Jesus

Review- Lumo visual Gospel

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

My wife and I are lovers of the old classic movies going back as far as Rudolf Valentino on The Sheik. Besides Wonderful Life, Yours Mine and Ours and The Bishop’s Wife, we have watched most of the faith based epics. Some were long but poignant and if slightly inaccurate they stayed with the idea of keeping things close to the biblical account. Among the greats we loved The Robe, Ben Hur and of course The Ten Commandments. The modern films trying to appeal to the same audiences have tended to wander farther from scripture with each new big budget production.

How refreshing it was then to finish the abbreviated version of Mark offered up as The Teachings of Jesus from Lumo productions on the Youversion bible app. It is not only 100% scripture but it is beautifully filmed in Morocco. The actors are speaking in Aramaic but the script is dubbed over so you barely hear what they are saying. This creates a pseudo-silent film with wonderful attention given to facial expressions, costume and interesting camera angles. All in all I would give this a 5 star rating and now can’t wait to get hold of some of the full length gospels. These are well worth watching and remain astonishingly faithful to God’s word. I suppose my only concern would be for those who would use this in place of their own bible reading rather than as an inspirational supplement. I would love to hear any feedback from my readers. What do you think?

All is Bright?

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5

Silent night Holy night / All is calm all is bright      Josef Mohr 1818

I am not sure of the exact inspiration for Josef Mohr when He wrote the words for Silent Night. What strange word are these? What Silent night? What holiness could be seen? From the braying donkey carrying Mary to Bethlehem to her cries piercing the night as she gave birth; there was no silence or holy place given her. ” All is calm all is bright.” Yet it would be hard to imagine Joseph being calm when there was no better place for Mary than a stable or cleaner spot to lay her child than a feeding trough for the cows! Yet the oddest of all these lines is “All is bright.”  All is bright? I have memories of milking our cow at 4:45 a.m. in a barn without electricity. My only light was a candle stub which I placed on a beam. There was nothing at all especially bright about those cold early mornings in the barn.

And yet by faith we sense the deeper reality of the silence of angels, stooping low to see the Savior. We recognize the holiness of the child conceived by God’s Holy Spirit. We feel the calm assurance of Mary and Joseph’s hearts as everything happen

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ed just as the angel had foretold. We see the brightness as the first flicker of God’s light in our dark and waiting world. From that first Christmas till now, the darkness has never put it out!

On the other Side the Door

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:6-7 ESV

The first people to see Jesus were Joseph and Mary. Theirs had been a long a difficult journey. They had faced the rejection, and disapproval of families and neighbors. On that final night their faith was rewarded with the sight of tiny eyes opening as Jesus came into this world. He took His first breath as they watched and He was held by Mary when He cried. Then Joseph wrapped Him in cloths and gently laid Him in the hay for His first nap!

Today, think of the Inn keeper who stood just behind the door he had closed. He missed His chance to see the birth of the Son of God. But shepherds came breathlessly hurrying into the village to see if what the angels had told them was true. While shepherds were shouting praises we have no record of neighbors just down the street joining in the crowd. That night they were next door to Jesus but missed holding his hands or kissing His cheeks.

Do you long to see the face of Jesus Christ th

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is Christmas? He could be just behind a door we ourselves have shut. Jesus is still waiting and God calls us to come and to see Him. Why not, “Come and behold Him born the King of Angels”?