The Way Things Are

I have begun to read a very intriguing book by Dale Rosenberger, the senior pastor at the First Congregational Church (UCC) in Ridgefield, Connecticut, entitled, Who Are You to Say? He challenges the church to live courageously and with integrity in a world that is no longer hospitable to Christianity. He writes,

The Christiandom era of the Christian faith monitoring America's common life, or being the officially sanctioned spiritual shaper of society, is past...A new era is upon us. And we haven't quite yet figured out what that would look like, or what posture God would have us assume given such profound shifts in the landscape. What lies ahead might well be more like what the church faced in its first three hundred years than in the more than 1,600 that followed. What are the new options for the church in our acidly modern and encroachingly secular society? Where can we find social leverage and lift from above in our witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a new epoch?

He asks some good questions, I think. How do you respond to these questions? What do you say?

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Sing for Joy

I have been spending time in meditation on Psalm 63:1-8 recently. The editors of the New Revised Standard Version give it the title Comfort and Assurance in God's Presence. It begins with unquenchable desire for God, then moves to satisfaction of that desire, which, in turn, leads to joy. A major difference between Buddhism and Christianity is their different attitudes toward desire. For a Buddhist desire is the source of suffering in the world and the goal is to rid oneself of desire. For a Christian desires are God-given and therefore a good part of the creation, but because of the fall our desires have become broken and warped both in their direction and intensity. To be rightly ordered, all of our desires must be subordinate to the basic desire for God. As the psalmist writes, "O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water." Only God can satisfy this thirst, and when we drink deeply from this fountain, we experience joy: "for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy." I hope that you and I are able to sing for joy in the shadow of God's wings today.

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Thought for the Day

I came across a wonderful quotation from Francis De Sales concerning prayer from his book, Introduction to the Devout Life I would like to share. "Sprinkle a seasoning of short prayers on your daily living. If you see something beautiful, thank God for it. If you're aware of someone's need, ask God to help...You can toss up many such prayers all day long. They will help you in your meditation and in your secular employment as well. Make a habit of it." Pass the prayer shaker please.

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Another Proverb

I happen to believe that humor is a very important ingredient to life. I have a picture in my study at home of Jesus laughing. It tends to capture your attention because you don't often see a painting of Jesus laughing. I can't help but believe that as he and his disciples traveled the dusty roads together they didn't share in laughter at times. An Irish proverb says, "A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book." I say "Amen" to that!

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Hope Merchant

In July I attended a week long psychology seminar on Cape Cod. During one of the sessions, the presenter said that the therapist is a "hope merchant." He went on to say that the therapists are selling hope not just by their words, but by their presence. This struck a chord with me. Moreover, as I thought about it, it occurred to me followers of Jesus are hope merchants. In a broken world with emotionally, spiritually, and physically wounded people, the message of Jesus is a message of hope. As bearers of that message, we must keep in mind that the hope that we bring must not only be in our words, but in our presence as well. Have you ever thought of yourself in the gigantic bazaar of life as a merchant of hope?

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Love and Patience

Sometimes passages of books that I am reading leap off the page and cry out for attention. This was the case several days ago as I was reading N. T. Wright's new book, Simply Christian. The sentence that jumped out at me was this: "As Christians we should expect to have demands made on our charity and patience." The part of the sentence I found particulary noteworthy was the "we should expect" part. It ought to be obvious to me, but my typical response is to feel "put off" or "out of sorts" when demands are made on my charity and patience. The point is, I don't expect it, and I should. How differently I might behave or respond to others who try my love and patience if I had the attitude that this was the rule and not the exception, that every day I arose with the thought that I can expect to have demands made on my charity and patience. I suspect that if I did so, then when they came I might be more amenable to being in the moment and welcoming them as "spiritual fitness training" from God. How about you? Do you begin each day ready to welcome the demands that will be made on your love and patience?

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Internet-based Casinos

An article in the Boston Globe this morning focused on the problem of internet casino gambling with young people, especially those in college. Online casinos use a number of different strategies to lure young people to begin, and frequently these young people, especially males, find themselves falling deeper into debt. Since internet gambling happens in one's own room and one doesn't have to go anywhere to play, it makes it even more difficult to terminate play and shut off the computer. It has become such a problem in colleges that over 40 college presidents recently attended a conference on this burgeoning problem.

While I am not surprised by this phenomenon, it does make me sad. Gambling is not good for the soul. The God who created us and who has redeemed us has made us to be Eikon's of his glory and goodness. Gambling, it seems to me, is friction against the direction of God's good ends for us as humans. What thoughts do you have about the article and about gambling?

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Thought for the Day

I'm a junkie for proverbs and pithy sayings. I will share a couple for today that I gleaned from the August 2006 issue of Christianity Today: 1) Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow. --Swedish Proverb; 2) When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.--Indian Proverb

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One of the things that I hope to do on the blog sight in addition to interacting with people concerning my sermon topics, is to share thoughts from books that I am currently reading. I invite responses to the ideas that I will share in hope of creating some helpful and interesting dialogue.

Thought for the day: Whever the heart is, the feet don't hestiate to go. --Togo saying

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Testing new blog hosted in main site

How is this working so far Phil?

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