Thursday, March 29, 2012

Peniel Pillows


See this pillow……it’s one of my most prized possessions


.No one bought for me….I found it and purchased it. 
  
Sometimes those little discoveries are the most precious, aren’t they?

I bought it mainly for the colors…..and then I got it because of the pineapples.

Another reason why I purchased it had to do with the story that surrounds the pillow’s creator.

Rushan Smyth began Peniel Pillows when she needed a gift for a friend.  Rushan states at her website, “My dream was to create pillows that would tell a story from the Bible, thereby becoming a source of encouragement.  I couldn’t even sew, but through that one simple gesture, the company now known as Peniel Pillows was born, and I learned something very important.   This is not about ‘sewing’…it is about ‘Sowing’!”

The name Peniel comes from Genesis 32:30…..Jacob named the place Peniel (The Face of God), for he said, “I have seen God face to face and yet my life is spared.  The website continues….Like Jacob we all wrestle with the care of this world.  Our hope at Peniel Pillows is that these keepsakes will be constant reminder of God’s promises as you read the scripture passage individually selected for each unique pillow.   Know God’s word is the key to life…..We pray that you too will see His face and live.”

Each pillow follows a theme….mine follows the word hospitality and is based on the words from Hebrews 13:2….Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it, and Luke 12:35-40….Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.   It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.   Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.  It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.  But understand this:  If the owner, of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.  You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

The description of my pillow at the website states:  The pineapple, a universal symbol of “Welcome!”  Whether a cup of tea, cold water, or just a listening ear for a hurting friend, “Be dressed and ready for service and keep your lamp burning”.   Open your heart to make someone feel comfortable in your presence.  “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some people have entertained angels without even knowing it.”  You may never know until eternity, what a difference your gift of hospitality has made.   Another gift is waiting.

All of the pillows come with a descriptive hangtag referencing the name, scripture passage, and symbolism of each individual design.   A small New Testament is placed inside every Peniel Pillow which serves as an ideal place for a person inscription.



…and of course each pillow comes with the little key emblem as well



I’m beginning to think the Lord wanted to share with me some lessons regarding hospitality, and that was His reason for putting the pillow in my path that day.  Over the last couple of years I’ve learned a little more about hospitality… more on the downside than the up…..but that will come later...there's time.  

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Damaris and the Cartoons


What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when I say the word “cartoon”?

Depending on your age you might say…..Betty Boop, Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, or Sponge Bob, right?

However, my subject matter doesn’t refer to those types of cartoons today.

Look at this Raphael painting below:

Raphael's depiction of Paul teaching at the Areopagus
THIS painting is referred to as a cartoon.  

Seriously…..a cartoon.

The dictionary advises a cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art.  While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or the artistic style of such works.   The term actually originated in the Middle Ages and was used to refer to a preparatory drawing for a piece of art, such as a painting, fresco tapestry, or stained glass window.

The above painting is part of a series referred to as The Raphael Cartoons he prepared for the Sistine Chapel, and shows Paul giving his sermon at the Areopagus or “Rock of Ares” which served as the High Court of Appeals for criminal and civil cases in the city of Athens.

Paul’s sermon is related in Acts 17: 16-34.  He drew inspiration for his sermon from the alter to the unknown god…..”The God who made the World and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.”
    
Upon entering Athens Paul had been upset by seeing the city full of idols.   He was taken to the Areopagus or High Court to explain himself.   What we have in Acts is one of the most full and most dramatic speeches Paul ever uttered.  He must have been very convincing because many in the crowd were converted.

Now look back at Raphel’s painting again. Notice the couple in the lower right corner.   Yes, a couple….as in husband and WIFE.    Art historians are certain this couple was added later by Raphael’s pupil, Giulio Romano because the man and woman don’t seem to fit in with relation to position or scale.

The couple is mentioned in Acts 17:34……Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed.  Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Demaris, and a number of others.


The woman's name is important.   She's listed with men in a place where men congregated in Athens.   


Why  was she mentioned?


It's very evident that she was a woman of high status or she wouldn't have been at the Areopagus.  In fact, John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople, made the connection that Demaris was actually the wife of Dionysius thought Luke doesn't tell us.


Historians today aren't so sure.  Authors such as Robert Paul Seesengood, a biographer of Paul, agree there are no hard details to link the two......though in the whole scheme of things it doesn't really matter. 


What matters is Paul spoke...and people listened and were saved.


The cartoon detail is kind of interesting, too!!!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Using Technology to Piece the Past Together


This is an interesting article detailing how thousands of fragments of ancient scrolls are spread out across the globe, and how a computer program can virtually "glue" the pieces back together  even though the pieces belong to different museums and storage facilities and never physically meet up again.


Too cool.
The researchers are now applying the … technology to fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of hundreds of text found along the Dead Sea in the 1950s, as well as other scrolls.


"It's a more complicated challenge," Wolf said, referring to the Dead Sea Scrolls. "The fragments are for the most part much smaller, and many of the texts are very unique. These texts shed light on the beginnings of Christianity."
Technology…..a curse at times, but such a blessing , too!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Paul's Secretary

My mom was a marathon letter and journal writer.  I can still see her seated at our kitchen table each morning writing, writing, writing.  Even after Dear Sister gave her a computer, Mother continued to scribble away in her spiral notebooks she always seemed to have on hand.  I have to agree with her.  There is something about moving a pen across a clean page of paper and making it all your own.

Mother created the most interesting letters regarding what was going on in our lives, pondering current events of the day, or relating some little anecdote from her past. 

When I meet up with one of her dear friends they all tell me the same thing - I miss her letters so much.  I know how they feel.  I LONG for one myself. 

Mother didn't just love to write letters.  She loved to read them as well.  Paul was her favorite letter writer with his letter to the Romans as a particular favorite.

While Mother did all of her letter writing at a kitchen table Paul would have followed the custom of the day and would have sat with his writing perched in his lap or on his knees.   Yes, I know there are very famous paintings of Paul sitting at a desk with an oil light, but it just isn't an accurate picture regarding most of the letters.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

13 Things Regarding the Sinai Peninsula

The Search For The Real Mt. Sinai
1. The Sinai Peninsula is an important region to readers of the Bible and also serves as a land bridge between Africa and Asia.  Notice on the map the region appears to be an upside down triangle. 


2. Three significant events occurred there regarding the Israelites.   First the Peninsula is the location where Mount Sinai is located…the place where God appeared to Moses more than once.  Moses interacted with God for the first time while he was on the mountain herding sheep for Jethro.   The second time Moses was there God established his covenant with the Israelites at the foot of the mountain after their exodus from Egypt. Sinai is also the place where Moses ascended the mountain and God gave him the Ten Commandments.
3. Mount Sinai is referred to as “the mountain”…. Exodus 19:2; “the mountain of God”… Exodus 3:1; “the mountain of the Lord”…Numbers Numbers 10:33; and “Horeb”…Exodus 3:1.


There are five areas mentioned in the Bible in relationship to the mountain.
4. The Wilderness of Shur is the location on the northern border of Egypt where the Israelites found themselves after crossing the Red Sea.   This place was between the Red Sea and Marah where the people complained because there was no water…. Exodus 15: 22-24.


5. The wilderness of Sin is a region between Elim and Sinai where God provided food for the Israelites…Exodus 16:1.
6. The Wilderness of Paran is where the Israelites camped after they left Mount Sinai, and is the location where they were sent out to explore the land.


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Where Can I Find a Urim and Thummim?

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just go to God and ask Him to lay it all out for us regarding the directions we need go when we reach a crossroad?


What subjects to study in school?   Which jobs to take?   How to discipline and advise our children?    When we should take action or just sit back and observe our surroundings?
Sometimes we know the right thing to do, but the actions of others….justified or not….keep us from acting.   Sometimes our own wants….our selfishness… takes over preventing us from hearing God.  Sometimes as the background noise in our lives becomes louder and louder it becomes more difficult to hear God.


Why can’t the path be clear instead of clear as mud?
Reading through the Bible it seems the ancients had several opportunities to hear God when they needed guidance, and the Pentateuch was very clear on what NOT to do when seeking answers.


Deuteronomy 18: 10-13 provides a list of things that were detestable including interpreting omens, witchcraft, casting spells, and consulting the dead.    These practices were so detestable they were punishable by death per Leviticus 20:6.
The people of Babylon practiced divination so well they are the go-to culture when researching various ways the ancients used to contact the gods.   They used astrology, analyzed cloud formations, the peculiar actions of animals and pouring liquid into basins to read the bubbles that were formed.   There were even specially trained priests who read the livers of sacrificed animals.   To the ancients it appeared the liver was the source of blood in the body and therefore must be the seat of life.


Monday, November 1, 2010

A Diet of Worms? Hardly....Just Remember the "V" Sound

Worms Cathedral….Just the name alone doesn’t sound very religious or very soul soothing, does it?

The place IS very historic and as far as cathedrals go, and it is beautiful.

The name comes from the Latin Borbetomagus which means “settlement in a watery area” which eventually morphed to Vormatia……

Vormatia. Now when you realize that you don’t pronounce the “W” when saying the word “Worms” and you substitute a “V” sound as in Vorms it all makes sense……

Actually….it should be pronounced “Varms”

There are no worms and there never were any. :)

In fact, Worms Cathedral is also known at St. Peter’s Cathedral.

Worms Cathedral…consecrated in 1110…. is known as an Imperial Cathedral which means it was built under the reign of an emperor. The building is unique in that it has two quires or choirs…..one at each end of the nave. The second choir was set aside for the emperor to attend church.

The oldest section of the cathedral….the east choir…..is an example of an architectural trick. The walls are straight on the outside of the building but are rounded on the inside.

Speaking of emperors there are a few royal members buried at Worms Cathedral……

*Conrad I and II, the Dukes of Carinthia

*Conrad, Duke of Lorraine

*Queen Matilda, consort of Henry I of France (she was also the daughter of Conrad II the Holy Roman Emperor

Sadly the original windows were destroyed in 1943 by the bombs of World War II, but over time during the 1960s they were all replaced.

The major historical significance of the Worms Cathedral is that it was the location for the Diet of Worms in April 1521.

Ugh. Again, it doesn’t sound too appealing, right?

The Diet of Worms was called by the Holy Roman Emperor who was actually the German king, Charles V. It is helpful to understand a Diet was a general assembly of the Imperial states of the Holy Roman Empire. So, a diet is a formally called meeting. There were many different diets that took place at Worms Cathedral, so like many treaties that share the same name it is important to know which year you are talking about.

The Diet of Worms in 1521 is significant in church history became it the meeting where Martin Luther was required to answer the papal bull of Pope Leo X.

A bull is simply a form of communication sent out by the Pope, and this particular bull……also referred to as Exsurge Domine (Arise O’ Lord) denounced Martin Luther’s 95 Theses on the Power and Effacy of Indulgences Luther had nailed to the door at Wittenberg (again, the “W” is pronounced with a “V” sound).

The whole “nail” thing is still argued by historians…..we aren’t sure if Luther really nailed his theses to the door, but church doors were commonly used as bulletin boards at that time and the story does make sense.

….and what happened to Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms? A formal statement was issued condemning Martin Luther, but he was allowed to leave Worms without being arrested. It was commonly known, however, that at some point he would be arrested and punished.

His supporters hid him away at Wartburg Castle (again…..remember the “V” sound) and while there Luther began his German translation of the Bible.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...