I'm doing some research on the word 'glory'. I'm curious what ideas, images, stories, or words, are associated with 'glory' for you. What comes to mind? Anything will do even if it's just a single word.
Will you leave a comment with your reply? Will you pass around this request?
Thanks!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
It's a twister! and that's a beautiful thing.
There two, now three, now thirty dry leaves
persuaded (or pursued) from the winter ground
by the rushing rumor of Spring.
Up and round like a dizzied child
a force of nature, a dervish wild.
I waited, a benchwarmer, with book in hand
in relative calm till the turning leaves turned on me.
The hush grew rushed and the whisper howled
when the bated breath broke loose.
That wind shook the soot from the winter ember
broke through to the weak and eager heat,
and sparks were joined to the spiraling spiration.
My heart was relieved by the light-warmth.
---
That's a shot at a poem I'm trying to write about a little moment from today. I was at the park re-reading the end of a great book I've been in called "Gilead" by Marilynn Robinson. I read this paragraph:
"It has seemed to me sometimes as though the Lord breathes on this poor gray ember of Creation and it turns into radiance - for a moment or a year or the span of a life. And then it sinks back into itself again, and to look at it no one would know it has anything to do with fire, or light. That is what I said in the Pentecost sermon. I have reflected on that sermon, and there is some truth in it. But the Lord is more constant and far more extravagant than it seems to imply. Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?"
While I was thinking about it I noticed some leaves spinning up into the air. A cyclone formed about twenty yards away and I watched it, able to see the shape of the wind outlined by the debris. It was quiet where I sat, but the cyclone moved toward me and passed "through me" for a few seconds.
It was striking. The twining wind roared for just a moment and then passed. It felt like words of blessing, some kind of whirling baptism.
And it was in such a perfect context, having just read that paragraph from Gilead. I needed that grace today. I needed that respite. Beauty is never just beauty, it always carries the loving intention of our God.
persuaded (or pursued) from the winter ground
by the rushing rumor of Spring.
Up and round like a dizzied child
a force of nature, a dervish wild.
I waited, a benchwarmer, with book in hand
in relative calm till the turning leaves turned on me.
The hush grew rushed and the whisper howled
when the bated breath broke loose.
That wind shook the soot from the winter ember
broke through to the weak and eager heat,
and sparks were joined to the spiraling spiration.
My heart was relieved by the light-warmth.
---
That's a shot at a poem I'm trying to write about a little moment from today. I was at the park re-reading the end of a great book I've been in called "Gilead" by Marilynn Robinson. I read this paragraph:
"It has seemed to me sometimes as though the Lord breathes on this poor gray ember of Creation and it turns into radiance - for a moment or a year or the span of a life. And then it sinks back into itself again, and to look at it no one would know it has anything to do with fire, or light. That is what I said in the Pentecost sermon. I have reflected on that sermon, and there is some truth in it. But the Lord is more constant and far more extravagant than it seems to imply. Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don't have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?"
While I was thinking about it I noticed some leaves spinning up into the air. A cyclone formed about twenty yards away and I watched it, able to see the shape of the wind outlined by the debris. It was quiet where I sat, but the cyclone moved toward me and passed "through me" for a few seconds.
It was striking. The twining wind roared for just a moment and then passed. It felt like words of blessing, some kind of whirling baptism.
And it was in such a perfect context, having just read that paragraph from Gilead. I needed that grace today. I needed that respite. Beauty is never just beauty, it always carries the loving intention of our God.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
the Accumulation of Calling
This past weekend, I was walking in the sea-wind on the Mississippi gulf coast with a good old friend who is a pastor down there. Somehow she and I began talking about 'calling'. This has always been a very ambiguous word for me and even a very frustrating thing to confront. I grew up thinking that you were supposed to have this absolute, kind of soul-piercing transcendent vocalization of the meaning of your life before you would be able to begin living it. There comes a point when that expectation either crushes you or breaks itself. These days I'm seeing calling has a cumulative quality. Kind of like relationship.
It's when I look back that it becomes more clear to me that God has been framing a context for how I participate with Him in His life now. There have been soul-shaping holy whispers along the way. The relationship with Jesus has changed as I've gradually learned what's important to God. Within the framework of exposure to God's life and work my desires adjusted in focus and my gifts have been developing. At this point, I am just beginning to stand back and observe that all this is going somewhere, that there is an intentional movement.
It's a very personal thing. I believe there is a general calling and mission that is shared by all who follow Jesus (and all who don't). We all are called in Christ to carry on his mission and work. Though that work is specific, how we flesh it out as real particular people often ends up volitionally vague. It's a creative opportunity though, relationship is. And though I have a general sense of the purpose of relationship, I sometimes have no idea what the heck I'm doing with it in any definitive way.
In the end, God is bringing his mission to life in me. Not through a singular explosive communication, but through familial attentive communion. I feel my gifts ripening and making sense and even reaching out into new possibilities. I see love among friends growing into new Kingdom Contexts. I am amazed to discover faith growing as the Father speaks the strength of his love against the sin that is "ever before me". The Story of Scripture, the very life of God, continues to give me a location in existence - a heritage (I came from somewhere) and an inheritance (I'm going somewhere). That means I have a place in God's life and work right now in the Present.
Calling then, has to do with Communion, with the accumulation of relationship with Jesus, with the ongoing maintenance of attachment through the Holy Spirit, and the faithful care and invitation of the Father to live as a member of his household.
ps. Please comment and share your experience of finding a place in God's life/story.
It's when I look back that it becomes more clear to me that God has been framing a context for how I participate with Him in His life now. There have been soul-shaping holy whispers along the way. The relationship with Jesus has changed as I've gradually learned what's important to God. Within the framework of exposure to God's life and work my desires adjusted in focus and my gifts have been developing. At this point, I am just beginning to stand back and observe that all this is going somewhere, that there is an intentional movement.
It's a very personal thing. I believe there is a general calling and mission that is shared by all who follow Jesus (and all who don't). We all are called in Christ to carry on his mission and work. Though that work is specific, how we flesh it out as real particular people often ends up volitionally vague. It's a creative opportunity though, relationship is. And though I have a general sense of the purpose of relationship, I sometimes have no idea what the heck I'm doing with it in any definitive way.
In the end, God is bringing his mission to life in me. Not through a singular explosive communication, but through familial attentive communion. I feel my gifts ripening and making sense and even reaching out into new possibilities. I see love among friends growing into new Kingdom Contexts. I am amazed to discover faith growing as the Father speaks the strength of his love against the sin that is "ever before me". The Story of Scripture, the very life of God, continues to give me a location in existence - a heritage (I came from somewhere) and an inheritance (I'm going somewhere). That means I have a place in God's life and work right now in the Present.
Calling then, has to do with Communion, with the accumulation of relationship with Jesus, with the ongoing maintenance of attachment through the Holy Spirit, and the faithful care and invitation of the Father to live as a member of his household.
ps. Please comment and share your experience of finding a place in God's life/story.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thanks Wendell, I keep forgetting
How to be a Poet
by Wendell Berry
(to remind myself)
i
Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
than you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.
ii
Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
iii
Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.
--------------
ps. Thanks Kristen Sayres. I scooped this up off your old blog.
pps. Now I will close this laptop, lay on the ground in the sun and read a book in my friend's backyard in Memphis, TN. Amen.
--------------
ps. Thanks Kristen Sayres. I scooped this up off your old blog.
pps. Now I will close this laptop, lay on the ground in the sun and read a book in my friend's backyard in Memphis, TN. Amen.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Reproach, Approach, Reconciliation
When the Israelites finally entered the promised land God said he was 'removing the reproach of Egypt from them'. (Joshua 5:9-12) Here are some definitions of reproach (which is related to reprobate):
reproach (n.)
c.1420, from O.Fr. reproche (12c.), from reprocher "to blame, bring up against," said by some Fr. etymologists to be from V.L. *repropiare, from L. re- "opposite of" + prope "near." But others suggest *reprobicare, from L. reprobus/reprobare (see reprobate). The verb is attested from c.1489.
reprobate (adj.)
1540s, "rejected as worthless," from L.L. reprobatus, pp. of reprobare "disapprove, reject, condemn," from L. re- "opposite of, reversal of previous condition" + probare "prove to be worthy" (see probate). The noun is recorded from 1540s, "one rejected by God." Sense of "abandoned or unprincipled person" is from 1590s. Earliest form of the word in English was a verb, meaning "to disapprove" (early 15c.).
This word has a sense of a lack of relational proximity, of being unwanted, blamed, undesired, worthless. The Israelites were a people who were not wanted or valued. As they enter the promised land God removes that reproach. Have you ever thought about what it would feel like to hear this from God? It's like he's saying to them, "No one wanted you and everyone thought Egypt was so fantastic, right? I am the real God, think about it, who am I with? You or Egypt? I love you Israel."
Then in the New Testament 2 Cor 5:16-21 we are told we have been reconciled to God through Christ and are now given the message of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is a neat word. Check this out. Reconcile comes from conciliate which comes from council. Check out the etymology of council:
council
early 12c., from Anglo-Norm. cuncile, from O.N.Fr. concilie, from L. concilium "group of people, meeting," from com- "together" + calare "to call". Tendency to confuse it in form and meaning with counsel has been consistent since 16c.
So reconcile has in it a sense of having been 'called' out of separation and into attachment. There's an element of proclamation. The people of God were an unloved, unwanted, people of reproach in Egypt. But there has been a proclamation of reconciliation. God wants relational proximity, loving nearness. Watch this: instead of reproach we have approach. God removes reproach with his own approach and call of reconciliation. You are loved, wanted. Didn't he prove his love? When did he die for us? While we were sinners, slaves, unwanted, unloved, under reproach. That is when he approached us and called us together in attachment to himself.
Now we call out on his behalf to those who live under reproach. Now we approach them. We call them to gather with us with the true God who does want them to be near him through Jesus' loving work- his own death for reprobates.
ps. Want to know what the cooooooolest site ever is? www.etymonline.com
pps. Yes, I'm a word-dork.
reproach (n.)
c.1420, from O.Fr. reproche (12c.), from reprocher "to blame, bring up against," said by some Fr. etymologists to be from V.L. *repropiare, from L. re- "opposite of" + prope "near." But others suggest *reprobicare, from L. reprobus/reprobare (see reprobate). The verb is attested from c.1489.
reprobate (adj.)
1540s, "rejected as worthless," from L.L. reprobatus, pp. of reprobare "disapprove, reject, condemn," from L. re- "opposite of, reversal of previous condition" + probare "prove to be worthy" (see probate). The noun is recorded from 1540s, "one rejected by God." Sense of "abandoned or unprincipled person" is from 1590s. Earliest form of the word in English was a verb, meaning "to disapprove" (early 15c.).
This word has a sense of a lack of relational proximity, of being unwanted, blamed, undesired, worthless. The Israelites were a people who were not wanted or valued. As they enter the promised land God removes that reproach. Have you ever thought about what it would feel like to hear this from God? It's like he's saying to them, "No one wanted you and everyone thought Egypt was so fantastic, right? I am the real God, think about it, who am I with? You or Egypt? I love you Israel."
Then in the New Testament 2 Cor 5:16-21 we are told we have been reconciled to God through Christ and are now given the message of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is a neat word. Check this out. Reconcile comes from conciliate which comes from council. Check out the etymology of council:
council
early 12c., from Anglo-Norm. cuncile, from O.N.Fr. concilie, from L. concilium "group of people, meeting," from com- "together" + calare "to call". Tendency to confuse it in form and meaning with counsel has been consistent since 16c.
So reconcile has in it a sense of having been 'called' out of separation and into attachment. There's an element of proclamation. The people of God were an unloved, unwanted, people of reproach in Egypt. But there has been a proclamation of reconciliation. God wants relational proximity, loving nearness. Watch this: instead of reproach we have approach. God removes reproach with his own approach and call of reconciliation. You are loved, wanted. Didn't he prove his love? When did he die for us? While we were sinners, slaves, unwanted, unloved, under reproach. That is when he approached us and called us together in attachment to himself.
Now we call out on his behalf to those who live under reproach. Now we approach them. We call them to gather with us with the true God who does want them to be near him through Jesus' loving work- his own death for reprobates.
ps. Want to know what the cooooooolest site ever is? www.etymonline.com
pps. Yes, I'm a word-dork.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Going to Church
Today I went to church at 1:30pm on a Saturday. There were only five people there including me. Only one person had a guitar and there were no song sheets or projected slides or anything. And we only sang two songs. There was no preacher, we just read 1 Cor 2 aloud about how the Holy Spirit brings to our minds the very mind of Jesus Christ. We talked about it for a few minutes. We noticed that things that had seemed stupid and worthless in the past had actually become very precious to us and we remarked at how good and wise the foolishness of God really is. Then we told each other what we were worried about and everybody prayed for everybody else. Then we ate some food together.
I went to church at 1:30pm on a Saturday. I didn't even know I was going to go to church when I woke up today. Neither did any of the other four people who were there. We didn't have time to print bulletins or plan an order of worship. We didn't take up an offering. But we did take care of each other.
I went to church at 1:30pm on a Saturday. In Abbye and Jeff's living room. I sat on the couch I'd slept on the night before with two old friends beside me.
I really like going to church. I like going on Sunday morning in the building north of town. But that's not enough... and here's the point... it's not supposed to be enough. Sunday morning is supposed to be insufficient.
"We loved you so much that we gave you not only God's Good News but our very lives as well."
1 Thessalonians 2:8
I went to church at 1:30pm on a Saturday. I didn't even know I was going to go to church when I woke up today. Neither did any of the other four people who were there. We didn't have time to print bulletins or plan an order of worship. We didn't take up an offering. But we did take care of each other.
I went to church at 1:30pm on a Saturday. In Abbye and Jeff's living room. I sat on the couch I'd slept on the night before with two old friends beside me.
I really like going to church. I like going on Sunday morning in the building north of town. But that's not enough... and here's the point... it's not supposed to be enough. Sunday morning is supposed to be insufficient.
"We loved you so much that we gave you not only God's Good News but our very lives as well."
1 Thessalonians 2:8
Thursday, March 11, 2010
In the Studio...
...with Brian Mulder who is rocking my face off with an epic electric guitar part. We're working on the title track of Brian's new CD "Somewhere we're shining". We've been working all week since Brian and his brother Rob drove down from Holland, MI to visit and finish up some recording some tracks.
Here's a video.
Here's a video.
Brian, Rob, and Matthew Recording from Brian Mulder on Vimeo.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Escapism vs. Baptism
I went on a great retreat a couple weekends ago with D. Merricks and the Ole Miss Wesley Foundation and the Arkansas Wesley around Little Rock. J.D. Walt was the retreat pastor and speaker. J.D.'s theme was "there are only two stories". Which is the theme of the Lenten/Spring Reader from Asbury Seminary this year. ( http://blogs.asburyseminary.edu/asbury-reader/start-here/ )
We are always trying to work our way UP, considering 'equality with God something to be grasped' but Jesus works his way DOWN to us 'not considering equality with God something to be grasped'. Those are the two stories and we live in one or the other, with either the mind of fallen Adam, or the mind of Christ.
Today though I've been thinking about Escapism vs. Baptism.
What's the difference? What kind of life do they bring respectively?
For myself, I'm seeing more and more that I want to preserve my controlled, familiar world and neglect dying to my self-preserving desires. I'd rather look out the window than be outside. (An example, actually, I had a great day out in the sun today.) It's easy then to end up with a fabricated pseudo-life wherein all the sensations of a real living committed movement and story are available without any of the actual attachments.
Entertainment can become escapism. I can get the feelings of adventure without the risks. I can save my life, but really I'm losing my life to meaninglessness and immobility.
I want to be Baptized. I want something real to happen to me. I want the legitimate hunger to be alive to be fed with the legitimate means of an actual life.
Even Jesus wanted to be baptized. And right after he was baptized he was tempted in the desert with the availability of escape from the pain and difficulty of real living. But he chose to walk forward in his baptism. Every day a baptism. And the result was life realized, good choices with actual meaning, living redemption.
What do you think about the comparison of Escapism vs. Baptism? What do you see?
We are always trying to work our way UP, considering 'equality with God something to be grasped' but Jesus works his way DOWN to us 'not considering equality with God something to be grasped'. Those are the two stories and we live in one or the other, with either the mind of fallen Adam, or the mind of Christ.
Today though I've been thinking about Escapism vs. Baptism.
What's the difference? What kind of life do they bring respectively?
For myself, I'm seeing more and more that I want to preserve my controlled, familiar world and neglect dying to my self-preserving desires. I'd rather look out the window than be outside. (An example, actually, I had a great day out in the sun today.) It's easy then to end up with a fabricated pseudo-life wherein all the sensations of a real living committed movement and story are available without any of the actual attachments.
Entertainment can become escapism. I can get the feelings of adventure without the risks. I can save my life, but really I'm losing my life to meaninglessness and immobility.
I want to be Baptized. I want something real to happen to me. I want the legitimate hunger to be alive to be fed with the legitimate means of an actual life.
Even Jesus wanted to be baptized. And right after he was baptized he was tempted in the desert with the availability of escape from the pain and difficulty of real living. But he chose to walk forward in his baptism. Every day a baptism. And the result was life realized, good choices with actual meaning, living redemption.
What do you think about the comparison of Escapism vs. Baptism? What do you see?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)