I remember I have said the same thing about someone else years ago.
It is just so easy to say someone is wrong, he/she should know XXX iw wrong, and did it anyway.
Today when I heard the same thing from someone else. I think it is so easy to be the accuser. When you're the one involved, you won't say the same thing. I'm not the ones involved, but I totally understand why they did what they did.
I'm beginning to think-- what would Jesus do? I think Jesus would be a lot more sympathetic than us. (I hate to admit it but many of us "evangelicals" are self-righteous prigs...)
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Julian of Norwich- A Call to Perserve
From Jerry Moye's Praying with the Saints
Pray wholeheartedly, though you may feel nothing, though you may see nothing, yes, though you think you could not, for in dryness and in barrenness, in sickness and in weakness, then is your prayer most pleasuring to me, though you think it is almost tasteless to you.
Pray wholeheartedly, though you may feel nothing, though you may see nothing, yes, though you think you could not, for in dryness and in barrenness, in sickness and in weakness, then is your prayer most pleasuring to me, though you think it is almost tasteless to you.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Julian of Norwich- Yearning of the Soul
From Jerry Moye's Praying with the Saints
... God longs for the love of God's world... If God lives with longing, why should we demand instant gratification of our desires?
... Humans are not the controlling or initiating agents of love. We cannot claim to have the infallible way to make God always present according to out timetables and agendas. All mature saints speak of a dark night of the soul, of dry periods of prayer, of feelings of desertion or emptiness. Julian accepted the dry periods and the times without visions, as well as the times if beautiful revelations.
She provides a wise safeguard for careless evangelists who promise immediate gratification for deep basic needs and who imply there is a way to possess infinite God. Julian also gives us a view that is contrary to the values of our consumer age. We can easily be misled to believe there is a quick fix for every problem or instant gratification for every need. The longing of a vital relationship with God, however, is not met quickly by guaranteed methods of knowing the right techniques or having the right answers.
God chooses to work through methods of prayer and concepts of religion, but God is not limited to our frantic struggles with these. We learn to do prayers of silence as well as articulation. We learn to offer up our longings as well as our prayers of thanksgiving for what we have experiences. We accept the pain of longing, for it is also joy.
... God longs for the love of God's world... If God lives with longing, why should we demand instant gratification of our desires?
... Humans are not the controlling or initiating agents of love. We cannot claim to have the infallible way to make God always present according to out timetables and agendas. All mature saints speak of a dark night of the soul, of dry periods of prayer, of feelings of desertion or emptiness. Julian accepted the dry periods and the times without visions, as well as the times if beautiful revelations.
She provides a wise safeguard for careless evangelists who promise immediate gratification for deep basic needs and who imply there is a way to possess infinite God. Julian also gives us a view that is contrary to the values of our consumer age. We can easily be misled to believe there is a quick fix for every problem or instant gratification for every need. The longing of a vital relationship with God, however, is not met quickly by guaranteed methods of knowing the right techniques or having the right answers.
God chooses to work through methods of prayer and concepts of religion, but God is not limited to our frantic struggles with these. We learn to do prayers of silence as well as articulation. We learn to offer up our longings as well as our prayers of thanksgiving for what we have experiences. We accept the pain of longing, for it is also joy.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Forget
Deuteronomy 6
[10]"And when the LORD your God brings you into the land which he swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, with great and goodly cities, which you did not build,
[11] and houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which you did not hew, and vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plant, and when you eat and are full,
[12] then take heed lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
I was reading this during last week's Sunday service... (No, the topic of the sermon is not on this passage... =P)
I forgot that none of the stuff I got now is from myself... that is part of the source of my anxiety. Thanks for the reminder. Even when I'm still anxious when I looked at the huge pile of unfinished notes... (yep, I say part of my anxiety only...)
[10]"And when the LORD your God brings you into the land which he swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, with great and goodly cities, which you did not build,
[11] and houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which you did not hew, and vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plant, and when you eat and are full,
[12] then take heed lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
I was reading this during last week's Sunday service... (No, the topic of the sermon is not on this passage... =P)
I forgot that none of the stuff I got now is from myself... that is part of the source of my anxiety. Thanks for the reminder. Even when I'm still anxious when I looked at the huge pile of unfinished notes... (yep, I say part of my anxiety only...)
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