99 Beautiful Names

St. Patrick's Breastplate

I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever,
By power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan River;
His death on cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the Cherubim;
The sweet 'Well done' in judgment hour;
The service of the Seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, his shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death-wound and the burning
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Paul of Tarsus on What Really Matters

"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

-Paul of Tarsus (from Galatians 5:6 NIV)

On Nonviolence:

"Violence simply is not radical enough, since it generally changes only the rulers but not the rules."

-Walter Wink in Jesus and Nonviolence, A Third Way

Al Fatiha

In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy! Praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy, Master of the Day of Judgement. It is You we worship; it is You we ask for help. Guide us in the straight path: the path of those You have blessed, those who incur no anger and who have not gone astray.

Feeling | 1

The last post ended with Luke 19, Jesus finally arriving in Jerusalem after quite a journey. He’d been through Judea, Galilee, and Samaria and had at last arrived at the city in which he would die. Now, every year on Palm Sunday you probably hear the story, although it’s probably read from the account of Matthew, Mark or John. The event is mentioned in all four gospels but these three talk more about Jesus riding on a donkey and thus fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. Luke, however, mentions something that none of the other gospel writers mention, and, to me, it’s one of the most beautiful scenes in all of Jesus’ ministry. It occurs between Jesus getting on the donkey and actually entering the gates of Jerusalem. Jesus, the disciples and a whole crowd of people are coming down the Mount of Olives. The disciples are singing joyfully, the Pharisees were being critical as they usually were, and then in verse 41 it says that “as [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace. . .’” (emphasis mine)

I spent a while meditating and thinking about this scene and I imagine Jesus and the disciples just before this on top of the Mount of Olives. He’d just spent so much time traveling around, healing, feeding, rebuking, teaching, proclaiming freedom for all the oppressed. All of this in all kinds of places, from inside synagogues to the dining rooms of tax collectors and sinners. He spoke the elite rabbis as well as the people they hated. He’s travelled miles and miles on foot and now he’s on the top of the Mount of Olives just outside of Jerusalem looking out over everywhere they’d just been. I imagine there’s no way anyone could sit up there and not reflect on all that had just happened, especially knowing what was about to happen when he entered the city. (In fact, later this is the exact spot Jesus goes to pray before he was arrested, praying, “Father if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done”) Everything he’s said and done has all been leading up to this point and it’s finally arrived and he’s riding down the hill and sees the city and the people in it, and it breaks his heart. And in the midst of this incredibly emotional moment, well, he loses it.

Luke uses the same word here, eklausen (translated wept), that he does a few chapters later when he’s telling how Peter “went outside and wept bitterly,” (Luke 22:62) after having just realized he’d denied knowing Jesus three times, just as Jesus had predicted he would. (Luke 22:34) This must have been another intensely emotional scene, Peter realizing he’d let someone down who had given everything for him. Another word that is really important in this verse is the word peace, or eirene in the Greek. The concept is signified by the word shalom in Hebrew, which is much more than just a lack of conflict. It’s complete wellness, safety, satisfaction, and wholeness of being in the presence of the Creator. Jesus continues,

“The days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19:43-44)

What he’s describing here is a city without the shalom of the Kingdom of Heaven, and what I think really breaks Jesus’ heart in this moment is that the shalom of the Kingdom of Heaven is sitting on a donkey riding down the Mount of Olives and into their midst, and they have no idea.

Feeling like Christ means that our hearts break for what breaks his. It means being desperate for the shalom of the Kingdom.

Now that we’re here, let’s go back and check out what the disciples were singing in this moment:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
(Luke 19:38)

Thinking | 1

I’ve been thinking more about this idea of Phronesis and what it means to collectively think, feel and act like christ as a body. I’ve decided I’m going to start an ongoing series of blog posts that focus on one of the three specifically. Some may be long and some may just be a quick thought that relate to one of them. Either way, I hope they help us all figure out what it means to be a priest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

I like to think one of the things that the disciples thought, or maybe even whispered to each other (a dangerous thing to do around Jesus), as they listened to Jesus speak and watched him minister is “Seriously, what the junk is this guy thinking?” which probably led to the question “and what the junk are we thinking following him around?” These are naive questions, but I’d say they are great questions, even for the most mature of Kingdom citizens. Seriously, what was Jesus thinking? and what are we doing following him?

Back when I was in high school, Louie Giglio was speaking at a summer event series called Passion on the Hill. I went with several friends for a few of them and during one of them, while Louie was speaking, I noticed that one of the people I was with was frantically digging through her purse, then carefully checking her pockets, the ground around her, then back to her purse. She was obviously missing something and obviously not at all engaged in what was happening on stage. I asked her what was up and she said she couldn’t find her keys, which was kind of important because we came in her car. I told her not to worry because, since she drove, they had to be somewhere among us. Even still, she couldn’t focus. I’m sure there were a hundred different “what ifs” running through her head. What if someone stole them and took my car? What if I dropped them in a drainage grate? What if I never brought them in the first place and I managed to power the car with supernatural electrical pulses from my fingers and if I touch someone, they’ll die? Okay, the last one there is pretty absurd but you get the idea. In his book, The Way To Love, Anthony De Mello shares a very similar story of someone who is in a concert hall listening to a beautiful symphony and realizes they left their car unlocked. They’re so anxious about what could happen that they can’t enjoy the music. One of my favorite songwriters, David Wilcox, describes the same sentiment talking about someone who goes to the store to buy something specific, but gets distracted by “blue light specials” and after checking out, realizes they forgot the one thing they came in for. This has happened to me and it’s probably happened to you.

This is what life is like. We’re here for one reason and yet, we’re distracted so much by attachments that don’t really matter. Sometimes we’re so concerned about something like car keys that we completely lose sight of the bigger picture. We start thinking about protecting and maintaining our attachments (they can be material things, people, ideas, religions, etc.) that our role as agents of the Kingdom fades into obscurity. There’s beautiful music playing, yet, we’d rather listen to the noise. We run into the store for toothpaste and come out having spent hundreds on.. what did we buy again? We think ourselves into situations like this all the time.

This is how we think. Jesus thinks differently. He doesn’t get distracted by things that don’t really matter, even good things, or good works. He doesn’t let them get in the way of the purpose for which he was sent. Check out what Jesus does in Luke 4:31-44. He goes into a town called Capernaum to talk about the Kingdom. He goes to a synagogue and drives a demon out of a man, then to Simon’s house and heals his mother-in-law of a high fever. Then all kinds of people start coming to him to be healed of various things. The next morning, the crowd of people finds Jesus again and tries to convince him to stay, as there likely were many more people to be healed, people who believed in him and wanted to hear about the Kingdom. In verse 43, Jesus responds “I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (emphasis mine) Jesus doesn’t stay to heal more people. He leaves. The people were probably wondering “Jesus, what are you thinking? There are more sick people here, more people in need.” He’s thinking about the big picture. He knows there will always be another person to healed, or another sermon to preach, but he always remembers what he’s really here for and he’s not afraid to walk away from even good things to keep the Kingdom first. There’s something bigger he’s concerned about.

Another way this way of thinking is evident is something brilliant Luke repeats several times throughout his gospel. In Luke 9:51, he says that “as the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” So here’s a goal, a destination, a very important one. Now, a LOT takes place before Jesus arrives at the gates of Jerusalem, 10 chapters of things. He visits a lot of people in different towns. He heals them, tells them about the Kingdom. Between towns he tells parables. He teaches the religious leaders in the synagogues. As you’re reading, just as you’ve probably forgotten that Jesus is on the way to a specific city, Luke reminds you. In Luke 13:22, 17:11, and 18:31, Luke says something to the effect of “on his way up to Jerusalem.” Luke wants us to remember the larger goal in the midst of all of Jesus’ ministry: getting to Jerusalem, because as we know, what happens in Jerusalem is one of the most important events in the Kingdom narrative. No doubt, Jesus was constantly thinking about the larger task at hand, even amidst all he was doing, and in chapter 19, he finally arrives in Jerusalem.

Thinking like Jesus means maintaining focus on the bigger picture, remembering our role in the Kingdom and keeping it first, even in the midst of good or bad distractions.




Oh, I did want to add that we did finally find the car keys. They were left in the car, in the ignition, in the on position. :)