Today's (shortened) entry from Reflections for Ragamuffins by Brennan Manning (author of Ragamuffin Gospel--obviously):
Although the Scriptures speak insistently of the divine initiative in the work of salvation, that by grace we are saved, that the Tremendous Lover has taken to the chase, American spirituality still seems to start with self, not with God. Personal responsibility replaces personal response. We seem engrossed in our own efforts to grow in holiness........In seasons of penance, we focus on getting rid of our hang-ups and sweating through various spiritual excercises, as if they were a religious muscle-building program........The emphasis is always on what I do rather than on what God is doing in my life........We become convinced that we can do a pretty good job of following Jesus if we just, once and for all, make up our minds and really buckle down to it.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Pilgrimage
Is Mary traveling?
And is she far from home?
And do the weary hillsides sing
Sad Monotones?
She’s gone from Nazareth
Which she, a citizen,
Abandoned for a city south:
Strange Bethlehem.
Her heart and feet are sore;
‘Twas nothing she could keep;
She left the house where she was born,
In straw to sleep.
And now, an alien,
She leaves her peace as well;
She bends and breaks and bears a son:
Immanuel.
Is Mary carrying
Her babe from Bethlehem?
And can the desert stop a king
From killing them?
Abandoned now she has
The air the angels flew,
The stable where her baby was
Called King of Jews.
Oh, haste! Oh, Mary run!
For Herod’s sent an order
To Bethlehem to kill your son,
By general slaughter.
And miles and miles she goes
Into that southern sun,
Where Pharoah once her people rode
To skeletons.
Is Mary traveling?
How weary are her bones?
Ah yes, but now the route will bring
Her safely home!
But who will Nazareth
Receive when she returns?
Another woman, sumptuous
For all she’s learned.
For now in Nazareth
This mother of her son
Has met the night, has wrestled death
Yet rose to dawn!
Forever foreign here,
She’ll live in paradise!
For none but such a traveler
Could bear our Christ.
Walter Wangerin, Jr.
And is she far from home?
And do the weary hillsides sing
Sad Monotones?
She’s gone from Nazareth
Which she, a citizen,
Abandoned for a city south:
Strange Bethlehem.
Her heart and feet are sore;
‘Twas nothing she could keep;
She left the house where she was born,
In straw to sleep.
And now, an alien,
She leaves her peace as well;
She bends and breaks and bears a son:
Immanuel.
Is Mary carrying
Her babe from Bethlehem?
And can the desert stop a king
From killing them?
Abandoned now she has
The air the angels flew,
The stable where her baby was
Called King of Jews.
Oh, haste! Oh, Mary run!
For Herod’s sent an order
To Bethlehem to kill your son,
By general slaughter.
And miles and miles she goes
Into that southern sun,
Where Pharoah once her people rode
To skeletons.
Is Mary traveling?
How weary are her bones?
Ah yes, but now the route will bring
Her safely home!
But who will Nazareth
Receive when she returns?
Another woman, sumptuous
For all she’s learned.
For now in Nazareth
This mother of her son
Has met the night, has wrestled death
Yet rose to dawn!
Forever foreign here,
She’ll live in paradise!
For none but such a traveler
Could bear our Christ.
Walter Wangerin, Jr.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Radio Radio
There are some things here on the radio in Louisville that I have really come to love. First, let me start by saying that I haven't really been a big fan of radio since the late 90s. Once the teen pop sensation took over, I couldn't listen to a whole lot. But here in Louisville there are two stations that I've just come to love.
The first would be one of the public radio stations. There's 3 or 4 here, but this one plays almost exclusively indie music. Everything from Richard Cheese to VHS or Beta to Stars to Imogen Heap. Then, every night at 6 is bluegrass hour. And they usually end with a little Jazz on the weekends.
The other station is a Christian talk radio/gospel station. And when I say gospel I don't mean Tye Tribbet or the Winans. I'm talking about good ol' fashion white boy gospel music. Bands like Gold City, Signature Sound, and Oakridge Boys. Something about a group harmonizing like it's nobody's business, singing a story, and probably playing a banjo. I think I really like the story telling part. It's kinda like the old hymns we sometimes still sing in church. They tell a story about God. We don't have that much these days, and if I have to get it from my gospel music, then so be it.
Also, since it is a Christian talk radio station, they have different preachers' sermons on throughout the day. My favorite, which I only get about 10 minutes of while driving to school, is Alistair Begg. I don't get to hear most of his message, but there's something about a man with a Scottish accent that makes me believe pretty much anything he says.
The first would be one of the public radio stations. There's 3 or 4 here, but this one plays almost exclusively indie music. Everything from Richard Cheese to VHS or Beta to Stars to Imogen Heap. Then, every night at 6 is bluegrass hour. And they usually end with a little Jazz on the weekends.
The other station is a Christian talk radio/gospel station. And when I say gospel I don't mean Tye Tribbet or the Winans. I'm talking about good ol' fashion white boy gospel music. Bands like Gold City, Signature Sound, and Oakridge Boys. Something about a group harmonizing like it's nobody's business, singing a story, and probably playing a banjo. I think I really like the story telling part. It's kinda like the old hymns we sometimes still sing in church. They tell a story about God. We don't have that much these days, and if I have to get it from my gospel music, then so be it.
Also, since it is a Christian talk radio station, they have different preachers' sermons on throughout the day. My favorite, which I only get about 10 minutes of while driving to school, is Alistair Begg. I don't get to hear most of his message, but there's something about a man with a Scottish accent that makes me believe pretty much anything he says.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
i guess this is growing up
so i was thinking yesterday about almost a year ago while in costa rica. i remember thinking how much i appreciated the people who arranged everything, made the plans, figured out all the details, and how i could never do that. i found it hard to imagine myself even doing the planning for a family vacation someday for just a couple people.
i found myself at work this week doing that. i was assigned to find accommodations for 30 people for two weeks in, of all places, manuel antonio, the same place we were at last year. i've also been negotiating contracts (which i never thought i'd do) that are larger than my annual salary (is it weird that my credit card limit is more than i make in a year?).
so far work has been an awesome experience. i love it. it's been fun to learn new things and be thrown in the deep end in some cases and be forced to learn some useful skills that i never really could have imagined myself being good at.
i found myself at work this week doing that. i was assigned to find accommodations for 30 people for two weeks in, of all places, manuel antonio, the same place we were at last year. i've also been negotiating contracts (which i never thought i'd do) that are larger than my annual salary (is it weird that my credit card limit is more than i make in a year?).
so far work has been an awesome experience. i love it. it's been fun to learn new things and be thrown in the deep end in some cases and be forced to learn some useful skills that i never really could have imagined myself being good at.
re-beach
dan, i'm glad you did decide to post that. i didn't think it was simple at all, but even if i had, it's often the simple things we need to be reminded of the most.
i was thinking indirectly about that same thing this morning on my drive in to work. i, too, want people to like me at least in part because of me. i'm not real good with this unconditional love stuff. perhaps i've been required by people closest to me to earn their love, perhaps i've too often (or continually) require of people to earn my love. at any rate, i find that i associate my identity by the things i associate myself with (school, grades, music, sports, etc.). those things seem to continually change in my life. i agree that i want someone to love me regardless of what i do or who i am, but i find it so hard to accept that. i even try to push that away. it's hard for me to accept my identity that jesus loves me irregardless.
i desperately want to be more like shannon in that regard--that i would accept everyone i meet instead of sizing them up and making decisions on whether they are worth my love or attention. i'd also like to understand where my predisposition to be the opposite of that comes from (did i feel like i needed to earn someone's love growing up?, is it part of personality or temperament traits?, is it a product of the fall?), but i don't want to wait on that understanding to become the person i should become
i was thinking indirectly about that same thing this morning on my drive in to work. i, too, want people to like me at least in part because of me. i'm not real good with this unconditional love stuff. perhaps i've been required by people closest to me to earn their love, perhaps i've too often (or continually) require of people to earn my love. at any rate, i find that i associate my identity by the things i associate myself with (school, grades, music, sports, etc.). those things seem to continually change in my life. i agree that i want someone to love me regardless of what i do or who i am, but i find it so hard to accept that. i even try to push that away. it's hard for me to accept my identity that jesus loves me irregardless.
i desperately want to be more like shannon in that regard--that i would accept everyone i meet instead of sizing them up and making decisions on whether they are worth my love or attention. i'd also like to understand where my predisposition to be the opposite of that comes from (did i feel like i needed to earn someone's love growing up?, is it part of personality or temperament traits?, is it a product of the fall?), but i don't want to wait on that understanding to become the person i should become
Friday, May 16, 2008
i was out at the beach this morning just spending some time reading and thinking and things like that. i feel like i need to do that when i live within biking distance of the beach. i also feel like i need to talk about my close proximity to the beach when i know that i live way closer to the beach than anyone else who is reading this blog, but thats neither here nor there. today i was thinking about shannon, as some of you know i have been thinking about her a lot lately. today specifically i was thinking about one of the things that since we are no longer together i have missed so much and i guess i appreciate it way more now that its not in my life anymore. anyways i have realized that shannon is probably the most accepting person i have known. she accepts people as they are, not wanting them to change or improve or anything like that. i mean seemingly the weirder or more unique the person, the more she seems to welcome them. in the two years we had together i cant remember a single person who she did not accept, or who thought should change. not a single one. she never even complained about people or anything like that. as i think about that i recognize what a phenomenal quality that is, and i realize thats what i want in a wife, someone who accepts me for me, no matter what im like, or what i do, or how stupid i am and all the mistakes i make. someone who i dont have to earn their love. i dont have to be the best at anything, im just accepted. i really miss that about shannon. i think i still tried to earn her love, which was stupid and probably really frustrating for her. anyways as i was thinking about all of this, i couldnt help but think how much i try and earn the love of God. God loves me so much better than shannon ever did, and sooooo much more unconditionally. truly unconditionally. yet all the time i still try and earn it. all the time i worry about losing it. all the time i consider my actions and in the back of my head i worry about my acceptance by God. i do. and the thing that i realized today is that in my heart i want to be accepted by God bc of efforts. i want to earn Gods love. i want it to be about me. i want God to love me bc of something about me. i wanna be the best at something and have God value that. this morning i saw that in myself. this morning i realized that ultimately i dont want that. if god loves me because of some skill or talent, or something i do that pleases him, then i have to keep that up for my whole life. if ever i stop, or become less, then God would love me less. it would make me a slave to pleasing God. see thats just way worse. now i know that this is incredibly simple and you are reading this and thinking well or course man, but today recognizing this stuff in myself, recognizing that i think this way, it was a big deal for me. i have never really been overwhelmed by the unconditional love of God bc secretly i have always wanted at least a little bit for Gods love of me to be about me. today i was overwhelmed. today i recognized that as much as i want a wife who loves me just because im me, even more i want a God who does. and the beautiful thing is that is just how God is.
i almost feel silly posting something so basic, in fact even after just writing it, i thought about not posting it, but you know what its just honest. today thats what i learned about God and it was good for my heart.
i almost feel silly posting something so basic, in fact even after just writing it, i thought about not posting it, but you know what its just honest. today thats what i learned about God and it was good for my heart.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
soon
I'll be trying to post about the holy spirit thing soon. But I just wanted to say hello to you guys. I haven't talked to some of you in forever. I wanna hang out!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Holy baptism
I don't know if I'm supposed to answer those questions, but I had something else about the Holy Spirit that I wanted to share...
Pentecostals talk about being slain in the Spirit and use Acts 2 to support their claims. They say that you can't be a true believer if you haven't "received," or been "baptized" by, the Holy Spirit. But at the end of Acts 2 "about three thousand souls" believed and were baptized (with water). In Acts 8, where Philip preaches to the Samaritans, they were "baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" first (v. 16) and then later received the Holy Spirit. There is no mention of speaking in tongues, which, if this is a vital thing, you would think Luke would've mentioned it (but I guess you can't totally rule it out). Then, in Acts 10, "the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles" (v. 45) before they were "baptized in the name of Jesus Christ" (v. 48). They spoke in tongues, but they hadn't been baptized with water yet.
there are numerous other instances in Acts where people put their faith in Jesus and are baptized with water, yet there is no mention of the Holy Spirit. The three above are the only mentionings of people receiving the Holy Spirit. So either they weren't truly saved, or being slain is not a key factor.
So there is no defining way into how the Holy Spirit works. Paul even goes into detail in one of his epistles as to how speaking in tongues works (don't remember the book off the top of my head).
Throughout scripture the Holy Spirit is describe as a guide. He guides the writers of Bible in putting down the words of God. Jesus states this and much more in John 16:
"Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you."
I believe the Holy Spirit works today as a guide, just like Jesus laid out above. Do people ever truly speak in tongues? Sure. But like Paul says there must be a witness who can interpret the event.
Pentecostals talk about being slain in the Spirit and use Acts 2 to support their claims. They say that you can't be a true believer if you haven't "received," or been "baptized" by, the Holy Spirit. But at the end of Acts 2 "about three thousand souls" believed and were baptized (with water). In Acts 8, where Philip preaches to the Samaritans, they were "baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" first (v. 16) and then later received the Holy Spirit. There is no mention of speaking in tongues, which, if this is a vital thing, you would think Luke would've mentioned it (but I guess you can't totally rule it out). Then, in Acts 10, "the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles" (v. 45) before they were "baptized in the name of Jesus Christ" (v. 48). They spoke in tongues, but they hadn't been baptized with water yet.
there are numerous other instances in Acts where people put their faith in Jesus and are baptized with water, yet there is no mention of the Holy Spirit. The three above are the only mentionings of people receiving the Holy Spirit. So either they weren't truly saved, or being slain is not a key factor.
So there is no defining way into how the Holy Spirit works. Paul even goes into detail in one of his epistles as to how speaking in tongues works (don't remember the book off the top of my head).
Throughout scripture the Holy Spirit is describe as a guide. He guides the writers of Bible in putting down the words of God. Jesus states this and much more in John 16:
"Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you."
I believe the Holy Spirit works today as a guide, just like Jesus laid out above. Do people ever truly speak in tongues? Sure. But like Paul says there must be a witness who can interpret the event.
Holy Spirit. Weak one.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
GENESIS 1:1-2
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
ACTS 1:8
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:6
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 2 TIMOTHY 1:7
“And that, by the way, is perhaps the most important difference between Christianity and all other religions: that in Christianity God is not a static thing—not even a person-but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance. The union between the Father and Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know this is almost inconceivable, but look at it thus. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the "spirit" of that family, or club, or trade union. They talk about its "spirit" because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving which they would not have if they were apart. It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person: it is only rather like a person. But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God.
This third Person is called, in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the "spirit" of God. Do not be worried or surprised if you find it (or Him) rather vaguer or more shadowy in your mind than the other two. I think there is a reason why that must be so. In the Christian life you are not usually looking at Him: He is always acting through you. If you think of the Father as something "out there," in front of you, and of the Son as someone standing at your side, helping you to pray, trying to turn you into another son, then you have to think of the third Person as something inside you, or behind you. Perhaps some people might find it easier to begin with the third Person and work backwards. God is love, and that love works through men—especially through the whole community of Christians. But this spirit of love is, from all eternity, a love going on between the Father and Son.”
-C.S. Lewis
“If you were going to try to write some sonnets as good as Shakespeare wrote like, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” what would you have to have? I will tell you what you would have to have; you would have to have the spirit of Shakespeare. You would have to have the intellect of Shakespeare enter your personality. If you and I tried to write “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” we would never get any further than that. Winter would come before we would get the second line written. Nevertheless, Shakespeare could make it; he knew what to do with words.
Emerson said that he was the man who, above all men who ever lived in the world could say anything that he wanted to say. And he did say it. Now, how could you write like Shakespeare?
But if you wanted to write like Shakespeare what would you have to have, the intellect of Shakespeare. If you wanted to compose music like Johanna Sebastian Bach, what would you have to have? You would have to have the spirit of Bach. If you wanted to be a statesman like Gladstone or Disraeli, what would you have to have? You would have to have the spirit of those men.
If we are going to reproduce Christ on earth and be Christlike and show forth Christ, what are we going to have? We are going to have to have the Spirit of Christ. If we are going to be the children of God, we are going to have the Spirit of the Father to breathe in our hearts and breathe through us. That is why we must have the Spirit of God. That is why the Church must have the Spirit of Christ, for the Church is called to live above her own ability. She is called to live up so high that no human being can live like that. The humblest Christian listening to me is called to live a life of miracles; a moral and spiritual life of such intensity and purity that no human being can do it.
Only Jesus Christ can do it. Therefore, He wants the Spirit of Christ to come to His people.”
-A.W. Tozer
1. Think about the Spirit of God “hovering over the waters”. What seems formless, empty, or chaotic in your life right now? What would it look like for you to be unafraid of that darkness, and instead to engage it and speak life and creativity into existence?
2. What do you think about the Spirit being the embodiment of the communion between the Father and the Son? Do you agree? How does it feel to be a part of the community of God?
3. Can you remember a time when you seemed “filled” with a spirit greater than yourself, perhaps that of Shakespeare or Bach? A creative moment? A great game? A conflict handled with a skill that you never imagined within you? A time where you felt unstoppable? Share that with someone.
4. The power the Spirit gives us is the ability to do, to “reproduce Christ on earth”. How do you obtain this power? How does your life look different with the power of the Holy Ghost acting in and through you? Are you allowing the Spirit to make you more like Christ?
GENESIS 1:1-2
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
ACTS 1:8
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:6
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 2 TIMOTHY 1:7
“And that, by the way, is perhaps the most important difference between Christianity and all other religions: that in Christianity God is not a static thing—not even a person-but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance. The union between the Father and Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know this is almost inconceivable, but look at it thus. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the "spirit" of that family, or club, or trade union. They talk about its "spirit" because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving which they would not have if they were apart. It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person: it is only rather like a person. But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God.
This third Person is called, in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the "spirit" of God. Do not be worried or surprised if you find it (or Him) rather vaguer or more shadowy in your mind than the other two. I think there is a reason why that must be so. In the Christian life you are not usually looking at Him: He is always acting through you. If you think of the Father as something "out there," in front of you, and of the Son as someone standing at your side, helping you to pray, trying to turn you into another son, then you have to think of the third Person as something inside you, or behind you. Perhaps some people might find it easier to begin with the third Person and work backwards. God is love, and that love works through men—especially through the whole community of Christians. But this spirit of love is, from all eternity, a love going on between the Father and Son.”
-C.S. Lewis
“If you were going to try to write some sonnets as good as Shakespeare wrote like, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” what would you have to have? I will tell you what you would have to have; you would have to have the spirit of Shakespeare. You would have to have the intellect of Shakespeare enter your personality. If you and I tried to write “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” we would never get any further than that. Winter would come before we would get the second line written. Nevertheless, Shakespeare could make it; he knew what to do with words.
Emerson said that he was the man who, above all men who ever lived in the world could say anything that he wanted to say. And he did say it. Now, how could you write like Shakespeare?
But if you wanted to write like Shakespeare what would you have to have, the intellect of Shakespeare. If you wanted to compose music like Johanna Sebastian Bach, what would you have to have? You would have to have the spirit of Bach. If you wanted to be a statesman like Gladstone or Disraeli, what would you have to have? You would have to have the spirit of those men.
If we are going to reproduce Christ on earth and be Christlike and show forth Christ, what are we going to have? We are going to have to have the Spirit of Christ. If we are going to be the children of God, we are going to have the Spirit of the Father to breathe in our hearts and breathe through us. That is why we must have the Spirit of God. That is why the Church must have the Spirit of Christ, for the Church is called to live above her own ability. She is called to live up so high that no human being can live like that. The humblest Christian listening to me is called to live a life of miracles; a moral and spiritual life of such intensity and purity that no human being can do it.
Only Jesus Christ can do it. Therefore, He wants the Spirit of Christ to come to His people.”
-A.W. Tozer
1. Think about the Spirit of God “hovering over the waters”. What seems formless, empty, or chaotic in your life right now? What would it look like for you to be unafraid of that darkness, and instead to engage it and speak life and creativity into existence?
2. What do you think about the Spirit being the embodiment of the communion between the Father and the Son? Do you agree? How does it feel to be a part of the community of God?
3. Can you remember a time when you seemed “filled” with a spirit greater than yourself, perhaps that of Shakespeare or Bach? A creative moment? A great game? A conflict handled with a skill that you never imagined within you? A time where you felt unstoppable? Share that with someone.
4. The power the Spirit gives us is the ability to do, to “reproduce Christ on earth”. How do you obtain this power? How does your life look different with the power of the Holy Ghost acting in and through you? Are you allowing the Spirit to make you more like Christ?
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