by Elizabeth | Jan 5, 2011 | Learning Story
Awesome book, this Bonhoeffer biography. I can’t help but share some of the great thoughts. This one is abut Bonhoeffer’s strong conviction about the “incarnational aspect of the Christian faith.” I would simply add to what he said, and I am sure he would agree, not only must a marriage be a ‘yes’ to God’s earth (I think he means ‘creation’ and ‘present life here on earth’) but also a ‘yes’ to the God-created lives we’ve been given. What ‘yes’es'(??), passions, convictions, are you living out today?
“God wants to see human beings,’ he said, ‘not ghosts who shun the world.’ He said that in the ‘whole of world history there is always only one really significant hour – the present…if you want to find eternity, you must serve the times.’
His words presaged what he would write to his fiancée from his prison cell years later: ‘Our marriage must be a ‘yes’ to God’s earth. It must strengthen our resolve to do and accomplish something on earth. I fear that Christians who venture to stand on earth on only one leg will stand in heaven on only one leg too.’” Eric Metaxis, Bonhoeffer, 81
by Elizabeth | Jan 3, 2011 | Learning Story
Henri Nouwen on listening to and telling true stories:
“In this context pastoral conversation is not merely a skillful use of conversational techniques to manipulate people into the Kingdom of God, but a deep human encounter in which a man is willing to put his own faith and doubt, his own hope and despair, his own light and darkness at the disposal of others who want to find a way through their confusion and touch the solid core of life.
In this context preaching means more than handing over a tradition; it is rather the careful and sensitive articulation of what is happening in the community so that those who listen can say: ‘You say what I suspected, you express what I vaguely felt, you
bring to the fore what I fearfully kept in the back of my mind. Yes, yes – you say
who we are, you recognize our condition…'”
by Elizabeth | Jan 1, 2011 | Learning Story
YEARS END
O love beyond compare, Thou art good when thou givest, when Thou takest away, when the sun shines upon me, when night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world, and in love didst redeem my soul; Thou dost love me still, in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, and distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me during another year, leading me through a twisting wilderness, in retreat helping me in advance, when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead; I hoist sail and draw anchor, with Thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of the past. I bless Thee that Thou hast veiled my eyes to the water ahead.
If Thou hast appointed storms of tribulation, Thou will be with me in them; if I have to pass through tempest of persecution and temptation, I shall not drown.
If I am to die, I shall see Thy face the sooner, if a painful end is to be my lot, grant me grace that my faith fail not; if I am to be cast aside from the service I love, I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial, as a chosen vessel meet always for Thy use.
From The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotion
by Elizabeth | Dec 31, 2010 | Learning Story
Last night, I asked what seemed like a rather innocuous question of my son’s good friend: “Are you all ready for the New Year?” His response startled me, not because it was startling but because it made me nervous. He said, “Yeah, I still have to work on my resolutions. I have one, but I want to think of a few others.” (Well, okay, it was also startling because the young man who said this is only 21, and he is doing some deep reflecting about his future. Then again, Will goes to M.I.T.)
Here’s the part that made me nervous. Resolutions. I don’t usually make them. Every now and then, maybe, but not usually. Why? Because they make me anxious. Because they feed right into my performance mentality. Because I get real busy trying to accomplish them for a few days, then fail, then feel bad about myself, then try to work up the gumption to try again.
I thought about this review I read in Christianity Today yesterday. Christopher Benson, writing about Philip Cary’s new book: Good News for Anxious Christians, said
Because “experience is formed from the outside in,” the goal of the book is to get nail-biting, brow-wrinkled, and sleep-deprived Christians outside of themselves to hear: “The good news of the gospel is that God has already decided to do something about our lives—whether we let him or not, whether we do anything about it or not, whether we believe it or not.” God is italicized here to emphasize that our transformation is always divinely wrought, not humanly contrived. That’s why Martin Luther prayed, “I will remain with thee of whom I can receive but to whom I may not give.” Cary submits that the Lutheran doctrine of sola fide (faith alone) offers a powerful corrective to the strangely Catholicized and psychologized evangelicalism that oppresses us.
How do we follow the commandment to not be anxious about anything (Phil. 4:6)? The gospel, Cary argues, gives us permission to ignore anxiety-producing techniques because Christ is enough, period. Finding ourselves in Christ, as opposed to finding Christ in ourselves, means we’re equipped—through the flesh of Christ, the Word of God, and the life of the church—to persevere in “the trial by existence,” invoking the title of Robert Frost’s poem. Instead of “bearing it crushed and mystified,” as the poet says in the final line, we can bear any vicissitude with the love, obedience, wisdom, virtue, and beauty of our Savior. (To read the rest, go to Christianity Today)
There are patterns of my heart, tongue, and mind that need change. I would like to resolve to change them. But something in this article draws me not to be passive, but to actively pursue Christ, to urge him to change me, and to remember that nothing I do or don’t do can stand in his way. And nothing I do or don’t do can keep him from loving me. AMEN!
by Elizabeth | Dec 29, 2010 | Learning Story
“Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” 2 Chronicles 20:15
Thus spoke the Spirit through a man named Jahaziel as Judah faced a terrifying, seemingly undefeatable enemy.
Yesterday arrived with clear enemies hovering. Our beloved, high-energy 20 pound Yorkie, only 7 years old, was awaking to a “spinal series” at the Auburn vet school clinic to determine if she had a herniated disc. And I thought you could only feel this kind of emotion when your children were sick.
I read this by Kevin DeYoung in his book The Good News We Almost Forgot: “If we were in a physical war, we would scout out our enemies’ positions each morning and plan carefully for possible attacks and counterattacks. But when it comes to spiritual battle, we suffer from gross overconfidence. Our sworn enemies — the flesh, the world, and the Devil — are not at rest, so neither should we be.” He continues to say that the best preparation for the daily spiritual battle is prayer.
DeYoung goes on to point out that “Amen” is not short for “prayer over” but means “This is sure to be!” He says, “Think of that next time you “Amen” your prayer. God is so gracious that He is more willing to hear our requests than we are sure that we actually want what we pray for.”
As it turned out, yesterday’s battle raged on many fronts. The temptation to just sit down in the middle of the floor and throw a major self-pity-party was high. My mom awoke very sick, hardly able to take three steps without a stabbing pain in her back flattening her. I waited to hear from the doctor. I encouraged her to try to get in to see her doctor. Fear beckoned me to enter its dark cave. Worry hovered like a swarm of angry hornets, threatening to cover me.
And I prayed. And not only prayed, but invited others to pray too. Scripture calls us to invite others to join us in spiritual battle.
Abbey’s doctor called and said the MRI suggested surgery for something pressing on her spinal cord. I called my husband, who agreed — we should go ahead. My mom’s doctor called and said there were too few doctors there today and we should go to an urgent care clinic. (Visions of swarms of sick people flew in my head!) We walked into a pristine waiting room where — no one — was waiting. Peace wrapped itself around me.
An hour later, my Mom and I left the clinic with a diagnosis of acute inflammation of the sacro-iliac joint and some meds to help. Around the same time, Abbey’s neurosurgeon (I know, a neurosurgeon for a dog?) called. She was awake. The surgery was involved. He had found something wrapped around a nerve. He had decompressed the disc. I was trying to concentrate on Atlanta traffic, so I didn’t hear a lot of what he said. I did hear the words “recover” and “back to her old self.”
As C.S. Lewis would say, “Aslan is on the move!” As the Christmas season (which is not yet over, by the way:) reminds us, we are not alone to fight daily battles or worse. God came near. And sometimes it is knowing that nearness and believing that even when we don’t know how to pray or aren’t sure what we are praying for is possible, God wants to hear our requests and plans to meet us in the midst of them. AMEN!
by Elizabeth | Dec 27, 2010 | Learning Story
One of my favorite gifts this Christmas is a new handcrafted nativity set given me by my children. After hearing me complain every year about the “white baby Jesus with blue eyes,” my eldest daughter spotted the perfect replacement at a Fair Trade sale. The kids all chipped in, and I love my new scene.
There is one thing that particularly intrigues me, though. The “baby” is the man-Jesus! Does anyone know anything about this? My daughter wasn’t completely sure of the originating country.
I wondered if it is the artist’s rendering of God becoming “man.” Could he/she have been trying to emphasize the humanity of Jesus? Or, did it possibly seem too scandalous to think of God enfleshed in baby? I’ll enjoy puzzling over this for years to come, and I’ll be so glad not to have a more “real” Jesus!
Meanwhile, If anyone knows anything about the man in the nativity set, be sure to let me know!
