“these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” maybe it’s already been posted, but it’s my favorite line when talking with a christian who thinks that when jesus said love is the fulfillment of the law he only meant heterosexual love

- Alicia

That the violence and bloodshed will cease,that the doctors will heal and save, that the wounded will find relief, that families will find comfort and hope and the fallen are in peace.

Amen.

I know it’s a day late but today I want to talk about what Crucifixion is really about.

A few of you may have seen the Passion of the Christ, that is probably as close as you will get to what it is like.Most people have only seen sanitized  pictures of Jesus in a loincloth with a bit of blood here and there.

Once sentenced you were scourged. That means a whip with small pieces of bone attached to the tips of the strands. This would literally  rip your skin to shreds. The aim was to cause blood loss so you died more quickly.

Then there was the walk to Golgotha (meaning “place of the skull”) carrying the cross piece of your own crucifix.

Historical inaccuracy No.1 The whole cross was NOT carried. Your arms would be strapped  across the beam where your arms would be nailed/ tied for your execution. This not meant you couldn’t balance so would fall on your face every so often it also caused huge strain on your heart and lungs due to the position your arms are in. Imagine your back on fire as the majority of the crowd jeers and spits on you while you stagger your way to death, knowing your friends are in there somewhere hardly able to look at the agony you are in.

Historical accuracy No.2 You were stripped out of all your clothes. No artfully draped loincloths. That’s right all. Crucifixion was meant to be utterly degrading for even daring  to try and usurp Roman authority (which is why Jesus was crucified, false charges but that’s beside the point), it was a political death, which brings me to historical inaccuracy No.3 the two men Crucified on either side of Jesus could not  have been thieves. Crucifixion was ONLY for people who tried to overthrow their Roman occupiers. In most places they would crucify people in droves (particularly after  a large rebellion) along the sides of the roads. The message? “Mess with Rome this will happen to YOU.”

Historical inaccuracy No.4 The nails would not be through the feet and hands but rather between the two bones of the arm in the wrist (so there was more support for the body) and through the ankles once again to support the body and allow the victim to push themselves up to take the strain off their arms and then sag as it hurt their ankles and legs, the cause of death is a combination of shock, pain, exhaustion  and suffocation due to the way the position compresses the lungs.  Sometimes it could take up to several days for someone to die. Hence the request for the soldiers to break victims legs as it meant they died more quickly.

Jesus refused all attempts to ease his pain, the wine offered him would be laced with a drug to dull his senses and the pain but he refused.And as if it wasn’t enough, Jesus took on the punishment for every sin, past, present and future, He felt the abandonment of God that so many of us feel: “Eloi, Eloi lamach Sabachthani?”

“My God….my God. Why have you forsaken me?”

And even after He rose in glory, he still bore the marks of his crucifixion. And He took it back with him to heaven. That suffering became part of the trinity  and is therefore part of God. God knows what it is to be rejected, to be alone, to be lost, to be scared.

And He shares it with us now.

Lord Jesus, help us to remember what you did for us, in it’s full horror and agony. Help us to remember that through that we know how much you love us. Punished for a crime you did not commit and punished for us so we never have to be without you again.

Amen.

 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

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We were invited to a Veteran Day’s Banquet. There was dozens of people there. There was music and LIVE performances and Delicious food. At the end of the Banquet, the coordinator of the event called the Faifeau (Pastor) up to close the night with a prayer. The Pastor got up and said to form a CIRCLE and to bow our heads. Me on the other hand along with my cousin just stood there holding hands as if we were anxious to LEAVE. Then the Pastor opened his mouth and said, “This month of November 2012, Washington has now ACCEPTED Gay marriage in our state. They APPROVED Referendum 74 which means that our state will be full of Gay people. We are living in the end times my friends.” Listening to his rant, I was surprised that about 75% of the people in the room didn’t say, “Amen”. There were a few but almost no one responded. Then he said, “Just this past week, I saw thousands of BIRDS flying. THOUSANDS OF THEM! Flying headed somewhere! did anybody see that? we are in the END TIMES!!” And I scoffed a little bit, leaned over to my cousin who was standing to my left and I said, ” Aint it MIGRATION season?” LOL

Confessions of a Gay Samoan

The leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, has posted the address of a gay couple on his Twitter account with a warning that a “British justice team” would turn up to give them “a bit of drama.” 

The couple were brought to the attention of the political leader when they won damages against a hotel owner after she refused to give them a room with a double bed because it conflicted with her religious beliefs. They were awarded £3,600 in compensation after their claim of unlawful discrimination.

Mr Griffin responded to claims that his Tweets were “disgusting and he should hang his head in shame” (Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron) and that he is “an odious hypocrite” (Labour MP Chris Bryant) by Tweeting “Why don’t left & gay activists confront Muslims instead of picking on meek & forgiving Christians? Bullies are always cowards!”

http://ourspiritnow.tumblr.com/post/32633962028/bishop-gene-robinson-knows-that-love-is-the-whole

Is this the right way to submit? I’m trying to forward Bishop Robinson’s cool message, “LGBT youth: God loves you beyond your wildest imagining.” It’s easy-to-read in a black box on the Our Spirit tumblr page.

Thanks!