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CONTENTS OF MAIN BLOG SPACE:
-d@le
|Mood: columbian & cream
|03.09.12 9:11 am
|
LENT:
This year I'm kicking coca-cola.
It's a pretty big step, around here
I think kids were raised on coke
at a young age.
My son also wanted to go
vegetarian... so
no meat & no coke.
I should be really healthy come
April!
-d@le
|Mood: orange pekoe
|11.08.11 5:46 pm
|
Lot's Happening!
+ T-Giving Day Walk @ Coolidge Pk 8am
+ DEC 4th We move to Pasha Coffee
for our Sunday Gatherings 10am
+ DEC 10 Ring The Bell for the
Salvation Army @ Ham. Pl. Mall
10am-3pm
Also remember the churches being
planted through AMUSA in -
+ Mt Airy MD
+ Murfreesboro TN
& Churches adopting in to AMUSA
as well as ministries in
+ Portland
+ Ft Worth
+ Chattanooga (MAM & Neighborhood Mission
peace!
-d@le
|Mood: ice cold milk
|08.01.11 11:13 pm
|
Lots of amazing stuff happening.
Hoping to go to Poland to see a new
ministry launched...
Also a lot of irons in the fire as
we look at potential church
plants in MI, FL, NYC, SC, & other
locations... awesome!
-d@le
|Mood: iced tea
|07.06.11 4:43 pm
|3 Days of Prayer
July 7-9
Join us as we pray & seek & listen
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|04.10.11 7:26 pm
|
Wow! Things are happening quickly-
Cleveland Plant will launch EASTER Night at 6pm
260-B 2nd Street Cleveland TN
SACRED HEART Cleveland!
prayer is good! please!
-d@le
|Mood: columbian with cream
|03.15.11 8:30 am
|
The Free Sale is this weekend at Heather & Jamie's place
so donate your stuff & help out!
Anchor Mission USA is gearing up church plants in
Cleveland TN & Portland OR
Time to do some assessments-
-d@le
|Mood: ethiopian
|03.03.11 10:38 am
|
BIG International Lunch this Sunday
all types of ethnic foods
right after morning worship service
~
Also, bring your unwanted t-shirts
and caps/visors to be given to those
who need them for summer
+++
-d@le
|Mood: orange crush
|02.18.11 12:30 pm
|
Clean Your Closet! & Do Good!
Month of March we'll have a spring/summer
clothing drive to benefit the
Community Kitchen of Chattanooga
just bring stuff with you on Sunday
to Sacred Heart & we'll deliver it!
-d@le
|Mood: Grenadine tea
|02.04.11 1:23 pm
|
Community meet-ups-
Sunday Nights "The Neighborhood Mission"
@ Heather & Jamie's place- 6:30pm
Tuesday Morning's St.Arbuck's group
@ Starbucks-Hamilton Pl. Blvd-10am
Wednesday Night "Monastery"
@ Chattanooga House of Prayer 6pm
-d@le
|Mood: columbian with cream & sugar
|01.20.11 5:59 pm
|
Sacred Heart Family Meal & Meeting
Big Lunch this Sunday after Sacred Heart
Chili, Soup, Salad, Deserts, etc.
& Family discussion as we go into 2011
-d@le
|Mood: hot coffee w/ cream
|01.05.11 3:17 pm
|
"The MONASTERY"
silence, scripture, prayer & meditation
tonight @ chatt-hop 6-7:30pm
Location:
1604 Reggie White Blvd.
Chattanooga, TN, 37402
-d@le
|Mood: hot coffee
|12.27.10 6:23 pm
|
Sacred Heart's 1st year Birthday!
This Sunday, January 2 2011
Join us 10am @ The FireHouse!
-d@le
|Mood: Irish Cream
|12.19.10 3:45 pm
|
Christmas Eve Party, Communion & Carols @ 6pm
At Dale & Kim Hall's
-d@le
|Mood: irish cream
|12.11.10 2:40 pm
|
Sacred Heart at the FireHouse -10am Sundays
Upcoming Events:
+ Continuing Revelation Study during Advent
+ Remembering the Homeless at Community Kitchen Memorial
December 21st
+ Christmas Eve Party & Communion @ Hall's
+ Sacred Heart's Birthday Dec 26th
-d@le
|Mood: christmas blend
|11.23.10 10:30 pm
|
Grateful Gobbler T-Giving Day Walk!
then
Getting ready for Advent @ Sacred Heart
-d@le
|Mood: iced tea
|11.18.10 4:47 pm
|
$180+ in giving to the Grateful Gobbler
T-Giving Day Walk, Even though we're a
young church, we can still make a difference!
Thanks for your generosity Sacred Heart People!
-d@le
|Mood: st. arbucks
|11.16.10 4:30 pm
|
Sacred Heart moves to St Elmo FireHouse this Sunday
10am
4501 St Elmo Ave.
Upcoming Events
+ Grateful Gobbler T-giving Day Walk
+ T-Giving night at Dale & Kim's
+ 12/8 Bell-Ringing for the Salvation Army
+ Christmas Eve Party, Carols & Communion
-d@le
|Mood: ethiopian
|10.06.10 10:53 am
|
Exciting events coming up-
The best part is spending time together
laughing & talking & chilling out
The T-Giving Day Walk is for the
homeless community and agencies
in Chattanooga, it's one of my
favorite events of the year & a
good cause-
+ Men's Fire Gathering OCT 15-16
+ Halloween Bonfire OCT 29
+ Women's Retreat NOV 12
+ Grateful Gobbler Walk T-Giving Morning
+ Open House @ Mi Casa T-Giving Night
* Read notes on our Facebook page
* Join us Sundays at 10am
-d@le
|Mood: ethiopian
|08.26.10 8:49 am
|
Exciting stuff this fall!
+House of Prayer
+Men's Fire Gathering
+Groups
+Holy Yoga
-d@le
|Mood: iced coffee
|07.10.10 3:55 pm
|
Romans 5:5
... God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Scripture shows that "love" -God's love in us is primary. We may think that having The Holy Spirit in our lives looks like a lot of things but Jesus clearly states that they will know we are His disciples by our love for one another, and that love being exemplified in the world around us.
2 Peter 1:3 says-
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.
But developing love in our lives only happens as we allow God to take our hurts and brokenness , disappointments and wounds, and let those wounds be treated by the medicine of God's love. The poison of those wounds must be drawn out- we cannot hold on to bitterness and anger at those who have hurt us. We must give up our rights to be justified in our desire for justice against the harms done to us, let them go, and let God's love replace those other emotions. Like Jesus on the cross we must say "Father forgive them..." after all, we too need forgiveness.
John of the Cross has some great words for us, I had to read this at least twice to begin to get the depth of this quote:
The divine awakening produces in the soul of the perfect a flame of love which is a participate of that living flame which is the Holy Spirit Himself...this is the operation of the Holy Spirit in the soul that is transformed in love, that His interior actions cause it to send out flames...This flame wounds the soul as it is given, but the wound is tender, and, instead of causing death, it increases life; for the soul is holiest that is most wounded by love. - from Dark Night of The Soul
We must allow ourselves to drop our guard from being hurt, because it will surely happen anyway, we are humans- we will hurt others at times and also be hurt ourselves. Instead we have to embrace dropping our guard, in love, and allow ourselves to be wounded... knowing that Christ is our healer always. As John of the Cross said "the soul is holiest that is most wounded by love"
-d@le
|Mood: green tea
|06.01.10 9:12 pm
|
When you name things the "church" does certain things seem to come to mind. Ask anyone and they have an idea of what "SHOULD" happen at church with church people:
Teaching the book, serving the poor somehow, music/worship, are all on the list, among others... So is prayer.
PRAYER:
Most of us pray, well kinda...
Sometimes we do, sometimes we're even drawn to prayer, sometimes we say we will- but then we don't, we say "I'll pray for you" but then get busy and that thought, a nice thought, drifts away like smoke...
A Value:
But we at Sacred Heart want prayer to be a value among us, something we take time for, seek after, and make ourselves available to God for. Sometimes that means praying right then and right there for a friend who has a need, or that regularly scheduled time every day we take our time out with God, perhaps getting away for a day or two alone with God, or that continual conversation at work, in the car, or wherever we are at. We desire lives of prayer.
We want to be people of prayer. As Paul said "pray at all times", we are encouraged to "pray about everything". In chapter 5 James speaks directly:
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. JAMES 5:13-18
So let's encourage each other to be people of prayer, to pray first in all things and to commit our way to the Lord.
Sacred Heart will one day be a place, a church, where the place is open daily for people to come in and pray. We will not be a church locked up every day but Sunday, but a house of prayer and solace.
-d@le
|Mood: green tea
|05.23.10 9:57 pm
|
As we continue to look at the Book of James we're now in chapters 4 and 5. At the heart of these verses is our attitude and intentions towards God, others, & our opportunities and resources.
James 4:
13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.
17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
To us & to our culture perhaps it seems James is arguing a small point, perhaps semantics-
But it’s not so much what you say as it is an attitude he’s addressing-
What are the mistakes that we make, that James points out here?
Leaving God out of our plans, neglecting to include him- indeed, if He is Lord of all...
If we are inconsiderate when it comes to God- chances are we’re inconsiderate when it comes to anyone else.
Boasting reveals our pride and lack of humility. What do we have that we did not receive in the first place?
James continues into chapter 5:
1 Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. 2 Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. 3 Your gold and silver have become worthless.
How does James speak to us today? Look at the stock market, look at rioting oversees, don’t put trust in money.
Then James "melts your face" a bit here with this rant-
(3)The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. 4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.
Whatever "it" is -We really don’t “own” it- it owns us... talents, money, houses, monuments to self...when we are fooled by the values of the world, when we have left God out of our plans, when we have served ourselves instead of others, and consumed all- satisfying every desire... we don't own it, it owns us.
The saying "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" applies here, but Jesus said "What good is it to gain the world but lose your soul?"
Don’t leave God out of your plans.
Don’t trust in money & power, or live just for yourself.
Don’t be fooled by the values of this world
Read verse 7:
Dear brothers and sisters be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return.
How can this statement put our lives into context? Be patient, don’t be asleep, consider God in all you do, make plans with Him, & make the most of the opportunities given to you to use what you have been given to others in service (& ultimately therefore- to God)
One of the desert fathers said, "in this life we need two stones. One says, I am a worm, and the other says, for me the universe was made".
James resonates this very well in his teachings- we are flawed and fallen, but God's grace and love is here to take us towards maturity and faith in Christ.
-d@le
|Mood: bolivian
|05.17.10 8:24 pm
|
War Or Peace- HE Gives Grace:
If you read through the old testament you will find that a lot of it has to do with how we relate to each other, how we treat each other. Simply consider the 10 commandments, it was not so much a list of do's and dont's as it is direction on how to live with each other without killing each other -- literally.
Same with the New Testament- the teachings of Jesus, Paul, and the other writers all relate to how we live together and treat each other-
This is true also for James. He's instructing the churches who received a copy of this letter how to live. Remember, James speaks from a viewpoint of taking people further towards maturity. He's not calling down hell-fire and brimstone, but he is showing us how a mature disciple lives.
James chapter 4:
1-3 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
What behaviors is James addressing here? What are the symptoms? What is the disease?
Fights, quarrels, jealousy, coveting, wrong motives, living for self alone. The medieval church outlined 7 deadly sins as: Pride, greed, envy, lust, sloth, anger, & gluttony.
Glutony begets Emptiness- Ever desiring but never satisfied.
The question we must ask ourselves is who is our source? Who do we trust in? God or ourselves?
IF ourselves, then we will never be satisfied, never filled, always wanting more stuff for the wrong motives which is usually simply living for self. But how do we justify ourselves?
Just living in the culture-
Just living normal…right?
The problem is we have a disease, we have these symptoms- fighting, warring, quarreling, living for self...pride, greed, envy, lust, sloth, anger, & gluttony.
v.4-5 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
He uses terms reguarding marriage, purity, & impurity, When you marry someone is it ok for them to continue to date? No. "forsaking all others" is part of the vows. "Friendship with the world" could be translated "flirting"- once you're married you don't flirt.
We are also temples of the Holy Spirit. He put His spirit in us like putting on a wedding ring, when the scripture here says he "envies intensely" it is because that He would not have his bride (we) prostituted out, He would not have us mistreated like that.
We fail, we miss it, we miss the mark-
6 But he gives us more grace.
That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud- but gives grace to the humble.”
HE GIVES US MORE GRACE
He does not relegate us to being an enemy, He is not looking for a reason to divorce us- so to speak, NO- He gives us more grace, his love covers a multitude of sin, he shows us patience, and kindness, and forgiveness.
You have a falling out with somebody and it is human nature to treat them as an enemy, to divorce yourself from them, to –as James says here- make war against them… to covet, and quarrel, and fight, and justify yourself, and make their flaws much bigger than they are… and your flaws justified…
But GOD gives more grace, he doesn’t judge us harshly, or even as we deserve…He gives grace.
& that’s the cure!
If selfish ambition, coveting, jealousy, self justification & having to win all arguments all of the time, & the gluttony of our own insatiable appetites are the symptoms and the disease-
THIS IS THE CURE
7-10 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Instead of waring, & fighting, & justifying maybe God wants us to exhibit a different character than we see at work in the world around us. St Francis said "No one is your enemy ...you have no enemy except yourself" & "It is in pardoning that we are pardoned'
If we would become mature disciples we will pardon, count no man as an enemy, & give more grace.
-d@le
|Mood: bolivian blend
|05.17.10 8:22 pm
|
Peacemakers Sow Seeds Of Peace:
James Chapter 3 continues to instruct- not so much as a brimstone preacher, but more as a holy man one seeks out for wisdom and maturity. he begins:
Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.
Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. V. 1-2
What is James intention in addressing these hard issues?
He’s not saying that it’s a bad thing to be a teacher or to have teachers. But just like today, many people are enamoured by the power and influence they think they’ll have, as we'll see later in this chapter.
Many make mistakes-God isn’t worried about how fast you can get out on the track- the Christian life is not NASCAR…
James uses the word PERFECT= mature… but mature means tearing down our little empires and power trips we can find ourselves on and living humbly and with love. This is what he’s addressing, a mature life.
He continues:
We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. V. 3-6
James paints a picture here for us, what is he trying to say? An immature tongue is a fire from hell, and it hurts those around it.
People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring. V 7-12
How does James express the duplicity of human nature here? He nails it here. We may blame our poor speech on an evil twin but the fact is it is us speaking both good and evil.
But then he really clarifies things here. He gets to the root of the matter. Jealousy, self-ambition, boasting, lying, and selfishness...OUT OF THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKS- and if it is unspiritual, hurtful, and you'll find all kinds of dysfunction and evil of every kind- read:
If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. V 13-16
How does James define maturity/immaturity here?
Note in the next verses that James recaps everything he has taught on discipleship and mature Christ-like living-
He sums up maturity here: wise, pure, gentle, mercy, good deeds, shows no favoritism, and so on...
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. V17-18
The last verse is our challenge and call. "peacemakers will plant seeds of peace, and they will reap a harvest of righteousness. Our words have great power.
-d@le
|Mood: columbian & cream
|05.03.10 9:23 pm
|
Continuing the Book of James- chapter 2
My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.
Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
James 2:1-9
Verses 1-4 = The problem of playing favorites, having prejudice or discrimination:
+ God is not a respector of persons, money, power, influence, good looks, how tall you are, or anything else.
+Our problem is- we see with the eyes of men, with the understanding of man.
What can we learn from the story of Samuel's anointing of David to be king?:
Samuel went to Jesse’s house because the Lord said He was to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be king after Saul. Saul had sinned in such a way that God would not allow the kingdom of Israel to continue under a dynasty under Saul’s family line.
Samuel took one look at the oldest son of Jesse, Eliab & said “He’s got to be the one, that kid’s dynamite!”
He was tall, good looking, strong, he had all the goods but -
Samuel 16:7 tells us: But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
The outside looked good, but God was looking deeper. Samuel went through all of Jesse’s boys, 7 of them & finally asked “Is this all of your sons?”
There was one more, the youngest, named David, out in the field watching the sheep. Jesse brought him in & God said “that’s the one” so Samuel anointed him. The insignificant one God chose. He was good looking, but scripture says nothing about how tall, how strong, how smart, or anything else.
What scripture does tell is:
1) David worshipped God
2) he wasn’t afraid of anything (lions, bears, or even Goliath…)
&
3) v. 13 says the Spirit of The Lord came upon him…
THE LORD DOESN’T LOOK AT THE SAME THINGS MAN DOES. MAN LOOKS AT THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE, BUT THE LORD LOOKS AT THE HEART.
Jesus example:
Who did Jesus chose to hang out with?
Publicans, tax collectors, fishermen, prostitutes, televangelists, pharissees, jewish leaders like Nichodemas… EVERYBODY= nobody was better than anybody else…
I walked into a house once, one of those million dollar homes, intimidating to someone who grew up in Rossville GA, & God said “you know, you better get use to this because I’m going to send you to homes and places like this too...”
God is not a respector of persons
In this passage James speak of "The Royal Law"
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin…(verses 8&9)
The Book of James Teaches us what fulfilling this Royal Law looks like in action:
& we see this, if you study the early church you see a strong bent on what we call “social justice”. They were known for:
+ open-handed generosity
+ burying the dead
+ picking up babies left on the street to die and adopting them as their own… & so on.
James outlines several things such as …taking care of orphans and widows, clothing the naked and feeding the hungry, being merciful and all fall under the truth of this Royal Law… it’s the Law of Love.
God is no respector of persons, only one thing He respects & that is LOVE.
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|04.26.10 11:00 am
|
We continue our study in the book of James here in chapter 2 verses 14-20
What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?
Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
Sometimes people think that Paul and James were in conflict saying contradictory things- read Paul in Romans chapter 3:28
basically "Man is justified by faith- not by fulfilling the law..."
But there is no conflict between the teachings of Paul and James if looked at in context.
They are talking to different audiences:
Paul is talking to those who would mandate the jewish law as a prerequisit to salvation. He’s speaking to those who would make the law the most important thing.
James, on the other hand, is combating easy religion who would ignore the natural connection between faith and good works altogether
James and Paul would agree-NOTHING can superceed the work of Christ, especially our own work.
Paul, when he uses the word “Faith” –is not speaking so much of a mental ascent, as he is speaking of something that lives deep within a man, something that spurs him into action.
& in that- James and Paul are in full agreement.
James, when speaking of faith which doesn’t produce action as a faith that is only a mental ascent… he’s combating easy religion that would ignore the natural connection between faith and good works altogether
They are not mutually exclusive- the fact is you cannot have one without the other.
Verse 17-So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
What good is a car without the gasoline to put in it?
Faith is a seed planted into the ground, is it going to germinate? Is it going to sprout and grow and bring forth something?
Paul says“We are his workmanship created for good works…that he has made us to do…”
there is no conflict, Jesus taught "I was a stranger & you took me in, I needed clothes & you clothed me…"(Mt. 25:43) SO we see a precedent in the scripture & in the gospels that faith naturally produces action...
...It’s like watering the grass- it’s going to grow, & we grow in our faith when it’s put into action…
Our scripture last week was from James chapter 1-
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial…he will develop endurance…endurance develops maturity…” James is still teaching us what maturity looks like. Maturity looks like faith in action…
-d@le
|Mood: french press
|04.18.10 2:04 pm
|Bible study April 18
James chapter 1
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial:
James is writing to the early church here, the early church was quite "jewish" but also gentile and growing. Persecution had come and the believers had scattered to many new towns, taking their faith with them.
James is writing, like a pastor/shepherd seeking to encourage those who were facing difficulties of many kinds, & here he speaks plainly.
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does...
....12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.
17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
___________________________________________________________________________
James says “Consider it pure joy…” really?
We grow when we face new trials and overcome them. The runner can't run 10 miles before they've ran 5. You can't do calculus before you do algebra...
For me, I remember being in 5th grade and having to do my first big book report. It was excruciating work- to sit down and be still and read, to organize my thoughts, write them down in a first draft, and then a final draft...but if I'd not done that I'd never made it through Freshman English in college.
Elementary, middle, high school = progression and maturity
Maturity comes as we deal with new challenges and learn to persevere.
What are you struggling with right now? It could be anything...
Work? Relationships? Money? Feeling distant from God?
What do you do when you don’t know what to do?
IF YOU LACK WISDOM, ASK FOR IT…
Look at verse 5.
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
+ Ask God (whatever it is)
+ He gives generously
+ He doesn't find fault
Verse 17 continues...
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
+ Every good gift is from him above
+ He's constantly good all the time, He doesn't change
We grow when we face trials. We mature when we persevere under trials & overcome trials.
Temptation is different: HOW? Where does it comes from?
13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.
God doesn't tempt us, James says here we are tempted and dragged away by our own evil desires...
There is no pure joy or peace, there is only feelings of shame, worthlessness, and guilt. God doesn’t send it but we can grow even from temptation if we rely on God and learn to overcome it.
Tattoo this onto your brain:
"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial..."
Think about a huge trial God brought you through with at least some measure of joy and peace?
Think about something you’re struggling with now-
Is there something, is there an area you need to ask God’s help with?
If you need God’s help then ask- - ask God, who gives generously to all …
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial!
-d@le
|Mood: french roast
|04.13.10 3:19 pm
|
He Has Overcome The Gates of Hell:
Matt 27:50-54 “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”
An earthquake, tombs are open, many of the saints (those who believed in Christ) that died previously are also brought back to life and seen after his resurrection...
These were a testimony to Jesus. Something BIG had happened! Even the centurion and soldiers acknowledged that.
THE VEIL was divided, ripped, from top to bottom- After Jesus Spirit is separated from his body (death) the first thing that happens is the veil is ripped. The veil was a thick curtain that separated the holy place... (The veil was 60 ft by 30 ft high and it took hundreds of people to move it.)
When the temple veil that covered the doorway was torn in two by God at the time of Christ's death (Matthew 27:51), God was indicating that the Old Testament priesthood was no longer necessary. Now people could come directly to God through the great High Priest, Jesus Christ
Heb 10:19-21: “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God.”
JESUS had OPENED the way!
The time of the Levitical priesthood is over, there is only one high priest –Jesus Christ!
John 20- Jesus sends the disciples, the priesthood of believers begins:
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus shows up, He shows them his hands and side, they are overjoyed when they see him. Then He says "Receive the Holy Spirit" (perhaps like a deposit before the day of pentecost?) Then he breathes on them (Breathe here parallels Genesis 2:7- God breathed life into Adam...)
& says AS THE FATHER SENT ME, I NOW SEND YOU
Jesus is the first of many sons. He is only begotten, we are the adopted, the rescued, as The Father sent Jesus- now Jesus sends the disciples, & us… He had in mind for all believers to be priests, representatives of his kingdom coming…this group- this priesthood of all believers, is called the church.
We are a priesthood of believers-
"You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ … But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:5-9).
So we all have work to do, we all are the priesthood of believers, we all are the church, His people...
Matthew 16 Jesus asks:
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
THE gates of hell will not prevail against the Church:
The church is the priesthood of believers
Sometime pressed but not crushed, persecuted-not abandoned, cast down but not destroyed… In a true sense Jesus is the key- the messiah, the son of the Living God & thru him sins are forgiven, without him- not so.
Later Peter would go to Cornelius, opening the way to the gentiles, to everyone...
When understanding "whatever you forgive" & "whatever you permit" etc.- you have to understand and remember Jesus' other teachings as a context.
What did Jesus teach? "forgive your brother 70X7... if you do not forgive-you will not be forgiven...Father forgive them, they know not what they do..."
As imperfect as we are, the church, the priesthood of believers, whatever you want to call it--we obviously need that high priest... Ultimately the gates of hell will not overcome us, for HE has overcome hell, & we will tell of it!
-d@le
|Mood: home brew
|03.28.10 8:22 pm
|
Palm Sunday
Luke 19:29-40 The text of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus.
In his commentary N.T. Wright notes that the road leading to the Mount of Olives is hot, dusty, and dry. It was a pilgrim road and it was well traveled just before the passover. This is the road Jesus travelled.
For me, I also see this as a culminating moment in time. There had been 400 years of "silence" between the old testament and the new. & though Jesus had come, born in a manger 33 years ago, that was only a beginning point. This day marked the beginning of what Christ had really come for. In a few days he would go to the cross, but today he rode in to town on a donkey.
Luke 19:
29When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34They said, “The Lord needs it.”
35Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
Note the differences between Jesus and any other earthly king, an earthly king would ride a war-horse- but Jesus rides a little donkey. But the Jewish people knew exactly what that meant...that meant The Messiah had come!
Read Zechariah 9.9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
This was no regular worldly king. He was humble, and mounted on a donkey. But this was one of those signs the Jewish people were looking for.
36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”
Other versions have the word "Hosanna" in them. This was a diect quote and fulfilling of the prophetic from Psalms 118: 19-29
"Hosanna, blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord" It means “Save Now”
So the people are happy & shouting and singing songs and feeling hopeful for a change and … Somebody always has to be a downer…enter the Pharisees-
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”
40He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
Now think. What happens in just a few days? How could things change so quickly? How are we similar to the crowd here?
In a few days the same crowd cheering "Hosanna" would cry "Crucify him!" We people are fickle creatures.
Sadly, right after this Jesus looks over Jerusalem, crying, & says:
“If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
They expected Jesus to be some type of military leader, the old testament speaks of kings and judgement, rule and righteousness- They did not recognize Him, they did not recognize the time of his coming.
(Yet another prophecy fulfilled during Holy week)
They didn’t understand the prophecy in Daniel that The Messiah would be cut off
Daniel 9:26 says "the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing..."
Even the disciples were confused. Everyone had an idea of what The Messiah would look like according to scripture and prophecy. They had an expectation of the immediate, expecting a deliverer, someone to overthrow the Roman Government. But they didn't understand. He didn't come to overthrow Rome, He came to overthrow Hell...
Read Colossians 2:15-
In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
Other translation says he “spoiled “ the powers of darkness, making a public spectacle of them... he shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
Sometimes winning looks like losing
Sometimes success looks like failure
Sometimes victory looks like death.
-d@1e
|Mood: cider
|03.22.10 3:10 pm
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To say humbleness is in short supply today would be an understatement...
Pride is the norm, we give it different names in a positive spin- we say "He's competitive", ambitious, “he’s not arrogant, he’s just overly confident” but the honest spin may well be arrogance, a superior attitude (treating others inferior), even little things like a lack of ability to say simple short words like "I'm sorry" or "I was wrong" reveal our hearts...as does our inability to let go or forgive a small harm done to us. Pride exemplifies itself in our self satisfaction, self sufficiency, & self reliance…
Pride can sink big ships:
“God himself could not sink this ship” Yet the Titanic sank April 15, 1912. Psalms says "Pride comes before a fall, Pride goes before destruction, Pride deceives us..."
Pride just makes us look dumb…it starts when we are kids with "Look- no hands" or "Hey- watch this!" usually followed by something disastrous to be viewed later on America's funniest home videos.
Pride & Fighting Joe Hooker: (From a talk by Malcom Gladwell)
the battle of Chancellorsville, which took place during the Civil War in 1863. “Fighting Joe Hooker” was a major general in the Union army. He was exceedingly smart. He set up an elaborate spy network and knew more about the Confederate army than the Confederates did themselves.
Hooker found himself squared off against General Robert E. Lee in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Because of the detailed intelligence he was able to gather, he positioned his troops in such a way that he had Lee surrounded on three sides. In addition, his troops outnumbered Lee’s two-to-one.
Hooker was absolutely confident that he would destroy Lee’s army. Lee’s only choice was to retreat to Richmond. The night before the battle, Hooker told his troops, “God Almighty could not prevent us from victory tomorrow.” He was bold, audacious, and (as it turned out) overly confident. (um-pride)
When Lee realized he was surrounded on three sides, he began moving his troops south. Hooker assumed Lee was retreating to Richmond. His men relaxed. Some of them started celebrating. What they didn’t realize was that Lee was flanking their position.
Hooker was arrogant. He didn’t prepare for this possibility. Even though Lee was surrounded on three sides and outnumbered two-to-one, he was able to defeat Hooker. It was a stunning and demoralizing defeat for the Union army.
Let's compare and contrast 2 scriptures here:
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart:
• "I will ascend into heaven,
• I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
• I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;
• I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
• I will be like the Most High." (Isa 14.12-14)
Compare to Jesus’ words:
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there.'' He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.'' (Mt 26.36, 26.39)
"I will" or "Not my will but your will be done Father" -the differences are clear-
Humbleness is a godly attitude for us to have
1 Peter 5:5-7
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
-Note the spiritual principal here; "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble". It is a difficult thing to have God opposing you, and a place you really don't want to be. But Peter instructs -Humble yourself before God, and he will lift you up. Something about humility as opposed to pride pleases God.
-He also encourages us "casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you". Instead of taking up and carrying the offense, or the harm done to us, and compulsively fixating on our percieved notion of judgement- Peter says "cast it on God" ...let it go ...because he cares for you.
-Lastly, note the phrase earlier in the scripture "Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another" Peter, it seems, is making a direct connection to the night Jesus was betrayed, he took a towel and wrapped it around his waist (clothed himself) and washed the disciples feet...
That's the kind of humbleness Jesus is calling us to, humbleness that looks like love and service. The first is last, the chief is servant of all, no one lords authority over anyone as you may see in the carnal/self-promoting world. Jesus, Lord of all, wants us to imitate him.
-d@le
|Mood: french press
|03.14.10 2:46 pm
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The story of Saint Patrick is a fascinating one, and has something to teach us today.
St. Patrick:
He lived in the 4th-5th century; born in Britain- his father was a deacon and his grandfather was a church leader. Patrick was kidnapped- enslaved…taken from his family at 16 and made to be a pig-hearder in Ireland.
One day he escaped, and worked his way back home to Britain on a ship...Returning to his family, then he felt called to be a priest which took him to Rome. One day he had a vision/heard the voice of the people of Ireland calling him “Return and walk among us once again”...
The people who’d enslaved him for several years, keeping him from his family, making him live outside as a pig herder…What would make it possible for him to do this???
WHY we find it difficult to forgive:
Ask non-christians to quote Jesus’ teaching, and “forgive your enemies” is one of the most quoted. It’s one of the teachings that drew Gandhi’s admiration... Yet, universally people struggle to forgive. Why do we find it so difficult to forgive?
We have a sense of justice, as long as it applies to everyone else...whereas we would rather have mercy, grace, and forgiveness applied to our injustices.
Patrick, when out in the countryside by himself, would recite any thing he could remember. Any scripture, any song, any psalm, any prayer. What’s one prayer almost every believer knows?
The Lord’s Prayer, & this is what Patrick had in his heart & his mind…
Matthew 6:12-15
forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us…
If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
That’s what made it possible for him to return to Ireland & it’s people.
What happens when we don’t forgive:
Someone said it's like drinking poison and expecting the other person to get sick…
Dr. Robert Enright is a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison found in his research that unforgiveness causes cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, hypertension, cancer & psychosomatic illness.
Ephesians 4:31-32 tells us:
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
When we live in a state of non-forgiveness it can effect us mentally, spiritually, and even physically. But developing the spiritual discipline of forgiving, the power of forgiveness, can set us free and heal us.
The original Twelve Steps program may have dealt with alcoholism, but the principles apply to forgiving others, especially if we find it very difficult to do so.
The 12 Steps applied to forgiving:
1. We admitted we were powerless over unforgiveness—
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity, helping us to forgive.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs, or unforgiveness.
6. Are entirely ready to have God remove these defects of character (non-forgiveness)
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons who have harmed us or we had harmed, and became willing to forgive or make amends to them all.
9. Forgiven or made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure us, them, or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to all, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Jesus’ example to us inLuke 23:33-38 (New International Version)
33When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
36The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."
“Father forgive them- they don’t know what they do”
Q: Forgive who?
• The soldiers
• Pilate & the government
• The Jewish leaders & the nation of Israel
• US
Every one of us
• Michelangelo understood this sculpting the pieta
• Rembrandt understood this painting himself into his famous crucifixion scene, he being one of the people who crucified Christ.
• U2 & BB King understood this in the song “When love comes to town” singing
“I was there when they crucified my Lord, I held the scabbard while the soldier drew his sword, I rolled the dice when they pierced his side…”
The point is when Christ hung on the cross and said “Father forgive them-“ he meant me and you as much as he meant the soldiers at Golgotha that day. If we are truly His disciples then we continually seek to develop the discipline of forgiveness in our live, following Jesus' example.
-d@le
|Mood: French Roast
|03.13.10 12:12 pm
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Come help us launch a church in 2010! You have a purpose, find out what it is at Sacred Heart!
-d@le
|Mood: turkish
|03.08.10 5:19 pm
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When you hear the word “fellowship" what comes to mind?
I grew up baptist and the word is replete of cover dish dinners made by grandmotherly types for after Sunday service gathering.
But "Fellowship" is more than just food...
Acts 2:42 says-
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, and to prayer.
Fellowship embraces/embodies all these aspects
1. Apostle’s teaching
2. Fellowship
3. Meals
4. Prayer
But look at the first words here- "They devoted themselves" to these things, and to each other. Devotion implies a deep commitment not a half-hearted attempt. They had considered the cost and determined to commit to the venture.
We get more of the picture of what fellowship looks like when we consider Philippians 2:1-2.
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
How do we treat each other when we are in "fellowship" together? It seems to be full of encouragement, comfort, compassionate towards those on the journey and in the battle with you. Standing together in unity, loving one another, working together, having one mind-one purpose.
Fellowship with each other, fellowship with God:
1 John 1:1-4 tells us how fellowship was passed from the first generation to the next generation of the church, & how it continues to be passed on today.
We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
The GREEK word for fellowship is "Koinonia" it encompasses many of the aspects we've seen in these previous scriptures, there's another implication for us to understand.
Koinonia is "communion" -our word "communion" actually comes from the Greek word koinonia? When we celebrate Communion together, we're celebrating koinonia. We're sharing in, participating in, joining together, Jesus's death for us, but also the reality of his life among us. Communion, from a biblical perspective, is so much more than remembrance, It is also a participation together in Christ.
We have been called on a quest, a journey together. We each have been equipped in a way to aid and assist each other along the way. We are one in belief, and in the saving love of Christ, giving us unity, togetherness, and purpose. Join the fellowship!
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|03.01.10 12:02 am
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Seeking God- God’s Word:
SO we’ve been exploring spiritual disciplines the past few weeks, spiritual disciplines- on the most practical level, are ways we can seek God, so we’ve spent some time on seeking God, we’ve spent time exploring prayer, and even fasting…
Q: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE HAVE FOR US WHEN IT COMES TO SEEKING GOD? HOW DOES THE BIBLE HELP US FIND GOD?
Here's a couple of thoughts:
Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled.- Romans 15:4
1) Teach
2) Give hope
3) Encourage
4) …as we wait for God’s promises to be fulfilled
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.- 2 Timothy 3:16
1) Inspired
2) Useful to instruct
3) Corrects our path
Jesus teaches us the importance God's word has in our lives:
Matthew 4:1- 11, The Temptations in the Wilderness.
TEMPTATION 1:
“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
In other words-WHY use your power to benefit others? USE your power to satisfy your own personal desires...You’ve earned it Jesus...You deserve it Jesus….
But Jesus is quoting Dueteronomy 8:3 back here... the surrounding scriptures talk about: Manna, Care for Israel in wilderness, Clothes that didn’t wear out. Jesus was making the point that GOD is our provision, not ourselves.
It's similar to Eve in the garden, she took the bait- Jesus didn't.
TEMPT 2
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
And
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”(v 5-6)
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Satan is goading Jesus- "Why don’t you do what everybody expects you to do?"
- The Pharisees would ask “show us a sign”
- later Herod would say “show me a sign”
Satan actually misquotes PSALM 91:11-12 here saying basically
“Jesus, whatever you do God will protect you so do something dramatic here and get some attention”
BUT the scripture is actually talking about seeking to do God’s will, not doing our own will and expecting God will cover it….
In effect, we try to enslave God who is expected to do our bidding. The Jinny in the bottle, so to speak.
If we have this kind of attitude towards God, chances are we have this attitude towards people too. UNHEALTHY? yep.
TEMPT 3
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God- and him only shall you serve.’”
Here, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world -IF YOU SELL YOUR SOUL TO ME….
This temptation had all to do with God’s PLAN for Jesus, & Satan’s desire to enslave you, & God’s plan for you. If he can derail you then he can make you ineffective.
Bob Dylan said "You're gonna have to serve somebody" - He got the line from Jesus, Jesus refused to bend or break. All the kingdoms are and will be his anyway.
I LOVE the way this story ends-
Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.(v 7-11)
All that temptation, & ultimately God the Father, through the angels, was there to take care of Jesus, and all his needs.
There's so much we can learn from Jesus, and the word.
-d@le
|Mood: ethiopian
|02.22.10 11:52 am
|
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO?
Seeking God:
During Lent we are studying several spiritual disciplines, all of them fall under the umbrella of "Seeking God". This week we're looking at the disciplines of prayer and fasting, particularly as a group or "faith community" (a church)
1,2 ,3- you're out!:
2 Chronicles 20: 3, 14-15 tells us an interesting story of the power of praying together and fasting, I give credit to John Piper here as I found his study insightful.
In 2 Chronicles 20 3 groups were coming against Judah- God's people.
The Moabites and Ammonites and Meunites came against Jehoshaphat the king of Judah. It was a horde of violent people ready for bloody war. What could the people do? What direction should they turn?
Verse 3 says,
Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord; and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord.
So here’s this Kobi-Ashimaru (Star Trek fans), this no win scenario that Jehoshaphat was facing. There were three different groups of violent, angry, bloodthirsty people, kings, ready to wage war on Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah…. What’s he going to do?
He seeks the Lord:
So he called on all the people to fast and to pray- TO SEEK GOD, TO SEEK HELP FROM THE LORD…. there was a great nationwide fast for God's guidance, help, and deliverance.
Then what happened? Later in the chapter verses 14-15 say-
the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel . . . and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's."
So what happened as a result of seeking God through prayer and fasting?
The next day when the people of Judah went out, they found that the people of Moab and Ammon had destroyed one another, and it took them three days to gather the spoil, there was so much. What looked like defeat and calamity was overnight turned into victory- more than they could think or imagine. Direction & answers came through prayer and fasting...
Next let's look at Acts 13:1-4:
Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were worshipping- ministering to the Lord- and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
• They were fasting to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit in the direction of their mission.
• They fasted as a group
• They fasted for direction
• They were hungry enough for God's leading that they wanted to say it with the hunger of their bodies and not just the hunger of their hearts. "We want your leading, O God! O Holy Spirit, what is your will for the mission of this church?"
What does this mean for sacred heart?
"We want your leading, O God! O Holy Spirit, what is your will for the mission of this church?"
We’re almost 2 months old, & we’ll have some decisions we’ll need to make in a few weeks or months-
Where will we meet?
All the little details of taking a fledgling church to the next step-
How does the Lord want us to serve others around us?
Pray for me, Kim, & our family
What does this mean for you? "We want your leading, O God! O Holy Spirit, what is your will for MY mission?"
We seek him in prayer and in fasting to know him and to hear his direction-
He has specific direction for us as a group, and as individuals.
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|02.15.10 2:56 pm
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Seeking God- The Lenten Season:
We’re about to begin the Easter season soon. Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday, the 17th- and that begins the season of lent. Now that’s the 40 days plus the Sundays between now and Easter Sunday. So Lent as the Easter season is 46 days long. In the early church it was always a season of preparation for resurrection Sunday, new people were preparing for baptism which were done on Easter, and for those who had been excommunicated from the church, it was a time to be reconciled- it was never intended for permanent separation, reconciliation was always the goal.
Lent is a time of seeking God as well. Always is a time to seek God, but the season of lent is a training ground for us. Many people fast something during lent, if you’ve never done so –I encourage you to try. (chocolate, coffee, meat) you can also add something (read a book, go on a retreat, daily walks)
Spiritual Disciplines:
This year we are going to explore Spiritual Disciplines during Lent. In 2 Timothy Paul writes-
"Stir up the gift within you -you received from God when I laid my hands on you-
For you have not been given the spirit of fear but of power and love and SELF-DISCIPLINE"
So- this Easter season we’ll be studying self-disciplines, discipleship...
Today I want us to begin with the spiritual discipline of SEEKING GOD.
Hebrews 11:6 says God exists and - he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. God wants us to seek Him, He is continually desring to draw us near to Him.
Have you ever lost something? Why did you look for it? What else motivates us to seek?
Ever play hide and seek? If you were seeking- you wanted to find. If you were hid, most of the time you didn’t want to be found…at least not quickly...But then if it began to take a long time to be found….like hours, that’s no fun…Ultimately we want to be found.
We’ll here’s the thing- God wants to be found. Let's look at Exodus 3, the story of Moses & the burning bush for some insight.
Exodus 3
1Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned." 4When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see , God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
1) V.1-2 God wants to be found
1Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.
God wants us to find him, sometimes He hits us with something, He gets our attention- Here something shiny gets Moses attention, & God has something to say if Moses is listening.
Sometimes we don’t have our ears open- We don’t get it- We think God is hiding- Mainly –we are not seeking. BUT even so God, in His mercy, is always wanting us to find Him, always speaking, always giving us sunshine and rain, always desiring to draw us closer to him.
2) V. 3 Moses Responds
He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned."
There were many possible responses: Ambivalent, apathetic, whatever…He could have seen it as a totally natural occurance, which was kinda cool but most useful for cooking hot dogs…But he saw this and thought ” hmmm-something uncommon is going on here…” - Moses was about to encounter God.
3) Then God speaks
" 4When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see , God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
The Lord waited to see if Moses would turn aside. & when He saw that Moses was tuning aside to "seek" then He spoke to Moses, and gave him valuable instruction.
Jesus told us "Ask. Seek. Knock." (Matthew ch. 7)
Even we flawed people desire to be good mothers and fathers to our children. How much moreso does our Heavenly Father desire to give us good things when we ask, when we diligently seek Him?
Seek & you will find. God, Our Father, wants to be found!
-d@le
|Mood: ethiopian
|02.07.10 2:58 pm
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This is an amazing piece of scripture from 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 where Paul shows something of what all of us were created to do-
2 Corinthians 5:13 If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.
It wasn’t the 1st time Paul had been accused of being mad & crazy...Crazy, beside ourselves, drunk & high. He says here "If we seem crazy, it is to bring glory to God..." This has always been true of the old testament prophets and true of the new testament disciples. He then says "If we are in our right minds- (sane and sober) it's for your benefit"... what a way to word things!
Verse 14 continues "Either way, Christ’s love (compels)controls us… "
What compels us? LOVE = AGAPE, the kind of love we cannot manufacture on our own, God being our source. SOMETHING REALLY HAPPENS when we encounter THAT kind of love…. & it changes our lives.
14 continued- Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
Q: So what happens when we receive his new life?
• We no longer live for ourselves
• Living and dying for Christ in all we do
• Why? (he further explains)
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!
Q: Have you ever mis-judged someone?
Q: Have your first impressions ever been wrong?
• Paul once evaluated Jesus from a human point of view.
• We evaluate others from a merely human point of view not understanding or seeing them in the light of a child of God, their spiritual attributes...
• Not just what meets the eye
• Not just the flesh you see
• The Pharisees missed Jesus for who HE really is because they only saw him as fully human…they missed the spiritual…& they missed the divine.
Verse 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
We truly become a new person. But- if the enemy can get you to believe you haven’t changed or cannot change & you believe the lies:
"you’re the same, don’t even try"
"you’ll always do what you always did…"
Then he's effectively sidelined you from being effective in what God has made you to do.
THE OLD IS GONE, THE NEW LIFE HAS BEGUN…
But you have changed, you are a new person, you are a child of God, & He has a mission we all share.
Each of us is called to help those around us to get onto their journey with Jesus Christ! To call them forward into it, encourage them, tell them to “ come on”...
On our website and in our bulletin you see these words:
"We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way."
- St. Francis of Assisi
These scriptures in 2 Corinthians speak straight to this part of our mission as the people of God, and to our mission as The Sacred Heart Mission of Chattanooga. "We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way."
Look at what Paul has to say in Verse 18 & 19
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.
19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself,
no longer counting people’s sins against them.
And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
"We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who hav lost their way" Because HE has reconciled us we carry the message also that God is reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting men's sins against them.
The CREED says-he was crucified for us, he suffered, was buried, and the third day he rose again in accordance with scripture…
Refering to this work of redemption, Isaiah chapter 53 states:
He took our sins upon himself
he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
~
We are made right
We are made new
We may be the same person but we are changed
A new heart is given to us
& we are his workmanship(his masterpiece) created to do good works...
-d@le
|Mood: columbian & cream
|02.02.10 5:01 pm
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Stir It Up:
In 2 Timothy chapter 1 verses 6-7 Paul is talking to Timothy:
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity and fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:6-7
Or in other words-
…make full use of the gift that God gave you when I placed my hands on you…use it well… God’s spirit doesn’t make us scared or fearful, The Spirit gives us power, and love, and self-control.
Don’t sit idle, don’t let a talent go to waste:
Paul says- Fan into flame the gift of God
• He urges us to set the invincible power of the Spirit which God has given us, against those storms which may, and do come upon us.
• The gift of God is as it were a certain living flame kindled in our hearts, which the flesh and the devil go about to put out
• Literally, blowing up the coals into a flame. The gift of God
What are the reasons we sit idle
Why don’t we operate the gifts God has given us?
Lack of direction
Timing, life-change, season
Lazy?
Unsure
Need affirmation
All those reasons are true, & several are temporary
but here Paul addresses the primary issue
PAUL SAYS
“You have not been given a spirit of FEAR”
The reasons we sit idle? Discouragement/fear- It’s the last thing your adversary wants. He wants to intimidate you out of doing what God’s made you to do.
There’s a lie your adversary wants you to believe-
You can’t do that-
You are no account-
A Failure -
Why try?-
Why bother?-
If he can get us to buy the lie then we just sit and do nothing.
But God has not given us the spirit of fear, instead He gives us:
- the spirit of power, of courage and resolution, to meet difficulties and dangers;
- the spirit of love to him, which will carry us through opposition.
- the spirit of a sound mind, quietness of mind.
Paul said "Stir up your gift Timothy", don't fear, do what God has made you to do.
The Holy Spirit is not the author of a timid or cowardly disposition, or of slavish fears. We are likely to bear afflictions well, when we have strength and power from God to enable us to bear them.(Matthew Henry)
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|01.20.10 9:01 pm
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Isaac of Nineveh 8th century
Love is the Kingdom,
whereof the Lord mystically promises His disciples to eat in His Kingdom...
Love is sufficient to nourish a man instead of food and drink. This is the wine ‘which makes glad the heart of a man. Blessed is he who partakes of this wine!
Licentious men have drunk this wine and became chaste; sinners have drunk it and have forgotten the pathways of stumbling; drunkards have drunk this wine, and became fasters; the rich have drunk it and desired poverty; the poor have drunk it and been enriched with hope; the sick have drunk it and became strong; the unlearned have taken it and became wise.
Here Saint Isaac simply states the power of love- & it's source...Our Lord Jesus Christ.
-d@le
|Mood: mmmmmmm
|01.15.10 10:24 pm
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A Prayer of Bob Dylan:
(I believe in you)
Don't let me drift too far
Keep me where you are
Where I will always be renewed
And that which you've given me today
Is worth more than I could pay
And no matter what they say
I believe in you.
I believe in you when winter turn to summer
I believe in you when white turn to black
I believe in you even though I be outnumbered
Oh, though the earth may shake me
Oh, though my friends forsake me
Oh, even that couldn't make me go back.
Don't let me change my heart
Keep me set apart
From all the plans they do pursue
And I, I don't mind the pain
Don't mind the driving rain
I know I will sustain
'Cause I believe in you.
-d@le
|Mood: decaf
|01.11.10 7:44 pm
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Meeting at Pasha's Coffee to pray for the unemployed
10a.m. Tuesday
-d@le
|Mood: columbiano
|01.06.10 2:17 pm
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The Sacred Heart Mission Bible Study Begins This Week
Now meeting Sundays 10am at Pasha's Coffee in St. Elmo:
3914 St. Elmo Blvd. Chattanooga, 37409
-d@le
|Mood: sumatran
|01.04.10 1:32 pm
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The Island of "ME" sux, and is soooo boring:
There is a saying "No man is an island" - this is probably a very good thing...
If I were stranded on a desert island, like Tom Hanks in "Cast Away" it would not be a good thing. Sometimes it sounds good to be alone, not bothered by other people, peace and quiet. But probably not...
Some things that could be a problem here might be a non-issue on the island. I wouldn't have to keep the check book (I dislike math & the feeling is mutual), I wouldn't have to fix the car- because there would probably be no car on the island (non-mechanical), I wouldn't have to go to long meetings about anything in particular...
But at the same time somebody has to keep count on the coconuts and budget them wisely, if I did have a car, lamp, wheelbarrow, and it broke- then I would need somebody to fix it, and, being a social creature, I might even wish for a meeting to go to, if I were on an island all alone.
But I was not meant to be alone. God said it right in Genesis when he looked at Adam and said "It is not good for the man to be alone" - we are made for relationships!
The church is particularly suppose to be a place of belonging, we aren't suppose to be alone, and it is a community sanctioned by God for a reason and a purpose. Hear what Paul said about community, and not being an island unto ourselves in the book of Romans:
Romans 12:4-10:
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
We All Belong To Each Other:
Early on here he states "we all belong to each other", in a sense- others are God's gift to us. For me those gifts often come through others helping me do things that I find difficult or I am unable to do. (math, mechanics, & some managing/administrating) BUT we do not have to be totally self sufficient, or do ALL things well. Each person has special functions.
"WE" are more effective than "I":
God has made each of us to do certain things well. As a community then who all belong to each other, God in his wisdom advocates "community"- our being side by side with each other, so we can serve each other, and be more effective together rather than all alone.
Love is Foundational:
Paul puts it so well- "Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other."
+ genuine, real love-
+ you can't pretend- it's got to be real-
+ take delight in honoring each other-
This is what "WE" can look like, honoring each others differences and talents with respect and unfeigned love. The Island of "ME" is a lonely and treacherous place. I wouldn't want to go there.
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|01.01.10 7:13 pm
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The Sacred Heart Mission will have our initial prayer meeting Sunday morning at 10am- 777 tattoo sudio (across from the Bessy Smith Hall) on MLK, downtown Chattanooga. Prayer, Holy Scripture, communion, and a touch of blues... If you're not already commited somewhere, come!
-d@le
|Mood: blended
|12.28.09 10:02 am
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I'm looking forward to the new year.
I like the festive and decorated Holidays but I like cleaning up after Christmas too.
Simple, monkish, almost austere, uncluttered.
Grace:
Packing and putting things away, this is true of the disappointments and let-downs of life as well. U2's song "GRACE" speaks of the healing that can come after difficult days:
She carries a pearl in perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
The new year is a time to let go of a lot of the grief, and mourning, and loss experienced this last year. Let it go. Let grace make beauty out of ugly things. Go forward. Live.
The Sacred Heart Mission:
We'll start a Sunday morning Bible Study in just a few days, I'll post exactly when and where after I confirm it. We want it to be a place that loves each other (& God!), serves the world around them, helps each other discover the specific purpose God has for each one of us, and journeys together toward that destination of being the church where ever we are, 24/7/365.
I'd love to see people who don't feel like they quite fit in to "normal" church, or people who've not been in a long time, or never gone before- there are gifts and talents in people never identified because maybe they don't "look" like what people think they should. Some have never been told that God likes them-let alone loves them, and he has a purpose for them. Heck, I grew up in church and I have never heard that very much myself. Sometimes we forget. Sometimes all it takes is a little encouragement and someone reminding us every once in a while that we are a son or daughter of God.
All creation eagerly awaits for the children of God to be revealed, each one unique and needed in the family, bringing joy to Our Father. Like the disciples walking to Emmaus, our hearts should be burning as we discover what is happening as we journey as disciples of Jesus ourselves.
So whether we pray for our friend at the post office, or teach, or play an instrument, or help fix a car, computer, clothes washer, or we create things (clothes, food, art, music, tattoos, houses, etc.etc.etc.) - whether we are specially good at being kind and encouraging, or having faith, or are a generous giver, a person that serves and leads the church, administrates, organizes, or people who are so handy they can do pretty much whatever needs to be done- we all have work to do, this pleases God.
We are his workmanship created to do the good things he's made us to do.
More soon- pray for us!
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|12.23.09 3:52 pm
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Stumbling Forward:
I feel like one of those bowling balls in the alley with the gutter bumpers for the kids, or like a drunkard reeling and stumbling- but at least stumbling forward slowly.
The last 7 weeks I have done a lot of searching, assessing, and taking a personal account of life in general. A lot of stumbling, wondering, and prayer...one day up, the next day down... one day almost a decision, the next day almost a 180 degree turn around in the decision making process, and back to ground zero. Those of you who have made pain-staking decisions understand that turmoil, in addition to the uncertainty of unemployment.
Good Friends:
People have been so gracious, loving, and generous to us. It's Christmas so plates of cookies and treats have been greatly enjoyed. Others have sent gifts of love to us... I'm overwhelmed by your generosity.
I've decided to stay in Chattanooga, and to continue to pastor, planting a church in early 2010. We have nothing, no kids ministry, no equipment, no permanent building... nothing.
But then again we have everything. Jeff, and others are helping me with the church planting process. (sometimes we fight like brothers, but then again we've been good and loyal friends for over 9 years) Other friends locally, from The Anchor in Nashville, Louisville, and elsewhere, are keeping me in prayer and supporting me in many ways. Another friend is giving us a small but very cool free place to start meeting at, website work, our first sign to put out, and so on...
I'm not sure of the exact date we'll start holding prayer and bible study on Sunday mornings, but it will be early in 2010.
Please pray for us as we seek love, compassion, and humbleness as we go forward in our mission.
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|12.17.09 6:29 pm
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Sometimes God calls you to die.
Sometimes you are asked to leave everything. Some move across the country, sometimes you have to leave the things you love most wondering "why?"...
I have been "on sabbatical" for 6 weeks. Leaving my post as a pastor at the " chattanooga vineyard" (even due to the economy) was one of the hardest things I've ever done, in the top 10. But the main question was "why?"... I still don't completely know...
But Jesus' words surely holds answers for us-
Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal. (John chapter 12)
Sometimes God calls you to die. For me, this has happened a couple of times before. It's painful, but sometimes in order to get to where you need to be- you have to leave where you have been. If you hold on too tight you lose anyway. But if you can let go, you don't really lose anything- ultimately.
-d@le
|Mood: christmas blend
|12.15.09 4:35 pm
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Bad things happen sometimes. & sometimes you feel all alone.
Even when you are trying to do everything right, as right as you can, there are still times of circumstances and hardship difficult to understand. Loneliness compounds the issue, and is compounded by them as well.
We may cry out "God, why is this happening?!!!" - "I'm trying to do everything I'm suppose to..."
To think we won't face difficulty kinda misses the mark, there will be hard days and struggles, how else will we grow? We are all on a journey of discovery- even the apostle Paul had room to grow, but here in 2 Timothy he'd grown into the maturity that can teach others, here's what he said:
God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.
That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.
Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.
As you know, everyone from the province of Asia has deserted me—even Phygelus and Hermogenes.
What a lonely place! In prison, deserted, alone...
There are times we are at the bottom. You may not have been left alone in a strange land in prison, but we all have had those moments...
Look at what Paul says next though:
May the Lord show special kindness to Onesiphorus and all his family because he often visited and encouraged me. He was never ashamed of me because I was in chains. When he came to Rome, he searched everywhere until he found me. May the Lord show him special kindness on the day of Christ’s return. And you know very well how helpful he was in Ephesus.(2 Timothy 1:11-18)
In difficult times a true friend is a lifesaver, look at Onesephorus here- "he searched everywhere until he found me..." How thankful must Paul have been for that type of a true friend.
There are times when I need a friend like Onesiphorus, and if you have a friend like that- what a treasure.
There are times I need to be a friend like Onesiphorus... Jesus fill me with that kind of love...
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|12.07.09 8:19 am
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All things are subject to change.
I realized this several months ago. Things do not often stay the same indefinately, eventually things change. Change is good, yet painful at times. In some ways I like change, but in other ways- not so much.
When I was younger I enjoyed trading up cars every so often, 74 mustang, 63 chevy, 77 toyota... Fads come and go- I've gone from 70s leisure suits and bell bottoms, to 80s pistol leg button up jeans, to 90s pleated MC Hammer pants, and so on into the 21st century.
Prior to being a full time pastor I enjoyed changing up my job every 2-3 years, it was all social work but I floated around within the field. Also, men "adopt a uniform" every so often. When my college days drew to a close I was ready to grow up a bit and look sharp, a bit more professional. Several who know my early vineyard days remember a pair of camo pants that became Sunday vestments till they literally fell apart. The last several years have been jeans and a black T.
Once in a while you change up. All things are subject to change.
Some things change little. I've been at the same address for over 16 years, married to the same woman for almost 22 years, had the same mini-van for 12.
All things are subject to change, but this week I feel that I am here. No plans to move or go somewhere different, I feel like I am here.
Teddy Roosevelt said "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." What else can you do?
So whatever that means, and whatever that looks like, that's what I'll do...what I can, with what I have, where I am... waiting and listening for God's direction. Change is good, change provides new opportunities.
We enjoyed visiting another Anglican church today, comparing and contrasting our various experiences. I grew up and was licensed in the baptist church, then licensed in charismatic churches, before licensure and ordination in the Vineyard, so comparing experiences is something I enjoy doing. Not sure I can hang with "high-liturgy" all the time but it has it's place.
As I think about what kind of church I want to be a part of,(feel, not necessarily denominational brand), some things will change, a lot will be the same- or very similar to The Vineyard...
I want it to be relaxed and comfortable, friendly and accepting, love and service to others is a must, with music indigenous to the culture (I have difficulty now with organ music, and hard-heavy hymns as the only form of worship), short but strong teaching/messages based on scripture, a rich celebration of Holy Communion, rich fellowship, and a goal of helping people to discover their gifts or talents- what God has made them to do...and how to start doing it.
As Teddy said
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are..."
And Right now You Are Here ->
So am I.
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|11.28.09 9:19 pm
|
Perfect timing for Thanksgiving this week.
What do we have that wasn't a gracious gift from Our Father in the first place?
& what about the bad?
Job said "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble as well?"
Sometimes the Lord allows us difficulties,
we grow through difficulties,
we grow when we have to walk on the water, but we don't see how...
Like Joseph's slavery in Egypt-
Like Ezekiel in captivity-
Some days are good, others come with some difficulty...
but the Father is with us, helping us, as become more like Jesus.
Here's some food for thought-
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.
-Isaiah 45: 6-7
I am the one who kills and gives life;
I am the one who wounds and heals;
-Deuteronomy 32:39
Even before Pilate Jesus said
"You have no power except that which is given to you from heaven."
He knew something that he was teaching us even there.
Trust in God. No matter where it leads you- trust...
This is the sum of life, to learn how to rely on The Father.
I've been reading a book titled
"Trustful Surrender To Divine Providence"
It's a good read on trust and submission to God's will.
We've had a restful time visiting with family in Florida-
-d@1e
|Mood: columbian
|11.15.09 12:00 pm
|
Resting up, trying to exercise regularly, some yoga/stretching to combat the chronic back pain I experience- these are the basic goals for the week.
For those who don't know, I am no longer on staff at The Vineyard due to the rough economy. There have been a few moments of sadness this week, things change as we are called forward on to our journey, I have to come to a point of embracing the changes, once I do that I am OK. I've embraced the change here, but there is some residual sadness I'm dealing with. I am, however, not depressed, and generally I am excited about the future.
Earlier this week the Franciscans and friends ended up at St. Paul's Episcopal Church for a compline service. (evening prayers to Gregorian chant- in English) This was cool in that is was like a short trip to a monastery, but also connecting with one of the tribes (Episcopal), as well as connecting with Br. Ron Fender who works at the Community Kitchen- we've known each other for years, yet from a distance.
Ron and I share a love for monastic spirituality, as well as a love for the homeless in Chattanooga. St. Francis and Mother Teresa both attest to meeting Christ in those around us, that the poor are God's gift to us, & challenging us in our love. As monastics, Ron in the Brotherhood of St. Gregory & I a Franciscan, prayer is central to work. I am meeting up with old friends who work in social services to drop off resumes next week- and seek if the Lord wants me to work serving the homeless again, as I also seek out pastoring at a church, or church plant.
I'm sifting through what it means to be the church and a lot of people responded to a question I posted earlier this week. Loving, caring, discipling, and worshipping all were high priority answers people gave, and I agree. I want to continue, wherever we end up, pastoring a church that invites people to go deep in love and relationships with each other, forgiving each other, not writing people off. It should also be a training and equipping church- discipling people in prayer and spiritual disciplines, as well as discovery of their talents,what God has made them to do, and how to really start doing it.
So, like pooh-bear I've been thinking..."think, think, think...", and praying, and trying to be quiet.
We're taking the opportunity to visit friends, and area churches for the fun and for the experience. We'll probably visit a liturgical church this week, perhaps Anglican, just to get a different flavor. Marietta, Franklin, and Trinity Vineyard are on our list to visit as well.
So that's it for week 2. Kinda quiet, a deep searching, but that's OK- God is always moving.
-d@le
|Mood: columbian & cream
|11.09.09 8:08 am
|
I'll be keeping a sort of journal on what's going on as I depart from where I've been and what I've been doing, to where I'm going and what's happening in between. I don't know that it'll be that interesting or of much interest to others, non the less, I'll jot down my thoughts and experiences.
WEEK 1:
I posted Thomas Merton's prayer earlier this week, basically "I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm going, but I give it to you- and desire to please you, O God."
As hard as it has been to leave my post of 10 years at the Chattanooga Vineyard, I walked out last week having been told "Well done..." - that meant a lot to me.
I am resting in a sense, but I have also been as busy as ever with appointments. This is ok, I'm catching up with old friends and have just been able to spend time enjoying the people God has put in my life. Me & Zac went and saw a movie last Wednesday. I'm sitting here with Jon now as he does college school work and I write this, we had dinner together just a while ago.
I was also able to go up to Nashville and go on a men's retreat at The Anchor. What a great bunch of guys at their "Fire Gathering", it reminded of a story where St. Francis and brother Gil spend the night staying warm in a large medieval community oven. The homeless would crawl in at night to stay warm of what was left of the cooking fire. Francis recounts sitting in the glow of the embers, looking at the faces of the people who would crawl in for warmth...he was touched by their humanity, their weathered faces, their human frailty, and somehow experienced Christ there in each face he saw.
Sitting around the camp of the "Fire Gathering" I saw faces, most of them younger than mine, but in their faces I also saw Christ...
Other than that I am a little tired and needing immediate rest.
Some people may look at me (I look at myself often and think) I'm not a workaholic, I'm pretty easy going, but I have another side- several moments of wanting to get on with the changes and get on with life, frustration... there is something in me- I want to make plans, work on the next step, take charge, step up, go forward... but I can't...I must wait and rest, and let Him do his work before I can make plans and go forward...
...prayer and waiting...and resting.
Psalms 23 says "He restores my soul" - only He can do that.
No one else can restore my soul, no matter how good a friend or how intimate we are...
it is only God who can restore a soul.
The prophet said
"If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
- how will you run with horses?" + Jeremiah 12:5
How indeed? Yes, I am still tired- and do not like being this way.
But He will rest me and He will restore me- then the plans can come...
I console myself in another instance from Francis' life. Later in life he repented to "Brother Ass" (referring to his body which he harshly treated for years sleeping without blankets, on rock, eating only a little to survive, poorly clothed, and so on...)
Anyway, he repented to his body, "Brother Ass", for being too harsh, not taking care of his body, expecting too much from himself, and also often, from the other brothers...
I'm trying to learn from his example. Rest, take care of the body, wait, pray...
It's only been a week. There has been little time for other big changes to come...
Pray I can wait and rest.
-d@l3
|Mood: columbian
|11.02.09 8:22 am
|
Think You Had A Rough Day? This is how St. Patrick prayed...
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
(hmmm nobody's poisoned me lately....
I have a friend who did burn his fingers but after we prayed they healed up really fast...
no problems with water, ...
I was praying this prayer when I had my scooter crash- ironic-
I was wounded but I was not dead, so I'll take that.
Then Saint Paddy says...)
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
-d@le
|Mood: chatz coffee
|10.29.09 7:26 pm
|
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and that I think I am following your will
does not mean I am actually doing so.
But I believe the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all I am doing.
I hope I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know if I do this you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
- Thomas Merton
-d@le
|Mood: pizza & coke
|10.04.09 9:27 pm
|
Just a short note this week:
Independence, hard work, and making it happen ourselves is essential to most Americans. And indeed, when it comes to faith and prayer, we must also be willing to put up the effort, to put some work in to see things come to pass.
Frederick Douglas, ex-slave and civil rights forefather said something like-"I prayed for freedom 20 years, it was not until I prayed with my legs that God answered my prayers"... Putting effort to our prayers is often important.
However, as Americans, we pride ourselves in needing no one's help, "movers and shakers" need no one, make it happen all on their own, in essence- we answer our own prayers...
Here's the statement:
We pray to God and then begin answering our own prayers, in our own ways, by our own means, to get our own results.
We pray to God but then dependence ends pretty much there; we determine what answer we want and them make moves towards that end.
I'm learning a valuable lesson. Having made arrangements several months ago for a retreat I hosted this past weekend, my host church ended up being flooded during the torrential rains in Chattanooga 2 weeks ago. I had a week to find a new host place for my retreat... 1 week.
I was suppose to be freaking out like mad trying to make it happen and put it all together, right?
But I felt I heard The Lord say "Do not worry about this- I will answer and make this thing happen". So I made a few calls work on plans here and there but just a little.
Then I woke up at 4am starting to worry about it, Tuesday morning already and no plans for Thursday night..."Do not worry about this- I will answer and make this thing happen". ...OK, OK, OK...I won't worry, but it's hard not to...
Ultimately some friends offered their lake house for the day retreat, another friend made calls and by Wednesday night I had my choice of two different churches to host our Friday night celebration. I was amazed!
The lesson:
Don't rely on yourself, rely on God!
If I'd prayed then determined that the answer to my own prayers depended on me, on my efforts, on my own ability to make things happen, then I'd missed it, basically I'd been out of God's will.
How often do we do this? How often does God wish we'd rely on Him and let Him answer our prayers HIS way... how much better might that turn out?
Just a thought. I'm learning a lesson...
-d@le
|Mood: ethiopian
|09.24.09 10:01 am
|
Ever been discouraged?
By thought, word, action, inaction- we interpret the world around us all the time. We interpret others thoughts or intentions towards us, often wrong, sometimes right, sometimes encouraging and often discouraging.
Some people will tell you they just don't like you, or that you suck, as if their opinion were the last word on the matter. In a world of self ambition, competition, and lowering of others so you yourself feel "higher" on the totem pole, one can easily get discouraged. It's a world of trying to maintain being "king of the hill" while agonizingly waiting and anticipating when you'll get knocked off, when will you no longer be king. What's left? Fear and anger, distrust, bitterness.
For others of us it would be easy to check out of life altogether to avoid all this mess. Unfortunately despair often accompanies this struggle. "Why try, why bother" ends up in isolation, loss of hope, feeling trapped and powerless.
But God has something to say to us. We are more than a cog in the machine. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:6-7
"...Fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. "
Elsewhere Paul says "we are pressed but not crushed, persecuted but not abandoned, cast down but not destroyed..."
The encouragement is to shake off the despair, the fear, and the punches we may have sustained and reassess the situation. God has given us power, love, and self discipline by His Spirit.
He's given us something else too, spiritual gifting. Each of us has gifts, probably many, that when we are not overwhelmed and fearful can operate- then we can live the life God has called us to. These can be simply kindness, encouraging others, showing compassion, doing good things, being generous. All gifts are simple things, but when we stir them up, when we fan them into flames and grow in maturity then these gifts seem to grow bigger and deeper the longer we serve God deeper and deeper.
So whenever you hear the lie that you are worthless, a flunky, not smart enough, or whatever... remember- God has not given you a spirit of fear, but power, love, self discipline, and He has specially gifted you for the work he's called you to for The Kingdom.
Stir it up!!!
-d@le
|Mood: ethiopian
|09.21.09 7:38 pm
|
It's easy enough to struggle with the blues without the rain... watching school closings due to weather, it's truly a sad, wet day when "Noah's Ark Daycare" is closed due to rain. The weather affects things.
Many of us struggle with our mood in dark and rainy weather. I do sometimes; restless, unsettled, questioning... along with bouts of cabin fever & mania. There have been days this past week with the deluge of rain where it has gotten to me, last Friday I said "I give up..."
Think about Jim Carrey in the Grinch: " Four o'clock, wallow in self pity; 4:30, stare into the abyss; 5:00, solve world hunger, tell no one. 5:30, jazzercize. 6:30, dinner with me. I can't cancel that again. 7:00, wrestle with my self-loathing; I'm booked. Of course, if I bump the loathing to 9 I could still be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness..." That's what the last week has been like with all the rain.
Of course, I'm not completely morbid and bent. You get use to the rain and finally adjust to go about your days...unless you are our post traumatic stress disorder beagle named Kiwi. Kiwi came from a shelter and was out on the street a while before that, we adopted her in June. We're finding out that when the rain and thunder come then Kiwi's PTSD kicks in, resulting in her peeing and pooing as a response to adverse weather conditions. Nice...
We're trying to help Kiwi cope. A safe place and some love helps.
Many of us probably have seen our darker, less optimistic side this past week during the rain, at least a little. I have, not bad but enough to realize I wanted to guard my mood.
Funny thing about mood is when you guard against one mood then another mood may become predominant. So then i was ready to go-go-go this afternoon, Throw a little devotion and mission into the mix and I'm driving around asking God to show me what He wants me to see, is there someone I should connect with or just pray for?
When I get out of my own funk then I can be sensitive to others around me. A lady I spoke with yesterday exemplified this to me wonderfully!
She's had her share of rainy days to deal with, some might say she's lived a hard life. Through all the rainy weather, dark moods, loathing, and struggles she's had, something changed recently. She is not overwhelmed by her own stuff and now has her mind and mood changed. She has some devotion burning in her heart and the vision of a mission in her mind.
She told me yesterday that she'd gone through her closets and given bunches of stuff away! That she'd anonymously paid for someone else's lunch in the drive through at McDonald's! That she'd forgiven people of the harm they'd done to her! and that God was changing her life in simple yet amazing ways!
Sometimes it's the simple things that change us: giving, forgiving, being humble and asking God to change us. She says her life has changed and it shows! It also shows that anybody can- you don't have to be a "winner", the best, the smartest, handsome, or beautiful, or charming...doesn't matter.
All are equal in God's eyes. We all can be a little like Kiwi, the PTSD dog, but a safe place and some love helps.
-d@le
|Mood: fresh ground
|09.14.09 4:01 pm
|
Despair is the deadliest killer of all.
I was a crisis counselor once, I worked at a community mental health center, we did response- meaning we went to where the trouble was. We also did hotline counseling.
Everybody deals with despair. I assessed the homeless, one guy lived in a Burger King dumpster. I counseled middle class Joe; good job, house, a car, etc. - But he'd lost hope and tried to off himself with a riffle. He missed. Later he decided he actually wanted to live, but at the moment he'd lost hope, he despaired. Despair knows no class.
At the Salvation Army, where I also worked as a crisis counselor, I saw people... mostly homeless people, most people needing help, weren't always homeless, weren't always needy. But somehow, somewhere along the line they found themselves totally undone. Despair, like the rain, tries to find even the smallest entry point on a roof, is consistent, and relentless in it's pursuit. "Your enemy, like a lion, roams about seeking whom he may devour."
I'm an optimist. The cup is always half full, it'll be better tomorrow, and if there's trouble- don't worry, it'll work out. But sometimes even I have to deal with despair and hopelessness, there are disappointments that everyone has to deal with and I have my share. My personality type is an ESFP which basically means I deal with the world according to how I sense, feel, and perceive the world around me. I'm highly empathetic, sensing strongly the world around me. If something is not right then I know it, problem is I cannot always diagnose the problem, I just know it's there. This is what can drive me crazy about myself...
Sometimes it's hard to tell if what I'm feeling is "me" or somebody else's stuff. I was sitting in church yesterday, it was a great time- the music was good, the atmosphere, even Jeff's preaching was spot on (obviously I'm kidding here- when is Jeff's preaching not fantastic? hehehe)
Yet I felt i heard God saying "Don't despair..."
We've come through a rough summer. Transitioning to a high school has been great, a learning experience, and has activated alot of our people in serving, and in being the church- not just going to church. The economy has hit us like everybody, friends have to move away for jobs, and a church which is not rich to begin with can't afford a financial hit. It would be easy to be disappointed with the loss of friends and the stress of wanting to do more "ministry" if only we had a little more money.
On a personal level we deal with disappointment, struggle with purpose when the way isn't clear and when you don't know what tomorrow brings (& who does?)
Motivation is important, in football they call it "heart", boxing as well. An underdog can beat the odds if he has "heart". You see it on the field all the time where a team gets strength- from where? you don't know...but from the a deep place they find strength to persevere, carry on, and even do amazing things!
Don't despair...
Was that for me? Maybe so... Is it for my church, the Vineyard? Definately. Probably for some of my friends too. Don't despair; God is for you, not against you. He loves...
-d@le
|Mood: french roast
|09.07.09 3:57 pm
|
Too much we, I live a life too detached from God.
In times like today the question, or the friction I can find myself in, and a question (in not so many words) I hear often from people is "What do I have to thank or worship God for?" Lost jobs, mortgages, resources... difficult finances and many other challenges steal our joy, overwhelm us, make us want to give up.
Then there's Sunday morning; we're distracted, I am sometimes, as a pastor- people need to tell me, clue me in to their troubles for prayer, I read the crowd -sensitive to hurt or pain on people's faces. I even glance at the coffee, the auditorium,"Is all in place? Candles lit?...etc..."
People are distracted often, we struggle to enter into worship, mindful of a thousand other things.
Yesterday, after communion, I stood in the back. The last words of the chorus were being sung gently, and many were touching into worship. But many of us were distracted. I was, reading the crowd, "Is everyone ok?"...
Then I saw a child, a beautiful child, she's medically fragile,came to her NOW family through foster care, has seen more than her share of chaos in her lifetime, and comes in with an oxygen tank and a vent in here throat. Plenty to be distracted by- She's 6 or 7 years old and always greets me with a "Hey Dale!" and a big beautiful smile on Sunday mornings.
The chorus was being sung "Oh, how he loves us so...oh how he loves us...how he loves us so..."
And this little child was there a few rows up with her hands raised as high as she could raise them and she's singing- "...oh how he loves us...how he loves us so..."
To say my heart broke would be the wrong term, It didn't break- it melted...
The child who cannot breath well, who is always accompanied by a tank or breathing machine- was singing and raising her hands and worshiping God with all simplicity and beauty!
"Oh, how he loves us so...oh how he loves us...how he loves us so..."
And my heart melted...
Another walking miracle (well not yet, he's only 10 months old)- the one that doctors said wouldn't make it when he was only a week old, the one they told the parents to make arrangements for... but that's another story- He was worshiping too. Smiling at EVERYBODY, showing off two bottom teeth, and waving to everyone...
And my heart melted again... If these are that beautiful to me, how beautiful are they to The Heavenly Father?
How he loves us so...
-d@1E
|Mood: french roast
|08.31.09 12:06 pm
|
The high and lofty one who lives in eternity,
the Holy One, says this:
“I live in the high and holy place
with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.
I restore the crushed spirit of the humble
and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts."
This is the opening sentence today for my daily office of prayer, it's Isaiah 57:15.
There is a paradox here:
The One who lives in the high and holy place
also lives
with the contrite and humble...
Oh how we SO DON'T GET IT.
We spend 98-99% of our time justifying ourselves,
Seeing the speck in the brothers eye while ignoring the plank,
Judging with more severity than we would want to be judged by,
Holding the grudge, not forgiving,
Arrogant...
But God doesn't live there, don't expect to see him in that place.
He lives with the humble, and the person who is able to admit when they were wrong. In this person is good ground for real fruit to grow. Love grows there.
Paul described love as patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Another thought in today's daily office is from Psalms 25:
He guides the humble in doing right
and teaches his way to the lowly.
All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness...
He guides the humble,
teaches them...
All His paths are love.
To be in the place where God will dwell with you:
That's worth not being so quick to find fault, that's worth being a little more kind to others, that's worth not holding a grudge, admitting that you were wrong once in a while, looking for the best in people, instead of the worst.
-d@1e
|Mood: ice cold & on the beach
|08.01.09 11:50 am
|
Just a thought.
We see forgiveness very subjectively.
When it comes to our need for forgiveness we seek and hope that God is very lenient, patient, merciful, long-suffering, and forgiving...not holding onto our sins but casting them as far as the east is from the west. And quickly so.
BUT when it comes to others, those who sin against us, we find it difficult- not wanting to let go of the hurt they have inflicted upon us. We may even pray for God's judgement to fall upon them, for justice to be done. Because we have been hurt we want them to know it, feel it, be sorry for it, to apologise, to pay for their sins against us, and to satisfy the rule- "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
WE want forgiveness easily and quickly, but we do not want to give them that same forgiveness easily or quickly.
If I want to be forgiven, if I want my sins to be covered, then I must quickly forgive others when they hurt me. If I want my sins to be covered by the sacrificial and atoning blood then I must also allow others sins to be covered by that same blood.
How can I want God's forgiveness for me -yet refrain from granting forgiveness to others? To hold a grudge is to refuse to let the blood of Christ covers their sins, I cannot do that.
We are often consumed, made sick, even emotionally ill, when we hold grudges and refuse to let go and forgive. The longer we hold on- the sicker and angrier we become. We fixate, OCD, don't let go..And when we do that we take our eyes off of Jesus and onto our problems. Like Peter trying to walk on water- we begin to sink and drown.
Though others may hold a grudge against me, want my sins to linger and not be covered or forgiven, I cannot help that. My forgiveness is directly linked to MY letting go of others sins or hurts perpetrated against me. It is the way of Christ, and it is the way of healing as well.
When we let it go, forgive, let Christ's blood be sufficient not only for our own sins but also for those sins perpetrated against us- God's peace and healing begins to move in our lives, we are no longer imprisoned by our sins, hurt, anger, broken-ness, or other people's sins against us.
In fact as we begin to walk in this way, we begin to walk in the way of perfect peace much more closer to Jesus and more like Jesus than we have ever walked before. He exemplified letting go of the sins perpetrated against him, not holding a grudge, letting LOVE cover a multitude of sins. When we imitate Him in this way we are set free from demanding judgement on those who have hurt us, set free from emotional pain, set free from letting others actions having any control over us, and how we feel.
"Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us"
Be quick to forgive. When you see the sins sinned against you- see your own sin covered by the blood of the cross, and let it go. Forgive those around you quickly. Christ gave himself for them as much as for you. He wants you to love them because He loves them.
-d@1e
|Mood: lemonade
|07.27.09 12:22 pm
|
We in America, (& I'm guilty too) have no real concept or foundation for understanding pain and suffering. For us suffering is having to wait too long at Starbucks for our latte.
When we are faced with painful circumstances it is almost human nature to get angry. Losing a job, having an auto wreck, an illness, loss of a loved one, relational-emotional pain, etc. It's easy to get mad, to blame, ha! and to shake our fist at God. Job and his friends pretty much represent us in a lot of ways. Blame someone, anyone!
Blame is the default mode during pain and suffering. It must be someone's fault, and maybe it is. But there is something dangerous- in that with blame comes bitterness. Bitterness and hatred go hand in hand, in fact they may well be the same. The problem with bitterness is that it is self destructive. Bitterness can effect people's health and mental well-being when it goes unchecked. It is a weed that, if allowed to grow, will choke out the beautiful garden that could otherwise be.
You can blame and be bitter but you will not find one ounce of healing there.
Maybe that was some of Oswald Chambers thoughts when he wrote:
"We all know people who have been made much meaner and more irritable and more intolerable to live with by suffering: it is not right to say that all suffering perfects. It only perfects one type of person ... the one who accepts the call of God in Christ Jesus... "
Suffering can only begin to do it's purifying work when there is an added ingredient; reliance on God- imperfect and fumbling, yet desiring to rely on Our Father.
It's a choice we have to make. You either let things drive you away from -or closer to God the Father, at least that's how it's been in my life. The apostle Peter said "Cast all your cares upon Him for he cares for you". That too is a choice, to let go of bitterness and blame of how someone has done you wrong or how the circumstance is unfair, again- it may be true but it really doesn't help you overcome. Only choosing to rely on, and to put your trust in the divine providence of God will help you overcome adversity.
Let me suggest some practices for help on difficult days.
1) Pray often
Every time turmoil starts to arise in you, take a time out and pray. Some days that's alot! But turning it back over to God is the best thing you can do initially. There have been times I've had to return to prayer, it seems, every five minutes. As you gain peace and, if necessary, give forgiveness you will find anger and bitterness decreasing. When it arises again- go back to prayer.
2) Read the Psalms
The writer no doubt was dealing with pain, suffering, and disappointment often himself. Sometimes I read the psalms and say "Oh! I wouldn't want that to happen to my worst enemy". I think that is good, no matter how someone has hurt you do you really want bitterness to consume you to the point where you would exterminate someone?
The Psalms also has a lot of familiar calming and soothing imagery for us as well, if read aloud it is rythmic and you can feel a flow to the words.
3) Find a Friend
You need someone far away enough (objective enough) to listen and hear you. You need that person also to be close enough to support and care for you. They must be able to keep your conversations confidential, allowing you to vent safely. We often "confess" to such a friend, and confession itself brings healing and perspective. If you battle bitterness along with the pain or disappointment you are suffering through, venting and confession can be a big help.
Peace can be found.
-d@1e
|Mood: sumatran pressed
|07.20.09 1:58 pm
|
So, am I the only one faced with the ugly fact of my own pride and lack of humility?
HUH? DIDN'T HEAR YOU:
Pride is one of those things we don't like to talk about too much, even in the church... but why?
The Bible is full of references to pride and also humbleness but seldom spoken on.
+ "a proud heart... is sin [in the eyes of God]." Proverbs 21: 4
+ "God resists the proud" (James 4:6)
+ "humble yourselves...He will lift you up..."1 Peter 5: 6
Pride was deemed one of the "Seven Deadly Sins" taught on by the Medieval Church, yet though we are so "enlightened" today- we've forgotten these simple teachings.
Throughout history those who are honest enough acknowledge this fact of our human frailty-
St. John Climacus (6th century) in the Ladder of Divine Ascent also struggled with pride and share his thoughts, here's a few:
* Pride loses the profits of all hard work and sweat.
* The proud argues bitterly with others.
* The proud man wants to be in charge of things. He would feel lost otherwise.
* A thief hates the sun. A proud man despises the meek.
THE AMERICAN WAY
We are taught at an early age that you have to shove your way to the top, pushing other people down in the process. Ha! it makes me think of "that" kid in school who always pushed and shoved his way into the front of the cafeteria line when the teacher wasn't looking...
- Look out for #1!
- Get yours!
- Make money at other people's expense!
- Make sure you get noticed!
- You've got to fight for your rights! ...(fill in the blank Beastie Boys fans)
ARROGANCE -BOY IS EVERYBODY ELSE ON THE PLANET DUMB:
Pride comes from thinking we're smarter, better, cooler, smoother, than everybody else around. "If people would just listen to me & do what I say they need to do- don't they realize how much better their life would be?" That's quite audacious, but we have high opinions of ourselves sometimes.
FEAR:
But pride goes deeper, it is actually seated in fear. We're afraid others will see how useless and flimsy we are, so in our fear we try to promote ourselves and demote others in our demented game of "King of the Hill".
The best writing I know of to get to the heart of what we're talking about with FEAR is the "Litany of Humility" written by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val -1865-1930. The first time I read this I was so dismayed by the language I didn't know what to think. It was so offensive to my sense of self worth, and pride, yet after reading it and considering the apostles and saints, I realize it is the way of Jesus Christ. It is the way of those who truly seek to follow.
(From the Litany of Humility)
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being consulted ...
Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
Deliver me, Jesus
That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That...others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it
But my mind and my flesh cry out! Wait! That can't be right! What about me! I deserve...!
The person who fights their way to the top is always afraid of by whom and when they will be knocked down, dethroned. In my fear I have to hold on to what is mine, to MY esteem, MY position, MY self-importance, MY pride, MY "precious" (a reference for you LOTR fans)
TRUTH SPEAKS PLAINLY & BRINGS LIFE:
"Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up..."
Another quote from the Ladder of Divine Ascent says
"The person seeking to be humble is an abyss of humility in which every evil spirit has been plunged and smothered." Humility puts to death that which is not of the character of God. It hurts, but like a cancer being cut out- it will bring us life.
We should follow the example of Christ, the prophets, the apostles, and the martyrs before us; to be humble, to be ok with- even glad of others getting noticed, getting glory, praise and honor. If you have nothing to fear then you have been set free from this prison of pride.
FREEDOM:
"God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble"- There is a freedom that comes from learning humbleness, taking the lesser seat at the banquet, not feeling like you always have to be the one in charge, letting others who are better than you are at something take the lead. Freedom is a sign of maturity- knowing who you are in Christ-
You don't have to prove yourself to anyone anymore.
-dale
|Mood: french press
|07.13.09 4:30 pm
|
Today I'm tired, exhausted, looking for quiet... It's been a very busy couple of weeks for me. Beyond that it's been a busy and trying season, emotionally, sometimes spiritually, certainly physically. In the social work field we call it "Burn-Out" because certain things are taxing, heavy, and require a lot of us.
Other things however, give life. Seeing people walk out of some darkness they've been in, taking a step closer, people working together on a project like we did sprucing up the local school, all these things energize me.
I was moving tables and chairs in church since I was 5 years old. Some sign up at the 11th hour, some work right from the start. We all receive the same reward for our labor, and I say that is good. You can't out give God- serving him for years or just for a while. Quoting a Delerious song here "The years have caused the flame to burn much brighter now." By His grace, having served him since age 6- the years have caused the flame to burn much brighter now.
However long we've walked with Him, He's constantly drawing us to Him. I feel God's drawing me continuously closer to him through every day, through the suffering and the trial as well as through joy and celebration, through exhaustion as well as through times of rest and restoration.
I came to faith at 6 years old, I have been a follower of Jesus for over 38 years. Yet I do not feel jaded, out of touch, or like I'm just sitting on the sidelines waiting for the sweet by and by. Though I'm exhausted from the work, I feel fire in my heart. What are we doing if not helping others along their way? These LifeHouse lyrics have been in my mind today.
____________________
Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
Closer where i Started
Chasing after you
i'm falling even more in love with you
letting go of all i've held onto
i'm standing here until you make me move
i'm hanging by a moment here with you
forgetting all i'm lacking
completely incomplete
i'll take your invitation
you take all of me
now.. i'm falling even more in love with you
letting go of all i've held onto
i'm standing here until you make me move
i'm hanging by a moment here with you
i'm living for the only thing i know
i'm running and not quite sure where to go
i don't know what i'm diving into
just hanging by a moment here with you
there's nothing else to lose
nothing left to find
there's nothing in the world
that could change my mind
there is nothing else
there is nothing else...
______________________
The challenge I feel today?
The fire in my heart?
No fear-
I'm letting go of all I've held on to...
I'm living for the only thing I know...
I'm falling even more in love...
There is nothing else...
If you're like me then fear tries to lie to you all the time.
Bad things are going to happen sometimes. Look at Joseph in the old testament; hated by his brothers, falsely pronounced dead, sold into slavery, falsely accused & in prison for what he did not do. Jesus said "Blessed are you when they speak all manner of evil against you and persecute you"...bad days will come.
But I'm tired of fear and refuse to live by it anymore. It will no longer have any control over me. So I must take it to God in prayer daily and lay it down. To cast off fear is to rely on God, keeping your mind on him, and to live in His LOVE.
Bad times come, but so do the good times. Job asks "Shall we take the good and not expect the bad as well?" No, good and bad will come- but it will not imprison me. God is faithful, you are not forgotten, He knows where you are and what you need.
No fear-
I'm letting go of all I've held on to...
I'm living for the only thing I know...
I'm falling even more in love...
There is nothing else...
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|07.06.09 2:22 pm
|
Wouldn't it be easier if I just didn't care?
Why are relationships sometimes difficult?
Most of our relationships have an ebb and flow, a give and take in them. The relationship is not based on the give and take per se, it simply is a part of most human relationships. We give, we do, we are considerate, because we love.
In the Four Loves C.S. Lewis speaks of the love between friends, equals. No hierarchy, no one is sub-servant to the other, all are equal voices, mutually respected and shown mutual consideration, enjoying each others company with freedom to be who they are. No particular standards are prescribed to be held to, just a fellowship of brothers.
To be in a friendship or any relationship there has to be a level of emotional investment. Many people are guarded on varying levels, not making a deep emotional investment with many, but the few they make can be deep. It may be their personality type or life experiences that governs the level of investment they make.
Others, myself included, quickly and easily make an emotional investment in others, many others. To know you is to love you -and love gives, does, is considerate. Some personalities open themselves up quickly to others making an emotional investment almost immediately.
Attachment and detachment is the tight rope we all must walk.
To be too detached is to lose the importance of others, to be a lone ranger, to be separated from others struggles and ugliness, which may maintain your peace but sometimes leads to loneliness without a real cause. To lose the importance of friendship and relationship- or worse, to simply see relationship as a means to an end leaves a wake of cold destruction and disposable relationships. You may cut yourself off from emotional pain, but at what cost?
To be too attached can lead to subjective expectations of others asking "Why don't they return my love, is there something wrong with me?" and emotional pain and sometimes outburst in frustration. It is painful for others to not return love, to be disinterested or to abandon the relationship, whatever the reason.
Franciscan writer Murray Bodo, O.F.M. wrote in Song Of The Sparrow about attachment and detachment.
"In order to be totally involved with you (attached) I must somehow be detached from dependence upon you; ...you will not be enslaved by my involvement with you. It is as simple in essence and as difficult to achieve as that..."
And further
"The things and people we cling to imprison us, the things and people we love free us"
Here's the rub, we hurt each other. People will even admit that they knew better than to say this or that with another in a tense moment yet they had to say it anyway for their own self ego. We all do it. Push the shiny red button -see what happens.
How do you love when hurt is inevitable in a relationship? Bodo says "The most liberating experience of all is to love something or someone and at the same time NOT want to possess the object of our love."
If you love someone you do not Lord authority or even expectation over them. A healthy attachment/detachment gives freedom for people to grow and doesn't put unhealthy expectations on relationships. If so we then replace love with something else, usually something centered on our own pride and ego, as Bodo says "Otherwise need and dependence replace love, and we grow tired of what all this is costing us emotionally..." It may be need and dependence, it may disposing the person and relationship. But it isn't love, and the price emotionally is too great for us to endure.
So in order to grow in love I must allow others total freedom in my relationship with them, even if it means rejection or mistreatment or disdain. I cannot control how they interact with me, and I cannot have high expectations of them either. They will do what they do; like/dislike, love/hate .
I must hold loosely to those around me, loving them and entrusting them to Father God. And seeking to love first on God's terms and secondly on their terms, or else it is a limited love which I understand.
I don't have this nailed down yet at all, just wrestling through my own struggles.
peace.
-d@le
|Mood: french press
|06.29.09 11:55 am
|
I was talking to a friend yesterday, we were talking about "love".
The old saying is "Be careful what you ask God for - you'll surely get it..."
Ask for wisdom, He will give it to you. But like any good father- you will earn it! Same with humility, wisdom, understanding, peace, and many other qualities...including LOVE.
You want it? HE will help you obtain it.
Like anything, we say we want it till we see the price tag. I want a Chevy SSR sport-truck, but I don't want to pay $25,000.00 for it.
I may say I want LOVE but am I willing to pay the price it takes to receive a greater understanding of love, a greater filling of love in my heart?
John the Baptist understood that things come with a price. "He must increase, I must decrease..." JESUS set the ultimate example "Father forgive them, they don't even know what they are doing" - Father forgive them, they understand so little about what real love is that they think this is justice, some form of love.
In the garden he'd again made the determination to know the love of the Father and live it out towards us. He said "Not my will but your will be done."
To love, and to do the will of the Father was going to cost him.
What did it cost him? I cannot give you an exhaustive list here, but a few things that comes to mind -just regarding his friends are:
1) Ultimately His friends left him, when it came down to it they disassociated themselves from him and left him alone to face the consequences of showing God's love.
2) Further, his friend Judas totally betrayed him. How alone he must have felt.
3) Peter denied even knowing Him.
Have you ever felt totally alone in the middle of 1000 people? You're in a crowd yet totally forsaken, left by yourself. Most of us have some experience here; losing a job, having a good friend walk off, losing someone you love, a divorce, a death in the family...
For Jesus, love was not justice being served. When He went to the cross he chose to show God's love, He chose to die - even when they don't care, could care less that he did so. He chose to love those who would never love him in return, He chose to love those who would leave him, deny him, turn their backs on him, spit on him, beat him, hate him.
What do I learn from Jesus' example?
1) We have to learn to forgive even if we are sure they don't deserve it. To paraphrase the Lord's Prayer here: Forgive me where I have hurt and done others wrong, even as I forgive those who have hurt me and done me harm.
2) Perhaps the biggest price is to our own ego and sense of self worth. we have to lay down our rights to be angry at those who think us worthless. Again- as Jesus said "Forgive them, they don't even know what they are doing." This is where we must really DIE. There is no room for pride and arrogance but even moreso- there is no room for what most of us would see as reasonable self preservation. I can't love like this unless Christ helps me to die to myself.
3) We have to LEARN to RELY on God. Just like Jesus did. Doing everything we do as unto the Lord. Not retaliating or rendering justice.Read the psalms, David had to put evil, mean-ness, and the hate of men into God's hands and leave it there with Him. Jesus is calling us higher. But there is a cost.
To really LOVE it will cost us. The price? WE MUST DIE - by that I mean we must really lay down what rightfully should be ours when men sin against us and love -even when we will receive NOTHING in return. Nothing...
I'm not there yet, it's written on my hand-let it be written in my heart.
-d@le
|Mood: french press
|06.22.09 10:28 am
|
Imagine the words of a dying man. I have sat with men who were dying
-while working at the Salvation Army, and also now as a pastor,
hearing some of their last words.
Imagine your own words on the day you die. What would they be?
(OK, maybe it's morbid Monday for Dale)
Recently I saw a movie on the life of Francis where they portrayed his dying words as his "canticle" on creation. I don't know if that actually happened, I cannot remember reading of the account. But there was Francis, at total peace, breathing his last breathes, praying and praising God.
________________
Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,
All praise is Yours, all glory, honor and blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong;
no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.
We praise You, Lord, for all Your creatures,
especially for Brother Sun,
who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor,
of You Most High, he bears your likeness.
We praise You, Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars,
in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.
We praise You, Lord, for Brothers Wind and Air,
fair and stormy, all weather's moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.
We praise You, Lord, for Sister Water,
so useful, humble, precious and pure.
We praise You, Lord, for Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night.
He is beautiful, playful, robust, and strong.
We praise You, Lord, for Sister Earth,
who sustains us
with her fruits, colored flowers, and herbs.
We praise You, Lord, for those who pardon,
for love of You bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those who endure in peace,
by You Most High, they will be crowned.
We praise You, Lord, for Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in their sins!
Blessed are those that She finds doing Your Will.
No second death can do them harm.
We praise and bless You, Lord, and give You thanks,
and serve You in all humility.
____________________
The thing is that Francis didn't wait till he was dying to praise God
to enjoy creation
to live humbly
to love, even when not shown love...
On the other hand,
the dying began early in Francis life when he stripped naked-
receiving only what God gave to him
Giving back everything men would have him beholdant for-
except for love- the thing he owed to all men
Living and dying by God the Father's hands
There is a dying man sitting next to me
thinking about last words
and the love he owes to all men
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|06.15.09 8:55 am
|
Everyone finds themselves at a juncture, a moment in time between what has been and what will be.
Change can be easily visible; a geographic move for a job or home, a scar, losing weight, a hair cut.
Other change, though not visible, can still be very dramatic and life changing; falling in love, an emotional breakdown, making a decision that will change the way you view life and operate in your world.
The Apostle Paul found himself on this precipice constantly after encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus.e had to change his way of thinking, trash prejudice, and his own pre-learned and preconceived ideas as intelligent and well taught as he was.
The precipice is a place which the follower of Jesus must get use to. Things don't stay the same for long. The kingdom is one that doesn't settle down and get comfortable but is always on the move.
The early church couldn't get comfortable in Jerusalem, to do so would be for the salt to remain in the salt shaker. Uncomfortable as it is, we are called to something more.
Recently some of my good friends have moved here and there for jobs. The economy or other circumstances have necessitated it. But in it I see the potential of the kingdom, and not settling down in Jerusalem, salt out of the salt shaker and in the world doing what it is suppose to do.
But ALL of us it is the inward change that affects the world around us where we are. When I was in college I thought I'd be a missionary. I have never left the states - yet from college on I have served neglected and troubled kids, runaways, the mentally ill, those in crisis, the homeless, and now as a full time pastor. The inner change, the desire to serve, however has allowed me to affect the world around me in some positive way.
Especially with the kids my heart was broken several times trying to make their situation better, my nose was also broken for the same reason. Often I'd be drivn' & cryin'- & prayin' too- on that precipice. Many of us don't move alot, are steady in our jobs, but still we can be salt out of the shaker and in the world doing what salt is suppose to do.
So I stand at this precipice, again. Unsure of what the change will look like. Things don't stay the same. We're called to Texas or Nashville or somewhere else for a job, school, or family. Sometimes we're called to stand where we are at to make a difference.
As Paul said "Brothers, I do not consider myself to have embraced it yet. But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead"
-d@le
|Mood: vegetarian
|06.10.09 6:32 pm
|
I am at one of those points in my life, a swell of change around me. My oldest son, Jon, leaves for college in a couple of months. The Vineyard moved from it's meeting place just a few months ago into a new place of worship - and all the changes that necessitated. Life continually changes around us with or without our consent.
Sometimes change is overwhelming and sometimes it's welcome. Scrape the gum off your shoe and move forward, take a fresh start, throw out the trash and keep what's good.
St. Bonaventure writes in the book Major Life of St. Francis, about an incident when Francis is coming down from a retreat at Mount Alvernia after just having received the stigmata, (the wounds of Christ in his hands, feet, and side) He was so weak that he had to be carried by the friars, as he proclaimed the message:
"Let us begin again to serve the Lord, for up until now we have done hardly anything."
That could be offensive if you feel you've worked hard and invested yourself and your heart into something. On the other hand it could be liberating!
Like Nicodemas coming to see Jesus, like the call to repent and return -and to return to one's first love in Revelations, we find ourselves with this challenge and encouragement daily.
Not to live on the successes of yesterday, nor to be hindered by yesterdays failures; simply a call "Let us begin again..."
-d@le
|Mood: sumatran
|05.29.09 5:26 pm
|
WHAT SHOULD THE CHURCH LOOK LIKE?
This is my favorite story about John Wimber and an Iranian Taxi Driver:
Folks, the world knows what this is supposed to look like. Years ago in New York City, I got into a taxi cab with an Iranian taxi driver, who could hardly speak English. I tried to explain to him where I wanted to go, and as he was pulling his car out of the parking place, he almost got hit by a van that on its side had a sign reading The Pentecostal Church. He got real upset and said, "That guy’s drunk." I said, "No, he’s a Pentecostal. Drunk in the spirit, maybe, but not with wine." He asked, "Do you know about church?" I said, "Well, I know a little bit about it; what do you know?" It was a long trip from one end of Manhattan to the other, and all the way down he told me one horror story after another that he’d heard about the church. He knew about the pastor that ran off with the choir master's wife, the couple that had burned the church down and collected the insurance—every horrible thing you could imagine. We finally get to where we were going, I paid him, and as we’re standing there on the landing I gave him an extra-large tip. He got a suspicious look in his eyes—he’d been around, you know. I said, "Answer me this one question." Now keep in mind, I’m planning on witnessing to him. "If there was a God and he had a church, what would it be like?" He sat there for awhile making up his mind to play or not. Finally he sighed and said, "Well, if there was a God and he had a church—they would care for the poor, heal the sick, and they wouldn’t charge you money to teach you the Book." I turned around and it was like an explosion in my chest. "Oh, God." I just cried, I couldn’t help it. I thought, "Oh Lord, they know. The world knows what it’s supposed to be like. The only ones that don’t know are the Church."
When you joined the kingdom, you expected to be used of God. I’ve talked to thousands of people, and almost everybody has said, "When I signed up, I knew that caring for the poor was part of it—I just kind of got weaned off of it, because no one else was doing it." Folks, I’m not saying, "Do some-thing heroic." I’m not saying, "Take on some high standard, sell everything you have and go." Now, if Jesus tells you that, that’s different. But I’m not saying that. I’m just saying, participate. Give some portion of what you have—time, energy, money, on a regular basis—to this purpose, to redeeming people, to caring for people. Share your heart and life with somebody that’s not easy to sit in the same car with. Are you hearing me? That’s where you’ll really see the kingdom of God.
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|05.11.09 8:08 pm
|
Several months ago, while returning from a trip to the monastery in Conyers, I felt the Lord speak a few things to me. It was in September just as the economic situation was getting serious. I felt the Lord spoke to me that the idol of America $$$ was broken, and it could not save. That something had changed and we could not go back to the way things were before. Gas was $4 a gallon, and most people were severely feeling the pinch of hard economic times.
A verse was also brought to my attention that at the time seemed cryptic, still so, yet it has hung in my head ever since. It's found in both the old and new testament; in Isaiah 28:11 and 1 Corinthians 14:21
In the Law it stands written, "'By men of unknown tongues and by the lips of an unknown nation will I speak to this People, but even then they will not listen to Me', says the Lord."
In the OT it refers to Israel being overtaken by foreigners, judgement had come and it would look like foreign rule and oppression.
In the new testament Paul seems to be referring to speaking in tongues as on the day of pentecost, that God would "instruct his people with stammering lips and an unknown tongue" -spiritual gifts, but also doing so in order and without confusion.
I find myself seeking to reconcile these views and to understand clearly why (I feel strongly) God had spoken this verse to me.
I know this, there is no complete separation of church and state- in that the church is often the conceinse of the government. Ergo I feel God is speaking to both the church as well as to government...more pondering...
-d@le
|Mood: iced
|05.05.09 4:24 pm
|
"We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way."
- St. Francis of Assisi
-d@le
|Mood: sumatran
|04.21.09 7:26 am
|
This is an ancient prayer of the church, the language is beautiful and inspiring.
My friend Pastor Josh from the Anchor in Nashville shared a portion of this Sunday night.
Originally attributed to St. Ambrose,it was probably written by Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana..wherever that is....
We praise you O God,
we acknowledge you to be the Lord;
all the earth now worships you,
the Father everlasting.
To you all angels cry aloud,
the heavens and all the powers therein;
to you cherubim and seraphim
continually do cry:
Holy, holy, holy
Holy Lord, God of Sabaoth,
heaven and earth are full of the
majesty of your glory.
The glorious company
of the apostles praise you,
the goodly fellowship
of the prophets praise you,
the noble army of martyrs praise you,
the holy Church throughout all the world
does acknowledge you:
the Father of an infinite majesty,
your adorable, true,
and only Son,
also the Holy Spirit, the counselor.
You are the King of glory, O Christ.
You are the everlasting Son of the Father.
When you took upon yourself
to deliver man,
you humbled yourself to be born of a virgin.
When you had overcome the sharpness of death,
you opened the kingdom
of heaven to all believers.
You sit at the right hand of God
in the glory of the Father.
We believe that you will come to be our judge.
We therefore pray you help your servants,
whom you have redeemed with your
precious blood.
Make them to be numbered
with your saints in glory everlasting.
O Lord save your people
and bless your heritage.
Govern them and lift them up forever.
Day by day we magnify you,
and we worship your name,
world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord,
to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let your mercy be upon us,
as our trust is in you.
O Lord, in you have I trusted,
let me never be confounded.
-d@le
|Mood: iced tea
|04.13.09 5:57 pm
|
We are not, in many ways, that far removed from Francis of Assisi. In his day he saw a need for a new kind of monasticism, not cloistered off away from the world, but in the thick of it, in the nitty-gritty-ness of every day life.
In his day and age he was an apostle pretty much as the original apostles had been in the Roman world which they had lived, only with the additional challenge of how do you convert people who already see themselves as "christian"?
We find ourselves with these challenges and opportunities: The world is our cloister, we can be peacemakers in a violent and changing society, we are missionaries to our local area to those who are not christian, and also converting many from "christian" to "follower of Jesus"...
...As Francis said:
"We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way."
(some thoughts, partially from "Francis of Assisi" by Cook & Herzman)
-d@le
|Mood: fresh groung whole bean
|03.29.09 4:22 pm
|
Tom Petty wrote:
"Its good to be king and have your own way
Get a feeling of peace at the end of the day
And when your bulldog barks and your canary sings
Youre out there with winners, its good to be king
Yeah, Ill be king when dogs have wings
Can I help it if I still dream time to time"
And at our greatest moments we say something stupid, divine reality I suppose- keeps us humble. The winner of the beauty contest gets a zit at the last moment, or laughing and trying to be charming only to find you had spinach between your teeth later...the human condition...even when we're "king" we're laughable. The irony.
"Be a winner, have your best life now, I was Elvis in a former life..." climb the corperate Jacob's Ladder and dont worry who you step on and deceive in the process ...especially yourself...be master of your own destiny.
Johnny Cash covering Nine Inch Nails speaks of his "Empire of Dirt"...how true. As Petty says "Yeah, I'll be king when dogs have wings"...but before this realization, this reality, we live in an unreality-
Why is there a part of us that's never satisfied, never having arrived, always looking for a better day, something more, more than what is? Some days we feel on top of the world & other days we feel empty, even when we have everything. I don't know...
Last week I heard a song I hadn't heard in a while, from DELERIOUS' "live & in the can" album- the words are:
"lead me to the cross where we first met, draw me to my knees where we can talk, let me feel your breath, let me know you're here with me"
At the cross is the only place I can find satisfaction. I haven't seen but I've believed, I have ears and I want to hear, like Abraham who was looking for a city not made with hands I'm looking for something more. But I cant find it in myself, or in any other person, place, or thing. Only in Jesus.
Anything less is disappointing...
-d@le
|Mood: etheopian with cream
|03.25.09 4:52 pm
|
Monastic movements have always been based on a return to prayer. How we need a return to prayer today.
One thing I noticed as I first visited a monastery is the life of prayer. A rhythm, an emphasis on both corporate and individual prayer.
Monks pray scripture, pray the psalms, meditate on scripture, even as a group they are praying individually and even as they pray individually they pray as a group. The hours of prayer are kept by monks, monastic third orders, and regular people worldwide.
So, any time I pray the daily office, people around the world have been joining with me in prayer - hundreds and thousands of people all over the globe are keeping the daily hours of prayer...very cool...I may be praying by myself, but I am praying along with thousands of believers.
And so if you believe in life after death, and if you believe that your relatives, and the saints from all time have an awareness in the afterlife, and you believe that they indeed are in the presence of God and communicating with God, (read Revelations) then you can multiply the number of people "praying" to God by an unknown number of millions or more. Then the idea of individual and corporate prayer takes on a whole other dimension.
-d@le
|Mood: americano
|03.14.09 8:13 pm
|
John the apostle said:
"we are already God's children, but what we shall be in the future has not yet been revealed...when he appears-we shall be like him..."
Wow! "We are already God's children-"
We seem to understand that statement in a nebulous kind of 20th century, kind of overarching, kind of psychological-politico-correcto-kind of way...
But that's not what was meant. There is truth in this understanding for God is Father of all mankind regarless if we accept this or not. But John is specifically talking here to those who believed this to be so- in a time where that pretty much meant being ostracized or persecuted.
"When he appears we shall be like him..."
This is an amazing statement, we are already God's children but when he appears we shall BE LIKE HIM. Jesus, who was fully human and fully divine, the new man, the new creation, the firstborn among many brothers, the first of a new kind - is not the last one. WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM - like Jesus, not just human, not just body, not part body and part spirit - but fully spirit and fully body, like Jesus.
-d@le
|Mood: coffee & cream
|03.01.09 3:16 pm
|
The God of the universe had been born into His own created order, in order to redeem it.
He who was fully spirit
(God is a spirit and those who worship Him - worship Him in Spirit and Truth)
Would become fully flesh
&
By being born into his own creation
He would repair it!!!!
WHY?
He said I have loved you with an everlasting love.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
so that whoever believes in him shall not perish,
shall not die, but have everlasting life.
By his birth, his death, burial, and resurrection
Jesus restored us to God.
He repaired what was broken!
& He didn’t just repair it-
He made all things new!!!
Christ reconciled us, and restored our communion with God,
covering us with His blood
which He shed on the cross
and the night before he was crucified
He explained how he was restoring communion between God & man
When he said “this is my body broken for you,
this is my blood shed for you”.
Greater love has no man than this-
That he lays down his life for his friends
Christ came to restore the image of God upon men
He is the image of the invisible God…the firstborn from the dead…and (He) reconciles us to God –Colossians chapter 1:15,20
Romans says HE is the First born among many brothers & sisters
He was born into His own creation
In order to redeem it
In order to redeem US
Jesus was fully divine, a part of the trinity, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
The creed says for us and our salvation Christ came down from heaven,
was born to Mary and became what?
A MAN.
A new kind of man
fully HUMAN – AND - Fully Divine…
the first one
A new creation
“The first born of many brothers and sisters”
A new kind of man.
Right now we a both
human and spirit
But not fully either
I’m not fully spirit ~ I definitely have a human side-
I like to eat
I like to sleep
I like to get new tattoos and decorate my "human"
I’m not fully human ~I have a spiritual side to me too!
I like to pray
I like to worship
I like to experience God
BUT One day I will be
fully human and fully spirit-
Like my big brother Jesus-
The first-born among many brothers and sisters
Isn’t that incredible?
But that’s what scripture says!
-d@le
|Mood: ginkgo tea
|02.13.09 12:50 pm
|
Silence is hearing:
There are times I just want to be quiet. I've been in a quiet mood all day but have been wondering why. Then I realized that when I want to be quiet - it is then that I am seeking to hear from God...to hear His voice...understand what He's trying to say to me.
Sounds too simple but I believe it's true. The inner person automatically gets quiet in response to feeling the need to hear, the mind and emotions have to figure out why and eventually catch up. In silence our hearing is clear.
Too often I will take anything over silence: TV, radio, the phone, computers, whatever. Too often I choose restlessness instead of "being still-and knowing that He is God."...nothing begets nothing...
Mother Teresa said:
We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.
I need silence for me to comprehend when God touches my soul.
O God come to my assistance,
O Lord make haste to help me.
Speak Lord for your servant is listening (1 Samuel 3:10)
-d@le
|Mood: hazlenut
|01.25.09 10:09 pm
|
We walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7)
This is the way of the kingdom...
Paul said in Philippians:
"I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead..."
The past is the past- good, bad, indifferent...the past is what it is...
We cannot let the failures hold us back, whatever they are.
& we cannot rest on our accomplishments either.
Basically, who cares past a couple of weeks? Nobody.
I think Saint Francis understood this well, not long before he departed he gave this encouragement to the brothers:
" Let us begin again for up until now we have done nothing."
These simple words profoundly echo the apostle Paul. The past is past. Go forward, the only direction we can really go. Reach forward to what lies ahead! Walk by faith! It is the way of the kingdom.
-d@le
|Mood: milk & cookies
|01.18.09 8:58 pm
|
It's not about us-
One thing we forget as disciples is that it's not about us.
Ambitious for a cause is one thing, ambitious for good, justice, fairness, etc. But personal ambition is as foreign to the disciple's life as one can be. A bigger place, a bigger name, a bigger "ministry" ...
I think about John the Baptist "He must increase but I must decrease" - but we often don't live that way.
We've kicked around a phrase at The Vineyard "A nickel in God's pocket to spend" -any way He wants too. Saint Francis taught his friends to hold loosely to any honor or office, to serve others with all humility, and to even gladly lay down any position if and when it is asked of you...this is not the American way, and particularly not the way the status quo church establishment works. We're always looking for bigger and better, often we're hired guns going to where the money is...name, place, perks...
There's nothing the matter with making a living, even a good living, but I always have to ask myself - "who am I living for?" What is the source of my ambition? Am I living like a disciple?
Paul said-
"children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. "
GET THAT:
I WILL MOST GLADLY SPEND AND BE EXPENDED FOR YOUR SOULS...
He was a nickel in God's pocket to spend however He wants to. Gladly.
His ambition was for God, for God's kingdom alone, not his own.
I pray that God gives me that kind of heart, like John the baptist, like Paul, like Peter, and like any true disciple throughout history. Living for a cause and not just for myself. Living for His cause.
-d@le
|Mood: ginseng
|01.11.09 7:39 pm
|
This is a must read by St. John Chrysostom, one of the earlier church fathers. He is no stranger to difficulties in his time and his words speak to us today (read it out loud like a speech from Aragorn in LOTR- it'll help you hear it):
The waters have risen and severe storms are upon us, but we do not fear drowning, for we stand firmly upon a rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot break the rock. Let the waves rise, they cannot sink the boat of Jesus. What are we to fear? Death? Life to me means Christ, and death is gain. Exile? ‘The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord. The confiscation of goods? We brought nothing into this world, and we shall surely take nothing from it. I have only contempt for the world’s threats, I find its blessings laughable. I have no fear of poverty, no desire for wealth. I am not afraid of death nor do I long to live, except for your good. I concentrate therefore on the present situation, and I urge you, my friends, to have confidence.
Do you not hear the Lord saying: Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst? Will he be absent, then, when so many people united in love are gathered together? I have his promise; I am surely not going to rely on my own strength! I have what he has written; that is my staff, my security, my peaceful harbour. Let the world be in upheaval. I hold to his promise and read his message; that is my protecting wall and garrison. What message? Know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!
If Christ is with me, whom shall I fear? Though the waves and the sea and the anger of princes are roused against me, they are less to me than a spider’s web. Indeed, unless you, my brothers, had detained me, I would have left this very day. For I always say “Lord, your will be done”; not what this fellow or that would have me do, but what you want me to do. That is my strong tower, my immovable rock, my staff that never gives way. If God wants something, let it be done! If he wants me to stay here, I am grateful. But wherever he wants me to be, I am no less grateful.
Yet where I am, there you are too, and where you are, I am. For we are a single body, and the body cannot be separated from the head nor the head from the body. Distance separates us, but love unites us, and death itself cannot divide us. For though my body die, my soul will live and be mindful of my people.
You are my fellow citizens, my fathers, my brothers, my sons, my limbs, my body. You are my light, sweeter to me than the visible light. For what can the rays of the sun bestow on me that is comparable to your love? The sun’s light is useful in my earthly life, but your love is fashioning a crown for me in the life to come.
-d@le
|Mood: sumatran
|01.03.09 10:48 am
|
( A call to prayer as we enter the New Year, this one from the Secular Franciscans)
A Secular Franciscan’s Life of Prayer
The Secular Franciscans aim should be, at all times, a closer and closer union with Christ. This can be done in many ways, but there is no way better than by talking directly to Christ. We have considered some of these ways: daily Mass and Holy Communion when possible; a Spiritual Communion when you can’t make Mass; the Franciscan Crown (rosary); There are many ways that are personal to each one of us — morning and evening, before meals and after and walking the “Way of the Cross” with Jesus down the aisles of a church. There are mental tęte-ŕ-tętes with God — Sacred readings inspired by the sight of a flower, a leaf, a cloud, the sound of music, or a bird, of laughter, of weeping, of any beauty, any kindness, any compassion, any reaching out; in the blossoming of any such buds anywhere in God’s creation, from our heart to the heart of God.
"Come," we say to Jesus — at any time, day or night. "Come into my heart, my soul and my thoughts. Jesus, if you are in my thoughts, you are in my heart, and in my soul, and in my life. If you are in my life, then I am truly united with you, and that is what I want, my life united with the real presence of my Jesus."
Now, none of these is obligatory. You and I choose what best suits each one of us in our endeavor to bring Christ into the very inmost center of our life, and, no prayer, and no attendance at a spiritual service, or gathering must ever interfere with one’s obligations to those in our care, or those in need around us. If it is a question of should I say my prayers right now, or should I take care of household task that needs to be done for the care of someone, the latter takes precedence always. The household task is your prayer. If it is a question of, should I attend this religious service, or should I take care of this sick person who has no one else to care for him or her, then the answer, of course, is self-evident. Remember what Jesus said, “As long as you do it to one of these, the least of my brethren …” These actions are prayers. This is union with Christ, to the Christ who is in this person I am helping — from the Christ who is in me.
-d@le
|Mood: black and cream
|12.23.08 6:31 pm
|
Vigil of the Heart:
I've had to learn to pace myself.
I love and enjoy Christmas, but once Christmas Day is over I'm ready to move on.
Take down the tree, put away the decorations, get on with the new year.
I use to do it all on December 26, but I'm trying to pace myself.
As much as I love the decorations, the tree, and the lights-
I love austere January.
Uncluttered, simplified, quiet.
a single candle in the darkness
solitude and silence
breath
-d@le
|Mood: coffee with cream
|12.03.08 10:40 am
|
CHRISTUS VICTOR!
I tattoo theological concepts onto my body (i know, here come the jokes)
I have an anchor on my right shoulder based on Hebrews 6:19
A sacred heart on my left and on my left fore arm is "Christus Victor"
It's an idea coined in Gustave Aulen's book by the same name.
He refers to Christus Victor as the primary view of Christ during the first thousand years of the church.
I had ordered Aulen's "Christus Victor" just a few weeks back and was reading it last week during the holiday break.
Yep, it's deep but well worth the effort (one of those books you have to read at least 3 times)
The character of Christ is like a diamond with many sides and angles to look at. At the core of the book Aulen is bringing out a side we may not be quite as familiar with, though would agree that it is very
much the nature of Christ.
Most of us are familiar with the beauty of Christ as the suffering servant, the ransom for our sins, full of humility and humbleness. It's beautiful, and this is what we may have primarily heard taught.
But Christ is not so simply explained and just as the diamond has many facets ~ even more so does the Christ of the universe. Different periods of time have emphasized different attributes of Christ.
In Christus Victor we see another one of these facets; That of a a strong, victorious, conquering messiah who has spoiled the strong man's house, bound the strong man, and taken away from the strong man his spoils of war (namely me and you)
As St John Chrysostom said in his Easter Sermon:
Hell took a body, and discovered God. It took earth, and encountered
Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory?
Christ is Risen, and you, O death, are annihilated! Christ is Risen,
and the evil ones are cast down! Christ is Risen, and the angels
rejoice! Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Chrysostom states it plainly;
Christ began overthrowing hell 2000 years ago (thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven)
When He returns he will bring this to completion.
In the mean time we work for the kingdom, and pray "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven" till he returns.
Christ Victorious!
May the Lord give you peace!
Friar Dale Hall, CJ
Associate Pastor
The Vineyard of Chattanooga
&
Director of Franciscan Vocations
The Company of Jesus
-d@le
|Mood: hot chocolate
|12.01.08 4:11 pm
|
My favorite verse in "O Holy Night"
Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
This harkens to a kingdom coming where slavery is at an end,
a time when there will be no human trafficking, and where God's justice reigns.
We pray and work for this now, until he comes.
-d@le
|Mood: egg-nogg
|11.21.08 10:04 pm
|Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God - the rest will be given.
-Mother Teresa
Now this is turning my american/capitalistic point of view on it's ear. Often we think a money-bomb will fix everything
(& money does help take care of a lot of things)
But perhaps money is the wrong starting place, do you wait till you have money or do you start serving and caring first- without money if necessary...and go from there...?
-d@le
|Mood: lemon tea
|11.09.08 8:36 pm
|
People might have confused me for some long haired homeless vagabond standing at the lectern of Burks United Methodist Church today if it hadn't been for the large power-point slide overhead which said "Reverend Dale Hall ~ The Vineyard Church of Chattanooga". (how funny) I had some very sweet older ladies come make complimentary comments about my tattoos, I graciously accepted, it was surreal for me as well as them no doubt.
It was a 10 year celebration of the Interfaith program, a homeless shelter that goes from church to church one week at a time. When I first heard of Interfaith I was running a shelter program at another social service agency in Chattanooga, unfortunately turning homeless families away at times because we were so overwhelmed with need. So I was glad to hear of Interfaith, it's a great program. Our church has supported Interfaith for years hosting families and giving special love offerings on Christmas Eve. I also sat on the board of Interfaith for a couple of years.
They'd asked me to read a scripture for the celebration, Matthew chapter 25 about giving food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, and so on. The irony is that this was also the scripture I'd chosen for the message at the Vineyard this Sunday too. It was a nice celebration and reception.
At the reception I had the opportunity to chat with alot of people, even the mayor of Chattanooga- Ron Littlefield. I'm not much of a hob-nobber and seldom find myself in a room with important people or political types, but it was a bit of a privilege to spend a few minutes chatting about something we both are passionate about ~standing in solidarity with our citizens in need, especially the homless families and children of Chattanooga.
-d@le
|Mood: coffee & cream
|11.07.08 3:43 pm
|
pray, hope, wide awake...
-d@leus
|Mood: Arabica
|10.16.08 1:52 pm
|
Christus Victor was the most dominant view of Christ's person and mission for the first thousand years of the church.
Later St. Anselm focused more on the substitutional death of Christ which still is the predominant reference in our theology today about Christ. It is valid but rediscovering the view of the early church, the church fathers, and the first thousand years of church history can really speak to us today.
In fact, rediscovering Christ as Christus Victor is rediscovering that what we call "kingdom theology" actually has an ancient reference and connection in "Christus Victor". A victorious Christ, unstoppable in justice, grace and beauty.
Read some of Psalms 45 here:
2You are the most handsome of the sons of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
3Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your splendor and majesty!
4In your majesty ride out victoriously
for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!
5Your arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king’s enemies;
the peoples fall under you.
6Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
Though this is written for a "king", as scripture it takes on being written for "The King" -the King of Kings to be exact. And what a beautiful description of Christ-
Graceful, strong over wickedness and darkness, a scepter of justice and uprightness, beauty...
I read this psalm this morning and was inspired by it's wording
-d@le
|Mood: coffee & chickory
|09.30.08 5:46 pm
|A financial crisis is upon us...
When I was at the monastery, while I was in the church praying or just being still and quiet, the phrase "consider my servant Ezekiel" came to my mind. I'd taught through Ezekiel about 10 years ago, so I grabbed my bible & went there.
Ezekiel was a non-conformist, many in his day thought he was plain crazy. He lay naked in the street for months, he played army men in the dirt acting out the coming siege and fall of Jerusalem, while in exile God told him to pack his bags as if he were leaving town (he was in a prison camp at the time) no doubt people watched him & said "Where the heck does he think he's going?" "...crazy, uh-huh..."
He saw visions people couldn't believe and he was sent to a hard headed, obstinant, proud people.
As I drove back home from Conyers I stopped at 4 different exits trying to find gas. The hurricane has made gas scarce, but ethanol has made food scarce, and third world countries have had riots over shortages of rice. I was reminded of Ezekiel chapter 4 where food and commodities were being rationed, some people in the world can't find food, and here I can't find gas. Nothing quite like this has ever happened before- Odd. Strange days indeed.
Something has changed, something has changed and we can never go back to the way things were before.
Chapter 6 Ezekiel talks about the idols of Israel, golden idols, idols made of gold, gold...
Chapter 7 verse 19 says
"They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be an unclean thing. Their silver and gold will not be able to save them in the day of the LORD's wrath."
Gold is the idol of Wall Street, the idol the United States bows down before. But this idol has just been destroyed, it is a false God. It will not be able to save on the day of wrath.
We are frantic seeking to pass or oppose a bill in congress trying to bail out the economy. For or against- you probably have an opinion of Wall St. & Congress. Some of the current event sites I read were talking months ago about an economic crisis in September 2008, others said we won't fully see the crisis in full force till February 2009. Now that September is here I have a little less scepticism towards these sites, I now cautiously await next February. The idol cannot save, it has been destroyed.
I am not a doom and gloomer, but I think things have changed. We have to change with it- and stop putting our trust in anything else but the Lord, to do otherwise is foolish. The idol cannot save, it has been destroyed. The beginning of wisdom is to respect the Lord as God. Things have changed and we can never go back to the way things were before. But if that means being on a right and true path, then isn't that a good thing?
"With stammering lips and an unknown tongue will he instruct his people." was another phrase that popped in my mind at the church of the monastery...but that's another post.
Love it, hate it. Agree or disagree ...
These were my thoughts from a visit to the monastery.
-d@1e
|Mood: columbian
|09.07.08 3:35 pm
|
St. Bonaventure writes in the book Major Life of St. Francis, about an incident when Francis is coming down from a retreat at Mount Alvernia after just having received the stigmata, (the wounds of Christ in his hands, feet, and side) He was so weak that he had to be carried by the friars, as he proclaimed the message:
"Let us begin again to serve the Lord, for up until now we have done hardly anything."
Like Nicodemas coming to see Jesus, like the call to repent and return -and to return to one's first love in Revelations, we find ourselves with this challenge and encouragement.
Not to live on the successes of yesterday, nor to be hindered by yesterdays failures; simply a call "Let us begin again..."
Kind of like Paul, leaving behind everything else to apprehend what we've been apprehended for.
-d@le
|Mood: casi celio coffee
|08.20.08 3:12 pm
|Maintaining the status quo is boring, in fact it's death.
What has God made you for, what is your reason for living? What's the dream? Jonathan Foreman of the band switchfoot put it this way:
"This ain't my American dream, I want to live and die for bigger things"...
The Apostle Paul said " give generously, teach well, serve, be kind" whatever your gift is, whatever your reason for living, do it fully, do it well!
Saint Francis was once repelled by beggers, hauntingly so. But after conversion, after finding his reason to live, he was so filled with compassion that he served and took care of lepers, even kissing the leper's hand.
I don't want to live and die for the status quo, I want to live and die for bigger things...
-d@1e
|Mood: columbian
|07.15.08 9:23 am
|I've found within me a renewed desire for prayer, and particularly, reading scripture. I've been in the psalms for a couple of years now, and I love them. I retreated to the psalms for a time, particularly falling in love with them and their place within fixed hours of prayer- or the daily office.
But just recently have I felt a new desire to return to the rest of scripture.
last night I read some of Job and have taken his words as a prayer to keep in memory:
I know that my redeemer lives
and on the last day
HE will stand upon the earth
Though my skin be destroyed
yet in my flesh I will see God
I myself will see Him with my own eyes
I and not another
How my heart yearns within me!
This is the prayer of man understanding his own mortality,
This is my prayer, or at least one of them...
-d@le
|Mood: decaf
|06.22.08 10:43 pm
|
I have been keeping the Divine Hours for going on three years now. Also known as the Daily Office of prayer, this has revolutionized my prayer life and I keep falling in love with "the hours" continually.
Deep strength comes from prayer and from connecting with God, Augustine said "Prayer is the souls breathing"...
-d@le
|Mood: columbian with cream
|05.12.08 1:42 pm
|
Merton writes on Conversion of Life ~ conversatio morum
It is concerned simply with the heart of the monastic vocation (or Christian life) to prayer and penance, to liberty of spirit, to freedom from vain preoccupation...In St. Benedict's mind it is simply a formal commitment to live unto death as a fervent monk...
...It is in this life that (we) can devote (ourselves)... to the labor obedientiae and will therefore more quickly and surely divest himself of his own will in order to follow Christ and become like Christ in His passion, so as to share His glory. The characteristic of the false monk (outlined in the Rule of St. Benedict)...is rooted in their own will.
St. Francis, along with St. Benedict encourages us to live out our vocation daily, to pick up the cross daily, and to lay our own will down daily. This seems so hard for us in the 21st century, especially in our individualistic society. But I will say it cannot be any harder today than in any other age, in times past they no doubt struggled as much as we do for place, position, importance, or at least to bristle against others when they do the same.
But Merton also quotes St. Ephrem in this chapter giving us great insight :
He who desires to please the Lord and to become a son of the Lord must above all get rid of anger and firmly hold on to patience and silence...In tribulation...need...sickness and conflict...struggle with evil spirits...insults from other men...in all these things he must...rejoice, and love, and exult, and be fervent with zeal...and approach Him with perfect conduct.
OH how hard! maybe you find yourself where you know more about the job than your boss- yet you have to find peace in the circumstance, or perhaps someone is arrogant towards you -do you respond in kind? (or perhaps with a little passive aggression?) Maybe the younger treats the older with disdain and "uncoolness" how does the older respond? Can we control another's will or impose our own?
But we are called, as a third order, to model something different than what the world models. We are not to be rooted in our own will ~ but the will of the Father. To divest ourselves of our will in order to follow Christ and to do HIS will. Therefore we can't hold anger against those around us who are inconsiderate, disrespectful, or self serving. We are called to firmly hold our patience and silence and peace in all circumstances; tribulations, needs, sickness, conflict, struggles, insults...and to reflect the image of Christ with joy, love, and zeal, not holding others sins against them...
We have been forgiven, we should forgive-
We have been loved, we should love.
May the Lord give you His grace for conversatio morum
May the Lord give you peace!
Friar Dale Hall, CJ
Director of Franciscan Vocations
The Company of Jesus
-d@le
|Mood: columbian
|05.05.08 1:08 pm
|
Just a short thought from Merton's The Monastic Journey:
"...for St. Benedict both action and contemplation are necessary in the monastic life. Both go together. As St. Bernard says, "Mary and Martha are sisters and they must live together in peace in the same house"."
Merton later contrasts the mistakes young monastics make upon entering the monastery. He says to he who expects to only retire to a life of contemplation upon entering the monastery is in for a rude awakening, and that life- even in a monastery is full of laborious activity.
The apostle James encourages us towards faith and works , knowing that a life too fully given to one or the other is not the idea Jesus set forth in the gospels. For me, I can see John chapter 15 in clarity here. there is a need to be connected to the vine (contemplation) in order to produce (action) the fruit. Jesus explains the need to produce fruit for the kingdom and promises us the ability to do so only through connection with Him.
You, probably like me are a little more one or the other, either a Mary or a Martha.
I'm a bit more of a Mary, which is great unless there is a task to be accomplished. I can sit in my church for a solid hour in silence easily, but I have learned to make myself work a bit to get necessary things done, I hate paperwork or solitary tasks, I love counseling and praying with people, meeting people, chatting, etc... -then back to the contemplation.
As monastics, and as an order, and simply as followers of Christ- we are called to a life of action and contemplation. St. Francis lived in the world and ministered continuously, St. Benedict obviously gave us the challenge to "work and pray".
May the Lord give you strength to do both!
-d@le
|Mood: kenyan
|04.27.08 4:14 pm
|
On the Divine Office of daily prayer Merton says:
"In the Psalms we are constantly contemplating, in mystery, the great reality of our redemption in Christ. We are thanking God for that redemption, we are pleading for the whole Church, and for those who do not know God. We are begging God to forgive sin, and to save those who are immersed in the darkness of sin. We are begging that we may all come to the vision of His glory, and that Christ may be glorified in us.
More than that, we come to realize that it is Jesus Himself, praying in us, Who continues, in our Divine Office, His work of redeeming the world."
It is amazing to me that God gives us this opportunity to partner with Him this way, that He would use us, use our prayers, and in doing so continue His work of redeeming the world.
Therefore we are challenged to pray for those who may seem or feel far away from Him, as agents of the grace of God.
-d@le
|Mood: black coffee
|04.16.08 2:36 pm
|
Here's some Thomas Merton-
"The monk, a man of prayer, must learn that through his prayers, through the blessing that is spread abroad by the presence of a monastery (or faith community) the world is sanctified and brought close to God. He must rejoice in the fact that by his hidden union with Christ he enables all things to come closer to their last end, and to give glory to their creator.
The monk must see the monastic community as Christ, living visible and present in the midst of His creation, and blessing ..all the surrounding country and all the things which the monks touch and use leading all things to unite with us in praising God...The material things which surround us are holy because of our bodies, which are sancified by our souls, which are sanctified by the presence of the indwelling word" (Merton references St Bernard's sermons on the dedication of a church here)
Truly we are to be his hands and feet - the representation of the body of Christ in our world today, the church is to be the salt of the world, our prayers are to bring the world closer to God - somehow...
The idea of sacred and holy isn't that odd when we look at celebrity culture today. Look no further than Graceland or a guitar played by Elvis, or Johnny Cash and you get the idea. We say "wow". I was at Wheaton College a couple of years back and went to the CS Lewis Center there where they have Lewis' writing desk, some personal effects, and one of his pipes. I was somewhat in awe, & wished I could smoke that pipe.
But as Merton speaks of "all the things which the monks touch and use leading all things to unite with praising God" being "holy", I feel this is best portrayed by a musical instrument that was used to lead people into song and worship, or a canvas or paintbrush used to create a work of art...but it's not limited to that, it extends to the shovel used to create a meditation garden or mabe that old pot or pan that served up such hospitality to so many.
In the old testament Temple there were vessels specifically used in the temple, yet even the old bucket used to haul water had a "holiness" attached to it because it was used in service to God by a servant of God, and therefore sanctified and holy too somehow in some small way.
May God through our prayers and service bring the world closer to himself,
May we each and as a community be sanctified by him, to him, & for him in all that we do.
-d@le
|Mood: decaf with soy
|04.13.08 10:26 pm
|
The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy-the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men. A weird life it is to be living always in somebody else's imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could become real.
-Thomas Merton
-d@le
|Mood: black-out of cream
|03.17.08 10:54 am
|
Praying With St. Patrick:
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.
I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.
-d@le
|Mood: plain coffee
|03.01.08 2:30 pm
|
For us and for our salvation Christ came down from heaven and became a man,
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
The prophet Isaiah saw many visions of Jesus’ passion and suffering-
Here’s what Isaiah records in chapter 50
The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom,
so that I know how to comfort the weary.
Morning by morning he wakens me
and opens my understanding to his will.
Here we see Christ gentle, loving, encouraging the weary, & desiring to do the will of the Father.
The Sovereign LORD has spoken to me,
and I have listened.
I have not rebelled or turned away.
I offered my back to those who beat me
and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.
I did not hide my face
from mockery and spitting.
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore, I have set my face like a flint,
determined to do his will.
And I know that I will not be put to shame.
-Isaiah 50:4-7
He was not rebellious
He came to do what had to be done, they beat him, pulled out his beard, spit in his face, mocked and slapped and punched and whipped him.
And he took it, he took every last injury, every last punch, he took all the fury hell and man could give, determined to do it for us because it was the will of the Father.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried
How is it that He had this much love for us and we have so little humility or love for others. We think we’re right all the time, we get offended at others who don’t see things our way, we get hurt, we get upset, we never say we’re sorry, we never take the wrong, and we poorly reflect Christ.
He wants more, he wants more of me & you, he wants more of your heart, he wants you to be more like him; to comfort the weary, to listen for Father God, to determine to do His will with love and humbleness towards others, to truly be His disciple, to follow Him...
-d@le
|Mood: need to detox
|02.24.08 9:52 pm
|
Global Warming & Media- Its Not Easy Being Green
I'm concerned;
I find myself backed into an either/or corner. You either totally take that global warming is a man made disaster or you don't. But their are concerns at least as big that neither side is addressing and Global Warming has become a myopic debate...
What we're not talking about is the level of pollution on earth, the poisoning of our waters by pesticides and herbicides, the fact that we aren't suppose to eat fish from rivers and streams because of mercury or other pollution.
We're not talking about extinction of species because of loss of habitats, mutations of species because of poisons, coastal crisis, depopulations of fish and other wildlife.
Blind eyes do not want to see...
-d@le
|Mood: Sumatran
|02.22.08 10:36 pm
|
The Church is Turning Green
The church traditionally has been close to the earth for centuries,
How is it, however, that the church lost it's way during the industrial age, and the scientific age, & into the modern age?
These ages did not deliver what they promised, in fact -just the opposite. All we're left with is the problems we've created and a few modern conveniences...
The church however is beginning to find a part of it's soul once again, the garden -the earth was given to us to tend, to keep, to enjoy. And in doing so we connect with one of our most ancient callings.
God looked out on His creation and called it "good". Indeed, it is...and beautiful, and lovely, and fully alive.
I'm going to a conference on the environment tomorrow, & The Vineyard is formulating what we can do as a community of faith to keep and enjoy God's green earth. It seems so right, it seems so natural.
-d@le
|Mood: iced decaf
|02.06.08 10:25 pm
|
Sometimes haunted
I am a leper
rotting
dying
decay
O death...
it is dark
cold
lonely
condemning
is all lost?
is there light?
a hope
a chance
forgiveness
healing for a leper?
He says
come to me as you are,
I don't even have my whole self
to give
I am incomplete
Where else can I go?
There is only One
Hope
-d@le
|Mood: decaf hazelnut-cinnamon
|02.04.08 2:27 pm
|
O Lord, who has mercy upon all,
take away from me my sins,
and mercifully kindle in me
the fire of Your Holy Spirit.
Take away from me the heart of stone,
and give me a heart of flesh,
a heart to love and adore You,
a heart to delight in You,
to follow and enjoy You,
for Christ's sake,
Amen
--St. Ambrose of Milan (AD 339-397)
-d@le
|Mood: cinnamon hazelnut
|01.20.08 2:54 pm
|
A Prayer for the Sanctity of Life
Heavenly Holy Father
all human life is sacred
created in your image and likeness.
human life is precious
because it is your gift-
your love is infinite.
We ask for your forgiveness
Where we have not treated life as sacred
We pray for the unborn babies
Life is precious
We pray for mothers
Who feel trapped by circumstance and Chaos
Send people to love them, support them,
& to be Christ to them in a difficult time
(May we be those people)
Not to condemn but to love
Heal the wounds Lord
Help us to do the right thing
Show us the way
Let your love be victorious
And let it light the path
For change
D. Hall January 19, 2008
-d@le
|Mood: hazelnut
|01.17.08 9:58 pm
|
John Chrysostom 4th century
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death,
for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.
Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
-d@le
|Mood: coffee & cream
|01.10.08 9:47 am
|
How can churches positively effect our environment:
Our first meeting on the environment at The Vineyard of Chattanooga went well, it was actually a part of a research project on southern churches response to global warming.
There were lost of different opinions as to what is effecting the earth, how politics plays a part, the social justice aspects of being good stewards & how climate change effects the poorest peoples.
There was consensus on care for the environment being a mandate of a christian life as stewards, just as much as caring for the poor, and other just causes.
Until the last 100 or so years the church championed the environment. Modern man in all his wisdom believed his science & industry would save him, but not so. Time for the church to get back to our roots, listen to the words of Isacc of Syria (3rd century)
What is a merciful heart? It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation, for humanity, for the birds, for the animals...for all that exists. By the recollection of them the eyes of a merciful person pour forth tears in abundance. By the strong and vehement mercy that grips such a person's heart, and by such great compassion, the heart is humbled and one cannot bear to hear or to see any injury or slight sorrow in any in creation. For this reason, such a person offers up tearful prayer continually even for irrational beasts, for the enemies of the truth, and for those who harm her or him, that they be protected and receive mercy. And in like manner such a person prays for the family of reptiles because of the great compassion that burns without measure in a heart that is in the likeness of God...
If you truly seek what is right, it is an easy choice on behalf of the environment & how pollution and diminished resources can negatively impact the poor.
We'll have another meeting to formulate some ideas on how we as a church can begin to care for the environment and postively effect our world. Recycling, planting trees, & reducing waste are good starting points.
-d@le
|Mood: as cold as it is -HOT coffee is great!
|01.03.08 4:38 pm
|
One thing you notice as you visit a monastery is the emphasis on both corporate and individual prayer.
Monks pray scripture, pray the psalms, meditate on scripture, even as a group they are praying individually and even as they pray individually they pray as a group.
The hours of prayer are kept by monks and regular people worldwide.
If you visit the site -sacred space- run by Irish Jesuits you will read this at the end of the daily office of prayer:
"When you pray, you are never alone
500 people prayed with Sacred Space
each hour during December 2007"
So, any time I've clicked onto sacred space and prayed the daily office, about 500 people have been joining me at the same time in prayer - & this is just sacred space! multiply that by hundreds and thousands as people all over the globe are keeping the daily hours of prayer...very cool...I'm by myself here praying but I am praying along with thousands of believers.
And so if you believe in life after death, and if you believe that your relatives, and the saints from all time have an awareness in the afterlife, and you believe that they indeed are in the presence of God and probably communicating with God, then you can multiply the number of people "praying" to God by an unknown number of millions or more. Then the idea of individual and corporate prayer takes on another dimension.
give it a try sometime
One strong feature of Neo-Monasticism is that, as all other monastic movements, it is a return to prayer. Neo-Monasticism is, above all,a prayer movement.
-d@le
|Mood: Irish Cream
|12.27.07 4:24 pm
|
A medieval monastic advent liturgy says
"Vigilate animo,
in proximo est Dominus Deus noster-"
Wide awake now!
The Lord God is so near!
Who can sleep on Christmas eve?
All the excitement and anticipation of what is to come
On Christmas morning
The prophets of the old testament looked forward to Christ’s coming
Desiring to see that light break forth upon the dawn of the horizon
Psalm 126 says
When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things
Even so they looked for the coming of the Lord, almost unable to sleep, With all the excitement and anticipation of what was to come and we look forward to his return
"our mouths filled with laughter, our toungues with songs of joy!"
Paul said in the book of Romans - Be wide awake now! for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here.
Vigilate animo,
in proximo est Dominus Deus noster-
Wide awake now!
The Lord God is so near!
& so we keep vigil this season- candles lit, songs sung and prayers are on our lips & we cry -even so, come Lord Jesus!
-d@le
|Mood: christmas blend
|12.12.07 8:29 pm
|
Tonight I sat in the house alone, with all the lights out, no TV, no noise,nothing...realizing something, at least being reminded...
God doesn't care, is not necessarily impressed, by any achievements I may have, letters after my name, titles, respect of others. Niether is he repulsed by my failures, disappointments, or mediocrity.
When this life is over, and even before then, all that really matters is if I can find myself in His presence, with no merits of my own- just Him.
-d@le
|Mood: Sumatran
|11.30.07 3:21 pm
|
Robert Webber described the church now emerging in terms of ancient yet future:
It is very true that the church must be relevant to the time and our outreach relevant to redeeming the culture we find ourself in. Similar to the scriptures being translated into the languages of the people which has it's roots in the earliest centuries. I find myself in a church that expresses music and worship in a style indicative of the culture of our day. Music at my church, The Vineyard of Chattanooga is rock based and guitar and drum driven -and sounds kind of like Cold Play or perhaps Fleetwood Mac for those who are more in tune with older rock music. The point being that the church reaches the culture which it is in.
But along with the new treasure we cannot help but to bring out the old, and the old treasure is very good indeed. This would be Webber's focus on the "ancient" in ancient-future. We as a third order keep the tradition, scripture, liturgy and hours of prayer which is about as old as the church itself. In this way we enrich not only ourselves but also the world around us (salt of the earth)
Along with the ancient traditions, service to the outcast and seemingly unimportant further season our society. It's hard, inconvenient, we say we want to do it but often don't...but we miss The Lord and do not let His light shine when we are too busy or self absorbed to stop and serve "the least of these"
I worked at the Salvation Army for years and have heard every hard luck story on the planet, so today when I recieved a phone call at my church with someone in need I prepared myself mentally. However as I talked with a young vetran returning from Iraq, and as we've been wresting with the scriptures "when you've done it to the least of these you've done it unto me" -as our Advent sermon material I knew God did want us to help- to simply live the gospel...and it is always humbling.
-d@le
|Mood: stuffed -like the turkey was
|11.22.07 8:08 pm
|
Thanksgiving Day was awesome-
Our whole family spent the morning volunteering at the 6th annual Grateful Gobbler Walk for the Homeless in Chattanooga.
I was at the very first walk in 2001, it was held in the spring that year, our launch point was the UTC campus, there were about 50 of us & a small radio station covered the event.
Today there were hundreds, indeed thousands participating. My own church had about 25 people there volunteering for the event as well as doing the walk. I smiled all the way home very happy and pleased that so many people were there.
There is so much more yet to do, to raise awareness, to serve, to seek to end homelessness. But it's a step in the right direction. I guess that's why we call it a "walk".
-d@le
|Mood: rice pudding
|11.08.07 7:55 pm
|
Monasticism in the 21st Century:
The renewal of monasticism in the modern age consisted of a return to the original sources of its religious life. Each institute was reformed to the spirit of its founding mission, but also adapted and appropriated to the changed conditions of the times. Likewise, the apostolate of the laity was intensified and broadened so that, through ordinary occupations and endeavors in the world, the Church would more effectively permeate and perfect the temporal order through the spirit of the Gospel. As monastics returned to their roots and the laity proceeded forth to the workplace, something of a "third way" emerged - a vocation not unprecedented in the history of the Church.
Today we witness the phenomena and dilemma of this third way, herein referred to as "lay monasticism". Lay monasticism is the resurgence of Christians living midway between the cloister of the monastery and the chaos of secular society - souls who have to remain in the world but do not wish to be of the world. In fact, Secular Franciscans and Benedictine Oblates outnumber their First and Second Orders more than 3 to 1. Yet, many present-day "lay monastics" are coming from outside the Catholic and Orthodox Churches from which monasticism originated.
Lay monastics are characterized by a similar devotion and zeal as the early Christians. Since the first centuries of Christianity, there have been men and women who have sacrificed everything in an attempt to live in radical obedience to the Gospel. As St. John Chrysostom insightfully notes: "The Holy Scriptures do not know any distinctions. They enjoin that all lead the life of monks."
Lay monasticism is equally domestic and itinerant, contemplative and missionary, traditional and contemporary; yet, its degree varies from monastic to monastic. Its form varies according to the particular needs of the individual or community, the intended mission and ministry, their unique station as "lay monastics" within the Church, and the current circumstances of the culture.
Some lay monastics are more solitary while others are more social. Some live alone while others live in community, either in the context of marriage and family, or intentional fraternities with fellow lay monastics. Some lay monastics pray more than others, and some work more than others. What makes them all monastic is that they only undertake activities that are intrinsic to the essence of their monastic calling, yet appropriate to their status as laity.
Lay monastics are not cloistered, but are called to take the "monastery" with them wherever they go; or better said, to live their monastic life within the "cloister" of the world in the "cells" of their bodies. Lay monastics flee the world, but do so to embrace it. They embrace the world, but do so to free it from itself. In other words, lay monastics distance themselves from the "body" of society in order to better unite themselves more intimately to its "soul". Yet, they never fully separate themselves from the "body" in order that they may infuse its "soul" with the spirit of Christ.
Lay monastics are called to a lifestyle of self-sacrifice and service for the rebuilding of the Church and of Christendom - the social kingship of Christ. Lay monastics are Christians who manifest their independence from the world in which they live by making themselves slaves to Christ and citizens of a kingdom not of this world. As soldiers of the Church Militant, they are counter-revolutionaries with spiritual weaponry, crusaders in war that is fought not against flesh and blood. For lay monastics, restoration manifests itself from the inside out and order is restored from the bottom up. Counter-revolution is achieved through small works with great love, and there is no initiative too big that even a little faith cannot fulfill. Evangelization happens one soul at a time, conversion one moment at a time, and both begin with the lay monastic himself.
Lay monasticism is a school of sanctity for the "culture of life"- a society within society - established and governed by an entirely different hierarchy and economy than the "culture of death" seen in this world ruled by Satan and built upon Man. Lay monasticism is a lifestyle formed by the Gospel, enabled by the working of the Holy Spirit, and fulfilled by faithful obedience to its laws through love. It's narrow way is equally a purgation of sins and a foretaste of heaven on earth.
In imitation of the Nativity, lay monastics seek to preserve their innocence as children of God, entrusting themselves entirely to the holy care of the Mother of Our Lord. For if God was willing to entrust Our Lady with the care of Himself for the salvation of the world, we can confidently entrust ourselves and all that we do to Her most faithful, tender, and inexhaustible protection.Veiled in holy obscurity, lay monastics consider themselves dead to this world, seeking neither to advance themselves or make themselves known. Lay monastics preserve enough simplicity and efficiency that they may live from the fruits of their own labor but are equally not afraid to beg for alms.
In imitation of the homelessness of Our Lord, lay monastics embrace the paradox of their vocation as existing midway between two stations within the Church, and they recognize that they must do so in order to help those who are lost and are seeking to find their way. Lay monastics regard no dwelling place their permanent residence, yet feel at home wherever they are. They subject themselves to all creatures and submit all their doings in holy abandonment to the mercy of Divine Providence. In this, lay monastics are both stable and mobile, and are equally self-sufficient and wholly dependent.
In imitation of Our Lord's Passion, lay monastics follow the way of the cross, enduring all of its sufferings and humiliations. They willingly and faithfully bear their own crosses while shouldering the burdens of others, and they never take themselves off this path. With Our Lady, they remain at the foot of the cross, under a shroud of silence and stillness, yet intimately united with Christ in this eternal sacrifice. Like living martyrs, lay monastics offer themselves as a spiritual oblation in union with the Holy Sacrifice of Our Lord, and thus transcend the confines of the temporal order. In doing so, the world is transformed and all creation is lifted toward its eternal end.
Lay monastics are ever learning from Our Lord. As He did on the road to Emmaus, Christ continues to reveal Himself in salvation history whether through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, or Sacred Liturgy. Likewise, lay monastics avail themselves to the needs of all men, sharing the fruits of their contemplation with their fellow pilgrims in hope that all believers may receive Our Lord at the one table of the breaking of bread.
Lay monastics are an active reminder that the Church was established upon a commitment to simple gospel living, liturgical prayer and worship, the necessity of the Sacraments, the teachings of the Fathers, and the example of the Martyrs and Saints. Additionally, they continue the traditions of showing hospitality to the "stranger", caring for the sick, the imprisoned, and the poor, carrying out missions to the "outcasts" of society, and remaining devoted to the development and restoration of culture. Lay monastics, with the Clergy, Religious, and all the Christian Faithful, will help serve in moving the Church forward by actively pursuing its restoration to these foundations.
_______________________________
These are the words of my friend Kevin at MONKROCK.COM
They describe his desire for this communal/monastic life expressed in an order he and friends are developing called TRANSITUS.
This also describes my desire & reason for professing with the order The Company of Jesus, an Anglican/Ecumenical third order.
-d@le
|Mood: columbian & cream
|11.04.07 7:40 am
|
An Unfinished War Poem
Wilfred Owen is my favorite WWI poet, He died so close to the end of the war. His poetry is visceral, and dark, and ugly, and beautiful.
This is an unfinished poem called "As Bronze May Be Much Beautified"
As bronze may be much beautified
By lying in the dark damp soil,
So men who fade in dust of warfare fade
Fairer, and sorrow blooms their soul.
Like pearls which noble women wear
And, tarnishing, awhile confide
Unto the old salt sea to feed,
Many return more lustrous than they were.
But what of them buried profound,
Buried where we can no more find,
Who [ ]
Lie dark for ever under abysmal war?
-d@le
|Mood: Ice Tea
|11.01.07 4:26 pm
|
"Be gone, Satan!;
Never suggest vain thoughts to me.
The cup you offer is evil;
Drink the poison yourself!"
This is what you will find on the medal of Saint Benedict-
.....haha, as Bill & Ted would say "righteous, dude"....
I love St. Benedict
-d@1e
|Mood: iced tea
|09.16.07 8:28 pm
|
I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air..."
The older I get the more I understand...
When I was younger I had more energy, alot of idealism, and felt pretty invincible.
Now that I'm a little older I still have alot of idealism, I don't feel very invincible, and the level of energy isn't the focus as much as is pacing myself so I can last the duration.
Like a boxer in the ring I realize the bout will not be won in the first or even fourth or fith round but in the 15th round instead. I've also realized that since I am in the match, the battle, that means I will sustain a few blows, a few punches along the way. You don't win so much by throwing punches as you do by being able to take a few punches as well...
Sometimes you feel it, even though the warfare may not be flesh and blood there are time that our bodies show the evidence of the fight, sometimes you wake up feeling like you'd had a fight the night before...roll with it...
I'm exhausted, happy but exhausted, If it had not been for Christ taking the punches for me I do not think I could make it...but HE has & he is the strength that keeps me walking.
I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
there is strength in Christ
-dale
|Mood: house blend with cream
|08.20.07 2:19 pm
|
A couple of thoughts from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost Of Discipleship"
"Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ. It remains an abstract idea, a myth which has a place for the Fatherhood of God, but omits Christ as the living Son. … There is trust in God, but no following of Christ...
He wants to follow, but feels obliged to insist on his own terms to the level of human understanding. The disciple places himself at the Master's disposal, but at the same time retains the right to dictate his own terms. But then discipleship is no longer discipleship, but a program of our own to be arranged to suit ourselves, and to be judged in accordance with the standards of rational ethic."
& from the Book of Luke
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.
to live by God's standard, to stop trying to bend God's will into our own, & to stop trying to make our will happen on our time instead of waiting on Him...
Like clay trying to jump off the potters wheel instead of letting the potter work the clay till HE is satisfied...our discipleship is to begin to trust in God & not try to find the fastest, easiest, & most convenient way(for us)...it is to take on HIS yoke, His burden, & to be made into HIS image.
-dale
|Mood: house blend
|08.08.07 2:13 pm
|
What is discipleship?
That's not easy to answer but we all can see what it should look like...think Obi-Wan & Luke, think Elijah & Elisha, Jesus & the disciples. Discipleship definately looks like someone investing in another person, seeing the world as not centered on self but seeing that the most valuable thing one can do is to make time for another person, passing along what you've learned and are learning, listening, encouraging, being supportive, and saying what you see, seeing the potential in another, passing it on.
-d@le
|Mood: cappuchino
|07.28.07 5:42 pm
|
a few thoughts & quotes on life:
"The hardest thing in life, is letting go of what you thought was real."
~ Author Unknown ~
but it's good to live a real life...better than living under false assumptions.
We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life - those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength."
Oswald Chambers
I think as important is that we are made for other people's valleys, & ordinary hard things of life...loving and comforting others.
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
~ Albert Einstein ~
I totally agree...
-dale
|Mood: pero
|07.13.07 2:21 pm
|TO MANY the saying, "Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,"[19] seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire."Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the day of judgment. This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge.
Why, then, do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win a kingdom? In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection from enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross is joy of spirit, in the cross is highest virtue, in the cross is perfect holiness. There is no salvation of soul nor hope of everlasting life but in the cross.
Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you shall enter eternal life. He Himself opened the way before you in carrying His cross, and upon it He died for you, that you, too, might take up your cross and long to die upon it. If you die with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you share His suffering, you shall also share His glory.
Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find the cross.
Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like himself.
The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will -- above, below, without, or within -- you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier one. Do you expect to escape what no mortal man can ever avoid? Which of the saints was without a cross or trial on this earth? Not even Jesus Christ, our Lord, Whose every hour on earth knew the pain of His passion. "It behooveth Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, . . . and so enter into his glory."How is it that you look for another way than this, the royal way of the holy cross?
The whole life of Christ was a cross and a martyrdom, and do you seek rest and enjoyment for yourself? You deceive yourself, you are mistaken if you seek anything but to suffer, for this mortal life is full of miseries and marked with crosses on all sides. Indeed, the more spiritual progress a person makes, so much heavier will he frequently find the cross, because as his love increases, the pain of his exile also increases.
Yet such a man, though afflicted in many ways, is not without hope of consolation, because he knows that great reward is coming to him for bearing his cross. And when he carries it willingly, every pang of tribulation is changed into hope of solace from God. Besides, the more the flesh is distressed by affliction, so much the more is the spirit strengthened by inward grace. Not infrequently a man is so strengthened by his love of trials and hardship in his desire to conform to the cross of Christ, that he does not wish to be without sorrow or pain, since he believes he will be the more acceptable to God if he is able to endure more and more grievous things for His sake.
It is the grace of Christ, and not the virtue of man, which can and does bring it about that through fervor of spirit frail flesh learns to love and to gain what it naturally hates and shuns.
To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on earth -- this is not man's way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from heaven and the world and the flesh will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ.
Set yourself, then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord, Who out of love was crucified for you. Be ready to suffer many adversities and many kinds of trouble in this miserable life, for troublesome and miserable life will always be, no matter where you are; and so you will find it wherever you may hide. Thus it must be; and there is no way to evade the trials and sorrows of life but to bear them.
Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.
When you shall have come to the point where suffering is sweet and acceptable for the sake of Christ, then consider yourself fortunate, for you have found paradise on earth. But as long as suffering irks you and you seek to escape, so long will you be unfortunate, and the tribulation you seek to evade will follow you everywhere. If you put your mind to the things you ought to consider, that is, to suffering and death, you would soon be in a better state and would find peace.
Although you were taken to the third heaven with Paul, you were not thereby insured against suffering. Jesus said: "I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake." To suffer, then, remains your lot, if you mean to love Jesus and serve Him forever.
If you were but worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus, what great glory would be in store for you, what great joy to all the saints of God, what great edification to those about you! For all men praise patience though there are few who wish to practice it.
With good reason, then, ought you to be willing to suffer a little for Christ since many suffer much more for the world.
Realize that you must lead a dying life; the more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live unto God.
No man is fit to enjoy heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings.
If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man's salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."
When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be the final conclusion -- that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of God.
from The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis 1418
-d@1e
|Mood: coffee & chickory
|06.07.07 7:22 am
|Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that
Changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness
In everything
Grace
She's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside
Of karma, karma
She travels outside
Of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty
In everything
Grace
She carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips
Between her fingertips
She carries a pearl
In perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace finds beauty
In everything
Grace finds goodness
In everything
-U2
-D@1e
|Mood: coffee& chickory
|05.16.07 8:42 am
|
A prayer for most of us....
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"
-dAle
|Mood: columbian
|05.08.07 9:05 pm
|This is an awesome quote about friendship:
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.-Henry Nouwen
-d@le
|Mood: lipton
|01.27.07 10:01 pm
|
From Anselm of Canterbury 11th century
Come, Lord my God,
come and instruct my heart where and how to search for you,
where and how to find you.
Where shall I look for you?…
…your dwelling is in light inaccessible.
Then where is this light inaccessible, and how can I approach it?
Who will guide me
and conduct me into it so that I may see you?
The Apostle Paul
Who had been physically blind for 3 days after meeting Christ on the road to Damascus said
“open the eyes of my heart Lord, I want to see you”
And we come today seeking and asking to see, to know, to understand, to experience…
Jesus –in the book of John said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me…
…Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!
The invisible, unseeable, untouchable , God of the universe came down for us and for our salvation and became a man so that we might become the children of God.
We taste and see and experience that the Lord is good, that He loves us, and is drawing us to himself so that we may know him and find ourselves in his love.
-d@1e
|Mood: rewired
|01.12.07 1:27 pm
|
I consider this as most beautiful poetry
and prayer
from the band Lifehouse...
Find me here
And speak to me
I want to feel you
I need to hear you
you are the light
that's leading me
to the place
where I find peace again
you are the strength that keeps me walking
you are the hope that keeps me trusting
you are the light -to my soul
you are my purpose, you're everything
How can I stand here with you
& not be moved by you
would you tell me
how could it be any better than this?
You calm the storms
and you give me rest
you hold me in your hands
you won't let me fall
you still my heart...
you take my breath away
would you take me in?
Take me deeper now?
How can I stand here with you
and not be moved by you?
could you tell me
how could it be any better than this
You're all I want, all I need,
You're everything
-dAle
|Mood: coffee & cinnamon
|12.29.06 2:38 pm
|Introspection...
I always get introspective as it nears the new year...weighing life, decisions to be made as I go into the new year, and all the unknowns...
Also making that moral inventory of myself - "where am I at?" or "what should I be doing?"
Sometimes I have a clue, sometimes I very much do not...I am a hollow man some moments, at others I have hope and sight and faith...
-daleus
|Mood: christmas blend
|12.05.06 10:40 pm
|Misfit Toys
So Rudolf had a red nose, the elf wanted to be a dentist, the winter warlock was really a nice guy deep down inside after he gave up being mean and creepy...
There's hope...
Someone loves you and wants you, square wheels and all. You don't have to be perfect, you can be Charlie in a box or a polka-dotted elephant and be o.k.
In fact your uniqueness may be God's unique gifting for a unique purpose.
Besides, things could be worse...you could want to be a dentist...
-daleus
|Mood: guatemalen
|11.23.06 10:42 pm
|
Spiritual Nacho Libre:
So, in my spare time I've been pondering the spiritual significance of Nacho Libre.
It's actually a good allegory of a spiritual nature, & Nacho is a mascot to all of us who engage in the spiritual warfare of this thing we call life.
On one hand Nacho wrestles with being painfully human... pride, desire, self centered-ness, the need for love, human loss, a search for meaning...
...taking on opponents who seem unbeatable, suffering what often very much seems like defeat...
On the other hand Nacho exhibits the true warrior seeking others good, taking the punches thrown his way, exhibiting the need for a friend or brother on this spiritual journey, commitment to a cause, placing others needs before one's self.
And in between is the chaos of life where all you can do is stand, hang on, get back in the ring and go again...
& pray
like saint ignatius prayed...
...to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labour and not to ask for reward
save that of knowing I am doing Your Will.
-dAle
|Mood: lightnote
|11.11.06 3:42 pm
|
I believe that love should be the primary expression of who we are as the church, God's people. (though I think sometimes we've lost sight of this) Jesus said this in several different places & ways... "they will know you are my disciples by your ______for one another" or "the greatest commandment is to love God...and love your neighbor"...later Paul says "seek all these spiritual gifts... yet I will show you a more excellent way...love"
a quote from Saint Augustine:
What does love look like? It has the hands to help others.
It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes
to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and
sorrows of men. That is what love looks like....
-dAle
|Mood: Cappuchino
|10.30.06 2:31 pm
|
Saint Simeon the New Theologian said
" The saints in each generation are joined to those who have gone before, and are filled like them with light to become a golden chain in which each saint is a separate link, united to the next by faith, works, and love. So in the one God they form a single chain which cannot quickly be broken."
This sums up the verses where Jesus prayed that the church would be one well.
We are not islands to ourselves, not people & not denominations, we are all one and we are all connected to one another, link by link, filled with light, united by faith, works, and love.
-dA1E
|Mood: columbian
|10.09.06 6:43 pm
|
Some of us, when we finally hit bottom, leave a crater-
but in that place is where we can finally look up and find hope...
I've known a pastor or two who have spent time in jail, though they are good men.
I know of others who should have spent time in jail - but never have.
(the love of money is the root of all evil)
Some people go through life unscathed, wealthy, happy, thoughtless, prideful...
Some walk with a limp...but walk non-the-less under God's power.
Love is an ocean to swim in
A never-ending, inexhaustible resource...more than sunshine.
-dALe
|Mood: columbian
|09.22.06 5:44 pm
|
Most of us aren't "the golden one's"
We're not tall enough, good looking enough, smart enough,
__________(fill in the blank).
But we all are in the constant state of becoming.
Blessed are the poor in spirit...
We haven't arrived, not famous, still becoming.
In small ways, ways we do not see, God is working,
crafting slowly a masterpiece called us, me.
& often it's not what we thought, it's not what we started after.
But like a sculpture can't chisel itself
& a portrait cannot paint itself
we cannot create ourselves
we are the one being created.
the jig-saw puzzle doesn't make sense
till the last piece is in place...
so don't give up,
God is making something awsome
in you
-dALe
|Mood: chamomile
|09.16.06 9:20 pm
|
The road is often paved with suffering:
Sometimes we don't understand why things are the way they are, sometimes life has tragic turns or, at the least, dissappointments.
But that doesn't mean we are on the wrong road or that we somehow have done the wrong thing. No, many people have done the right thing though it did not pay them beneficial dividends.
It's the argument that if I do all the right things then I'll get all the right things...job, car, money, desires... well, not always...
We don't give so we can get from God, we give because He has already given to us and we give because He is deserving - like the woman who poured the perfume on Jesus' feet (no he didn't need it) but her giving was a pure act of worship given cheerfully.
Like a parent who doesn't spoil a child always, God grows us into Christ-like individuals keeping our focus off money and things and onto loving others and loving Him.
Small sufferings allow us to grow, any suffering we go through- Jesus has already gone through it no matter what it is he has already suffered that pain and dissappointment so we don't suffer alone. He one step in front of us.
-dA1e
|Mood: starbucks
|08.14.06 5:58 pm
|Saint Francis said "I have been all things unholy; if God can work through me he can work though anybody..."
Saint Francis wasn't always a saint...
He was once a young rich playboy with a flare for expensive clothes, wine, women, and song. These things didn't ultimately satisfy him and in fact he considered certain aspects of his life to be totally useless and vain, changing his priorities to serve the poor & the outcast, and to not be a slave to materialism. He died poor but happy.
John Newton was a slave ship captain before his life was changed. He traded in that life for a new life and one of the results was that John Newton wrote one of the best known hymns ever - Amazing Grace.
I have been all things unholy; if God can use me he can use anybody...
if God can use me he can use anybody...
if God can use me...
if God can...
God can...
-dALe
|Mood: iced cofee
|07.19.06 6:16 pm
|I wish I could:
1. Travel from Ireland to Ethiopia and visit every ancient church, castle, monastery, beach, & historical place of interest.
2. Do an archeology dig in the Mediterranian or Europe.
3. Open a home in Africa or India for kids with AIDS: play with them, read to them, pray for them, love them.
4. Have a church in the middle of downtown (somewhere) & open it up every day for hours of prayer and quietness before God so worn & weary people can find solace.
5. Right now I wish I could walk, run, ride, & do things for myself.
6. Live within walking distance of 10 friends.
7. Go somewhere close any time I want to listen to good blues music & make new friends.
8.I wish I could really comminicate to my kids, family, & friends how much I really love them.
9. Laugh, eat, share with thousands & know everyone on a very personal level.
10.Live without money.
-dALe
|Mood: half-caffiene
|06.25.06 3:15 pm
|At the heart of Franciscan spirituality is the gospel, plain & simple.
To put this thought into context consider the culture Francis lived in. Christianity was cultural & there was a malaise as evidenced in the disrepair of the church in Francis' village. It is in this atmosphere he has a vision from God to restore the church which he set about doing in a practical way in his hometown. Little did he know how far reaching & universal that vision would be. Francis was a reformer before the reformation, calling people back to gospel living.
Some specifics of Franciscan spirituality are:
Humility -showing reverence and honor to one another, not seeking glory or position and understanding that all good belongs to God who only is good, desiring that the Spirit of God would be at work within one's self. There is no room for self righteousness.
Gentleness -mercy, peace, & goodwill...a Franciscan should speak peace with their lips but even moreso they should have peace in their hearts. Franciscans should not be judgemental or loving arguments but rather, joyful, happy, & good humored.
Sexual Purity - (chastity)married or single a Franciscan should seek purity, each state is a special gift of grace given by God having their benefits as well as their responsibilities.
Simplicity - to be content, to live simply, dress plainly, not be superfluous(no hype), and to be generous to others, especially those in need.We are pilgrims here, don't get too attached to "stuff".
See Value In All - in creation, in the social world around us. A Franciscan should value people, the poor, the oppressed,the socially unacceptable, the old or sick who seem useless still have value to a loving God and therefore have value to a Franciscan. It's not what someone else can do for you, people are not disposable...these are words for our culture today...
Love, above all - Franciscans don't dominate or seek power but should love God, always show kindness to others, be a servant to all, and want nothing but Christ.
-dale
|Mood: zzzzz
|05.16.06 9:34 pm
|Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Christ & The Art Of Motorscooter Maintenance
Category: Life
I am not mechanical, neither am I business minded, good with computers, construction, or origami...but I do cook by instinct.
All of us have our deficiencies as well as our God given saving graces; gifts that we develop as we go, things we do well that blesses others.
A friend of mine is good at mechanics, he fixed my scooter tire as well as my riding lawnmower in less than an hours time of labor, I watched in bewildered amazement...
We were talking later about tools we aquire for our "tool-belts". For some these tools may really be a hammer, a wrench, a screw driver. For musicians it might be a new amp, some new chords, or a guitar - - and for others it may be soul-tools like recovery, 12 steps, anger management techniques.
Whatever it is we all have tried to do the job with the wrong tools & have been very frustrated in the process.
Sometimes others come along and are Christ to us, they share their gifts or thier tools & meet a need we cannot meet ourselves. We grow spiritually when we help each other out...even if it's the Art of Motorscooter Maintenance.
-dA1e
|Mood: Dandelion
|05.09.06 8:20 am
|
Let's Tend The Garden
What does religion have to do with the environment?
Ask anyone and they will tell you that the environment is important, yet if you ask the same people they will tell you that the environment is not seen as an issue of importance to the "church". Though the church has celebrated (historically) God's creation, over the last few decades this has been lost in the shuffle.
Reasons for this may be varied, it may be that, politically speaking, many christians are conservative and conservative politics isn't traditionally environmentally minded. "We don't do that here, they do that over there" so you must go somewhere else to do that...
Maybe it's high time that changed, forget republican or democrat & start saying "this is important...that is important" & start taking a stand for what is right. Taking care of the environment is right -that's a no-brainer...& nobody owns it, or better yet -everyone does.
It's also fun, exciting, & fulfilling...just like doing anything that's "right".
www.letstendthegarden.org is a good place if you want to explore more.
I've got a long way to go & alot of bad habits to break, but it's time to jump into the deep end of the pool.
-dAle
|Mood: lightnote-starbuck\'s
|03.28.06 5:35 pm
|Sometimes words are kinda worn out.
"Community" is one of those words, how do we reawaken the language for something that needs to mean more than what it does...
Tribe? yes. Family? pretty much. Fellowship (like Frodo)? yep...
But can we really encompass all that means?
We share life, we have coffee together, sometimes we walk through the tough stuff together
I suppose it really will take a lifetime to define "community".. But I guess a starter is a group of people who love & take care of each other. People who see in each other the face of God.....
So I'm wresting with the fact the word "community" is virtually meaningless.
I came across a word I really haven't thought about for a long time in my struggle for fresh meaning, the word is KOINONIA. It's a greek word.
At the core of the meaning is something that is more than just acquaintance. It commands something more than peaceful co-existence or acknowledgement of otherness.
Koinonia specifically focuses on participation. In our friendships, at the very center is participation...not an observer, not a disinterested onlooker but full participation in a shared life together; struggle & celebration, dinner & the dishes...
-d@1e
|Mood: chamomile
|03.20.06 10:39 am
|
SPIRITUALITY II
In Saint Francis' time The Rule of St. Benedict(RB) was firmly established as "the way" to live the monastic lifestyle. Being firmly in cultural Christendom, Francis lived in a world where some or much of RB had become part of the fabric of society. The danger, of course, being that these cultural virtues could grow to be cold or stale instead of vibrant and fresh.
In Francis' call and ministry we see a beckoning to return to simplicity, humility, obedience, self sacrifice, prayer, & reconciliation to God & fellow man. Francis lead by example showing a Christ-centered vocation in action holding loosely to all things but the love of God and the love of others in the process. RB was a foundation firmly laid that Francis no doubt was influenced by and also built upon in alignment with the vision he'd received from God to "rebuild my church."
With Saint Benedict as with Saint Francis we see men who inspired others, led by example, gave men a guide (or rule) to abide by and in doing all of this they called people, whosever will, onto their journey with Christ.
In parish life we are the one's who now live our lives in community. Our communities, like those of Benedict and Francis are in need of The Great Commandment being lived out within them. We can learn from Benedict and Francis (and their mistakes, trials, and hard earned wisdom) about the details and minutia of life together; how to share the responsibilities of the community's well being, how to navigate conflicts, necessary discipline, as well as avenues for reconciliation and restoration, how to be like family to each other.
In a world of "survivors" & "apprentices" we are called by Christ to set aside our own agenda and self-deification, to pick up a cross, lay down our life, and follow him, to consider not just ourselves but to consider others instead, to see Christ in others, to hold loosely the things of this world. In living a life that is not self-centered or quarrelsome, but with love for others we can be a sign-post to others on how to walk this path and call them on their journey with Christ.
The Rule of Saint Benedict as well as Saint Francis' Rule guide us and give us insight on how to call those in our parish onto their journey with Christ. The Daily Office, devotion, and how to live life together in general echoes back to us Acts chapter 2 which says "they learned the teachings of the apostles, they were like family to each other. They broke bread and prayed together. Everyone was amazed."
-dAlE
|Mood: espresso roast
|03.11.06 4:00 pm
|
On Benedictine Spirituality, Franciscan Vocation, & Parish Life part I
I first encountered The Rule of Saint Benedict (RB) several years ago when a good friend arranged for he & I to visit a monastery for the weekend.
I had explored different aspects of the protestant faith; having grown up Baptist, I had visited Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of God, Charismatic & Pentecostal churches of different flavors and had attended black churches from time to time especially when I was a counselor at a youth home. But I had little experience with the Anglo-Catholic or Orthodox sides of the faith.
I had gone though a time of pain and disappointment having left a church I’d helped plant and in this void I was wide open to experience God in new and different ways. For me new and different meant rediscovering the tradition and “ancientness” of the church.
I read RB, about obedience, humility, restraint, prayer, excommunication (& more importantly reconciliation) zeal, simplicity and so on. I was impressed that others had wrestled with the day to day issues we all face and that they had prayerfully sought to publish a guide to help others along in their journey with Christ.
In Jesus’ “Great Commandment” we read we should “love God” & “love others”. It seems simple enough but sometimes, as the saying goes, (God forgive me) “the devil is in the details” and so it is, living in community with others without a guide for the journey.
Jesus was referring to the 10 commandments, he’d been asked which command was the greatest. If you look at the 10 commandments they all have to do with how to love God and how to love others. In RB Saint Benedict was working through, in a community, what it means to love God & others in the sticky details of daily life together.
In RB we find forethought and intentionality in living the Christ-life in community together. No doubt there was much trial and error in the writing of The Rule. St. Benedict surely came to the terms of The Rule with many tears, hard earned wisdom, and pastoral experience in the care of souls. TROSB gives much minutia and detail of loving God by loving and living well with others.
-dale
|Mood: starbuck\'s
|03.09.06 5:40 pm
|
a prayer for today:
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
-Thomas Merton
-dA1e
|Mood: decaf for lent
|03.06.06 9:08 pm
|
Lent has begun. We're about a week into it. Lent has become very much a favorite time of year for me. The rythym of the liturgical year helps me to focus on this season leading up to Easter.
Anticipation, hope, asking, seeking, knocking...
May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.
(Psalms 33)
-D@1e
|Mood: columbian
|02.18.06 3:17 pm
|The Divine Hours:
When did we lose prayer hours?
Daniel prayed 3 times a day, David talked about seeking God early in the morning...one appealing thing about Islam must be the commitment to prayer, the whole community is based around it...when did we lose the importance? why did we let that slip away? technically, it's not my fault...this all happened well before I was born.
But having a rythym of life intrigues me -Prayer should not be law, or formula, God is not the cosmic vending machine. You don't say the right words & "open sesame!"...no, that's not it.
But me & a few friends are experimenting; we're simply making it a priority to pray when we get up & again when we go to bed.(& as we go in between we seek to talk & listen to God) Some of us are using prayer books, basic scripture readings & prayer thoughts. Not work, just queting the mind with simple scripture readings, just placing one's self before God.
The monks do it, they get up at 4am...oh well, time is man made, right? well for starters I'll try 8ish am & 10ish pm. It's been great so far! I feel like I'm experiencing the real presence of God. Before long I'll start talking like the apostle John, or Yoda...
But I think it pleases God when we make any effort to Know Him
-Dale+
|Mood: decaf
|01.29.06 9:52 pm
|Exploring monastic spirituality-
I find the gospel strongly echoed back to us in the Rules of Saints Benedict and Francis. To be “joyful, good humored, and happy in the Lord… not quarrelsome, contentious, or judgmental”, are qualities needed in our world today. To be content with what we have, to give to others as we can, to be a servant to all, to hold loosely the things and power and positions of this world are counter-cultural and exactly what Christ call us to when he says “If any one would come after me he must deny himself, pick up his cross and follow”.
-dale+
|Mood: hazelnut cream coffee
|01.11.06 9:57 am
|
Circling Prayer:
From the Northumbria Community & the Celtic Prayer Book comes what is called a "circling prayer". This is an awsome thought as we envision God being ever-present, everywhere at the same time, like the wind blowing round us on an autum day- so God's presence is always wrapping round us as we go.
Circle me, Lord
keep protection near
and danger afar
Circle me, Lord
keep light near
and darkness afar
Circle me, Lord
keep peace within...
-dALe
|Mood: brewing
|01.04.06 8:28 am
|
2006 is off & running!
Now I have all those things I & others have been putting off till after the Holidays to do...run,run,run...work,work,work...
There are some things I shouldn't do. Mechanical repair, sewing, web design, math...but I can do some things; hang out with people, encourage people, pray...
The other things I'll have to rely on Divine Providence for...
Nothing unusual there.
-daLe
|Mood: CHRISTMAS 2005
|12.25.05 3:15 pm
|
The Word became flesh! ...
In order to make us earthly beings into heavenly ones. In order to make sinners into saints. In order to raise us up from corruption into incorruption, from earth to heaven; from enslavement to sin and the devil, into the glorious freedom of children of God; from death, into immortality, in order to make us sons of God and to seat us together with Him upon the Throne as His royal children.
-dALe
|Mood: decaffed
|12.08.05 4:44 pm
|
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
-dALe
|Mood: cappuchinoed
|11.29.05 12:45 pm
|NEO-MONASTICISM
Would it surprise you to find that there is a movement afoot called Neo-Monasticism?
Not in conflict with "old" monasticism, neo-monasticism simply is the rediscovery & recovery of the value of a monastic way of life in our world today.
Most monks were never "ordained" they simply committed themselves to a life of prayer, obedience, & good works. St. Francis' third order in particular was developed for regular people, married or single, who desired to live a life of prayer & dedication to God. These monastics lived in their communities simply and joyfully doing the works of Christ.
this is an awsome quote:
"...the restoration of the church will surely come only from a new type of monasticism which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ. I think it is time to gather people together to do this...' -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Many people desire to connect with their faith in a deeper way and to live life in a more purposefull way along with others. We want to live out the sermon on the mount.
Some ways we can do this is :
observing hours of daily prayer - knowing that others around the globe are also praying.
cultivating a life of simplicity, quiet, and contemplation.
seeking opportunity to do acts of kindness.
smile.
It's not that difficult, but being very intentional about it makes all the difference.
Let us follow the call of the sermon on the mount
-dALe
|Mood: coffee with cream
|11.26.05 10:20 am
|
enduring hope
the headlines have faded & stories of new orleans don't sell papers anymore.
then there are the thousands of stories that were never told to begin with.
one story, a small episcopal church is in exile after their sanctuary was flooded, gutted, and damaged by the waters. yet a few people still meet holding vigil & holding hope. they have cleaned out the pews that were ruined & moldy after weeks of summer heat & humidity and are repairing the church as best they can. they have been meeting in the yard of the church under a tree or in the parking lot. a group of people, down but not out.
thanksgiving was just a couple of days ago; i spent most of the morning at the 6th annual grateful gobbler walk for the homeless. family & friends came out to help too. it was a great event & a wonderful way to accentuate the holiday.
last night i saw a movie about mother theresa's work, it was always about serving others & not about being famous or the leader of a successfull organization.
St Benedict said "see the stranger as Christ himself" when God send's someone our was that we have an ability to help it is God's gift to us to teach us to love as Christ loves.
-dALe
|Mood: hopeful
|11.20.05 8:14 pm
|
Franciscans are supposed to be known as joyful, good humored, & happy.
This should be true of all believers I think. Tony Campolo has a book out about The Kingdom of God being a party. I think this is true.
Which is better? to be invited to a party or to be the one inviting others to a party? We can do both.
In Prince Caspian of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis there is this big party like the circus has come to town...like playing blind man's bluff but no one is blindfolded or playing tag but no one is quite sure who is "it".
In the story there's a character, an old fat man riding a donkey shouting "refreshments! we must have refreshments!" and dancing and laughing and running and breathless joy!
Everyone likes to be invited to the party. Jesus said "invite them all, so my house may be filled!"
let the party begin!
-dALe
|Mood: coffeed
|11.12.05 11:28 am
|well,
it's finally cool & Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Then the holidays.
Thanksgiving morning my family is going to participate with the 6th annual walk for the homeless in chattanooga to raise money for agencies serving homeless folk. I can't think of a better way to spend the holiday.
Advent has become a most important time for me, we begin our Christmas time adoration the sunday after thanksgiving. Our whole family sees the significance of remembering Christ's first coming and anticipating His second.
come, let us adore him!
-dALe
|Mood: fall/chillin
|10.17.05 9:04 pm
|
there is something totally refreshing about the fall weather. I enjoyed sitting out on my deck today reading & praying. I've been keeping the Daily Office the past few days (hours of prayer) and it has been enriching.
giving thanks for creation on a day like today only accentuates the point, and all creation gives praise!
-dALe
|Mood: groovy
|10.03.05 1:45 pm
|
I watched the new documentary on Bob Dylan this week & have been listening to "slow train coming" & other Dylan music as well, here's the lyrics to "I Believe In You":
They ask me how I feel
And if my love is real
And how I know I'll make it through.
And they, they look at me and frown,
They'd like to drive me from this town,
They don't want me around
'Cause I believe in you.
They show me to the door,
They say don't come back no more
'Cause I don't be like they'd like me to,
And I walk out on my own
A thousand miles from home
But I don't feel alone
'Cause I believe in you.
I believe in you even through the tears and the laughter,
I believe in you even though we be apart.
I believe in you even on the morning after.
Oh, when the dawn is nearing
Oh, when the night is disappearing
Oh, this feeling is still here in my heart.
Don't let me drift too far,
Keep me where you are
Where I will always be renewed.
And that which you've given me today
Is worth more than I could pay
And no matter what they say
I believe in you.
I believe in you when winter turn to summer,
I believe in you when white turn to black,
I believe in you even though I be outnumbered.
Oh, though the earth may shake me
Oh, though my friends forsake me
Oh, even that couldn't make me go back.
Don't let me change my heart,
Keep me set apart
From all the plans they do pursue.
And I, I don't mind the pain
Don't mind the driving rain
I know I will sustain
'Cause I believe in you.
Copyright © 1979 Special Rider Music
-dALe
|Mood: good
|09.09.05 2:09 pm
|
My friend Jeff just got back from the gulf. the destruction there was only accentuated by the lack of help. No FEMA, no Red Cross, no social service organizations doing very much...unless you're in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or other major towns with lots of media presence.
In the heartbreak & in the vacuum of nothingness but trying to survive, however, there is a quiet trust & a hope. It is the churches, Baptist, Methodist, Vineyard, pentecostals, mainline, Catholic...the body of Christ.
Some say that the church is the primary expression of the King, The Kingdom, a community of hope in a despairing world.
Jeff & 9 others took some supplies down for The vineyard this week. they were routed to Gulf Port, Bay St. Louis, & Biloxi. & though there was little in the way of the big organizations operating in these areas the churches, severely damaged, are open; recieving supplies & distributing them to the people in need. There is much need & it will be ongoing, but may the church continue to be the church & step up.
Sometimes we get a little jaded, sometimes we don't want to give - don't want to serve. It costs too much...it's not convenient...But criticized & put down the church quietly goes on. May it be a community of hope in a dispairing world.
-dALe
|Mood: alive
|08.23.05 3:41 pm
|This is on of my favorite poems, it's by T.S. Eliot.
Eliot was a WWI poet, my grandfather was a WWI vetran as was T.S. Eliot. In this poem Eliot speaks of the eternal element in man. Though I've never been to heaven I will arrive there, where I started, and know the place for the first time....
tell me what you think-
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always-
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
-dALe
|Mood: coffee
|07.14.05 7:35 am
|
The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,
nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.
He made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions,
so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us.
For 'In him we live and move and have our being... (Acts 17)
-dALe
|Mood: hmmmmmm
|07.07.05 11:27 am
|
Sympathy & Prayers to those in London.
May The Lord be a light for you in the darkness.
-dALe
|Mood: at peace
|06.25.05 6:58 pm
|
I spoke to my wife's grandmother this week, she's 87 & doesn't think she'll be around very much longer.
At 87 you don't want anyone beating around the bush or sugar-coating anything, you appreciate frankness & someone who is straight forward. I only know this by observing my elders, but I'm learning as I go.
I listened to her & I know some of her story: she survived a tornado as a kid but it left the family fatherless & poor, her husband has been dead for years now, her son, a Korean war vet, died a couple of years ago, she's almost blind, can't hear great, & is now very dependent on others.
I see a brave lady, an adaptable old gal, she has kept on going, she has done well. In ways she is very much an inspiration to me, I admire her tenacity.
She said she didn't want someone who didn't know her to perform her funeral. I understand. When my grandfather passed the pastor who performed the cerimony did a fine job but he didn't really know my grandfather well. There was so much to say, but too little was said.
Tell the stories, the fond rememberances, the ones that make you laugh and cry. Celebrate a life, the idiosyncricies that endear someone to us. Learn how to age the best we can. Like Pope John Paul said when he was so sick, he was teaching people how to die; by continuing to live & by worshiping God.
I believe that God's eye is intently on us, even or especially as we approach the end of this life in this world.
-dALe
|Mood: sunny
|06.17.05 4:22 pm
|
The old desert fathers & mothers had a simple philosophy- "flee!"...
For me it's not so much away from society to go into a desert place, though sometimes I do so for a couple of days...but more, as I clarify myself, away from all of the little circles of self importance we construct for ourselves.
Like little fish-bowls or spheres of self-prominance...a club where we are cool, respected, the voice of knowledge, important. We often seek to develop & distinguish ourselves above others. It is all vanity & the pride of life...
"Flee!"
Yet I find myself enamoured by the shiny painted thing, the thing that crumbles, rusts, is eaten by moths, the things that don't last.
But I also find another voice within me, the one that knows the futility and pain and dissapointment of the shiny thing that isn't so shiny & doesn't satisfy once it's yours. This voice tells me to flee from my own self importance & find myself in God alone.
In Him we live & move & have our being. This is where I will find a way to live; in the presence of The Lord.
-dALe
|Mood: sleepy
|06.14.05 5:56 pm
|it's hot!
I endure summer, mowing grass, intense sun makes me squint, I can't get enough ice or cold drinks! But I enjoy hiking shady mountain trails, swimming in cool lakes or rafting down a frigid river & jumping in once in a while.
a nap in a hammock under a shady tree isn't bad either if a breeze is blowing.
about July I like to watch a couple of christmas movies, eat cookie dough, & turn the AC up as high as I can; I daydream about cool winter weather. Christmas in July. I always anticipate changing of the seasons, but I'm learning to enjoy the here & now.
freezy-pops & BBQ
-dALe
|Mood: mourning
|05.24.05 9:59 am
|I ran over a big rock going about 45 miles an hour yesterday.
It must have fallen off one of those road-work trucks. By the time I saw it I could not miss it. It was cool the way it flew into the air after I hit it... Thank God no one was behind me. it could have killed someone as big as it was.
I knew there was probably some mechanical damage, but I was unprepared for what lay ahead of me.
I sadly watched as my mini-van slowly/quickly bled to death, all of the transmission fluid (which is red if you don't know) bled out of the van in about 90 seconds. It was a horrific sight to see. red.
With disdain I went and got the rock, it was a little bigger than a softball & jagged. I figured I'd keep it to show the mechanic & perhaps my insurance agent. I was bummed the rest of the day & the adrenalin quickly turned into the need for a nap. Though, I suppose, I could make spiritual inferences I will not.
The mini-van is dead! - long live the mini-van!
It's the 21st century; I'm ready for a jet-pack & a hover-craft.......
-dALe
|Mood: searching
|05.19.05 8:37 am
|Today the news reports are about terrorism, violence & nuclear proliferation. Less evident but rumbling like thunder from a distance are concerns about killer viruses, a possible pandemic flu, and the fact that in South Africa 1 in 3 people will die of AIDS.
The AIDS epedemic is a reality, it is already here, the needs are great. I was researching the influenza pandemic of 1917 which killed up to 100 million people worldwide in less than a year. Who would have thought we would have a tsunami last December that would be big enough to effect the world?
How do we have hope when the cloud and shadow looms on a sunny day? the future is so uncertain.
The apostle Paul knew that ultimately his claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ would cost his life. Bob Dylan said "if you ain't got nothin' you ain't got nothin' to lose".
I don't have any feel good answers to the tough questions. I just know that my life is in God's hands. I don't have any control over what day I will die, I can't make myself grow an inch, I can't keep one hair from turning grey.
The book of Hebrews says "by faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and obtained what was promised...shut the mouth of lions...quenched flames,escaped the sword...who's weakness was turned to strength"
Even if "the worst" happened Jesus promised that He'd never leave us or forsake us. Job said "Even if the Lord killed me, yet I will serve Him"
Christ did just that with full faith that God- The Father - would raise Him again. He did this to show me the way it could be done, through Him.
Till then we have work to do. We have to try to be compassionate, to serve others, to meet needs, to have faith in God to heal us of our moral failure and, like the leper, make us whole. He makes it possible for us to love our nieghbor as well as our enemy.
God have mercy!
Christ have mercy!
Amen.
-dALe
|Mood: earl grey
|05.10.05 8:49 am
|
It is not how much you do, but how much Love you put into the doing that matters.-Mother Teresa
I have been riveted to thinking about love lately.
I think we'd be better off if we spent more time considering love. Even the most cynical person still has a hope of love, an ideal that love- real love- can change the world.
Jesus said "love your enemies" - we have such a long way to go. Even the "good" things we do, if there is no love in them or ill towards others then it is nothing.
Without love we cannot even call ourselves christians. Paul is pretty plain that we can think we've got it all figured out & we think ourselves to be great, humble, upstanding people but if we do not have love operating in our lives we are nothing.
Mother Teresa said "The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."
We live in a world desperate for love, so much so that we mistake a lot of things for love that are not kind or patient, love is never jealous, boastful,
proud, or rude. Love isn't selfish or quick tempered.
Yet we settle because we've never tasted pure love. But if you have tasted pure love then nothing else will satisfy. The good news is that pure love also makes all of our other loves better. If we have experienced love at all it is because God in his goodness has allowed us to experience this by giving us a good parent, or the love of a good friend; but these are only a shadow and a mist of what He truly has for us.
I want to learn about love. I want to know what I don't know.
-dALe
|Mood: cool
|05.02.05 8:07 am
|I hate pain and I don't like to be frustrated either. But I'm learning that sometimes God uses sandpaper to finish us like a carpenter & sometimes, like a mechanic, He takes us to the grinder to get the job done fast! OUCH!
God told Jeremiah-
"Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
Though sometimes life's circumstances are painful at times I must remember that He's got me one a potters wheel & even pain or suffering (along with all the good things) are a part of the wheel God is using to shape me into what is pleasing to Him...
-dALe
|Mood: tanned
|04.18.05 8:43 am
|I read the story of Marla Ruzicka today. She died in Iraq when a car bomb exploded. She was not in the army, she was not on patrol, she was not a journalist. She was a 28 year old girl from California.
She and a local team were there to help innocent victims of war. Her outreach called CIVIC was doing the hard work of going street to street hearing the stories of people who's stories might otherwise never be heard. Stories of pain, loss, & tragedy. But Marla & her team brought a glimmer of hope in these places. They helped to connect people with resources to rebuild their lives.
Reading her story I cannot find a thread of self interest. Sometimes we're active when we have something to gain from it but that produces little. Famous people sometimes "give back" by lending their name or support. Some people have no name, little money, nothing personally to gain, yet they go & do.
We need more girls like Marla Ruzicka, as Mother Teresa said "small things done with great love..."
-dALe
|Mood: moody
|04.05.05 8:51 am
|IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY...
My kids can't wait for the next Star Wars movie to come out. For years my house has been garnished with plastic toy light sabers, miniature figures, books, posters, & games giving tribute to the series.
Jon turned 14 yesterday. One prominant characteristic about the Star Wars movies is the emphasis on the spiritual Jedi. There is a master & an apprentice; a master is mature, well trained, able to teach...the apprentice is the student, the learner.
But the amazing thing is that the teacher learns as much in the process as the pupil does. In fact, for me, the true learning began as I became a parent. I didn't know what I didn't know. Jon & I have a strong & close friendship & share a prolific sense of humor. As much as I've tried to teach him I have learned twice as much from seeing him grow & become.
Now if I can just get him to use those"jedi powers" to take out the garbage...
-dALe
|Mood: sunny daze
|03.21.05 4:04 pm
|
The visible image of the invisible God, That's Jesus.
Holy Week is full of contemplation of Jesus' last days before He was crucified. He rode into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday with people shouting "Hosannah!" Matthew said the whole city was "stirring" as Jesus rode in. Ironically, He knew that a few days later they'd be yelling "crucify him !, crucify him !, crucify him!..." How quickly do humans change their minds.
In the old testament people thought they'd die if they saw the face of God- or maybe it was just their excuse not to get too near, too up-close & personal. He was not just a cloud or a pillar of fire, not just an ark - a symbol encased in gold, not untouchable or unreachable. He became flesh.
The flesh of a baby, who grew into a boy, a carpenter who traded in the hammer for a much less dependable means of bread, a teacher, poet, philosopher, spiritual leader...and much, much, more...He was "God with us"
Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God, He sent His Spirit to us, made in His image so we can see God thru & in others...so we can be loved, recieve a cup of water, & experience Him thru others godliness; and so that we can do the same, love others, in small ways, letting the Christ-light shine. He commanded us to let others see Him in us, empowered by His Spirit, being like Him.
-dALe
|Mood: my feet are cold
|03.14.05 10:02 am
|working from home, I don't wear shoes & now my feet are cold...
I was thinking about a life for a life.
The image of Christ coming; the agony, pain, and brutality of his death. And understanding that even though it was excruciating he took a kind of pleasure -an "it is well with my soul" satisfaction...like a father giving his life that his child may live, like a friend laying down his life for his friend because of selfless love.
Only in our wildest imagination do we grasp this notion.
The Way, the christian life, is a realization of this. A life for a life. In baptism we come to the water, we go down into Christ's death symbolically, we are raised. We give to him our life, He saved us- now we give our life back to Him. A life for a life.
-dALe
|Mood: nashvilled
|02.24.05 6:48 pm
|
Like Lions Breathing Out Fire:
I just came back from nashville where I hung out with a bunch of vineyard guys. it was great to see them. Jesus Christ has introduced me to friends I would have never met on my own. As in JRR Tolkien's LOTR series there is a fellowship, a communion we share with each other. John Chrysostom (4th century) spoke of this communion, specifically the communion of the saints by saying "Let us return from the table like lions breathing out fire, terrifying the Devil & remembering (Christ's) love for us..."
inspiration-fellowship-communion-love-friendship-fire
-dALe
|Mood: quiet
|02.14.05 2:01 pm
|
We had our 4th Ash Wednesday service last week. I don't cry much but tell me why I can't read Isaiah 53 without crying? This time, as people came up to recieve the ashes I realized "had it not been for Jesus & what he did I wouldn't be here right now smearing a cross on Jeff's head with ashes".
Usually we think about what Christ did for us, this time I thought about what He did for others & how my life had been deeply enriched because of that. awesome!
Jesus, Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us...
-dALe
|Mood: mellow
|01.23.05 6:59 pm
|
One thing about Stephen King novels you may notice- a theme- is that evil cannot just come in to a persons life, it has to be invited in.
I love Dracula movies & the 2004 TV mini-series "Salem's Lot" is no exception. I just watched this a week ago. The theme that evil must be invited in is accentuated in this movie in particular.
In the story evil ultimately came to town not because it forced it's way in per se- but was invited in by a greedy & twisted character.
At the same time another character (a teacher) was able to verbalize a denial to evil to come into his house & evil therefore fled. The teacher made a concious decision to deny evil any space in which to dwell.
Now, it's not always that easy or that black and white. sometimes other people's sin is forced upon us against our will. But we still have to decide if we're going to allow evil to reside within us or if we will conciously make the decision to deny evil.
Jesus is such a good example through & through. I bought a copy of "The Passion" but I have not watched it again, not yet. But Jesus suffered all evil and sin and death with infinite good and trust and reliance upon God. That's amazing.
-
|Mood: hungry
|01.14.05 9:12 pm
|
Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians:
"There are three things that will endure--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love. Let love be your highest goal..."
there's not much that I can explain but this has been really impacting my life the last few days. I want to go deeper in how to love people, how to show that love...especially to those who suffer. the kind of love Jesus lived.
That kind of love fascinates me, the possibility haunts me to see it in my own life.
-dALe
|Mood: wasabe!
|01.05.05 10:26 am
|
Here's another quote from Saint Augustine, I think He's come back around to being one of the most relevant saints of the 21st century:
By loving other people and caring for them you make progress on your journey. Where are you traveling - if not to the Lord God, to him whom we should love with our whole heart, our whole soul, or our whole mind? We have not yet reached his presence, but we have our neighbor at our side. Support, then, this companion of your pilgrimage if you want to come into the presence of the one with whom you desire to remain for ever.
This is very to the point, it also speaks to the fact that no man is an island, even when it comes to faith & the journey. The fact that we are not mutually exclusive of each other is a shift in our culture than can be very positive indeed.
"We" instead of just "Me" is less lonely & more like a party.
Saint Augustine liked parties, Jesus too...
-dALe
|Mood: drinking coffee
|01.01.05 9:50 am
|
We started New Year 2005 laughing, laughing, laughing. One of those family moments that is hard to describe, but we laughed so hard I was crying.
They say laughter does you good, like a medicine. We need that kind of medicine. Our world is a difficult place sometimes. Day to day life, bills, commitments, responsibilities, as well as the larger picture of political stress, world issues, tsunamis...
In the middle of our difficulties we sometimes find ourselves in rich laughter. May 2005 bring a healthy amount of laughter.
-daLe
|Mood: 3rd person
|12.10.04 8:20 am
|
the last 3 years have been more intense, more packed, more jammed than any I've known. This year in particular.
My life is begining to take on a rythm, particulary Christmas-Easter. In 2004 we had an ash wednesday service with the adventist church we share facilities with. We also did rent out a movie theatre for The Passion & invited friends who were not involved in church. Most recently we had a big night of music at Rythm & Brews in Chattanooga along with J. Roddy & The Business. Our band did christmas favorites, it was an awsome show!
I feel totally inadequate at times when it comes to ministry. I don't always have the answers, the means, the ability to meet the needs I face on a weekly basis. I'm having to learn whenever I talk with or "counsel" somebody, anytime I come up against a monsterous need, or a person in a world of hurt that I have nothing to give except Jesus Christ. Even if I do have other resources for them - Christ is the minister, not me. It is the power of Christ they/we need not mine. All things should be done with prayer.
I'm also remembering that to know God & to enjoy/worship him forever is my purpose. below is a poem by Augustine, it's awsome!
Too late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient, O Beauty so new.
Too late have I loved you! You were within me but I was outside myself, and there I sought you!
In my weakness I ran after the beauty of the things you have made.
You were with me, and I was not with you.
The things you have made kept me from you - the things which would have no being unless they existed in you!
You have called, you have cried, and you have pierced my deafness.
You have radiated forth, you have shined out brightly, and you have dispelled my blindness.
You have sent forth your fragrance, and I have breathed it in,
and I long for you. I have tasted you, and I hunger and thirst for you.
You have touched me, and I ardently desire your peace.
-dALe
|Mood: happy
|12.06.04 9:34 am
|
2004 part 1, year in review
I wanted to first focus on my family as I update this as I hope many of you are reading this in conjunction with Christmas Cards being sent.
Our whole family is busy- something I'm sure you all understand & experience.
Jon is now 13, as tall as I am, about 5'8", he eats a ton & is looking more like a young man instead of a boy. he's in 8th grade & very active with his youth group at The Vineyard. He & I went to CORNERSTONE NC this year and camped & listened to music for 3 days. Jon's a Star Trek freak, and also a deep, sensitive, thinker. Though he's busy many days & the weekends with science classes, youth events & church, homeschooling this year has afforded both of us the opportunity to be pals as well as father & son.
Zac is 8 and keeps me in stitches all the time, he's got a great sense of humor & is very intelligent & likes to talk. For his birthday, in September, he wanted an "elvewn cloak" like from Lord of the Rings. A friend made one for him & he wears it all the time. He's also very theatrical. He's awsome!
Kim has been so busy this year. She still teaches school, is my right hand with many church responsibilities, takes care of me & the kids, and still does amazing things on top of all of that! She has presented at many educational conferences in the last two years. Most recently we all accompanied her to Philadelphia where her team presented at the Nat'l Reading Conference.
It was a great family trip through Washington DC & to Philly where we explored all we could. the Smithsonians were great & Jon decided that "cheez-steak" was a good enough reason to go to Philly. We also visited Kim's family in Panama City Beach a few times, & of course, picked blackberries here this summer.
As for me, The Vineyard, homeschooling, helping keep house, & enjoying my family keeps me busy. Next update will be on that. thanks for reading.
-dALe
|Mood: moody
|11.30.04 8:33 am
|
HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB...
I'd driven to Wal-Mart at 7:30am on November 23rd; The first time I'd ever gone specifically on the date of release to buy a rock CD. They didn't have it on the shelf yet...So, there I am standing in front of Target at 8am anticipating listening to U2's new CD as we make the 8 hour trip to visit Kim's family for Thanksgiving.
I've been a long time fan. I remember seeing the video for "new years day" back in the early days of MTV when you still had other stations that'd play videos on friday nights. I also remember being on a camping trip in 1984 the first time I heard "PRIDE" & I was working as a recreation director in 1987 when The Joshua Tree was released.
U2's lyrics have always been uncommon & searching to make expression. Death, loss, brooding, hope, joy, love...sometimes scathing criticism of society, sometimes eschatological, sometimes just good music.
In almost every song on How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb are lyrics and references to the Christ-Life. In fact "Yahweh" is a prayer. I hear the boys & the lyrics & hear some guys about my age who are experiencing mid-life, loss of a parent, a realization of our life as a soul "stranded in some skin & bones" realizing just how great God is. We need Him, He wants us.
They say the Title came from a conversation Bono had with Michael W. Smith when he asked Michael the question "How do you dismantle an atomic bomb?"...
The answer? "Love. With love."
cool.
-daLe
|Mood: java-java
|11.20.04 8:31 pm
|
With Thanksgiving coming I was reminded that Christ is our reason and our recipient as we give thanks.
Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 2:
Now in Jesus Christ we, who formerly were far off , have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
It was the Father’s good pleasure … to reconcile all things to Himself through Jesus.
Jesus has made peace for us by the blood of His cross.
We are called to a Thanksgiving yet to come! The book of Revelations tells us of a Supper in Heaven
19:6Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
"Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear."
9Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' "
-daLe
|Mood: itchy
|11.12.04 8:18 am
|
We were in Philadelphia recently & visited the Liberty Bell; I didn't realize what was inscribed on it till this trip:
" Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land to the Inhabitants Thereof." (Lev: 25:10).
I was 11 the year of America's bicentenial in 1976. I remember it very well, we had parades & celebrations that year! One parade I marched in dressed in a costume including nickers & a 3-cornered hat. Almost 30 years later I realize the emancipation the Liberty Bell symbolizes.
And yet Leviticus 25:10 symbolizes even more freedom from suppression. It harkens to a time when the Kingdom of God is proclaimed to all the earth in a time when the Son of God Himself will rule.
T.S. Elliot wrote:
And all shall be well and
All manner of things shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
One day all things shall be well, one day Liberty will be proclaimed throughout all the Land to the Inhabitants Thereof. The Kingdom of God will advance fully heralding the end of tribulation & in His name all oppression shall cease.
We can taste it today in His goodness, in our children, in moments with The Almighty. Taste & see that the Lord is good. Let the Bells Ring!
-daLe
|Mood: good
|11.08.04 7:56 am
|Last week I spent time in Philadelphia and Washington DC.
I walked up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and reverently reflected on the struggles, decisions, and moral actions Lincoln had made.
I also appreciated the freedoms we enjoy; at the Korean War Memorial, just a few yards away, is etched in stone "Freedom is not Free"
So at the Lincoln Memorial we sat on the steps; My wife, my children, & me. As the sun went down the marble edifices illuminated in brillant hues. I was inspired. Often, as we walk through dark & uncertain times, even a little light can lighten the path and illuminate our surroundings giving us a sense of otherwordliness; even though we're still right here.
-daLe
|Mood: got up too early
|10.26.04 10:18 am
|
Some weeks are busy. I voted yesterday, went to the chiropractor, later this week I'll speak to a college class about homelessness & the church's response, and...oh yeah... we're organizing a concert for thursday! ...BUSY?
Next week won't be a slow down but we will be out of town in Washington DC & Philly on election week. Bizzarre things could happen, just as long as I can get back to Sweet Tennessee I'll be OK.
I dreamt John Kerry was in a "caddy-shack" type movie last night. I'm still trying to figure out that one...I always dream in color & in irony. What does "caddy-shack" have to do with anything?
"Danny, see-see the Ball...be, be the ball"....
You don't control dreams, they are what they are...
see the ball, be the ball, get out & vote!
-daLe
|Mood: mood
|10.23.04 9:02 am
|
who said
"Vote early & vote often" ?
-Al Capone
-daLe
|Mood: apolitical/sarcastic
|10.21.04 1:50 pm
|
;0)
Whatever happened to the good ol' days of political apathy in America?......
I've decided I've heard enough from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, & talk Radio.
If you watched one of the debates you basically watched all three.
However, Cheney did earn points with me for being a seasoned, grumpy ol' no nonsense type of guy; disposition-wise exactly the kind of guy you want if something were to ever happen to a president. (Just my opinion)
So, I'm minimizing my exposure at this point. Unless something new comes up I've already heard all of the arguments. My mind is made up though, I think, I'll keep it an enigma. I think we do need to respect each other's position & opinions on such things; something that has been in very short supply this political season.
Perhaps it's the war, the deficit, terrorism, or any number of other issues, but most of these were not primary issues in the last election; and it was almost as polarized.
Fun thing is that I'm going to be in Washingtom D.C. the day of the election on a family trip...just kinda worked out that way. Fun, fun, fun...
Here's a couple of Dylan quotes to close this little entry:
You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows.
Don't follow leaders watch the parkin' meters.- Bob Dylan
finally-
I accept chaos, I'm not sure whether it accepts me.
-daLe
|Mood: relaxing
|10.16.04 1:34 pm
|We took the kids to Stone Mountain yesterday, fall weather is here! The air was crisp & cool, we went to the top of the mountain and walked around in the strong winds of a cool day.
Wednesday we went to Racoon Mountain outside of Chattanooga. There we toured the cave for about an hour then we panned for gold & semiprecious stones. I carefully washed & looked over the stones left in my pan, then I'd pan through the sediment again & again noy wanting to lose anything; stones of blue, red, & green would glow in the sunlight.
Our lives are the same way, sometimes the sifting produces small but wonderful results & beauty made by the hand of a loving God.
-daLe
|Mood: revivified
|10.08.04 10:49 am
|
48 hours of not saying 12 words to another person sometimes is exactly the right kind of rest. I'm back & I'm ready.
-daLe
|Mood: Medieval
|10.06.04 10:36 am
|
I'm packing my bag to go to a monastery in Conyers Georgia this afternoon for some quiet time. I've been there before, the monks are of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance so it will be quiet indeed!
This Order is a monastic institute wholly ordered to contemplation. The monks dedicate themselves to the worship of God in a hidden life within the monastery under the Rule of St Benedict. They lead a monastic way of life in solitude and silence, in assiduous prayer and joyful penitence….
I'll pick up some rosary beads & use them as a prayer aid, as an endless circle it helps me to know that there is always something else to pray for. Vigils are at 4AM, Lauds are at 7AM. (not sure if I'll make Vigil every day...)
The Psalms will be chanted by the monks during prayer hours, this is almost other-worldly if you've never experienced it before, there are books available to follow along as it is all in English & not Latin...Georgia Monks...
Hours of quiet, contemplation, & silent prayer.
I've taken friends; the ADHD variety are ready to go after 20 minutes- not enough stimulous.
But for me, I can easily do with 48 hours of this.
It's a culture shock when you get in your car & leave & go to the first traffic light. Suddenly "civilization" surrounds you again, road noise, the radio, billboards, SUVs.....
But sometimes you can bring a little of that inner-peace back & it sustains you for a while till it's time to go camping, or sleep in a cave, orto return to a monastery for a little more time apart.
-daLe
|Mood: hungry
|10.04.04 10:36 am
|Mount Saint Helen erupted in 1980. Reagan was elected president, Saturday Night Live was the funniest show on, Disco was Dying a painfull death(though KC & the Sunshine Band had the number 1 song), & there was a serious fashion crisis across the land...also, John Lennon was assasinated.
I was about 15 years old at the time, life's great when you're a sophomore. I had my learners license, niether a disco or urban cowboy fan I listened to the Beatles incessantly & was riding the new wave scene as it began as well. MTV wouldn't debut till 1981.
Even at 15 the world seemed an unpredictable place with plenty of bad news at 6PM (CNN debuted in 1980 as well) but friends were a constant source of stability. I could always belong & "get by with a little help from my friends"
Many times this was at church, we took over a whole section in the back where we sat, swapped notes, & sometimes listened. But (more than we knew) we were being the church to each other. In the craziness we took care of each other, expereinced the same things together, went to McDonald's before the time of free refills...
I remember having a Halloween Party where several of my friends showed up dressed as KISS, only in the 80's....
2004, Mount Saint Helen is stirring, I keep in touch with some of those friends from long ago, & have developed new friends as well; getting by, sometimes listening to disco or new wave or the Beatles,enjoying a free refill at McDonald's. Smiling. Even with the uncertainties and also the added responsibility of being the adult - Life is good, very good & friends are a great gift from God.
-daLe
|Mood: daze
|09.30.04 4:59 pm
|I appreciate the lyrics of Los Lonely Boys song "heaven"; it's simple, real, & I like the Reggae feel to the song. In my opinion they could put this in The Book of Common Prayer too.
Save me from this prison
Lord help me get away
Cause only you can save me now
From this misery
Cause I've been lost in my own place
And I'm getting' weary
How far is heaven
And I know I need to change
My ways of livin'
How far is heaven, Lord can you tell me
Cause I've been locked up way too long
In this crazy world, how far is heaven
I just keep on prayin' Lord
Just keep on livin', how far is heaven
Lord can you tell me, how far is heaven
I just got to know how far, how far is heaven
Lord can you tell me
[translated from Spanish]
(You that's in a higher place
Send me down a blessing)
Cause I know there's a better place
Than this place I'm livin', how far is heaven
And I just got to have some faith
And just keep on giving, how far is heaven
I just wanna know how far
-daLe
|Mood: meditative
|09.29.04 8:20 pm
|this from the book of common prayer, a nightly meditation:
O gracious Light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing thy praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Thou art worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
and to be glorified though all the worlds.
-Amen, so it shall be.
-daLe
|Mood: coffeemantra
|09.27.04 8:33 am
|
beautiful feet-
On Sunday mornings we share communion at The Vineyard. I try not to be intrusive but I do enjoy seeing people come up to take communion.
The variety of people, I wonder about their origin & heritage:
Did their family come from an Eastern European country? Are they Native American or Hispanic? Arabic? African? English? Mediteranean? & I enjoy seeing how God created them, I believe He enjoys the variety.
I had a Mr. Potato-Head when I was little. You can put different eyes, ears, mouths, beards, hair, & hats as well as feet on Mr. Potato-Head.
Feet. Yesterday I decided I'd watch the feet of people as they came up to recieve communion. Nikes, Adidas', New Balance, there were alot of tennis-shoes, old, new, comfortable. There were alot of sandals as well, I wondered if I'd had any influence as I haven't worn shoes regularly in over 3 years & enjoy it alot! Sandal people, especially girls with their painted nails & toe-rings seem to exude freedom & expression. An old pair of workboots walked up; scuffed, dirty, used...loafers, dress shoes, individuals.
Feet are beautiful! God knows each foot & who it belongs to. Those feet were coming hoping to connect with and experience him. That's the beauty!
-daLe
|Mood: feelin\' good!
|09.23.04 2:57 pm
|An Act of War !!
here are notes from my recent sermon at The Vineyard:
Vineyard Statement of Faith
Baptism and the Lord's Supper
WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ committed two ordinances to the Church: water baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both are available to all believers.
There are three things that spread the Christ life to us: baptism, belief, and that mysterious action which different Christians call by different names—Holy Communion, the Mass, the Lord’s Supper. – C.S. Lewis
I.BAPTISM
a) Water has been a symbolic and real agent of cleansing throughout history and many Bible accounts& scriptures seem to foreshadow baptism
1) God cleansed the earth with Noah’s flood
2) In the Wilderness, at the Tabernacle, the Levites were cleansed via sprinkling of water – a type of baptism – to purify them in preparation in service to God and man (Num 8:6-7,11,21).
3) the passing of Israel through the Red Sea when leaving Egypt
4) Namaan the leper who was healed by bathing in the river Jordan as directed by Elisha the prophet
b) John Came baptizing as a means of repentance
Matt 3:5People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
John tells of Jesus’ coming:
11"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
C) Jesus’ baptism
Matt 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
16As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
D) Then Jesus commands the church to baptize:
Matthew 28
19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
1. John Baptizes
2. Jesus is baptized
3. God the Father & Holy Spirit confirm baptism
4. Jesus commands disciples to baptize
5. The church baptizes from its earliest days
E) ancient church & baptism (Webber pg 149)
1. put off the old man
2. renounce the works of darkness
3. Baptism symbolically carries (us) through the story of Jesus and we become one with Christ in death, burial, & ressurection.
Not only does baptism symbolize God’s Grace for us purifying us and making us clean before him. Not only does it signify a regeneration & transformation in us. It also puts us at odds with the realm of darkness. Baptism is an act of war!
E) An Act Of War!
1. What did Jesus do immediately after Baptism?
He went out into the wilderness to battle with Satan
* our usual idea of Jesus at this time is forlorn, beat down, somewhat defeated or at least depressed….
But Earlier church teachings suggest that in the wilderness Jesus wasn’t just the person annoyed by the devil’s temptations-
But as He went into the desert to pray & fast & be tempted He also stripped Satan of his power and laid waste his kingdom
Mt. 12:28-30
… if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
How can anyone enter a strong man's house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
2. If you are Satan what does the great commission sound like?
…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
It is A Declaration of War !
3. John Wimber Quote
In Mark 1:9 we see that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Now, we wouldn’t normally think of baptism as an act of war, but it is. We tend to think of baptism as sort of sentimental, nostalgic language, particularly… in which we see baptism as a right, a ceremony or testimony after conversion. But either as an act of obedience (or) testimony, it is a declaration of war. When you go under that water, according to Romans 9, you go under as a dead thing, being buried there and you’re brought forth as a live thing. And when you’re coming up out of that water, what you are saying to the world is that now you stand for Jesus Christ. I’ve chosen Jesus, and I will stand with Jesus from this day forward; that is an act of warfare.
F) Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Or …from the time John the Baptist began preaching and baptizing until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and the violent attack it.
Jesus suffered violence as he aggressively advanced the kingdom:
1) Temptation in the wilderness
2) attempts to harm or kill Jesus like in Lk. 4:16-30 A crowd tried to throw Jesus from the cliff.
3) The imprisonment and beheading of John the Baptist
4) Obviously, the passion of Christ speaks for itself.
Know this, any man or woman seeking to enter into the kingdom of God will suffer the violent trying to block your way as you seek to follow Jesus & live for the kingdom of light.
But when it comes to entering into the kingdom of God when something is pushing you away or trying to block your way or push you out; then you PUSH BACK! PUSH BACK!
Clarification(evil not men) (love men, come against spiritual evil)
Football analogy:
Football & The Kingdom
1. John as quarter back calls the play – behold the lamb of God…
2. Jesus sets his eyes on the goal
3. against all opposition he reaches his goal
JESUS came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God and He was treated violently.
But Jesus came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God on Earth and He was not going to be deterred in what He was called to do! He pushed back!
He kept going for God. He kept doing what he was suppose to do. He would not be stopped.
(MT. 11)
Tell John the things you see & hear- blind, lame, lepers, good news……etc.
He overcame evil with good- with kindness, Sharing that God loves people in practical ways, praying for people, he preached good news- making God’s word relevant to people, discipling a small group of men & women, healing the sick, bringing hope.
Jesus also declared WAR on darkness, and evil, and hatred, and spite, & ignorance, against principality and unseen forces as only He could do.
Not content to be pacifist He aggressively came against evil in order to bring the opportunity of salvation to all mankind.
He committed two ordinances to the Church: water baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Dietrich Bonnhoeffer- The Cost Of Discipleship:
Christ invades the realm of Satan, lays hands on His own, & creates for Himself His Church…
…Baptism incorporates us into the unity of the body of Christ, and the Lord’s Supper fosters and sustains our fellowship and communion in that body.
Baptism makes us members of the body of Christ… communion…which we receive as the disciples received it in the early days, is the sign and pledge that we are “with Christ” & In Christ and that He is “in us”.
When you are in the army you take a pledge.
Baptism is like enlisting
When you are with the army & in the army you dress in the same uniform, eat the same food, & develop a camaraderie among your peers. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated by Christians everywhere.
BREAD & WINE:
In the old testament we see types and symbols:
a)The manna from heaven that the Hebrews ate in the wilderness was such a sacred symbol that there was a pot of manna placed in the ark of the covenant
b)The bread that was in the holy place before the Holy of Holies
c) let alone all of the symbolism in the Passover and other festivals
When Jesus instituted the celebration of the Lord’s Supper or mass or eucharist he fulfilled the old testament types and shadows saying
I am the bread of life He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35)
One of my favorite stories from the old testament is of Elijah the prophet. After defeating the false prophets of Baal, after seeing God’s great power at work he fled and hid himself because Jezebel, the evil queen, threatened his life.
He went into the wilderness & started praying that he would die and then he fell asleep.
I Kings 19:
5 but then an angel touched him and said “Elijah, get up and eat. “
6
He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again,
7
but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, "Elijah, Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!"
And the scripture says Elijah went on the power of that food for 40 days and 40 nights as he made his journey.
Corinthians 11
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
As with Elijah this food & drink somehow strengthens us for our journey.
This is strongly symbolic of what we should experience when we come and receive communion. Yes it’s just bread, yes it’s just wine, but God has decided for it to be more than just bread and wine. It is a mystery. In part it represents Jesus with us, It represents God as our sustainer & provider & strength. & It is something every Christian shares in common.
Jesus took simple things around us & made a way for those of us who aren’t rich or educated or wise or popular or mighty or revered in this world to understand & comprehend in simplicity how we can renounce the devil & all his works & embrace Jesus & the Kingdom of God.
& if you happen to be richer or educated you too comprehend & understand in simplicity the kingdom of God and trust in his wisdom & His riches:
Repent & be baptized
Remember our Lord Jesus Christ & proclaim His death until He comes
The Kingdom of God suffered violence and violent powers attack
But Christ declared war, not only that; He has declared victory!
Revelations-
I am He that lives and was dead & behold I am alive forever more amen! I have the keys of hell and death!
Is there anything He cannot do?
-daLe
|Mood: sub-dude
|09.22.04 12:34 pm
|I've been re-reading Robert Webbers book "Ancient Future Faith" He has a section titled "Christus-Victor" in the Writings of the Fathers where he discusses Ireneaus' teaching that the entire universe and all of history, from creation to the new heavens & the new earth are gathered into Christ.
In the incarnation of Christ God begins the work of redemption & reconciliation by being born into the natural order of the world that has been tainted by the fall and the evil unleashed by Satan in that void.
This gives a whole new depth of meaning to the nativity of Christ; that on that Christmas day while shepherds were in awe and the angels rejoiced in the heavens, demons trembled with uncontrolable fear at His coming, even as a baby.
I have been a follower of Christ most of my life. For over 23 years have I been learning the profound narratives of the Bible and yet almost daily I learn something new!
-daLe
|Mood: lucid
|09.13.04 12:00 pm
|
John Wimber said that baptism was an act of war.
This is an amazing statement; but true!
Jesus immediately went out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, but it wasn't a forlorn and miserable Christ but a Christ with a mind to do battle.
Church tradition suggests that this time in the wilderness and the reference Jesus made to "binding the strong man" are connected. That Jesus during this time indeed bound the strong man and began spoiling his house...bringing the kingdom and setting people free.
Likewise, when we come to Christ in baptism we too make a stand, make a declaration, entrenching ourselves.
The Kingom of God Suffers violence and the violent take it by force...As we try to enter the door leading to Jesus Christ we will suffer being pushed, deterred, sieged, to keep us from going in.
What are we to do?
Push Back!
By prayer, acts of kindness towards our fellow beings, faithfulness, and developing reliance on God.
I also believe we should be aggressive in our personal prayer time against evil. Not evil men per se, but eveil it's self. Read the Psalms, Revelations, & passages where Jesus showed control & power over evil. Read these out as prayers and it will begin to deepened your level of understanding that we serve an Amazing God!
-daLe
|Mood: awakening
|09.09.04 8:44 am
|
The first hints of Fall are in the air; cooler, a little rainly, nice...unless you're homeless.
I was a counselor at The Salvation Army, I know homeless -particularly the women & children & the vulnerable. Even when the economy was suppose to be doing so well in the 90's we had a slow creeping increase in homeless families. Actually, it wasn't slow. Big cities like New York found their shelters overflowing way beyond capacity, as did Chattanooga. And this was in "The Good Times".
The older I get the more Jesus'words challenge me: "I was hungry & you did not feed me, thirsty & you gave me nothing to drink, naked & you gave me no clothes" -the Gospel is plain and the church, the individuals of this family can be the source to bring hope in a despairing world.
I'm a realist when it comes to dealing with a problem. As Fall & Winter approach here are a few suggestions on how to help, even if just a little, it's a start.
Locally, The Vineyard serves in these ways that are hands on & personal:
1. Back Packs for the Homeless is an easy, inexpensive way to provide some basics for a homeless individual.
http://www.ushelplines.org/homeless.php
2. Miller Park on Sundays: Hot meals for the homeless on Sunday afternoon when hot meals aren't otherwise available. We also offer prayer ministry or a listening ear. Teams go out to minister in this way.
3. Interfaith Hospitality Network is a program among the churches in a city to provide temporary shelter to homeless families with children.
www.nihn.org
Any person or church can pursue the above ways to help, here are a few more:
1. Volunteer at your local community kitchen or shelter
2. Participate or organize a food drive to assist a homeless program
3. Become involved with the local Homeless Coalition. People may already be working to address the homeless situations, be a part of the answer & meet others who are helping!
4. Participate or organize a "Walk to End Homelessness" to bring attention to the problem & solicit community response. Locally we do this on Thanksgiving Day, that's a great way to serve!
There are other ways to serve, a willing heart goes a long way:
"I was hungry & you fed me, I was thirsty & you gave me something to drink, I was naked & you clothed me..."
-daLe
|Mood: tired as a dogg
|08.29.04 9:06 pm
|After the big summer transition, transitions with the emerging church plant, and life in general, we've started over 6 smallgroups this past month.
Our fall "Round-Up" is the culmination of these efforts. I spent so much time in front of a computer last week that I thought my eyes would just fall out. But hours upon hours & over $500 at Kinko's paid off and people can pick up brochures about group that are intelligible & legible.
As for the smallgroups we've "lost" I have to remind myself that most of these leaders are going with the upcoming church plant. I realize the church plant will have 4 or 5 people well able to lead a small group.
It has been said that as the church gets bigger it also needs to grow smaller, I agree with this & for me it is exciting to see new small groups grow.
-daLe
|Mood: expectant
|08.16.04 8:43 pm
|Sunday mornings are a rush!
every minute is taken up with questions, comments, laughs, connecting, prayer, worship, meditation, & word.
I'm amazed at what God does; alot of it people don't see or know. It would be false to assume that He's doing nothing. I talked with a friend of mine yesterday; he's had his 2nd divorce, he's hurt. to look at him with his tattoos & tough guy persona you wouldn't guess. He started going to a small group in the midst of all of his trouble. Slowly I've seen him begin to grow & recapture a relationship too long on the shelf.His soul is begining to shine in a way. He wants to tell hsi wife he's sorry, make ammends, follow the way of Christ in forgiving others & being forgiven himself.
Some goth girls come to our church, they wear mostly black; even so their beauty & personalities shine through. they (& some others) were all praying together yesterday. God was doing something in their lives, making them shine.
Uncommon for us, we had a 90 year old grandfather (of one of our goth girls) with us. his name is Bob. He's an example to me of constancy, a little slower, a little more fragile, but still going.
Many Sundays I can hardly hold back my smiles as I see people come into a place to meet God. Sometimes I can see just a little of what God sees- His little children. Wether in young fresh faces or older lined ones. We take communion together, we sing, we hear, we laugh.
Lord, you are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices.
-daLe
|Mood: recovering from the trip
|07.30.04 11:44 am
|
I saw a man yesterday that reminded me of my father (if he were alive today)
I was reminiscent the rest of the day, this week is the aniversary of his passing 6 yeards ago. I have my own ritual- a simple way of remembering and honoring him on his birthday, the holidays, & this day. It's important to remember someone in a special way, & helps us deal with the loss.
I'm in mid-swing of life. I see my children growing, my oldest is in the earliest stages of manhood and as I remember my father as well I'm reminded of my place, in the middle, here.
Children are concerned with play, older men eventually begin letting go of earthly responsibilities or titles & enjoy their grandchildren.
Becoming a parent teaches someone the most about realizing that you aren't the center of the universe, that you have to put aside your needs for the benefit of someone else, and that you'd do so gladly. It also shows you the most about your imperfectness, your insufficiency, and your small-ness. In teaching these lessons and in the love of a child one finds the mid-swing of life so rewarding.
I've also learned alot about the progression & continuity of life. Even so, I stand in awe...what is man that God would even notice him?
Silently I sat on the beach watching the endless waves roll in, listening to kids laughing & playing in the water, feeling the breeze & the heat of the sun come down. & an old man reminded me that though this life ends in weakness Jesus comes even to ressurect this body to a new life to come.
-daLe
|Mood: chipper
|07.22.04 1:11 pm
|
There's something beautiful about the liturgy, add this to your personal prayers:
O God, come to my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Alleluia
-daLe
|Mood: sleepy
|07.20.04 10:10 am
|
a little sleepy this morning. several busy days in a row & lots of yardwork on my day off catching up with me...
Sometimes I feel the need to be a hermit, if only for a few hours or a day or two. Silence is a good thing; in a world where so much noise can be pervasive silence is truly golden.
Mother Teresa put it this way:
We cannot find God in noise and agitation.
Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence. The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence.
What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us.
In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice.
Silence of our eyes. Silence of our ears.
Silence of our mouths. Silence of our minds.
...in the silence of the heart God will speak.
---Mother Teresa, from No Greater Love
If you're reading this take a moment to be silent, completely. Find a place & time where you can go to be completely silent. In doing so we position ourselves to dream dreams, see visions, & hear the voice of God.
-dALe
|Mood: chilled
|07.17.04 7:33 pm
|
"In everything give thanks" (I Thessalonians 5:18).
Closely linked to this phrase is another of St. Paul's injunctions: "Pray without ceasing" (I Thessalonians 5:17), that is, be mindful of God at all times, in all places, and in every circumstance. For no matter what you do, you should keep in mind the Creator of all things. When you see the light, do not forget Him who gave it to you; when you see the sky, the earth, the sea and all that is in them, marvel at these things and glorify their Creator; when you put on clothing, acknowledge whose gift it is and praise Him who in His providence has given you life. In short, if everything you do becomes for you an occasion for glorifying God, you will be praying unceasingly. And in this way your soul will always rejoice, as St. Paul commends (I Thessalonians 5:16). For, as St. Dorotheos explains, remembrance of God rejoices the soul; and he adduces David as witness: "I remembered God, and rejoiced" (Psalms 77:3). -St. Peter of Damaskos
-dALe
|Mood: the blood is flowing to my brain
|07.06.04 11:29 am
|
what a weekend!
We gave away almost 4,000 freezy-pops at the park July the 3rd. Oddly, freezy-pops know no age - or "freezy-pops don't change; people do"...
Some are reluctant to take anything from a stranger, somewhat understandably so- as life can leave some untrusting & cynical. But most, when asked "what color freezy-pop?" answer with their childhood favorite...purple-blue-red-pink-green...striking chords of childlike sharing; memories of endless summers, pic-nics, & the magic that the 4th of July holds.
After giving out freezy-pops for over 4 hours I quietly walked around. I felt that God spoke to me about the thousands of people there that day-some who have a strong relationship with God, some have been distant from Him for some time, while others have never really come to know Him yet. As I strolled around I silently prayed "God make yourself known, either by the gesture of an inexpensive freezy-pop, kindness, or some other way you wish to touch people by"
It was a sea of humanity, hopefully changed & made a little better somehow by simple kindness.
I've changed too, giving away freezy-pops on July the 4th the last few years has changed the way I celebrate the holiday. it's about a little more than just burgers & swimming (though, it is an act of worship & thanksgiving to enjoy a good burger & a cool swim in a Tennessee lake) give, be kind, smile...
More illuminous that fireworks are acts of kindness to the human soul.
-dALe
|Mood: wet?
|06.30.04 12:23 pm
|
It's raining, again... that's life in Chattanooga some summers. I thought we'd have drought this year. I also thought we'd have cicadas. I've seen neither.
Cicadas are those bugs; they look scary- red eyes, ugly (unless you're another cicada). I was expecting an ominus summer...you know... stuff of biblical proportions...but, it's raining instead.
The Bible says it rains on the just & the unjust & this is truth.
Whether you want the weather or not you get it. If you're a farmer you probably want the rain, if you build houses you probably don't. Cats like it dry but ducks like it wet.
Sometimes we recieve goodness when we don't really deserve it, like the cop who could have given you a ticket for speeding but cut you a break instead.
Sometimes we recieve (what we consider) bad like the loss of a loved one...we usually think we didn't deserve it...take it personally, as if nothing bad should ever come our way even if it's natural...
So, it rains on the just & unjust... good things happen, bad things happen...
the person of faith is not shaken but relies on God as best he can...and God is there.
-dALe
|Mood: sleepy
|06.14.04 10:16 am
|
I took my son to the Cornerstone Festival in NC this past week. I told him it was a rite of passage into manhood(jokingly) but on some level I hope it is true. I want him to feel & experience the larger community/family of his faith.
It was an important week; my dad's birthday was the 9th (& I still miss him so) but on the day I remembered my dad I also packed up the gear & took off with my son. In our children we experience a taste of the life eternal... Father's Day is next week. Being a Father hasn't been easy or convenient but it has made me so much more a true man than I ever would have become otherwise. Through it I have also understood my Dad more; his frailties, blatant imperfectness that all of us would gladly hide if we could. Sometimes I would gladly run away from myself but as I cannot even run away from my shadow I cannot run away from my frailties and imperfections either.
Streams of all-encompassing light leaves no shadow & Christ's blood leaves no condemnation but pardon, mercy, & hope.
My dad was baptized in 1971, this impressed upon me so much at age 6 that I soon followed. I baptized my son in the pool of the YMCA in 1998, my younger son in a pool at Panama City Beach in 2002 (both were baptized before their church families later)
My faith is a way of life with rites of passage of passing on what's important to the next generation. The Fire that does not die out or fade away, a Torch passed from father to son and also friend to friend. Jesus.
-dALe
|Mood: moodless
|05.20.04 11:49 am
|...Just as Jesus became man... It is only by living completely in this world that one learns to believe. One must abandon every attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, a converted sinner, a churchman, a righteous man, or an unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one... This is what I mean by worldliness -- taking life in one's stride, with all its duties and problems, its successes and failures, its experiences and helplessness... How can success make us arrogant or failure lead us astray, when we participate in the sufferings of God by living in this world?
Why would Jesus want to come & live in this world?
For some reason He loves it, He loves us. He is drawn to us, interested in us, even attracted to us.
The shape of someone's nose, or their eyes, or some other attribute may not be so attractive of itself. but as a whole package a person is attractive & that character becomes attractive because it is part of them. I consider my wife beautiful- not in spite of attributes or non-attributes but because I love her I also love her nose, her eyes, even her toes...
& she loves me because I am who I am. She is attracted to me somehow, the sum total of who I am.
Does Christ see us, our not so beautiful attributes? Certainly...& He is attracted to us as well.
He is in love with us & because He loves us we dare to love Him & we dare to believe in a hope. He makes us feel beautiful & possible.
-dALe
|Mood: uneasy
|05.17.04 8:21 am
|I have this gut feeling something bad is about to happen,
I went to bed with this feeling last night...earthquake, 9-11, tragedy...
When i got up i checked out the news; bad car-bomb in Iraq, Other events make me wonder if we're heading for destruction. even self-destruction. I don't know.
I do know we've poisoned the sea, made extinct many species...yet we proclaim ourselves as progressive, at the heighth of our humanity - while at the same time struggling with being at the lowest point & faced with our...humanity.
they say pride comes before a fall, I just hope the fall is not too great. America is a great country, in many ways the greatest- we need to assess ourselves & as the 12 step book says "make ammends whenever possible"
I was reading from the dessert fathers this past weekend. one anonymous guy wrote: "you must run this race with two legs; humility & love"
time to get going-
-dALE
|Mood: coffee COFFEE
|05.04.04 9:28 am
|
a man almost jumped from the market street bridge yesterday.after hours of negotiations all he wanted was a jacket & a subway sandwich.
I'm sure there was much more to it than that but sometimes it's the little things that brake the camels back, starts the avalanche, one drop too much in the dam.
we've all been there, if you haven't then you're not human. some people live there almost all the time even if they have great wealth.
some people live in horid personal circumstances & while they feel the pain of those circumstances they also seem to have the ability to rise above it, to not only make it, but to be reasonably content, even happy.
then there is the factor of "the other" the other person to be exact.
sometimes in our struggles a person comes with a kind word, or something that really meets our need at that moment.
when I was first married we were poor, in between jobs, needed rent money which was only $70. didn't have it. I had a pair of converse high tops i hadn't worn in 2-3 months & when I went to put them on I found that my friends had taken up some money as a wedding present & stuffed it in the shoe.
the amount: $70
coincidence? most definately, ordained by God? perhaps, I believe so...
a buddy of mine had a ggod idea he's been working on, backpacks for the homeless. some basics stowed in a pack. food, water, hygiene items, blanket & tarp. it's actually amazing that Maslow's heirarchy of needs fit into one little bag. at least it's a start- & perhaps it's an expression of worth to the one recieving.
all life is sacred: unborn, homeless, reborn, not quite reborn
-dALe
|Mood: wasabi
|05.03.04 9:14 am
|I took my kids to a chinese buffet the other day.
Jon tried sushi...at least he liked the wasabi ... trying to get him to eat w/ chopsticks, you know, to have a greater multi-cultural experience. he ate pizza with them instead...go figure.
zac may have actually eaten more sushi than jon, but he's 7 & don't know any better. (some of my friends warn me about buffet sushi) ;0(
wasabi is an experience like no other.
experiencing God is sometimes like wasabi, when you least expect it yet you kind of do expect it - - it grabs you & surprises you, opens your eyes, gets your full attention, makes you go "whoo!!"..you can't help but to go back for more...like a moth drawn to a candle flame.
-dALe
|Mood: eurhythmic
|04.26.04 7:28 am
|I'm asking the question "what is holiness?"
Is it my own personal conduct, how does holiness see/treat others?
If there is some unearthly standard to obtain then I am probably one of the people furtherest away from obtaining that on my own ability.
I wouldn't say I'm lazy, or a particularly bad person but I've never liked competitive sports, you know- celebrating how much better I am at something than someone else...I like group things like a drum circle where each person adds to the whole what little beat they can making the whole experience so much more.
I think holiness has less to do with keeping a list of does & don't & has more to do with how we love & treat others.
didn't Jesus say "Love The Father your God with everything you've got & love those around you they way you'd liked to be loved"
-dALe
|Mood: quizmical
|04.19.04 9:34 am
|I think fuel cell cars are a good idea.
in fact I'd like to have a fuel cell motorcycle with a side car, that'd be fun...
& environmentally friendly, & good stewardship of the earth...
-dALe
|Mood: anonymous
|04.17.04 9:45 am
|life's a beach, sometimes...
just got back from the beach (panama city Fla.) had a great time.
now I'm home (ah, home sweet home) the grass needs mowing, house needs cleaning & the mini-van needs unpacking. (ah- vacation)
sort of, it was a "working vacation" very social experience - but I didn't just sleep on the beach...alas...
more later after I dig out from the dirty clothes.....
-dALe
|Mood: thesaurus
|04.06.04 12:23 pm
|
this is from teddy roosevelt, I think it's a great quote:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
I hear alot of people easily criticize alot of things, but few who actually do something about what they so passionately criticize...besides complain.
Maybe we're unhappy, cynical people. Maybe we haven't found our voice or way to convey our message in a way the produces results, not whining.
The man or woman on a mission, a mission that has captured their mind & thoughts & drives that person towards fulfilling the call, producing results (even if it wasn't what they origionally planned)-That person has less time to criticize or stop & interupt what they are doing just to listen to everyone on the side-line make critical suggestions on how-if they were doing anything- they'd do it better....
But someone who joins you in your struggle & becomes a very brother in the fight...that person has invested themselves & speaks true. I need friends like that.
-dALe
|Mood: Dude!
|04.01.04 2:55 pm
|
"Whenever I disparage I remember that all through history the real truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants or murderers and for a time they can seem invincible but in the end they always fall. Think of it. Always." -Mahatma Gandhi
"The Dude Abides"
-Jeff Bridges aka Lebowski
Make whatever theosophical conclusions you will...
-dALe
|Mood: chipper
|03.31.04 9:40 am
|
Jesus drove religious people nuts!
People who think their actions (or inactions) put them on a higher spiritual plane than others no doubt looked at him & sometimes came unglued. viens poping in thier necks-unglued.
"a gluttonous man & a wine-bibber" you have to drink a good glass-full of wine to be a "bibber" & I'm saying -drink it down- not sippy-sippy...
He hung out with all the wrong people- "hey Jesus we could get you your own hour on the halelujiah network if you'd just stop hanging out with whores & government employees that nobody likes anyway"
He didn't play the religious-political game:
the religious leaders would have only wanted to control him, control his message...etc. (another " if you bow to me I'll give you all these kingdoms")
He wouldn't play ball or even some ol'"cast the first stone" for a little entertainment on a boring day. To the religious leaders Jesus was not a good sport; he even pushed over their "monopoly" table in the temple, completely ruined the game...not a good sport.
Not alot of a mover & shaker; no photo-ops with heads of state or celebrities (me & nixson, me & clinton, me & janet...who's your tailor?!!! me & britney...poor kid, you're not public property...) He wouldn't have been a media hound but he'd probably hang out with Bob Dylan (britney, bill, etc) as long as it was low-key & personal.
He never condoned sin, he never condoned religious smugness & judgement to hell without regards to mercy & grace.
He did condone redemption, grace, mercy, kindness, love, doing good to others, & a few laughs along the way. He also condone loving God with everything you've got, loving others, & picking up your cross, to die to self, to follow him...the way of the kingdom...the way of the king.
-dALe
|Mood: toasty
|03.28.04 8:26 pm
|To have a desire, to have a burning in your heart is to truly be alive.
There are times I have felt dead. A few years ago I was depressed, frustrated...I felt trapped & I had a fear of doing anything to get out of that circumstance...(kind of like "well, what if it gets worse")
I didn't like where I was, who I was, trying to be something or please other people. Trying to be something you're not to try to please other people is perhaps the best example of a slow spiritual death.
A few years back after finally leaving the bad situation & after I stopped trying to meet some one elses expectations...I just finally left...so broken... but I finally left & in a very real sense I died. I lost 15 pounds in two weeks & all I could do was cry & pray & curse & pray & cry...I felt like I'd wasted 10 years of my life trying to make "it" happen. I felt my life was over. dead. I stayed dead it seemed for quite a while, about a year & a half.
It may seem insignificant, but being made alive again took the form of putting an ear-ring back in. I'd had one in college, took it out as it was no biggy at the time. But putting it back in rebirthed a little something in me...
In high school I'd found that the best way to live was to be myself, not worrying about the in crowd, I was myself irregardless of the hot clothes of the day, or hairstyle, or band, or whatever. & my strength as a person really was to be myself, not trying to please some person or program.
When I am myself & not trying to be what I think someone else thinks I am then I am strong. when I am who God made me then I reflect Him best.
life.
-dALe
|Mood: hopeful
|03.24.04 9:30 am
|
The whole world is in such a tyrade, a rant and a rage...
people, countries, nations, draw lines in the sand angry and blaming their anger on someone else because surely it cannot be our fault. It's frustrating...
In a time of such social upheaval and unrest when every wound feels it's had salt rubbed into it; when, in lonliness & silence, we wonder what tomarrow brings that we have no control over what hope is there? what message can speak in such a time?
It has to be love!
Only love can disarm fear or anger, only love can heal.
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; (1 Corinthians ch. 13)
Love can disarm anger & hate, overcome evil with good, but it is not up to the state to put this in to practice. This is the church's work & nobody can do it better than the church when we are motivated by the Spirit of God.
-dALe
|Mood: clear
|03.22.04 10:19 am
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bottom line- bottom dollar
I hear disturbing reports that Wal-Mart is the biggest outsourcer in the world; pitting poor country against poor country for bottom dollar products, NIKE the same. On the one hand they bring jobs to poor countries & low prices to the American market, on the other hand manufacturing jobs are lost and small business cannot compete with the juggernaut.
Ironic- when I first encountered Wal-Mart (when I was a kid we only had K-Mart & those cheap vinyl shoes they sold) Wal-Mart's by-word or buy-word was "BUY AMERICAN" now Wal-Mart is America & almost nothing there is made in America.
In the 80's I thought Wal-Mart was a great place for affordable stuff, they would sell goods made by locals. In Tupelo MS, where I lived for 3 years in the late 80's, it was common to find many things made by people only 50 miles away, not now...
They say what goes around comes around, I wonder what that means in this scenario. does the good out weigh the bad?
The American Way.....
-dALe
|Mood: a lttle tired
|03.18.04 10:41 am
|I've been doing laundry & cleaning house all morning (hey-it's got to happen sometime)I've also been watching c-span & reading the gospel...
Martin Luther King said “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. Love is creative, love is positive, and love is redemptive.”
Love spurs a man into action. The law said "love your family & friends" Jesus added "love your enemy also"
sometimes we think our enemy is the other political party, how far off we are. Sometimes our enemy is a people in a country far away.
Human government is an imperfect man-made thing, never-the-less we'de be a wreck without it; especially the fair, free, kind that allows others who differ from us live & speak & prosper. There are many governments (or religious groups) in the world who'd as well as kill you for speaking against (it), Americans should remember this.
I am challenged by the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5,6,&7. I have a long way to go in following or even understanding his teachings well. But they are well worth the effort.
-dALe
|Mood: wide awake
|03.16.04 7:55 am
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Tom Petty has some great lyrics:
Well I won't back down
No I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down
No I'll stand my ground, won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin me down
gonna stand my ground
... and I won't back down
Chorus:
(I won't back down...)
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(and I won't back down...)
hey I will stand my ground
and I won't back down
Well I know what's right, I got just one life
in a world that keeps on pushin me around
but I'll stand my ground
...and I won't back down
placate terrorism.... yeah that ought to do it.
Bob Dylan, in 1984's "Infidel's", there is a song called "neighborhood bully" refering to Israel. here's a line-
when he blew up the bomb factory nobody was glad
the bombs were meant for him, he was suppose to feel bad
he's the neighborhood bully
ironic, cynical, tongue in cheek, sarcasm
the world spins around & yet it stands still...
I truly am trying to understand & be fair when looking at world issues, but I never got anything I wanted by trying to take it by force or by victimizing someone for it, so I do not understand or agree when others seem to do the same. The teachings of Christ, Ghandi, MLK do not give any value to such an approach.
Reaction is human nature. Government is a man made thing poorly based on the rule of law. The rule of law became a necessity when to our knowledge of good we also added the knowledge of evil.
Jesus said to Pilate "my kingdom is not of this world, if it were my disciples would have taken up arms to defend me"
3 missionaries, who were not running any big evangelistic meeting, were in Northern Iraq. why? putting in a water filtration system for the local people. They were killed. I'm sure they wouldn't have it any other way.
because it's not about hate, it's about love...there ain't no easy way out...
-SnoRK
|Mood: Snahhahahablah
|03.15.04 7:23 pm
|Gundisnepiterifini
this is a test...
-dALe
|Mood: inquisitive
|03.12.04 9:36 am
|The end of law & order:
wherever you come down on gay marriage one thing is sure. serious damage is being done to civil law & order. we are now entering a stage of american history where people are begining to live outside of any law or order.
Long ago now have many folk in america begun living life outside of what would be considered biblical moral law, but now even american civil secular law has gone out the window against the wishes of the majority & with disregard of law especially if it stands between what a group wants. the desire to circumvent any process results in quick anarchy & imposition of a minority group.
Irregardless of your view of the issues; damage to law & society is being done. what is used for your own personal gain today may be used against your own personal freedom or liberty or safety tomarrow.
the great leaders of the past; MLK, Ghandi, Jesus, they did not operate this way, to suggest they did is erroneous & an insult to their lives.
irresponsible & reckless is self centered anarchy.
-Filson
|Mood: HAPPY!
|03.10.04 2:47 am
|HaPpY BiRfDaY DaLe!
-dale
|Mood: pensive
|03.08.04 8:49 am
|I think it's interesting that different voices speak but one message is spoken. It seems that God is using the mass media to speak a message of truth & hope in America...as well as a challenge & warning.
U2, Johnny Cash, Mel Gibson, The Passion, LOTR trilogy, HURT, Joan of Arcadia, & others are sharing a message. Take a step back & say "what is God trying to say to us in our culture, in this day?"
Love, self sacrifice, a call to live & serve, the bevity of life, perspective on what's important, seeing God in everyday life...to begin with.
& it's my birthday.
-dale
|Mood: groovin
|03.05.04 8:33 am
|When it comes to giving, some people stop at nothing. - Author Unknown
I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do. - Helen Keller
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. - Kahil Gibran
Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to recieve. I think we often believe that if it is something big or something noticed by many or by one or two important people then we're motivated to do it...instead of having a pure motivation. But I also believe almost everyone has had that experience when they did something for someone else, even anonymously, where one walks away with this quiet smile & burning joy from simply having served someone else.
Other times what you gave was painful, or in some other way expensive for you. You stagger back, wounded & needing to heal; But in no way would you take back or undo what was given. We are called to this kind of life, but it begins with the very small things, things we almost don't even think about, done with love, that do not pass away.
-Fillter
|Mood: Bullo
|03.04.04 4:31 am
|Hello Dale,
Well, I never cease to amaze myself. I fixed the time on this little script by hacking in another piece of script from another program. I think you will find it accurate now.
"Stay verticle, no matter what anybody say to you" Overheard at the Y.
-Filbert
|Mood: Argh
|03.04.04 4:29 am
|Testing a time fix for the thingy in the thingy
-dale
|Mood: groggy-zone
|03.03.04 4:32 am
|Thanks to Fil for the blogspace.
last night was tattoo tuesday at my group so everyone with one shared with everyone else. We also talked about everything under the sun.
At the core of the discussion was that the door of the church should be open to everyone. no sign out front saying "after you do this...this...& this... and stop doing this...& that -- then you can come in"
Let people come in, let God whisper to their hearts, let the church try to love people & teach scripture.
-dale
|Mood: pensive
|03.02.04 8:28 am
|is the time right on this thingy?
-
|Mood: busy
|03.02.04 6:24 am
|things are getting busy & trying to get the hang of this, tried posting in the secondary field with difficulty (not successful) homeschooling kids & also swapping emails with a few people with various crisese going on...busy
-Blah
|Mood: awake
|03.02.04 2:29 am
|Wow! a weblog...cup of coffee & lots of emails. thinking is good, realization is a good thing. It's raining, but that's ok. It's also warmer & I can still hear birds. So now that I've started I'll go through a day or a few hours & jot things down.
CONTENTS OF SECOND BLOG SPACE:
Dale is a Pastor in Chattanooga TN where he grew up,and now lives with his wife Kim and his two sons. He's also a Franciscan friar with the ecumenical anglican order of the Company of Jesus. He enjoys teaching church history and speaking on prayer, spiritual disciplines,equipping,and monasticism in the 21st century. |
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