John 20:10-21:25

Posted on August 14, 2016 by Brad

06_GNPI_83_Appearance_Mary_1024Key Verse For the Week

 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” John 20:17

Shepherd’s Hey is a British Folk-music Settings (BFMS) composition by Percy Aldridge Grainger.

Source: John 20:10-John 21:25

Sunday, August 14

10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look[a]into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,[b] “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Monday, August 15

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Tuesday, August 16

Jesus and Thomas

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin[c]), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

The Purpose of This Book

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe[d] that Jesus is the Messiah,[e] the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Wednesday, August 17

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

21 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin,[f] Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards[g] off.

9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Thursday, August 18

Jesus and Peter

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.”19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Jesus and the Beloved Disciple

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” 23 So the rumor spread in the community[h] that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”[i]

24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

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Happy Birthday, Mandy

Posted on August 12, 2016 by Brad

 

Amanda and dadShe woke me at 2 AM. “We need to go now. I’ve been having contractions for a couple of hours. Dr. Perez is going to meet us at the hospital.”

Linda woke three year old Lauren and got her ready to go. I loaded the bags into the van and put our old dog Ginger in the garage. The plan was to drop Lauren off at our friend’s house on the way to the hospital.

Just as we got in the van, Linda’s water broke so we altered our plan and headed straight for the hospital.  I left Linda to navigate early labor at the hospital on her own and drove Lauren to our friends’ place.  Then it was back to the hospital only to discover that our baby daughter had already arrived.

I spent some time getting acquainted with the newest member of our family.  We had yet to choose a name but Alison (Linda’s choice) and Amanda (my choice) were top contenders. I headed home to take a shower and change clothes while Linda and the baby rested.

Turning into the driveway, I pushed the button on the garage door opener.  Before I could pull the van inside, Ginger darted out of the garage and made a beeline for the neighbor who was standing in her yard.  I watched in horror as the dog, who had recently taken to biting me without provocation, began attacking her.

With the car still in drive, I jumped out of the van to rescue my neighbor. I chased that cantankerous old dog until she slammed into a mailbox post and stunned herself.  Once I retrieved her, I returned to check on my neighbor and apologize.  While all of this took place, the van, still in drive, went tooling toward the garage, smashing into the opening, which ended up being a good thing.  If it had made it into the garage it would have plowed through the wall straight into the kitchen.

I took my shower and headed back to the hospital, in my van that now sported a major dent in the hood, but not before dropping the dog off at the vet’s office one last time.  You know that saying about when one life ends another begins…

It took some time before I arrived back at the hospital and shared the entire story with Linda.  That’s when I found out that while I had been gone, Linda had been pressed by the hospital staff to name our daughter. She had chosen the name Amanda.

It may have started out with some high drama but the day Mandy was born will always be one of the best three days of my life. And in keeping with a long standing tradition, here is the song I always crank up on her special day.

Happy birthday, Mandy!

Birthday by the Beatles

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Happy 50th Anniversary Revolver

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Brad

RevolverOn August 8, 1966 the Beatles released Revolver in the United States. It had been released in the United Kingdom three days earlier. The record spent 34 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, for seven of which it held the number one spot. In America, the album topped the Billboard Top LPs listings for six weeks. Revolver marked a progression from the group’s 1965 release Rubber Soul in terms of style and experimentation, and heralded the band’s arrival as studio innovators.

Revolver’s cover artwork, designed by Klaus Voormann, earned the Beatles the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts. The album was ranked first in Colin Larkin’s book All-Time Top 1000 Albums and third in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album has been certified 5x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

“Eleanor Rigby” was written by Paul McCartney, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song continued the transformation of the Beatles from a mainly rock and roll / pop-oriented act to a more experimental, studio-based band. With a double string quartet arrangement by George Martin and striking lyrics about loneliness, “Eleanor Rigby” broke sharply with popular music conventions, both musically and lyrically.[3]Richie Unterberger of Allmusic cites the band’s “singing about the neglected concerns and fates of the elderly” on the song as “just one example of why the Beatles’ appeal reached so far beyond the traditional rock audience”. 

“Eleanor Rigby” does not have a standard pop backing. None of the Beatles played instruments on it, though John Lennon and George Harrison did contribute harmony vocals. “Eleanor Rigby” employs a classical string ensemble—in this case an octet of studio musicians, comprising four violins, two violas, and two cellos, all performing a score composed by producer George Martin.  For the most part, the instruments “double up”—that is, they serve as a single string quartet but with two instruments playing each of the four parts. McCartney’s choice of a string backing may have been influenced by his interest in the composer Antonio Vivaldi, who wrote extensively for string instruments (notably “the Four Seasons“).

I encourage you to click on a hyperlink above to read the full story about both the Revolver album (including John Lennon’s “Bigger than Jesus” controversy) and song Eleanor Rigby.

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