Sunday Quote 13110

St John Chrysostom on free will:

“We are directed by free will and not, as some say, subjected to the compulsion of inescapable fate. That is why God has given us the promise of his kingdom but also threatened us with punishment.  He would not have done that to people in the toils of necessity.  He would not have laid down laws, he would not have given us exhortations if we had been prisoners of destiny. . . The myth of a compelling destiny is nonsense.  Our lives are subject to no unavoidable fate.  Everything, as I have argued, points to the beauty of free will.”

Thank-you to Tony Woodlief of Sand in the Gears, who had this quote up.  You can read his post about it here.



jj

This Humble Pie is Very....Tasty??

I recently wrote a blog post that I was very proud of.

It succinctly outlined and introduced certain ideas that have been forming and reforming in my mind for some time now, and it was nice to put the ideas out there for all to read and comment upon.

I got some hits that day, and was fairly pleased with the numbers.

Then, later in the morning, my cousin posted a link to my blog on his facebook account, with a small blurb saying how he thought it was a good blog post.

I was super stoked, excited, and instantly began to think that I had gone viral and would, at the end of the day, be right up there with The Huffington Post in terms of popularity.

The Only Easy Day was Yesterday.

The training to become a Navy SEAL is probably the most rigorous training a human being can be subjected to.

The first phase of the training is seven weeks of almost non-stop physical activity:  timed runs (in boots and fatigue pants), endless sets of push-ups and sit-ups, ocean swims.  In addition to this,

Sunday Quote 12410

My pastor is fond of saying that church is more than just the grey chairs.  It's more than just Sunday morning.  This is from his book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians:

"The measure of a sermon is not whether it affirms what you already believe.  A sermon is not a product to be consumed and then evaluated according to who good it was or whether it was pleasing or enjoyable.

If a sermon can be resolved in the time it took to deliver it, then it misses something central to what a sermon even is, which is connected with what the Eucharist is.  The gathering of the church, in a service or worship or teaching setting, is to remind, instruct, and inspire people about being the Eucharist for the worlds they find themselves in.  It's written in the letter to the Hebrews that they shouldn't give up meeting together because they should "consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."

The phrase "good deeds" comes from the Hebrew word mitzvot, which refers to actions taken to heal and repair the world.  It's a concept rich with significance in the Jewish tradition.  For the writer of Hebrews, the church gathers so that the body will spur one another on to live a particular way day in and day out.

These gatherings aren't the end; they're the beginning.  They're the start.  They put things into perspective, they remind, they provoke, they comfort, they inspire, they challenge, but ultimately they are about the Eucharist.  About these people in this place at this time being equipped to be a Eucharist.

The sermon is about starting the discussion.  The sermon is about having the first word.  The sermon is a catalyst that inspires people into whole new ways of seeing their lives.

The Eucharist is ultimately about what we do out there, in the flow of everyday life."

Rob Bell and Don Golden, Jesus Wants to Save Christians pp159,160


jj

You Know What the News is. In a Moment...(connections 3)

...You're Going to Hear The Rest of the Story

There is always more to the story, isn't there?  Here's my "more".

I wrote about how my backyard landscaping prompted me to look into this beautiful Creation and our Creator, and how it spurred me to write on how this beautiful Creation-and the honest study of it-fits together in my mind.

But it really didn't start there. I could also tell you about college, and how college was for me, as most young people, a time of broad stretching and learning and growing. New ideas colliding with old ideas, and no idea exactly what I would be at the end of it all.

But it really didn't start there either.