WORLDS ARE FORMING

Romans 4:17.

I am reminded...we believe in the same God as Abraham:

“...the God who gives life to the dead
and calls things that are not as though they were.”

Read that a few times.  Those words SPEAK to me.  I need them.  May they stir something in you as well, friends.

First Corinthians 15:19

This weekend I wrote a paper for Dr. Guder's Missional Theology course, on "The Importance of the Kingdom in Missionary Proclamation." 

Here's what I have concluded:

"If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,
we are of all people most to be pitied."

Couldn't have said it better.

Truth and hope.

In a season in which we have seen much pain,  a word of hope... for those afflicted with natural disaster, health crises, faith crises, family crises, any crisis...no platitudes offered.  Only truth and hope.

    Praise the LORD, O my soul,
        and forget not all his benefits -
    who forgives all your sins
        and heals all your diseases,
    who redeems your life from the pit
        and crowns you with love and compassion,
    who satisfies your desires with good things
        so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

    The LORD works righteousness
        and justice for all the oppressed.

                                    Psalm 103.2-6

A Prayer for the Day.

"Leave me not, O gracious Presence, in such hours as I may today devote to the reading of books or of newspapers.  Guide my  mind to choose the right books and, having chosen them, to read them in the right way.  When I read for profit, grant that all I read may lead me nearer to Yourself.  When i read for recreation, grant that what I read may not lead me away from You.  Let all my reading so refresh my mind that I may the more eagerly seek after those things that are pure and fair and true."  (John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, Morning, Day 21)

(photo: Nassau Hall, Princeton University.)

What kind of a church?!

Woke up this morning to my alarm clock, which is set to a Christian radio station.  The alarm went off half way through a commercial, but here is what I heard:

"...for a safe and sanitary church, this conference is for you!!!"

I heard that, rolled my sleepy-morning-eyes once or twice, and slapped the snooze button.  Now, I acknowledge that I did not hear the whole commercial.  But.  Unfortunately, I don't think that this conference has anything  to do with slip-resistant floors or Lysol brand products.  A SAFE AND SANITARY CHURCH?  Are you kidding me?! Sorry, don't think that's what kind of a church or Kingdom that Jesus brings us.

I'll be skipping that conference this year.  Anyone want to go to a conference for a faithful, risky, messy church instead?

I confess...

Confess:
Main Entry: con·fess
Pronunciation: k&n-'fes
Function: verb
1 : to tell, make known (something wrong or damaging to oneself), to acknowledge the truth.

Today, my Spiritual Disciplines class small group did something too often neglected in Protestant churches.  We confessed.  It was a powerful, risky time for our fairly new, fairly unfamiliar group.  Nevertheless, it was rich.  Sitting on the benches behind my dorm, we prayed, we were silent, we read Scripture, we confessed, and we extended God's grace to one another.

Last week in class, we watched the end of the movie, Dead Man Walking, where Sean Penn's character (a criminal awaiting death) confesses to Susan Sarandon's character (Sister Mary Prejean).  If you haven't seen that clip, do.  It is a powerful image of vulnerability on the part of the confessing one, and the grace of God extended through the listener.

Truly, confession is a gift that the Church.  Each individual in the Body of Christ can take a risk to give and receive confession.  Each can freely extend and openly receive God's grace in Christ. 

Hear God's word for YOU.  In Jesus Christ, you are loved.  In Jesus Christ, you are healed.  In Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

A prayer for the day.

Dear Father, take this day into Your own keeping.  Control all my thoughts and feelings.  Direct all my energies.  Instruct my mind. Sustain my will. Take my hands and make them skillful to serve You.  Take my feet and make them swift to do Your bidding.  Take my eyes and keep them fixed upon Your everlasting beauty.  Take my mouth and make it eloquent in testimony to Your love.  Make this day a day of obedience, a day of spiritual joy and peace.  Make this day's work a little part of the work of the Kingdom of my Lord Christ.  Amen.
                              :: Baillie, Morning 9, A Diary of Private Prayer.

Yes.

"The glory of God is the human person fully alive."
                                        :: St. Ignatius of Loyola

Eyes are lit for you.

An excerpt from Donald Miller's book Searching for God Knows What, pp. 128-129.

"I recently read an interview in which the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison was asked why she had become a great writer, what books she had read, what method she had used to structure her practice.  She laughed and said, 'Oh, no, that is not why I am a great writer.  I am a great writer because when I was a little girl and walked into the room where my father was sitting, his eyes would light up.  That is why I am a great writer.  That is why.  There isn't any other reason.' "

Miller connects this to the empowering love of Jesus for us.  We are what we are, and we can be what we will be because of His intimate love.  I am reminded of my great need to be reminded of his eyes being "lit up" for me.  May it be the same for you.  Know that the love of Christ is for you, friends.

Whose eyes have lit up for you and have made you who you are?

Just what I needed.

In days gone by, I would underline the heck out of my bible. Then, I think I started to get distracted by just the underlined sections, or would take the verse/s out of context. So I stopped, hoping to get a more full read of the text.  However, today, I am grateful for some old underlining in my bible.  As I sat and read in Small World, these two underlined verses, from the mouth of Jesus, jumped at me.

Luke 21.19 "By standing firm you will gain life."
Luke 21.33  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

I needed those today, so maybe underlining does have some value.  I'll take that.