A sound that I do just love

 

I don't know who these fellows are, but I do know that they're somewhere in

 Central  Appalachia and that they have a sound that I just love. The song is "Rank

 Strangers," originally done by the Stanley Brothers.

Going Up Home to Live in Green Pastures

I am posting two versions of this hymn. It's one of my favorites and carries some special meaning for me. I believe that this was written by Dr. Ralph Stanley and Larry Sparks.

The first version below has Larry Sparks, Alison Krauss, and Judy Marshall on it. I do love those harmonies.

This second version is The Larry Nelson Family at the Lighthouse Baptist Church at La Porte, Texas in 2018. It has that warm down-home feel for me.
 

Troubles and trials often betray those
Causing the weary body to stray.
But we shall walk beside the still water
With the good shepherd leading the way.

Where we shall live and die never more.
Even the Lord will be in that number
When we have reached that heavenly shore.

Those who have strayed were sought by the master
He who once gave his life for the sheep.
Out on a mountain still He is searching
Bringing them in forever to keep.

Where we shall live and die never more.
Even the Lord will be in that number
When we have reached that heavenly shore.

We will not heed the voice of the stranger
For he would lead us home to despair.
Following home with Jesus our savior
We shall all reach that country so fair.

Where we shall live and die never more.
Even the Lord will be in that number
When we have reached that heavenly shore.

Woody Guthrie's vision of heaven (and mine, too)

"No debts and no burdens in Heaven,

No mortgage or loans to repay,

No banks on the great streets of glory,

No homes shall be taken away;

There will never be landlords in Heaven,

No rent to take from you each day,

And we all will be equal in glory,

and happy forever we'll be."

Taken from The Woody Guthrie Center Facebook page

Jesus Christ - Woody Guthrie

"Everything has been done so that you might become so many suns, sources of life (for others)..."

Photograph from Lynne Myfanwy Jones

"Everything has been done so that you might become so many suns, sources of life (for others). May you be perfect light before that immense ight. You will be flooded with its supernatural splendor. To you will come, limpid, direct, the light of the Trinity emanating from the One God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom be glory and power forever and ever. Amen."---St. Gregory Nazienzen

Don't you let me sleep too late!

Five Blind Boys of Alabama - Swingin' On The Golden Gate

 

Sterlin Bolen - The Place That I Call Home

 

The Problem With Hell...

The Word "Hell" and the Book of Revelation - Brian Zahnd

I know that many people come to this blog and leave unhappy or angry with my Universalism. I'll admit that I'm often unfocused and that the blog posts are often kind of random and not original. But I think that that Universalism gives us something to talk about from many angles and has a Scriptural basis and that it provides an opening for many people who struggle to believe.

This is what it means when a mine worker is killed at work...

Taken from the Forgotten Coalfields of Appalachia Facebook page on May 20, 2022:

16 years ago today changed our lives forever. Mike's brother, Billy; along with 4 other men were killed in a mine explosion at Darby Coal Mines. Mike received the call around 5:30 that morning. My heart broke for his sweet precious momma, I hated when she had to be told. She was never the same again.
Hold your family close and tell them that you love them every day, we do not have a promise of tomorrow.
Take care and God bless, love you all.
Prayers for each family affected.

And there is this:

From Richard Murray's "Four Reasons the Early Church Did Not Believe “Hell” Lasts Forever"

Read the scholarly and well-reasoned article "Four Reasons the Early Church Did Not Believe “Hell”by Richard Murray here at Progressive Christian.

Here is a thought-provoking  excerpt:

Well, the majority of the early Church believed that Hell was place where God would rescue, reform and reconcile all lost sinners back unto Himself. The process of Hell was intense, thorough, critical, painful, agonizing and anguishing. But, it was ultimately restorative as each and every sinner was led through and past their own Hellish valley of sin and death, and into a deep and heartfelt place of Godly repentance.

The early Church had a significantly different view of Hell than much of the Church does today. Hell’s purpose, for the majority of the Church fathers, was seen as purifying rather than punishing, restoring rather than torturing, healing rather than destroying. They believed Hell was “God’s crisis-management for lost souls.” Hell was for all those who did not authentically receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior during their earthly lives.

I Just Got To Heaven And I Can't Sit Down

I  have had this song on my mind all day. Here are two versions.

Kenny and Amanda Smith Band

Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue

I hope that this is true...

 

Belief, Action and Gardens of bliss

 

Ralph Slone Jr - O'er Death's Sea In Yon Blest City

 

I think that these three statements go together...

 

Li

Gratitude is the key...

 

Did Jesus descend into hell or to the dead?---By Heather Hahn (UM News)

Did Jesus descend into hell or to the dead?

By Heather Hahn
April 22, 2011 | UMNS

 "He descended into hell."

That's one possible explanation of what Jesus did between Good Friday and Easter.

For more than a millennium, Christians have uttered some version of that phrase as part of the Apostles' Creed. And for nearly just as long, theologians have wrestled with what the phrase means or whether it should be included in the creed at all.

Early Methodist hymnals omitted the phrase altogether. The 1989 United Methodist Hymnal includes the likely more accurate translation, "He descended to the dead," and mentions "descended into hell" only as a footnote.

But including any mention of descent in the creed says something about how Christians over the ages have come to understand God's saving work, say church scholars.

"It means there is no part of human existence to which Christ did not 'descend,'" said the Rev. J. Warren Smith, associate professor of historical theology at United Methodist-related Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C.

"It's what it means for Christ to take upon himself ... the punishment of sin, which is death. If Christ really dies, then that means he (journeys) all the way to the place of dead."

Read the rest of the article here.

Some positive thoughts for those who are hurting and lost, for workers, for busy people who need rest and compassion

"I Can Almost See Heaven"---Joey Justice at Pilgrims Prayer Church at Dorton (Jenkins), Kentucky

 

Israel Clark Singing "Welcome Home" at Pilgrims Prayer Church in Dorton (Jenkins), Kentucky

 

Roger Hicks--"The Letter"--A soulful hymn and teaching!

 A soulful hymn and teaching!