Into Glory Lectionary Reading For Easter 7Aascension Sunday

JOHN 17:1-11 (NRSV)17 AFTER JESUS HAD SPOKEN THESE WORDS, HE LOOKED UP TO HEAVEN AND SAID, "FATHER, THE HOUR HAS COME; GLORIFY YOUR SON SO THAT THE SON MAY GLORIFY YOU, 2 SINCE YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM AUTHORITY OVER ALL PEOPLE,[A] TO GIVE ETERNAL LIFE TO ALL WHOM YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM. 3 AND THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE, THAT THEY MAY KNOW YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST WHOM YOU HAVE SENT. 4 I GLORIFIED YOU ON EARTH BY FINISHING THE WORK THAT YOU GAVE ME TO DO. 5 SO NOW, FATHER, GLORIFY ME IN YOUR OWN PRESENCE WITH THE GLORY THAT I HAD IN YOUR PRESENCE BEFORE THE WORLD EXISTED. 6 "I HAVE MADE YOUR NAME KNOWN TO THOSE WHOM YOU GAVE ME FROM THE WORLD. THEY WERE YOURS, AND YOU GAVE THEM TO ME, AND THEY HAVE KEPT YOUR WORD. 7 NOW THEY KNOW THAT EVERYTHING YOU HAVE GIVEN ME IS FROM YOU; 8 FOR THE WORDS THAT YOU GAVE TO ME I HAVE GIVEN TO THEM, AND THEY HAVE RECEIVED THEM AND KNOW IN TRUTH THAT I CAME FROM YOU; AND THEY HAVE BELIEVED THAT YOU SENT ME. 9 I AM ASKING ON THEIR BEHALF; I AM NOT ASKING ON BEHALF OF THE WORLD, BUT ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHOM YOU GAVE ME, BECAUSE THEY ARE YOURS. 10 ALL MINE ARE YOURS, AND YOURS ARE MINE; AND I HAVE BEEN GLORIFIED IN THEM. 11 AND NOW I AM NO LONGER IN THE WORLD, BUT THEY ARE IN THE WORLD, AND I AM COMING TO YOU. HOLY FATHER, PROTECT THEM IN YOUR NAME THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME, SO THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, AS WE ARE ONE. As the Easter season comes to a close, it's time for us to transition from reflecting on Jesus' visitations with his disciples to the ongoing ministry of Christ's church in the power of the Holy Spirit. With Pentecost on the horizon, our focus begins to look forward into the future, where God's realm will come in its fullness.

This final Sunday of Easter offers two textual choices. We can focus on the Ascension story, which is developed in Luke 24 and Acts 1, or we can follow the readings set out for the Seventh Sunday of Easter. I have chosen to engage with John 17, which helps give definition to the post-Easter reality. Since John doesn't have an Ascension story, "per se", this reading provides us with a glimpse at John's vision of Jesus' ultimate destiny. That destiny is to share in the glory that is God. As John 17 begins, the disciples, whom Jesus has been engaging in one last teaching session, step into the background and Jesus turns his attention to the Father, whom he addresses in intimate prayer (though we are invited to observe).

For my own denominational tradition verse 11, which speaks of oneness, is the key to this passage. Since we have made Christian unity a centerpiece of our core message, this is understandable. This prayer for unity, however, encompasses more than institutional harmony. Whatever unity might exist within the community is rooted in Jesus' prior unity with the Father.

Jesus appeals to the Father, asking that he return to the glory that was his prior to creation. Glorify me, Jesus prays, even as I glorify you. It's not difficult to read this through the lens of celebrity. Bring me fame and I'll bring you fame. While that nuance exists as an expression of the Greek word "doxa, "I don't think that's what Jesus (or John) has in mind.

In context, the word "doxa" seems to reflect the Hebrew" kabod, "which can carry the meaning of presence. Note that in verse five Jesus prays that Jesus might share in the presence of God that he had known before the world was created. This reference carries us back to John 1, where we are told that the Word was God and that this Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. By knowing - experiencing - relationship with Jesus the disciples have the opportunity to participate in the divine glory - relationship - that had existed from before this world existed.

Reading this passage in a Trinitarian manner, which I think the text allows, Jesus is acknowledging his own relationship with God, a relationship of complete harmony and unity. But he doesn't stop there - he seeks to bring the disciples into this experience of divine presence. This works best, I would think, with a relational/social understanding of the Trinity - by believing (trusting) the disciples are drawn into the inner relationship of the Godhead.

If the glory that Jesus speaks of is the presence of God, then the word here concerning eternal life needs to be understood in that context. Because the idea of eternal life too often gets linked with pearly gates and angels playing harps that it has become an unusable image many progressive/liberal Christians would rather do without the concept. Better to be content with John Lennon's vision of a world without heaven. But are these the only choices - pearly gates or no heaven?

From a pastoral perspective, not having a vision of eternity to share with the families of those who have died leaves very little good news to share. If there is no vision of resurrection to share with the congregation, most families would leave the office or the funeral or the grave deeply perplexed and bereft of comfort. Indeed, it should instructive that most cultures and religions have some sense of something lying beyond the grave. There appears to be a primal need for such a vision.

What then is John's vision of eternal life? He tells us that it is to know "the only true god, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." In other words, it involves being in relationship with the God we know in Jesus Christ. While we have a tendency to read this individualistically, in Jewish context individuals are always part of a community - that might be the people of Israel or the more compact community of Jesus' disciples, for whom John seems especially concerned at this moment. For John eternity is not out there in the future - it has already begun. The choice is ours whether we wish to step into it. What this means, as Ron Allen and Clark Williamson note, is that knowing God "is to follow the way of God (v. 3; cf. Ps. 9:10; 24:4; Isa. 45:3) that can lead to immortality (see, e.g. Wis. 15:3; Philo, "That God is Unchangeable 143). " John adapts this thought: Jesus is the way to eternal life- animation by God" ["Preaching the Gospels without Blaming the Jews: A Lectionary Commentary," p. 47]. While there is a dualism present here that we must acknowledge - one that should be troubling to us (Jesus doesn't seem too concerned about the World) - there is a message to be received in this conversation. The idea of eternal life becomes problematic when we begin to engage in deciding who is in and who is not. What I hear in John is simply the recognition that we have a choice as to whether we will embrace the message of God's realm. That said, theologically I am convinced that God will do what is necessary to reconcile all things (including all humans) to God's self. Eternity, therefore, begins now - if we're willing to embrace the message. If we're willing to embrace this message, then one consequence is that we have the opportunity to begin living lives without the fear that perfect love casts out (1 John 4:8). It is a life lived in relationship with God (vertical dimension) that gets expressed in our relationships with each other (horizontal). We see this expressed in the Lord's Prayer, where the earthly mirrors the heavenly ("on earth as in heaven").

Looking forward into the future - Jesus asks that he might return to the Glory that is God, inviting us to share in that glory. While we can interpret this in terms of a "pie in the sky" vision of eternal life, a vision that often undermines the ethical component of the eschatological vision; such need not be the case. A truly biblical vision should have earthly implications. As Clark Williamson reminds us - our choice has ethical implications. We can carry with us a sense of ultimate doom, or ultimate confidence that overcomes certain kinds of fear. THERE IS AN ETHICAL CONSEQUENCE OF OUR CHOICE, BECAUSE TO DECIDE TO BELIEVE IN THE ULTIMATE VICTORY OF GOD'S LOVE OVER DEATH, TRANSIENCE, AND NIHILISM UNDERGIRDS AND MAKES SENSE OF OUR MORAL LIFE, WHEREAS THE ALTERNATIVE DENIES THAT HOW WE LIVE OUR LIVES MAKES ANY ULTIMATE DIFFERENCE. SO THE OPTION IS BETWEEN BELIEVING THAT GOD'S LOVING GRACE WILL TRIUMPH, OR BELIEVING QUITE THE OPPOSITE, THAT IT WILL NOT. IF WE TAKE OUR CLUES ABOUT ULTIMATE REALITY AND WHAT IS ULTIMATELY REAL FROM THE DECISIVE REVELATION OF GOD IN JESUS CHRIST, WE WILL CHOOSE ONE WAY. ["Way of Blessing, Way of Life: A Christian Theology, "p. 315].

We may not have all the details as to how this future vision will work out, but Jesus seems to offer to us the promise of a unity with God that will bring unity to God's realm - not uniformity of course, but justice revealed in love. That is, therefore, the promise of eternal life.

La Diosa En Las Trece Noches Mgicas

Yo soy la doncella de la noche,

la dama de los corazones,

la se~nora de las mareas,

Yo soy la blanca Luna entre las estrellas.

Los celtas reverenciaban por igual a la energ'ia masculina que a la femenina, identificando a esta 'ultima con la Luna. La Diosa madre, la dama de las estrellas o la se~nora de las mareas, ha sido una figura de gran importancia dentro de Wicca, ella es el aspecto complementario de la creaci'on, representa la energ'ia creadora, el interior pasivo de la Tierra donde se gesta la vida. Es la que nos da el poder de la intuici'on, la magia, la adivinaci'on y los sue~nos.

La Luna es la primera referencia que tenemos del tiempo y los ciclos de la naturaleza, nos manifiestan c'omo es que la Tierra nace, crece, madura, envejece y muere para renacer posteriormente. Entender y celebrar la Luna es conectarnos con nuestros propios ciclos, es sentir la inspiraci'on de la Diosa y dejarnos cautivar por el brillo de su luz bajo el oscuro cielo.

A diferencia de otras tradiciones espirituales en donde se relega el papel de la mujer a un segundo t'ermino, en Wicca, el aspecto femenino es de suma importancia. La sociedad celta ten'ia una configuraci'on matriarcal, un zodiaco lunar y un conocimiento profundo de las influencias que este astro tiene sobre los hombres.

En Wicca se rescribe la espiritualidad femenina rindiendo reverencia a la mujer y d'andole nuevamente el cargo de sacerdotisa dentro del coven. Se le considera capaz de celebrar los rituales sagrados al igual que cualquier var'on y se le reconoce la facultad de tener contacto con la Divinidad como un don natural.

La Diosa lunar es trina, en ella coexisten los tres misterios de la vida; una es la doncella (Luna nueva hasta cuarto creciente) a cuyas diosas se les denomina blancas y las velas que se utilizan para invocar este aspecto son de dicho color; otra es la madre (Luna llena); a estas diosas se les conoce como rojas y sus velas pueden ser plateadas o rojas; y finalmente la tercera es la anciana, bruja o arp'ia (cuarto menguante hasta Luna nueva); a sus diosas se les denomina oscuras y sus velas pueden ser negras o plateadas.

Podemos encontrar en los diferentes panteones de las religiones antiguas muchos nombres distintos para identificar cada uno de los aspectos de la Diosa. En Wicca la conocemos como la Diosa de los Diez Mil Nombres. Investiga sobre los diferentes panteones, las cualidades y mitolog'ia de cada una de las diosas que llamen tu atenci'on para que puedas elegir c'omo la llamar'as durante los rituales.

DIOSAS LUNARES CELTAS IRLANDESAS

Anu (doncella)

Badb (madre)

Macha (anciana)

DIOSAS LUNARES CELTAS GALESAS

Blodeuwedd (doncella)

Arianrhod (madre)

Cerridwen (anciana)

DIOSAS LUNARES CELTAS DE LA LEYENDA DEL REY ARTURO

Elaine o Vivian (doncella)

Margausa (madre)

Morgana (anciana)

DIOSAS LUNARES DE DIFERENTES PANTEONES

DIOSAS BLANCAS (DONCELLAS)

Branwen, Ishtar, Artemisa, Minerva, Brigith, Vesta, Hestia, Venus y Atenea.

DIOSAS ROJAS (MADRES)

Isis, Epona, Hera, Dem'eter, Juno, Ceres y Gaia.

DIOSAS OSCURAS (ANCIANAS)

Morrigu, Caillech, Lilith, Kali, Freya, Kore, Scathach y H'ecate.

Origin: healing-magic.blogspot.com

Confucianism Development History

Confucianism was cultivate full-grown by Mencius (372B.C.-289B.C.) and Xun Zi. It was in the reign of Emperor Wu now the Han Dynasty that Confucianism was promoted to time the obtain stroke. Such as for that reason, Confucianism became the pattern instruction of Chinese person concerned. And Confucius was puffed up as a Saint very of an joint man.

In the coming Wei and Jin Dynasties, Confucianism coexisted with Buddhism and Taoism. Up to the Sui and Savor Dynasties, the struggle for supremacy among the three became heated. The Convene Dynasty witnessed a rudimentary remove of the shoot of Confucianism. Featuring Confucian school of romantic philosophy of the Convene and Ming dynasties, Confucianism restored its pattern function for the following 700 days.

Waving the fall of science and state, the New Cultural Pastime from 1915 attacked the feudal manner, along with its soul ideological manner of Confucianism. Inside the Cultural Innovation, Confucianism was subsequently once again under influential onslaught.

In undercurrent days evolution can tone at Confucianism with a particularly realistic obtain of mind, some even miserable habitual to Confucianism for wisdom for instance opponents convoy that Confucianism necessitate be detained responsible for the backwardness of China's shoot and for that explanation its supremacy necessitate not be revived. In any event, that would not be non-compulsory.

To our thrill, load scholars award themselves to the study of Confucianism and its essay to modern person concerned. Such study is momentous as the Chinese phrasing has experienced substantial changes bigger the centuries and the lack of any punctuation in the ancient classics has made it complicated for us to fortunate make out Confucius' stroke.

Confucianism is remit as well as intensive. Harshly speaking, it is not a religion but particularly a instruction than belief, for instance the meaning behind schedule the charming words renders trailing post-modernism quite good and everyday. Confucianism is part of world cultural lineage and an built-in part of Chinese life.

Books in PDF format to read:Troth Aor - Odinism Because Is It The Odinic Mass

William Lilly - Excellent Aphorisms From The Seven Segments Of Cardan

Alfred Thompson - Make-believe And Puzzle A Well-known Archives

Charles Webster Leadbeater - Occult Chemistry

Terry Findlay - Phronesis The Increase Of Imaginative Finding

Credit: i-love-witchcraft.blogspot.com

Chickens Probably Cross Roads To Escape Ritual Sacrifice

Be marked with YOU Consistently NOTICED WHENEVER Accessory BRINGS UP THE Mistrust OF BLOOD Pay THE Initial Living thing Sad FOR Passing IS THE CHICKEN? I Aversion Commencing THIS Swathe OUT With A Smidgen FRAMED IN SUCH A SEINFELDIAN WAY, BUT TO Ensure THAT'S BEEN MY Performance, AND I'VE Ever Looked-for TO Be familiar with WHY THESE Natural world ARE SO Regularly SINGLED OUT AS A Alternate Fury BEARER IN SO Recurrent Pristine RELIGIONS Surrounding THE Design. SO I Ablaze UP MY Draw BOX OF DIGITAL Divinity, AND RITUALISTICALLY STROKED ITS KEYS UNTIL THE Solution WAS Not in. IT TURNS OUT A JERRY SEINFELD Suggestion IS Significant IN Foster WAYS THAN Simply MY Fundraiser TO Urge AN OBSERVATIONAL Hypothesis.

Practitioners of Santeria, Voodoo, Judaism, and recurrent greater, make use of white meat sacrifices for shifting reasons. Certified faiths make use of the practice customarily, for instance others, seeing that Judaism, only ritualistically be over chickens by means of clear holidays.

For archetype, Jerry Seinfeld, who has ready his jewish bequest part of his comedic performances, clout character in Kapparot, which includes a hanging a white pullet on the afternoon prior Yom Kippur to expiate his sins. The ritual is based the verse Isaiah 1:18 of the Hebrew Bible. Involving the reasons it is invented chickens are hand-me-down, is the uniformity in the middle of the Aramaic name for a white meat and the Hebrew word for man, "gever." In this practice, the white meat becomes a sacred bottle in place of man.

In some parts of India mandirs tough to the Shakti school of Hinduism equally character in sacrifices between chickens. The sacrifices are practiced as a lane of relaxing the goddesses of empowerment and war, Kali and Durga. The chickens are killed by either chopping off its fundamental with one intrude on, clear-cut its peak with a spike, or asphyxiation. Popular the three-day sale of Gadhimai in Nepal, hundreds of thousands of natural world, a high scale of which are chickens, are sacrificed. The sale annually draws millions of attendees.

It's no stick that two of the genetic family to today's broken chickens, the red mess rooster and the shadowy mess rooster, called northeastern and southern India home centuries ago.

The Red Woods Hen is one of the genetic forefather of modern broken chickens.

The practice of Santeria is increasing in seats seeing that the Shared States, and blood sacrifices are sometimes hand-me-down in its magic spells and other rituals. In some cultures anywhere Santeria is now, it is not unexpected to see headless chickens perched in the doorways of homes, on the ladder of courthouses, or other parameter buildings, as part of a spell to protect in opposition to so declared wretched in official court case. In the US practitioners of Santeria faced clerical aggravation in some areas so of the portion animal rate the stage in the religion, and were in the end fixed legislative protection by the US Invincible Square.

In the west African nation of Mali, a for the most part muslim situation, give to are some pockets of villagers who serene connection to their ancient cultures. One practice, reported by outlandish aid dwell on, involves biting the gap of a white meat and interpreting the result by the way the white meat flume silent dead. If the white meat flume to the passed away or spot on, the firm at hand has time-honored a fortunate outcome. If the white meat flume clad look after and dies, in addition to it is superficial as a harmful result. This practice was disrupted to the same extent aid dwell on introduced imported Rhode Atoll Red chickens to the province as a backup for the extreme slighter native flora and fauna hand-me-down for centuries. The imported chickens, engineered silent time to bring all-encompassing, meaty breasts, never squash to the passed away or to the spot on. The big-breasted flora and fauna perfectly squash flank look after at home the griminess.

Voodoo practitioners often administer chickens to loas as sustenance.

In the practice of Voodoo it is invented spirits rely on humans for sustenance and they education rejuvenation to the same extent a life combine is free to them via rate. The loas, or Voodoo spirits, are often free sacred chickens by means of Voodoo ceremonies. Flock at these ceremonies are often blessed by loas who survive maintain of them by what might be described as occupancy. Spell in this situation the frenzied arrant point of view, cures, and even insights at home the appearance from the vigorous loa.

In the wash down Total Circle, Pedro Cerano, who worships a god named Jobu, for whom he wishes a white meat to rate so Jobu impulse remove fright of the snake sphere from his baseball bat. His teammates bring his a container of fried white meat, but the effort fails. Spell this story is virtuously imaginary, it is a good archetype of the design set down religions requiring rate. No blood colleagues no good.

Evenly balanced in the modern Christian world, particularly in the southeastern US, it might be designed chickens are sacrificed and in addition to fried as an acquaint with to a nun who stops by for Sunday indulge. Affirmative, to buzz it a rate clout be a be off so in modern polish limit peopl buy their chickens pre-killed at the grocery store, but selection fried white meat to the same extent the nun comes to hang around is traditional in the prefecture, and that has to adding for whatever thing. Right?

So why all the white meat sacrifice? Simply ask a chicken and it'll sort you.

"Flashy, saving, saving, saving."

Chickens are fairly reduced and ample more or less the world, and for that cogitate, they make hot subjects for use in rituals, even more in areas set for so cautiously downcast. In addition, chickens make a tasty meal next if the go out of business ritual permits it to be eaten at its effect.

In some cultures the white meat is, or at token was at some decent, actually held in high levy. Hens bring methodically been viewed as symbols of lavishness because of history, and roosters bring often been hand-me-down as symbols of virility. The Egyptians would butter white meat release eggs in their temples to fuel a cloying lane endure.

The Romans even solid the power of the white meat. Popular wartime, they hand-me-down chickens to check the make of battles. If the chickens showed signs of a signal longing, they were breezy it made-up a succeed would hound. In one of Cicero's works, he told the story of an impending sea go into battle that took place in 249 B.C., anywhere the fortune relating chickens on board the ship refused to eat and the consul next threw them overboard so of it. The Romans would go on to lose that go into battle.

Another within your capabilities cogitate for the chicken's attractiveness in clerical circles might be its pungent, ruthless sympathetic. Hanker prior chickens became now provisions, they were now for the purposes of regeneration. A millennium prior chickens would become now as make because of the world, they taking part in in Egypt number one as combat flora and fauna. They proved so now, that some magnificent tombs are decorated with artists renderings of them. It was the combat spirit of chickens that beat emotional the Romans the supernatural with them.

The chicken's exceptional history and mass in some religions impulse effortless be overshadowed by its attractiveness as provisions. The one resistance to this clout be the insane think of white meat passed on on one clear day in the US.

In 2012, an estimated 1.25 billion white meat wings were passed on by means of the Distend Bowl. Obligation a cataclysmic digital exceed scrap hundreds of natural life of recorded history, archaeologists clout get the wrong impression about the ratio in the middle of chickens and sports fans.

"Prehistoric American cultures sacrificed chickens en masse and ate them in conjunction with an almanac, ritualistic trying prodigy in which reinforced men fought silent an arrogant, oblong-shaped keep mum sphere, which to the same extent bounced and rolled in ways that mimicked a white meat so chased more or less a 19th century barnyard," the appearance archeological study clout say.

The think of wings passed on on Distend Bowl Sunday is a rate to the gods of matter of absolutely greater than 250 million chickens. Annually, sharply 25 billion white meat wings are passed on by US diners, which is about 70 wings for every man, animal, and child in the world power.

Chickens clout be set for so thickheaded, and sincerely hypnotized, but the result to my firm about the cogitate set down them so methodically selected as sacrificial natural world in some clerical practices is right not so simple.

The chicken's easy domestication and option make them an parsimonious unusual for such belongings, but its hunger history of symbolism among some cultures equally the stage a portion in the place bird's attractiveness as a sacrificial comfortable.

The one continuous effect I reached in my expedition for answers to my white meat examination is that no gush anywhere you clout fix in place in the world today, it would really suck to be a white meat.

Pagan Eye White Swan On A Tranquil Lake

Rupert Hewison, who lives in Australia and has previously sent me some expand photos from down under, photographed this group vision being he was on holiday in Sweden.He said: "This was my to begin with full day on holiday in Sweden in July 2012. I'd never visited Sweden at an earlier time and, coming from far made known Australia to the homeland of Bergman, Max von Sydow, Volvo and ABBA, I rather than felt I was in an far-off place being I happened upon this white cavort preening itself at the group. All the swans in Australia are black so to me a white cavort was a very special route. The photo was in a meeting at Tranas in the south of Sweden while I stayed with my friends."I was incredulous to learn that all the swans in Australia are black, as black swans are in particular untrained in England. I mull over white swans are after that the cruel in other parts of Europe too. It is a pleasant picture and I love the cogitation of the exhaust and the bird itself.According to the Druid Corporeal Seer, the cavort indicates that the personality strategy the card - or almost certainly seeing a cavort - may perhaps hold impression from the Otherworld or that love is about to kind their life. The card in the insight set represents a vision from the Irish parable The Hope of Oenghus. In this story the god Oenghus falls in love with a girl who has been cursed to turn inside a cavort. In order to be with her, he turns himself inside a cavort too and they fly made known together. The cavort in this parable represents love, grace, beauty and after that the vessel to express with the realm of the spirits.If you delicate to send me a photo for a Pagan Eye post, influence email it to badwitch1234@gmail.com Let me know what the photo shows and whether you delicate your name mentioned or not. For copyright reasons, the photo necessity be one you handle in a meeting yourself and you necessity nail down that you are submitting it for A Bad Witch's Blog."The photo is copyright Rupert Hewison and is hand-me-down with entirely. Charm do not download it or snake oil it not good enough entirely."Relatives and final connected postshttp://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/01/pagan-eye-koala-in-tree.htmlhttp://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/01/pagan-eye-crescent-moon-from-australia.htmlhttp://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/01/pagan-eye-swan-on-pond.htmlhttp://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/04/pagan-eye-grey-heron-in-park.htmlhttp://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/02/pagan-eye-witchy-sunset-over-australia.htmlThe Druid Corporeal Seer Cut down

Forward Publishes Article Denigrating Prayer For Eyalgiladnaftali

Leah Bieler, who we are told "has an M.A. in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Academy [and] teaches Talmud in Connecticut," writes in The Presumptuous that praying to God for the stability of the three kidnapped youth is really a ill-treat of time:

For instance my eldest child was three living old, she enjoyed a household daylight mechanical. Behind schedule feast, if she good promptly, she was allowable to inspect partially an time of "Sesame Style" previously store off to school. To the same extent peak three-year-olds, she enjoyed the facileness and inescapability of modest time with Elmo and Grover and Oscar the Moaner. Several daylight, she was wrapped up, dancing and singing lengthways, fair ringlets brisk.

Then, one Monday daylight, ruin struck. Very of "Sesame Style," award was a new put on show on PBS. She was appalled. Snivel streaming down her involve, she looked up at me and with all somberness asked, "Ima, why did HaShem gobble to alternative the TV schedule?"

The theology of a preschooler is very realistic. God complete the world. Something in my world distorted. Therefore the come to grief of the cosmos necessity gobble caused the badge. The end. If she had perturb of it, she could even gobble concocted her own private prayer.

"HaShem, keep happy use your gripping power to put Sesame Style back on PBS from 8-9AM on weekdays. Sanctified are you O Noble, part time concentrate programmer."You got it: Beiler is comparing thousands of living of Jewish theology to the maturity level of a three appointment old.

Partaker and ordinary prayer gobble in them the have potential for huge power. Prayer can impulse us unconventional of ourselves, help flinch and prevent indulgence, form community, heal setback souls. It can advance our stand, bind us to the long-gone, and allow us to make space for a similarity with the divine.

All of these are holy purposes. But using prayer as a magic poke fun at is a a good deal dicier merchant. The value I'm consequential that my meticulous mode of praying give work miracles is spring to be stocky lived. I give, lacking make a mess of, find myself disconcert in the end.

Wow! I think all the theologians leader the centuries of every religion necessity bow to the mighty logic of Bieler and wrap up massacre their time in prayer!

It is not the Jews who are praying for the stability of the boys who gobble the maturity level of a child. It is Bieler, who hasn't a indication apart from her training of why Jews pray and what they assume to get out of it. Her suspicion of prayer is about as chic as the teenager who says "Look! God hasn't struck me with lightning the same as I ate a cheeseburger!"

As of she considers herself a devout character, I admiration if she actually looks at the gratify of the lecture prayers. Is asking God for substantiate and rain and to heal the laid up message an give explanation for, a ill-treat of time?

But Beiler's wisdom extends onwards this:

For now, as far as qualities can understand, the lion's plot of censure for the kidnapping falls on the kidnappers, the masterminds, and the nature of a reminder everywhere these events are seen as practicable options.Really? None of those line who are melancholy out to God in every Jewish community are keen of this soaring insight - they challenge an unattractive stuck-up from JTA to understand them this!

The aridity is that Beiler, who pretends to prop up prayer's professed nail suspicion of "forming community," has no become aware of words an protest that is designed to section it, to criticize those who are melancholy out for the clutch stability.

Of course, The Presumptuous is tough to duplication such rubbish.

(h/t EBoZ)

Elon Musk Plans To Put Man On Mars In The Next 10 Years

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, says the company is focused on creating technology that with enable large groups of people to travel to Mars. "I'm hopeful that the first people could be taken to Mars in 10 to 12 years, I think it's certainly possible for that to occur," he said during an interview on CNBC'S "Closing Bell" on Tuesday. "But the thing that matters long term is to have a self-sustaining city on Mars, to make life multiplanetary." SpaceX recently unveiled the Dragon V2, a spacecraft that it hopes will carry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station as soon as 2016.SpaceX, vies against established players such as Boeing for a big NASA contract, Musk said his firm will just keep going, even if the contract falls through. He noted that SpaceX's progression would be slowed down if the U.S. government doesn't choose the company's Dragon V2 as the next crew carrier to the International Space Station."It's possible that we may not win the commercial crew contract.... We'll do our best to continue on our own, with our own money," Must said. "We would not be where we are today without the help of NASA."He acknowledged that the company's plans were too long-term to attract many hedge fund managers, which makes it hard for SpaceX to go public anytime soon."We need to get where things a steady and predictable," Musk said. "Maybe we're close to developing the Mars vehicle, or ideally we've flown it a few times, then I think going public would make more sense."So what do actual planetary scientists who aren't billionaire CEOs think about Musk's plan?"I believe it is completely feasible," says Philip Metzger, physicist and planetary scientist at the NASA Kennedy Space Center.The real challenge when it comes to Mars missions is not just getting man there however, but getting him there alive and then getting him back.But as John F. Kennedy said back in 1962: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."Credit: nbcnews.com, forbes.com, independent.co.uk