I wish I lived in or near Wilmore, Kentucky. Why you ask? Because then I could attend the Ichthus Music Festival. The artist lineup is incredible. Skillet, Toby Mac, Casting Crowns, Switchfoot, Newsboys, Superchick, Francesca Battistella, and Josh Wilson are just a few of the folks performing. I also like the fact that Chick-fil-A is one of the sponsors. That company is very consistent with its message and it is always grounded in Christianity. Their boldness deserves to be recognized and supported. Anyway, back to the festival and all that it involves. They also have an outstanding array of speakers including Dave Ramsey. The Ichthus Music Festival is the oldest and longest-running Christian music festival in the nation. It was started in 1970 by an Asbury Seminary professor Dr. Bob Lyon and a group of his students as a positive and redemptive response to the 1969 Woodstock Festival in Upstate New York. Did you know that ichthus is Greek for fish. It was the symbol that Christians used to indicate that they were hosting gatherings. They had to utilize the symbol because of the persecution that was going on at the time. Does it feel like history is repeating itself? The other thing that I found unique about the music festival is the code of conduct. All in all, this looks like a can’t miss event. Now if I could just get to Wilmore.
The spiritual climax of the Gospel of John, as Father John Waiss points out, occurs at the foot of the Cross, where Jesus utters his parting words: “Woman, behold, your son!” and “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27). While these words were addressed to the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Church has long understood this moment as a universal adoption. To truly image Christ, we must share in His parentage; if we embrace God as our spiritual Father but reject Mary as our mother, we treat Christ as a half-brother rather than our "firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). As Origen noted as early as the third century, the profound depths of the Gospel are only accessible to those who, like John, rest their heads on Jesus’ breast and receive Mary into their own homes. This maternal role is deeply rooted in biblical typology, positioning Mary as the fulfillment of the great mothers of the Old Covenant. She is the New Eve , the mother of all the living according ...
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