The path to peace

The fruit of silence is prayer,
The fruit of prayer is faith,
The fruit of faith is love,
The fruit of love is service,
The fruit of service is peace.
(Mother Teresa)

Sacred Otherness

in light of our reflections on those evil Pharisees in John 9, whom we are so very much like, perpetuating our own blindness, at least in part through our judging and categorizing people, with full confidence of who's in and who's out, who's good and who's evil; through our unwillingness to see God do a new thing, our fear to affirm God at work outside of our defined and limited vision... I pass this quote along posted today from Emergent Village:

Sacred otherness

Sometimes it's the very otherness of a stranger, someone who doesn't belong to our ethnic or ideological or religious group, an otherness that can repel us initially, but which can jerk us out of our habitual selfishness, and give us intonations of that sacred otherness, which is God.

Karen Armstrong

a pastor

I am encouraged (once again) by Eugene Peterson's reflections on pastoral ministry. Commenting on the high rate of people leaving ministry, and of churches desiring more effective or successful "leaders" he writes:

I wonder if at the root of the defection is a cultural assumption that all leaders are people who “get things done,” and “make things happen.” That is certainly true of the primary leadership models that seep into our awareness from the culture – politicians, businessmen, advertisers, publicists, celebrities, and athletes. But while being a pastor certainly has some of these components, the pervasive element in our two-thousand year pastoral tradition is not someone who “gets things done” but rather the person placed in the community to pay attention and call attention to “what is going on right now” between men and women, with one another and with God – this kingdom of God that is primarily local, relentlessly personal, and prayerful “without ceasing.”

(The Pastor, Eugene Peterson, p. 5)

the way of the cross on behalf of the powerless

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minority Affairs was assassinated.

An advocate for minorities Bhatti was outspoken, bold and fearless in protecting their rights. Among his life accomplishments Bhatti received the International Religious Freedom Award for rendering services to the Christian community, becoming the first Pakistani to receive this prestigious award.

Bhatti had defied death threats since the assassination of Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer on Jan 4. Taseer was killed for supporting Asia Noreen, the first Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan on blasphemy charges. Bhatti was Pakistan’s only cabinet-level Christian and was in charge of a committee to amend the law against blasphemy.

In this compelling video recorded several months ago Bhatti conceded that he was “the highest target right now” but vowed to continue his work and trusting his life to God.

Dorothy Sayers, "Why Work"

This is a marvelous essay, think I'll include various quotes for a few days...

In nothing has the Church so lost Her hold on reality as in Her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends, and that the greater part of the world’s intelligent workers have become irreligious, or at least, uninterested in religion.

But is it astonishing? How can any one remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life? The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.

Love and violence

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44)

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount teaching on the advance of his kingdom through hearts transformed by love obviously has far-reaching consequences, in our families, our communities and nation, and our world. I shared Sunday about “creative non-violent engagement” as Jesus’ “Third Way” of responding to evil (rather than violence or withdrawal), and how often we “do violence” in our hearts when we do not (cannot) love our neighbor, let alone our enemy.

Ultimately, Jesus lived this to the full when he went to the cross, neither violently attacking those in power nor running away into the Judean desert. Along the way to the cross he taught us, in Matthew 18, how to engage one another when we experience conflict, offense, or sin in our relationships. In essence, he said, “creatively and non-violently engage one another (and guard your heart in this process!); don’t attack, don’t hide; go and talk face to face seeking restoration and reconciliation, if that doesn’t work then slowly expand the circle of people committed to bringing about restoration and reconciliation… trust me, and know this, I’ll authorize your loving and courageous engagement, I’ll hear your prayers, and truly, I’ll be there in the midst of you.”

I’ve been thinking of an old and beautiful song that came out of the Jesus movement called “Charity” by Kenn Gullicksen (check it out on YouTube). It’s basically 1 Corinthians 13. The refrain is my prayer for me and for us:

If I have not charity

If love does not flow from me

I am nothing

Jesus reduce me to love

peaceful overseers, righteous taskmasters...

We've been talking in church some about the Kingdom of God, and seeing how it has everything to do with the Redemption and Reign of God (cf. Dwight Pryor); the context is virtually always with regard to the captivity or affliction or bondage of God's people and creation.

Here's a clear and beautiful connection, from Isaiah 60, with regard to the Kingdom of God being about redemption from bondage unto the reign of a gracious Savior King:

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
3 And nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising...

16 and you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
and instead of iron I will bring silver;
instead of wood, bronze,
instead of stones, iron.
I will make your overseers peace
and your taskmasters righteousness.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
devastation or destruction within your borders;
you shall call your walls Salvation,
and your gates Praise.