I've been gone awhile. There have been many changes. Jobs coming and going, death and wild blessing; what a ride. More on that will come but for right now I want to re-post something else. Below, please find a link to a blog by a mom who has a daughter that has Leukemia. It talks about God living out community in his people. See you soon.
http://ericksonall-stars.blogspot.com/p/weekly-gratitude.html
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Henri Nouwen Repost - Words That Create
I often take language for granted. Never the less, it has always been a big deal as Henri describes below.
Words, words, words. Our society is full of words: on billboards, on television screens, in newspapers and books. Words whispered, shouted, and sung. Words that move, dance, and change in size and color. Words that say, "Taste me, smell me, eat me, drink me, sleep with me," but most of all, "buy me." With so many words around us, we quickly say: "Well, they're just words." Thus, words have lost much of their power.
Still, the word has the power to create. When God speaks, God creates. When God says, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), light is. God speaks light. For God, speaking and creating are the same. It is this creative power of the word we need to reclaim. What we say is very important. When we say, "I love you," and say it from the heart, we can give another person new life, new hope, new courage. When we say, "I hate you," we can destroy another person. Let's watch our words.
Words, words, words. Our society is full of words: on billboards, on television screens, in newspapers and books. Words whispered, shouted, and sung. Words that move, dance, and change in size and color. Words that say, "Taste me, smell me, eat me, drink me, sleep with me," but most of all, "buy me." With so many words around us, we quickly say: "Well, they're just words." Thus, words have lost much of their power.
Still, the word has the power to create. When God speaks, God creates. When God says, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), light is. God speaks light. For God, speaking and creating are the same. It is this creative power of the word we need to reclaim. What we say is very important. When we say, "I love you," and say it from the heart, we can give another person new life, new hope, new courage. When we say, "I hate you," we can destroy another person. Let's watch our words.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Undiscovered Countries
New things, places and people just about always get our attention. Seeing something for the first time usually stimulates our interest some.
Monday, I'll start a new job. It will be covered in "newness." Hopefully, and I do think it's the case, most of the newness there will be fun.
A lot of times though, new things can be a bit jarring, particularly when they're outside our more familiar and comfortable frames of reference. If we're used to forests, deserts can seem stark. If we're used to crowds, being alone can be scary...or the other way round. Big contrasts usually bring big challenges.
Unfortunately, a reflexive response to something new can often trigger a retreat into self. A "retreat into self" is usually pretty camouflaged. It can look like: "That person just rubs me wrong" or "They've got an agenda" or any number of other such write offs. This sort of saying allows us to draw a line someplace that we're comfortable with and then place the uncomfortable person or situation on the other side of the line.
Sometimes this sort of distancing is necessary because people and situations in this world can be quite badly broken. Still though, it does mean we lessen ourselves and others when this happens.
I'm learning this however: Drawing these sorts of lines is a broken response to a broken situation. I'm learning this from Joel Osteen.
Joel Osteen is a TV evangelist. He is the personification of just about everything I recoil against in the arena of commercial Christianity. He smiles perpetually, he has a message that is along the lines of "do good in order to do well," and perhaps worst of all he has impeccably coiffed big hair. And oh yeah, there's A LOT of money involved.
Until fairly recently, he represented an undiscovered country for me. I saw him while channel surfing occasionally and in response would push the change button even faster than usual.
For a number of apparently coincidental reasons, he started to blip up on my radar screen. So, I watched Joel a couple times, listening quite intently as I think most of us do when we think we're going hear a train wreck. Funny thing though: Although I found him putting emphasis in places that I would not and still wearing hair that I wouldn't be caught dead under, I heard him talk about Jesus wanting to be involved personally in the lives of each individual. In this time and culture, even in mainline protestantism, that's way too rare a message. It is often watered down to the point of being drowned in a sea of theological correctness...Maybe it is his hair keeping him afloat but what I've heard him say stands out from the usual "just color inside the lines in order to get to heaven" theology that is the common fare.
I will not listen regularly. I am blessed to have other voices that speak from a closer distance and that have a more direct apprehension of the idea that Jesus through the Spirit is God with us.
However, the experience has taught me to be a good bit more reticent about putting people on the other side of an arbitrarily placed line I've drawn in sand and to not reflexively fear or disdain the as yet undiscovered parts of Christ's body.
Monday, I'll start a new job. It will be covered in "newness." Hopefully, and I do think it's the case, most of the newness there will be fun.
A lot of times though, new things can be a bit jarring, particularly when they're outside our more familiar and comfortable frames of reference. If we're used to forests, deserts can seem stark. If we're used to crowds, being alone can be scary...or the other way round. Big contrasts usually bring big challenges.
Unfortunately, a reflexive response to something new can often trigger a retreat into self. A "retreat into self" is usually pretty camouflaged. It can look like: "That person just rubs me wrong" or "They've got an agenda" or any number of other such write offs. This sort of saying allows us to draw a line someplace that we're comfortable with and then place the uncomfortable person or situation on the other side of the line.
Sometimes this sort of distancing is necessary because people and situations in this world can be quite badly broken. Still though, it does mean we lessen ourselves and others when this happens.
I'm learning this however: Drawing these sorts of lines is a broken response to a broken situation. I'm learning this from Joel Osteen.
Joel Osteen is a TV evangelist. He is the personification of just about everything I recoil against in the arena of commercial Christianity. He smiles perpetually, he has a message that is along the lines of "do good in order to do well," and perhaps worst of all he has impeccably coiffed big hair. And oh yeah, there's A LOT of money involved.
Until fairly recently, he represented an undiscovered country for me. I saw him while channel surfing occasionally and in response would push the change button even faster than usual.
For a number of apparently coincidental reasons, he started to blip up on my radar screen. So, I watched Joel a couple times, listening quite intently as I think most of us do when we think we're going hear a train wreck. Funny thing though: Although I found him putting emphasis in places that I would not and still wearing hair that I wouldn't be caught dead under, I heard him talk about Jesus wanting to be involved personally in the lives of each individual. In this time and culture, even in mainline protestantism, that's way too rare a message. It is often watered down to the point of being drowned in a sea of theological correctness...Maybe it is his hair keeping him afloat but what I've heard him say stands out from the usual "just color inside the lines in order to get to heaven" theology that is the common fare.
I will not listen regularly. I am blessed to have other voices that speak from a closer distance and that have a more direct apprehension of the idea that Jesus through the Spirit is God with us.
However, the experience has taught me to be a good bit more reticent about putting people on the other side of an arbitrarily placed line I've drawn in sand and to not reflexively fear or disdain the as yet undiscovered parts of Christ's body.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
From John Donne
Donne is one of my favorite poets and this is among his best. This is my soul's prayer:
| XIV.  As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ; That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurp'd town, to another due, Labour to admit you, but O, to no end. Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captived, and proves weak or untrue. Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain, But am betroth'd unto your enemy ; Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again, Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me. |
Monday, January 31, 2011
The Distance Between
Social sin, brokenness, giving offense, whatever it's called is sometimes an act of will. That is, sometimes people set out to deliberately wound someone else with their words. For most of us most of the time though, such things start as an unintentional offense born of our own struggles and issues. As a simple example, how many of us know someone that makes rude, self-aggrandizing or inappropriate remarks in a social setting? And, how many of us can look in the mirror and see a person sometimes like that? I can.
Except in extreme cases, this usually comes from a problem in the way we see ourselves versus the way we actually are. That may sound strange but it's actually quite common throughout history, literature and the bible.
It was so common an idea in the ancient world that the Greeks had a word for it. That is, hubris. The idea of hubris lives on today in a somewhat confusing modern word, pride. Pride is fine when it lines up with the way things are; that is, with the way we were made to be. Hubris though is a kind of pride in which you see yourself as a bigger deal than you really are. This is always a problem.
There's a conceptual problem of more recent vintage that has the opposite polarity. Namely, that we view ourselves and sometimes act in a way that communicates that we are less than we really are. We might call this insecurity, poor self image or any number of psycho-jargon phrases. When not taken to extremes, this type of self deprecation has a good side too. We call the good side of this issue, modesty.
These two extremes have one thing in common. That is, they both mark a distance between the reality of who we are versus an inaccurate self-perception of how we see ourselves. When we think, believe or act out of that misconception, we really can't help but "miss the mark." Put another way, how can you hit the target if all your points of reference are wrong?
The good news is that sometimes by sudden miracle, sometimes over time and experience, even painful experience relationship with Christ closes the distance between who we think we are and who we were actually made to be. Over time with Christ and in concert with his body, we gradually stop making up ideas of how we need to act and be and instead realize both the wonderful substance and beautiful broken need of who we were spoken to be.
As we are gradually moved toward completion, our vision of the process and the goal becomes clearer. As Christ brings us closer to himself, we become more of who we were always intended to be.
Except in extreme cases, this usually comes from a problem in the way we see ourselves versus the way we actually are. That may sound strange but it's actually quite common throughout history, literature and the bible.
It was so common an idea in the ancient world that the Greeks had a word for it. That is, hubris. The idea of hubris lives on today in a somewhat confusing modern word, pride. Pride is fine when it lines up with the way things are; that is, with the way we were made to be. Hubris though is a kind of pride in which you see yourself as a bigger deal than you really are. This is always a problem.
There's a conceptual problem of more recent vintage that has the opposite polarity. Namely, that we view ourselves and sometimes act in a way that communicates that we are less than we really are. We might call this insecurity, poor self image or any number of psycho-jargon phrases. When not taken to extremes, this type of self deprecation has a good side too. We call the good side of this issue, modesty.
These two extremes have one thing in common. That is, they both mark a distance between the reality of who we are versus an inaccurate self-perception of how we see ourselves. When we think, believe or act out of that misconception, we really can't help but "miss the mark." Put another way, how can you hit the target if all your points of reference are wrong?
The good news is that sometimes by sudden miracle, sometimes over time and experience, even painful experience relationship with Christ closes the distance between who we think we are and who we were actually made to be. Over time with Christ and in concert with his body, we gradually stop making up ideas of how we need to act and be and instead realize both the wonderful substance and beautiful broken need of who we were spoken to be.
As we are gradually moved toward completion, our vision of the process and the goal becomes clearer. As Christ brings us closer to himself, we become more of who we were always intended to be.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Nouwen on Forgiveness
I'm offering another Nouwen re-post today. I have found forgiveness to be the greatest stronghold of the enemy of men's souls in both myself and others. I've encountered no other teaching of Jesus which is as clear and yet is denied by so many otherwise mature Christians. There are in fact, entire doctrines built on the idea that Jesus really isn't saying what he plainly is. Here, Nouwen encapsulates the idea well. We must learn to partner in the hard work with Christ that is required to surrender the hurt and anger of offenses inflicted on us.
Remember Jesus' question to the blind paralytic, "Do you want to be well?" (John 5:1-5) Do we? If we do, we must surrender our own ideas of justice and submit instead to Christ's.
Healing Our Hearts Through Forgiveness
How can we forgive those who do not want to be forgiven? Our deepest desire is that the forgiveness we offer will be received. This mutuality between giving and receiving is what creates peace and harmony. But if our condition for giving forgiveness is that it will be received, we seldom will forgive! Forgiving the other is first and foremost an inner movement. It is an act that removes anger, bitterness, and the desire for revenge from our hearts and helps us to reclaim our human dignity. We cannot force those we want to forgive into accepting our forgiveness. They might not be able or willing do so. They may not even know or feel that they have wounded us.
The only people we can really change are ourselves. Forgiving others is first and foremost healing our own hearts.
Remember Jesus' question to the blind paralytic, "Do you want to be well?" (John 5:1-5) Do we? If we do, we must surrender our own ideas of justice and submit instead to Christ's.
Healing Our Hearts Through Forgiveness
How can we forgive those who do not want to be forgiven? Our deepest desire is that the forgiveness we offer will be received. This mutuality between giving and receiving is what creates peace and harmony. But if our condition for giving forgiveness is that it will be received, we seldom will forgive! Forgiving the other is first and foremost an inner movement. It is an act that removes anger, bitterness, and the desire for revenge from our hearts and helps us to reclaim our human dignity. We cannot force those we want to forgive into accepting our forgiveness. They might not be able or willing do so. They may not even know or feel that they have wounded us.
The only people we can really change are ourselves. Forgiving others is first and foremost healing our own hearts.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Shadows of the Garden
Most of us know some form of the "In the beginning..." story. To recap, Adam and Eve were created by God and placed in a perfect garden that was free of strife. They had one instruction, don't eat the fruit of a particular tree. They disobeyed and consequence ensued. What follows is an allegory of that story.
The tree in the middle of the garden was impossible to miss because of one singular feature. On the side away from the light, it cast a deep, black shadow, completely unlike the ever so slight shadow of contrast cast by everything else in the garden. All the other shadows were really only little more than outlines. The shadow of this one tree was ominous, every bit as ominous as God's instruction to not eat it's fruit. And as we know, the mystery of this tree proved to be more than Adam and Eve chose...or possibly even, could resist. (In the end, the difference between those words matters not at all.)
In the moment Adam and Eve ate the fruit, dark shadows attached to everything, even Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve saw the shadows but more importantly saw many many things in the shadows they'd never seen before. None of these were good. Also, for the first time, they saw themselves and became self-conscious and ashamed.
When God found his children, he was not surprised at what they'd done, but he was still broken hearted. He knew how much things had changed and what the shadows meant for him and for them. The garden could not help them anymore so he made them clothes and sent them on their way. Because there was too much for them to learn about the shadows all at once, he continued to show up from time to time and help them and even their kids with things that weren't always clear.
Over time, more and more about the nature of shadows and how to live with them was revealed. There were a couple of interesting parts. One was that anything that was in a shadow died. The sad thing about this was that men and women soon got even better at seeing shadows and eventually realized that there was a kind of dim shadow over everything. The other thing was that there were small nasty beings that lived only in shadows. These were called demons.
God helped with this too by teaching man about avoiding shadows and their consequences. These teachings were called laws. Laws were created for our good. The laws failed though because man couldn't keep the laws any more than Adam and Eve could resist the fruit in the garden. In the end, man worshiped the laws themselves and forgot why God created them in the first place.
From the beginning of this story, God had a plan that went beyond just living with the shadows. He wanted to get rid of all shadows both great and small and replace them with nothing but light.
The key to this plan was his son. His son was complete light from the beginning. At one point, the son took on shadow, even to the point of complete blackness and death. This also broke God's heart. Even so, the shadow of death couldn't stop the light. In 3 days, the son again appeared to man, revealing himself as the source of light that he is to this day and forevermore. Shadows in the world of men still remain but they no longer have any power. And all man has to do is ask the son to help him out of the shadows. The son can do that because of who he is and because he knows better than anyone that shadows can't hold us.
Men still stumble into shadows when they're not watching where they're going or what they're doing. This is true even for men that have been helped by the son before. The son knew this would happen and that if something wasn't done, pretty soon the shadows would trick man into thinking they still had power over him. So, the son left us so that we wouldn't just look at him all the time. But that's not all he did. He also sent a spirit of light to live in everyone who'd ask. It's that spirit that makes all of us beautiful facets of the one great light, and eventually eliminates the shadows in us.
Soon, both the son and the spirit will be here on earth, together. Even so, the echoes of the shadows will still remain for yet awhile. Because of this, we must always remember that the light in us is both for us and for others. We must always share what we've been given so that everyone can see the light.
The tree in the middle of the garden was impossible to miss because of one singular feature. On the side away from the light, it cast a deep, black shadow, completely unlike the ever so slight shadow of contrast cast by everything else in the garden. All the other shadows were really only little more than outlines. The shadow of this one tree was ominous, every bit as ominous as God's instruction to not eat it's fruit. And as we know, the mystery of this tree proved to be more than Adam and Eve chose...or possibly even, could resist. (In the end, the difference between those words matters not at all.)
In the moment Adam and Eve ate the fruit, dark shadows attached to everything, even Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve saw the shadows but more importantly saw many many things in the shadows they'd never seen before. None of these were good. Also, for the first time, they saw themselves and became self-conscious and ashamed.
When God found his children, he was not surprised at what they'd done, but he was still broken hearted. He knew how much things had changed and what the shadows meant for him and for them. The garden could not help them anymore so he made them clothes and sent them on their way. Because there was too much for them to learn about the shadows all at once, he continued to show up from time to time and help them and even their kids with things that weren't always clear.
Over time, more and more about the nature of shadows and how to live with them was revealed. There were a couple of interesting parts. One was that anything that was in a shadow died. The sad thing about this was that men and women soon got even better at seeing shadows and eventually realized that there was a kind of dim shadow over everything. The other thing was that there were small nasty beings that lived only in shadows. These were called demons.
God helped with this too by teaching man about avoiding shadows and their consequences. These teachings were called laws. Laws were created for our good. The laws failed though because man couldn't keep the laws any more than Adam and Eve could resist the fruit in the garden. In the end, man worshiped the laws themselves and forgot why God created them in the first place.
From the beginning of this story, God had a plan that went beyond just living with the shadows. He wanted to get rid of all shadows both great and small and replace them with nothing but light.
The key to this plan was his son. His son was complete light from the beginning. At one point, the son took on shadow, even to the point of complete blackness and death. This also broke God's heart. Even so, the shadow of death couldn't stop the light. In 3 days, the son again appeared to man, revealing himself as the source of light that he is to this day and forevermore. Shadows in the world of men still remain but they no longer have any power. And all man has to do is ask the son to help him out of the shadows. The son can do that because of who he is and because he knows better than anyone that shadows can't hold us.
Men still stumble into shadows when they're not watching where they're going or what they're doing. This is true even for men that have been helped by the son before. The son knew this would happen and that if something wasn't done, pretty soon the shadows would trick man into thinking they still had power over him. So, the son left us so that we wouldn't just look at him all the time. But that's not all he did. He also sent a spirit of light to live in everyone who'd ask. It's that spirit that makes all of us beautiful facets of the one great light, and eventually eliminates the shadows in us.
Soon, both the son and the spirit will be here on earth, together. Even so, the echoes of the shadows will still remain for yet awhile. Because of this, we must always remember that the light in us is both for us and for others. We must always share what we've been given so that everyone can see the light.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)