John Wesley said, "There is scarce any possible way of doing good, for which here is not daily occasion.... Here are poor families to be relieved: Here are children to be educated: Here are workhouses, wherein both young and old gladly receive the word of exhortation: Here are the prisons, and therein a complication of all human wants." From his journal dated August 12, 1738 - November 1, 1739.
270 years ago there was work to be found no matter where one looked. How different is it today? Why is it so easy to get comfortable with our own understanding of our salvation without realizing how connected we are to the world around us?
Things are slow here in Decatur as the city celebrates Spring Break. Drive safely out there!
Grace and Peace,
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
We are now approaching the fourth Sunday of Easter. Let us not be too content with our life situations that we fail to respond fully to God's call to action following the Easter event.
Hear this prayer from Lancelot Andrews, bishop of the new Anglican church at the beginning of the Protestant reform:
"O Lord of the harvest, send forth laborers into the field. Grant unto our clergy the ability to proclaim your word of truth and to live their lives according to those truths. Grant that these ministers who love you would obey and submit to your word of truth." From Private Devotions by Lancelot Andrews
Hear this prayer from Lancelot Andrews, bishop of the new Anglican church at the beginning of the Protestant reform:
"O Lord of the harvest, send forth laborers into the field. Grant unto our clergy the ability to proclaim your word of truth and to live their lives according to those truths. Grant that these ministers who love you would obey and submit to your word of truth." From Private Devotions by Lancelot Andrews
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Just as our flesh is covered by clothing, and our blood is covered by our flesh, so are we, soul and body, covered and enclosed by the goodness of God. Yet, the clothing and the flesh will pass away, but the goodness of God will always remain and will remain closer to us than our own flesh. - From Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
He is risen indeed!
He is risen indeed!
Friday, April 9, 2010
In considering a response to Easter and the impact it has on our world, Thomas Merton reminds us not to simply make the response an inward one.
"Under the pretext that what is "within" is in fact real, spiritual, supernatural, etc., one cultivates neglect and contempt for the "external" as worldly, sensual, material, and opposed to grace. This is bad theology and bad asceticism. In fact, it is bad in every respect because instead of accepting reality as it is, we reject it in order to explore some perfect realm of abstract ideals which in fact has no reality at all." - From Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton
This is the danger of regularly attending multiple Bible studies without putting that faith into practice. What did James tell us? "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? ... Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead."
"Under the pretext that what is "within" is in fact real, spiritual, supernatural, etc., one cultivates neglect and contempt for the "external" as worldly, sensual, material, and opposed to grace. This is bad theology and bad asceticism. In fact, it is bad in every respect because instead of accepting reality as it is, we reject it in order to explore some perfect realm of abstract ideals which in fact has no reality at all." - From Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton
This is the danger of regularly attending multiple Bible studies without putting that faith into practice. What did James tell us? "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? ... Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead."
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
NOW WHAT?
He is risen! Now what?
"O Lord, who else or what else can I desire but you? You are my Lord, Lord of my heart, mind, and soul. You know me through and through. In and through you everything that is finds its origin and goal. You embrace all that exists and care for it with divine love and compassion. Why, then, do I keep expecting happiness and satisfaction outside of you? Why do I keep relating to you as one of my many relationships, instead of my only relationship, in which all other ones are grounded? Why do I keep looking for popularity, respect from others, success, acclaim, and sensual pleasures? Why, Lord, is it so hard for me to make you the only one? Why do I keep hesitating to surrender myself totally to you?
Help me, O Lord, to let my old self die, to let die the thousand big and small ways in which I am still building up my false self and trying to cling to my false desires. Let me be reborn in you and see through you the world in the right way, so that all my actions, words, and thought can become a hymn of praise to you." - From A Cry for Mercy by Henri J.M. Nouwen
Easter has changed us. Embrace the new possibilities!
He is risen, indeed!
"O Lord, who else or what else can I desire but you? You are my Lord, Lord of my heart, mind, and soul. You know me through and through. In and through you everything that is finds its origin and goal. You embrace all that exists and care for it with divine love and compassion. Why, then, do I keep expecting happiness and satisfaction outside of you? Why do I keep relating to you as one of my many relationships, instead of my only relationship, in which all other ones are grounded? Why do I keep looking for popularity, respect from others, success, acclaim, and sensual pleasures? Why, Lord, is it so hard for me to make you the only one? Why do I keep hesitating to surrender myself totally to you?
Help me, O Lord, to let my old self die, to let die the thousand big and small ways in which I am still building up my false self and trying to cling to my false desires. Let me be reborn in you and see through you the world in the right way, so that all my actions, words, and thought can become a hymn of praise to you." - From A Cry for Mercy by Henri J.M. Nouwen
Easter has changed us. Embrace the new possibilities!
He is risen, indeed!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Palm/Passion Sunday
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,
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,
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)
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