Hey all,
Stephanie and I have been thinking it would be fun to start a blog at which our friends and family can talk about books, music, movies and experiences that have been somehow significant in our lives. Jesus said, "You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world." While this is a bit of process, getting our inside world put right, we're all making progress. I would love to hear about what you all are learning.
I propose we go through a book together. I think Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis is pretty cool. Any other suggestions?
20 comments:
I think this is a great way to connect with a bunch of people, especially ones we don't get to see so often. It is a great thing to hear what others are processing/thinking/wondering about/excited about/worried about.....We all have something to give each other because of what we have experienced/learned so far. We also have something to receive/be challenged by/be encouraged with.
So I will start by saying that Will and I have recently been through a revolution in our marriage. One that was kind of scary at first, but then God showed us such amazing things about stuff that had held us back from being more of who He wants us to be---as individuals and together. I am constantly amazed by the depth and completeness of His love and forgiveness. I am more excited about being alive than I have been in years. More on this later.
Welcome,
And yes, Velvet Elvis is cool. If we decide to do this book (or any other one for that matter), let us know if you need help getting one.
What a venue for dialogue! Thanks for inviting all of in to your blog house!
Now, when it comes to books, they all follow after the timeless Book - the Bible. I so enjoyed reading to my children the The Little Pilgrims Progress authored by Helen S. Hunt. I recall finding a 1940's edition of this child-rendered allegory of the original by John Bunyan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim's_Progress)(not of Blue Ox fame as I had thought!)our journey from the City of Destruction, through Vanity Fair to the "Celestial City.
Jumping to a couple of secular current readings of mine, I have had the time while flying to dually read Empires of the Word - A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler,and Pathfinders - A Global History of Exploration by Felipe Fernandez Armesto. Both are scholarly works with the former dashing my ego and perceived reading acumen. The authors present a thesis of the intertwining of the history of mankind with the study of their correlated lingusitic patterns. It sounds boring, but I was stunned after reading both.
For example, while in old Istanbul (Constantinople) a couple of years ago I found myself crawing across a narrow wall to read an old bronze plaque that identified the building as the site of the 1st printing press in the Muslim world from 1758.I recall thinking why so long after Guttenburg who invented the first printing press over three centuries earlier?
I was then about to leave to introduce a computrized method of collecting data in Egypt and found failure due to the challenge of replicating the intricate characters of the arabic language on a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). For example, the shape of certain arabic characters change based on what other character they are adjacent to! A daunting task for a Bill Gates-inspired virtual keyboard.
An entire chapter in Empires of the Word was devoted to the late adoption of printing in the Muslim world and the author noted, and used as an example) that very site whose plaque I struggled to read. His argument; our mis-perceived view of the Muslim world as backward and even barbaric was due to their inability to adopt the printing press and thus lag behind the western world in disseminating knowledge and culture, which masked to our eyes the rich culture and literature of the Muslim world which eclipsed our own for centuries.
Oops. I writing too much again - not meaning to hijack your blog. It's amazing what a cup of French press coffee early in the morning can envoke in a person....Thanks for the opportunity! Love you all.
Quoting the end of Dave's blog:
"His argument; our mis-perceived view of the Muslim world as backward and even barbaric was due to their inability to adopt the printing press and thus lag behind the western world in disseminating knowledge and culture, which masked to our eyes the rich culture and literature of the Muslim world which eclipsed our own for centuries."
It is interesting how we often perceive ourselves as superior to other cultures out of our lack of understanding/knowledge. Reading the book Three Cups of Tea was very helpful in bringing some understanding to the Muslim culture in Pakistan. I was alarmed, but also now feel more equipped to pray for these people.
"What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be - to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be." -Oswald Chambers.
I love how Jesus doesn't give us some high ultimatum; he also gives us Himself, the only One who can give us what we need to do/be the thing He asks of us.
I am so thankful that Jesus is constantly with us.
Teachers, in my experience, have been men and women with flashlights trying to light a path in the darkness of this world. Often, they're blind, or at least need glasses in a big way. And they're leading the blind.
Jesus is light. His truth is the rising sun in the misty darkness of my heart. With his presence, suddenly there's hope, warmth and beauty.
I was reading about sanctification today. This is one of those words that has always stumped me. First, it seems so terribly religious, something I terribly hate. It’s right up there with the phrase “washed in the blood of the Lamb”. Yet I know that if I look deeper, there is truth in this word that I want to understand. It’s not a word I am going to use at the grocery store, usually, but I think understanding this word is important; I can’t throw it out because it sounds religious to me. (Darn it.)
In the King Jimmy version, I Corinthians 1:30 says, “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us…..sanctification. In the NIV, it says, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God---that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Let’s thank God for the Message, where it says, “Everything that we have----right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start----comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.
Reading about this in different versions is helpful to me. I generally read the Message, but often compare it to other versions, especially NIV, because that’s where I spent so much time as an adult reading the Bible. I think that as long as we are expecting the Holy Spirit to shine the light on our path, then we will understand truth from whatever version we are reading.
So back to the word “sanctification”. In the dictionary, the word “sanctify” is defined as, ”to make holy; specifically a) to set apart as holy; consecrate b) to make free from sin; purify.
So then what does “holy” mean? “Dedicated to religious use; belonging to or coming from God; consecrated, sacred.”
So there. Chat back at me, friends. I want to know what you have learned/understood/experienced about this silly word that stumps me.
PS
For those of you who don't know David Isaak, he has traveled all over the world helping people with Save the Children. He has a kind of perspective most of us will probably never have because of the variety of cultures he has encountered. And he's nice:)
I also recall encountering this word santification early on in my 1st readings of the Bible and squirming my eyebrows when it was mentioned by a teacher. I, like Stephanie, found meaning in its contexxt in both the Old and New Testaments as set apart. Not only in the meaning as that we have been set apart to live differently or believe differently. But, a much deeper meaning as Stephanie spoke of in Pauls New Testament discourse - that work of the Holy Spirit not intitiated nor exacted by any work or effort on our part.
Before the priests (or anyone else, for that matter) could even begin to enter the Temple, they were required to be sanctified through various actions and rituals. It also seemed to remind the person they were leaving the physical area of defilement towards that which was Holy.
In Christ, this washing or sanctification was/is accomplished by that washing over by His Blood, with the earnest (love that word in the King James) of that redemption made known to us by the Holy Spirit. As Stephanie mentions, we are now made holy because of this; Him in us (emphasis "in", as in 1st 14 verses of Ephesians). Oswal Chambers has some great one-pagers on santification, if I recall.
I don't want to start up my high-powered doctrine gun and forget the day-to-day practical working out of this Walk while taking care of a household of children, laundry, "what's-for-dinner?" type of life that we each experience. How does this work for you?
Anyone encounter "The Practice of the Presence of God" - writings by a simple monk practicing a close walk with the Lord in the kitchen of his monastery in the 1400's?
Dave said:
".....set apart. Not only in the meaning as that we have been set apart to live differently or believe differently. But, a much deeper meaning....."
That is a good way to look at it. I don't like the idea of sanctification as "we are better"(than who, anyways?) but SET APART because we are just that, if we believe.
And, the stuff I read this morning on sanctification? Oswald Chambers. Good call.
In the online dictionary I sometimes use, the word sanctification, it notes, is a verb (used with an object).
This offers another clue about the word. While I don't like religious words, I'm a big fan of effective verbs.
So, if Jesus, who was also not a fan of religious words, is the one who sanctifies and we are the object of his sanctifying work, its a good word.
The word connotes the following:
1. to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate.
2. to purify or free from sin: Sanctify your hearts.
3. to impart religious sanction to; render legitimate or binding: to sanctify a vow.
4. to entitle to reverence or respect.
5. to make productive of or conducive to spiritual blessing.
His sanctifying does all the above for us.
I tend to think of sanctification as a holy washing, but I've recently learned that its deeper.
For instance, to make us holy, he redeems not only the unholy state of affairs in which we're currently entangled, He sometimes goes way, way back in time, before we knew Him. He sometimes deals with parts of us that may have been victims, or guilty of heinous sin, or what have you. It's a process He initiates allowing Him into the ugliest, most broken parts of our lives so that he can forgive and ... sanctify us.
It's truly is a miracle because it takes an act of God, sanctification, to bring His forgiveness and healing to certain areas of our lives. Yes, we can know in our minds that we are forgiven and all. But in some areas, we just don't know how to truly receive His forgiveness until He takes us there, in all it's debilitating terror and painful ugliness and faces it with us. When he takes you though it, the power it once held is broken and you can be sanctified.
Hope this isn't TMI. I bring this up because I think it's important.
That kind of sanctifying, the kind that can wash sins way, way back in our lives; that can set us free from burdens we picked up (or were handed) for our childhood, is somehow deeper than washing. At least washing in the sense I normally think of it. But either way, we end up clean, dressed in garments He gives us.
This just in.
After adding my long-winded entry about sanctification I read a small but powerful excerpt from Saint Augustine on Seeing God.
He says “The renewal of the inner man that we are discussing is not accomplished in one moment of conversion… It is one thing to remove a spear from the body, and another to heal to heal a nearly mortal wound by means of long and careful treatment. The apostle Paul spoke of this in clear words: ‘Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.’ [2Cor. 4.16] He tells us that this renewal takes place as we grow in the knowledge of God—that is, to meditate and fix our minds on God’s personality, which is both holy and just.”
He goes on to say that the only way we make progress is to devote ourselves to Him, yet that the only transformation that takes
This reminds me of a part of our counseling. I was encouraged to consciously realize that Jesus was there with me in every single part of my life. In the things that happened to me. In the things that I chose that were less than stellar (let's just call it sin, ok?) I have often been able to connect these concepts with a sort of movie that goes on in my mind when I pray. So that's week feature was this image of Jesus, with me in every situation in my past. Even though I didn't recognize Him at the time, He was there with me. Then I noticed in each scene, where He sat quietly on the ground, He was holding something. And that something was a white robe. I knew immediately that He meant for me to wear the robe, that it was for me. "Even though I have just done this (fill in the blank)? No way, that's not for me, I don't deserve it," I thought. But His quiet presence insisted that yes, this was for me, and I hadn't done one thing to earn it. It was mine because He bought it for me.
So you know how you feel when you put on a new item of clothing that you think makes you look great? Well, putting on THIS garment is like that feeling on steroids. Nothing compares to slipping on the best garment in the world----the one that you didn't have to buy and always makes you feel special.
- Show quoted text -
This sanctification, washing, making holy, process is only possible because of another aforementioned phrase: The blood of Jesus.
He didn't make us to be broken, hopeless sinners, he made us to be his children. Kierkegaard says we are poets and he is our muse. That makes sense to me. In the way a child adores his or her parents, or in the way a poet give expression to the muse in his or her heart, we are made to adore God. And when you're truly in that place, it feel so right.
But when we see ourselves through any other lens; when, in our hearts, we're defined by a hidden, or not-so-hidden, darkness, what can we do? What can change the facts the enemy throws in our faces.
Again, this is not who God made us to be. That's important.
But what can change the past? It's what Jesus did on the cross. The incredible suffering in his body, but even worse, the separation between he and His father as he became all the ugliness, shame and sin that we cannot bear, on the cross. His blood paid the entire price for us to be Holy, to wear the garment God has for us.
While I have always believed this, I have not until recently been able to realize this in certain areas of my life. And, it is a work in progress for sure. Yet, at lest it's a work in progress. Day by day as we work out this walk. And as Augustine said, the only success finally depends on divine intervention—every step of the way.
What can make us whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Dave asked if anyone had read or heard of Practice the Presence by a monk.....Brother Andrew I believe....yes it is amazing... truly changed my view about our God and His presence with us and the human ways and eyes we see Him in...I was able to connect with the idea that as humans we are constantly comparing ideas, people, events to what our brains already know and our MAKER is like NOTHING we have EVER known.....Outstanding book....
And Will, yes, I loved Iron-man but then again... I am not a man. and I don't care about saving the world! :)
I too love Practice the Presence and started to read it again just today.
Ciao!
Hi Friends! I was just given a copy of a book called "The Shack" by William P. Young. A Google search of reviews indicated it is either loved or strongly disliked. Does anyone have any insight into this book or author?
I think I will wait to read it on my next flight.
Re: The Shack.....I just talked to a friend about this book. She is amused/sad that the Christian community is doing its normal being offended at this book, thus the divided stance on it. She is doing a study on it with some friends. Now I want to read it, too!
Amazon.com reviews.....
Review
"The Shack" is a one of a kind invitation to journey to the very heart of God. Through my tears and cheers, I have been indeed transformed by the tender mercy with which William Paul Young opened the veil that too often separated me from God and from myself. With every page, the complicated do's and don't that distort a relationship into a religion were washed away as I understood Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the first time in my life. --Patrick M. Roddy, ABC News Emmy Award winning producer
Finally! A guy-meets-God Novel that has literary integrity and spiritual daring. "The Shack" cuts through the cliches of both religion and bad writing to reveal something compelling and beautiful about life's integral dance with the Divine. This story reads like a prayer--like the best kind of prayer, filled with sweat and wonder and transparency and surprise. When I read it, I felt like I was fellowshipping with God. If you read one work of fiction this year, let this be it. --Mike Morrell, zoecarnate.com
When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of "The Shack." This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" did for his. It's that good! --Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.
My friend, Oswald Chambers, gave me good food for thought today:
"The phrase we hear so often, Decide for Christ, is an emphasis on something Our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him - a very different thing. At the basis of Jesus Christ's Kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace......We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.
Unaffected loveliness. Isn't that wonderful? In the day to day, He makes our lives meaningful. In dishes and laundry and raising children, in house projects and camping. No matter where we are and what we do, he makes something magnificent. I want to see everything as touched by the hand of the Creator, because he is creating amazing things in and through us every day. I don't look for big things to happen to feel like I am "doing something for God's kingdom". I am starting to see it in the everyday. And that's cool.
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