"laestadian, apostolic, gay, lgbtq, ex-oalc, ex-llc, llc, oalc, bunner" LEARNING TO LIVE FREE: Love Prayer

Monday, February 13, 2006

Love Prayer

Isn't that a lovely eye? Our daughter is so radiant that no matter how bleak the world seems, I find my hopes for it refreshed just looking at her. For Valentine's Day, a friend sent me this prayer.

Because love is patient. Help me to be slow to judge, but quick to listen. Hesitant to criticize, but eager to encourage,remembering your endless patience with me.

Because love is kind. Help my words to be gentle and my actions to be thoughtful. Remind me to smile and to say "Please" and "Thank You" because those little things still mean so much.

Because love does not envy or boast, and it is not proud. Help me have a heart that is humble and sees the good in others. May I celebrate and appreciate all that I have and all that I am, as well as doing the same for those around me.

Because love is not rude or self-seeking. Help me to speak words that are easy on the ear and on the heart. When I'm tempted to get wrapped up in my own little world, remind me there's a great big world out there full of needs and hurts.

Because love is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. Help me to forgive others as you have forgiven me. When I want to hold onto a grudge, gently help me release it so I can reach out with a hand of love instead.

Because love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Help me stand up for what is right and good. May I defend the defenseless, and help the helpless. Show me how I can make a difference.

Because love always protects and always trusts.Help me to be a refuge for those around me. When the world outside is harsh and cold, may my heart be a place of acceptance and warmth.

Finally, because love always perseveres. Help my heart continually beat with love for You and others.
Thank you for this day when we celebrate love, and for showing us what that word really means. Amen.

18 comments:

  1. A reminder to get out of our "me" cocoons and put others first. Yes, she does have a lovely eye. I hope its a long time before the look of "too much knowledge, too much seen" creaps in. Some people never lose the shine in their eyes. I hope she's one.

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  2. I have debated this definition of love with friends (not the poem).
    Some say that it is Jesus' love for us and we can never aspire to this type of love with each other.
    I say that we should aspire to this type of love with each other.


    It is an interesting debate.

    God' Peace!

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  3. jumalan rauhaan2/20/2006 02:50:00 PM

    interesting sight. perused the archives. grew up among the uskovaiset. left. never going back. i like dancing. i like a beer now and then. thankfully my extended family isn't too judgemental, although i'm sure some of the congregation is. oalc members get so worked up over "worldly" folks they are unable to realize that they are passing judgement, something allegedly no human has the power to do. good luck to all you who are in the process of breaking free. as for myself, i am free of the spiritual shackles of laestadius and his henchmen. i won't be visiting this site anymore. don't need too. to those of you making a break for freedom, i offer this bit of advice: don't become trapped by doubt or anger. you've made it this far, now truly free yourselves. don't waste your time agonizing over a cult that you were unlucky enough to be born into. there is a world out there. its not evil to care about it. there is no hell.

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  4. Many Trails Home2/21/2006 12:49:00 PM

    To "Jumalan Rauhaan" (I like your moniker): I hope you come back so you can answer my question: What are the "Uskovaiset?" I can relate to what you say except for one thing: As a young person having left the OALC, I also felt it was a bit of rotten luck that I had been born into that culture. In recent years, however, I have come to the realization that it was exactly right for me. There are a number of reasons, but primarily that I would probably not have been motivated to search for spiritual understanding, perhaps would not have valued freedom, and would not likely have developed the convictions and "sisu" necessary to buck the conditioning. Now I say, "Thank you" for giving me a stone wall against which to build my own strength and understanding. Many blessings. MTH

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  5. The preceding writer ended by saying "there is no hell". Hmmm, we've sure come a long way, baby, haven't we?" If you don't believe in a hell, then yes, it's obvious Laestadianism would highly offend.

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  6. I have broken free but enjoy hearing whats going on in the Laestadian communities... :)
    I also stick around because I want to be able to lend a hand to someone who is ready to leave one of those cult-like churches. Many of these people I still care about.

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  7. This is such a nice prayer, it appears that the thread got sidetracked, are we not talking about love?

    “there is no hell” - excuse me, you must be joking. Look around... A situation or place of evil, misery, discord, or destruction: “War is hell” (William Tecumseh Sherman).

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  8. What “are one of those cult-like churches”, Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist…

    I need more definition... I don't understand. How do I tell, please help me.

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  9. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek. The word Koine denotes “common,” because this style of Greek was the language of the common man-on-the-street during the time of Christ.

    Koine Greek came into vogue about 300 years before the birth of Jesus, and it became an obsolete language about three centuries after the Lord’s death. It was the most precise instrument for the conveyance of human thought that the world has ever known. Without doubt, this language was providentially employed by God in giving the world the New Testament revelation of His Son.

    Koine Greek had several words representing different aspects of love. Eros generally had to do with sexual love. From this term derives the English “erotic.” This word, however, is never found in the New Testament.

    Then there was the noun storge. This term was primarily employed of family affection. Paul used a negative form of it in describing the base traits of certain pagans of his day. He spoke of those who were “without natural affection” (astorgous – Rom. 1:31).

    A very common word for love during the apostolic age was philia. It is the word of genuine affection – heart love. It is seen in the name, Philadelphia (brotherly love). Jesus had this kind of love for his closest disciple, John (John 20:2), and for Lazarus (John 11:3).

    The noblest form of love, however, was agape. William Barclay, in his superb discussion of this word, noted that “Agape has to do with the mind: it is not simply an emotion which rises unbidden in our hearts; it is a principle by which we deliberately live” (New Testament Words, p. 21).

    It is the kind of love that we must have for all men – even our enemies (Matt. 5:44). The Christian must always act out of love, i.e., in the best interest of his fellow human beings.

    Unquestionably, the most exhaustive treatment of what this kind of love involves is found in First Corinthians, chapter 13. Within this context, the inspired apostle gives more than a dozen descriptives which regulate the operation of agape love. And what a challenge they are. To study them carefully is to come to the rude awakening of how far we fall short of measuring up to the divine ideal of concern for others.1

    1. http://www.christiancourier.com/archives/agape.htm

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  10. Oh my. Me and my friend where just discussing this very same topic three days ago. Same verse from 1Corinthians and everything. What a coinsidence.....or is it.... My little note is that the Greek word “storge” is actually spelled “storgos”- the kind of love or satisfaction in being together, like that of mother has for her child and vice versa.

    I would also like to add to the definition of agape(the love is kind, love is gentle..version of love). Agape is marked by a total absence of any selfish motive. It is not an emotion, but a choice. It is unconditional love.

    There is four different Greek words that translate into one word into English. I can find this confusing at times when i study the Bible. Just like how the word “heavens” can get confusing. Heavens can either mean paradise or it can mean the atmosphere.

    Since there seems to be theologians here, maby someone can help me interpret the word “Easter” into Greek, As found in Acts12 verse 4 kjv. Is Easter referring to the passover, in honer of the the Jews being freed from Egypt? or is it referring to a celebration of a pagan goddess?

    KJV uses the word Easter just once and it uses the word passover many other times. This leads me to believe that Easter and Passover have different meanings. KJV is the only version i've seen that uses the word Easter, while other versions translate the word into Passover.

    I have soooo many questions about this subject. It would be a whole lot easier if i was fluent in the Greek language.

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  11. Wait a minute...

    the Passover is honoring something that is recoded in exodus
    Easter is honoring something that is recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, over 1000 years later
    how can different versions of the Bible get these two calibrations mixed up with each other?????

    This doesn't make a lick of sense!

    And sorry for going off topic. Your daughter has beautiful eyes, Free.

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  12. I have never consider myself "unlucky" because I was born into a Laestadian family. The Laestadian culture has many good sides (in most cases it is a very safe place to grow up), and the Laestadian christianity provides a deep understanding of the basic concepts of the Christian faith. In my opinion, it is a rather distorted form of Christianity, but still most of it is right. So, personally I don't have any bitter feelings or anything, but on the other hand, I grew up in a relatively liberal Laestadian family with no strict rules that had to be observed unless you wanted to be punished. If I came from a very strict and abusive Laestadian family, I might feel differently.

    ExLLC, do you have an interlinear Greek/English New Testament? If you don't, I'd advise you to find one. There are several online versions also (for example www.olivetree.com, click Bible Search). The interlinear Bibles make it easier to check the Greek text even without any thorough knowledge of the Greek language. For example, in the verse you asked about, the Greek text uses the word 'pasha', which is used about the Christian Easter in modern day Greek (in fact the English speaking Orthodox people tend to call the Christian Easter 'Pascha' rather than 'Easter'). However, in this connection they are maybe speaking about the Jewish Passover, which is the original meaning of the Greek word 'pasha'.

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  13. As for the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover, which are both called 'pasha' in Greek, they often coincided in the early Christian times, until a Church council decided rules for setting the date for the Christian feast of the resurrection of Christ. Until that there were different ways of determining the date in different parts of the church, and some celebrated the resurrection of Christ always at the time of the Jewish Passover while others did it on a different date. The council set the rules, and one of the rules was that the Christian Easter was not to coincide with the Jewish Passover any more.

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  14. what is an interlinear Greek/English testiment? does it have side notes to what the Greek word for each Engilsh word is?
    That would be very cool. The www.olivetree.com seems very cool, and great resorce.

    In my search for the correct translation of the word Pasha, i came across this website.

    http://www.av1611.org/kjv/easter.html

    It's written by a christian author and a Dr. His expaination makes sence and seems to be accurate.
    Thanks for the help theoforos.

    Cmpletely unrealed, im involved in a small skit and am performing in front of my church in 2 hours, and again on Sun. Hopefully ill do well and wont screw anything up. :-)

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  15. An interlinear New Testament has every other line in Greek and every other in English. The English text is a word for word translation and follows the structure of the Greek text, i.e. sort of "Greek with English words". Usually the English translation of each word is just below the Greek word.

    As for Dr. Gipp's explanation, it's hard to imagine they would have used the Greek word 'pascha' about the pagan Easter festival because the word has been borrowed to Greek from Hebrew and originally meant the Jewish Passover. I suppose there would have been another word for the pagan festival.

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  16. By the way, if you go to olivetree.com, click 'Bible Search', then 'Greek NT' and then 'Interlinear Greek/English' you can get an idea what an interlinear NT is except that the one at olivetree.com is not really 'interlinear' because it has the English translation of every Greek word right after the word, not below it like in printed interlinear Bibles.

    Hope your skit went well... :)

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  17. I've been on the road so haven't had a chance to peruse the forum lately. This thread (which I agree has sort of strayed from "love" and Free's daughter's eye -- which is beautiful!) has some insightful comments about our faith journeys. I especially liked the comments by Many Trails Home and Theoforos about not resenting having grown up in the OALC faith.

    I believe and trust that the Lord has good reasons for just about everything! Perhaps growing up in the OALC faith has made us stronger in some way; perhaps it has tested our faith in some way; perhaps it has made us understand what many of our yet good friends believe, even if we no longer share that faith.

    One of my best friends is still an OALC member. I've walked with him on his path as he struggled with his faith, even considering agnosticism at one point. He chose to remain in the OALC, and I would never discourage him from that -- nor does he discourage me from my path. Instead we walk together and talk together and pray together. We walk where the Lord wants us to, each with our own struggles and crosses to bear. What is right for one may never be right for another -- and that's OK. What we do need to do is gently uphold each other. Someone far wiser than we are is at the helm and we don't need to second guess him.

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  18. Dear CVOW,
    You have stated it so well. You are fortunate to have the OALC friend to share your beliefs on this journey.
    I agree that we all have our own path with experiences along the way that our soul requires for growth. I, too, do not regret my OALC upbringing and feel that it gave me a very good and firm foundation for the rest of my life.

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