Spiritual readings "Greetings from Whittier Presbyterian Church"
April, 2002
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Merton on the Psalms |
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MacFague on Intimate Creation |
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Peterson on Hearing, not reading, the Bible |
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Willimon & Hauerwas on “Our Father” |
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Bailie/Girard & refusal to look at Jesus. |
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Ralph Reed in LA Times, my response |
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Nouwen on control. |
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Bible use quotes from Peterson Working the Angles |
“Why has the Church always considered the Psalms her most perfect book of prayer?” Thomas Merton begins his little book “Praying the Psalms” (The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN, 1956) with that question. The rest of the small(45 small pages) book is his answer to the question, but here is part of the beginning of his answer. I’ve made no adjustments to his language.
“In the Psalms, we drink divine praise at its pure and stainless source, in all its primitive sincerity and perfection. We return to the youthful strength and directness with which the ancient psalmists voiced their adoration of the God of Israel. Their adoration was intensified by the ineffable accents of new discovery: for the Psalms are the songs of men who KNEW WHO GOD WAS. If we are to pray well, we too must discover the Lord to whom we speak, and if we use the Psalms in our prayer we will stand a better chance of sharing in the discovery which lies hidden in their words for all generations. For God has willed to make Himself known to us in the mystery of the Psalms.”
If you have never used the Psalms in your daily prayers let me suggest you try it. We have a breakdown of the Psalms for daily readings at this location:
http://www.whitpresby.org/daily_psalter.htm
May your faith grow ever deeper and ever more able to equip you to face the challenges of life and the challenging people in your life.
Grace & peace
Geoff
Several times in these emails I have made reference to Brian Swimme’s book “The Universe Is a Green Dragon.” I have particularly been taken with his notion that the universe is God’s body. This from an astrophysicist! Now I read such thinking in one of the latest issues of Christian Century Magazine. Sallie McFague, Distinguished Theologian in Residence at Vancouver School of Theology, wrote an article entitled “Intimate Creation” for the March 13-20, 2002 issue of the magazine. She says:
“…what if the world were seen to be God’s body which is infused by, empowered by, loved by given life by God?….there is a continuity(though not an identity) between God and the world…..(this model of a doctrine of creation) Understands the doctrine of creation not to be primarily about God’s power, but about God’s love: how we can live together, all of us, within and for God’s body.”
Fascinating thinking, to my mind. As we edge ever nearer to ecological disaster, considering the universe as God’s body may provide the perspective we need to think more deeply about the world around us and our responsibility for it.
To see the previous emails from Swimme used here go to the web site, then the archived emails and navigate to these dates: May 2, 2000, July 7, 2000 and Feb. 15, 2002.
Grace & peace
Geoff
The Bible was meant to be read aloud and there is some opinion that we have lost something in changing from hearing it aloud to reading it. Here is something along that line from Eugene Peterson’s book “Working the Angles” Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1987. He makes reference to three things that have contributed to the taking over of the heard word by the printed word, one of which is the invention of the printing press.
“That hundreds of millions of Bibles are published and distributed is often treated as an immense boon. And it is, but “this ease of access, when misused becomes a curse. When we read more books, look at more pictures, listen to more music, than we can possibly absorb the result of such gluttony is not a cultured mind but a consuming one; what it reads, looks at, listens to, is immediately forgotten, leaving no more traces behind it than yesterday’s newspaper.”(Peterson is quoting W.H. Auden here) I do not wish toe withdrawal of so much as a single gospel of John from the general distribution. All the same, Gutenberg’s legacy is a mixed blessing and we must b e prepared to deal with the consequences.
Sometimes there is an element of sour grapes or ‘things were better in the old days’ to such thinking but Peterson makes a valid point about the way we are socialized to consume books. The danger becomes that we will consume the Bible the same way we consume other books. This is a good reminder for us that the bible is different than other books and than most other kinds of literature.
Grace & peace
Geoff
So when we pray, “Our Father,” we are in a decisive way challenging the status of the family as it is known in our culture. For those who learn to pray like this, our ;first family is not our biological family but those who have taught us to pray, “Our Father.” So Jesus said (here they quote Matthew 23:9). God is the Father. Family is the church. Christianity teaches us to look beyond our families and see our membership, through baptism, in THE family that has been evoked from all families, nations, races and cultures—the church. That’s why you can gather in church with folk who ought—by the world’s standards—to be perfect strangers to you and yet you call them “sister” and “brother.”
There is much idolatry surrounding the family these days, aided by economic pressures that often go unnoticed and unnamed. There is also some concern about the word “Father” as applied to God. Willimon and Hauerwas point to some ways to think through and beyond these issues. May your “family horizons” be stretched every time you repeat this prayer.
Grace & peace
Geoff
At the risk of over-quoting Gil Bailie’s book “Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads,” Crossroad Books, New York, 1995, here is something from the home page of his web site, which is http://www.florilegia.org
“What is frightening is the conjunction of massive technical power and the spiritual surrender to nihilism. A panic-stricken refusal to glance, even furtively, in the only direction where meaning could still be found dominates our intellectual life." Rene Girard
Girard is an anthropologist whose work was a major influence on Bailie and other Christian theologians over the last decade. Girard began studying scapegoating from an anthropological perspective and became a Christian in the process. Its a wonderful story and points to the way the passion/crucifixion story of Jesus is, for many of us, the only way of salvation for the world. May you be blessed with a life-changing understanding of Jesus today.
Grace & peace
Geoff
Where are people of faith supposed to stand in the current Mideast crisis? An opinion piece in the L.A. Times of April 21, 2002 gave a position with which I sharply disagree. Ralph Reed, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and former senior advisor to the Bush campaign, as well as other previous positions of power and influence, had this to say:
“…Christians and other conservative people of faith stand so firmly in their support of Israel.”
First I resent being lumped as a Christian with “other conservative people.” Secondly I’m appalled that Mr. Reed, whom I presume knows is Bible at least superficially, can make such broad statements and go on for the rest of his article without one reference to the morality of what Israel is doing in the present conflict. The Old Testament Prophets “stood firmly with Israel” yet did not hesitate to call immoral behavior immoral at the same time. Indeed modern day Israel’s behavior towards the Palestinians for most of its history has been out of balance at best, genocidal at worst. In any mention of casualties in the present conflict, the ratio of dead and wounded Palestinians is from 3 to 4 for every dead or wounded Israeli. Is this what can be called a defensive position? Or is it carrying out the “policies” of Lamech (Genesis 4:23-24).
Christians should stand firmly with Israel, at the foot of the cross, with Jesus’ words “Father, forgive them…..” ever echoing in their minds. Forgive my getting political today, but I think the world needs to hear more from those Christians who stand with Israel, but with a call for justice as well as support. God expects no less of us.
Grace & peace,
Geoff
Henri
J.M. Nouwen was one of the best writers in things spiritual in the last
generation. Here is a quote from
his little book “Here and Now” Crossroad
Press, New York, 1994.
“One
of the most arduous spiritual tasks is that of giving up control and allowing
the Spirit of God to lead our lives. Jesus’
whole life was a life led
by the Spirit. The Spirit led him
to places where he would have preferred
not to go. Still, they were the
places where his life would bear most
fruit.”
Isn’t
that like life sometimes? We go, or
wind up, where we would not have chosen
and behold, blessings grow there that we would not have arranged on our own.
The spiritual issue for us is to hold more loosely to the control that
Nouwen speaks of and trust that God will take care of us.
Easier said than
done for sure, but it is the task set for us as we grow in faith.
We will
never totally let go, so it is a task that will last a lifetime, until that
final letting go... May you grow in
your trust of God and your ability to hold more loosely to control of your own
life.
Grace
& peace
Geoff
Thanks
to all of you who responded to Tuesday's message, both pro and con! Its
good to know you are out there and reading!
I’ve been re-reading Eugene Peterson’s book “Working the Angles” Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1987. He has a fine section on reading and using the Bible. In that section he gathers quotes from many folks about the scriptures. Here are three of them.
I have known dozens of people who use the Bible as if it were a Rorshach test rather than a religious text. They read more into the ink than they read out of it. Ellen Goodman
In the vector which makes up the possibility of exegesis, method may be one component; but experience with the texts involved is another, and probably a more necessary and central one. James Barr
Language is not speech, it is a full circle from word to sound to perception to understanding to feeling, to memorizing, to acting and back to the word about the act thus achieved. And before the listener can become a listener, something has to happen to him: he must expect.
Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy
Do we dictate to God or do we listen to what God might be saying to us? Knowing the difference is the first step in the right direction. Our Bible is the best place to begin listening and the resources abound to help us do just that. You can find some of the available resources for techniques at the web page, http://www.whitpresby.org and look at the Daily Bread section.
May you find the spiritual nourishment you need this day.
Grace & peace
Geoff
