The Encouraging Thomist

Jesus Healing the Sick Icon I. If someone were to ask you what the Sabbath is,  what would you say? What do you think of when I say the word, "Sabbath?" Well, a common thing that comes up when we think about "Sabbath"  is a particular day of the week   when we aren't supposed to do any work.    And you would be right!     Because the word "Sabbath" literally means two things:     1 - it means "day of rest"      and 2 - it can more tersely be rendered "STOP."     [ Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the King James Version: "Sabbath"] But which day of the week is the Sabbath, anyway?  Oh right, it is Sunday, where we go to church, right? Some of you probably know this already,  but did you know that the Sabbath actually isn't Sunday? If any of you have Jewish friends,  you probably know that the actual Sabbath is from sundown on Friday   to sundown on Saturday.   ...

The 21 Martyrs of Libya Icon I. If anyone knows what the balance between faith and division looks like,  it is a man Richard Wurmbrand,   a Lutheran pastor of Romanian descent during the 20th century. [The following is a biography of Richard Wurmbrand from the Voice of the Martyrs main website https://www.persecution.com/founders/] ----- In 1945,  during the bloody conflict we remember as World War II,   Romania was a country caught in the vice of the Soviet Union to the north,    Nazi Germany to the west,     and Bulgaria to the south. And in 1945,  the Romanian government crumbled. When the Communists of the Soviet Union seized the country of Romania  and attempted to take control of the churches, Pastor Wurmbrand began an effective,   vigorous   “underground” ministry to oppressed believers    as well as to the Russian soldiers occupying his country. He was arrested in 1948,  al...

Holy and Righteous Abraham Icon I. Faith. That mysterious,  strange,   upside-down thing we call faith    can often seem so close and yet so far away at the same time. In the popular vernacular,  we use the word "faith" to refer to "confidence" or "reliability,"   such as "the public's faith in the government was damaged,"    or "I have faith that he will do the right thing"     "my faith in humanity is restored!" And that is a fine usage of the word faith,  as the word is a close synonym to words like "confidence" and "reliability." But, faith also has a deep spiritual meaning for us Christians  that transcends more utilitarian words like those. Rather, faith is a deep abiding "trust." And the words "faith" and "trust" are intimately intertwined within the passages of Scripture  we have read this morning. In our Genesis passage,  Abraham h...

"Mississippi Immigration Raids Lead To Arrests Of Hundreds Of Workers" [https://www.npr.org/2019/08/07/749243985/mississippi-immigration-raids-net-hundreds-of-workers?fbclid=IwAR15QNWJ35tozswo00uypIrdWb8BS9hgTQmR5EToDX1ZgrEt8EO-ZuHr15I] What About The Kids: From a Parent N.B. Please be courteous if you decide to comment on this post, as this is a live situation with multiple facets that are not easily separated into Democrat and Republican, conservative and liberal, or any other bifurcation that we can imagine. I have bias, for sure, but any perceived slight against any political party in this piece is purely the perception of the reader, and not of the intent of the author.I 100% claim these opinions as my own, but I also claim that my words are founded upon a deep concern for people and upon my baptism as a follower of Jesus. ----- What kind of world do we want to leave for our kids after we are gone? That question is one of the most basic questions of le...

Ebenezer Scrooge,  as portrayed by Michael Kane in The Muppet Christmas Carol I. "He was a tightfisted hand at the grindstone, that Scrooge:  a squeezing,   wrenching,    grasping,     clutching,      covetous old sinner."      [Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol ] This is how Charles Dickens  in his famous novel A Christmas Carol   describes Ebenezer Scrooge,    a miserly, miserable old man who runs a money-lending business. The story of the redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge is so famous  that I don't think I need to describe the plot of the book.   But, the point of Scrooge's story    and the redemption brought by the visitation of the three Ghosts of Christmas,     the past, present, and future,      is also intimately tied in with another character that instigates Scrooges redemption:       the ghost of Jacob Marle...

I. "Oh, I'm just such a Martha,  but I wish I could be a Mary." "Oh, Jillian is such a Martha,  she just works and works and works." Anyone ever heard that phrase before?  That someone is a "Martha"   and wishes they could be a "Mary?" Well, I wonder where on earth that comparison came from?  It seems so familiar,   almost as if it's been told for a long time...    (turn to the side, pick up cell phone)     Wait, what's that, Holy Spirit?      Oh! This comes from the story from St. Luke's Gospel,       right! The one we just read this morning! Martha and Mary, the sisters in the town of Bethany.  In this one story,   are sometimes treated as if they are ONLY like this particular passage describes them.  Martha, being the one who just works away   and Mary the one who humbly sits at Jesus's feet while he teaches. Martha, who worries about the details and gets i...

The Good Samaritan Icon I. Has anyone here been stuck on the side of the road before? Was it because your car broke down?  Did you have a flat tire?   Did you have a sick child that was about to puke all over the back of your headrest,    and you needed to take evasive action? There are many reasons why people end up pulling over to the side of the highway.  But, some are more severe than others. There was a story I read once about a police officer  who was the first person to come upon a vehicle that had flipped over. The officer pulled over and went to the side of the road  and hurried up to the car to discover a young man unconscious in the driver's seat,   with a piece of metal embedded in his neck,    bleeding from the large artery in his neck. There was very little the officer could do other than try to stop the bleeding  and call for immediate backup. The officer, with both hands planted firmly ne...