Monday, August 24, 2009

INTRO TO LUKE IN THE NOW: LITN I, Verses 1 - 4

1. It’s a known fact that so many have tried their hand at telling this amazing story from their own perspective. Because those who have been transformed by the potency of it wanted to be a part of the propagation of it, they have undertaken to draw up an official account…a story of record…of the things which have been fulfilled among us.

2. And these who have added their own voices to the narrative have honored the oral tradition of the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ earth-ministry…of those who were actually there, and who ministered alongside Him…embracing what those followers remember about it from its inception. And they have told their version of the story as a confirmation to the truth of it.

3. But it seemed desirable to me, also, to write an account of it through my own paradigm, while being careful to maintain the integrity of what has already been said concerning what happened from the beginning…and my motivation was to write it for you, most excellent Theophilus, friend of God.
4. I personally took on this responsibility, doing the research and investigation myself, because it was important to me that you know the full truth, beyond any shadow of doubt, of the things you have been taught. In other words, I wanted to be sure that you knew these things really happened.

6 comments:

Northern Light said...

There is nothing more reassuring than to be taught(and learn) from someone you believe in totally. The effort taken to "prepare the way" for me is beyond explanation.

Don't I know how what I read will be the "gospel" (no pun intended) truth. More than that, the one bringing the information to me has done more for my learning than anyone before him.

Yep, time to begin Luke.
Peace,
Northern Light

Larry Usher said...

I love you Lord and I lift my voice...to worship you, oh, my soul rejoice!
Blessed day to all!
All is well!

Bro Lar

Unknown said...

V. 1...Have I like NEVER read the beginning of Luke?!...and
V.3..."my motivation was to write it for you"...I knew this Gospel was "to" Theophilus, but comparing versions makes clear the importance of the relationship that is implied in LITN...and makes me personally very grateful for most excellent Theo!

Anonymous said...

Yes, me too Avatar. This introduction has shown the importance of this letter to a dear friend and it is also connective to the mind of humanity today. With a little manipulation of the name spelled Theophilus it occurs to my thoughts that Theo represents belief in God and philus can be paralleled to phylus. This gives meaning to the name as a section of creation that believes in God. That total group is much larger than is commonly recognized.

No matter if a person holds dear to the creation story in Genesis as their theory for the origin of life or if they embrace Darwinian evolution, there is no escaping the thought of there being something beyond our ability to understand concerning our present state of conscious existence. Theoretically this places all who ever give any thought to our origin in the general category of mysticism. It seems reasonable to understand there is yet some other source of life's energy beyond all that has been seen or will likely ever be seen. That is mysterious and all who arrive at that point of understanding are mystics. So leaving those thoughts of origin behind become important to our ability to receive what the Spirit of life is saying to us as children sitting attentively under the Teacher's tutorial.

We have become like those who are adding our own voice to the whole testimony of interaction between Creator and created when we honor all that has been said about this powerful energy called life by those before us. As disciples of this Word we are taking life a little farther with each generation of those who believe in Life.

Perhaps those who are the better friend of God are the same as those who do not attempt to explain God.

As the writer has said concerning the work of research and investigation that was done for this writing to further confirm that these things really happened, so we too must live according to a system of confirming ourselves as yet other words that add effectiveness to this good news for all creation.

It is easy to worship a God that we may choose to say is beyond our comprehension. Our real challenge though is to see that this Source is continually sending us a message that we need to hear and act on.

What we can build upon from the gathering of information through research and investigation is important for us and those who follow us. What is most important to do however is understand there will always be something more to hear from the Teacher and remain mindful to be both a good listener and practitioner of what we hear.

There is more to be done in this city.

This opening is in keeping with the clarity that you have offered in the other gospels Bishop. It has already excited my spirit with inspiration and shows even more structural foundation than I had anticipated.

This is indeed a blessed work.

Anonymous said...

Harold Lovelace said...

Interesting...Jesus the Healer had a friend in Doctor Luke
a Gentile...an outsider...Loved your msg..LITN

Anonymous said...

I'm glad this is still open. I've read this several times now. It is a remarkable opening to this beautiful testimony of divine love.

A question was asked by my sunday school teacher when I was a child concerning what is it that separates mankind from the animals. My answer was love and she smiled without saying anything further so I thought that was the right answer and it was but was just not a complete answer. There are many observances of love in the form of compassion, nurturing and even giving up of personal life to save the lives of others among the animal kingdom. But what really separates us from the others is what we do right here on the blog. We talk about it, discuss it, reason it out to the best understanding possible and it becomes a testimony of our lives to others when we are gone. Our word that remains in the memory of the few that have known us in this life is all about what we described with our life concerning what love is.

Dr. Luke sets out to do what others have done but from the specific view of a person who was not only educated but a gatherer of intelligent data. His approach is like that of the general population in the world today. We listen and reason and use the great wealth of data gathered by others before us to form our progressive statement about what we say that love is.

It really doesn't matter how long or short our lives, what kind of perception others had about the quality of it or how well known we were by others, the most important thing our life can accomplish is to make a memorable statement that encourages others who are friends of God.

During the course of making that statement, when we give due regard and respect to others who have done and are doing the same, our statement truly proves that love as a powerful force really exists and it's message given to humanity by a loving God really happened.

I must say once more Bishop, that you have really set the pace for increased understanding of this truth at a quick and sustainable rate. For those who get it and go with it there is a blessed mindfulness of peace to be enjoyed while we endeavor to run the race ti it's completion.

And once again, thank you for your persistent teachings of goodness. They are with me and are providing continuous courage for my progressive testimony of real love that overtakes fear and leaves it in my dust.

May the dust of our wind tell the story of love well.