Sunday Quote 51610

I think I may have a man-crush on Tony Woodlief.  He writes more eloquently than I can think.  It is good that he is such a spectacular wordsmith, for a less-gifted writer would be considered an arrogant jerk spouting off at the mouth, worthy of neither attention nor time.  But his high-minded writing style softens the blows somehow.  I would liken it to a brain surgeon using a baseball bat and still getting the same delicate results as with his scalpel and finely-practiced hand.  Enough of my man-crush, here's your Sunday Quote:

Pain and suffering simply are; they are part of a broken world, and so the question for man is how he will confront them when they come to him. If Christ Himself trembled in the Garden of Gethsemane, how then can we blame the non-Christian, contorted with multiple sclerosis, when he asks for what seems a dignified release?

We cannot blame him. And though we are obligated to declare the growing industry of facilitated murder in Switzerland a wicked enterprise, we should be mindful that it is the natural, rational action of people alienated from Christ. Which means the response cannot be simply to oppose suicide and the various forms of murder dabbled in at the fringes of the medical profession. We must oppose these things, because as Christians we are called to oppose evil. But the root cause is man’s alienation from Christ, and the only solution is his reunion with Christ, which means that for every Christian effort to change a law, there should be a hundred Christian efforts to change hearts.

You can read the rest of this post here.

If you like what you read, you can buy his book here.


jj

From the Top Down

When things come from the top down, there is friction. We chafe at the thought of being told what to do.  When we were kids, we hated getting punished by our parents.  As adults, we scream bloody murder when our governing bodies assume more control.

There seems to be something deep and primal about this kind of rebellion.

When we see governments getting too big and controlling, we revolt. When we get punished, we get angry.

Could this be because we are hard-wired against oppression?  Could it be that freedom is so absolutely essential to our existence as humans that regardless of our spiritual state, we recognize oppression for the evil it is?

Or is this post an entirely made up Western conservative social construct?

Sunday Quote 50910

RICHER THAN GOLD

I had a mother who read me things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings --
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!
You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be --
I had a mother who read to me.

~~ Strickland Gillilan (1869-1954)

Happy Mothers Day!

National Day of Prayer

Abba, Father, God,

We come to you today in prayer for our nation.  When our Founding Fathers began this great experiment, they believed that freedom was paramount to the human experience, indeed that our freedom was given to us by You.

They believed that no man should have to live in fear of another man, and that governments should rule only by the consent of the governed.

Today, Lord, we pray for those who govern for us.  We pray that they may have the strength to stand for what they believe, that they have the will to govern fairly, and that above all, they may have the heart of a servant.

When we pray for our nation, Father God, we remember those who have taken up the uniform of our armed services.  We ask for their safety and protection.

But more than that, Lord, we ask that they will diligently and honesty seek freedom for those who have had it taken from them.  We ask that they truly seek ways to love our enemies.

We recognize and mourn the fallen state of Creation.  We understand that in this imperfect world, all we have is imperfect solutions.  In the midst of all that, Lord, we ask that our leaders direct our dealings with other nations with respect to all life, including the lives of those who wish harm upon those around them.  We ask not for mere military strength, we ask not simply for an end to terrorism, we stand today and ask for Justice.  We pray that your Justice thunder down around and through us, silencing those who fill our ears with inane babble, and giving loud voices to those who need to be heard. 

We know what tension there is between Your Kingdom, and the state of Your Creation today.

We know that the world is not entirely as it was created to be.  We ask for your forgiveness for our failings in stewarding Your Creation.  We have not done the best with it, and we are truly sorry.

We pray that You would give us keen insight into how Your Creation works.  We praise you for the myriad ways You have demonstrated Your Glory to us through Your Creation.  We thank you for them, and we promise to use the knowledge we receive to better care for Your Creation.

We ask, Lord, that we may see clearly the path laid out for us by Jesus Christ.  We ask that you give us the strength and the will to choose the path of Christ over our political affiliations, over the expedient solutions, over the status quo, and over mere business as usual.

We pray, Lord God, that we recognize not only today, but every day, that you are Lord of Creation.  We desire to live so deeply into Your will that we will truly be free.

All of this, Lord, we ask for our nation, and our leaders:  that we will be a beacon of Your Hope, of Your Love, of Your Justice, for all people, and all nations.

In the Name of the Father who created and who sustains us,
And of the Son, who has redeemed us,
And of the Holy Spirit, who empowers us,

Amen.

Sunday Quote 50210

Scott McKnight, author and blogger has this to say in his commentary on Galatians:

Paul says literally (in Galatians 515): “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Technically, Paul could have said: “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, you will be destroyed by each other.” The addition of “watch out for” puts emphasis, emotionally, on the sin. The problem of the Galatians is typically human: egos enter into the debates between people and before long the issue is who is going to win; it becomes who is right, not what is right.

We would do very well indeed to remember that our Holy Scriptures should not be used to prove ourselves right and someone else wrong.

Instead, we should read Psalm 119, and consider the relationship between the Word of God and our life.  The Scriptures were not given to us in order that we may be right, they were given to us that we may have life.

And when we have that kind of life, of course we'll be "right".

jj