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November 12, 2009
> 4:21 PM
allegiance I generally don't comment on things like this, not specific events, but something I heard on the news about all this kind of drew it out of me. Apparently, at some point in his work history with the Army, the now notorious Ft. Hood shooter reportedly said that his allegiance was to Islam over the U.S. Constitution. Annnnd this is a problem becaaauuse?? His skewed view of his own religion aside, I would answer - I should hope so! What if the soldier in question was a Christian and said his allegiance was to Christ over the U.S. Constitution? Sounds a little different now, doesn't it? Well, sure he shouldn't have been shooting people on an Army base. Of course I would argue that he shouldn't be shooting at people anywhere, for any reason, if he is a Christian, but I understand the majority opinion - yeah, yeah. The point is, though, that in the "case" that is being built against this man is included that little story - that someone heard him say this phrase, which is supposed to be dangerous - that he is a Muslim before he is an American. That is being held up as "evidence" against him. "See, look at that psycho nut job, he puts his religion over the Constitution!" Again, I say -- I should certainly hope so. So, allegiance IS a serious thing, a serious word/concept. It is. I thought so, I was just checkin' there. Then we either take is too seriously, about the wrong things, or we take it too lightly, and scatter it around too widely. We should all hope that, if we are Christians, we are known for our allegiance being to Jesus Christ above and before ANYthing, much less the U.S. Constitution or any other man-made document. *disclaimer: I want to make sure no one gets full-on in the throw is ignorance and thinks I'm saying what the man did was OK because he's Islamic, or for any reason at all. It wasn't - not for that reason - not for any reason. It was evil, nuts, crazy, etc. I'm just talking about that particular statement made about him, which could be made about anyone of any religion, and has nothing to do with killing people. That is all - the managment. :) Labels: christian life, pacifism 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | October 02, 2009 > 9:47 AM but bestows favor on the humble And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for: "God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble." -1 Peter 5:5bThis was the beginning of the reading for Evening Prayer on Wednesday. These direct instruction passages make you think. This one is very important I believe. Tucked back in the back of 1st Peter - a very central thought. Relationships with others. How to "be" as a human being as you deal, as you will constantly, with other human beings. It can be taken, I suppose, as merely a command to obey, and if you don't obey it, you'll get the hard side of God on the back of your neck. That would be an unfortunate way to look at this statement (or any for that matter). One would expand such a statement and ask questions: Do you want to be close to God or far away? Would you rather be who God created you to be or some twisted other thing? Do you understand this whole thing? Do you get that it's about the utter and complete transformation of your being and not just about you doing the right thing or being right or being good? One could ask those questions of the hearer - of us all. I thought: If you're always thinking, "I am humble in this situation, he's the prideful one," and you just know that God is favoring you or your side and "opposing" the other - if that's you, you probably don't know what humility is. If you're looking for His favor as some kind of reward for your having been humble, and His active opposition to the other as some kind of punishment for their having been proud, you should see yourself as at the bottom of a very high mountain. If we have figured out "how to be humble" in order to be on God's good side - "See! See me Lord! I am a humble man! Give me your favor - you said!" You see yourself being what you believe is good and you try to shine the spotlight of yourself to heaven, so God will see you too. HE sees. He sees much deeper than our supposedly good actions. He knows the deep intentions of our hearts. We think we know them. If He exposed them to us as they really are, I think we would be destroyed by what we saw and heard. Humility. "Change me, O God. Make me into the Image of Your Son!" Let this be our prayer. Better, often, if we shut our mouths and lie down - throw dirt on our heads. Better we apologize when we feel we have no need to. Jesus had no need to die on a cross either - not for Himself. Better we forget what others have done to us and remember only what we have done, and lift that up to the Father in His great Mercy. Better we stop trying to find ways of showing how good we are, to other, to ourselves, or to God. Better we simply do as the Scripture passage continues... So humble yourselves under the might hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. -1 Peter 5And I imagine it would be best if we didn't get too excited about what the "exalt you" business means or we'll be right back where we started from. God help us. Lord have mercy on us. Fill us with Your Grace, Father. Labels: christian life, humility, spiritual formation 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | September 14, 2009 > 9:49 PM his head shakes I found a link to the site that contains these words on another site. I will not link to the site - just not going there. And this blog post won't be long, but my fingers would not stay away from the keyboard on this one... "We will live for the Constitution and we will die for the Constitution, for we know that it was inspired of God for all of his Children."I can hardly conjure words for this. "...inspired of God..." - seriously? Unbelievable. And I'm sure most of the people who are connected to this business are Christians. I'll not go into judging whether they are or not - that's not my job. I'm not even thinking about that - we can all be wrong. But seriously people - it's just wrong. Wrong. I know, on the Constitution part, many feel differently - I fully realize that. That's been debated in the Christian community for 2,000 years. As for myself, though - I will NOT live for any constitution. I will NOT die for any constitution, or kill for one for that matter. I can't find words strong enough for calling such a document "inspired of God," for believing such a thing. Things are getting a little out of control - just a little bit. Labels: christian life, politics 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | August 21, 2009 > 11:50 AM never repay injury with injury I prayed the Midmorning Prayer, Terce, this morning and the reading was from Romans 12. I love Romans 12. I started writing a rule based on that chapter of Scripture once upon a time. I'm not finished with it yet and have not thrown it away. It will be implemented at some point. Anyway, Romans 12 is one of those little sections where the whole life we're living as Christians is synopsized very well. This little section (a consolidated quote) is one of the most ignored, I believe. We rationalize the hell out of it until it has no more power. It might as well have been written with invisible ink. Just how else can you read or interpret this? However we do it, the Word keeps coming back around, as it was spoken... Never repay injury with injury. For it is written: " 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord." "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink." Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.You really can't get away from what this says, what He says to us about how to live in His Life. And how is it that we allow ourselves to be "conquered by evil" here? Partly, I think, by turning by turning evil into good, by thinking and acting in ways not commensurate with God's Life and Nature. Sure, we're really unable, in ourselves, to do what's written there, but we're supposed to be rending ourselves open to allow God to change all that, all that hating of the enemy, all that desiring to return injury for injury. It all feels so just and right to us, but it's just our broken nature exerting itself. If we keep repainting it and calling it something different, it will never die, and all that broken mess will continue to infect everything around us instead of the Kingdom of God infecting us and the whole world. Labels: christian life 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | August 07, 2009 > 11:45 AM our agendas I'm just copying this quote that my friend Paul put up today. I was very impressed by these thoughts and they seem very timely to me. I see so much of this - Christians pushing for their agendas about this and that and the other thing. It all seems very, well very NOT what we should be concentrating on in our lives as children of the living God. Whenever I see or hear this going on, it honestly discourages me. It makes me want to sit down and stop. I'm certainly not saying we shouldn't talk about things we believe to be important. How we do that is also important, I think. Waiving flags, toatin' signs, screamin' and hollerin' about things... I'm not sure that's what we want to be about. And just as certainly, there will be some of my siblings who will disagree. Ah well, go for it. I'm simply concerned about the face this puts on Jesus to the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah, money changers in the temple courtyard - yada, yada. I believe there is something much deeper about what Jesus was doing/is doing than that, as an example, can really show us. So, whether it's my agenda or your agenda or even something you or I believe to be "God's agenda," we should probably watch how we go about raising these issues. We are not the judgment hammer of God. Our anger will not accomplish His Will. Labels: christian life, merton 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | July 29, 2009 > 9:19 AM freely given Sometimes we have problems like this - like poor Prometheus. We do not understand the nature of God. OK, well, "duuuuuh," as the saying goes, but we should, at least to a degree more than we do. He's revealed it to us, to an extent. I know we have to grow in our ability to grasp it, to grasp Who He Is. Some may think, "we can never do this." I'd have to disagree. I don't believe God created us to be eternally ignorant of the fullness of reality, even of His Reality. We're just presently out of sync with it. But -- Jesus -- the Great Gift of God to us. He gave us Himself. But we want to earn it. We want to steal the fire. We can't get our broken heads around the fact that anything He has given us is pure gift. And let's be honest, those of us who are Catholic, or Wesleyan/Arminian for that matter, have a few problems in this area. The seeming paradox of His Grace mingled with our cooperation, gets confused, often. Far too often we lean on the "our cooperation" part - as if there were "parts" of all that. I know, I know. It really is complicated - not to Him of course, but for us to get hold of. I certainly believe we can cooperate, that our wills are involved in everything that God does in, for or through us, even if we're not overtly aware of it. I believe that's the way God created us. And I do not believe that short-circuits the concept of "pure gift" when it comes to Jesus, Grace, our ultimate and complete salvation, etc. I never said it passed the "pure logic" test. Does it need to? If so, there are a few other things we need to make God aware of so He can straighten that mess out. Of course, ultimately, even our small, unnoticeable yeses are the result of His Grace giving us the ability to say them. So, here we are, back to HIM. Rely on the Gift. Receive it as gift. Don't count on yourself. His Grace. His Love. His Mercy. His working anything in us, for us, through us. Labels: christian life, merton, theology 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | July 22, 2009 > 12:59 PM she of magdala > reposted A few years ago, in 2005, I was thinking about she who's feast day is today, and wrote a significant post on these thoughts. I think it's worth reposting today. The premise comes from the concern some have that somehow leaders in the Church or others made up the whole "she was a prostitute" thing in order to denigrate her character because she was a woman, blah, blah, blah. OK, I'll let my former words, and still my current thoughts, speak about this.  St. Mary Magdalene. I know it's not her feast day or anything, at least not that I know of. I was just thinking of her. I probably heard something on a show I saw on Discovery or somewhere, something like that. I have often thought this and have rarely said it. Sooo, what's the big damn deal if she was a prostitute? Seriously. If indeed, she was a prostitute and then answered a call to follow Christ, knew Him, learned from him, and then was a part of making Him known - so what. Is that a bad thing? Well, it's a thing, for sure. It may even be a good thing.Here's what I mean: If there was this woman named Mary from Magdala and this woman was a prostitute for whatever reason - if that is so and this woman encountered God in the flesh, Jesus the Christ and was changed by the Life she encountered in Him, then we should glorify God. Does this make me think less of Mary? No. I said no. It doesn't at all. I don't even understand that. I don't understand where that information about her past (if it was so) would make anyone feel that she was dirty or unworthy or anything of the sort - any more than the rest of us. Paul was effectively a murderer of Christians for God's sake and he announced that to be true. What is there in this alleged prostitution conspiracy that could harm Mary at all compared to that? Nothing. It's ridiculous. It would seem to me that anyone espousing such a theory is the person who has something against prostitutes, who would for some reason feel a woman "disqualified" for whatever for having been one. I'm not sure but I think there are numerous churches named after this sanctified former prostitute. I'm pretty sure people all over the world venerate her and pray asking for her intercession. Why? Because she was a notorious follower of Jesus - because she was committed and stayed with Him when others fled in fear - because of her great faith. Perhaps her escape from that life through Christ has caused a greater harvest of gratitude and thanksgiving in the world than if it had been some otherwise "upright" woman in not so much need of radical salvation. Unless of course you want to make some kind of case that it's just fine and dandy to continue to be a prostitute - that this is a legitimate life-choice for someone and that there is no need of "salvation" for such a person. I don't think you want to do that. But that's no different than any other fallen state of any other person whom Jesus came to Love and raise up into full and true humanity. So, let's stop trying to make big deals where no deals need be made. I couldn't care less if Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Nobody said she was turning tricks out of the upper room. Crazy. Mary is you. Mary is me. We all might as well have been prostitutes or murderers. It doesn't matter. And if it does matter, it matters because of the great Love and Power of God that came to bring us back to life anyway - despite our unworthiness. Pray for us Mary of Magdala, that we may answer the call as well as you did. technorati tags > mary magdalene, prostitution, davinci code, theology, church Labels: christian life, saints, theology 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | July 04, 2009 > 9:38 AM inappropriate thoughts Yeah, that got your attention, didn't it? Things are not as you suppose, at least not that I'm talkin' on here about. Anyway, today's inappropriate thoughts are as concerns the 4th of July in the United States. Most would find my thoughts today, at least, inappropriate, if not downright treasonous or even "sinful." Such it will have to be I suppose. Recently, I've been re-reading through Thomas Merton's The New Man, highlighting as I go. I have to be careful not to highlight the whole book. A couple of days ago, perhaps providentially, I read this little passage, which lies in the middle of a discussion of something else which I will also share here. For now, though, just this bit. This is no brand new thought for me - he just says it well, and I thought I'd share it with you today, inappropriate or not. ...while we learn to be humble and virtuous as individuals, we allow ourselves to commit the worst crimes in the name of "society." We are gentle in our private life in order to be murderers as a collective group. For murder, committed by an individual, is a great crime. But when it becomes war or revolution, it is represented as the summit of heroism and virtue. —Thomas Merton, The New ManWait there mister, it's not murder if it's done in a "just war" - many don't even worry whether it's allegedly "just" or not. Anyway, this is the argument. I certainly don't have room in a blog post to fully refute such a thing. I will, though, say this - in the case of a revolution, things do get a bit hairy with any kind of argument to justify Christian participation in the killing of other human beings. Revolution is not done as the action of any State. It is, by definition, not sanctioned or official as "war." It is disobedient, rebellious treason. It is often accompanied by what we now define as terrorism. Most revolutionaries do not wear uniforms. They have no President, no government. They may well be organized, but officially speaking, they are merely a gang of disgruntled citizens picking up what they can to throw at, to shoot at whom they can, to get the change they want. Now, whether or not this is ever a justifiable act is another story. And I said "justifiable act," not a justifiable act for a Christian person to be involved in - this TOO is another story. Irony alert: I cry when I watch Band of Brothers or that last scene in Saving Private Ryan - can't help it. I want to stand up and salute that grave with him, tears streaming down my face. When I watch Michael Collins or The Wind That Shakes the Barley, my blood boils and the IRA makes a whole hell of a lot of sense to me. There is a worldly nobility to these kinds of actions. I can deeply understand some of the whys. Of course, I'm not sure not wanting to pay extra taxes and being in control of your own economy is on a par with having your language and religion suppressed along with the constant violence which accompanied the enforcement of such laws - not quite. Anyway, I just wanted to say I have emotional understanding of such things. But... But what? Just pick up a freakin' musket and get on the line, citizen! We might burn down your shop if you don't - might, just get out there! Hey, my ancestors fought in that mess, volunteered for it, and King George had given them hundreds of acres of land. I'm off track - but what? But JESUS, that's what. But as a Christian, I don't need to be putting myself in the middle of a worldly battle that has me taking aim at, stabbing or blowing up my fellow human beings, perhaps even my siblings in Christ, even if it makes some kind of sense to do so. Some things trump others - and my identity in Christ is the BIG trump card - even if I'm not fully formed in it - all the more reason why I shouldn't jump into something broken like a war or a revolution. I'm helping to perpetuate the brokenness of the world if I do this. I suggest we all sit out - all those who belong to Jesus sit out the wars and revolutions and anything else that has us killing one another. We sit out on abortion, most of us. That's seen as a broken necessity by many. Why not war and killing grown people? We sit out on divor... wait, sorry, I thought I had one there. We simply too often take the pragmatic road, we Christians. Going against the grain is too hard. We'll even come up with complicated theologies that help us not go against the grain. It's hard for me to understand how this is not seen. One can just keep talking, I suppose. And when it comes to any future bloody revolutions, and there will be, don't be naive, I'll be sitting those out and encouraging my siblings to do the same. Pax vobiscum. Labels: christian life, pacifism, war and peace 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | June 30, 2009 > 1:28 PM the right to bear arms in church Hmm - nothin' like a little controversy... As to whether one should be able to or should carry a concealed weapon in a church assembly - I think I have the answer - well, not me, but here you go... "Immediately he went over to Jesus and said, 'Hail Rabbi!" and he kissed him. Jesus answered him, 'Friend, do what you have come for.' Then stepping forward they laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. And behold, one of those who accompanied Jesus put his hand to his sword, drew it, and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, 'Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. (...Then he touched the servant's ear and healed him. —Luke 22:51) Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father and he will not provide me at this moment with more than twelve legions of angels?" —Matthew 26:49-53A new order was being ushered in. It's time to put the swords away, or the Glocks as the case may be. To have a constant attitude of carrying these weapons to use against other men is, as I see it, moving against the tide of the New Order in Christ. And He healed the man - even further into the new Way - not only not enacting vengeance on the perceived enemy, but showing Love. Love is, after all, ultimately the only tool able to make a sword into a plowshare. Labels: christian life, pacifism 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | May 31, 2009 > 9:19 PM go and be  Pentecost. The Easter season is officially over. Time to get Ordinary again. Today their waiting came to an end and the Holy Spirit "came down" upon them, and within them, to give them power - to give US power to serve, to go and be Christ to the world - to Love as He Loves, to speak as He spoke, to be the continuation of the Incarnation. ALL of us. All of us. Not just the Bishops and the Priests and Deacons and Pastors and Ministers. The Holy Spirit is given to us all, as members of the One Body. So, don't just sit there. GO and BE. You don't have to do some big spectacular thing. That's not necessary. Just be in Him - continue to do what belongs to being in Him and then you will be who and what you're supposed to be.Labels: christian life, church, liturgy 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | May 25, 2009 > 10:19 AM a link on memorial day Sometimes I wonder if in the morass of my life presently, I have lost something. I think I have lost some of my voice, some of the boldness I used to speak with about many things. I think I am afraid - of what or whom, I do not quite know. Perhaps today I will at least live vicariously through the words of a brother, whom I do not know, who's voice certainly still has a sting to it. The post I'm linking to is 2 years old, but still rings out pretty clearly on the subject at hand: Amercian civil religion, syncretism, Christian participation in warfare and the like. These are things which I have developed deeply conscientious views about over the years. All the readers of this blog will certainly not agree on this issue, but it may be a bit of good, alternative thought on the matter - worth checking out. From catholicanarchy.org > Memorial Day and the religious syncretism of the state PEACE be with you. Labels: christian life, church 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | May 07, 2009 > 12:57 PM you do what? I just rescued my prayer habit by praying the little mid-morning office, and I ran across a line in the Psalm (119) that really bothers me. I've read it, prayed it many times before and it always bothers me, and here's the deal: I think it should bother me, bother us. I'm really thinking that this line shouldn't be one that we utter in ourselves, as Christians, as those who are wrapped up in the Life and Love of Jesus, about anyone. Here it is in all it's anti-glory... I look at the faithless with disgust;Really? You're gathering up the gaul to say that? I pray it because it's a part of Scripture, but whenever I run across this little ditty, I go into "no, this is not the way God wants me to think" mode. I didn't include it at first, but the line just before that really gives an extra distasteful punch to the whole thought. We should not find this very appetizing... I have not swerved from your will.Wow. You haven't? I doubt that very seriously big boy. I have. I have swerved from His will. And I might be tempted at times to "look at the faithless with disgust" but very quickly the hammer of my own faithlessness comes down on my heart and says, "STOP!" No. No. But I see this constantly. I see us doing this. OK, here - was the adulterous woman sitting on the ground before Jesus and all those men, faithless? Was she one of the faithless? Sure she was. Was there anything like disgust in the implied eyes of Jesus toward this woman? It doesn't really look that way to me. How might she have fared in front of some of us? You may not want to answer that question. Just let it lie. The answer is far too depressing. Even if, and I'm certainly not there - even if we have been transformed into the Image of Christ to a very high degree, I'm thinking our attitudes will not have been transformed in this direction, that we would then be able to look with disgust on all the pitiful, faithless, un-transformed people walking around us. Save us from this, Lord Jesus. Labels: christian life 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | April 22, 2009 > 10:51 AM re-post > 08-05-2002 > seeing ourselves The subject matter of this post is, as I see it, some extremely important stuff. They way we think about our "original brokenness," our separation from God and what constitutes it, is very important. And it goes on to elaborate about how this effects our life, even our Christian life now. Seeing ourselves doing and being good - hmmm. Oh, and the link to my friend Paul Fromont is an old one, but I left it there for nostalgia's sake. Continuing the blogersation with Paul... I think this was important stuff he posted yesterday. This James Houston quote - "Prayer that is done ‘because I have always prayed’ inoculates us against true prayer, preventing us from finding a living relationship with God" - is extremely good. That along with the Screwtape Letters quote about how the demons "...should try to get them to ‘feel good’ about their prayers. Wormwood should divert their attention from the relationship of prayer to the feelings instead." says tons! This business about us being aware of ourselves doing impressive spiritual things is such an important thing. We don't think about this. We simply take for granted that we should be looking at ourselves doing good in order to make sure that we are in fact doing it. And of course we are to then be happy about what we have seen. What is that? What have we just done? We need to think about that. It reminds me of something I heard Thomas Merton talking about (I sound like I was a 20 year old monk in 1968) - as he borrowed from Martin Buber (a mystic Jewish writer), about how Adam's sin, Original Sin, was in fact that Adam was trying to be good - wow! He said "don't lynch me!" You can imagine why. Whaaat!? Yip, Adam's dorky deal was that he took someone else's word that he needed to do this thing in order to be like God. It was that he was not acutely aware that he already WAS like God! He already was good. he simply wasn't aware of this fact as we are used to it. His stupid deal was that he forfeited his simple created goodness which he was not able to observe for a false self-created goodness that he was able to LOOK AT, so that he could see that he was being good. Something to think about. Labels: christian life, theology 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | April 16, 2009 > 10:24 AM re-post > 06-03-2002 > the Christ follower I had this thought the other day after I started this re-post party - hmmm, when an artist/singer starts putting out "greatest hits," doesn't that mean they've sort of had it, that they're fading into the twilight of their careers? A little disturbing - maybe I should look at it - aaaw, never mind, have fun. In this post, you'll notice a running theme, connected to the previous one - Transformation. I would bet this is one of the top 3 underlying subjects I deal with in all my writing/thinking. "Christ follower" - OK, that's the cool new term for a "Christian." did you not know that yet? Oh, sorry - If you were formerly known as a "Christian," you are now to be referred to as a "Follower of Christ." Interesting. It sounds sort of "faddy" to me. I think I'm going to get in trouble now.... officially, right now. I understand where this is coming from I think. It seems that quite a number of "Christians" think that all there is to being whatever it is you call it, is to hit an altar and say the "sinner's prayer" in order to go to heaven, or, more likely in many cases, in order NOT to go to Haaayyuuullll! Apparently, those who came up with the new moniker are overly familiar with this variety of (insert name)s. Those who really don't think the rest of your life matters all that much, just as long as you "get saved" and go to heaven when you die. I said, apparently "they" are familiar with these people. I am not. I may have heard of some of these creatures (like Bigfoot), so they've got to be out there I guess. I actually think Bigfoot is out there so these freaky Christians just HAVE to be. I don't really know any of them though. I know (perhaps you can relate) mostly those who, yes, think they got saved to go to heaven (I'll give you that) but who are fixated on how they live their lives - on what they do and what they don't do - how much they pray - how many things they are "believing God for" on a daily basis - how much work they do for the church - how many other people they lead to faith in Christ per month, et cetera, et cetera. Basically, it's all about them, about how they act, what they do, and on and on. This is what I see. Maybe I'm just not running in the same circles. I agree, have taught, and believe that it is absolutely not the point of being a Christian to go to heaven. I think that is merely a by-product of being a person recreated in the image of Christ. As one with the Spirit of God in you, you just will be in the realm of God's Kingdom in that other dimension just as you are now in this physical life. It's not the goal. The goal is to be what God intended us to be in the first place - God-like beings. Not merely "human" beings - people with the eternal spiritual nature of God in us (as was breathed into us in the beginning). Obviously, then, this has all to do with being transformed fully into those kind of people, of living that out holistically. BUT, it is not merely a matter of imitation, of doing what Jesus did. Without that internal spiritual connection we are not able to do that. I guess I'm saying that I understand all the rethinking and redirection, etc. But in the midst of our pendulum swinging, can we not forget the inward, spiritual, metaphysical elements please. I think we can have both. I mean, we can talk of being "born" from above as well as "growing up" from above or in the spirit. We can talk of initially becoming an adopted member of the family as well as then growing up in and learning what it means to be a member of the family. We have moved into the new house, but don't know our way around yet, etc. I hope any of that made any sense. Labels: christian life, soteriology, spiritual formation 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | April 13, 2009 > 2:24 PM re-post > 02-07-2002 > worthiness Note: I didn't have titles back then, so my title above is what I'm calling it now - no permalinks either, or comments, so here it is, one of the earliest blogger posts in my archives - featuring, who else, Thomas Merton - classic. ... "To serve the God of love one must be free, one must face the terrible responsibility of the decision to love in spite of all unworthiness whether in oneself or in one's neighbor... In the true Christian vision of God's love, the idea of worthiness loses its significance. Revelation of the mercy of God makes the whole problem of worthiness something almost laughable: the discovery that worthiness is of no special consequence (since no one could ever, by himself, be strictly worthy to be loved with such a love) is a true liberation of the spirit."I went to a bar last night. I was there till 12:30am, drank 2 beers, listened to a friend's band (a George Harrison tribute). I sat there and observed people, as always, between sets - there was a decent crowd. Of couse I "observed" a few of the female people a little too much, had some unsavory thoughts, and went back to listening to music. I came home with that imbedded smokey bar smell in every fiber of my clothing and hair and skin, to my wife, waiting up for me. Why do I say all that? Worthiness I guess. Am I unworthy? Probably - oh, and so are you. Is my mind too weird sometimes? Yip, pretty funky. But when I read that quote above, I remember, I realize that it doesn't really matter. Whoooah charlie! Well, it "does" matter I suppose in some sense, but not in the great sense that we all seem to try and make it matter. God's love for me, for you, for anyone is not predicated upon whether or not we are "worthy" of that love - of course we're not! It is in spite of our unworthiness. The matter of worthiness is, as Merton says, "of no special consequence." Liberation! To be buck wild and nasty? No, but to know that He doesn't love me because I don't go buck wild and nasty - that's not the issue. And we probably need to get past these views of things which we think "stain" us - Christians I mean - these words like "bar," "beer," etc. This is simply superficial and stupid - we need to grow up, as individuals and as a community. Labels: christian life, merton, re-post 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | November 21, 2008 > 9:09 AM snow and the reading  Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! Real live snow in November. "Real live" is enough to cover the ground and stay around the next day. We don't live in Michigan or Buffalo here so give us a break. This is not common for us in November. And for us snow lovers, it's exciting. We're like little kids who keep running to the door to look out and see if it's still snowing by looking under the street lights outside - wait, that's exactly what I kept doing last night - ha! Anyway, it's cool. May it continue to come and bring us a real live Winter this year. A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians (4:29-32) Never let evil talk pass your lips; say only the good things men need to hear, things that will really help them. Do nothing to sadden the Holy Spirit with whom you were sealed against the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, all passion and anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of every kind. In place of these, be kind to one another, compassionate, and mutually forgiving, just as God has forgiven you in Christ. This was the reading from today's Morning Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. Every now and then something stands out to you as you pray or read in the Office. Today's reading was like that for me. It made me sad. As I read this aloud, I had a slight feeling of hopelessness come over me as concerns the whole Christian community. It was a sinking feeling of "O Lord, how can this ever happen? We're not even close to listening to this. This is just not going to happen." Forget all of mankind in it's fallen brokenness, look at us, the supposed People of God. It's pitiful how we treat each other, how we speak of other people, to our siblings in Christ, not to mention those outside of Christ. I can't even speak kindly or act in a compassionate way toward my own family sometimes. And listen, these are the simplest, the most basic of instructions about how we are to behave, we who have been branded with the name Christian. This is baby stuff and we want to go on to some kind of higher things, "more important" things when we can't even learn how to gum our food and swallow it. I think we just need to settle down and listen - close our mouths and eyes, grab hold of what shred of humilty we can find and learn the Way. Lord Jesus have mercy on us. Labels: christian life, liturgical prayer, weather 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | October 08, 2008 > 9:38 AM wisdom of the desert > three > what to do  Time to share another "saying" from one of the Desert Fathers. I'm not trying to systematically go through every saying recorded in Merton's book - just the ones that jump out to me. This one did. I'm sure it will connect with some of you as well.A brother asked one of the elders: What good thing shall I do, and have life thereby? The old man replied: God alone knows what is good. However, I have heard it said that someone inquired of Father Abbot Nisteros the great, the friend of Abbot Anthony, asking: What good work shall I do? and that he replied: Not all works are alike. For Scripture says that Abraham was hospitable and God was with him. Elias loved solitary prayer, and God was with him. And David was humble, and God was with him. Therefore, whatever you see your soul to desire according to God, do that thing, and you shall keep your heart safe. (bold emphasis mine)That last statement there, which is the kicker, rang in my heart like a bell at the Abbey. This speaks to all of us and the deep desires we have in our hearts to do something. What do I do? we ask. Well, look into your heart - what does your soul desire according to God? Do that. Sounds simple, doesn't it? I'm thinking - well, I'm knowing, it's not that simple. Nobody would trek out to the middle of the desert to ask an old hermit the question if it was something we could all come to just that simply. Then we have to figure out what "according to God" means. Is it good? Is our desire something good? He doesn't explicitly say, "look to Scripture," but he mentioned some things our examples in Scripture have done, citing them as just that, examples. If we are formed by the Holy Spirit in us with the help of Scripture, Tradition and real live person-to-person contact, we can perhaps understand our desires better. But even if it's not 100% "simple," the answer the Abbot gave is simple, not complicated. We too often ignore the simple. We think it's nothing. It can't be anything worth listening to - gardening? wood carving? being quiet in the woods? a house or two in the country with a garden and chickens? How could these things be anything? How indeed. We need to listen - to keep our hearts safe. technorati tags > desert fathers, thomas merton Labels: christian life, spiritual formation 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | October 01, 2008 > 9:35 AM wisdom of the desert > two There are several other Merton quotes from the book that I'll share, but today I thought I'd give you one of the sayings from a Desert Father himself. This is the first one in the book. I read it two or three times and it hit me as gigantically profound. It felt as if it was directed at me personally. Perhaps you'll feel the same. Here you go... Abbot Pambo questioned Abbot Anthony saying: What ought I to do? And the elder replied: Have no confidence in your own virtuousness. Do not worry about a thing once it has been done. Control your tongue and your belly.Holy moley! Each one of the three short sentence statements that Abbot Anthony replied with has a scope far beyond the length of the words. Distilled wisdom. It's just straight to the core. I keep, for some odd reason, returning to the middle statement: Do not worry about a thing once it has been done. Oh my - that one is hitting me right where I live. technorati tags > desert fathers, thomas merton Labels: christian life, merton, spiritual formation 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | September 30, 2008 > 8:48 AM wisdom of the desert > one > quies I picked up a little book a week or so ago - Thomas Merton's Wisdom of the Desert. It's one I've seen quotes from here and there but have never owned. I'm already glad I found it. It's not very big at all but nuggets abound. Here's the first among several quotes that I'll share with you. He's speaking of the Desert Fathers of Christian monasticism, mostly hermits, and why they went into the desert... ...the proximate end of all this striving was "purity of heart" – a clear unobstructed vision of the true state of affairs, an intuitive grasp of one's own inner reality as anchored, or rather lost, in God through Christ. The fruit of this was quies: "rest." Not rest of the body, nor even fixation of the exalted spirit upon some point or summit of light. The Desert Fathers were not, for the most part, ecstatics. Those who were have left some strange and misleading stories behind them to confuse the true issue. The "rest" which these men sought was simply the sanity and poise of a being that no longer has to look at itself because it is carried away by the perfection of freedom that is in it. And caried where? Wherever Love itself, or the Divine Spirit, sees fit to go. Rest, then, was a kind of simple nowhereness and no-mindedness that had lost all preoccupation with a false or limited "self." At peace in the possession of a sublime "Nothing" the spirit laid hold, in secret, upon the "All" – without trying to know what it possessed.Quies - I like that. Rest - think Sabbath - THE Sabbath. This is the fullness of the experience of our Salvation. Resting inside our identity in Him. And it's not just a chosen mindset. I mean, this "rest" is not simply our choosing to say to ourselves that we are resting in Christ. I think it's much more than that. Perhaps we should start that way, but also realize that what we're doing in saying that is beginning a path of real and substantive change that will end (this is our hope) in true quies, true rest. I've said things like this before, about how unnatural our state is now, having been cut off from God's Life - having to follow a way back into a union that we were created for to begin with. It sort of requires a bit of preoccupation, of "anxious concern" or "fear and trembling." We know this. What I'm afraid we have forgotten to some degree is that this is not the ideal state, this striving preoccupation. This is not intended to be our ongoing way, as if that were the goal. We treat it that way, though. We get to this point of watching ourselves, what we do and don't do, how we act, making sure that this and that are in order, all the while glancing back and forth up to God to make sure He's watching us too - "see, see, I'm doing it, you see me - watch me Daddy!" That's fine for a child, but if we get to be 30 years old and we're still constantly glancing back and yelling, "watch me Daddy, watch!" - we generally go to therapy. It would be good if, fairly early on, we came to at least the realization that we are on a journey in a direction - that we are headed somewhere and as we go, things change and grow. If we knew this from the get-go, maybe we wouldn't despise the change so much. We would less likely think that where we happen to be at any point along the way is the destination. There are unfortunate consequences to believing that you're "there" when you're not. What's this go to do with Desert monks and quies? Good question - here's the answer: They were about getting to that "place" where God could transform them. Their search was to find out how to tap into His ever-flowing Stream of Life and be carried away by it, into the great, deep ocean of union with Him. That quies business is about getting to a point where you're not having to watch yourself so closely because you've been changed into the kind of person who's nature guides your steps as naturally as it always did, but now in the Way of God. Imagine not having to strive to be or do good, but just doing it because that's how and what you are. This is what God wants for us. Of course that takes a while, so we should settle in for the trip. technorati tags > desert fathers, thomas merton Labels: christian life, merton, spiritual formation, theology 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | January 10, 2008 > 4:28 PM being a regular person Lately, again, I have noticed something in myself. I know you're dying to hear about this. Well, here's what I know: I think I have lost a sense of value for being a regular Christian person, just part of the laity (I still hate that word by the way). I mean I seriously don't see it. And now, I'm classified as one of these people again, and you see where the problem lies. Yes, right, I see little value in myself at the moment. I don't feel that my daily prayer life, my weekly assistance at the Mass (and sometimes daily Mass), and whatever else I do amounts to much of anything really. I know I'm comparing now vs. then. That's exactly what's going on in my mind. I see what I was doing and what I'm doing now and to me it feels, I feel, useless for the most part. I'm sure many of you can come up with all kinds of encouraging things to say or even really good points about how all Christians are valuable and precious in God's eyes, in His plan, etc. I hear you, I hear you. I could intellectually write a pretty decent essay on the subject in all likelihood. I'm talking about how I feel. It certainly is how I feel, not always, but now for sure. And I realize it's a bit of a disordered way to think about the thing. I do realize that. I also realize that this is very real to me right now. I'd bet I'm not alone in this either, if I had any money to be betting with. I wonder how many other people who were Pastors, leaders, respected "elders" of one sort or another, and then moved into a state of life where this is no longer the case have these same symptoms. Again, I'd bet money on that big. Please pray for my slightly twisted mind and perceptions if you think about it. Peace to you. technorati tags > christianity, ministry, laity, lay person Labels: christian life, church 0 comments
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