{"id":988,"date":"2014-11-30T18:19:22","date_gmt":"2014-11-30T22:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/?p=988"},"modified":"2019-12-19T11:03:39","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T15:03:39","slug":"an-invitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/2014-11-30\/an-invitation\/","title":{"rendered":"An Invitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’d like to invite my blog readers and Mozilla coworkers to Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

For most Christians, today marks the beginning of Advent, the season of preparation before Christmas. Not only is this a time for personal preparation and prayer while remembering the first coming of Christ as a child, but also a time to prepare the entire world for Christ’s second coming. Christians invite their friends, coworkers, and neighbors to experience Christ’s love and saving power.<\/p>\n

I began my journey to Christ through music and choirs. Through these I discovered beauty in the teachings of Christ. There is a unique beauty that comes from combining faith and reason<\/a>: belief in Christ does not require superstition nor ignorance of history or science. Rather, belief in Christ’s teachings brought me to a wholeness of understanding the truth in all it’s forms, and our own place within it.<\/p>\n

Although Jesus is known to Christians as priest, prophet, and king, I have a special and personal devotion to Jesus as king of heaven and earth. The feast of Christ the King at the end of the church year is my personal favorite, and it is a particular focus when I perform and composing music for the Church. I discovered this passion during college; every time I tried to plan my own life, I ended up in confusion or failure, while every time I handed my life over to Christ, I ended up being successful. My friends even got me a rubber stamp which said “How to make God laugh: tell him your plans!” This understanding of Jesus as ruler of my life has led to a profound trust in divine providence and personal guidance in my life. It even led to my becoming involved with Mozilla and eventually becoming a Mozilla employee: I was a church organist and switching careers to become a computer programmer was a leap of faith, given my lack of education.<\/p>\n

Making a religious invitation to coworkers and friends at Mozilla is difficult. We spend our time and build our deepest relationships in a setting of on email, video, and online chat, where off-topic discussions are typically out of place. I want to share my experience of Christ with those who may be interested, but I don’t want to offend or upset those who aren’t.<\/p>\n

This year, however, presents me with a unique opportunity. Most Mozilla employees will be together for a shared planning week. If you will be there, please feel free to find me during our down time and ask me about my experience of Christ. If you aren’t at the work week, but you still want to talk, I will try to make that work as well! Email me.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n1. On Jordan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bank, the Baptist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cry
\nAnnounces that the Lord is nigh;
\nAwake, and hearken, for he brings
\nGlad tidings of the King of kings!<\/p>\n

2. Then cleansed be every breast from sin;
\nMake straight the way for God within;
\nPrepare we in our hearts a home
\nWhere such a mighty Guest may come.<\/p>\n

3. For Thou art our Salvation, Lord,
\nOur Refuge, and our great Reward.
\nWithout Thy grace we waste away,
\nLike flowers that wither and decay.<\/p>\n

4. To heal the sick stretch out Thine hand,
\nAnd bid the fallen sinner stand;
\nShine forth, and let Thy light restore
\nEarth’s own true lovliness once more.<\/p>\n

5. Stretch forth thine hand, to heal our sore,
\nAnd make us rise to fall no more;
\nOnce more upon thy people shine,
\nAnd fill the world with love divine.3<\/p>\n

6. All praise, eternal Son, to Thee
\nWhose advent sets Thy people free,
\nWhom, with the Father, we adore,
\nAnd Holy Ghost, forevermore.<\/p>\n

—Charles Coffin, Jordanis oras pr\u00c3\u00a6via (1736), Translated from Latin to English by John Chandler, 1837<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’d like to invite my blog readers and Mozilla coworkers to Jesus Christ. For most Christians, today marks the beginning of Advent, the season of preparation before Christmas. Not only is this a time for personal preparation and prayer while remembering the first coming of Christ as a child, but also a time to prepare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[297,298,296],"class_list":["post-988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mozilla","tag-catholic","tag-christian","tag-jesus-christ"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=988"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":997,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions\/997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin.smedbergs.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}