Youthful Joy

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Here’s a fantastic quote by G.K. Chesterton on the topic of joy.  I mean, who wouldn’t want more of that?!

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.  They always say, ‘Do it again’; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead.  For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.  But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.  It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon.  It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.  It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.“

Am I the only one that loves that thought?

In speaking of God, “ageless” usually means “so old you couldn’t count it”; “eternal” is thought to be “older than you could imagine, so don’t bother”.

And that’s right.  But…

What if “timeless” means “unaffected by time, outside of it”?  What if “infinite” translates into “as far removed from everything fallen as east is from west”?

That would play into Chesterton’s idea… a young God… in the sense that He is untouched by all processes of declining, fading, and deteriorating–a God who never gets tired, upon Whom could depend for strength even while youths were getting tired and looking for wings like eagles.  Man, that idea’s sounding scriptural, if I didn’t know better!

A God like that is easy to find some hope within and easy to cling to, wouldn’t you say?

Living… Another Way

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Reading today, I came to this passage in the Message.  There’s some strange words in there, no?
The point? A life possessed by Jesus can take on a radically different look quick.  Man!

Colossians 1:24-29

I want you to know how glad I am that it’s me sitting here in this jail and not you. There’s a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world—the kind of suffering Christ takes on. I welcome the chance to take my share in the church’s part of that suffering. When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this suffering as a sheer gift, God’s way of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth.

This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That’s what I’m working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me.

Cryin’

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The “emergent church”… that’s a huge catch-phrase these days.  No, it’s more than a catch-phrase.  It’s a train-load of ideas, and I must claim to understand it insufficiently.  Brian McLaren has been deemed by many to be the voice (or at least one of them) of the movement.  To be honest, I’ve only read one of his books in its entirety; the rest has been clips and quotes and articles.  However, I know some of you are big fans.

Here is a link to a parody of an interview with “Cryin’ McLaren”.  While a touch thick on sarcasm, it might be thought-provoking to some… and angering to others.

Hey, it’s just a post from one who is wandering and wondering.

Comments?

I Want it All

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Great song by Shane Barnard that grabbed me for the thousandth time this morning.  I tried to post it here so you could hear it, but it doesn’t seem do-able through my blog.  All the same, those are some powerful words that I need to be able to sing. If not, there’s no taking hold of anything God has for me.

Want Christ’s path to follow? This is definitely it, and there is no other.

Use me, break me, waste me on You, Lord.
Ruin me, take me, waste me on You.
For to die is to live…

To starve is to feast,
And less of me is more of Jesus.
Lord, I want it all. Lord, I want it all.
If I lose my life, I gain everything,
And at the cross, away with all death’s sting.
Lord, I want it all. Lord, I want it all

There is power in the blood; there is victory in Jesus.
Come in power, wash me clean.
Overwhelm me with Your presence.
There is power in the blood; there is victory in Jesus.
Help me glory in the cross.
Help me find my gain in loss.

Rest in the Infinite

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The following words are from a recent interview I read (in as issue of “What is Enlightenment?” magazine) with a theology professor named John Haught. His language is more philosophical than I usually deal with and may feel awkward to some, but his words may deepen the reverence we have for the One whom we worship and to whom we offer everything.

Sometimes people ask, “What is the evidence that the infinite exists?” For Augustine and many religious people throughout the ages, the best evidence is the utter restlessness of the human heart. You could extend that also to the restlessness of the intellect itself. We all realize that no matter how much we know, there is yet more to be known; we all realize that no matter how much we get in life, how much we have, how much we possess, we are never fully filled up by it. So there is, in a sense, a God-shaped hole at the heart of our being. That’s what Augustine was saying—our hearts are restless until we rest in the infinite.

Now the way we become aware of the infinite is not so much by knowing it as by allowing ourselves to be grasped by it. This often happens without people realizing it. For example, even a scientist is grasped by the value of the truth and surrenders his or her life to the pursuit of that truth. Whether they say so explicitly or not, I think many scientists, if not most, have made a commitment to something much larger than themselves that is inexhaustible. They realize that no matter how much they probe, the horizons will keep on receding. I associate that very closely with what theology refers to as religious experience. So we come in contact with this infinite horizon—which Augustine referred to as God—in very subtle ways that oftentimes we are not aware of. Religion simply tries to make us more explicitly aware of, and especially grateful to, that horizon of depth, that horizon of an infinite future, a horizon of infinite beauty and truth that keeps calling us, that keeps addressing us, that keeps summoning us. And in doing so, it gives us vitality, life, and meaning.

That’s a lot of lingo. What do I take from it?

Only God brings peace.

Allow Him to grasp me.

March towards the infinite horizon.
I like that.