The Great Mystery

The creation story of the Ojibwa begins with nothing because in the beginning there was nothing. There was nothing but an all consuming dark void. Nothing... except... possibility. What I mean is this - although there was nothing, it was possible that there might be something. And if one thing was possible then everything and all things were possible. The greatest possibility was that everything that we know and everything that we don't know could exist. It could all be. A human mind is not capable of envisioning and creating that much possibility. It takes a being with unfathomable powers to envision the possibility of EVERYTHING and then to bring it all into existence. The Ojibwa call this being Kitchi-Manitou - the Great Mystery. Because he was so all-mighty he could see everything that was possible in the universe. He saw in his mind all the suns and the moons that we know and all that we don't know. To our sun he gave the power to heat and light the earth. To our earth he gave the power of growth and healing. To the water on the earth he gave the twin powers of purity and renewal. To the wind he gave the power of the breath of life itself. Kitchi-Manitou saw that on this world there would be seasons and patterns of existence. There would be life and death. There would be joy and sorrow. Some creatures would walk, some would fly, some would swim. He perceived their feelings and their needs, now and forever, and he envisioned how making one life interdependent on the next could provide for those needs. And then from nothing, Kitchi-Manitou created this world, the universe and everything in it that we know and everything that we don't know. And because you and I and all others things - both animate and inanimate were created by Kitchi Manitou from nothing but his knowing that it was possible- we will always be part of his spiritual essence. That is how I was told the universe came to be. It was created because Kitchi Manitou knew it was possible that it could be.

Prayer; What is it Good for?

Be still and know. Civilization is littered with unsolved problems, baffling impasses. The best minds of the world are at the end of their tether. The most knowledgeable observers of our condition are badly frightened. The most relevant contribution that Christians make at these points is the act of prayer -determined, repeated, leisurely meetings with the personal and living God. New life is conceived in these meetings.
- Eugene H. Petersonfrom "Earth to Altar"

TIS THE spring of souls today;

Christ has burst his prison,And from three days' sleep n death as a sun hath risen;All the winter of our sins, long and dark is flyingFrom his light, to whom we give laud and praise undying. Now the queen of seasons, bright with the day of splendor,With the royal feast of feasts, comes its joy to render,Comes to glad Jerusalem, who with true affection Welcomes in unwearied strains Jesus' resurrection.

John of Damascus, "Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain

Springtime in the Cemetary

ALL BEAUTY in the world is either a memory of Paradise or a prophecy of the transfigured world. Nicholas Berdyaev, The Divine and the Human

Spring

THOSE WHO contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.
Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder

The Fire Next Time

Time catches up with kingdoms and crushes them, gets its teeth into doctrines and rends them; time reveals the foundations on which any kingdom rests, and eats at those foundations, and it destroys doctrines by proving them to be untrue.
- James Baldwin
from "The Fire Next Time"

Autism is a Bad Case of the Human Condition

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/163/story_16308_1.html

............There are so many ways for us to misunderstand and hurt each other, and even when things are at their best a sense of separateness shadows our joy. We look at others from the outside, making guesses about they're thinking. We reach out, and the very skin that allows us to touch is the barrier that keeps us apart. The most that two people can be is two planets in a common orbit, and it's at the happiest of times that we recognize this limitation. Maybe that's why people cry at weddings.
The problem that autists have with other people is just an extreme form of the alienation that troubles us all. Autists have a bad case of the Human Condition. Parents of autists may feel: if even the best human relationships are sadly limited, what hope is there for my child? ...............
Parents are pained by their inability to reach an autistic child; he's only a few feet away, at the other end of the sofa, but might as well be circling the dark reaches of space. But he is known by God. He is transparent to the light of God, who shines through us all, who understands us and our children, and everyone we know, and everyone we don't. Only in him will we one day love each other the way we want to, the way he already does. St. Paul writes, "Then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood" (1 Corinthians 13:12). We have been fully understood, even the least explicable among us, and one day we will rest in tranquil full communion.

these words of C. S. Lewis have been encouraging

But if you are a poor creature—poisoned by a wretched upbringing in some house full of vulgar jealousies and senseless quarrels—saddled, by no choice of your own, with some loathsome sexual perversion—nagged day in and day out by an inferiority complex that makes you snap at your best friends—do not despair. He knows all about it. You are one of the poor whom he blessed. He knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive. Keep on. Do what you can. One day (perhaps in another world, but perhaps far sooner than that) he will fling it on the scrapheap and give you a new one. And then you may astonish us all—not least yourself: for you have learned your driving in a hard school. (Some of the last will be first and some of the first will be last.)

C.S.Lewis Mere Christianity

Love is our true destiny(and it helps us know our name).

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another. We do not discover the secret of our lives merely by study and calculation in our own isolated meditations. The meaning of our life is a secret that has to be revealed to us in love, by the one we love. And if this love is unreal, the secret will not be found, the meaning will never reveal itself, the message will never be decoded. At best, we will receive a scrambled and partial message, one that will deceive and confuse us. We will never be fully real until we let ourselves fall in love - either with another human person or with God.

- Thomas MertonLove and Living, edited by Naomi Burton Stone and Br. Patrick Hart Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985, page 27

More 'Fathers of the Church' Trading Cards Here

http://disseminary.org/archives/media/index.html

Origen

For how can anyone be said to believe the Scripture when he does not see in it the mind of the Holy Spirit, which God would have us to believe, rather than the literal meaning? Commentary on John, 10.27

That is one of the most sensible things I've read on the art of reading scripture .

I guess he wasn't just a self mutilating Nut(less) Case after all.

Here is a future candidate for the job of patrone of the movement

http://growmercy.org/wp-content/uploads/easter-offering-2007-edjournal.jpg

St. Melito of Sardis: Candidate for Patron Saint of the Emerging Church

You’re St. Melito of Sardis! You have a great love of history and liturgy. You’re attached to the traditions of the ancients, yet you recognize that the old world — great as it was — is passing away. You are loyal to the customs of your family, though you do not hesitate to call family members to account for their sins. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

The Creation

The Creation Story of Kitche Manitou
(The Great Spirit) of the Ojibwe

Out of nothing he made rock, water, fire, and wind. Into each he
breathed the breath of life. On each he bestowed with his breath a
different essence and nature. Each substance had its own power
which became its soul-spirit.
From these four substances Kitche Manitou created the physical
world of sun, stars, moon and earth.
Then Kitche Manitou made the plant beings. These were four
kinds: flowers, grasses, trees and vegetables. To each he gave a
spirit of life, growth, healing and beauty. Each he placed where it
would be most beneficial, and lend to earth the greatest beauty
and harmony and order.
After plants, Kitche Manitou created animal beings conferring on
each special powers and natures. There were two-leggeds, four-
leggeds, wingeds and swimmers.
Last of al he made man. Though last in order of creation, least in
the order of dependence, and weakest in bodily powers, man had
the greatest gift, the power to dream.
Kitche Manitou then made The Great Laws of Nature for the well
being and harmony of al things and al creatures. The Great Laws
governed the place and movement of sun, moon, earth and stars;
governed the powers of wind, water, fire and rock; governed the
rhythm and continuity of life, birth, growth and decay. All things
lived and worked by these laws.
Adapted from Basil Johnston: Ojibway Heritage: The ceremonies, rituals, songs,
dances, prayers and legends of the Ojibway. McCleland and Stewart 1976,
reprinted 1998; Toronto.
Protect
Respect
Regenerate

........faith in Elijah is easier to understand than faith in Jesus.

"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself,"said Jesus. He called on us to take up a cross, not a lightning bolt. And if this world is to be won for Christ it will probably be won by a gentle voice and self-sacrificing love, not by loud shouts and spectacle. Jesus' style, not Elijah's.

Philip Yancey
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1997/december8/7te088.html

As Found on Tro&Tank

Let me introduce you to The People formerly known as The Congregation. There are millions of us.
We are people - flesh and blood - image bearers of the Creator - eikons, if you will. We are not numbers.
We are the eikons who once sat in the uncomfortable pews or plush theatre seating of your preaching venues. We sat passively while you proof-texted your way through 3, 4, 5 or no point sermons - attempting to tell us how you and your reading of The Bible had a plan for our lives. Perhaps God does have a plan for us - it just doesn't seem to jive with yours.
Money was a great concern. And, for a moment, we believed you when you told us God would reward us for our tithes - or curse us if we didn't. The Law is just so much easier to preach than Grace. My goodness, if you told us that the 1st century church held everything in common - you might be accused of being a socialist - and of course, capitalism is a direct gift from God. Please further note: Malachi 3 is speaking to the priests of Israel. They weren't the cheerful givers God speaks of loving.
We grew weary from your Edifice Complex pathologies - building projects more important than the people in your neighbourhood...or in your pews. It wasn't God telling you to "enlarge the place of your tent" - it was your ego. And, by the way, a multi-million dollar, state of the art building is hardly a tent.
We no longer buy your call to be "fastest growing" church in wherever. That is your need. You want a bigger audience. We won't be part of one.
Our ears are still ringing from the volume, but...Jesus is not our boyfriend - and we will no longer sing your silly love songs that suggest He is. Happy clappy tunes bear no witness to the reality of the world we live in, the powers and principalities we confront, or are worthy of the one we proclaim King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
You offered us a myriad of programs to join - volunteer positions to assuage our desire to be connected. We could be greeters, parking lot attendants, coffee baristas, book store helpers, children's ministry workers, media ministry drones - whatever you needed to fulfill your dreams of corporate glory. Perhaps you've noticed, we aren't there anymore.
We are The People formerly known as The Congregation. We have not stopped loving the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Nor do we avoid "the assembling of the saints." We just don't assemble under your supposed leadership. We meet in coffee shops, around dinner tables, in the parks and on the streets. We connect virtually across space and time - engaged in generative conversations - teaching and being taught.
We live amongst our neighbours, in their homes and they in ours. We laugh and cry and really live - without the need to have you teach us how - by reading your ridiculous books or listening to your supercilious CDs or podcasts.
We don't deny Paul's description of APEPT leadership - Ephesians 4:11. We just see it in the light of Jesus' teaching in Mark 10 and Matthew 20 - servant leadership. We truly long for the release of servant leading men and women into our gifts as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. We believe in Peter's words that describe us all as priests. Not just some, not just one gender.
We are The People formerly known as The Congregation. We do not hate you. Though some of us bear the wounds you have inflicted. Many of you are our brothers and our sisters, misguided by the systems you inhabit, intoxicated by the power - yet still members of our family. (Though some are truly wolves in sheep's clothing.)
And, as The People formerly known as The Congregation, we invite you to join us on this great adventure. To boldly go where the Spirit leads us. To marvel at what the Father is doing in the communities where He has placed us. To live the love that Jesus shows us.
Addendum: This is a polemic. The first-person plural pronoun, "We", is not used as Pluralis Majestatis (the Royal We) but rather is based on the post-charismatic/post-evangelical conversations that are occurring in the blogosphere. I have no more right to speak in this voice than any other person living in the liminal reality of the church in 21st century.

by Bill Kinnon
of Ahieveable Ends

http://www.kinnon.tv/2007/03/the_people_form.html#more

This I Believe

Instead of preaching about making 'real love' wait, we should insist on making love 'real' immediately!

The Impossibleape

I hope you all will see and love this film and man as much as I do.

A Cross-Shattered Christ

Stanley Hauerwas on atonement theology,....... and the 'chilling' meaning of Christ's last words.
Known for afflicting the comfortable, Duke University professor Stanley Hauerwas "has been a thorn in the side of what he takes to be Christian complacency for more than 30 years," according to his fellow theologian Jean Bethke Elshtain. Whether condemning abortion or the war in Iraq, his views challenge believers to see Jesus' message as a radical one. ............
Hauerwas critiques the narcissism of today's Christians, saying "sentimentality is the urge to make the gospel conform to our needs, to make Jesus our 'personal' savior." This seems to echo what happened after the movie 'The Passion.' A lot of people were repeating the well-known profession, "Jesus died for me"-but with quite an emphasis on the 'me.' That Protestant evangelicals would leave Gibson's movie and say "gee, I didn't know he had to suffer so much for my sins"-quite frankly, that's to make yourself more important than you are. It also underwrites satisfaction theories of the atonement, which fail to do justice to the fact that this is the second person of the Trinity who is suffering.
When you say, "someone had to suffer to reconcile me with an angry Father," you forget: it's not an angry Father who has given the Son to receive our violence. The problem with saying "I didn't know he had to suffer that much for my sins" is it fails to do justice to the Trinitarian character of the Christian faith. What is happening in the cross is a cosmic struggle.
..............any account that suggests God has to satisfy an abstract theory of justice by sacrificing his Son is clearly wrong. The problem with those kinds of typologies is they separate the person from the work of Christ. They concentrate on the cross, separate from the life. I think it's a deep mistake. It's one of the problems with Mel Gibson's film........
Can evangelicals still make an argument that we should think of Jesus as our personal savior, and think of the gospel in terms of how it affects individual people? I really don't like the word 'personal.' It makes it sound like I have a relationship with Jesus that is unmediated by the church. They have the idea that "I have a personal relationship with Jesus that I go to church to have expressed." But the heart of the gospel is that you don't know Jesus without the witness of the church. It's always mediated.......
Jesus' death and resurrection are not the solution to the problem of death. Many people take it as such. It's a deep mistake, a pietistic reading of the cross. The idea is that Jesus overcame death through the resurrection. What that does is fail to appreciate the fact that the resurrected Christ is the crucified Christ. It's not like, "Oh, that was just a mistake, now it's over." Jesus continues to suffer from our sins..........

The Suffering Servant aka History cont'd

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/161/story_16134.html

Stanley Hauerwas

....... "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?",shatter our attempts to understand God in human terms.
It shows that Christ does experience the darkness of being completely alienated from the Father........
And that means there is a time when we cannot approach God through Christ, because Christ was completely abandoned. That is a chilling, chilling notion: that there is a time when we cannot reach God through Christ. I think that's what that means.
...........It's idolatry to think that to be a Christian means this is all going to work out well for me. That's not what God is in the business of being God for. The idea that Jesus' whole project was to make sure my life would be OK is a far too narcissistic account of the crucifixion.
......we try to explain the "why have you forsaken me?" phrase to "protect God from making a fool out of God." Because we want God not to be the God we find in Christ. We want God to be the great all-powerful daddy, who makes sure our lives will not have to be lives of suffering. It's an idolatrous position.
.........should we expect God to do anything about our suffering? We know God has done something about our suffering-it's called the cross. It gives us the resources to have even our suffering be a service to God and God's kingdom.

Christ, a figure of absolute beauty....I can Amen to that

I believe there is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic, and more perfect than the Savior; there is in the world only one figure of absolute beauty: Christ. -Fyodor Dostoevsky