Claude King's blog

Have you ever heard of the term "fictive kin"? "This idea is referred to as chosen kin, fictive kin or voluntary kin. Sociologists define the concept as a form of extended family members who are not related by either blood or marriage." (Wikipedia, 5.22.21) What do you think about those who you see as fictive kin in your life if any? I feel that we need to be more concerned about fictive kin and its meaning for us now more than ever before.

I have questions for you. How close are you to God? If you are not close to God, are you open to God's teachings? If you have a close relationship with God, what type of relationship is it? How does it manifest itself in your daily life? How do you see yourself in relationship to God, what type of believer are you?

I came across a quote that I thought was both true and sad at the same time and it stuck in my head. It goes like this, "It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright." from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 1791. I have visualized an empty sack that was somehow able to move on its own power, trying to stand upright. It is a funny thing to imagine, and the more I thought about it the funnier my imaginings of it became.

What should we be considering that we need to focus on as we end the liturgical season of Easter this Sunday? Each year we have several Sundays to think, pray, and act upon God's word and then put it into practice. What have you taken away from these past Sundays where we celebrated and worshipped and put into practice?

Is it possible that people can change? I mean change from who they were at one point in time, to someone genuinely different? Not completely different, but genuinely different. Change that is completely different, so often for some of us, conjures up images of a huge weight gain or a huge weight loss.

As we wait for Easter to arrive, we may become immersed in the aura of the holiday and the season especially because we are hopeful that we can gradually open up even further in our state and across the nation. We have been grateful for some spring-like weather that has come upon us recently, but spring weather is not being felt now in this latest cold snap! However, we always try to make the best of it because it often gets worse before it gets better.

We have all believed in someone or some group so much that we were certain that they could help to open the doors that had been shut and bring the change that we wished could happen for the good. But sometimes, it does not happen quite the way that we had imagined it would, or not at all.

Would you like to meet Jesus? What kind of Jesus would you like to meet? It sounds crazy to say it like that, but when you think of meeting Jesus, how do you imagine Jesus to be when you see him? Visually, there are several images of Jesus all over the world. Which one of the images that you have seen of Jesus would you like to experience if you could meet Jesus in person?

As believers in God through the love and sacrifice of Christ our Savior, we are in a unique position as God's people. During the Lenten season, we are faced with life-altering decisions about how we are living our lives, specifically deciding on ways we become more faithful to God and be significantly better at following the example that Jesus set for us.

We have just observed Ash Wednesday worship, where we reacquainted ourselves with our mortality as well as with our need to become more aware of how we can best live out our faith in God. Jesus did that too as he prepared for public ministry through baptism, then isolating from other people and emptying himself spiritually and physically, for over 40 days through fasting and praying, to connect more deeply and be in accord with God first and foremost.