Continuing from yesterday from the introduction by Thomas Merton.
Call these values what you will, "natural religion" or "natural law," Christianity admits their existence at least as preambles to faith and grace, if not sometimes vastly more (Romans 2:14-15, Acts 17:22-31). These values are universal, and it is hard to see how there can be any "catholic-ity" (catho-holos means "all embracing") that even implicitly excludes them. One of the marks of catholicity is precisely that values which are everywhere natural to man are fulfilled on the highest level in the Law of the Spirit. and in Christian charity. A "charity" that excludes these values cannot claim the title of Christian love.
From yesterday I'd like to repeat something written by Merton so as to jump us into this piece. In talking about essential values he notes: "values without which he cannot live, values which are now in large measure lost to him so that unequipped to face life in a fully human manner, he now runs the risk of destroying himself entirely." We must at least be "up to" these values among us. It is not the greatest we can do...it is the least...by this least bit of living within a realm of basic values we show that we are at least human. That is a beginning, not an end. From our love or "charity" we begin the greatest journey that brings life to us and to those around us. From this love that is a grounding piece to our humanity, life becomes transformed and a transforming power. It is as we begin to unfold within the embrace of that value that we stretch ourselves beyond all of our expectations and beyond all that we can even imagine. Love takes us out of ourselves and helps us to enter into an other's life and in that conversation, what we all learn to value is the life of the other.
Connection: To start taking steps within the domain of the love we claim...grabs us...and the love we claim....moves us, is a dramatic way to reshape the day. It is not always easy - even in the smallest form...but it is vital to our life expression as humans.
When you stir up the hearts of your people, O God, we are never sure what will surface within our lives. Encourage us to be the instruments of your love whipped up for the sake of the world. Amen.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Wednesday 2 January 2008
Due to the fact that we took a week off even after starting a new series of devotions featuring Thomas Merton and the works of Mohandas Gandhi, I thought I should repeat the devotion from Monday, December 24.
This may be enough to ponder on the Eve of the Nativity of our Lord, Jesus. We are always at the point of leaving behind such wisdom that allows us to look outside of our tradition and grow within our tradition because of the strength and power and beauty we see in another. Maybe the Shaker song is a good reminder to us to turn, turn, will be our delight, until turning, turning, we come down right.
Connection: Do not fear and do not be held back or put in place by powers that are afraid to let you enter into that "right mind."
Come, Spirit of New Life. Come and open our hearts to your word of peace and the experience of shalom as it takes place around us and as we enter into its living presence. Come, and walk with us. Amen.
Gandhi had the deepest respect for Christianity, for Christ and the Gospel. In following his way of satyagraha (holding on to truth) he believed he was following the Law of Christ, and it would be difficult to prove that this belief was entirely mistaken - or that it was in any degree insincere. One of the greatest lessons of Ganhdi's life remains this: through the spiritual traditions of the West he, an Indian, discovered his Indian heritage and with it his own "right mind." And in his fidelity to his own heritage and its spiritual sanity, he was able to show men of the West and of the whole world a way to recover their own "right mind" in their tradition, thus manifesting the fact that there are certain indisputable and essential values - religious, ethical, ascetic, spiritual, and philosophical - which man has everywhere needed and which he has in the past managed to acquire, values without which he cannot live, values which are now in large measure lost to him so that, unequipped to face life in a fully human manner, he now runs the risk of destroying himself entirely.
This may be enough to ponder on the Eve of the Nativity of our Lord, Jesus. We are always at the point of leaving behind such wisdom that allows us to look outside of our tradition and grow within our tradition because of the strength and power and beauty we see in another. Maybe the Shaker song is a good reminder to us to turn, turn, will be our delight, until turning, turning, we come down right.
Connection: Do not fear and do not be held back or put in place by powers that are afraid to let you enter into that "right mind."
Come, Spirit of New Life. Come and open our hearts to your word of peace and the experience of shalom as it takes place around us and as we enter into its living presence. Come, and walk with us. Amen.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Wednesday 26 December 2007
Devotions will be taking a holiday sabbatical until Wednesday morning, January 2, 2008.
Blessings.
Blessings.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Monday 24 December 2007
Christmas Eve seemed like a good time to begin a devotional look at some of the work by Mohandas Gandhi. We will begin with material about Gandhi by Thomas Merton and a few notes about a tie to Christianity.
Gandhi had the deepest respect for Christianity, for Christ and the Gospel. In following his way of satyagraha (holding on to truth) he believed he was following the Law of Christ, and it would be difficult to prove that this belief was entirely mistaken - or that it was in any degree insincere.
One of the greatest lessons of Ganhdi's life remains this: through the spiritual traditions of the West he, an Indian, discovered his Indian heritage and with it his own "right mind." And in his fidelity to his own heritage and its spiritual sanity, he was able to show men of the West and of the whole world a way to recover their own "right mind" in their tradition, thus manifesting the fact that there are certain indisputable and essential values - religious, ethical, ascetic, spiritual, and philosophical - which man has everywhere needed and which he has in the past managed to acquire, values without which he cannot live, values which are now in large measure lost to him so that, unequipped to face life in a fully human manner, he now runs the risk of destroying himself entirely.
This may be enough to ponder on the Eve of the Nativity of our Lord, Jesus. We are always at the point of leaving behind such wisdom that allows us to look outside of our tradition and grow within our tradition because of the strength and power and beauty we see in another. Maybe the Shaker song is a good reminder to us to turn, turn, will be our delight, until turning, turning, we come down right.
Connection: Do not fear and do not be held back or put in place by powers that are afraid to let you enter into that "right mind."
Come, Spirit of New Life. Come and open our hearts to your word of peace and the experience of shalom as it takes place around us and as we enter into its living presence. Come, and walk with us. Amen.
Gandhi had the deepest respect for Christianity, for Christ and the Gospel. In following his way of satyagraha (holding on to truth) he believed he was following the Law of Christ, and it would be difficult to prove that this belief was entirely mistaken - or that it was in any degree insincere.
One of the greatest lessons of Ganhdi's life remains this: through the spiritual traditions of the West he, an Indian, discovered his Indian heritage and with it his own "right mind." And in his fidelity to his own heritage and its spiritual sanity, he was able to show men of the West and of the whole world a way to recover their own "right mind" in their tradition, thus manifesting the fact that there are certain indisputable and essential values - religious, ethical, ascetic, spiritual, and philosophical - which man has everywhere needed and which he has in the past managed to acquire, values without which he cannot live, values which are now in large measure lost to him so that, unequipped to face life in a fully human manner, he now runs the risk of destroying himself entirely.
This may be enough to ponder on the Eve of the Nativity of our Lord, Jesus. We are always at the point of leaving behind such wisdom that allows us to look outside of our tradition and grow within our tradition because of the strength and power and beauty we see in another. Maybe the Shaker song is a good reminder to us to turn, turn, will be our delight, until turning, turning, we come down right.
Connection: Do not fear and do not be held back or put in place by powers that are afraid to let you enter into that "right mind."
Come, Spirit of New Life. Come and open our hearts to your word of peace and the experience of shalom as it takes place around us and as we enter into its living presence. Come, and walk with us. Amen.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Friday 21 December 2007
Today will be the last piece from Brian Blount. It is a concluding remark about living with the Living Word.
Christian faith, and the biblical interpretation that goes along with it, supports it, directs it, is hard. Not everyone can do it; not everyone wants to do it. Many want the comfort of having someone just say forget about the contexts, forget about how the biblical writers were writing for their people in their time, forget about all that and just read all the words as the last word and do what they say, whatever they say. Even if I don't want to tell a slave to go back to his master; even if I don't want to tell a woman to sit down and keep quiet in church, and cover her head while she's at it; even if I don't want to tell someone politically oppressed to obey a government without protest when I think its wrong; and even if I don't want to tell a gay or lesbian couple that they are idolatrous, lusting, unnatural sinners whom I'll love even even though they have absolutely no business and no place in the kingdom of God, I'll do it anyway because it's easy. It's simple. And I long for a simple faith. I'll cry, but I won't do differently. I won't try to find a way to do differently because it's too hard.
It's supposed to be hard, stupid! Whoever would be my disciple must take up my hard cross and follow, follow daily follow tomorrow, where every word is a living word for people living where they are in their present and future, not in somebody else's past.
I think leaving Blount's comments alone for today will be enough of a devotional reflection.
Come, Lord, Jesus, be our guest and open up this day with the living word that bring us life and enables us to see the ongoing unfolding of your blessed Reign. Amen.
Christian faith, and the biblical interpretation that goes along with it, supports it, directs it, is hard. Not everyone can do it; not everyone wants to do it. Many want the comfort of having someone just say forget about the contexts, forget about how the biblical writers were writing for their people in their time, forget about all that and just read all the words as the last word and do what they say, whatever they say. Even if I don't want to tell a slave to go back to his master; even if I don't want to tell a woman to sit down and keep quiet in church, and cover her head while she's at it; even if I don't want to tell someone politically oppressed to obey a government without protest when I think its wrong; and even if I don't want to tell a gay or lesbian couple that they are idolatrous, lusting, unnatural sinners whom I'll love even even though they have absolutely no business and no place in the kingdom of God, I'll do it anyway because it's easy. It's simple. And I long for a simple faith. I'll cry, but I won't do differently. I won't try to find a way to do differently because it's too hard.
It's supposed to be hard, stupid! Whoever would be my disciple must take up my hard cross and follow, follow daily follow tomorrow, where every word is a living word for people living where they are in their present and future, not in somebody else's past.
I think leaving Blount's comments alone for today will be enough of a devotional reflection.
Come, Lord, Jesus, be our guest and open up this day with the living word that bring us life and enables us to see the ongoing unfolding of your blessed Reign. Amen.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Thursday 20 December 2007
To prevent an extra long quote yesterday, I'm simply continuing the thought with today's piece by Brian Blount.
So the words his and him become just as important as the words justification and cross. Mess with either one and you're messing equally with the faith. So the words "slaves obey your masters" or "women be silent in church" must be equal to the words "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars." So the words "their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another" become as important as "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is not longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus". Every word, no matter how it's tied to its context, must be the last word, or faith itself is somehow challenged.
There must be a way to look at Scripture and make some decisions about what is now the living word among us. We must be able to take a look at the whole story of God's faithfulness and the life it created within a world like ours where divisions rule and there is always a scapegoat on which we can throw our problems and fears. We will still wrestle with some passages. In fact I would pray that we would wrestle. It is in the conversations and dialogues that we may be able to say we give more weight to one passage over another. As Blount suggests, there will be those words that are dead for us. Then again, there will those words that are living and because of that create new life within the realm of God's gracious Reign. Not every word is as important as another. The Scripture is not a book of potions that must be said correctly or it doesn't work for us. And yet, from those living words, people in every time are introduced to life beyond our wants and demands. A living word continues to crack us open to both receive this blessed story of our God in all God's faithfulness and then to have that living word come to life among us.
Connection: The next time you look at Scripture, what is the living word you can hear...what is the Good News that liberates, forgives, renews, recreates? Then again...what sounds and appears to be quite dead for us today.
Living Word, the breath of your Spirit shakes us. We hear it and we are encountered by life that is so rich it is like something new and grand and tremendously healing. Guide us so that we may be fed by this word that brings life. Amen.
So the words his and him become just as important as the words justification and cross. Mess with either one and you're messing equally with the faith. So the words "slaves obey your masters" or "women be silent in church" must be equal to the words "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars." So the words "their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another" become as important as "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is not longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus". Every word, no matter how it's tied to its context, must be the last word, or faith itself is somehow challenged.
There must be a way to look at Scripture and make some decisions about what is now the living word among us. We must be able to take a look at the whole story of God's faithfulness and the life it created within a world like ours where divisions rule and there is always a scapegoat on which we can throw our problems and fears. We will still wrestle with some passages. In fact I would pray that we would wrestle. It is in the conversations and dialogues that we may be able to say we give more weight to one passage over another. As Blount suggests, there will be those words that are dead for us. Then again, there will those words that are living and because of that create new life within the realm of God's gracious Reign. Not every word is as important as another. The Scripture is not a book of potions that must be said correctly or it doesn't work for us. And yet, from those living words, people in every time are introduced to life beyond our wants and demands. A living word continues to crack us open to both receive this blessed story of our God in all God's faithfulness and then to have that living word come to life among us.
Connection: The next time you look at Scripture, what is the living word you can hear...what is the Good News that liberates, forgives, renews, recreates? Then again...what sounds and appears to be quite dead for us today.
Living Word, the breath of your Spirit shakes us. We hear it and we are encountered by life that is so rich it is like something new and grand and tremendously healing. Guide us so that we may be fed by this word that brings life. Amen.
Wednesday 19 December 2007
Brian Blount brings his discussion about interpretation to an end with a section call "Living with the Living Word." Referring back to what he wrote about the Scriptures and slave and homosexuality, he notes: "We can't be faithful and we can't get to God's truth if the biblical words don't live for us this this."
This is difficult, I know, because the words are biblical words, the words are the canon, and we find it hard to challenge them no matter their context because every word is supposed to be the last word. That's why inclusive language is often so difficult for many people to accept when they read the Bible. The words, the pronouns he, him, and his, have become THE WORD. A faith mathematics of of simple addition takes hold. All the words form an equation that equals faith. Just as in mathematics, we need every number if the total sum in a simple addition problem is going to be correct, so every word must be equally authoritative if simple faith is going to add up.
I find this use of "faith mathematics" to be a unique way of setting up a view of reading the Bible. You can't mess with numbers. If you do, the answer will not be "right." Well, we are not doing math and we are not trying to come up with "right." We are looking to the Word for life. We are looking to the Word to see the Reign of God breaking into our history - past, present, and to come. This will mean the words may carry different weight among us. That is probably unheard of in a simple addition problem. For example: the simply change made in the New Revised Standard Edition of the Bible makes a simple change from "men" to "men and women" if it is likely that the group that was gathered was inclusive. Some folks cannot and will not tolerate that change. Of course, there can be many other example that might get under any of our skin...
Connection: It would be interesting to listen to what people give 'weight.' I would suggest we even do that with our everyday imagery and speaking. It may help all of us to listen better and learn to ask for clarification so we know how close or far we are from one another.
Lord, your Word, is the power to change life and bring into being that which is not. Help us to listen for the truth within your Word as we make our way through the many words we use to help us catch a glimpse of your gracious Reign. Amen.
This is difficult, I know, because the words are biblical words, the words are the canon, and we find it hard to challenge them no matter their context because every word is supposed to be the last word. That's why inclusive language is often so difficult for many people to accept when they read the Bible. The words, the pronouns he, him, and his, have become THE WORD. A faith mathematics of of simple addition takes hold. All the words form an equation that equals faith. Just as in mathematics, we need every number if the total sum in a simple addition problem is going to be correct, so every word must be equally authoritative if simple faith is going to add up.
I find this use of "faith mathematics" to be a unique way of setting up a view of reading the Bible. You can't mess with numbers. If you do, the answer will not be "right." Well, we are not doing math and we are not trying to come up with "right." We are looking to the Word for life. We are looking to the Word to see the Reign of God breaking into our history - past, present, and to come. This will mean the words may carry different weight among us. That is probably unheard of in a simple addition problem. For example: the simply change made in the New Revised Standard Edition of the Bible makes a simple change from "men" to "men and women" if it is likely that the group that was gathered was inclusive. Some folks cannot and will not tolerate that change. Of course, there can be many other example that might get under any of our skin...
Connection: It would be interesting to listen to what people give 'weight.' I would suggest we even do that with our everyday imagery and speaking. It may help all of us to listen better and learn to ask for clarification so we know how close or far we are from one another.
Lord, your Word, is the power to change life and bring into being that which is not. Help us to listen for the truth within your Word as we make our way through the many words we use to help us catch a glimpse of your gracious Reign. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)