The Path Simple

John, I really enjoyed your post and your words la...

2009-05-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

John, I really enjoyed your post and your words last night. Annie and I also liked what you said about worship: "Worship can be hard work.".Looking forward to working with you.

Interesting how this excerpt from Bruce fits in wi...

2009-04-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

Interesting how this excerpt from Bruce fits in with our Gospel text for this week. We often hear "faith comes by hearing." But I am of the camp that faith typically starts with an experience of God. Worship, then, is a RESPONSE to the One that has already taken the initiative on our behalf. And not just in some abstract theological way, but in a real concrete way so that our God is not just the god who represents the belief system we prefer, but our God has become our salvation! And there is a huge difference. So we encounter Christ, and the awe and gratitude that pours out of our hearts is what motivates us in our life of discipleship. Thomas' failure wasn't so much that he needed to see Christ to believe. But his real failure, I think, was that he had already encountered Christ and failed to remember all that he had already seen and known. And so what I hear Bruce saying is that John's Gospel is powerful precisely because 1) he is still in deeply in awe of Jesus so that even the minutiae of Jesus' life are as treasure to him and 2) he has such a good memory that even the things that happened long ago still keep him alive in hope. The early "omens" John recounts combine with his passion to inspire the reader that yes, Jesus is the One sent by God to declare that the Kingdom is near and there is reason to hope that Love and Life will win.

"You were once slaves," the Torah repeatedly reminded the people of Israel. Their story is our story as well, so: To what were you once enslaved? And what was God's salvation? When did you encounter Christ, the savior?

Well, this is scary--am I starting to think like y...

2008-07-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well, this is scary--am I starting to think like you or are you starting to think like me?? I was humming this one to myself yesterday morning on my dog-walk:

God to enfold me; God to surround me;
God in my thinking; God in my words;
God in my sleeping, and in my waking;
God in my watching, God in my home.

God in my life; God in my lips;
God in my heart and my soul;
In my sufficing, and in my slumber,
In my eternal and living soul.....

In my sufficing, and in my slumber,
In my eternal and living soul.

(Maybe not St. Patrick, but definitely Celtic, from the Carmina Gadelica and slightly modified by JM Talbot.)