I'll get back to my book reviews as soon as I catch up on office work! In the meantime, an experiment with embedding a PowerPoint of my pastor's message:
What I'm reading, what I think about what I'm reading, and where that leads ....
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
A Break to Read Rob Bell
I'm taking a break from trying to develop my review of Brian McLaren's Finding Your Way Again to read the controversial new book from Rob Bell, Love Wins. I will probably post a review of Love Wins first, and then will return to Finding Your Way Again.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
"Faithing Our Practices," Part One
I've been skipping around a bit in Brian McLaren's Finding Our Way Again, because it's taking me way too long to develop my review a chapter at a time. So I have done a first read-through, and I will start working on some of the concepts that I find useful or challenging (generally those come out to be the same thing).
McLaren mentions an approach which has been called "practicing the presence of God" or, in a phrase which he admittedly did not invent but will surely popularize, "faithing our practices" - doing the same ordinary day-to-day things that we do, but doing them with full consciousness of God's presence in them.
Can I learn to feel God's presence when I wash dishes? (I greatly dislike washing dishes.) Can I learn to see myself as serving God when I do things for my husband, or even for the dogs?
What about my work? Can I learn to do the work in a God-conscious, prayerful way?
(And what was the very bad news that McLaren received, that he mentions toward the end but chooses not to specify? Is it improper to respond with curiosity and concern to a "vaguebooking" statement like that?)
McLaren mentions an approach which has been called "practicing the presence of God" or, in a phrase which he admittedly did not invent but will surely popularize, "faithing our practices" - doing the same ordinary day-to-day things that we do, but doing them with full consciousness of God's presence in them.
Can I learn to feel God's presence when I wash dishes? (I greatly dislike washing dishes.) Can I learn to see myself as serving God when I do things for my husband, or even for the dogs?
What about my work? Can I learn to do the work in a God-conscious, prayerful way?
(And what was the very bad news that McLaren received, that he mentions toward the end but chooses not to specify? Is it improper to respond with curiosity and concern to a "vaguebooking" statement like that?)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Because I'm not The Tower ....
One of the books that my dog chewed on as a puppy was this little book by David Jeremiah, The Prayer Matrix (Logan had a particular taste for books about prayer). While I was reorganizing my home office, I happened to come upon this book again, and realized rather quickly that it wasn't just happenstance. This well-chewed little book was waiting for me to find it at the moment when I needed it.
I have been trying for some time to restore and reinvigorate my prayer life, which has been mostly nonexistent over the past few years. Like so many people, I have been too busy running around "putting out fires," dealing with the crisis of the moment, to take the time to see the bigger picture - and I have consistently neglected to ask God for what I need.
There is more than a good reason, there is a perfect reason why I am in financial distress right now, and it is God's perfect reason. I need to learn a radical dependence upon God. I need to learn to ask.
I have always struggled against the idea of God as the cosmic vending machine, waiting for us to come up with the proper coin, the correct formula, the right magical incantation, before dispensing good things. That's not the kind of God I want to worship, and that's OK, because that's not the kind of God we have.
David Jeremiah states that God has chosen voluntarily to limit Himself, by choosing to work through the means of prayer. Jeremiah even makes this statement, which seems difficult to accept: "In certain unexplainable ways, He has made Himself subservient to the prayers of His people." Subservient? That seems wrong, doesn't it?
And yet, it's all about free will, and has been since the Garden of Eden (whether one takes the story literally or not). God could do everything without us; God could make us into automatons, mere tools with no choice other than to do His will. He chose not to do that, and part of His gift to us is the gift of choice. By stepping back until we ask for His help, He leaves us our freedom.
Jeremiah writes: "Prayer is built into the way the universe works because the universe works on relationship - our personal relationship with God." Although it is phrased differently, this is much the same insight as one that I learned early and have held for my entire adult life, that God works together with us in making our reality. I like to phrase it as "we co-create our reality," but that's too New Agey a phrasing for most Christians. I believe it is true, though, that we work in partnership with God, not because God can't do it without us but because God chooses not to do it without us.
Jeremiah quotes Jim Cymbala that prayer "has to be born out of a whole environment of felt need." I've been like the woman in the Vienna Teng song "The Tower," thinking that I need NOT to need, when it is actually the opposite. I need to acknowledge that I am in need, and if I'm not sufficiently in need then I will keep on sinking until I hit that point, because only then can I truly ask God's help through prayer.
I have been trying for some time to restore and reinvigorate my prayer life, which has been mostly nonexistent over the past few years. Like so many people, I have been too busy running around "putting out fires," dealing with the crisis of the moment, to take the time to see the bigger picture - and I have consistently neglected to ask God for what I need.
There is more than a good reason, there is a perfect reason why I am in financial distress right now, and it is God's perfect reason. I need to learn a radical dependence upon God. I need to learn to ask.
I have always struggled against the idea of God as the cosmic vending machine, waiting for us to come up with the proper coin, the correct formula, the right magical incantation, before dispensing good things. That's not the kind of God I want to worship, and that's OK, because that's not the kind of God we have.
David Jeremiah states that God has chosen voluntarily to limit Himself, by choosing to work through the means of prayer. Jeremiah even makes this statement, which seems difficult to accept: "In certain unexplainable ways, He has made Himself subservient to the prayers of His people." Subservient? That seems wrong, doesn't it?
And yet, it's all about free will, and has been since the Garden of Eden (whether one takes the story literally or not). God could do everything without us; God could make us into automatons, mere tools with no choice other than to do His will. He chose not to do that, and part of His gift to us is the gift of choice. By stepping back until we ask for His help, He leaves us our freedom.
Jeremiah writes: "Prayer is built into the way the universe works because the universe works on relationship - our personal relationship with God." Although it is phrased differently, this is much the same insight as one that I learned early and have held for my entire adult life, that God works together with us in making our reality. I like to phrase it as "we co-create our reality," but that's too New Agey a phrasing for most Christians. I believe it is true, though, that we work in partnership with God, not because God can't do it without us but because God chooses not to do it without us.
Jeremiah quotes Jim Cymbala that prayer "has to be born out of a whole environment of felt need." I've been like the woman in the Vienna Teng song "The Tower," thinking that I need NOT to need, when it is actually the opposite. I need to acknowledge that I am in need, and if I'm not sufficiently in need then I will keep on sinking until I hit that point, because only then can I truly ask God's help through prayer.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Developing an eclectic and open Christian faith
I have nicknamed myself "CatEcumen the Ecumenical Cat" because my spirituality draws from so many different faith traditions (and the number continues to grow as I read and learn). Chapter 6 of Brian McLaren's Finding Our Way Again addresses the journey outward from the narrow exclusivity of denominations and sects, to a broader, "open source" path of faith, drawing from many different traditions.
When I read the chapter title, "Sharing Treasures Among Friends," I expected a focus on the local faith community and the importance of relationships within the local church, but that is not what this chapter was about. The "friends" of the chapter title are different denominations and religious traditions, and the treasures are their spiritual practices.
This concept certainly resonates with me (see above), but it seems like the target audience for this chapter (and probably the whole book) would be the reader who is not yet comfortable with this concept. In many ways, this book is written on a very basic, introductory level, and sometimes I get impatient with that.
When I read the chapter title, "Sharing Treasures Among Friends," I expected a focus on the local faith community and the importance of relationships within the local church, but that is not what this chapter was about. The "friends" of the chapter title are different denominations and religious traditions, and the treasures are their spiritual practices.
This concept certainly resonates with me (see above), but it seems like the target audience for this chapter (and probably the whole book) would be the reader who is not yet comfortable with this concept. In many ways, this book is written on a very basic, introductory level, and sometimes I get impatient with that.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
So, it's the Ides of March ....
It's time for some big scary life changes, and that makes it an ideal time for reflection, a time to look both into myself and outward.
Chapter 5 of Finding Our Way Again, entitled "Paul and the Way of Love," McLaren departs from the twentieth-century convention of seeing Paul's teachings as a departure from those of Jesus, and illustrates how Paul emphasizes the practical application of the teachings of Jesus in the daily life of his time. He gives examples of Paul's imagery, including the metaphors of walking and of pregnancy, as the bridge between theory and practice.
It is one of Paul's images that has been running through my head a lot lately, during financial trouble:
Philippians 4:12
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I never actually go hungry (but then again, I am easily satisfied where food is concerned), but I have been dealing with financial ups and downs, most particularly the down side. Even though I don't assume that every word Paul spoke is intended for all people at all times and places, and even though I do work on understanding him in his cultural context, I still like it when I have the feeling that he is speaking to me.
Chapter 5 of Finding Our Way Again, entitled "Paul and the Way of Love," McLaren departs from the twentieth-century convention of seeing Paul's teachings as a departure from those of Jesus, and illustrates how Paul emphasizes the practical application of the teachings of Jesus in the daily life of his time. He gives examples of Paul's imagery, including the metaphors of walking and of pregnancy, as the bridge between theory and practice.
It is one of Paul's images that has been running through my head a lot lately, during financial trouble:
Philippians 4:12
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I never actually go hungry (but then again, I am easily satisfied where food is concerned), but I have been dealing with financial ups and downs, most particularly the down side. Even though I don't assume that every word Paul spoke is intended for all people at all times and places, and even though I do work on understanding him in his cultural context, I still like it when I have the feeling that he is speaking to me.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Part of today's reading from the Discovery® Daily Bible Reading Guide
Philippians 4:11-13
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