November 25, 2013 Monday

Start out the week with abs of steel workout.  (It is mostly done laying on the floor, which I see as a positive)  Take what you want from it, but just try 10 sit ups or crunches to start.

John chapter 1 - The Word Became Flesh.  This takes some insight. (mine is not perfect, but it is what I am stuck with)  Referring to God as "the word" and that the word is born into the world in Jesus.  I look at it as thought - the constant in our lives, what goes on in your brain - all the time, from birth to death, but this goes beyond.  You don't see God physically but you can see the results of His existence in everyday life, just as you can with thought, education, ideas, the result of consciousness.  Love is the biggest result of the Word - that "I don't know why I love you but I do" thing.  Think about it.

1996 - On this day, Thanksgiving is over and now the busyness starts.  Put all the fall décor away, clean and haul out all the Christmas stuff.  It has become a bigger, busier task then what I remember it to be when I was a kid.  When looking back through journals, I'm not sure if it is comforting or just repetitive, but life goes on and so do the holidays.  The same thing, 17 years later I went to Grace Circle.  It is a group of my friends at church that get together one Monday a month eat and have Bible Study.  It is very comforting to me, I love these women.  Tonight we decorate the "Grace Circle" tree.  We have around 50 trees in our church and attract quite a few people to see them.  I guess you call it - tradition.  What are your traditions?

Parenting -  Grace circle originated as a group of women, that were raising children,(many alone)  that worked.  So we met in the evening, very often brought our kids to do homework or run amuck in the church while we had our meeting, after feeding everyone.  Now we are mostly retired, kids grown and do less around church then we used to.  Mom's circle are in their 90's and only meet to eat and have Bible study.  There is much comfort in that, and continuity.

Tsetserleg Mongolia - Our freedom is only as safe as the freedom of everyone else in the world.  Do you enjoy religious freedom?  Some don't :
^

Twentieth century
In the soviet communist Buryatya and People’s Republic of Mongolia both Buddhism and shamanism were suppressed. Ritual sites were destroyed and lamas as well as shamans were killed. Also in China, the religious traditions suffer much from the communist regime.

In the Mongolian People’s Republic the communist purges seem to be the most effective. In 1937 they are started leading to an almost complete wipe out of the Buddhist clergy. All but one monasteries were destroyed and thousands of monks were killed or deported. Moses states:

“The Mongolian People’s Republic is perhaps unique in having successfully eradicated almost all vestiges of religion, from the dogma once taught to the people, to the individual monastic institutions that once existed all across Mongolia. […] Religion…is no longer a social factor in the Mongolian People´s Republic ” (Moses 1977: 2-3)

Seeing the great revival of Buddhism in the present time, we maybe must conclude that the elimination wasn’t as complete as Moses says. Nevertheless it was completely wiped out in public life. Many rituals and festivities were prohibited or tried to be secularized throughout all of Greater Mongolia. An interesting note that in Buryatya the elimination of Buddhism led to a growth of the “decentralized and flexible folk practice of shamanism” (Worden & Savada).

Although freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution of 1960 religious activity remains hardly tolerated. In 1989 then liberation sets in with a policy to reaffirm traditional culture (Worden& Savada). In 1990 under influence of the perestroika in the USSR communism falls in Buryatya as well as Mongolia and a revival Buddhism sets in. Monasteries and other religious are restored and inhabited again. People attend services and consult lama's for important events (Hind 2000).

 

Enjoy the Day!  Make it memorable!