Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Autumn Colors, Fall Smell!

Pittsburgh is famous for its scenic colorful Autumn, indeed.
I went running two days ago, and I did find it a fascinating scenery, I loved Autumn's colors!

But as I got closer to the trees, in the trail, I found the fruits of the trees has felt on the ground, leaving the trees themselves fruitless! Not only that, but also they went bad and started to smell, an awful smell!

That made me wonder sadly, how come this beautiful scene is accompanied with such an awful smell! Would I then still love the fruitless smelling trees of Autumn? I was disappointed.

I recalled then the fig tree that was fruitless and disappointed our Lord Jesus Christ so it withered away immediately [Mathew 21]. I understood then why this tree disappointed God. I then started to see myself a colorful autumn's tree, that is fruitless and has an awful Fall's smell. Hypocrisy, is indeed a hard vice to cure. To care more about my colors, how I look to people, and forget about bearing proper fruits. Danger is, one discovers this fact, when it is too late to sow, water, and bear fruits! Yet, I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. Christ who is above time, and it is never too late with Him!

I would rather be a non-colorful Spring tree; with no image for people to desire, no honor, no glory, no reputation, yet fruitful!

"Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance" (Mat 3 : 8)

Sun, Earth and Moon


The Earth originated from the Sun, and it enjoys its light. And even though the Sun is thousands times larger than earth, the earth is not fully lightened, there is a dark portion.

If we want to have all earth to be lightened at once, we have two options. First, the use of another source of light to enlighten the dark part, such as the Moon. But alas, Moon is fake; it only reflects light but is not a source of light. But more importantly, Moon is temporary and is not always there for you, every night! The second option is to get the Earth closer to the Sun. As Earth gets closer to its origin, the dark area gets less. The more closer, the more warmth, the more light, the less darkness. There will be always a dark spot. Until only when Earth joins back its origin, the Sun, when the Earth is all light, a sun in itself.

You are a son of God. We enjoy God's grace and mercy, but we all have a spot of darkness. We many times seek temporarily methods, things, or people to enlighten our nights, but that is fake and temporary! Only if we turn our back to the beloved "moon" that we adore so much, face The Sun of Righteousness and start walking forward towards Him, is when our spot of darkness starts shrinking. As we get closer and closer to Sun of Righteousness, we become more and more light, less and less darkness, and we enjoy more warmth. It is a joyful path! We become more and more the light of the cosmos, until we reach the Sun of Righteousness itself, when we are Christ Like, our ultimate goal!

This is the life of repentance, the life of joy!

"but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead" (Phi 3 : 13)

Your lightening, i.e., comments, are appreciated.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

عندي كلام

كنت عـــــــاوز أكلمك يا ربي ... وأقولك على كــــــام حاجة في قلبي
فرح وحــزن وســلام وخوف ... وحاجات متلخبطة من ضمنها حبي
نفســـــــــــي دايما تكون جنبي ... تـمـلـك روحــي وكـــيانـي ودربـي
يا تري قابل مني ضعف حبي؟ ... يا تري فـعـلا ناســـي جرح ذنبي؟
نفســــــــــي إيدك إنت اللي تبني ... وتخــلـي بـــالـك من أبـــويا وأمــي
وترعى أولادي أولادك وترويهم ... وترشــــــد بنعمتك أخويا وصاحبي
نفســـــــــــي ياربـي تشـفي أخـتـي ... وتأيد بروحــــك رئيـــس شــــعبي
وتـفتــح ياربـي عيـــــون عـــميان ... فيفرحوا بيك زي ما بيفرح قــلـبي
نفســـــي ياربي دول يسامحوني ... واللي آذوني يســـــامـحـهم قـــلــبـي
نفســــي ياربي أكلمك على طول ... وتكون القـــبطان قــــائد مركـبــــــي
تأمر وأنفذ ما إنت المســــــــؤول ... وعـــلــى كلمتك أرمــــي شــــــبكــي
وأنام في حضنك لو البـحــر هـاج ... وأمشـــــي عــلـى المية وإنت جــــنبي

أديني ياربي وقعت تاني ... وبريائي خدعت ناس تاني
خليتهم شايفين واحد تاني ... فاكرني ملاك أنا الأناني
سامحني وإغفرلي من تاني ... ومتسمحليش أعمل كدة تاني

نفســـــــي يا ربـــــــــي تحضني ... وعن حـــــــب العـــــالم ترفع قلبي
من دلوقتي أطير فــي ســــــــماك ... أعيـــــــــــش معاك تفضل بقربي
وأحــــكيلك عن كل اللي فــي قـــلبي ... ما أنت عـــارف كل اللي في قلبي
بـــس عــــــاوز أقولهولك من تاني ... أصل عندي كلام كتير ليك يا ربي

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Smallest Stop Movie

Amazing:
http://gizmodo.com/5643705/worlds-smallest-stop+motion-video-was-filmed-with-a-nokia-n8-phone?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29

30 Impossible photos

A must see: http://gizmodo.com/5643192/30-impossible-scenes-that-actually-happened?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29

Thursday, September 16, 2010

يوميات الاستاذ عبد ربه المسلم فى مصر المسيحيه -الجزء الاول

I received this via email, unfortunately it is true, no exaggeration:


تخيل يا عبد ربه يا مسلم لو الاحداث دى حصلتلك فى يوم ايه هايكون شعورك
لو صحيت الفجر على صوت ميكرفونات عاليه جدا بل مفزعه ومشغلين قناه سى تى فى وكان شغال قداس وبعد نص ساعه مثلا التيلفزيون يتقفل ولقيت واحد صوته زى صوت الفنان عباس فارس بينادى ويقول كير يا لايسون كير يا لايسون يارب ارحم با رب ارحم تعال للكنيسه تعال للكنيسه يلا نصلى يلا نصلى

طبعا ماعرفتش تكمل نومك وفضلت صاحى لغايه مانزلت عشان تروح شغلك
تشاور لاول تاكسى يقابلك. تلاقى السواق مسيحى ومشغل الكاسيت على قسيس عمال يقول كفرو اللذين قالو محمد رسول الله واذا وجدتم اللذين كفرو فضرب الرقاب, طبعا انت هاتتنرفز وهاتنزل من سكات عشان مستعجل وعاوز تروح شغلك ومش ناقص مشاكل ع شان ماتتاخرش

طبعا نزلت من التاكسى قولت تركب المترو
قطعت التذكره ورحت داخل على المترو ورحت جرى على اول كرسى فاضى وقعدت , دقيقه ولقيت اللى جنبك راح مطلع انجيل من جيبه وقاعد يقرا فيه بصوت عالى لغايه ما صدعك
وطبعا انت شايف مسيحيين كتير حواليه ولو اتكلمت هايقولك انت هاتعترض على كلام ربونا وتلاقى نفسك هاتدخل فى مشكله وهانخش فى مشكله امن دوله وطبعا انت عارف امن الدوله كله مسيحيين يعنى برضه مشكله وانت طبعا عاوز تلحق شغلك ومش عاوز مشاكل


المهم توصل شغلك بحمد الله وتوفيقه وانت عصبى لانك مانمتش من الميكرفونات ومتنرفز من سواق التاكسى ومصدع من اللى كان قاعد جنبك فى المترو
طبعا هاتدخل المكتب هاتلاقى اغلب اللى فيه مسيحيين تروح قايلهم صباح الخير تلاقيهم بيردو عليك بمنتهى الغتاته ويقولولك سلام المسيح طبعا تستغرب من الرد وتسكت


طبعا هاتقول يا هادى وتبدا تشوف شغلك وساعه زمن وتلاقى الموظفين اللى جنبك بيقولولك سلام بئا رايحين نصلى صلاه باكر وجم فى نص الطرقه اللى قدام الباب وبدأو يقرو من الاجبيه ويردو على بعض بصوت عالى وطبعا انت عاوز تروح الحمام مش عارف تعدى عشان الطرقه مسدوده تضطر تمسك نفسك وتستنى لغايه ما يخلصو

وطبعا بدا الشغل تانى وفى وسط مانت شغال
تلاقى الاستاذ جرجس بيقولك يا عبد ربه ايه رايك ماتيجى تبقى مسيحى ونكسب فيك ثواب لان انت عارف ان دينك مخرف واحنا خايفين عليك عشان هاتروح نار جهنم وان الدين عند الله هو المسيحيه طبعا هاترد عليه بشكل دبلوماسى لانك مش عاوز تعمل مشاكل برضو وتقوله شكره يا استاذ جرجس انا عاجبنى دينى وياريت ماتكلمنيش فى الموضوع ده تانى
وطبعا الاستاذ جرجس يتنرفز منك وعنيه ت بقى هاتطق شرار


وطبعا اليوم العملى هايخلص وانت فى حاله مايعلم بيها الا ربنا وتنزل عشان تروح على بيتك ولسه هاتشاور لتاكسى تفتكر سواق التاكسى بتاع الصبح تفكر تروح المترو تفتكر الراجل اللى كان قاعد جنبك وصدعك تروح واخدها من قصيرها وتاخدها مشى

واول ما تدخل الشارع بتاعك يكون بالصدفه البحته صلاه الغروب عند الاخوه المسيحيين والكنيسه اللى فى الشارع كانت اصلا محل بقاله والراجل قال اعملها كنيسه صغنونه كده ومحندقه فا طبعا الكل بيصلى بره الكنيسه وسادين الشارع وسايبنلك مكان تمشى فيه بجنبك من على الرصيف تضطر تعدى بس المشكله تلاقى القسيس عمال يقول فى الميكرفون كلام اغلبه تلميح على الاسلام والمسلمين وفى اخر الصلاه يقعد بقول الدعاء المشهور اللهم انصر المسيحيه والمسيحيين , اللهم دمر الكفار والكافرين ( طبعا انت عارف ان المسيحيه هى الدين الحق وكفرو اللذين قالو ان محمد رسول الله ) وطبعا انت مش هاتتكلم وهاتقول سيبهم يقولو براحتهم لانك مش عاوز مشاكل وممكن يطلعو عليك من الكنيسه بولعو الشارع باللى فيه

المهم تطلع بيتك تلاقى مراتك قاعده وعفاريت الدنيا طالعه على وشها
تسالها مالك يا وليه

تلاقيها بتقولك انهارده ماشيه فى الشارع لقيت الواد اللى اسمه جورج بيلقح عليا كلام وبيقول ان لبسك ده هايوديكى جهنم وانتى بكده بتخلينا نبص عليكى الله يحرقك انتى واللى زيك طبعا هاتسكت عشان مش عاوز يحصل مشاكل وانت راجل مش بتاع مشاكل ومش عاوز يحصل مشاكل بين المسيحيين والمسلمين ودى طبعا نتيجتها ان المسيحيين هايولعو كل المحلات والعربيات والشقق والمصانع والجوامع بتاعه المسلمين وتلاقى نفسك يا ولداه لبست قضيه وهى تحريض على الشغب ومش بس كده دا كمان هاتتوجهلك تهمه اذدراء الاديان , ونشر الفتنه الطائفيه , واشعال النار بين قطبى الامه وهاتلاقى نفسك هاتروح فى داهيه والمسيحين طبعا هايتلككولك والمسلمين هايكرهوك لانك عملتلهم مشاكل مع المسيحيين المفتريين تضطر تسكت وتقول لمراتك معلش دول ناس غجر والحكوم ه مش قادره عليهم وتسكت وطبعا تتسد نفسك وماتتعشاش وتحاول تنام قبل ما تبدا ميكرفونات الكنايس المزعجه تشتغل تانى وماتعرفش تنام

Friday, September 3, 2010

Reconciliation

Culture

In all liturgies I am aware of, there is a reconciliation prayer, where the congregation attending the mystery to reconcile with each other.The shape of the reconciliation prayer rite differs as according to the culture where the church was planted. For example, in Antioch Orthodox Churches, I saw people hand shaking, while they hug each other in a missionary Catholic church at some University. In Coptic (i.e., Egyptian) churches, people sort of hand shake, while at the same time the left hand is covering the back of the other person's hand, withdrawing the 2 hands and kissing the tips of the fingers, a typical form of "taking blessings" in eastern cultures.


Confusion

While the congregation is greeting one another, the priest is praying the prayers that commemorates that God reconciled us unto himself. "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation" (2Cor 5:18). This is a bit confusing. Why are we greeting one another, while we are supposed to recall that God reconciled us unto Him? Isn't that a distraction? Don't "people" so often stumble others in their spiritual way, especially inside the chichi? Those "people" being us. Don't we to focus on Christ in the liturgy and try to talk to Him? So why did our mother, the church, teach us to greet one another? Moreover, it is often the case that I am greeting someone I don't even know! How are we reconciliation then?


The answer is two folds. The first simple one is that we simply follow Christ's will in Methew 4:24: "Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.". The second fold is more profound.


First, we need to understand the meaning of the word: reconcile. According to the About Dictionary, the verb reconcile means: to restore friendly relations between. Clearly if I greet someone I don't know, there are no friendly relations to restore, right? WRONG. And that is exactly why we greet one another, to restore the previously existing friendly relationship. How is so? Bear with me a bit.


The Three Vices

A husband and his wife (or any two persons) has a conflict for, at a high level, one of three reasons. More reasons can be claimed by a more specialized study, but for the scope of this article, these three reasons summarizes them all. Hereafter, I will call these reasons: vices.


The first vice is conflict of interest. I want you to park away, so that I can park my car right where you parked yours. I don't care about your reasons why you want to park here, and I don't bother trying to understand them. We lack the common goal. And we fight.


The second vice, is when we both agree on a goal, but disagree on how we can achieve or reach our common goal. We both agree that our children should receive good education. I think that public schools are the best, but she believes Orthodox schools are the only way. We lack appreciation of each other's opinions. And we fight.


The third vice is called misunderstanding. And we fight. Misunderstanding is typically thought of the simplest conflict, while in fact it is the worst. We don't understand each other because we don't know each other. And we don't know each other because we didn't care enough to do so, nor did we spend the time to get to know each other. Knowing each other takes typically lifetime! We didn't bother going there because we, sorry to say, don't really love each other. It is lack of LOVE!!


Lack of knowledge of each other is, in its heart, lack of love.

Lack appreciation to the other opinion is simply self centeredness, overly consumed loving oneself, and hence lack of love to the other.

Lack of common goal is again not seeing the other's needs, desires, and way of thinking. It is again, lack of love. Because if I love you, I love everything and everyone you love!


Lack of love, is a vice.


The Three reconciliations

That being said, we realize that the solution of any conflict, i.e., reconciliation is simply love. To love the other person is to reconcile with her or him. When love is present, we start to know each other. Like a new couple, once they receive church blessings to know each other through engagement, they start spending so much time with each other, and they grow in knowing and loving each other until they are, eternally, unite in Christ.


Similarly, the treatment of an conflict is to love each other, hence knowing each other, understanding and appreciating other opinions, and eventually sacrificing oneself's opinions and plans for the sake of the other.


Back to the Reconciliation Rites

We, human race, where in love with God, in first Adam. Then a conflict arose: we don't really agree with God on His plans for us, so we ate the fruit He forbid us to. We don't appreciate His plans, so we rely on ourselves. And we eventually became unaware of God existence, so we get nervous, worried and lose our peace. These are the symptoms of the evil vice, we don't really love God from all our hearts. Now, THIS, needs a reconciliation.


If I love you, I love everything and everyone you love. If I truly love God, I love all people. If I don't truly love people, then this is a symptom of lack of true love to God. Then, in fact, the church asks us to great one another as, not a symbol, but rather as a checkpoint for ourselves. So whenever we hear the deacon calling us to great one another, we raise our hearts to God to self inspect our hearts to check if we truly love our savior, or we diverged off our path! This is the very reason why we are called to greet one another.


When you hear


So now, once I hear the deacon invitation to great one another, I should immediately raise my heart to God to inspect it, under His light which reveals everything. I should recall how He serviced my reconciliation to Him, even though it is me who IS guilty . I should then offer a hearty repentance on the spot, for anything and everything I did against our reconciliation.


Once this is done, I can get back down to the earth, to see my brethren waiting for me to great, rather to reconcile with them. I would them leave my offerings on the altar and seek anyone I have conflict with to reconcile with whom first. Only then, my greeting others will be truly in Christ.


Only then, I can go out after Church to the whole world, carrying Christ immaculate peace, and joy. Only then I am compelled and spiritually motivated to serve the people the service of reconciliation, that would be naturally attractive in my granted inner peace and joy, that no one can take away from us.


"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." (2Cor 5:20)

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