Palm/Passion Sunday is coming. The triumphant arrival of Jesus to Jerusalem and the short term success of his enemies of his death on Good Friday.
I don't have children but I am well aware of the kind of sacrifice it takes to be one. I know that being a good parent is more than simply "doing" the right things. There is a difference between the concept of giving up one's life for your child and really wanting to do so on their behalf.
How do you take that very real attitude of self sacrifice for another and expand it to cover all of humanity? How do we achieve that same level of real love of neighbor? How do we achieve that level of love of enemy?
Triumph followed by tragedy followed by triumph. Part of our Lenten journey is about learning how not to use our own value system when looking at ourselves and our situations and our neighbors, and instead learning how to look at the world through God's eyes. Then and only then do our temporal earthly sorrows truly become stepping stones to a glory greater than anything we can imagine.
Read and worship and meditate deeply this next week so that Easter can truly be the great joy that God has intended for us!
Grace and Peace,
Friday, March 26, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
How much preparation is needed to effectively evangelize? to effectively teach? Here is an interesting perspective from Henri J.M. Nouwen.
Often we're not as pressed for time as much as we feel we're pressed for time. I remember several years ago becoming so pressed by the demands of teaching at Yale that I took a prayer sabbatical to the Trappist monastery at Geneseo, New York. No teaching, lecturing, or counseling - just solitude and prayer.
The second day there, a group of students from Geneseo College walked in and asked, "Henri, can you give us a retreat?"
Of course at the monastery that was not my decision, but I said to the abbot, "I came here from the university to get away from that type of thing. These students have asked for five meditations, an enormous amount of work and preparation. I don't want to do it."
The abbot said, "You're going to do it."
"What do you mean? Why should I spend my sabbatical time preparing for all those things?"
"Prepare?" he replied. "You've been a Christian for forty years and a priest for twenty, and a few high school students want to have a retreat. Why do you have to prepare? What those boys and girls want is to be a part of your life in God for a few days. If you pray half an hour in the morning, sing in the choir for an hour, and do your spiritual reading, you will have so much to say you could give ten retreats."
The question, you see, is not to prepare but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone who is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help. It may be at four o'clock, six o'clock, or nine o'clock. One time you call it preaching, the next time teaching, then counseling, or later administration. But let them be part of your life in God - that's ministering. From "Time Enough to Minister" by Henri J. M. Nouwen in Leadership (Spring, 1982)
Often we're not as pressed for time as much as we feel we're pressed for time. I remember several years ago becoming so pressed by the demands of teaching at Yale that I took a prayer sabbatical to the Trappist monastery at Geneseo, New York. No teaching, lecturing, or counseling - just solitude and prayer.
The second day there, a group of students from Geneseo College walked in and asked, "Henri, can you give us a retreat?"
Of course at the monastery that was not my decision, but I said to the abbot, "I came here from the university to get away from that type of thing. These students have asked for five meditations, an enormous amount of work and preparation. I don't want to do it."
The abbot said, "You're going to do it."
"What do you mean? Why should I spend my sabbatical time preparing for all those things?"
"Prepare?" he replied. "You've been a Christian for forty years and a priest for twenty, and a few high school students want to have a retreat. Why do you have to prepare? What those boys and girls want is to be a part of your life in God for a few days. If you pray half an hour in the morning, sing in the choir for an hour, and do your spiritual reading, you will have so much to say you could give ten retreats."
The question, you see, is not to prepare but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone who is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help. It may be at four o'clock, six o'clock, or nine o'clock. One time you call it preaching, the next time teaching, then counseling, or later administration. But let them be part of your life in God - that's ministering. From "Time Enough to Minister" by Henri J. M. Nouwen in Leadership (Spring, 1982)
Monday, March 15, 2010
Life is a constant set of questions that need to be addressed. Lent is about the seriousness of how we answer those questions! As Moses and the Israelites approached the promised land, God addresses them with this exhortation to choose life.
"See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish." - Deuteronomy 30:15-18
We will soon be setting aside a day to remember the sacrifice that Christ made on our behalf. How does that affect the choices you make? We will also be setting aside a day to celebrate his victory over death. How does that affect your choices?
We are moving towards the Fourth Sunday of this Lenten season. Good Friday is on April 2 this year and Easter Sunday is on April 4.
"See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish." - Deuteronomy 30:15-18
We will soon be setting aside a day to remember the sacrifice that Christ made on our behalf. How does that affect the choices you make? We will also be setting aside a day to celebrate his victory over death. How does that affect your choices?
We are moving towards the Fourth Sunday of this Lenten season. Good Friday is on April 2 this year and Easter Sunday is on April 4.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Just how close can we get to God?
"Listen, O Lord, to my prayers. Listen to my desire to be with you, to dwell in your house, and to let my whole being be filled with your presence. But none of this is possible without you. When you are not the one who fills me, I am soon filled with endless thoughts and concerns that divide me and tear me away from you. Even thoughts about you, good spiritual thoughts, can be little more than distractions when you are not the author." - From A Cry for Mercy by Henri J. M. Nouwen
We are approaching the third Sunday in Lent. Let us continue to spend time seeking understanding through a closer relationship with God through Christ.
"Listen, O Lord, to my prayers. Listen to my desire to be with you, to dwell in your house, and to let my whole being be filled with your presence. But none of this is possible without you. When you are not the one who fills me, I am soon filled with endless thoughts and concerns that divide me and tear me away from you. Even thoughts about you, good spiritual thoughts, can be little more than distractions when you are not the author." - From A Cry for Mercy by Henri J. M. Nouwen
We are approaching the third Sunday in Lent. Let us continue to spend time seeking understanding through a closer relationship with God through Christ.
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