I was just discussing this with another another Pastor yesterday!
"Any criticism at all which depresses you to the extent that you feel you cannot ever write anything worth anything is from the Devil and to subject yourself to it is for you an occasion of sin."
--Flannery O'Connor
Letter to Betty Hester, November 15, 1960, "The Habit of Being"
Friday, September 25, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Excited About Praying
It’s no secret that I struggle in my prayer life. This fact is not something I have hide from individual people or our collective community at TNLC. I describe my prayer life as flat, 2-dimensional and anemic. I seem to spend a lot of time just asking for things. I have tried to change this, but nothing really changes because for me prayer is stilted.
I long to have the communion with God through prayer I read and hear others have. I long to pour out my soul to God, not only in requests but praise and thanks too. I long to experience what it is like to be caught up in the wonder of prayer.
I have read books on prayer, some good and some not so good. I have listened to others pray. I have been given advice on how to pray, but things stay the same.
Rigid.
Mechanical.
Unnatural.
I don’t think I would pray at all, except I know I need to and that God hears and understand regardless of my short comings.
I am sure I can trace this back to my church background growing up. I come from a baptistic background were prayer was free form, not scripted and without the understanding of any kind of charismatic flare. This does not mean prayers that were modeled for me were without passion, meaning or vigor. But it does mean that this was no guidelines to follow.
For college I went to a LCMS Lutheran liberal arts school. There I was exposed to liturgy and written prayers for the first time. For class assignments, as a religion major, I sometimes had to write out prayers. I thought this was disingenuous and weird. Prayer was to be sincere, genuine and not contrived. This understanding has not aided me in my spiritual development when it comes to prayer and was prejudicially wrong.
However, things have started to change and it is because of a new approach to prayer and my willing to cast aside my traditional past and seek out other expressions of prayer.
Recently, because of the some new influences, I have started to memorize some Jewish, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and biblical prayers.
Here is what I have memorized so far:
Avot: Blessing One of the Amida Prayer
Blessed are You, O Lord our God and God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the great, mighty and revered God, the Most High God who bestows lovingkindnesses, the Creator of all, who recalls the good deeds of the fathers and who brings a Redeemer to their children's children for his name's sake, in love. O king, helper, savior and shield. Blessed are You, O Lord, the shield of Abraham.
Glory Be
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Jesus Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Not earth shattering I know, but immensely helpful. I find myself praying these prayers more often than just in my semi-regular prayer time. I am able to engage in the beauty of what I am saying since I am not thinking about what to say next. Also, I get to soak in the repetition of these prayers which allows them to penetrate my soul and not just skip across the surface of my mind.
For the first time EVER(!), I am excited about praying.
I long to have the communion with God through prayer I read and hear others have. I long to pour out my soul to God, not only in requests but praise and thanks too. I long to experience what it is like to be caught up in the wonder of prayer.
I have read books on prayer, some good and some not so good. I have listened to others pray. I have been given advice on how to pray, but things stay the same.
Rigid.
Mechanical.
Unnatural.
I don’t think I would pray at all, except I know I need to and that God hears and understand regardless of my short comings.
I am sure I can trace this back to my church background growing up. I come from a baptistic background were prayer was free form, not scripted and without the understanding of any kind of charismatic flare. This does not mean prayers that were modeled for me were without passion, meaning or vigor. But it does mean that this was no guidelines to follow.
For college I went to a LCMS Lutheran liberal arts school. There I was exposed to liturgy and written prayers for the first time. For class assignments, as a religion major, I sometimes had to write out prayers. I thought this was disingenuous and weird. Prayer was to be sincere, genuine and not contrived. This understanding has not aided me in my spiritual development when it comes to prayer and was prejudicially wrong.
However, things have started to change and it is because of a new approach to prayer and my willing to cast aside my traditional past and seek out other expressions of prayer.
Recently, because of the some new influences, I have started to memorize some Jewish, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and biblical prayers.
Here is what I have memorized so far:
Avot: Blessing One of the Amida Prayer
Blessed are You, O Lord our God and God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the great, mighty and revered God, the Most High God who bestows lovingkindnesses, the Creator of all, who recalls the good deeds of the fathers and who brings a Redeemer to their children's children for his name's sake, in love. O king, helper, savior and shield. Blessed are You, O Lord, the shield of Abraham.
Glory Be
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Jesus Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Not earth shattering I know, but immensely helpful. I find myself praying these prayers more often than just in my semi-regular prayer time. I am able to engage in the beauty of what I am saying since I am not thinking about what to say next. Also, I get to soak in the repetition of these prayers which allows them to penetrate my soul and not just skip across the surface of my mind.
For the first time EVER(!), I am excited about praying.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
How Do You Explain The Trinity?
Here's a possibility...
Trinity: the Triune God exists in three persons(Father, Son and Holy Spirit) sharing the same essence, substance or nature.
I had a thought about the Trinity today while praying (look at me I’m spiritual!).
I have three sons.
I love them all.
I love them all equally.
Does my love for one son reduce the love of the other two?
No!
I would say (and have said to Debra), my love for them is the same, however it is expressed differently or given with a different application in mind based on the needs and understanding of each son.
If my love for my boys is the same and comes from the same heart, how can my love be divided three ways, yet not diminished?
It can be divided this way because my heart does not have a maximum capacity when it comes to loving my boys. As a matter of fact, it doesn't have a capacity at all. It is limitless in its capability to express itself.
I think the essence, substance or nature of God is the same as my heart's capacity to love with division, but without being diminished. The essence of God is equal and undiminished in each of the the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit; however they are separate and different.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Some Nuggets From The Nines
Here are some of the chewy bites I got to hear during The Nines:
-Mission is the opposite of self. Stetzer
-Disciples are handcrafted not mass produced. Ortberg
-Not an evacuation plan but a transformation plan. McLaren
-In the church – tradition should never get in the way of mission – then it is sin. Kimball
-The church does not have a mission, the mission has a church. Gibbs
-I need Christ as much or more than they do. There is power in that. McKinley
This one was just funny…
-I hope that I give you inspiration and information that leads to transformation not stagnation that can breed frustration. (snicker, snicker, snicker)
-Mission is the opposite of self. Stetzer
-Disciples are handcrafted not mass produced. Ortberg
-Not an evacuation plan but a transformation plan. McLaren
-In the church – tradition should never get in the way of mission – then it is sin. Kimball
-The church does not have a mission, the mission has a church. Gibbs
-I need Christ as much or more than they do. There is power in that. McKinley
This one was just funny…
-I hope that I give you inspiration and information that leads to transformation not stagnation that can breed frustration. (snicker, snicker, snicker)
Thursday, September 3, 2009
A New Thought on Discipline (as least for me)
“This is going to hurt me more than you.” I've heard this statement more often than I care to remember. It would come just before I was disciplined by my parents.
Like most kids, I never believed it. As a parent I completely understand it.
As a parent I know the real motivation for discipline comes from a sense of love and care for my boys. I want them to be well adjusted, respectful, smart, God fearing men when they leave my house. In order for this to happen, I need to discipline my boys appropriately.
Hebrew 12:6 tell us the same thing when it quotes Proverbs 3:12:
And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as children? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child.”
Its hard to think of discipline as being loving (Heb12:11). But what if it really is? What if God’s correction of our behavior, his punishment of our sin is to mold, shape and form us into something, or more accurately, back into something?
Think about this…
Genesis 1:26 tell us we are created in the image of God. Also, we understand sin to be a departure from the will and the character of God.
Sin has drastic affects on people, both physically and spiritually. Sin mutates humanity. It alters and changes us. Humanity is corrupted by sin.
What if God’s discipline is designed to restore the imago dei in humanity?
Through his discipline God seeks to return each member of humanity back into their originally intended pre-sin condition. Discipline, then becomes the hands of the potter pushing and pressing, molding and shaping the clay he loves in order to (re)create his vision for the clay (Jer. 18).
Discipline then becomes more about restoration than about the implementation of justice in response to a violation of the law.
Hmmm, an interesting thought.
Like most kids, I never believed it. As a parent I completely understand it.
As a parent I know the real motivation for discipline comes from a sense of love and care for my boys. I want them to be well adjusted, respectful, smart, God fearing men when they leave my house. In order for this to happen, I need to discipline my boys appropriately.
Hebrew 12:6 tell us the same thing when it quotes Proverbs 3:12:
And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as children? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child.”
Its hard to think of discipline as being loving (Heb12:11). But what if it really is? What if God’s correction of our behavior, his punishment of our sin is to mold, shape and form us into something, or more accurately, back into something?
Think about this…
Genesis 1:26 tell us we are created in the image of God. Also, we understand sin to be a departure from the will and the character of God.
Sin has drastic affects on people, both physically and spiritually. Sin mutates humanity. It alters and changes us. Humanity is corrupted by sin.
What if God’s discipline is designed to restore the imago dei in humanity?
Through his discipline God seeks to return each member of humanity back into their originally intended pre-sin condition. Discipline, then becomes the hands of the potter pushing and pressing, molding and shaping the clay he loves in order to (re)create his vision for the clay (Jer. 18).
Discipline then becomes more about restoration than about the implementation of justice in response to a violation of the law.
Hmmm, an interesting thought.
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