It is very interesting, I think, to substitute the word addiction for enemy when meditating on Old Testament passages.
O Lord, my God, I come to you for protection;
rescue me and save me from my addictions,
or else like a lion they will carry me off
where no one can save me,
and there they will tear me to pieces.
Psalm 7:1-2 (TEV modified)
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
mercy
“Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea."
Micah 7:18-19 (NIV)
Right now I can’t imagine a more perfectly poetic description of God’s mercy. I need poetry like that.
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea."
Micah 7:18-19 (NIV)
Right now I can’t imagine a more perfectly poetic description of God’s mercy. I need poetry like that.
Monday, March 27, 2006
eSphere revisited
"Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people." Genesis 28:14 (CEV)
Those words from the Book of Beginnings (Genesis) articulate God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, et al (in this particular instance being spoken to Jacob, also known as Israel).
all directions - spherical, radiating
specks of dust - multitude of particles
family - relatedness, connectedness... common point of origin (in this case, faith)
I can’t help but see a connection to Particle Theory, which Wikipedia describes as having to do with elementary constituents of matter and radiation, and the interactions between them. It describes the radiative and scattering processes of those particles. Furthermore, these phenomena do not occur under normal circumstances. In other words, an extraordinary interruption is required.
It looks an awful lot like a prefiguring of the eucatastrosphere (eSphere) decribed a few posts ago: a soul-scape shaped in the ripples of divine interruption...
From the beginning, God has challenged people of faith to be his blessing - to everyone, everywhere, all the time... infusing their communities with beauty, strength, generosity, affirmation, health, balance, patience, hope...
Those words from the Book of Beginnings (Genesis) articulate God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, et al (in this particular instance being spoken to Jacob, also known as Israel).
I can’t help but see a connection to Particle Theory, which Wikipedia describes as having to do with elementary constituents of matter and radiation, and the interactions between them. It describes the radiative and scattering processes of those particles. Furthermore, these phenomena do not occur under normal circumstances. In other words, an extraordinary interruption is required.
It looks an awful lot like a prefiguring of the eucatastrosphere (eSphere) decribed a few posts ago: a soul-scape shaped in the ripples of divine interruption...
From the beginning, God has challenged people of faith to be his blessing - to everyone, everywhere, all the time... infusing their communities with beauty, strength, generosity, affirmation, health, balance, patience, hope...
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Unplowed
“Sow for yourselves righteousness’
Reap the fruit of unfailing love,
And break up the unplowed ground;
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Until he comes and showers righteousness on you.”
Hosea 10:12 (NIV)
Unplowed ground is a picture of the lifelessness that comes from being hardened in our ways.
Humility keeps us soft enough for God’s seeds of change to take root in our lives.
Reap the fruit of unfailing love,
And break up the unplowed ground;
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Until he comes and showers righteousness on you.”
Hosea 10:12 (NIV)
Unplowed ground is a picture of the lifelessness that comes from being hardened in our ways.
Humility keeps us soft enough for God’s seeds of change to take root in our lives.
Attentiveness
“One of those who heard us was Lydia from Thyatira, who was a dealer in purple cloth. She was a woman who worshiped God, and the Lord opened her mind to pay attention to what Paul was saying.” Acts 16:14
Attentiveness is a gift we give one another. True communication isn’t something that can be done to someone – only with someone.
Sometimes communication amounts to a minor miracle: Mutual, soul-deep understanding requires the touch of the divine.
Attentiveness is a gift we give one another. True communication isn’t something that can be done to someone – only with someone.
Sometimes communication amounts to a minor miracle: Mutual, soul-deep understanding requires the touch of the divine.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
No Further Burden
“For it has seemed right to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no further burden upon you except what is absolutely essential...” Acts 15:28
The Acts of the Apostles is a great little adventure story; it is pretty-much a sequel to the Gospel narratives (Luke’s account, in particular).
It’s worth noting that the Gospel is simplified each time it takes root in a new community. The religio-cultural framework of the sending-people is stripped down to bare essentials. Barriers to faith are removed; space is made to accommodate symbiotic pieces of the receiving-people’s culture into a localized iteration of Christianity.
Evangelism provides senders with an opportunity to reconsider the essentials of faith, from the vantage point of their intended receivers. Preferences and assumptions can be held up to the light once again; perspectives can be realigned to what the Holy Spirit is conveying.
The Acts of the Apostles is a great little adventure story; it is pretty-much a sequel to the Gospel narratives (Luke’s account, in particular).
It’s worth noting that the Gospel is simplified each time it takes root in a new community. The religio-cultural framework of the sending-people is stripped down to bare essentials. Barriers to faith are removed; space is made to accommodate symbiotic pieces of the receiving-people’s culture into a localized iteration of Christianity.
Evangelism provides senders with an opportunity to reconsider the essentials of faith, from the vantage point of their intended receivers. Preferences and assumptions can be held up to the light once again; perspectives can be realigned to what the Holy Spirit is conveying.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Eucatastrosphere
The twin piercings of humanness are the Incarnation & Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. One interrupts human life; the other, human death.
According to J.R.R. Tolkien,
The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy.
Tolkien created the term eucatastrophe to fill a hole in the English lexicon. It’s meant to convey the notion that God has planted a seed of infinitely concentrated joy in the soil of human existence. It is a potent goodness, always becoming thinkable, visible, tangible through people saying yes to the Spirit.
The-way-things-ought-to-be exploding redemptively outward into the void of the-way-things-ought-not-to-be like a Big Bang of meaning, beauty, honor, grace...
The space created by this phenomenon is sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of God. Building upon Tolkien’s word, I've started thinking of it as the Eucatastrosphere -- a soul-scape shaped in the ripples of divine interruption...
According to J.R.R. Tolkien,
The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy.
Tolkien created the term eucatastrophe to fill a hole in the English lexicon. It’s meant to convey the notion that God has planted a seed of infinitely concentrated joy in the soil of human existence. It is a potent goodness, always becoming thinkable, visible, tangible through people saying yes to the Spirit.
The-way-things-ought-to-be exploding redemptively outward into the void of the-way-things-ought-not-to-be like a Big Bang of meaning, beauty, honor, grace...
The space created by this phenomenon is sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of God. Building upon Tolkien’s word, I've started thinking of it as the Eucatastrosphere -- a soul-scape shaped in the ripples of divine interruption...
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Inhabiting Littleness
I can only be this person, in this place, in these relationships...
Finite, temporal, limited...
I have instant access to the most superlative instances on the planet of anything I might attempt in my local sphere. So my efforts will necessarily pale in comparison unless I am the very best in the world.
Frankly, this does not inspire me; it freezes me. It could be because I’ve lost touch with the parameters of my own given context. I have misinterpreted my world as the world, which is far too expansive a playground for me.
Somehow, I have to rediscover the wonder of the littleness of my life. I must inhabit my actual sphere of influence (as opposed to the global sphere visible to me via the 12-inch screen of the iBook I’m using to type these words).
It is another facet of presence: to be here, fully incarnated and engaged within the littleness of my life.
Finite, temporal, limited...
I have instant access to the most superlative instances on the planet of anything I might attempt in my local sphere. So my efforts will necessarily pale in comparison unless I am the very best in the world.
Frankly, this does not inspire me; it freezes me. It could be because I’ve lost touch with the parameters of my own given context. I have misinterpreted my world as the world, which is far too expansive a playground for me.
Somehow, I have to rediscover the wonder of the littleness of my life. I must inhabit my actual sphere of influence (as opposed to the global sphere visible to me via the 12-inch screen of the iBook I’m using to type these words).
It is another facet of presence: to be here, fully incarnated and engaged within the littleness of my life.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Feral
“...no one can tame the human tongue.” James 3:8
I have sometimes thought biting my tongue, so to speak, did no real good because whatever I’d been about to say was already in my mind anyway. But I have come to believe that saying something out loud is like pushing a stone downhill: chances are, it will start rolling once gravity gets a hold of it.
The sense I have is that words spoken create momentum toward another thought, then another remark, which propels toward another thought,etc. Given conducive circumstances and willing conversational partners, the momentum can quickly become strong enough to pull me into attitudes I didn’t mean to visit.
It’s better to train the tongue to set good things in motion: encouragement, affirmation, kindness, provocation toward love and good deeds...
But maybe we need to accept the fact that it is never completely domesticated; it remains at least partly feral.
I have sometimes thought biting my tongue, so to speak, did no real good because whatever I’d been about to say was already in my mind anyway. But I have come to believe that saying something out loud is like pushing a stone downhill: chances are, it will start rolling once gravity gets a hold of it.
The sense I have is that words spoken create momentum toward another thought, then another remark, which propels toward another thought,etc. Given conducive circumstances and willing conversational partners, the momentum can quickly become strong enough to pull me into attitudes I didn’t mean to visit.
It’s better to train the tongue to set good things in motion: encouragement, affirmation, kindness, provocation toward love and good deeds...
But maybe we need to accept the fact that it is never completely domesticated; it remains at least partly feral.
TOE
That's "term of endearment", which is how I feel about Mr. Buzzkill. I am grateful that James' letter made it into the New Testament canon (it was touch and go for a while, you know).
I recently learned (from the intro in my J.B. Phillips Translation) that the Book of James is conceptually linked to the Beatitudes. Of all the NT epistles, it is arguably the one most directly distilled from the words of Jesus.
I recently learned (from the intro in my J.B. Phillips Translation) that the Book of James is conceptually linked to the Beatitudes. Of all the NT epistles, it is arguably the one most directly distilled from the words of Jesus.
Monday, March 13, 2006
James [Mr. Buzzkill] part two
“...man’s temper is never the means of achieving God’s true goodness.” James 1:20
As much as I affirm this statement, it also bums me out. My temper has been a potent energy source over the years, so it costs me something to set it aside.
Quick to listen, slow to employ the tongue... This is what James proposes as an alternate source of energy; essentially, it is the power of story.
If I will hold my tongue long enough to hear where you’re coming from, I will begin to perceive your perspective more dimensionally. Once I’ve taken that step inside your story I might still become angry, but I will probably be less likely to lose my temper.
Another facet: Even if I consider my temper-flash to have yielded a desirable effect, it will not have been “God’s true goodness”. My assessment of the outcome is misaligned with God’s.
As much as I affirm this statement, it also bums me out. My temper has been a potent energy source over the years, so it costs me something to set it aside.
Quick to listen, slow to employ the tongue... This is what James proposes as an alternate source of energy; essentially, it is the power of story.
If I will hold my tongue long enough to hear where you’re coming from, I will begin to perceive your perspective more dimensionally. Once I’ve taken that step inside your story I might still become angry, but I will probably be less likely to lose my temper.
Another facet: Even if I consider my temper-flash to have yielded a desirable effect, it will not have been “God’s true goodness”. My assessment of the outcome is misaligned with God’s.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
James [Mr. Buzzkill] part one
The first paragraph of the Letter from James (New Testament) includes the phrase, “of mature character with the right sort of independence.” [J.B. Phillips Translation]
I want that. I really, really want that. The trouble is that James says it comes as a gift of trials and temptations. (Deng-it!)
James says to trust the process: “...let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed.” If I’m extrapolating correctly, what’s being suggested here is that independence (the right sort, at any rate) depends on patience.
Hmm... Yet another paradox of the faith-venture of following Jesus.
I want that. I really, really want that. The trouble is that James says it comes as a gift of trials and temptations. (Deng-it!)
James says to trust the process: “...let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed.” If I’m extrapolating correctly, what’s being suggested here is that independence (the right sort, at any rate) depends on patience.
Hmm... Yet another paradox of the faith-venture of following Jesus.
Friday, March 10, 2006
the p-word
Is patience a tiresome drudgery to which we subject ourselves only to secure a privilege or payday of some sort?
Is it more or less a chore -- on par with bill-paying, clock-punching, gutter-cleaning, dog-bathing, etc.?
Or is patience, in and of itself, a sweet thing?
Is it a component of personal formation?
Is it a change agent?
[Do you find yourself exercising an inordinate amount of patience just reading through this blog entry?]
Patience seems to be a critical attribute of presence -- the art of being where I am... of feeling the feelings of my life... of becoming present. To me, this is one of the most remarkable things about Jesus. It's a characteristic of his that I long to emulate.
Is it more or less a chore -- on par with bill-paying, clock-punching, gutter-cleaning, dog-bathing, etc.?
Or is patience, in and of itself, a sweet thing?
Is it a component of personal formation?
Is it a change agent?
[Do you find yourself exercising an inordinate amount of patience just reading through this blog entry?]
Patience seems to be a critical attribute of presence -- the art of being where I am... of feeling the feelings of my life... of becoming present. To me, this is one of the most remarkable things about Jesus. It's a characteristic of his that I long to emulate.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Decipher
I currently have a crush on the word decipher because of the fetching poetry of its etymology.
cipher = zero; therefore, decipher = de:zero making nothing into not-nothing un-nothing-ing nothingHere’s the thing: we communicate via symbols and gestures encoded with meanings. Until decoded (deciphered), our symbols and gestures are null and void of meaning. Zero communication occurs.*
The Jesus Story deciphers the Creator-Created relationship (which is arguably at the heart of human meaning).
Maybe the life of faith boils down to inhabiting the deconstruction of meaninglessness.
Go into all the world and decipher...
Enact
Isn’t it powerful when ideas become actions?
Pressing the unseen into the seen...
Translating belief into behavior...
A sacrament is defined as:
“A rite believed to be a means of or visible form of grace…”
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Baptism and Communion are central Christian sacraments: bread and wine to taste, cold water to feel... spiritual stuff enacted physically.
The church itself is a sort of sacrament, isn’t it? We are challenged to live out the Gospel -- to express God’s kingdom in our deeds.
“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
James 2:17 (NIV)
“Faith without action is as dead as a body without a soul.”
James 2:26 (Phillips)
Pressing the unseen into the seen...
Translating belief into behavior...
A sacrament is defined as:
“A rite believed to be a means of or visible form of grace…”
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Baptism and Communion are central Christian sacraments: bread and wine to taste, cold water to feel... spiritual stuff enacted physically.
The church itself is a sort of sacrament, isn’t it? We are challenged to live out the Gospel -- to express God’s kingdom in our deeds.
“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
James 2:17 (NIV)
“Faith without action is as dead as a body without a soul.”
James 2:26 (Phillips)
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Still More Hardpan [Joshua ch.7]
“All the people then stoned Achan to death; they also stoned and burned his family and all his possessions.”
Man, that’s got to harsh your mellow... (I resort to flippancy because I don’t know how to process the crushing/torching of Achan, his family, livestock, and possessions. It is too tragic, too gruesome.)
One thought: We should look carefully at anything we’ve held onto that we feel compelled to hide. Whatever it is that that we conceal to the detriment of our relationships is worth bringing into the light. Otherwise we won’t overcome the stuff that blocks our full engagement with what we were created to be and do.
Man, that’s got to harsh your mellow... (I resort to flippancy because I don’t know how to process the crushing/torching of Achan, his family, livestock, and possessions. It is too tragic, too gruesome.)
One thought: We should look carefully at anything we’ve held onto that we feel compelled to hide. Whatever it is that that we conceal to the detriment of our relationships is worth bringing into the light. Otherwise we won’t overcome the stuff that blocks our full engagement with what we were created to be and do.
More Hardpan [Joshua ch.6]
Vintage Sunday School -- one of the all-time classics. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho... The sixth chapter is where the story is recorded, trumpets and all.
Here’s the thing: Isn’t it hard to read this drama as anything other than either a) a flannel-graph classic, or b) an R-rated screenplay filled with psyche-blistering violence? Ugh... talk about hardpan! I’m afraid I can’t dig very deeply into this one.
But a question has haunted me for a couple of weeks now since the last time I read it. In verse 2 the Lord is reported to have said,
“I am putting into your hands Jericho, with its king and all its brave soldiers.”
My question is this: If Jericho was in Israel’s hands, could Israel have interceded on their behalf? Instead of obliterating them, could they have negotiated their redemption?
Here’s the thing: Isn’t it hard to read this drama as anything other than either a) a flannel-graph classic, or b) an R-rated screenplay filled with psyche-blistering violence? Ugh... talk about hardpan! I’m afraid I can’t dig very deeply into this one.
But a question has haunted me for a couple of weeks now since the last time I read it. In verse 2 the Lord is reported to have said,
“I am putting into your hands Jericho, with its king and all its brave soldiers.”
My question is this: If Jericho was in Israel’s hands, could Israel have interceded on their behalf? Instead of obliterating them, could they have negotiated their redemption?
Monday, March 06, 2006
Choices, part 5 [Joshua ch.5]
No more manna, no more free bread from heaven
The time comes to live off the fruit of the promise
The time comes to grow up and take responsibility
For finding sustenance within God’s call
Within God’s challenge, within his dare...
[Note: Chapter 5 also contains indisputable proof that the men of Israel trusted Joshua at a visceral level. There can be no doubt in the minds of men who choose to follow a leader who says, "Okay guys, today is the day when we all get circumcised." That takes real conviction! Wow...]
The time comes to live off the fruit of the promise
The time comes to grow up and take responsibility
For finding sustenance within God’s call
Within God’s challenge, within his dare...
[Note: Chapter 5 also contains indisputable proof that the men of Israel trusted Joshua at a visceral level. There can be no doubt in the minds of men who choose to follow a leader who says, "Okay guys, today is the day when we all get circumcised." That takes real conviction! Wow...]
Choices, part 4 [Joshua ch.4]
The burden of blessing... I wonder if that is part of the point of the twelve stones taken from the riverbed. There seems to be a certain weight of responsibility that comes with divine favor.
Of course, the stones also provided material evidence of what God had done. When the people woke up the next morning, no doubt feeling disoriented by grace, the stones might have helped ground them in their new reality.
Of course, the stones also provided material evidence of what God had done. When the people woke up the next morning, no doubt feeling disoriented by grace, the stones might have helped ground them in their new reality.
Choices, part 3 [Joshua ch.3]
The third chapter of Joshua is about the people of Israel crossing the Jordan River (while it was at flood stage, no less!). There are quite a few fun subtleties woven into the story that are easy to miss because they tend to be hidden in the shadow of the gargantuan centerpiece-miracle.
Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, because tomorrow the Lord will perform miracles among you.” (Chapter 3, verse 5)
I think of purifying myself as tuning a guitar. Like, if I were told that B.B. King was on his way over to my house to jam, I would make sure my guitars were in tune. God is at work: get ready.
Here’s a weird thing: Joshua refers to miracles, plural. How many happened? Or was the crossing of the river so mammoth that it was in fact a composite of a plethora of miracles? Maybe a new miracle was needed each time another Israelite stepped off the bank onto the riverbed.
There might be another miracle imbedded in the story: the nation became ready to place their trust in Joshua. They had been holding it in escrow, as it were, since they’d lost Moses. Now they would be faced with the choice of whether or not they would invest that level of honor in their new leader.
Being willing to follow a flesh-and-blood person who says, “C’mon! Let’s go this way -- God is doing something great over there” requires a lot of faith. And it’s worth pointing out that it also requires a long history of seeing that person’s character revealed in a variety of situations.
Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, because tomorrow the Lord will perform miracles among you.” (Chapter 3, verse 5)
I think of purifying myself as tuning a guitar. Like, if I were told that B.B. King was on his way over to my house to jam, I would make sure my guitars were in tune. God is at work: get ready.
Here’s a weird thing: Joshua refers to miracles, plural. How many happened? Or was the crossing of the river so mammoth that it was in fact a composite of a plethora of miracles? Maybe a new miracle was needed each time another Israelite stepped off the bank onto the riverbed.
There might be another miracle imbedded in the story: the nation became ready to place their trust in Joshua. They had been holding it in escrow, as it were, since they’d lost Moses. Now they would be faced with the choice of whether or not they would invest that level of honor in their new leader.
Being willing to follow a flesh-and-blood person who says, “C’mon! Let’s go this way -- God is doing something great over there” requires a lot of faith. And it’s worth pointing out that it also requires a long history of seeing that person’s character revealed in a variety of situations.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Choices, part 2 [Joshua ch.2]
The inaugural post of this blog included the word “Choices” in the title, and yet I never actually referred to choices directly. The idea is there, peeping through from between the lines, but perhaps it’s only fair to make the notion slightly more visible.
A life of faith presupposes choices. A person is asked to choose to believe God enough to be willing to make an unfolding sequence of secondary choices; for instance, choosing courage over fear, choosing to prepare for divine interruptions that seem highly unlikely, and choosing to step into a flow of events that will require God’s miraculous touch to turn out right.
“The Lord your God is God in heaven above and here on earth.” Joshua 2:11b
The God of the Bible is forever dissolving our distinctions between the eternal and the temporal, between spirit and dirt. The choice to believe God’s nearness constellates all other choices.
A life of faith presupposes choices. A person is asked to choose to believe God enough to be willing to make an unfolding sequence of secondary choices; for instance, choosing courage over fear, choosing to prepare for divine interruptions that seem highly unlikely, and choosing to step into a flow of events that will require God’s miraculous touch to turn out right.
“The Lord your God is God in heaven above and here on earth.” Joshua 2:11b
The God of the Bible is forever dissolving our distinctions between the eternal and the temporal, between spirit and dirt. The choice to believe God’s nearness constellates all other choices.
Choices, part 1 [Joshua ch.1]
There is a lot of hardpan in the book of Joshua. Hardpan is what my yard is made out of; it is basically glacial excrement, from what I understand -- clay and gravel compressed together into something that will not be penetrated without determination, sweat, patience and blisters -- and more sweat.
But there are also plenty of beautifully simple ideas about faith-life. “Be strong and courageous...” “Don’t be afraid...” “The Lord your God is with you...” And one of my personal favorites: “Get ready for a miracle, but pack a lunch because it could take a while.”
Okay, that’s just my paraphrase. In the name of full disclosure, let me include a more legit translation:
“Get some food ready, because in three days you are going to cross the Jordan River to occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Joshua 1:11b
It makes me smile when the transcendent and the mundane hold hands like that. And by “mundane” I don’t mean boring, but rather “everyday”, “earthy”, perhaps even “pragmatic”. It underscores the fact that we are crafted of skin and spirit, and that God is happy about that.
But there are also plenty of beautifully simple ideas about faith-life. “Be strong and courageous...” “Don’t be afraid...” “The Lord your God is with you...” And one of my personal favorites: “Get ready for a miracle, but pack a lunch because it could take a while.”
Okay, that’s just my paraphrase. In the name of full disclosure, let me include a more legit translation:
“Get some food ready, because in three days you are going to cross the Jordan River to occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Joshua 1:11b
It makes me smile when the transcendent and the mundane hold hands like that. And by “mundane” I don’t mean boring, but rather “everyday”, “earthy”, perhaps even “pragmatic”. It underscores the fact that we are crafted of skin and spirit, and that God is happy about that.
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