CatEcumen the Ecumenical Cat

This is an experiment

2011-04-06T09:20:00.001-04:00

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:

A Break to Read Rob Bell

2011-03-23T07:57:00.002-04:00

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.

"Faithing Our Practices," Part One

2011-03-22T20:19:00.000-04:00

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?)

Because I'm not The Tower ....

2011-03-19T21:05:00.001-04:00

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.

Developing an eclectic and open Christian faith

2011-03-18T17:18:00.000-04:00

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.

So, it's the Ides of March ....

2011-03-15T20:52:00.002-04:00

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.

Part of today's reading from the Discovery® Daily Bible Reading Guide

2011-03-14T22:54:00.003-04:00

Philippians 4:11-13

[11] I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. [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. [13] I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Discovery® | Free Daily Bible Reading Guide Online | Scripture Union USA | Bible Reading

Chapter 4 of Finding Our Way Again in the light of Rob Bell

2011-03-14T22:20:00.000-04:00

I was just listening tonight to the Livestream event for the publication of Rob Bell's Love Wins. Rob Bell was being interviewed by Newsweek's Lisa Miller, and there was an ongoing commentary in the accompanying chat room, mostly tearing down Rob Bell as "universalist." It was perfect timing for my approach to Chapter 4 of Brian McLaren's Finding Our Way Again.

McLaren writes: "What's gotten me into trouble, though, is my suspicion that a person can be a follower of the way of Jesus without affiliating with the Christian religion, and my simultaneous lament that a person can be accepted and even celebrated as a card-carrying member of the Christian club but not actually be a follower of the way of Jesus."

Rob Bell pointed out in tonight's interview that Jesus can be the way for everyone to reach God, even those who are not consciously aware of the fact that they are being brought to God by Jesus. This, of course, seems like scandalous universalism to many, and there have been lengthy and impassioned pre-publication reviews of the book as theologically dangerous and misleading for its message that God is ultimately unwilling to give up on anyone.

One member of the audience asked him about the narrow way to salvation. The same issue is addressed by McLaren in describing the call of Jesus, not to a new religion, but to a new way of life - called to practice loving enemies as if they were friends, and hungering and thirsting not so much for food and drink but for justice. McLaren describes this way of life as a "rocky mountain footpath that required careful attention and commitment, step by step." The narrowness of the path is not found in its exclusivity, but in its difficulty. There are many ways (a broad Roman road) NOT to follow the way of Jesus, and only that narrow path to follow, but following is not a matter of proclaiming creeds, or even believing in the creeds one proclaims. It is a way of life.

A Prophet in Pink Sneakers: Jesus: Teaching to the Test

2011-03-13T20:38:00.000-04:00

A Prophet in Pink Sneakers: Jesus: Teaching to the Test: "The First Sunday of Lent Jesus: Teaching to the Test Matthew 4:1-11 (Based on an excerpt from The Message) Jesus went into the wildernes..."

McLaren's Seven Abrahamic Practices

2011-03-12T21:51:00.000-05:00

Just when I start thinking that Finding Our Way Again is too simplistic and introductory for my taste, Brian McLaren comes up with another fresh insight. Maybe starting from the assumption that the reader knows very little about the history of religion is a good thing, because it takes the reader back to re-evaluate old, easy assumptions.

McLaren uses Abraham, patriarch of the three faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as a starting point to identify basic categories of spiritual practices:

Pilgrimage
Fasting
The holy meal
Formal, fixed-hour prayer
Giving / tithing
Sabbath
Liturgical year

Although McLaren is stretching in some respects, this is a good concept: tracing back the patterns that the Abrahamic faiths have in common, and finding sources for them in shared story.

Edward Scribner Ames: Social Justice Sermon: Power

2011-03-12T11:35:00.000-05:00

Edward Scribner Ames: Social Justice Sermon: Power: "Micah 2:1-2 Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the..."

Noticing life

2011-03-11T08:29:00.001-05:00

The second chapter of Brian McLaren's Finding Our Way Again is another one that I will have to re-read many times, not because it's complicated (it's not), but because in its very simplicity and directness, it reminds me of so many things that I tend to forget.

Every choice that we make changes us, even the smallest ones. We worry about slimming our bodies when we should be thinking about developing a more "weighty" character (I particularly like that phrase). We need to stop and notice the tiny, beautiful moments which remind us of the joy of life. All these are obvious things that we've heard so often before, but we don't really pay attention. We need to pay attention.

As I deal with the problems and stresses of the moment, I need to remember that the essentials of life aren't the big showy things on the outside, but the journey toward peace and serenity on the inside. Right now, at this very point in my life, is a perfect time to notice God working, and to appreciate what I see.

Fundy versus New Age

2011-03-10T23:18:00.002-05:00

The first chapter of Brian McLaren's Finding Our Way Again, entitled "Searching for an Everyday Sacredness," talks about "the cold war between science and religion," and identifies three categories of spiritual stance: scientific secularism, "hot and pushy fundamentalism" and "warm but mushy spirituality." (I like the rhyming of "pushy" and "mushy.") The spiritual exercises at the end of the chapter ask the readers to identify for themselves what their position has been on this spectrum, and how the conflict between the various camps has affected their lives.

The concept of the "everyday sacred" strongly appeals to me. Among my many half-read books are Everyday Holiness: The Path of Mussar by Alan Morinis, and Spiritual Fitness: Everyday Exercises for Body and Soul by Doris Donnelly. I say "half-read," because books like these are not truly read by a quick skim. They need to be absorbed slowly. Finding Our Way Again is clearly going to be one of these.

I have often been caught in an approach-avoidance, attraction-repulsion reaction with "hot and pushy fundamentalism." I am personally unable to accept that any set of answers is ever final; there are always more questions. Still, for a person whose primary motto is "Question authority," I am surprisingly drawn to faith traditions like Roman Catholicism, the Baha'i Faith and some forms of evangelical Christianity, including so-called Messianic Judaism.

It would be more expected for me to be comfortable in the neo-pagan movement, or humanistic Judaism, or even a Quaker meeting. I have tried those, and I have found value in them, but not deep emotional satisfaction.

I call myself CatEcumen the Ecumenical Cat because I'm always on the journey from one faith tradition to another, never settling down, never truly "finished." I hope that's OK with God. I tell myself that this constantly questioning spirit is how God made me, so it must be OK.

And so we begin!

2011-03-09T19:42:00.000-05:00

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of new Lenten practices (and maybe some of them will stay year-round), and the first of them will be "conscious" reading. By that I mean something more than the skimming way that I read most novels. I mean slow, careful reading of spiritually important works, including but not limited to the Bible - a new way of reading inspired by the tradition of lectio divina, taking my time to think about what I'm reading, and incorporating prayer and contemplation into my reading life.

I haven't had much of a prayer life lately, and despite my office lined with books, I haven't had as much of a reading life as I did in years past. Maybe the belt-tightening circumstances of the moment are a way to shepherd me back to the riches of all these unread or partly-read books, just waiting for me.

The book I'm reading first is called Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices by the famous (and somewhat controversial) Brian McLaren. From the description I'd read, I thought that Phyllis Tickle was a co-author, but she merely wrote the Foreword. And in that Foreword, she points out how the urge for something new, different, even revolutionary, something to awaken and revitalize the church, leads us circling back to the ways of those who came before us. We are not so much discovering as rediscovering, but then again, isn't that always true? I'm pretty sure that it's true of me, right now.

Things I will work on during Lent this year:

2011-03-08T11:56:00.000-05:00

I'm going to work on "less complaining, more gratitude."
I'm going to do daily readings and write about them, in at least a somewhat disciplined way. That includes reviewing the books from BookSneeze, beginning with "Finding Our Way Again."
I'm going to spend some time in prayer and meditation every day, at least a little, and if I can't think of anything to say in prayer, I'll just recite prayers until I can find my own words. But I won't use lack of words as an excuse; I can always sit in silence and just listen.

First book from BookSneeze

2011-02-25T19:42:00.000-05:00

I have signed up for my first book from BookSneeze. It will be "Finding Our Way Again:
The Return of the Ancient Practices," by Brian McLaren and Phyllis Tickle.

Lois loved books ....

2011-02-25T19:26:00.000-05:00

Viral Bloggers?

2011-02-17T16:37:00.000-05:00

I've been neglecting this blog again (too much time on Facebook!) but I'd like to give regular blogging another try. I'm going to sign up for the "viral bloggers" group from TheOOZE and try to get a copy of Jay Bakker's new book to review.

Still complaining

2010-10-03T22:28:00.000-04:00

I'm not doing very well on the whole no-complaining thing so far. I've had to reset my Complaint Free widget every day, up through and including today. This really is hard!

As I begin my "complaint free" journey .....

2010-10-01T17:02:00.000-04:00

I'm still reading "Complaint Free Relationships," and my first question to myself (this will take some time to answer) is: How would other people be damaged if I allowed myself to be happier?

Starting on the journey toward a complaint-free life

2010-09-30T14:33:00.001-04:00

Today I start on the "complaint-free" life journey. Wish me luck - I am going to dare to wish luck to myself, as well!

BookSneeze

2010-04-10T09:19:00.001-04:00

I haven't been using this blog much, but now that I'm not posting much to LiveJournal either, I think I'm going to try something called BookSneeze - free books in exchange for a review.

Double predestination = existential despair

2010-01-16T13:18:00.000-05:00

A challenge to Calvinists: if you accept double predestination, do you also accept that ALL human action (including prayer, Bible study and teaching, evangelism, church attendance and tithing) is totally worthless and meaningless, and that God's justice demands that a one-minute-old baby should experience eternal conscious suffering in Hell?

Serenity, guilt and giving oneself grace

2009-12-30T11:01:00.001-05:00

For too long, when I feel happy, I have then felt guilty and condemned for it, on the premise that to be content in a world of suffering is to be cold and uncaring toward all those who are in pain. Today I choose to allow myself to be willing to enjoy a sense of peace without feeling that my own serenity makes me morally responsible for harm to others. Just as finishing my dinner neither helps nor hurts the starving elsewhere in the world, my happiness is not the cause of the suffering of others.

The kitten and Logan

2009-09-18T12:00:00.000-04:00

Faith and identity

2009-08-21T08:54:00.000-04:00

When I was a child, I had very little knowledge about my Jewish heritage, since I grew up in a non-observant family. About all that I thought I knew about being Jewish was that it meant not believing in Jesus. After many years of learning about the history of religion, and many years of my own meandering philosophical and spiritual journey through multiple religious traditions, I find it sad that so many knowledgeable adults still have that same simplistic view of what being Jewish means.

My ethnic identity will always be Jewish, regardless of what I believe. If I believe in Jesus one day and doubt him the next, do I turn being Jewish off and on like a light switch? No, I don't think so, because being Jewish is more than a set of theological beliefs. It's being part of a people, and one can't turn that off by changing one's mind.

The critters interfere

2009-08-18T12:56:00.000-04:00

kitten sleeping on file
Originally uploaded by catecumen

The kitten dozing on the file I had planned to work on this morning

Logan sleeping on chair
Originally uploaded by catecumen

My dog is occupying my chair, how can I work?

Prayer request

2009-08-16T09:02:00.000-04:00

For those of you who pray, in whatever tradition, I ask your prayers for the Sonday family.

The Kateri Peace Conference

2009-08-16T08:38:00.000-04:00

I checked out the Kateri Peace Conference this year, from Saturday morning until early afternoon (I didn't stay after the lunchtime speakers). It was .... interesting, ranging from good, to mixed, to extremely annoying.

The good: the first speaker, Professor Bruce R. Hare, was excellent. He spoke about the "selective indignation" that people feel when their own ethnic group is insulted while being oblivious to the offenses against others, and about race as a social construct so unsupported by science that it amounts to a "mental illness," since there is really only one race, the human race - so why do we call pink people white and brown people black? We still code people as binary, black or white, so that we can put them in perceptual boxes.

I was very impressed with Professor Hare and will be seeking out his work in the future.

The workshop I attended, on Caryl Churchill's controversial short play "Seven Jewish Children," was the "mixed." The play does acknowledge the origins of contemporary Israeli attitudes in the memory (whether personal or historical) of the Holocaust and the fear that it might happen again, but I could see in the workshop how it was being used by participants like Professor Lawrence Davidson. Davidson was a co-presenter at the event which followed, two talks on "U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East," which were delivered during lunch.

The conspiratorial view of pretty much everything ("all the fault of the Zionists") reminded me of far-right-wing propaganda. The other speaker, Janet Amighi, casually dismissed the shooting of dissidents in Iran as a reasonable response to the West subsidizing dissent within Iran to destabilize the Iranian government.

I wanted to ask, "So Baha'is and other Iranian dissenters don't count as indigenous if anyone elsewhere in the world supports them, but Palestinians do?" (The Baha'i Faith originated in Iran, and their beliefs prohibit them from participating in political activity.) I had a number of questions, but my questions were not taken. Well, after all, dissent is a Zionist conspiracy, isn't it?

The kitten (photo by Jessica Hughes)

2009-08-03T19:29:00.000-04:00

Negativity

2009-03-07T17:59:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling too negative right now to post anything useful. I'll come back when I can.

Prayer for patience

2009-03-05T11:08:00.000-05:00

Dearest my Lord, I find that I no longer have the patience that I once had. I am struggling with this relatively new tendency to lose my temper over things that I could have overlooked with a smile in the past. Help me to keep a peace within myself that cannot be disturbed by the words and actions of others.

Guilt corrodes, love heals

2009-03-04T08:41:00.001-05:00

I am reminded this morning that so much of what I do in the present moment is affected by my feelings of guilt about what I have done or failed to do in the past. How many friendships have I ruined because I felt guilty about failing someone, so I withdrew entirely from the friendship and made the abandonment worse? I know I'm not the only one.

It's easy to say "let go of the past and the future, celebrate the present moment," and much harder to DO it. I guess that's where prayer comes in, and good friends who show me the way.

Playing to lose is no better than playing to win. It's so much better to stop playing the game of "this happened, this will happen" and just be here now. Easy to say, tough to accomplish. I need God's grace and help on this one.

PRAYER: Dearest my Lord, guide me this morning and always to set aside my guilt and my anger against myself, and to recognize that each day is a new day, and that love is not about keeping score.

Of anniversaries, internet drama, death watches and the hope of spring

2009-03-03T19:54:00.001-05:00

Today would have been the wedding anniversary for two of my friends, both of whose spouses were murdered before they could reach this anniversary date. Remembering the day isn't really about them any more, for me; it's about remembering how fortunate I am that I still have my husband with me, despite all predictions, and remembering that the little irritations of marriage don't really matter when one looks at the bigger picture.

A friend reports that she received a text message from our mutual friend Lois this morning, so Lois is still with us, and she tells me that she sent along my love. I keep wanting to find something more significant to say to Lois than "I love you" and "thank you" but really, there isn't anything more significant than that, is there? I just want to keep saying it, anyway. I won't know what to say to her husband either when she is gone. That same mutual friend has just reminded me that their first anniversary is coming up within a few days.

I spent most of yesterday sleeping (wasn't feeling well) and dealing with drama at an online community I moderate. I'm in the process of extricating myself from that situation. The drama is not good for me.

The sun was shining brightly this morning. It would have been a perfect day to start my new routine of walking to the nearest Catholic church for morning mass on those days when I don't have anything scheduled at 9 AM, except for the fact that I was feeling crappy yesterday and I didn't want to take a chance on going out this morning. It won't be too much longer, though, before I start doing that. I'm even hoping to borrow my housemate's stationary exercise bicycle and use that on the mornings when walking isn't an option. Will that ever really happen? Right now I think the answer is yes, it will happen. I will embrace the arrival of spring and start exercising. I won't write off that possibility because I wasn't feeling well yesterday. Yes, it's true, tomorrow really is another day.

PRAYER: Dearest my Lord, on this day when I remember those who have lost their spouses, help me to keep my gratitude always in mind and in my heart, and to appreciate and cherish what I have, before it is too late.

Contract with the other or covenant with not-other?

2009-03-02T06:28:00.000-05:00

I was grateful to learn this morning that my friend Lois is still with us. I still don't have anything more to say beyond the same "love you" and "thank you," but maybe it's OK not to have anything else. Maybe there isn't anything else to say.

Yesterday I was able to get my stepdaughter to watch part of the lifechurch.tv online service with me, but they lost both of us when the theme shifted to a traditional fundamentalist understanding of "wives, submit to your husbands." Perhaps we signed off too soon, and there may have been more to the message that we would have enjoyed, but I have a sore spot about the idea of taking Paul's letters as creating a new law. If someone had said to Paul, "You know those letters that you're writing to encourage the churches around the world? You're creating a new Torah, and your words will be used as scripture to bind believers to obey a new law," he would have totally flipped out. What would be the point of substituting a new Torah for the old one? The point was supposed to be grace, God's love and forgiveness instead of law, after all.

The theme of the message was about marriage as covenant rather than mere contract, as an irrevocable commitment rather than a document carefully negotiated by lawyers to allow each party a reasonable way out when the going gets rough, and that's a theme which resonates with me. The Henri Nouwen meditation for today is also about covenant, God's covenant with God: God for us, God with us, God within us. I think it's that "not-other" part which carries the most emotional weight for me.

Just as a spouse in a good, healthy and long-lasting marriage becomes "not-other," part of oneself rather than an opponent to be conquered in daily battle, so the journey of scripture and faith is also about the transition of God's relationship with us from other to not-other. In a marriage between two human beings, if it's not "mutual submission," if there is a winner and a loser, then both lose. In a spiritual journey informed by the mystical tradition, as we read and meditate upon scripture, we begin with the traditional "You're God and I'm not," with God "out there" making rules and punishing those who disobey, but that's not the place we hope to end. We hope to end in a place where God becomes a part of us and we are a part of God. Then again, mysticism and the metaphor of marriage have always gone hand in hand. :-)

PRAYER: Dearest my Lord, help me to remember today that it's not about winning, not about finding the right thing to say, not about saving anyone or changing the outcome, but it is about changing my attitude. Loving others means no longer treating them as adversaries. The more I can learn to love my husband, family and friends and accept their right to love me back, the more I can also learn to love and accept love from God.

Given to me by love

2009-03-01T06:04:00.000-05:00

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1 (NIV)

The NaBloPoMo theme for March 2009 is "giving (up)," and as I begin this morning, looking at a prayer bible given to me as a gift by my husband twelve years ago and a blank journal which was given to me several years ago by my friend Lois, I am thinking about that phrase and about the interaction between "let go and let God" and being able to give to others. It's the kind of mystery that does make sense, because how can we give to others what we ourselves don't have?

I'm feeling particularly empty-handed right now, not knowing what to say to my friend Lois as she fights for her life in a hospital in Israel, passing along messages like "I love you" and "I'll pray for you" and "thank you," most of all that last. I'm grateful for what Lois has demonstrated for me in action over the past few years, by her choice to be my friend, by her fight to stay alive despite a lifetime of pain, a devastating car accident and an illness which by its nature is ultimately terminal. I suppose that in a way, life itself is always a process of dying, but looking at it that way overlooks that it is also a process of living despite death. Lois has lived and loved in defiance of death. So has my husband. I don't know why either of them would choose to have anything to do with me, but I need to learn to accept that being loved isn't about being worthy of love, it's about love itself.

The Purpose Driven Life devotional for March 1, 2009 which was shared at Facebook yesterday re-tells the story of a returned missionary who taught a lesson about prayer. When one young man said, “Lord, I just need strength; please give me strength,” the returned missionary looked up and said, “Young man, God does not give us strength. He is our strength. Now pray it right.”

When people like Lois and my husband choose to live in the face of death, and to love in the face of human unworthiness to be loved, I am tempted to say that it is because they are stronger than I am, superior to me in every way. That's an easy, selfish answer because I write myself off as weak and try to avoid my responsibility to become more than I am, not out of my own strength, but out of the knowledge that I am loved, by people and by God. That's not my own strength, and it doesn't change the fact of my weakness, but I can still use it.

Lois wrote, "People's love is like lifelines holding me." Stephen Covey writes about being neither dependent nor independent but interdependent with other people. We are not limited by the limits of our own strength. I need to learn that none of us is all alone in this world, not even me.

My prayer for today: Dearest my Lord, remind me that You re-create the universe every day, and that I and those who love me are part of that wonder of creation, renewed each morning. Remind me that it is not about what I can do, but about what You have done, are doing, and will continue to do, in others and in me.

NaBloPoMo for March

2009-02-27T19:33:00.001-05:00

I am planning to blog daily for NaBloPoMo during March 2009. The theme for March is "giving (up)," which is, of course, a good Lenten theme.

Re-purposing this blog (boy, that sounds pretentious, doesn't it?)

2009-02-08T10:20:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm registering for the "Transforming Theology Theo-Blogger Consortium," although I'm not exactly sure what kind of theo-blogging I'm going to do, yet ... but I'm intrigued by the idea, and we'll see how it plays out!

Promoting Blog Peace

2008-12-01T07:07:00.001-05:00

Courtesy of Toni