email: whitpresby@mindspring.com
Spiritual readings "Greetings from Whittier Presbyterian Church"
Nov. 2000 Emails
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The Only Real Jesus |
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Christian Fellowship |
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Reasons for Prayer |
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Spirituality & the Environment |
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Thanksgiving |
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The prayer of thanksgiving. |
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Gratitude |
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Music in |
Last week I quoted from Walter Brueggemann’s book “Finally Comes the Poet.” Here is a quote from the footnotes of that book, where Brueggemann quotes Andrew Greeley in the New York Times Book Review from 1986. This is thinking about idolatry and what limitations our own ways of thinking put upon God.
“The only real Jesus is one who is larger than life, who escapes our categories, who eludes our attempts to reduce Him for our cause. Any Jesus who has been made to fit our formula ceases to be appealing precisely because He is no longer wondrous, mysterious, surprising. We may reduce Him to a right-wing Republican conservative or a gun-toting Marxist revolutionary and thus rationalize and justify our own political ideology. But having done so, we are dismayed to discover that whoever we have signed on as an ally is not Jesus Categorize Jesus and He isn’t Jesus anymore.”
I know I have such problems myself, trying to make Jesus my personal pal and counselor. That is all well and good, even an important and necessary part of our spiritual growth. But if we leave off the part that he is also the holy God, our judge, we stand too close to error for our own good. Jesus is our friend, but also our judge, but then our intercessor after all. Great and wondrous is God to and for us.
May you find reason to give God thanks for this wondrous, holy, forgiving and empowering love.
Grace & peace to you all,
Geoff
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian during the 1930’s and 1940’s. He was implicated in the plot to assassinate Hitler and executed in prison just days before his prison was liberated by the Allied Army. One of his books was based on his experience in an underground seminary. The book was entitled “Life Together” and among its many gems is this one on community.
"It is true, of course, that what is an unspeakable gift of God for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trodden under foot by those who have the gift every day. It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christians is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed.”
What he says about community can also be applied to family harmony, friendship, harmony in the workplace or at school. They are all gifts of God that we may too often take for granted. You know the expression “you don’t miss your water until your well runs dry.” Same thing.
May we give thanks to God each day for our friends, our own experiences of community wherever we find it.
Grace & peace to you all.
Geoff
Howard Rice is one of the patriarchs of spirituality in the Presbyterian church. In his 1991 book “Reformed Spirituality,” among many gems of wisdom and insight, is a list of reasons for prayer that Dr. Rice took from the writings of John Calvin, the great Swiss/French Reformer. Here are the four reasons, quoting from the Battles translation of Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion.”
1. “…that our hearts may be fired with a zealous and burning desire ever to seek, love, and serve” God. Dr. Rice notes that this refers to the way prayer changes us rather than changing God.
2. We pray so “that there may enter our hearts no desire and no wish at all of which we should be ashamed to make (God) a witness.”
3. We pray “that we be prepared to receive (God’s) benefits with true gratitude of heart and thanksgiving.” Dr. Rice has a great line in explaining this point of Calvins’. Rice says: “Those who regularly pray with thanksgiving do not take life for granted and are given the blessing of being able to see the gift in each day.”
4. “Having obtained what we were seeking, and being convinced that (God) has answered our prayers, we should be led to meditate upon his kindness more ardently.”
Why do you pray? Do you ever reflect upon or examine your actual prayers? They say a lot about us, what we believe, how we envision God, and many other things. These insights from Rice & Calvin may help us to better refine our prayer life, to catch a glimpse of what God might be saying to us.
May you find God in your prayers this day, and continually refine the way you pray and give thanks.
Grace & peace to you all
Geoff
E.F. Schumacher wrote a book in 1973 Called “Small Is Beautiful” which became something of a classic for environmentally conscious folks. It gave the background and ethic for living responsibly in a world that was just waking up to the consequences of living the way it had for centuries. It was not a “religious” book, but contained its own kind of spirituality. Here’s a quote demonstrating that:
“Everywhere people ask: “What can I actually do?” the answer is a simple as it is disconcerting: We can, each of us, work to put our own inner house in order. The guidance we need for this work cannot be found in science or technology, the value of which utterly depends on the ends they serve; but it can still be found in the traditional wisdom of (humankind).”
Part of that “traditional wisdom” of humanity are the spiritual disciplines of the Christian Church. Many of them fit in well with a higher environmental consciousness. One of the best books I have run across that brings together traditional spiritual practices with an environmental consciousness is called “Practicing Our Faith” edited by Dorothy C. Bass. It was published in 1997 by Jossey-Bass Publishers.
How do you live in response to the changing demands put upon us by environmental concerns? How is that part of your spirituality? God calls us to be stewards of this world. What part does that charge play in you life?
Grace & peace to you all.
Geoff
There is a website that (unpretentiously?!) called itself the “First Church of Cyberspace” when it began several years ago. It is run by the Rev. Charles Henderson and has now moved to be among the sites in the group called About.com.
Here is the opening paragraph of his article a week ago on thanksgiving.
"Thanksgiving combines themes secular and sacred in ways that are sometimes astounding. It is the only American holiday in which an act of prayer is front and center. On Thanksgiving Day the President of the United States will lead the nation in a prayer. This happens at a time when the nation is deeply divided over the appropriate connections between politics and piety, church and state. In happens at a time when a public school principal could not do exactly what the President is doing and if he or she did try to lead such a prayer, the same government which the President heads would step in and forbid it. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court continues to wrestle with the place of prayer in our public schools, and Congress passionately debates legislation designed to circumvent prior court decisions. Ironically, in countless local communities across the United States, people of different faith traditions will gather in a common act of prayer on Thanksgiving Day, even though their understanding of what such prayer signifies varies wildly. More than any other holiday, Thanksgiving has been the time for ecumenical and interfaith services all across this country; yet, it is also a holiday which reflects the deep contradictions of American culture perhaps more than any other.”
I encourage you to go to the site itself and see what it has to offer. It is of the Reformed or Presbyterian persuasion, generally liberal in viewpoint, and I find it often provocative and insightful. The address for the site is christianity.guide@ABOUT.COM
The specific address for the article on Thanksgiving is
http://christianity.about.com/library/weekly/aa110200.htm
May you find in your heart the depths of giving God thanks and thereby deepen our holiday this next week.
Grace & peace to you all
Geoff
In 1958 John Coburn published a small volume on prayer called “Prayer and Personal Religion.” My edition from 1976 was the 15th printing, attesting to the popularity of the book. I used it when I began my own personal devotional life and the pattern that I set 24 years ago is the pattern I still use. The second step in Coburn’s routine, after the step of adoration, is thanksgiving. Here is some of what he says about giving thanks to God. I have not updated the language.
(In the prayer of thanksgiving) “…you take all the things in your life at this moment for which you know you are not responsible, and thank God for them. Your attention is then directed away from yourself—your needs, your problems, your sins, and all the rest which in YOU—and outward toward God. To thank God for his gifts is to break the shell we build around ourselves for protection from the blows of life. It is to put the stamp of thankfulness upon our relationship with God because now we concentrate on the good things that come from a good God who loves us. Furthermore it is by the constant, consistent, day by day, prayer of joyous thanksgiving that we become joyous and thankful persons. It is our response to God that determines the kind of people we become. Hence the importance of thanksgiving. It is almost as simple as this: What kind of person do you want to become? If a joyful person, then thank God.”
As we approach our national day of thanksgiving, may you find more thanksgiving in your life and hence more joy.
Grace & peace to you,
Geoff
Charles Colson was one of the Watergate conspirators who went to prison for his part in that affair. He was converted to Christianity while in prison and has dedicated his life to working on behalf of prisoners and founded the organization, Prison Fellowship, http://www.christianity.com/prisonfellowship
Here is a quote from him I found in a magazine that speaks rather eloquently about his sense of gratitude.
“I’ve been in 700 prisons in 49 countries. I was in prison this morning, and it was great to see men coming to know Christ. Of course, the prisons are often rotten holes. I’ve been in places in South America where you slip on the sewage coming out of the cells. I’ve been in prisons in Zambia where the men haven’t anything to wear or eat, and your heart breaks. People say to me, “Why do you keep doing this? Why do you keep going back and back and back to these prisons?” I do it because it is my duty, out of gratitude to God, for what he has done in my life. I can do nothing else.”
May we find such dedication in the world around us. May we find such dedication and a sense of call in our lives. Living a life in gratitude to God is living life to its fullest measure. Grace & peace to you all
Geoff
I read something just yesterday that I found so inspiring that I want to pass it on to you all. It is yet another reflection on thanksgiving. I had planned to leave that subject this week, but just one more. Then I’ll stop. I promise!!
David F. Ford, in his book “Self & Salvation,” published last year by Cambridge University Press, makes an extended commentary on Ephesians 5:18-21. It is his use of musical reference that I particularly enjoy. Here are some excerpts of what he says
“(this text)…can appropriately be given a musical meaning.”
“We are to imagine singing husbands and wives, singing parents and children, singing masters and slaves.”
“Time is transformed by being filled with gratitude in song.”
“If given something utterly good and wonderful, a basic response is amazed gratitude. This is characteristically expressed in endless variations on the same theme.”
“There is usually in song a poetic pattern of words, with its own repetitions, blended with the musical patterns. The non-identical repetitions of poetry and music together intensify the meaning, enriching it in ways than can only be hinted at in prose. The significance cannot be abstracted from the melody, rhythm, tempo, assonance and tone.”
We move into the season of Advent, when singing plays a larger role in our lives. May we not leave too far behind the spirit of giving thanks that we have just experienced in our national holiday. Those of us who like to sing know how much more deeply we experience our faith. It is like St. Augustine said about singing: “Those who sing, pray twice.” I take that to mean that singing both deepens our participation in what is being sung and communicates it better.
May your life continue to be filled with gratitude and song, particularly as we move into a season filled with song.
Grace & peace to you all.
Geoff
