Journey of Words

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Faith is not linear. It is, indeed, a widening of the imagination, a leap into the transcendent, a taste of the numinous, a vision of the extraordinary in the ordinary. And our coach for the leap, the glue in the link, is our Muse, the Spirit of God.¹

1. Luci Shaw “The Partnership of Art and Spirituality” [↩]

I was standing at the kitchen sink tonight as my wife, son, and daughter were just sitting down to dinner. I was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with a love that can’t be described and I just stood and thanked God for this wonderful, crazy, family that He has blessed me with. Like His grace, and undeserved, unearned blessing.

That’s it…nothing deep…nothing profound. Just a desire to share…

Twitterer @KMWeiland of Wordplay fame tweeted this quote recently. Being that it is from one of my favorite authors I thought it worth posting.

When the artist is truly the servant of the work, the work is better than the artist. – Madeleine L’Engle

…is something quite simple: one who loves the Lord with all of his heart, mind, and soul and loves his neighbor as himself AND lives his life that way.

How would you end that sentence? Go to Reflections of a Jazz Theologian and offer up your answer….

I enjoyed watching the spectators enjoyment as much as the actual performance. It begs the question: what have you done in four minutes (or three or five) to bring joy to another human being today?

Found this on TED this morning and thought it worth passing along. Poets.org has more on C.K. Williams as well.

In light of the realization that it is now April which brings us to National Poetry Month AND add to the fact that I am now going on three weeks with no writing and fighting off whatever bug this is that keeps me coughing and sleeping a paltry two hours a night AND that I have had down time to go back and meander through one of my writing files I figured I would offer this piece from back in 2007 for your thoughts. (Hopefully I will be back to more regular writing these next few days…one more day with the cherubs and then spring break!)…

Enjoy

culmination anima
red leaves of ancient oaks
flutter restlessly in autumnal breezes
as the erubescent sun
reaches with florid arms
to embrace and kiss
the evening star

This piece started out as just a part of Christine’s (Godspace – see link below) Lenten synchroblog but ended up going a bit further when reading Marcus’ post for this weeks RAP at HCB.

I thought that I was meditating on temptation while reflecting on Christ’s temptation in the wilderness but it turned out I was wrong. What I was looking for was grace. The grace that comes from knowing that the one who saved me truly knows the temptations that I face each day. I pray that there may be something in my words that will touch you or give you pause to reflect this Lenten season as we journey toward the cross, the tomb, the raising. I welcome your thoughts and comments, thank-you for taking the time to visit.

i searched for grace

i searched for grace but
instead i found temptation
in conversation:

he said to you:

turn stones into bread,
leap, angels will bear you up,
world’s yours, bow to me;

you said to him:

does not live by bread,
do not test the Lord your God
worship only him;

i searched for grace in
the midst of temptation
and found salvation

Find more Lenten synchrobloggers over at Godspace

A Lenten Prayer

Ash Wednesday
A forty day journey begins
A lament, a calling, a cry out
To the one who creates,
The one who saves and makes us
Whole.
We come to you in brokenness.
We come to you in heartache.
We come to you from wrong roads,
Having departed from the path
You have set before us.

Though we may not know,
We hunger for you, crave your
Touch in our lives
To relieve the suffering,
To heal our pain,
To bring us the terrible sweet joy
Of this journey toward the cross

We offer ourselves
Broken and contrite
To your mercy and love.
We come to you mourning and
Ask to be filled with your joy.
We come to you faithless and
Ask for our faith to be restored.

We begin again as we have
So many times before
Looking to you,
Stepping out on our journey,
Following as you would have us,
To shine your light in this world
Of darkness

Hold us each in your gentle loving hand,
Molding, guiding, loving us,
As we look to deepen our loving relationship
With you our
Father
Creator
Abba

Amen

I am in flux. I am re-thinking many of my thoughts, beliefs, and approaches to the world, my faith, by reading of scripture, and, not insignificantly, my view of culture and what it means to interact, criticize, create with my surroundings.

I am working my way through Andy Crouch’s book Culture Making. I say working because is seems as though every other page I am having to stop and underline, make a note, or just sit and let the material sink in and percolate through the recesses and crevices of my gray matter. I wasn’t planning on blogging about it until I finished but I am moved by two things: the first being the quote below in which Mr. Crouch is discussing the “furnishing” of the new Jerusalem referred to in Revelation. Second, the posting of Mark Goodyear’s interview with Mr. Crouch at High Calling Blogs (You can read the interview here:
part 1 and part 2).

If there is one book in the bible that tends to scare off many, including Christians, it is the image-laden, metaphor-filled, apocalyptic, end-of-the-world book of Revelation. Yet, Mr. Crouch has framed John’s vision within the confines (and in many ways freedom) of a culture – one created by God and created by human hands (created by the creation of the creator?). While reading I was struck by this passage:

Are we creating and cultivating things that have a chance of furnishing the new Jerusalem? Will the cultural goods we devote our lives to — the food we cook and consume, the music we purchase and practice, the movies we watch and make, the enterprises we earn our paychecks from and invest our wealth in — be identified as the glory and honor of our cultural tradition? Or will they be remembered as mediocrities at best, dead ends at worst? This is not the same as asking whether we are making “Christian” culture. “Christian” cultural artifacts will surely go through the same winnowing and judgment as “non-Christian” artifacts. Nor is this entirely a matter of who is responsible for the cultural artifacts and where their faith is placed, especially since every cultural good is a collective effort. Clearly some of the cultural goods found in the new Jerusalem will have been created and cultivated by people who may well not accept the Lamb’s invitation to substitute his righteousness for their sin. Yet the best of their work may survive. Can that be said of the goods that we are devoting our lives to?¹ (emphasis mine)

I found this paragraph to be a key to the way in which we should live – socially, emotionally, creatively, economically within our lives. Are the “things” we are involved in bringing that glory and honor to our cultural tradition as stated above? Are we living and creating in a selfless fashion that leads to excellence? Or one of selfishness ambition or vain conceit², leading to mediocrity or the dead end road?

I don’t find this to be a limited activity. I need to examine my role as husband, father, son, brother, friend, teacher, writer/poet, and whatever other place I have within the cultures I am living. Am I creating a culture of the highest good, one worthy of furnishing the new Jerusalem?

How about you?

(ok…now back to the book )

1. Culture Making pg. 171 [↩]
2. Philippians 2:3 [↩]