Needed for the pilgrimage July 26, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Holy Spirit.add a comment
Jim Cymbala:
“… [W]e never stop needing the power of the Holy Spirit during our whole pilgrimage here on earth. We never reach a place where we can live vicariously apart from his daily grace in our lives. Only the Spirit can produce his fruit, in and through us, that makes us the people God wants us to be.”
Why do I need to be reminded of this? We all know the reason. We are proud, self-centered, not God centered. Since I needed reminding, I thought some others might need it, as well.
My prayer for today:
That God will remind me of my need for His presence, His Spirit in my life; that I would enable His Spirit to bring forth His fruit in my life.
The fire that warms May 4, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Christianity, Faith, Spirituality, Truth.4 comments
Bob Abernethy and the other folks behind PBS’s Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly have produced a book, The Life of Meaning, reflecting some of the great interviews they have done. In a story on the R&EWN web site, Abernethy writes about creating the book and talks about Desmond Tutu.In 1998, Abernethy interviewed the retired South African archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Abernethy said Tutu “described his wordless prayer at the beginning of every day, his sense of being in the presence of God, and he likened that to sitting near a warm stove on a cold morning.”
Tutu: “I don’t have to do anything. … The fire warms me. I just have to be there, quiet.”
Abernethy: “His simple description moved all of us in the room.”
I found myself moved, as well, by the archbishop’s description.
Abernethy said to the people interviewed over the years: “Whatever their fields and age, and whether they are formally religious or more independently spiritual, the contributors turned out to have in common a powerful underlying conviction. Many of them expressed it as the ‘Something More,’ their bedrock intuition that beyond or beside or as part of everything that is material, everything that can be sensed and measured, there is another realm of being called by many names but central to their understanding of life and the universe. Many referred to this as God or, for Muslims, Allah. Some spoke of ‘Ultimate Reality’ or ‘the Really Real.’”
I have said similar things on this blog before, but this is said so well that I wanted to share it.
Less theology, more love April 24, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Christianity, Islam, Jesus, Theology, Truth.5 comments
Love God and love people.
Jesus said it. Others said it. It seems to be the core truth. Maybe this is what Plato was searching for.
I’ve been reading about Islam. My knowledge is still very basic, but I see a few things. Mohammed started out in a good direction, pretty consistent with Judaism and Christianity, pretty consistent with loving God and loving people. But along the way he became more political and then more militaristic and then he started making exceptions to his earlier teachings and he began to justify violence.
Christians have done it, too. The Crusades are a great and terrible example. Christianity started out great, pretty consistent with Jesus; but along the way he became more political and then more militaristic and then started making exceptions to Jesus’ earlier teachings and began to justify violence.
True religion for me is summed up in Christ, and His teaching is summed up in loving God and loving people. Hate, killing and hurting in the name of a good cause perverts the cause, whether it be Christianity, Islam or any ideology. It seems we may need less theology and more loving.
Generous orthodoxy April 10, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Emerging church.1 comment so far
I finally took Glenn Hager’s advice and listened to an abridged version of Brian McLaren’s A Generous Orthodoxy. Excellent. Like Glenn says, this book pretty much reflects my own thinking, at least the abridged version. I’ll now have to read the whole thing.
The challenge of studying Jesus April 7, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Bible, Christianity, Church, Emerging church, Jesus, Scripture, Truth.1 comment so far
Since our understanding of the time of Jesus is growing, then we need to keep an open mind in our interpreting of Scripture. Some of our long-held assumptions may be incorrect. Some things we have thought of as literal may need to be seen as metaphorical.
That’s my paraphrase of a section from the first chapter of N.T. Wright’s The Challenge of Jesus (p. 17). He, of course, would not want to take credit for those exact words and might even question the accuracy of them; but it’s what I think he’s saying. The first chapter is titled “The Challenge of Studying Jesus.” I would like to unpack its meaning a little.
Another paraphrase:
Post-Reformation theology created a new set of dogmas that have been sustained as institutionalized beliefs, and these have created people with interests at stake in maintaining these dogmas. (p. 20)
I’m involved in this exercise of paraphrasing because I believe Wright has a great deal to say to believers today. I put parts of his book into my words in order to try to better internalize it.
Paraphrase again:
When the church stops trying to understand, it begins to slip into idolatry and idealogy. (p. 21)
Why does the church stop trying to understand? Fear, I think; at least that has impacted me. I have, at times, been afraid that my faith would be shaken, that the theological ground would fall out from under me if I explored too much outside the safe havens of my faith group. By the grace of God, I have been able to overcome those fears and explore. My fears have never been realized. Whenever I read outside of my own Christian tradition or outside of Christianity, I find my faith strengthened. Of course, the content of my faith or my theology has changed, but I feel more firmly rooted in the truth. Despite this experience of growth, there is still fear at times.
Another paraphrase:
The Enlightenment created a divide between faith and reason. This is an unnatural divide but it has shaped much of the discussion for 200 years. (p. 21)
I have been aware of this divide but have always thought it unhelpful, probably because I have been a person who valued both faith and reason and the interplay of the two. Apparently, I should be thankful, and I am.
Three more paraphrases:
There are many misunderstandings of Scripture that have been enshrined as church tradition. (p. 27)
And he’s not just talking about Catholic Church traditions. We Protestants have ours, as well.
It takes courage to read the Bible in new ways. (p. 28)
The community of Christ is called to tell the story of Jesus and model it. (p. 32)
Now a quote:
“Do not be afraid of the Quest. It may be part of the means whereby the church in our own day will be granted a new vision, not just of Jesus, but of God.” (p. 32)
A strange and wonderful presence April 2, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Christianity, Spirituality.add a comment
The presence of God, how can the human mind comprehend it. It would seem impossible.
Christianity teaches that in the believer both the Spirit of God and the reality of sin reside. The experience of the believer affirms the internal battle between good and evil, right and wrong; and the testimony of the Apostle Paul confirms it in Scripture. How can it be?
The simple answer, of course, is that we are still becoming, we are not what we will be, there will be a day when the Spirit of God has completely vanquished the spirit of sin and rebellion within us. Despite the ongoing spiritual battle, we get glimpses of what spiritual victory will be like as we experience it in small doses.
The temptations of sin begin to pale as our minds detect hints of the presence of God. They come in varied forms. For me, one of those hints through the years has been the sense that something is out there for me, some destiny if you will. Not necessarily a destiny of greatness, but a destiny of purpose.
And I have sensed that God held that destiny, held it out like a carrot dangled before me, not in a cruel, tempting way, but in loving, coaxing manner. He has been trying to lead me. Now, at age 51, the picture of that destiny is much clearer, though not complete.
One thing I have learned is that we should not grasp for our destiny, we should grasp for our God, for His presence, even though it is something we cannot completely comprehend.
The violence of freedom April 1, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Buddhism, Jesus, Movies, Violence, War.add a comment
My wife and I finally saw “300″ the other night. Well, I didn’t see all of it; I hid my eyes. Peeked a couple of times and saw stuff I didn’t want to see — often seemed to be heads flying assunder from their bodies.
Bloody, bloody, bloody; but beautiful, too. It’s odd to see a film that is both visually alluring and disgustingly violent, and it was not the violence that was alluring. The visual was a frame for the disgusting.
Why did I close my eyes? Afraid? Yes. Not of being grossed out, though I was, but of what that violence does to one’s brain and spirit.
I listened recently to an audio book titled Living Buddha, Living Jesus, by Thich Nhat Hanh. He talked about Buddhism as teaching that a person should only bring good into his or her body. Food and drugs, of course, fit into that; but Hanh also spoke of bringing violence into our minds through the things we watch, reach and see. I kept thinking of that book as I watched “300″. I felt polluted, that I was allowing a crafty filmmaker to pour evil into my soul.
Of course, the basic point of the movie is good — freedom is worth the sacrifice of one’s life. At least that’s what we in the West or the United States believe. So maybe in order to sustain a culture of freedom we must continuously be reminded that our liberty required deaths in the past and will require more.
One thing I like about today’s war movies, like “300″ and ”Saving Private Ryan”, is that they do not make war seem only to be a heroic affair. They show it to be grossly vicious, unbelievably dehumanizing, even animalistic behavior.
Freedom requires war and death because there are those who fear freedom or want power or harbor ethnic prejudices.
I don’t know how to completely hormonize freedom’s need for defensive war with Jesus’ turn the other cheek. Jesus, I’m convinced, points us to a heavenly world that is not this one; but I think He’s given us insight to begin creating shades of the heavenly even now.
Summation: War is terrible. Freedom is good. Jesus, and Buddha, would want freedom and not war. It’s a shame that some people want only war or freedom, but I’m afraid you cannot have freedom without war when you live in a fallen, sinful world. This is not heaven, “300″ reminds us; but I hate the violence of it.
Food for thought: Morality March 28, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Democracy, Religion.1 comment so far
“Human passions unbridled by morality and religion … would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.” — John Adams (as quoted by William J. Bennett in Our Sacred Honor, p. 16)
I hear very few people saying this kind of thing today, and most of those who do are part of the religious right with a one-sided view of both morality and religion. I wish more progressive/liberal folks would speak up about the importance of morality and religion, and I think maybe they are. But morality and unselfish religion are not easy. With both, an “anything goes” or “do your own thing” mentality is just not consistent with letting standards beyond oneself serve as a guide for living. And both the left and the right have such tendencies at the extremes.
I’m a Republican right now who has voted Democratic as much as GOP through the years and am definitely leaning to the left right now. I have trouble finding that either party has a monopoly on wisdom. I’m not trying to be far or against either party here. I think all Americans, left and right, need to understand the importance of morality and religion if our nation is to remain strong.
Our current president talks very religious, but his administration has been a moral failure in many way, primarily by prosecuting an offensive war against a perceived threat — emphasis on “perceived.”
But I get too far afield. Back to the main point.
“As the poet Robert Frost observed, the ‘vision’ of the Founders was ‘to occupy the land with character … with people in self control.’” (from Our Sacred Honor, p. 16)
That’s not easy, but it is possible.
The Confederacy lives, unfortunately March 27, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Christianity, Racism.Tags: South
5 comments
What are these people thinking?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a bill has been introduced in the Georgia General Assembly to designate April as Confederate History and Heritage Month in the state. The second paragraph is the one that leaves me stratching my head.
“Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga) is the main sponsor of Senate Bill 283, which would encourage Georgians each April to honor the Confederacy, its history, soldiers and the people who ‘contributed to the cause of Southern Independence.’”
I’m all for teaching history, honest history; but honoring people who “contributed to the cause of Southern Independence” (note the capital “S” and “I”) should be anathema to Americans today.
In other words, read it this way. Let’s honor people who …
… contributed to sustaining the practice of owning other humans.
… contributed to the effort to divide the United States of America, which so many in the South today honor with great patriotism.
I grew up in the South (Texas) and live today in the South (Texas), but I repudiate this part of Southern and Texas history. The rebellion of the South to protect the institution of slavery and Southern identity was wrong. We should study this part of our history not to honor but to learn from mistakes, just as people in Germany today should study the blight of Nazism.
Yes, I just equated the Confederacy with Nazism. Both devalued human life because of arbitrary ethnic distinctions; no, they didn’t just devalue, they treated such people as non-human. That is a disgrace.
I’m a Christian, but I find it interesting that these two depravities surfaced in cultures that were primarily Christian (at least I think of Germany as primarily Lutheran in the early 20th century).
Nazism and slavery are of Satan. It shows just how badly people who say they follow Christ can be led astray by the spiritual force that seeks by lies and hate to pull all of creation away from God. That spiritual force apparently is still at work today, at least in Georgia.
Sight appreciated March 27, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Christianity, Spirituality.add a comment
I sat in a church auditorium with my team of nine-year-old soccer players the other day waiting for the team to be introduced and take the stage at the end of the indoor season. I’m watching the stage and everything is clear, then everything went to blur. Because it had happened before, I knew what was going on. The left lense on my glasses had fallen out.
Screw lost, sitting in semi-darkness, there was no chance of repair. I had two options — remove glasses completely or keep on the one-lense version. I quickly experimented with both.
No glasses gave me the benefit of consistency, but my eyes are really bad so this approach left everything beyond eight inches in serious blur.
The one-lense approach played tricks on my mind. Even when I shut my left, un-lensed eye seeing was difficult. Depth perception askew.
I decided on the one-lense approach. With hundreds of kids and adults watching, I stood as my team was introduced and sent them running forward as each player’s name was called. Then my name. I jogged forward (some coaches had walked but I’m no wuss). I approached the steps to the platform. I shut my left eye, concentrated and made it up without stumbling.
Standing in the bright lights with my team, I wondered if people in the crowd could tell a lense was missing. I could imagine the thoughts. (What is this idiot doing without a lense in his glasses.) I stayed to the right of my team so I could look toward them and sort of hind my missing eye, I mean lense.
Applause. We headed down the other side. Closed left eye. Focused. Made it. Found seat in semi-darkness without too much problem.
Those of us who wear glasses tend to take them for granted until something happens to them. They become a part of us.
I think aspects of the spiritual life can be that way, as well. We can take prayer for granted until we imagine what life would be like without being able to call on the Source of all being. We can take fellowship for granted until we are alone. We Christians can take Christ for granted until we try to live life with no example of right living and no means of deliverence from our own shortcomings.
Blindness, quite simply, helps people appreciate seeing. I do not want to be physically or spiritually blind. People do not have a choice when it comes to physical blindness, and many are wonderfully able to develop other aspects of their being in order to live happy and productive lives. Spiritual blindess is different. We have a choice. I want to see.
