40 days of Reading the Bible by a Clueless, Wandering, Wannabe Christian

So, it's the 40th day! The final day of Lent is actually Holy Thursday. So, since I'd covered all the Sundays of lent, I've completed 39 days and gotten here without having ideally covered every reading in the Holy Week. To wrap up my exercise, I will focus on the verses from Thursday and (good) Friday to wrap up this exercise, as it's at the heart of Christian faith. I attended the service yesterday and was surprised to find almost half of it was in Polish - both songs and readings. Didn't realize there was such a huge Polish community in Taunton, UK and thought it interesting.  (Prayer and song sound even more intriguing when you don't understand the language so you are forced to go by feel and not by words).  Interestingly, unlike the case in India where 12 older folks are selected for the washing of the feet, the main priest walked down the middle of the church and washed different people's feet (seemingly at random). Maundy Thursday As a chil...

6 March, Day 21: Mathew 18: 21-35 Christianity is one of the few religions that  places a major emphasis on 'forgiveness'. There are just numerous references to it, especially in the New Testament when Jesus came to change the system, and tell people about the non-violent way of going about doing things. I think it's because it makes it harder to love somebody when we hold resentment, anger or bitterness against them. A lack of forgiveness stops us from loving other people, and ourselves too in a way - as we end up being the smaller person when we dwell on things. Today's verse is from Mathew 18: 21-35 Thoughts: Jesus uses the parable of the unmerciful servant to respond to Peter when he asks him how many times should he forgive. Jesus says just about a million times (well, 70 times 7 to be exact is what he says). The story goes like this. A servant owned a huge amount to his King, but was not able to repay it. To repay the debt, his master ordered that he b...

23 February, Day 10 : Mathew 5: 20-26 The morning sessions are going well, despite me waking up at different times in the morning (I blame toddler for some of this).  However, I must start waking at the same time everyday even if a little later than planned. A week into Lent, I decided to give up my much-loved morning cup of coffee. And coffee throughout the day too. I had started to depend on it especially since I started to wake up earlier ("I'll be awake soon, I just need some coffee!").  Now I dream like an addict of the smell of the coffee and that first sip which spreads warmth and awareness through me.  Are you allowed to talk about the said sacrificed thing in such a manner once you've given it up? I've weirdly coming to crave it less, although I think about it every morning! Back to the reading of the day, which is from Mathew 5: 20-26 . Here's the bit that stands out for me: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there ...