#God with us

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Jesus wasn't Palestinian you dumb heretic. Palestine didn't exist yet. The Palestinian people didn't exist yet. Read the fucking bible. Dumbass

(what anon's responding to)

This is going to sound sarcastic but i mean it genuinely: i love getting called a heretic by randos online. helps me know i'm doing some things right!

In honor of Jesus the Palestinian Jew, here's an excerpt from a sermon (which you can read / listen to in full over here) I wrote back in June on how Jesus's direct identification with those the world calls "least" in Matthew 25 empowers (and challenges) us to envision him as literally one with all who are denigrated, disenfranchised, executed by Empire — as Palestinians are today.

...In proclaiming himself not only kin with the world’s outcasts, but literally one with each and every one of them, Jesus empowers us to imagine him in ever newer, ever more expansive ways. He empowered Black theologian James Cone to declare that Christ is Black, and that every time a Black person is lynched, Christ is re-crucified with them. He empowered disability theologian Nancy Eiesland to declare that God is disabled – to envision the throne of God as a wheelchair, and to point out how the wounds with which Christ rose would have impaired his movement. He empowered gay artist Maxwell Lawton to paint Christ with AIDS lesions, and photographer Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin to depict Christ’s resurrection wounds as transgender top surgery scars. Though some have decried all these images of Christ as blasphemous, it was Jesus himself who told us that he is one with those whom the world denies food, safety, medical care, freedom, and love...

btw if anyone has other examples of theologians declaring Christ a member of a marginalized group it's my fave thing so please add on. Another great one is S. Yesu Suresh' declaration that Christ is Dalit (the "untouchable" class in India).

#also. bring in the princess bride reaction meme 'you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means' #regarding 'heresy' #god with us #god of the oppressed #matthew 25

[trickricksblog08]

#when you know you know #enjoy the show 😏🍿🍿🍿 #god with us

[dramoor]

“‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God with us.’” - Matthew 1:23

~Christ is Born!  Glorify Him!~

(Icon by Tatiana Nikolova-Houston)

#Icons #Orthodox Christmas #Nativity #Christmas #Christ Child #Virgin Mary #Theotokos #Panagia #Scriptures #Emmanuel #God with us

[lightfromthelighthouse]

Good Morning!☀

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Isaiah 41:10-11

We are repeatedly told in the Bible not to fear. We are repeatedly told in the Bible why we should not fear. We are repeatedly reminded that we have a living, loving God actively working in our behalf.

Yet we fear! Yet we let the latest news report shake our faith instead of trusting God and his word. He tells us in his word that difficulties will come, but he will be there to help us through. He promised that he would never leave us nor forsake us.

Isaiah asks the question, "Who has believed our report?". Have you believed God's report? Have you traded fear in for faith? Fear not, go forth in faith. With God, you can not lose. Without him, you can not win!

#Fear not #God with us #know God no fear

[introverting-rn]

#merry christmas guys!! #God with us #and also memes #ace attorney #almost christmas means it wasn’t christmas #christmas edition haha #someone’s probably done this but whatever

[a-queer-seminarian]

For Good Friday, here's a little bit of queer Christian history: In 1993, painter Maxwell Lawton envisioned the crucified Christ with AIDS. Archbishop Desmond Tutu loved and defended Lawton's painting.

ID: a white genderqueer person with short brown hair sits in front of a candlelit altar. A couple other images pop up during the video — find them under the readmore.

"Man of Sorrows: Christ with AIDS" by Maxwell Lawton. This painting depicts Jesus nude except for his crown of thorns, with one hand on his knee and the other cradling his head. His skin is gray and covered in AIDS lesions. A quote from Matthew 25 is written in the background of the painting: "Then the king will reply, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did to me."

ID: A photo of Lawton, a white man with short brown hair, standing next to his painting in the Cape Town cathedral, with stained glass behind him. The painting is very large, so that Jesus is close to life size.

ID: A drawing of Jesus in a crucified position by Carlos Latuff; Jesus’s loin cloth thing is a rainbow flag. Text reads “Queering the Cross, Burial, and Resurrection. Episode 58 of the Blessed Are the Binary Breakers podcast.”

Link to the episode page.

#maxwell lawton #good friday #holy week #aids #aids history #god with us #crucifixion #art #lenten video series

[momentsbeforemass]

Constant

I’m always a little skeptical about people who find hidden meanings in the Bible.

Probably because I grew up around some ultra fundamentalists who did weird things with Scripture.

Like playing “apocalypse calendar” – giving dates and names to stuff in the Book of Revelation so they could figure out when the world was going to end.

Or assigning numbers to Hebrew letters and words so that they could “discover the true meaning” of some passage in Old Testament. 

But then there are times when things like that hit home. Like with the 23rd Psalm (today’s psalm).

In Hebrew, Psalm 23 has 55 words. There are 26 words before and 26 words after the words at the middle of the psalm. In the middle of the 23rd Psalm are the Hebrew words that are classically translated as “for Thou art with me.”

As in “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou are with me.”

Whether it’s all green pastures and still waters or if what we see coming our way couldn’t look any scarier. No matter what’s going on in our lives, there is one constant.

The only One who is constant. The only One who will never leave us or forsake us.

Even when anyone else would have abandoned us long ago.

Even when we’re too scared or hurt too much to feel His presence.

“Thou art with me.”

This time, the numbers make sense.

Because the heart of the 23rd Psalm (according to the word count) is the heart of what the Psalmist is saying.

“Thou art with me.”

Today, make time to pray the 23rd Psalm. But don’t just recite it from memory.

Stop in the middle. Stay a moment with the heart of the 23rd Psalm.

Stay with the peace and the trust that flows from this simple truth.

“Thou art with me.”

Today’s Readings

#Constant #Psalm 23 #No Matter What #God with us #God's Love #God #Jesus #Catholic #Christian #Church #Moments Before Mass

[trustfallwithgod]

Day 4: who is God?

he meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

There’s a tendency among us to treat prayer like how a pilot treats a parachute: an instrument of last resort. However prayer should be the first thing one turns to: We have this thing in us that is hesitant to trust God when everything we need know about God comes from John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Any parent understands that sentiment.

Hence, whatever is going on in my life, whatever season I’m going through … what do you really know about God?

“I can stop wrestling with God when I know I can trust him. That doesn’t mean I don’t have questions, but it means the way in which I ask the questions ceases to be that of someone who is wondering: ‘Can I trust you?’” - Fr. Mike Schmitz

Wrestling with dad

Remember, God pursued Jacob? Jacob was stewing in his own anxiety over Esau when God showed up. And the wrestling drew Jacob out of his fearful preoccupation and forced him to focus on God.

God afflicted Jacob with a debilitating injury. This had the effect of making Jacob even more vulnerable to Esau, forcing Jacob’s faith to more fully rest on God and not himself. If necessary, God will cause us to limp to increase our faith.

I don’t have to know where are you working right now — I just have to know you are good. You’re just; you’re mercy; you are love; you are my Father.

#trusting god #spiritualgrowth #spiritual journey #catholic #jesus christ #god with us

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

By the light of nature we see God as a God above us, by the light of the law we see Him as a God against us, but by the light of the gospel we see Him as Emmanuel, God with us.

Matthew Henry

#nature #law #Gospel #God #Emmanuel #God with us #Matthew Henry #Christian Quotes

[theinwardlight]

We should never forget the two axioms: 'Jesus is with me' and whatever happens, happens by the will of God.

Charles de Foucauld

#Charles de Foucauld #little brothers of Jesus #faith #will of God #providence #God with us #spirituality #things to remember

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

how do you keep your faith even while such horrific things are going on in palestine? i've been a christian all my life and i understand that the question of why god allows suffering is one that people have always been asking, that we can never really know the answer to, but it's just so hard for me to see things like this, all of these innocent people being terrorized and murdered in such evil ways, and understand why god can't stop it from happening. in church we pray for both israel and palestine and it feels so pointless, and just makes me frustrated that i can't actually do anything to stop this. especially knowing that even bethlehem, the place of jesus's birth and home to many palestinian christians, is being attacked and churches are being bombed. it seems pretty clear that the people committing these atrocities are never going to open their hearts and stop, and the world leaders who would have the power to make them stop either don't care or directly support them. i do not want to believe that god doesn't exist, or that god would just sit by and watch all of this happen if it were possible to stop it, but it's such a struggle at times like this. i feel like it shouldn't be and like i should've had this figured out by now. it's okay if you don't answer this, i just love your blog and have learned a lot from it over the years, and am incredibly saddened by the state of the world right now.

Hey there, anon. I feel with you and stand with you in your struggle. I also gently suggest you work on letting go of the sense that you "should" have this figured out by now. Firstly because learning to release myself from "shoulds" is something my therapist taught me and it's been super helpful for showing myself love; secondly because I believe it is deeply, deeply faithful to ask these questions, to demand to know where God is in the face of evil — not just once, but continuously across our lives.

If at any point we think we have it "all figured out," if we think we've reached a fully satisfying solution to the problem of how a good God could "let" evil things happen, we're more likely to be numbed by fatalism or become complacent in the face of injustice. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (may his memory be a blessing) put it when asked why God lets bad things happen to good people,

“God does not want us to understand, because if we ever understood, we would be forced to accept that bad things happen to good people, and God does not want us to accept those bad things. He wants us not to understand, so that we will fight against the bad and the injustices of this world, and that is why there is no answer to that question.”

Ask the questions. Bring all that you feel — your grief, your confusion, your frustration, your doubt, your fear — to God. Study and pray and converse with others.

And while you're doing all that, and accepting that it'll be a lifelong exploration, act.

Let your love, your words, your actions be the divine response to injustice — because for whatever mysterious reason, God chooses to act through us, through all who follow Their call to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly" (Micah 6:8).

___

So yeah, I can't tell you why God doesn't just jump in and stop the evil, why God seems to limit Their own power to intervene (or even to lack that power to begin with), why God respects our free will even when we misuse it to such great harm (though you can see the bottom of this post for places to explore all those questions).

But I can tell you where I believe God is in the midst of all the questions, all the loss, all the suffering — and that's not on some lofty throne indifferently observing our pain; God is right there in the midst of that pain.

Where is God in the face of hate, violence, death? God is co-suffering with us, shouldering the burden with us.

In Exodus 3:7, God says They don't only see the enslaved Hebrews' misery, don't only hear their cries, but that They know the people's suffering — an intimate knowing, as of one who experiences it themself.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us that when humanity fails to welcome the stranger, visit the prisoner, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the oppressed, we fail to do those things for him — for he identifies so intimately with all whom the world calls "least" that he is one with each and every one of them.

So I don't know why God doesn't just fix everything, dammit! — it's the first question I'll be asking Xir when I die, because wtf!!

But I do believe, and I do draw some comfort knowing, that God does not leave us to suffer alone. God is one with the oppressed; God shows ultimate solidarity to the oppressed; and God acts with each of us who act for and with and as the oppressed.

And the good news in the midst in this horror is that there are things that all of us can be doing to act in solidarity with the oppressed!

Our efforts truly are making a difference. Politicians and whole governments across the globe have been startled by the resistance to pro-Israeli propaganda and solidarity with Palestine. The change is slow, but our protests are making an impact. Palestinians have been asking that we keep protesting, boycotting, educating, spreading the word. Because it is helping, slowly but surely.

As long as Palestinians refuse to give in to despair, we too must continue to fight. Palestine will be free. We will not stand silent as genocide occurs.

Boycott as many of the companies named by BDS as you can. Notice that they're focusing on a narrower, more targeted group of companies than some of the enormous lists people keep sharing — that's to help us avoid becoming overwhelmed! So boycott what you can from their list; these are the companies directly contributing to Israel's violence. And spread their list to anyone you can.

If you live in a country with a government that has yet to join the call for a ceasefire — and especially if you, like me here in the US, live in a country that is actively funding/otherwise supporting Israel's violence — call or email your representatives to demand a ceasefire.

Resistbot can help make that easy, in the US at least.

Educate yourself about the history of Palestine and Israel. It's important so that you can recognize lies and propaganda, and also so you can speak knowledgeably about the issue with others. It's also important because understanding and simply bearing witness are two big things Palestinians ask of us. You don't need to know everything, but know enough to bear witness, to remember the loss, and to debunk bullshit when you see it.

Here are some places you can get educated — link to free ebooks; article on current events; article with current perspectives from Gaza; and I've been reblogging news & resources as I see them over on @a-queer-seminarian

Post about what Gaza is going through on social media!! Don't let the fight die down! Talk about it with friends or others you think might be swayed to join the fight if they had the information that most media stations are failing to report on.

Stand up against Islamophobia in all forms.

Stand up against antisemitism in all forms. As Christians, this includes recognizing and uprooting supersessionism in our biblical interpretation, our liturgy, our hymns, etc. It also means learning about Christian Zionism.

One of Israel's primary arguments for the "necessity" of its oppression of Palestine is that Israel is necessary because nowhere else on earth is safe for Jews. They're right that nowhere else is safe for Jews; but they're wrong that Israel is safe for Jews — an settler-colonialist state, a war zone, a state that requires every civilian to serve some time in the military, is not safe for Jews either. But as long as they can point to the antisemitism rampant across the globe, they can use that as an argument. So to counter Israel, and much more importantly to stand in solidarity with Jewish people across the world, don't let antisemitism go unchecked.

Join in protests in your area. Follow Jewish Voices for Peace or Jews Against White Supremacy for info on such events.

Link to places to offer fin.ancial support

Want more ways to act? Check out https://www.palestineaction.org/

___

There is no easy answer to the question of suffering — but even so, it can be helpful to explore it deeper, to examine what conclusions others have drawn over the eras. If you want some resources for your wrestling, here are some:

This post goes into the basics of theodicy, the "the intellectual effort to jerry-rig three mutually exclusive terms into harmony: divine power, goodness, and the experiences of evil"

Then there's my #theodicy tag where I put all posts / links about this issue

I also have a long-ass YouTube video diving deep into "the problem of suffering"!

___

I hope this response brings you comfort and courage, friend. Don't be afraid of questions, of grief, of concern — let them galvanize you for the struggle. Solidarity forever <3

#god with us #theodicy #palestine #suffering

[trickricksblog08]

“For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:” Isaiah 44:3

#god with us #god willing #when you know you know #nothing can stop what is coming

[psalmonesermons]

Immanuel our best ever Christmas gift

Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23

Isaiah 7:14 says The Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.

Permit me to explain

These gracious words were spoken by the Hebrew prophet Isaiah about 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. This prophecy like some other old testament prophecies seemed to have a double fulfilment.

That is the prophecy was fulfilled in the days around when it was first given for King Ahaz.

However, its second and much greater fulfilment came several hundred years later when Jesus Christ was born.

We know this Immanuel prophecy about was about Jesus because the Gospel of

Matthew 1:23 quotes the Isaiah 7:14 scripture as follows

Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Please note that both spellings are acceptable that is Immanuel and Emmanuel.

So, what does Emmanuel or 'God with us' mean?

Emmanuel in a sense is an overview of God's full plan of salvation for mankind.

First God becomes a actual man of flesh and blood, he can feel pain and the full range of human emotions.

This brings God in a new way into a full identification with mankind.

He now knows exactly what it is like to be a human being.

This baby born in a manger, grows up to become the Messiah the Saviour, who at the end of his life saves mankind from our greatest foe...not the Romans, not the Egyptians, not the Russians… mankind's biggest foe is sin or we could say acting against God's wishes.

This unique baby went on to provide a way back to God for mankind for all of us have gone astray.

Imagine that, God the Son was with us and is still with us!

What does that mean to you?

Yes, that little baby in the manger, grew up to become the suffering Messiah who has provided a way back to God for all who want it.

We can rejoice in Emmanuel

We rejoice that God is with us.

We can rejoice in God’s greatest ever gift Christmas gift- Immanuel, Jesus Christ who came to take our sins. If this is new to you then check out the teaching below 'How to be born again'.

Amen

Personal prayer

#christianity #bible study #bibletruth #blog post #blessings #psalmonesermons #faith #victory #devotional #Immanuel #Emmanuel #god with us

[8bitmanna]

Verse of the Day

🧡Isaiah 7:14🧡

#verse of the day #daily verse #todays verse #daily scripture #daily Bible verse #Bible verse #Bible #God #Jesus #Jesus loves you #Jesus saves #Jesus saves us #christian blog #christian ministry #the Son #God with us #Immanuel #the Lord #Him #a sign #grace #thank You Jesus #love #christianity #christian youth #christian youth ministry #christian teens #God has got this #He has always had the plan #it’s laid out in front of us

[forewerinmyheart]

Now, because of you, Lord, I will lie down in peace and sleep comes at once, for no matter what happens, I will live unafraid! Psalms 4:8

Heavenly Father, you who knows everything and can do everything. I know that you are always with me and you always listen to me. Even in sickness and uncertainty, you have shown me your grace, reminded me of your love and granted me peace. Thank you for staying with me against all odds. For watching over me and protecting me against harm and diseases. For always giving me assurance of safety and comfort. For always guiding and providing my needs. I know I can sleep in peace tonight, knowing that You will help me fight my battles and I should never be afraid because of you. Amen.

#bedtime blessings #bedtime prayer #bedtimebliss #wisdom #nightmoon #nighttime #night city #at night #with you #with good reason #i carry your heart with me #god be with me #stay with you #god with us #with #yeshua #joshua x reader #fatherlove #father #holy spirit #holybible #hosanna #praytogether #faith in god #family #amen 🙏 #friendship #god #hope #health

[a-queer-seminarian]

And it seems to me the world is a manger, the whole bloody mess of it, where God is being born again and again and again and again and again and again. You’ve got your mind on so many other things. You are so busy with this and that, you don’t see it. You don’t notice it.

Frederick Buechner

#frederick buechner #manger #nativity #god with us #quote tag #readings #mindfulness