Apocrypha...Say What? by Linda Maynard

Growing up, I attended a Catholic School and so my religious education took place as part of the curriculum.

I do remember studying the Catechism, but not studying the Bible. It was never mentioned or offered in those years.

While attending Mass, the Catholic Sunday Service, there is a part of the Mass, when the priest reads a portion from the Bible. He reads one portion from the Old Testament and another portion from the New Testament. Then he gave what was called a Homily, which is kind of like a sermon or teaching on what he just read.

 I distinctly remembered thinking, “let’s get over the readings before the talk.* and let’s get to the good stuff.”

The sermon/homily was the better part, as far as I was concerned.

*It actually took me many years to realize that these portions of the readings, were from the Bible and were quite important.

The only Bible, I had ever seen in our home, was a huge Family Bible. It usually sat on an end table in the Living Room. A far as I know, it was never read. I remember casually looking at it and wondering why all the information was not filled out. You know information like marriages, births etc.

As an adult, I was introduced to the Bible, in a more personal manner. My new southern friend, Linda invited me to a Bible Study.

I politely refused her many times.

One day I said OK and was immediately filled with fear and anxiety. I not only knew so little about the Bible, but these women seemed like they were all Protestants. Who knew what heresies they would try to teach me?

Still, I wasn’t too taken aback by the study part, as I really liked Linda and I was sure that she understood my lack of knowledge. I trusted that she would do me no harm.

The women welcomed me and I generally felt accepted. However, I must admit that I was still a little nervous about being with these Protestant women. We were warned about taking part in non-Catholic services.

Linda purchased my first Bible. Doing that, she followed specific instructions that the Lord gave her. He told her, “Buy Linda (me) a Bible, but it has to be a Catholic Bible, as she will not accept one that isn’t Catholic.”

That was 100% accurate.

So I continued meeting weekly with these women with my very own Bible.

I remember an incident from the early days of that Bible Study Group.

Ruth, our leader, was hospitalized. During her recuperation, we each volunteered to go over in an afternoon to keep her company.

When I was with her, we had a pleasant conversation. I didn’t feel uncomfortable, even though I only knew her for a short while.

In the course of our visit, I told her that I had prayed and asked the Lord for something to read to her from my Bible, to encourage her. So I did. She seemed to be appreciative of the entire visit.

It wasn’t until many years later, that I realized I had read a portion of the Apocrypha, which of course is included in Catholic Bibles, but not in Protestant ones.

While contemplating that, I was so impressed that Ruth, who was Protestant, through and through said nothing except thanks. Her ancestry being from England, was of a solid New England Protestant.

She must have seen that my reading, of that portion of scripture, came from a giving heart. She was not about to get into a theological discussion about whether the Apocrypha was valid. She didn’t use it as an opening to “correct” me.

That wasn’t a sermon per se, but it really was.

You have heard the quote “Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words.”

This was a perfect example of that being lived out.

It taught me more than any others, who may have had degrees and letters, ad infinitum behind their name.

She was a teacher, par excellence. Maybe not in the formal sense, but that day, she taught me through her actions, how to live out the words of the Gospel. There wasn’t a little chime that rang along with an announcement…”practical application!” Yet there it was…the word becoming flesh.

She travelled on the higher road.

She picked the better way.

She had chosen not to educate me or diminish my intention.

She exercised a measure of humility that day.

I left her house, feeling the pleasure of giving of myself to another human being.

She made that completely possible, through her silence.

The right exegesis didn’t trump that day….rather LOVE did!

A Heart Lifted

"I will never forget how different prayer became for me," Cheryl explained to our Bible study group, "When I lifted my eyes from folded hands, scared of God." She demonstrated, lifting her head skyward, eyes open. She could look at God, freely, and talk to him directly. 

Worship is like that. Worshipping God involves us lifting our eyes and our hearts away from ourselves and toward Him who is alone worthy of worship. Our worship is not to be confined to a single space, like a church, or a single method. But every act of worship begins with humility: humbling ourselves, offering the sacrifice of praise, whether in our hearts, in our music, in our prayers, in our writing. The Hebrew and Greek words for worship are translated as prostrating oneself, to kiss (as in kissing the feet of a king), to reverence, to adore.

Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy. Psalm 99:5.

There is so much disagreement today on how a worship service should proceed, so much judgment. Hymns are thrown out in some churches because they "quench the spirit." Contemporary music is what "connects us to God." If hands are not raised, God's spirit is not present. If there is liturgy, there is no freedom in the worship. If there is no liturgy, worship is not true worship. And so on.

Balderdash. Our worship begins in the heart. A heart directed toward God in any place at any time in any circumstance is at worship. But in that worship, must also be truth: "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." Jesus told this to the Samaritan woman at the well. Jews believed Samaritans were less than because their understanding of scripture was flawed. Women, especially poor Samaritan women, were not to be addressed. But Jesus speaks to her, and she pursues the truth: "I know the Messiah is coming, and when he does, he will explain everything to us." Jesus answered, "...I am he." (John 4:23-26). 

She discovered the truth and she worshipped. As did her friends: “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42). 

To Jesus, our King and Savior and Friend, who reaches out to all and saves flawed believers and accepts our flawed worship and praises: Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise! (Psalm 96:4).

Are We There Yet?

“Are we there yet?” If you are a parent, you have heard that impatient question on a road trip. You probably remember asking it of your own mom or dad, ten minutes into a two-hour drive. Lately, I have been asking the same question of my heavenly Father, but I already know the answer: No, we are not there yet. We have not arrived at Destination Peace and Unity, a place Jesus desires for His Church.

The topic for this week is battle strategy. A spiritual battle strategy is needed because we are “not there yet” (i.e. “the new heaven and the new earth.” Rev. 21). If you are like me, I am not a fan of language that confuses and sometimes divides Christians on the very battleground we are talking about here, so bear with me while I offer my own weak definition of the topic.

Battle strategy refers to one’s spiritual plan of action in combating evil (wrongdoings, human state of rebellion against God, and the presence of evil in the world) and in making progress in bringing the Gospel (the Good News of God) to others. It is akin to a military strategy--the Apostle Paul instructs us metaphorically in the Letter to the Ephesians to “put on the armor of God,” which includes truth, salvation, faith, the Gospel, peace--in other words, remember who you are: a child of God saved by faith in Christ Jesus through His death on the cross, instructed to live in love and peace as we share the Gospel, enabled by the Holy Spirit’s power.

We do live in a world of good and evil, of the material and the spiritual, and yes, I believe in angels and demons. But I first and foremost believe that the powers of darkness (demons, Satan) have already been conquered at the cross (“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He [Jesus] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” Colossians 2:15).

Too often, we believers act as if a battle against Satan is still to be fought around every corner. Too often, we ignore the battle in our own hearts and the anger, hatred, resentment, racism and nonsense that line its walls.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18).

Unfortunately, we are not there yet, are we? Every week, it seems, we face a battle of wills--our own, and others--instead of following the battle plan of our Lord.

Here are four “weapons” that wield great power: love, prayer, thankfulness and humility. I fail at these every day and when I am successful, it only comes through the power and grace of God, and by choosing obedience over selfishness.

Regarding love, Jesus said, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them (John 14:23). If we love God and actually obey the Word, we are winning the battle. If we love others, we are winning the battle. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8).

Prayer: 1 John 5:14-15 encourages us, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.” “With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18).

Thankfulness: Being thankful even in the direst of circumstances defeats hopelessness; it may not change our circumstances, but it changes us. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). Anne Voskamp offers wise words in her book, One Thousand Gifts: “The brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light to all the world” (p. 58).

Humility: We believers who speak very sincerely about putting on the armor of God, should not forget the set of clothes Paul describes in Colossians: 
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12).

In summary, tools for battle for overcoming the evil one and success as a Gospel-giving Church are believing and proclaiming the name of Jesus; reading, believing and acting on the Word of God; and displaying a unity that so reflects God’s love that the world WILL know that Jesus is real and so is His love. Are we there yet?

Eternity can be found in a single moment...

A certain peaceful easiness fell over me as I keenly took note to how clear the sky directly above seemed. There were only a few clouds off to one horizon, and even they seemed so crisply defined against the contrasting background of blue. Still, something just wasn't quite right. There appeared to be a casted tint to everything I was viewing with great appreciation. My mind struggled and searched for some reasonable explanation to the slightly darkened look of such a beautiful sight. Was it real? Were my eyes deceiving me? Then, I finally grasped that I was taking it all in through the closed visor...of my motorcycle helmet.

There's a standing conception that time seems to slow down during an accident. I'm here to confirm that to be true. A leisurely ride on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon suddenly found me flying solo through air down a ditch line doing my best Luke Skywalker on his legendary Death Star run.

 I was just cruising along a country back road with no place to be and no place to go.  As I started up a very gentle incline that slowly curved to my left, a rather portly groundhog started making his way across the road up ahead of me starting on my side. The rodent stopped dead center in my lane when he saw a pickup truck coming in his direction from the opposing side. Could I have ran him over? Probably. But I didn't want to risk losing control of my bike and slamming head on into the truck, so I adjusted course to go around him on the shoulder side. I would quickly learn...a soft shoulder at that.

As soon as the weight on the back tire of my Shadow 1100 left the payment, I might as well have been riding a train on tracks. My direction was now being predetermined. Fighting the weight of the bike in a vain attempt to correct my path and stay out of the ditch was futile, so I decided to control where and when I would lay down my ride. I wasn't going fast, but still the thick woods directly ahead was very troubling. Simple physics dictates-  25mph+hickory tree=rapid deceleration=eating through a straw...if I was lucky.

So I steered into the ever deepening and narrowing ditch on my side and started slowing down. Just a few feet into the new course, my motorcycle suddenly came to an abrupt stop as the weight bogged down in soupy quagmire of recent rains and mud. Perfect. There won't be much damage to my ride. Then physics once again came to play because while my motorcycle came to a sudden stop...I, on the other hand, did not. So now I'm airborne...

Trees, large rocks and stumps were all in my vision ahead. My flight literally carried my over 20 feet down the trench before an Evel Knievel/Wide World of Sports type finale. I ended up feet-first on my back in another section of soft goop. Dazed and looking straight up at the beautiful sky. I'm not sure if I ever lost consciousness or not, but I do know I felt absolutely no pain...but that would soon end too.

There are so many things that could have gone different in those seconds that seemed like minutes to me.  But, I had survived only the second motorcycle wreck in my life with no broken bones or permanent damage. Note I didn't say injury-free. Slamming into the ground even into a soft landing spot still hurts like the devil. Add the fact I was north of 35 years in age and the situation grows increasingly more complicated. The 20 minute ambulance ride to the emergency room was nothing short of self-induced torture as my back and joints revolted in searing, punishing pain. I was sore and stiff to the point of incapacitation for the week that followed, unable to get myself into or out of a chair or bed without assistance. I lived alone with my elementary school aged daughter. All 50 pounds or so of her. For one of the very few times in my life, I was forced to rely on others to just make it through that week. It was a tremendously humbling situation...one that my life desperately needed.

It would be less than a year before the coming night I would fall to my knees and beg God to forgive my self-absorbed, temporal lifestyle. The night I became the prodigal son returning with not just my hat in hand...but completely naked and broken.  God knows in my heart I wish that transformation had taken place as I suffered through the injuries of that motorcycle wreck. No. The truth is I wish that transformation had never had to take place at all. That my continuous work for the Kingdom was well displayed from the moment of my salvation. If only...

I still had the broken helmet from that day until recently. The motorcycle was sold years ago (another interesting story in itself), but I kept the helmet around as a reminder of the humility I endured from the results of that day. Yes. I still need to be reminded from time to time that humble is a virtue we are all called to be. God just later gave me two more precious daughters...so the helmet...well...kind of became redundant.

I'm a Christian who happens to write blogs...not a Christian blogger.

Christians really mean well with our projections of Jesus, but...

Okay. I'm guilty party as anyone when it comes to personalizing an image of Jesus because even Christians are autocratic and infatuated with the concept of power. One might even say especially Christians from a historical perspective. So, we've created a paradox within our own belief system, and nothing epitomizes that quite like the events of Holy Week.

Everything Jesus did on Earth was for a reason...His reason. Some actions were extremely overt and witnessed by many, while others took on a subtle nature and may not be understood or even discovered this side of Glory. Why is it so hard for Christians to accept the life of Christ, as He actually lived it, as the living model for the Kingdom of God?


How do Christians continue to be the Light...to show love for others, seek justice, and carry out the Great Commission if we fail to fundamentally recognize the very nature of our Savior? 

Palm Sunday, as the story unfolds in the Word, is a head-scratcher for most people. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a direct collision course with the mighty Roman Empire, the Jewish religious establishment of the day, and a date that will forever change history. He does this on the back of a borrowed donkey to the cries of Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest...or literal shouts for salvation; yet just a week later, the same crowd enthusiastically cry out for Jesus to be crucified. Did they have any possible comprehension that the two separate sets of exclamation would forever be Divinely connected?

The concept is mind boggling even today, and Christians have the benefit of knowing the outline of the whole story from birth to return. So why do we continue, even today, to misconstrue the nature of Jesus? I believe as the people did during Holy Week over 2000 years ago, we still to this day subscribe to the same crowd mentality that breeds a very narcissistic attitude.


The crowd on Palms Sunday had surely heard the stories of Jesus. Some may have even witness a miracle or two in person.Their cries for Jesus to save them were done from a secular frame of mind...not an eternal one. Sure. The qualifier of calling Jesus the One the Lord has sent was a nice tribute, but if they really believed Jesus had been sent by God to save them, why did they turn on Him so fast?

Jesus gave the people hope. What they failed to realize was that hope was on a far greater scale than just delivery from Roman oppression. Even if Jesus had delivered His followers from the hold of the Romans, that didn't change the broader setting of living in a fallen world. Most of them couldn't see past the immediate challenge to seek after the more meaning reward of eternal life in Heaven.

Aren't we guilty of the same mistake today? Even as Christians, we often focus on paltry things like status and image. We even use the name of Jesus selfishly to attain such secular objectives. Sometimes we even do this while claiming to serve the Kingdom...which not only pains me to write...but shames me even more to realize and admit includes myself. No, we don't have to be guilty of cheering for Jesus to be crucified or physically throwing Him up on the cross to be lumped together with those who did. Each and every one of us have our own sins that Christ died on that cross to atone.

I'm excited myself about the day I get to cheer and worship Jesus in person. But until that day comes, I need to be just as enthusiastic about serving God in humility and on the terms He established in His word while always remembering this is all about Him...not about me. I need to learn to ride the back of that donkey just like Jesus did and with great confidence He rides right along with me...and that's what makes the task so wonderful.

Lord it's hard to be humble...when you made me such a great dancer.

I missed my Friday rotation due to the death of a close family friend to both Candice and I. Thanks David for letting me post on your day instead. I love you brother.

The below YouTube video has been used by a number of people to illustrate a plethora of different points. Not long ago, I did a little editing on the video for our church's Youth Pastor, so he could make a point with our teenagers. Good stuff.

Let me follow suit...



Last week, your Kingdom Bloggers were discussing being a part of the Body of Christ, using a spiritual gift while working with others who have different spiritual gifts. Immediately, this video came to mind.

I personally have absolutely no problem being that first guy up. Good, bad or even ugly...God made me fearless when it comes to being a trailblazer. New music, new ministries or even new theological ideas (gasp) are no obstacle for yours truly. The problem with that gift is the potential of God not being a part of the new movement, and the motivation for the movement is all self-driven. Ouch. Now we have a problem.

But what if the idea or movement is from God, yet so different in scope it may intimidate others. That's where the spiritual gift I'm not blessed with comes to play...and that's the second guy up who joins in and starts dancing. Without him, you have a single nut out there on an island of what has become humility. First dude absolutely needs second dude to get his movement started. I'm thankful to God for the brave souls who believe in a new idea enough to stand up in support...stepping out on faith most of the time because they don't fully realize the scope of the movement or plan.

Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves.

Philippians 2:3

God often breaks me with this verse. He blessed me with the gall to often be the first, but in that blessing comes a tightrope walk between confidence/arrogance and humility on my part. Praise often comes to the entrepreneur that succeeds in our society. Often that praise is followed by pride on the part of the succeeding. The very same thing happens in our churches. Those who stand up as a show of support and go storming into a new venture, knowing full well the credit for success will fall elsewhere, exercise a lesson in humility that is very much Christ-like.

Yes, Jesus was the first up in the greatest movement in all human history...but He did it with the humility of the second guy up.

Lord, help me be humble, please break me down, while giving me strength to be brave in Your name. May I never forget it's ALL about You. Amen.