The Well-Dressed Branch

“Law” or Grace

“Law” or Grace​

Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law?  

(John 7:19a)

  Who goes to confession before receiving the Eucharist? Everyone who is a Catholic, that’s whom! If we’ve sinned since our last confession we have to hope for the Last Rites when we cash it in. If not, we face the pains of purgatory … or something worse.

If someone wants to read “catholic…

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”  (Mark 4:35) And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.  (36) And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.  (37) But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him…

Controversy surrounds a teaching about election, or whether people are chosen by God for salvation or rejection. Quit puzzling and read on. If one is concerned that he was ruled out by God’s election, he should only need to ask if he wants to be included. If the answer is affirmative, he would already be included among that joyful congregation. I realized that fact by listening to a brief sermon…

Do you have a package that absolutely forbids entry for all those goodies concealed inside? Do you have a kiddy forbidding medicine bottle that needs an engineering degree to open? My brain is similarly resistant to penetrating today. I couldn’t reason myself out of a soaked paper bag today. Fortunately my faith is still intact without having to reason God’s love for me today. I just trust Him,…

If anyone had spied my paper backup I would have cashed in my beans from shame. When my table was in danger of hurting me I decided on filing that nightmare of papers. I set my YouTube to over two hours of soothing classical music in preparation for the headache I planned to endure. In fact, I had a file drawer all cleared out for its new load of papers. As the old papers load gradually shrank,…

Don’t read this if you don’t want itches. Anyway, I’ve been itching a lot lately and it’s about to drive me bananas. I take regular meds for hives, but it doesn’t help much for now. When I get hives, unconsciously I start scratching. Then it gets really bad. If I kept scratching deeper and harder I’d start drawing blood, and the itching never lets up. Scratching doesn’t make it less itchy. In…

We have one divine spirit, the Spirit of God’s exclusive love(agapaō). All other types of “love” can be captured by our mortal enemy. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE(agapaō) YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” (Galatians 5:14) That’s it! It’s the key to God’s plan, for here and for eternity. It’s that simple? Simple because God spoke the universe into…

Today’s combinations of Bible readings presence God’s plan of salvation. God is indeed a jealous God. That means he holds our self-destructive wanderings jealously(demanding exclusive devotion; intolerant of rivalry). Though God’s nature is intolerant, he allows forgiveness for our transgressions through our repenting(to change our course of life). Both of these concepts can take a negative bent,…

Have you ever heard the sound of constant grumbling? The guys in the picture sound a lot like that. Sometimes it becomes the sound of white background noise, indistinguishable from the infrequent speaking with real meaning. I’ve heard that sort of meaningless noise where I worked in manufacturing plants. If you’re in that kind of place, use extreme caution because it might become your own noise.…

“We had our eyes closed, even when we could see.”

I enjoyed a decent movie on YouTube called The Day Of The Triffids. The last line jerked me back into present-time with this phrase: “We had our eyes closed, even when we could see.” Jesus healed many people, but his qualifier was that those who needed healing must confess their need for it. Even the blind had to confess it. No one ever received healing without first confessing their need. How…

Details: After some abdominal surgery and I was ready to head home, I decided to get some exercise with quick walking through my hospital floor. Without realizing, my right foot tended to drag just slightly, catching that foot on the pavement and throwing me hard to the concrete. My foot felt a bit wet, so I looked down to discover that my assumedly blue blood was crimson red, and lots of it.…

A few months ago I was nearly down for the eternal count. Though the medics called a code on me, I’m back on my feet, though I’d rather be calling eternity my permanent home. Guess He’d not done with me for now. If anyone wants my gore details, just make a comment. Even though my spelling and my vocabulary took a serious beating, I hope these efforts might entertain someone. Today’s “Thoughtful…