The school of Charity

Faith is not a refuge from reality. It is a demand that we face reality, with all its difficulties, opportunities, and implications. The true subject matter of religion is not our own little souls, but the Eternal God and His whole mysterious purpose, and our solemn responsibility to Him.

Evelyn Underhill

cryptic past

So i was meandering through my memory achieves a little while back, and came across something interesting that i had not realized until reviewing them now. All the way back to the year ... 1985! ok, no. not that movie.
But back to my last official days of living in MSP. A few sweeter friends decided to throw a surprise going away forever party for me. And i remember being surprised, and awkward and all weird acting, 'cause well, no ones ever nice like that to me, how am i supposed to be all cool and excited. Anyway - yes, i'm weird, and don't know how to be properly thankful all the time. But my new recounting has shown me one other feeling that was there too.
I was kinda sad.
'Cause well, i thought i was gonna get to hang out with Julie.
I mean, Julie was there; but still, not quite the same.

and now, so much wasted time later, it appears Julie is all that remains.

I was right to be sad! ha ha, i win.


(c) c.s.linus. Thoughts to Ponder. The Bat Cave. Dec 2008.

Dag yo

We can reach the point where it becomes possible for us to recognize and understand Original Sin, that dark counter-centre of evil in our nature -- that is to say, though it is not our nature, it is of it -- that something within us which rejoices when disaster befalls the very cause we are trying to serve, or misfortune overtakes even those we love. Life in God is not an escape from this, but a way to gain full insight concerning it. It is not our depravity which forces a fictitious religious explanation upon us, but the experience of religious reality which forces the "Night Side" out into the light. It is when we stand in the righteous all-seeing light of love that we can dare to look at, admit, and consciously suffer under this something in us which wills disaster, misfortune, defeat to everything outside the sphere of our narrowest self interest.

Dag Hammarskjöld

divine captain

That Jones shall worship the "god within him" turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones. Let Jones worship the sun or moon -- anything rather than the Inner Light; let Jones worship cats or crocodiles, if he can find any in his street, but not the god within. Christianity came into the world firstly in order to assert with violence that a man had not only to look inwards, but to look outwards, to behold with astonishment and enthusiasm a divine company and a divine captain. The only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left alone with the Inner Light, but definitely recognized an outer light, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army with banners.

G. K. Chesterton

Suffering

Suffering is sometimes a mystery. We must affirm both the mystery and God. The paradox remained, but now, at least, Job knew that it belonged there -- that it is built into the moral and physical orders, and into the very nature of God as He has permitted us humans to perceive Him. In a world where the universal principle is cause/effect, the book of Job reminds us that the principle is a reflection of the mysterious, self-revealing God. It is subsumed under Him, however, and He cannot be subsumed under it. The God-speeches remind us that a Person, not a principle, is Lord.

C. H. Bullock

procrastination

God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.

St. Augustine

sublime attainments

Though you may think yourself ever so dull and incapable of sublime attainments, yet by prayer the possession and enjoyment of God is easily obtained; for He is more desirous to give Himself to us than we can be to receive Him.

William Backhouse and James Jansen

Hark

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Charles Wesley

(what caught my attention this time through this classic song was the line, "...with healing in His wings." its a prophesy from Malachi 4:2, which Jesus of course fulfills)

breath of life

To love another as oneself is only the halfway house to Heaven, though it seems as far as it was prudent to bid man go. The "greater love than this" of which our Lord speaks, though He does not command it, is to give oneself for one's friends. And when one does this, or is ready to do this, prayer even for "us" seems too selfish -- and it is unnecessary, for we then possess all that God Himself can give us. The easy renunciation of self for the Beloved becomes the very breath of life.

Coventry Patmore

without end

I saw full surely in this and in all, that ere God made us he loved us; which love never slackened, nor ever shall be. And in this love he hath done all his works; and in this love he hath made all things profitable to us; and in this love our life is everlasting. In our making we had beginning; but the love wherein he made us was in him from without beginning; in which love we have our beginning. And all this shall we see in God, without end.

Juliana of Norwich

I Celebrate the Day

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say
to let You know how much You've touched my life
Because here is where You're finding me,
in the exact same place as New Year's eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes, did You realize, that You would be my Savior
And the first breath, that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever
And the first time
That You opened Your eyes, did You realize, that You would be my Savior
And the first breath, that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare
the things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might really live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

the first time
That You opened Your eyes, did You realize, that You would be my Savior
And the first breath, that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever
And the first time
That You opened Your eyes, did You realize, that You would be my Savior
And the first breath, that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life

~Matt Thiessen, Relient K

yoUtube me

half-hearted creatures

We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion...is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

csl

deign to die

May the fiery and sweet strength of Thy love, I pray Thee, O my Lord, absorb my soul, and make all things under heaven as nothing unto me, that for the love of Thy love I may die, as Thou didst deign to die for love of mine. Amen.

St. Francis of Assisi

all things

If Christianity should happen to be true -- that is to say, if its God is the real God of the universe -- then defending it may mean talking about anything and everything. Things can be irrelevant to the proposition that Christianity is false, but nothing can be irrelevant to the proposition that Christianity is true. [All] things not only may have something to do with the Christian God, but must have something to do with Him if He lives and reigns.

G. K. Chesterton

the sick and the sinful

In the world to which the Apostles preached their new message, religion had not been the solace of the weary, the medicine of the sick, the strength of the sin-laden, the enlightenment of the ignorant: It was the privilege of the healthy and the instructed. The sick and the ignorant were excluded. They were under the bondage of evil demons. "This people which knoweth not the law are accursed", was the common doctrine of Jews and Greeks. The philosophers addressed themselves only to the well-to-do, the intellectual, and the pure. To the mysteries were invited only those who had clean hands and sound understanding. It was a constant marvel to the heathen that the Christians called the sick and the sinful.

Roland Allen

aesthetic

To the Christian, love is the works of love. To say that love is a feeling or anything of the kind is really an un-Christian conception of love. That is the aesthetic definition and therefore fits the erotic and everything of that nature. But to the Christian, love is the works of love. Christ's love was not an inner feeling, a full heart and what-not: it was the work of love which was his life.

Søren Kierkegaard

a jewel

If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.

~George MacDonald

God, Man and love

Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will. If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God'. He will give us feelings of love if He pleases. We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right. But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.

~csl (MC)

Maturing

There are a number of Hebrew words about salvation which also mean "to bring into a spacious environment", "to be at one's ease", "to be free to develop". "Salvation" can be seen then as the new life in Christ, in which we are to be "free to develop" into Christ-like people. For this maturing to take place, there needs to be a breaking down of barriers, a breaking up of the soil of our personalities, and a healing of inner wounds and hurts. The soil is softened, the clay becomes malleable through the experience of the tender love of God and the accepting, non-judgmental love of Christians. We cannot be beaten into shape.

Michael Harper

joy of every longing heart

Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art:
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
born a child, and yet a king,
born to reign in us for ever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.

By thine own eternal Spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all-sufficient merit
raise us to thy glorious throne.

~Charles Wesley

blessings

May I be patient! It is so difficult to make real what one believes, and to make these trials, as they are intended, real blessings.

John Henry Newman

genuine worship

True and genuine worship is when man, through his spirit attains to friendship and intimacy with God. True and genuine worship is not to come to a certain place; it is not to go through a certain ritual or liturgy; it is not even to bring certain gifts. True worship is when the spirit, the immortal and invisible part of man, speaks to and meets with God, who is immortal and invisible.

William Barclay

The City of God

What is Christ's joy in us, but that He deigns to rejoice on our account? And what is our Joy, which He says shall be full, but to have fellowship with Him? He had perfect joy on our account, when He rejoiced in foreknowing and predestinating us; but that joy was not in us, because we did not then exist; it began to be in us, when He called us. And this joy we rightly call our own, this joy wherewith we shall be blessed; which is begun in the faith of them who are born again, and shall be fulfilled in the reward of them who rise again.

Augustine

pop-theology

I'm not going to give you some pop-theology and tell you that "there's a reason for everything" or that "God works it all out" blah blah blah... but I will say that... that if you believe that, as a Christ follower, you are part of God's redemptive story that is unfolding even today... then no time or relationship is wasted... and you are exactly where God wants you to be... and he wants you to be about redemption right where you are... whether that's for one day, one year, or the rest of your life. So... you are NOT in a holding pattern... you are in the midst of redemption of which God has called you and me to participate. Please don't miss or ignore what God might want you to see in these next few months.


(This is from my friend Steve Argue, a man of which i would be no where without)

little 4 l's

It is no disparagement to a garden to say that it will not fence and weed itself, nor prune its own fruit trees, nor roll and cut its own lawns. A garden is a good thing but that is not the sort of goodness it has. It will remain a garden, as distinct from a wilderness, only if someone does all these things to it. Its real glory is of quite a different kind. The very fact that it needs constant weeding and pruning bears witness to that glory. It teems with life. It glows with colour and smells like heaven and puts forward at every hour of a summer day beauties which man could never have created and could not even, on his own resources, have imagined. If you want to see the difference between its contribution and the gardener’s, put the commonest weed it grows side by side with his hoes, rakes, shears, and packets of weed killer; you have put beauty, energy, and fecundity beside dead, sterile things. Just so, our “decency and common sense” show grey and deathlike beside the geniality of love. And when the garden is in its full glory the gardeners contributions to that glory will still have been in a sense paltry compared with those of nature. Without life springing from the earth, without rain, light and heat descending from the sky, he could do nothing. When he has done all, he has merely encouraged here and discouraged there, powers and beauties that have a different source. But his share, though small, is indispensable and laborious. When God planted a garden He set a man over it and set the man under Himself. When He planted the garden of our nature and caused the flowering, fruiting loves to grow there, He set our will to “dress” them. Compared with them it is dry and cold. But its laborious – and largely negative – services are indispensable. If they were needed when the garden was still Paradisal, how much more now when the soil has gone sour and the worse weeds seem to thrive on it best? But heaven forbid we should work in the spirit of prigs and Stoics. While we hack and prune we know very well that what we are hacking and pruning is big with splendour and vitality which our rational will could never of itself have supplied. To liberate that splendour, to let it become fully what it is trying to be, to have tall trees instead of scrubby tangles, and sweet apples instead of crabs, is part of our purpose.

~lewis
(like yoU can't tell from the '-our' words)

Eye of the Storm

Hey you, what do you do
when the rain falls
who do you call
when you’re hurt inside?

Hey there, are ya scared
when the flames grow high
who do you cry to
where do ya hide?

get down on your knees
and lift your hands up to heaven
you’re praying in the eye of the storm

you’ll survive in the fire
of life, and its trials
don’t give up in the eye of the storm

Hey son, do you run
when the night is long
will you stand strong
when you’re on your own?

Hey girl, in the world
when the wind blows
where do you go
when you feel alone?

get down on your knees
and lift your hands up to heaven
you’re praying in the eye of the storm

you’ll survive in the fire
of life, and its trials
don’t give up in the eye of the storm

Hey child, hold on while
the waters churn
where do you turn
when the pain begins?

Hey friend, in the end
when the storm is through
who will you look to
to find your strength again?

get down on your knees
and lift your hands up to heaven
you’re praying in the eye of the storm

you’ll survive in the fire
of life, and its trials
don’t give up in the eye of the storm

trembling

He who forgives not is not forgiven, and the prayer of the Pharisee is as the weary beating of the surf of hell, while the cry of a soul out of its fire sets the heart-strings of Love trembling.

George Macdonald

silences

He who hath heard the Word of God can bear his silences.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

precious

They were in a better condition, acknowledging only a terror above them flaming on that unknown mountain height, than stooping to worship the idol below them. Fear is nobler than sensuality. Fear is better than no God, better than a god made with hands. In that fear lay deep hidden the sense of the infinite. The worship of fear is true, though very low; and though not acceptable to God in itself -- for only the worship of spirit and of truth is acceptable to him -- yet even in His sight it is precious. For he regards men not as they are merely, but as they shall be; not as they shall be merely, but as they are now growing, or capable of growing, towards that image after which He made them that they might grow to it. Therefore a thousand stages, each in itself all but valueless, are of inestimable worth as the necessary and connected gradations of an infinite progress. A condition which of declension would indicate a devil, may of growth indicate a saint.

George Macdonald

outside

A conversion is incomplete if it does not leave one with an intense social consciousness, if it does not fill one with a sense of overwhelming responsibility for the world. It has been said... truly that the Church exists for those outside of itself. The Church must never be in any sense a little huddle of pious people, shutting their doors against the world, lost in prayer and praise, connoisseurs of preaching and liturgy, busy mutually congratulating themselves on the excellence of their Christian experience.

William Barclay

our little

When an unskillful servant gathers many herbs, flowers, and seeds in a garden, you gather them out that are useful, and cast the rest out of sight; so Christ deals with our performances. All the ingredients of self that are in them He takes away, and adds incense to what remains, and presents it to God. This is the cause that the saints at the last day, when they meet their own duties and performances, know them not, they are so changed from what they were when they went out of their hand. "Lord, when saw we Thee naked or hungry?" So God accepts a little, and Christ makes our little a great deal.

John Owen (An Exposition upon Psalm CXXX)