Christianity in flames if Quran burns

Some advocates of the Church are clearly not humble enough to recognize that their reading of scripture and interpretation of the faith is in part. None of us have a complete and holistic theological viewpoint. The recent call to burn the Quran on the eve of 9/11 has rightly stirred condemnation worldwide. The brother concerned might not have read the beatitudes in awhile which in my book clearly advocates that we become peacemakers. Pastor Terry Jones, please we beg you not to go ahead with the burning of those Qurans. Jesus moved us away from an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” toward seeking no revenge but loving our neighbour and our enemy. In Christ the cycle of retribution is broken, may our religion not be the cause of more violence. For God’s sake. (Just heard as I send this blog that he has called it off - Thank Terry, you have done the right thing.)

A real mystery

Well, say no more. It is my birthday. Forty years back on this day I was brought screaming into the world in the capital city of South Africa, Pretoria. It always amazes, the vicissitudes of ones life. What seems like a minor decision turns out to be the eventual succession of your life’s work and purpose. A decision I made in 1988 in a Air force barracks to serve God in mission, took one phone call and my life moved off in another direction, toward a social world of faith, church, mission, and ordination. It could have turned out so differently, but lets not go there. We don’t understand the greater picture, we get glimpses of it now and again, our world is wrapped up in the greater dream, the mystery we seek. I found myself criticizing a couple who drift from one church gathering to the next, they are always going up for prayer and accepting altar calls for this and that. They are searching for a touch of the almighty mystery that will transcend and satisfy but I am afraid they will keep searching for the taste of that they just cannot reach. But, why not, should we stop seeking the infinite and conclude our job is done, our lot is satisfied? The search needs redefinition.

Only God opens our eyes to the reality that is before us, that the reality is in fact the mystery. We are so used to the existence we breathe we call it normal, real, mundane and routine. But, look a little closer and you realize that this is the miracle, this is the life we so longed to find, it is the gift we have been waiting for all these years. It just took you a little longer to see it. The longer I walk this journey, the less I need to find other worldly abstractions. The more I embrace the silence, that is God, and my reality which is the mystery, my joy is complete and my heart is satisfied.

Resurrection physics

Am I truly blessed because I have not seen Jesus risen, but yet believe it? It is much harder yes. A scientific paradigm cannot calculate mystery and wonder. No science textbook has ever wowed me into anything greater unless it has helped me ponder the indescribable and mysterious otherness of creation. Our secular brains are not meant to believe in such things as the resurrection. We are not trained to believe this way. You are blessed because you can observe life objectively. That is today’s blessing. To distance oneself from the event studied and find oneself lost in relative skepticism. I would rather be lost in mysterious wonder really. To believe that there is a greater being ushering in something more beautiful than quarks and other less appealing subatomic particles.

Ashes to ashes

I must say that Ash Wednesday was for me a very deep and spiritual growth point. When I placed the cross of ash on the forehead of the worshiper's with the words, "From dust you came, and to dust you will return," it turned something inside of me. The power of that truth called mortality. Coming to terms with our tangible nature is the cornerstone of spiritual health. It said to me, Get down to basics. Get down on the ground and humble yourself before the living God your Creator. Stop all your pretentious self-confessed wisdom and your high and mighty ideas of the world and how it should be run. Stop with your self-righteous parading and throw yourself rather into the hands of a God who brings about results as God desires. You are not going to change the world. God is going to change the world through you. If there is to be any judgment it will be God who passes judgment. All I ask is that I may be saturated with the nature of God as I love people to the point of death. May that be my only measuring rod, my only scale of justice, my obession, and cause for self evaluation.

A measure of faith

Today is Admin day. A new way of looking at spiritual administration is that it is the very tool to take the abstract concepts, spiritual lessons and till them into ones life. Admin is possibly the most important times of ones entire week. It will determine who you will visit and at what time. It will put the necessary items on the agenda that will further the Kingdom. The very engine that greases the activities of your ministry and calling. It will determine the places where your energy will be spent and who you will be walking with. Thereby building integrity between what I feel like doing and what I actually do. Good administration of your life is akin to bringing heaven to earth. Administration could be the greatest measure of your faith? (A lesson for David Barbour!!!!!)

Never lost

Nature can hold a lesson or two for us. Sitting quietly in prayerful reflection I caught sight of two flying geese in the thick wet fog of the morning. I drove in that fog last night. Not even my car lights could penetrate the mass of water that blankets the hill. The geese flew with such confidence and speed through this fog, their long necks stretched to full capacity and their gliding flight as straight as a line. An astonishing feat considering the visibility. How I wish I could fly with such confidence in the foggy parts of my life. When our weather is foggy we tend to fear the worst and land up going nowhere. The faithful learn to stretch their necks out and beat the air with a confidence that bleeps on another radar system. A confidence that is bred from within and not without. The faith that rests the fear of being lost in the hands of its creator. The faith that knows that wherever it is, it cannot be outside of where God intended it to be. If the heart is with God there are a thousand places to go and no place called lost. We are so funny we are, there seems only to be a right and wrong way. In God, all ways are Gods.