Mayan Apocalypse-End of the World?

In the famous words of Dr. Evil–“How about ‘NO’?” As the end of the final cycle of the Mayan Calendar approaches, the media is beginning to stir the pot a little. After a bit of a hiatus from the chaos of the initial revelation about the Mayan calendar, we are now hearing about believers running to gather on a mountain in France to await the end. Some clever entrepreneur is selling shelters from the cataclysm and many others are telling of suicide scares.

What at first was just a bit of an annoyance for most Christians is quickly becoming an issue with society as a whole. And the more we talk about it the worse it will become. I’ve quoted news sources and even scientists: “Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than four billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” NASA researchers write in an apocalypse-debunking FAQ.” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50202547#.UM0a5-T7KSo)

The final words on the issue come from the final authority on all things cosmic–Christ, who said

“Now concerning that (final) day and hour no one knows–neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son–except the Father only. Matthew 24:36

As I once heard a wise old preacher say “Trust the red letters.” If you’re old enough you’ll know what that means. If you’re not, find an old Bible and look around.

Then pray.

For a great little book on prayer, go see: www.therealprayer.com

12-12-12

Well, today is another of those spooky days when the numbers line up just right and give the superstitious something to fret over. The sun came up just like always here on the east coast and except for overcast skies, it looks just like any other day.

I am actually somewhat relieved. We won’t get another spate of these days until 2101. Which reminds me that before there was a 12-12-2012, there was a 11-11-2011 and a 10-10-2010, all of which we lived through no worse for wear.

I am amazed at how we seem to search for things over which to worry. We brood over, yes even invent things to give our much-needed brain power over to. I have enough legitimate concerns in my life (which do need my energy) than to waste time on the fictitious or trendy.

In fact, the more time I spend in prayer, the fewer of these concern I actually have. When I say “Our Father” and ask for “Thy will,” the rest is just details.

For a great little book on prayer, go see: www.therealprayer.org

Americans not as religious as they say? Hmm…

A new poll from the Pew Research Center says that nearly 20% of American say they are not affiliated with any religion. That’s right–one in five admit they do not go to church anywhere. The good news is that 80% of us DO go to church somewhere on Sunday or Saturday (or whenever.) Or do we?

Shankar Vedantam of NPR recently stated this:

 Well, leaders of several religious denominations for many years in the United States have said if (only)45 percent of Americans are attending church every Sunday, the pews should be packed.

But they’re not. In fact the pews are getting anything but packed. As I wrote in an earlier blog, the fastest growing religion in America is officially “no religion.” This has been discovered by people like sociologist Philip Brenner (UM Boston) who says he suspects that people who answer that question are really answering another question like “Are you the kind of person who goes to church?” And of course, the answer many times is yes.

If, however, you have them keep a diary of their whereabouts on, oh, let’s say, Sunday or Saturday, you’ll find out that very few people are in their house of worship anytime during the week. In fact, using the Time Diary Method, the percentage of Americans who documented attending a religious service is actually around 24%.

If you are reading this blog, you probably understand the import of “our Father” and you are probably interested in matters of faith. Our numbers are shrinking. We are not having the evangelical effect we once did. Nobody wants what we have to offer.

It begs the question: do we have anything to offer?

Maybe it starts with a prayer.

For an easy to use workbook on prayer, go see: www.therealprayer.org

BBC airs Assisted Suicide

The BBC aired an assisted suicide the other night. They broadcasted the entire suicide  from start to finish. The man was dying from a neurological disorder and did not want to experience  a slow and undignified death. With his wife at his side he slipped into a deep and unending sleep.

I’m not sure how I feel about suicide, let alone one shown on television. At the outset, it seems that we could easily take one side or the other. There are probably more reasons a person would want to die than we can imagine (or understand) and to simply dismiss it out of hand with some glib cliché seems to be insensitive. And as I get older, the more I feel this way.

Many of us are fortunate in that we will never feel that unfathomable hopelessness, or know such irreparable regret that ending it all seems to be the only solution. While many do experience discouragement, we do not all feel it to the level that suicide becomes an option.

Health problems present another conundrum. What if we want to “pull our own plug?” What if we know how it will end, and the process of our demise seems just too horrible to go through or put our families through?

No one has the “just right” answer.

No one has the corner on the truth. But I happen to believe our Creator, our Father, knows all about the created and remembers “that we are but dust.”

I cannot tell you, just now, sitting at my computer, what I may believe when the time of my personal decision comes, but I do believe that if I have lived a life of sustained contact with that Creator, the decision will be much easier.

Pray every day.

For a helpful workbook on prayer, visit: www.therealprayer.com .

Will the star Betelgeuse explode in 2012?

Maybe-but if it does, no one on Earth will know it until 520 years from now. Yep, Betelgeuse is 520 light years from here and if God were to flip the switch on this , the second largest star we know of, in 2012, it would not so much as flicker at earthlings until the year 2572. 

Why the hubbub? I’m not sure. It seems we want to fabricate any reason to worry about our entire planet’s demise at every turn.  And that’s not a good thing, so why are we so obsessed with it? I’m almost convinced we simply want to frighten ourselves!

I’m guessing 2012 will come and go just like Y2K, the planetary alignment of 1982, as well other End of Days scenarios. Why? Well because of these words:

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

That’s good enough for me.

For an easy to use prayer guide about the Lord’s Prayer, go see: www.therealprayer.com

New Astrological Signs

Not being one to believe in astrology to begin with, I am amazed to see the stir over the shift in the Zodiac. It seems we’ve been WRONG for a few thousand years which means I’m not really an Aquarius–I’m a Capricorn. Now what will really disappoint me is if I start reading the predictions for Capricorns and they actually make sense!

That’s not likely to happen according to a Christian Science Monitor article: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0113/New-zodiac-signs-2011-Why-astrology-is-even-sillier-than-we-thought 

If you really want some guidance, start by looking to the creator of the stars, not the stars themselves. As the Lord’s Prayer says, pray “Our Father who is in the heavens.”

Don’t just pray to the heavens.

For and easy to use guide to prayer, go see: www.therealprayer.com

 

National Day of Prayer

The National Day of Prayer is at risk. When our founding fathers came to this country, they were looking for freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion. They simply did not want government enforced church, tax, labor, and many other things. Being a part of the Christian tradition myself, it is easy to forget that times have changed. 

But changed they have. If it is the case that many no longer embrace the “faith of our fathers” then so be it. Religious freedom is a two-edged sword. While it does bother me that some legislators wan to abolish the National Day of Prayer, I might feel differently if I were not “religious.” It saddens me a bit that we a drifting further from our roots, but if government supported religion is our strength, we have gotten off track more than we know.

The strength of prayer is not the state, but the individual. I will continue to pray or meditate or study or whatever I want whether the government recognizes it with a “National Day” or not–it is  a personal affair. The National Day of Prayer is just an accommodation for those of us with faith which allows us to feel a part of something bigger as we stop to ponder the impact of all people of prayer doing their thing at the same time on the same day.

I may not have the latitude to take off work and enter my prayer closet, but sometime during the day, I can step off the treadmill and say…

Our Father…

For an easy to use prayer guide, visit www.therealprayer.org

Our Father…

Few things in life will make you notice the people around you as quickly as thinking you have something in common with them–you’re rooting for the same team, same NASCAR driver, same horse, whatever. It’s sort of like that with family. Family members disagree frequently, but take a family trip to an unknown place and something like an us-against-them mentality develops. We bond when there is something as simple as a common foe, or common goal, or something as lofty as a common destiny.  But the day to day grind, that boring commute, that twentieth trip to the copier, somehow tends to blur all that. We become isolated, compartmentalized, separated.

The first two words of the Lord’s Prayer adress that issue. As soon as we say Our Father we have connected ouselves to the rest of humanity. We could just as easily drop the human imagery of “father” and replace it with creator and the effect would be the same. Here we all are scurrying about this tiny blue planet as if what happens in our corner is all there is; as if hunger on the other side of the planet is of no concern; as if the slow destruction of our air and water is of little consequence; as if we’re in this by ourselves. We must never forget that everything touches everything else, including our lives.

When we finally see ourselves and our ancestry of humanity, the term Our Father becomes quite important. That guy who just flipped me off is my brother in a sense; that rude clerk is my sister; the starving children on those ubiqitous commercials could easily be my children under the right circumstances. And while saving the world is a bit of a task for me, treating like family the people with whom I cross paths  shouldn’t be such a chore.

www.therealprayer.com