms, and more!

A few articles for your weekend reading pleasure:

"The Work of the People":

Habits and disciplines are formed through repetition. Thus, the ritualistic and repetitive nature of Christian liturgy allows us to engage God in a similar manner from Sunday to Sunday and day to day. This repetition transforms us because it is habit forming. In short, our relationship with God becomes habitual and through this habit God does his work in us as we habitually come to him. 

"Lent for a forgetful person":

But I have been happy and perhaps a little startled to find some things that work for me. Things that, even almost three weeks into lent, have helped to keep it forefront in my mind, even in the middle of every day life.

"David and Saul": Usually I excerpt a quotation from the articles I link to, but I'd be tempted to excerpt the entire last half of this one, both because it's short and because it's excellent. So just go read it - read it because of what Anne has to say about the Psalms.

"504 Meeting at the Junior High": Yes, this:

The trickiest part about having a child who is fine ninety five percent of the time, is that I begin to forget why we have all the structures in place. I begin to second guess. I am tempted to do away with the parts of the structure that are time or money consuming to maintain, things like therapy. Everything feels good, but then I have a 504 meeting where I have to list out the official diagnoses. Then I remember that these people in the room and the psychiatrist who signed the diagnosis paper, would have no hesitation in bumping me if they felt that Gleek did not need the resources they are providing. The fact that they recognized Gleek’s need helps me to know I’m not just making this up. I would like it to all be my imagination, because then I could just stop imagining it, problem solved. Instead I get to walk alongside my girl while she treks her way through a long and difficult growing process.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Weekend Link Round-up: so many links!

Lots of good reading for your Sunday afternoon. Enjoy! :)

"It’s Not Just Sabbatarians Who Need Sabbath":

Sabbath teaches us to depend upon God. By taking one day away from our normal responsibilities, we declare our dependence upon God. We do not need to work seven days a week in order to have daily bread; we can work six days and spend the seventh in worship, rest, and Christian fellowship, and through it all trust that he will provide for our needs. 

"Words of Radiance and the Art of Creating Epic Fantasy":

A big book doesn’t indicate quality—but if you find a big book that you love, then there is that much more of it to enjoy. Beyond that, I felt—and feel—there is an experience I can deliver in a work of this length that I could never deliver in something shorter, even if that’s just the same book divided up.

"The Ratatouille Trap":

And yet I think there is a serious danger here, a Ratatouille trap. It is so much easier for nice people, and I am ignoring the bigots, to encourage hapless dreamers that we forget to check for what this post assumes: aptitude, drive, and gumption. I once met a student who hated reading, memorizing, or long hours who had as his ambition going to Harvard Law School. When I pointed out what the student would have to do to get to Harvard Law School, he accused me of “stealing his dream.” I was happy to map out an actual plan to get him there, but he wanted to dream about getting there instead. He wanted the lifestyle of a retired, super-successful lawyer, but was not willing to do the work or run the risk of doing family law in a local strip mall.

"Rediscovering Jesus’ Hymnbook":

Godly anger, heart-wrenching sorrow, dark depression, effulgent joy, honest questioning, and exuberant praise are just a sampling of the emotional range covered by the psalms. Most churches sense the burden of teaching their people how to think. Very few consider their responsibility to teach their people how to feel. The psalms serve as the tutors of our affections.

"Marked by Ashes":

At my first Ash Wednesday service several years ago, I knelt in a quiet, contemplative sanctuary and was surprised by feeling almost irrepressible rage. As the priest marked each attendant with a cross of ashes on our foreheads, I felt as if he was marking us for death. I was angry at death. I was angry at the priest as if it was somehow his doing. 

"Ashes to Ashes: Death and Dogs and Children and Jesus":

So there I was, kneeling and thinking, ‘I can’t believe we’re all here sitting in our own places and it’s all so calm’, and I hear Elphine begin to say ‘shshsh’ over and over and over again, and then the faint mosquito tones of Marigold hissing “wait wait wait wait.” By that point we were all covered in ash. Elphine had herded them forward, pushing and pulling and generally bossing. Then psalm 51. Then the hissing and whispering. Mid way through the litany the hissing became full throated talking and gasping. Then, mercifully, the peace. Elphine brought them up and handed them to me. “I’m sorry,” she said, “Marigold asked me why we had to have ashes all over us and I told her that she was going to die. Sorry.”

Last but not least, who knew this song could sound this good?

Praying the Psalms of Ascent

photo credit: Betsy Barber

A while ago, a friend asked me to pray for her. There were some particular circumstances that prompted the request, and I wanted to be sure to be faithful to her request.

What I found myself doing was praying the Psalms for her. Specifically, the Psalms of Ascent.

The Psalms of Ascent are the songs the Israelites sang as they went up to Jerusalem to worship. They are particularly beautiful and heartfelt. They come right after Psalm 119 – that long love song to the Law – and go on until Psalm 134.

Most of them are very short. And they make very, very good prayers.

Here are a few excerpts that I find myself coming back to again and again:

A prayer for those in trouble:

"Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips . . . Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." -Psalm 120

"Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." -Psalm 126

A prayer for the church:

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 'May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls . . .'" -Psalm 122

A prayer of thanksgiving:

"'Had it not been the Lord who was on our side,' let Israel now say, 'Had it not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive . . . Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us to be torn by their teeth! Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and we have escaped." -Psalm 124

A prayer remembering the Lord’s nearness:

"As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people . . ." -Psalm 125

(My mom sometimes revises this one to "as the mountains surround Los Angeles"! it fits!)

A prayer against the enemies of God:

"May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward . . ." -Psalm 129

And, seriously, there were so many more I could have put in. This portion of scripture . . . I swear it's food. True food. And even in English translations, it has a rhythm and a meter that sounds so good in the mouth. If you take the references to Jerusalem and Zion as references to the kingdom of God and his people and work, and references to the enemies as references to the devil and his minions, they fit where we're at so perfectly and are so easy to pray.

You can put the person you're praying for right in there. When I'm praying for my friend, this can sound like: "Lord, be her keeper. Lord, be the shade on her right hand. Lord, please keep her going in and her coming forth . . ."

Having these psalms to hand to pray has been so good for me. I hope they encourage you, too!

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

Weekly Scripture Reflections

These are my notes on the week's readings. I'm posting them here just because I realized I wanted to start keeping track of my notes! And I'd to hear your insights from your weekly devotions, too!


Luke 22:
-in this gospel, the argument about who will be greatest comes right after the argument about who will betray Jesus. Were they talking about both at the same time? Did talking about who was going to be the awfullest disciple prompt boasting about who was the best?

That sounds very, very terrible . . . but very, very human at the same time.

-when the disciples could not stay awake with Jesus in Gethsemane . . . it says they slept for sorrow. Somehow I had never noticed that detail before.

-after the angel strengthened Jesus, He prayed more. Was that what he needed strength for? The prayer? If so, then so must we . . .

Psalm 101:
-"I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all wicked-doers from the city of the LORD."  Doesn't that sound like a clarion call to early morning prayer and confession?

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Links: Pro-Life Questions, Poetry, Language, and more

"Questions for Our Pro-Abortion Friends, Church Leaders, and Politicians":

Shall we say size matters? Is the unborn child too small to deserve our protection? Are big people more valuable than little people? Are men more human than woman? Do offensive linemen have more rights than jockeys? Is the life in the womb of no account because you can't hold him in our arms, or put him in your hands, or only see her on a screen?

"I'm Not Into Poetry":

When it comes to the Psalms and other prayers, they are best read not for our own pleasure - not for “what we get out of them” - but because they are God-given prayer language that God enjoys. It’s like God gave us his favorite song list and asked us to play it over and over again.

 "A Linguist's Serious Take On 'The A-Word'":

"The Internet is extraordinary. All of a sudden, if you want to pick a political fight, or a fight over chess games, or a fight over language, or a fight over bird-watching, really, you can go out there and see all these discussion groups and people making comments on blogs and freely using this language to one another. It's an opportunity to behave like a jerk if you wake up at 3 in the morning and you feel like it."

"Doctor Feelbad":

Doctor Who’s most enduring obsession is with time and the ways its passage makes us all mad, sad, and lonely—in other words, the anxieties that plague us in midlife. The Doctor teaches us how to grow old.

There's my list of interesting links for the past few days. What have you been intrigued by 'round the Web this week?

-Jessica Snell

Links: Marketing, Blogging Photos, the Psalms, and more!

"The Golden Weenie Award":

. . . but I did get around to see some of the specialty products offered to religious retailers. In the past, I’ve recorded some of the really bad ideas that have come and gone at the show — Gospel Golf Balls, Praise Panties, Pope Soap on a Rope, vials of “genuine ash from Sodom and Gomorrah,” etc. (And before you ask, NO, I’M NOT MAKING ANY OF THIS UP.)

"Blogging Authors Beware! You Can Get Sued":

Well on one random post, I grabbed one random picture off of google and then a few weeks later I got contacted by the photographer who owned that photo. He sent me a takedown notice, which I responded to immediately because I felt awful that I had unknowingly used a copyrighted pic. The pic was down within minutes. But that wasn't going to cut it. He wanted compensation for the pic. A significant chunk of money that I couldn't afford. I'm not going to go into the details but know that it was a lot of stress, lawyers had to get involved, and I had to pay money that I didn't have for a use of a photo I didn't need. 

"What Do We Do with Those?": -a short primer on the oddities in the book of Psalms - I thought his three conclusions at the end especially useful.

"Being a Marketing Trend":

 One of my pet peeves is this idea that exercise should be bimodal: either you should be satisfied with "walking, the best form of exercise," or you should be some kind of an exercise addict who works out like a professional athlete. Not to diss walking or professional athletes, but it seems like for the great majority of healthy adults, shooting for something in the middle -- light, but deliberate, daily exercise or (my pattern) vigorous exercise two to four times a week -- would hit the sweet spot of beneficial and realistic. But we just don't hear much about that.  

 Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica  Snell

Scripture that Sings: Psalm 119:100

"I understand more than the aged,
Because I have observed Your precepts" -Psalm 119:100

Or, as George MacDonald put it: obedience leads to understanding.

When I was a kid, Psalm 119 was this incomprehensible monolith to me. It was scripture, so I revered it, but I didn't get it, and just the idea of reading it through exhausted me.

But I've slowly come to love it. It's a love song to God's law, and the more I read it, the more of it comes alive to me, the more of it sings. It's like a rich mosaic: beautiful and wisely patterned when you take it in all at once and see the grand plan of praise, but also each individual part - every verse - is its own rich and polished jewel, shining and twinkling and reflecting back the light. It feels like the more I read it, the more verses light up for me.

And verse 100 is one of them. Here I read that the psalmist is wise because he observes the law. He learned wisdom through his obedient actions. This just rings so true to me. How many things have I learned by doing? Experience isn't everything, but no one will tell you that experiential knowledge isn't a different beast than theoretical.

Obedience to God's law enlightens. Amen!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Praying Through the Psalms

Today I'm talking about praying through the Psalms as a devotional practice, over at Regency Reflections.

C'mon by, and let us know how you use the Psalms in your prayer life too!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Semantic Drift: "Prevent"

There are some old words that no one uses anymore that I love, but there are even more old words that everyone uses, but uses without the old meanings, and I miss those old meanings.

"Prevent" is a great word that has come to mean only "stop from happening". But it used to mean something more like "came before" or "went around in front of".

You can see it in the King James version of the Bible, in verses like Psalm 79:8: O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.

The Psalmist is not asking God's mercies to stop him, but rather to go before him. When it comes to etymology, "pre" is obviously "before" and I'm guessing that "vent" means "come" (like the Spanish "venir").

Isn't that a great word? I know there's no real fighting against semantic drift - well, no really fighting-and-winning - but I am tempted when it comes to this word.

Especially because it seems like it would be such a useful word in prayer - just see how many times it's used in the older translations of the Psalms! How many times a day do I want the Lord to prevent me? As many times a day as there are times in a day.

Lord, prevent me as I go. Go before me. Let me abide in your footsteps, moving behind you as you go.

It's a good word.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

the wise woman of Tekoa & King David: a theory

Sometimes, when I read the Messianic prophecies in context, I wonder how much context can really have to do with anything, no matter what my college education pounded into my head. Doubtless, in those cases, I just don't have a wide enough view in order to really get the context.

However, this week I read something in the Old Testament that wasn't, I don't think, an actual Messianic prophecy, but that certainly sounds like one out of context. Read this, and see what you think it's talking about:

"For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans devices so that the banished one will not be cast out from him."

So poignant. Doesn't that sound like a Messianic prophecy? Yet it's not. It's part of the wise woman of Tekoa's plea to King David to let his banished son Absalom back into Jerusalem. It seems to be, as far as it goes, not about anyone at all, except Absalom and David.

Yet . . . the account says that it was Joab who, as the woman says, "put all these words into the mouth of your maidservant." Joab, longtime servant of King David. Really, a character worth studying in his own right: steadfast, yet tricksy; on the right side, yet with a terrifying hard-hearted streak. But a man who had been with the king for years and years, doubtless soaking up all of the king's words with intelligent attention.

And he "put all these words" into the woman of Tekoa's mouth, in order to convince David of what he thought was best to be done: bringing Absalom back to Jerusalem. Isn't it possible that Joab - being the man he was - was wise enough himself to know that what would best convince David was a bit of David's own theology in a stranger's mouth?

Because the argument is: "God makes strange devices in order to save the hopeless man. You, then, should imitate God in your behavior towards the hopeless Absalom." Or, at least, so I read it.

So, then, from David's mouth (surely Joab had heard some of his sovereigns prophetic psalms) to Joab's to the woman of Tekoa's: this may indeed be an echo of the same theology we find in the Psalms. 

It certainly sounds like it to me. What do you think? Is my theory probable?

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

Ascension Day!

Lift up your heads, O gates,
  And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
  That the King of glory may come in! 
  Who is the King of glory?
  The LORD strong and mighty,
  The LORD mighty in battle. 
  Lift up your heads, O gates,
  And lift them up, O ancient doors,
  That the King of glory may come in! 
  Who is this King of glory?
  The LORD of hosts,

He is the King of glory. Selah.

-Psalm 24: 7-10

When Jesus ascended into Heaven, He brought our human nature with him into the Presence of the Father. I've been reading along in 1 Samuel with the St. James Devotional Guide, reading about when the Philistines captured the ark of the Lord and put it in the temple of their god, Dagon. Dagon, of course, fell down and lost its hands and head before the ark of the Lord. Fr. Reardon comments:

The triumph of the “defeated” Ark within Philistia was a prophecy of the victory of “defeated” Jesus over the forces of the nether world. Like the Philistines, Death had swallowed what it could not digest. St. John Chrysostom said it best: “The Savior's death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh . . .. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven.”

Thus, then, the death of Christ. Then, in the next day's entry, commenting on Psalm 47, Fr. Reardon says:

We have been redeemed and justified by Jesus, our High Priest, not only by the shedding of His blood, but also by the power of His glorification over death, because He “was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the Cross, by which He ransomed us and paid the purchase of our souls, was completed, fulfilled, brought to perfection by His Resurrection and entrance into the heavenly holy of holies, that place “behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 6:19, 20).

The Ascension of Christ is not, then, an afterthought, a sort of postlude to salvation. It is not merely an appropriate but optional parade celebrated in consequence of the victory. It is an integral part of the triumph itself; or more properly, it is the crowning moment of the Lord’s priestly offering. 

I'd encourage you to go and read Fr. Reardon's entire meditation here, under the May 13 entry.

Happy Ascension Day, friends!

peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

so, feigning madness isn't deceptive

Just another interesting tidbit as I do this chronological read-through of the Bible this year: in Psalm 34, David advises us:

Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit.

The thing is, this psalm was written by David after he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

So . . . are there people it's okay to deceive?

Or maybe that's only if you're the anointed one of the Lord? (Not being sarcastic there.)

Just something I noticed and thought was odd. Odd in an hmm, want to ponder that further sort of a way. Is this being wise as a serpent? Is, "confusion to the enemy!" an acceptably Biblical principle?

And . . . after Christ has come, who is our enemy? Is deception of enemies a strictly old convenant okay thing?

Or, upon further thought, did "speaking deceit" mean something different to David than it does to me? And, if so, what?

I really don't know the answer to any of those questions. But it's interesting.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

writing and the morning.

The day stretches before me, and I'm curious about what it holds. It's my first breathing space of the day; after the rush of breakfast and diapers and nursing, and cleaning up from breakfast and reading some books and nursing again, the babies are down for their naps and the kids are down for their quiet times. Or, rather, up, since I'm the one sitting in the living room at the bottom of the stairs.

I'm always puzzled at what to do with this short half hour or forty-five minutes of peace. Do I pray? do I relax? do I try to get some chores done? do I write?

Often I do some combination of the four. I'll start by puttering around a bit with the house stuff: move this over there, put that away, start this part of dinner so the end of the day is less harried. Today it was getting all the dirty clothes into the laundry bags and fishing out a recipe for herbed bread that I want to make to go with tonight's creamy veggie soup. Then a bit of relaxation: reading a snatch of TWOP's recap of Survivor (the one TV show we actually watch on the TV - over at my mother-in-law's; what can I say? it's become a Grandma-time tradition: dinner and Survivor). And now the tea is on, and I might read through the morning daily devotion in the BCP and then try to get a bit more of my novel rewritten.

The novel now, that's a thing. I wrote it in the small space between when my son started sleeping through the night and when I got pregnant with Lucy and Anna. Now that Lucy and Anna are - not sleeping through the night - but only waking up once to nurse - I'm starting to rewrite it. I didn't expect to be doing it so soon, but my husband, who hadn't read it yet, started reading it aloud to me during our dishes-and-clean-up time that we have every night after the squirts are a in bed, and hearing the words rather than seeing them has given me a gift I never expected to have: the gift of being able to experience my own words as a reader, and not a writer. I'm terribly afraid Adam has just let himself in for an entire lifetime of reading my work back to me. Brave man.

So I am working on the little, obvious fixes that I've noted. Add dialogue here. Make that character more consistant throughout. Show, don't tell, that they had a lot of fun at the dinner party. And in the midst of these little changes, I'm hoping that the bigger one makes itself clear. The story starts with a flourish, and ends with a delightful build-up of tension and an even more delightful release, but there is something missing from the beginning-middle of the book, and though I can feel the shape of what ought to be there, I don't know the specifics yet.

The shape of the change is so clear in my mind; when I talk about it, I always make the same low, round motion with my hands. But I don't know exactly how it is to be done yet. So I'm hoping that by fixing the easy things - this paragraph, that scene - I'll be able to lure the big change out of hiding. It's there, I know it, I can feel it, and I hope that by innocently working in its vicinity, while paying it no direct mind, it will come out of hiding, and show me its face.

But for now? Tea and Psalms. I've read all the way through them again, my one consistant piece of Scripture reading this year, and I'm back at the beginning: "Blessed is the man . . ."

That, and perhaps the biography of St. Elizabeth of Hungary that I got out of the library. Today is her saint day, and I know nothing about her except that one of the other liturgical blogging moms around her had her daughter dress up as St. E of H for Halloween. It made me curious, and so now I have an old, yellow hardback from the library that's going to assuage my curiosity. I should have read it last week, but I was deep in the middle of Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. That's done as of this morning though, and so to St. E of H I go!

I hope your morning goes well, and that the best possibiities of the day become reality.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell