The blessings of the entire Bible in audio form is now available, free, and doesn't take up gigabytes of space on your iPhone or iPod Touch -- it comes in at just over 2MB! (There's also an Android version on the way...)

The good people over at Faith Comes by Hearing and Good News / Crossway have collaborated to bring you a valuable blessing that you can carry around in your pocket and take out to hear the Word of God at any time, on the go.

The Bible.is app includes a beautifully intuitive interface that allows you to follow along as the audio plays over the headset, or the speakers. You also have the ability to highlight and write notes on specific verses, as well as scrobble through each chapter, or navigate effortlessly to different books of the Old or New Testaments and even share verses with friends on Facebook.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Romans 10:17

Link: iTunes App Store, Bible.is Website

An absolutely incredible performance of The Gospel of Mark, believed to be the oldest of the Gospels written, is available to view, for free, on YouTube! See embedded player below:



About Max McLean and the Performance:

Max McLean is founder and Artistic Director of Fellowship for the Performing Arts whose mission is to present theatre from a Christian worldview that engages a diverse audience. This performance of the Marks Gospel received the 2009 Jeff Award, Chicago theatres highest honor.
FPAVideos

The blessing of all 16 chapters are available for view on FPAVideos YouTube Channel.

Max McLean has also preformed Genesis, recorded the Listener's Bible (NIV), narrated the Classics of the Christian Faith and  is currently in town, performing C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters at the Westside Theater in NYC.

(Listener's Bible via 4HandsClapping)

The Interaction Design Studio of Goldsmiths, University of London has designed the "Prayer Companion". An RSS Feed, news-ticker of sorts that streams across up to the minute headlines to the Nuns in St. Joseph's Monastery in York. The display faces up and is designed to be unobtrusive and minimally distracting. Headlines are thereby only viewed if looking at the Prayer Companion from a short distance, directly overhead.

The Sisters will use the Prayer Companion to pray for the people they read about in the headlines. Much like today's monastic monks who are in continuous prayer for those that live in the world and act as our intercessors.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.

(1 Timothy 2:1)

Very cool use of technology to bring glory to God! :)

The Egyptian government has always claimed that it upholds the right for Christian Egyptians (Copts) to practice their religion "freely" and that any persecutions against them is out of their control; stating that they cannot be held responsible for what a minority group of "extremists" do. 

Want to help save animals, cure breast cancer and relieve hunger? There's an app for that: Touch to Give.

It's a simple premise, you just download the (free) app, select your charity of choice and click to 'donate' -- the beauty is that it won't cost you a dime! All contributions are generated by advertisement sales and The GreaterGood Network has stated that 100% of the proceeds go towards the charity of your choice. Sweet... now, get touchin'!

There's something inherently funny about Stephen Baldwin, but I have one eyebrow raised regarding this particular "movement". Okay, I'll just leave this up to you to decide the humor level, but apparently there is a grass-roots movement to restore Stephen Baldwin's public image so that he can be effective in preaching the Gospel. Right...

Here's a great unique way of using technology in an edifying manner. My friend Mariam Magar had the great idea of translating various treasured sayings and excerpts from Arabic to English and posting them on a new blog, Kingdom Seeker.

This is quite an extraordinary idea and I'm very excited to read the gems that I would otherwise miss out on. I encourage you to follow her blog and also maybe consider translating select pieces that move you from your native language to English (or any other common language) for the world to enjoy! Feel free to post link-backs in the comments below. God bless!

The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them."
(Genesis 11:6)

Link: Kingdom Seeker Blog

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to hear Bishop Angaelos of the UK speak at St Mark & St Abraam Coptic Church in Long Island, NY.

What a beautiful church! Various events of the Bible were depicted by angelic stained glass windows adorning the cathedral. Although it was a cloudy, rainy day, the delicate artwork still managed an alluring glow in its own unique way.

One in particular seemed to catch my eye the most. I somehow managed to sneak in a quick snap with my iPhone camera (excuse the sharp cropping, I wasn't very successful because I didn't want to be too distracting). This window illustrated the Wedding of Cana in Galilee, where our Lord Jesus Christ turned water into wine as the beginning of many signs to come.

Without realizing, I found myself meditating on the seemingly simple verse etched on the window:

"Jesus said to them 'Fill the waterpots with water.'"

(John 2:7a)

Why? Why did he have the servants fill the waterpots with water? Surely the Creator of the Heavens and Earth didn't need the starting point of water to create wine. Why make the servants go and fill the waterpots with water?

I read the story over and tried to put myself in the servant's shoes sandals...

So, you know when certain people have a "commanding authority" over a room? Something about their body language, their posture, stance, the look on their face or the way others are constantly glancing over for approval or support in one thing or another. It's just something about them, a presence unlike any other that commands the attention and confidence of the room or situation at hand.

I believe Jesus had that characteristic about him and I'm sure the servants had no idea what to make of the seemingly simple request to fill some waterpots with water. I know for myself I'd probably be thinking something like, "umm... okay? But dude, seriously, we need some wine up in here and pronto! Filling some waterpots with water doesn't make too much sense right now. Maybe we can fill some old wineskins with water? Mix it up a bit and hope the water mixes in with the dried wine. I mean, sure, it will taste watered down -- like really really watered down -- but I'm sure it'll be more wine-ey than putting water in waterpots will ever be! Ugh, whatever, this guy does seem pretty confident after all. Alright, fine, let's do this."

So fine, we fill it. I mean we fill it -- to the brim! I've never seen so much water in a waterpot in my life. They're usually like a quarter filled, maybe even half-filled, I mean nobody ever wants to fill it all the way. That's just crazy! It'd be too heavy if you did that. There's no way you'd be able to carry it (it holds 20-30 gallons!) But whatever, worry about that later, take it one step at a time. I'm just gonna super-size his order to the max! I mean, these waterpots have water in them, boy!

We drag them over, of course spilling some along the way -- there's just too much water. Puddles form and "Caution Wet Floor" signs are being put up (only to be ignored, of course). But there you go! Every waterpot we could find, filled to as much as we could fill them. It's actually a pretty nice sight to see. We're actually kinda proud of what we did. I mean, yea, we didn't really solve anything but dude, there's a lot of water here right now... a lot of water.

Actually, this is pretty lame. It's just water...

"Draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast." he says. Uhh... what? I'm pretty sure he's going to notice we're just serving him some water. It doesn't matter how you serve it, it's still just water...

Fine, I'll do it. But this is crazy, man. No sense whatsoever.

I dip some out ... it certainly smells different. It kinda stings the nostrils... I can't see the color too clearly, it's really dark because of all this mood lighting or what-have-you, but something is definitely up... I hope this water wasn't dirty or anything... I mean I'm about to serve this to the master of the feast. If this stuff is funky he'll have my job!

I look over and he's obviously not happy on account of there being no wine left. I'm used to his moods, but I can tell he's really annoyed this particular night...

I'm shaking right now. I mean, I can feel it, I can feel something. I can't tell if it just got really hot or really cold but I definitely do not want to be here right now.

I cautiously approach the master of the feast with the glass I drew and before I could say anything he snatches it out of my hand. I can finally make out the color against the candlelight as he lifts it up to his lips... no way! It can't be!

He smiles, almost laughing and yells heartily toward the bridegroom, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!"

It's wine! I can barely control myself, my heart is pounding! I mean, this guy has no idea what just happened. Jesus just turned water into wine. He took what little I had and turned it into wine so good it made the feast master shout with joy!

God asks us to fill our waterpots with water -- to the brim -- everyday. Trusting that He will make it good. If we put forth our best efforts in everything that we do and as long as we do it following His will and His commandments, He will take over and make it more amazing than we could ever imagine.

The whole idea of service intimidates a lot of people, myself included. How could I, feeble minded as I am, share the enormity and glory of God with those around me? All I have to offer is a whole lot of nothing -- a whole lot of water. But God will turn it into something! God will turn your nothing into something magnificently glorifying to Him. As long as I can humble myself and follow His path, no matter how difficult it may be, or how many excuses I can find not to do it, if I somehow manage to drag that heavy waterpot filled with purity and humility in water, filled to the brim with everything I have, and set it at His feet and leave it to Him... He'll work miracles!

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I was loading up YouVersion.com last night to try and catch up on some of my Bible reading (I'm way behind) but found this:

So nerdy but so cool! ASCII art is an ancient art form that used to be done strictly by hand but now there's image to text processing software that makes it a little less "magikal"... but still cool! :)

The full source code is available after the jump for the technically gifted out there...

I stumbled across these three videos that briefly go into the history of Orthodoxy and how it started about 2000 years ago and is rooted in the New Testament.

What piqued my interest in these videos? It could be because I'm Coptic Orthodox and consider myself very fortunate to be raised in such a rich and beautiful Church, started by the Apostle and Evangelist St. Mark himself. Or, maybe it's because the video quite plainly answers the question of why so many Americans feel "empty" after their Sunday Services.

Yea, maybe.

Nah... it's probably because it's narrated by the formidable, Stephen Baldwin. Certainly not as cool as this guy, but I'll take it!






If you can't see the videos above, click the link to view the full post.

The Holy Week of Pascha is in full swing and, as I noted last year, be sure to check out the live streams of Paschal services when you can't get to church for whatever reason.

One thing that struck me was on Monday night, after coming home from the Paschal service and reading Matthew 11-15, Chapter 14 verses 28 through 31 seemed to jump out at me.

28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 

29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

(Matthew 14:28-31) 

I mean, I must have read these verses a hundred times before but I got a completely new feeling of immense warmth and comfort in these verses that night. The background here is that Jesus had left his disciples and went out alone to spend time with the Father (a lesson in and of itself) but as soon as He realized that the disciples were afraid and in want, Jesus walked out to them on the water (at around 3:00am, no less), overcoming worldly obstacles and calmly comforted them. He was there for them initially when they needed Him and yet again (literally immediately after) when Peter doubted.

We can walk on the stormy waters of life's troubles around us as long as we keep focused on Christ, but as soon as we concern ourselves more with what's going on around us, we fall. But, He will always reach out and grab us (v.31)!

There's an active Facebook event dedicated to people sharing various contemplations throughout Holy Week and there is some really inspiring and touching pieces there that I encourage all to check out.

On the event page is a listing of some helpful online Pascha resources, including:

• Holy Pascha Book - Downloadable PDF (Rapidshare, Scribd)
• Guide to the Holy Pascha - Downloadble PDF (Rapidshare, Scribd)
• Medical Account of the Crucifixion - Downloadable PDF (Rapidshare, Scribd)
  
  
  

I've also been going through the wonderful book, "The Holy Pascha: Treasures of the Fathers of the Church, Volume 3" which goes through every reading throughout Holy Week providing sayings of the desert fathers, commentary, general themes and explanations of the rites and services. You can pickup a copy over at OrthodoxBookstore.org.


Feel free to share any of your own contemplations or any other online resources that you've come across relating to the Holy Pascha Week.

God bless!

I'm not sure how blasphemous this is (probably very), but I chuckled. Don't judge me.

TheDailyWTF

I'm a big fan of both tasteful typography and wasabi-punch-to-the-gut Bible verses, so I thought I'd share this one here:

I hate posting about somber news, but I feel compelled to do my part to raise awareness.

This sort of persecution should be more widely documented in the West. In America many Evangelical Groups feel they themselves are being persecuted by more liberal Christians and political parties. Ironically while crying out for conservative practices in the face of persecution " in America, their Christian brothers and sisters in less fortunate lands are truly being persecuted, with violence and terror. For Christians in the West, the severity of the abuse done to the Coptic branch should be taken less lightly "as one of the first established Christian groups it is possible that without them, Christianity might not have spread as effectively in Europe in the first place.

Judyth Piazz

There was a recent drive-by shooting by three Muslim men outside St. Mary Guirguis Coptic Orthodox Church in Nagaa Hammadi, Egypt this past Coptic Christmas Eve (January 6) at 11:30pm. Six Christians were killed plus one Muslim guard and many more were injured.

Prior to the shooting, Bishop Kirollos of the Nagaa Hamadi Diocese received a threatening text on his phone; he also stated that local residents were threatened prior to the festivity. H.H. Pope Shenouda III has asked for calm in light of these attacks and prayer instead of retaliation.

Our deepest sympathies and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of those martyred and we pray that God may forgive those who commited this henious act.

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