Anglicanism and Alcoholism

As I was walking towards the Reception, that poster caught my eyes. It said: "Workshop on Alcoholism." So, I walked closer to find out more, the venue, date and time which are printed in smaller letters. I was shocked as I walked closer! The poster didn't say Alcoholism, it is Anglicanism. It is a workshop sponsored by the Anglican Chaplaincy in the University.
I noticed that I have been making many such mistakes recently. Sometimes, when people waved at me from far off, I just stared at them not being sure if they meant me or someone behind me. If I recognized them as I my friends, I would have waved back. It took me a visit to the eye-specialist to realize that I am suffering from short-sight and needed glasses for the rest of my life. The problem is not with Anglicanism nor with Alcoholism; the problem is with my eyes.
It is true that the real beauty is not in the holder but the beholder. A lot of our behaviour depends on our perception. We take things the way they appear to us without realizing that the problem could lay in our own perceptions.
Many of the problems that we are worried about may not be problems at all. That is why we need to pray for God to help us change our perspectives than deal with the problems that we perceive. When God deals without perspectives, the problem that we perceive may turn out to be a possibility. So, before praying for breakthrough in life, it may be helpful to find out if there is a real roadblock that need to be broken through.

The Days of Antipas

"The days of Antipas" means not only a period of persecution but a period of perseverance as well. It signifies the days of believers who withstood the pressures from outside to surrender. In the church in the city of Pergamum, there were some people who remained faithful to Jesus in the days of severe persecution. Apostle John calls these days of persecution "the day of Antipas" (Rev. 2:13). The Antipas mentioned here should not be confused with Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. Herod Antipas was a wicked ruler whom Jesus called "fox". He is the one who offered the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter to his daughter. He might have tried to kill Jesus and presided over Jesus' trial. However, the Antipas mentioned in Revelation 2 was the bishop of Pergamum, a pagan city in the first century AD. The name means "against all." There is a great con trast in the names -- Herod was against all that was good, however, Antipas th...

The Lonely Jungle Babbler

Every day it comes, and pecks at the glass panel of the window of my study. It is a Jungle Babbler, a very common bird in the Indian subcontinent. It dances flying up and down and fluttering its wings. Sometimes, three or four times a day it repeats this ritual. I thought it is trying to get into my room or fly through as it can see the other side. But why does it keep coming, can't it make out after three or four attempts that it can't fly through? I told my Neighbor, whom I consider an expert on birds, about this winged visitor. She explained that the babbler is pecking at its own reflection, thinking that it is another bird. I thought of verifying her suggestion. The following day I kept the window half open, drawing one panel fully open. The babbler came as usual. Perched on the window, looked into my room through the open panel but did not enter the room or peck. But it moved to the side of the window where there is glass and started pecking on the gl...

The Conquering Grace

Grace of God is hard to define. When I was making baby steps in Christian faith, mentors told me that ‘grace is unmerited favor.’ I found that helpful. But as I continued to experience God’s grace as I grew, I found that this definition is inadequate to express all that God does in my life. Now, I have come to realize that grace of God is such a thing that eludes any definition. Grace, as I understand now is what God alone and no human can do in our lives. It comes in various colors, shapes and sizes! John, the gospel writer seems to have understood the multifarious nature of grace that he talks about the ‘fullness of grace’ and ‘grace upon grace’ (John 1:17). Or the New Living Translation puts it: ‘From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.’ These expressions mean that grace is not just one-sided reality but a multi-faceted reality. Its fullness is beyond our comprehension just as God evades our understanding. One of the rare but ...

Paulson Post

Search This Blog