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April 29 Marva Dawn and John of the Cross I have read Marva Dawn's newest book, called Being Well When We're Ill: Wholeness and Hope in Spite of Infirmity. Marva knows whereof she speaks, having suffered a variety of chronic and acute illnesses and injuries over the years. She is also, as far as I know, the only Lutheran, freelance, lay theologian working on the continent. She quotes from John of the Cross's little piece on "Advice on Disregarding Spiritual Sweetness."Here's her summary. "According to St. John, we are ignorant if we suppose that because we fail to have any sweetness or bliss God is failing us. Similarly, we are uninstructed if we presume that in having such delectable emotions we have God. But the height of ignorance, he claims , is if we would follow God only to seek the sweetness and consequently stopped our yearning for God to wallow in delightful feelings when we acquired them."
Oh, my! How countercultural could we be? Do I desire God for God or for what God can deliver to me? The latter is idolatry. "If we cling to and long for only what is God's creation, then we actually miss God's true presence, and our will can no longer soar to God." This is such hard counsel. I want you to provide for me, dear Lord, answers to all my questions. I want my pain to go away. I want my life to be meaningful on my terms.
But all those wants may deprive me of God's true presence. It is the daily discipline of stripping away the layers of wants to be open to God. We are to fear, love and trust God above everything else. The first commandment is the most wonderful gospel and the most awesome burden--all at once.
LRH Benchmarking DiscipleshipIn 1990 the Search Institute studied six Protestant denominations and developed a list to describe "The Nature of Mature Faith." Here's the list.
Trust in God's saving grace and believe firmly in the humanity and divinity of Jesus.
Experience a sense of personal well-being, security and peace.
Integrate faith and life, seeing work, family social relationships, and political chocies as part of one's religious life.
Seek spiritual growth through study, reflection, prayer, and discussion with others.
Seek to be part of a community of believers in which people give witness to their faith and support and nourish one another.
Hold life affirming values, including commitments to racial and general equality, affirmation of cultural and religious diversity, and a personal sense of responsibility for the welfare of others.
Advocate social and global change to bring about greater social justice.
Serve humanity, consistently and passionately, through acts of love and justice.
How does that list hold up in today's social and theological context?
LRH April 28 Will You tithe your tax rebateToday people begin receiving their windfall deposits from the federal government. Due to my SS number mine will be one of the last deposits...sigh. I wonder how many people will tithe on that windfall for the work of the church?
If, for example, at OSLC we had 300 households that received $600 each (a conservative number), that would total $180,000. Ten percent would be $18,000. With that money we could fully fund the internship, install energy efficient furnaces and send the church council on a spiritual retreat in Aruba (well, maybe not that last one).
I hate to be cynical, but I suspect few people have considered this stewardship question. Perhaps we should. Beginning over again
I am struck by how difficult it is to do presentations in this electronic, multi-tasking age. People are texting. People are reading email. People are blogging (hmmm....). This makes preaching look easy. It also explains why so many people are so bored by preaching. I think perhaps blogging will go better now with some higher end equipment and this more accessible web location. |
Friends, here I am at the Laws Lodge Conference Center at Louisville Seminary during pre-Derby week. The conference is called "A New Vision for a Long Pastorate." So far, so good.|
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