Waving or Drowning?

Have You Converted?

Admittedly I've taken a bit of a break from reading Jacques Ellul since Christmas. (Can't find any Ellul for the Kindle out there... yet. I'm also learning that Kindle doesn't always handle the non-fiction efficiently.)

However, here's a quote I recorded in my journal on the 22nd. Any thoughts? How does this intersect or conflict with your own definition of conversion?

"To convert! This great word has been diluted. The people of the third century and later have converted to Christianity in morality and religion, but they have kept intact their mode of thinking."

(The Subversion of Christianity, p. 26. Emphasis mine)

Addicted to Violence

Wise words from Parker Palmer:

"Violence is what happens any time we violate the integrity of the other."

(h/t to Paul Soupiset)

Faith, Ignorance and Certainty

Richard Rohr has been hitting the nail on the head the past few days with regard to faith:

"Great spiritual teachers always balance knowing with not knowing—and knowing that you don’t know, even your own motives... This balancing act became the central Biblical great idea called “faith.” I am afraid it has been largely lost in the west in our desire to combat secularists, atheists, and unbelievers. The Christian churches today largely define faith as knowing, and even being certain about your knowing, when in fact it means exactly the opposite!

Faith is being willing not to know, and still being content, because God knows. Faith is a learned “tolerance for ambiguity” because I no longer use knowledge as power, so I no longer need to be right. I do not even need to know that I am perfectly moral, superior, or good, because I now know as Jesus said, that “God alone is good” (Mark 10:18).

Now that’s definitely a gift from God—to be able to live with the freedom not to know and not to be right—and that is exactly why we always said that faith is a gift. It is a gift we can consciously ask for and grow into, but we do need to know what the goal is!"

Yesterday Father Richard spoke to the negative outcome of our pathological need to know:

"Ignorance does not result from what we don’t know! Ignorance results from what we think we do know—but don’t! Most ignorant people are, in fact, quite certain."

All of this brought to mind my own rather extreme (and constantly evolving)  definition of faith:

"Faith is leaning on God especially hard on those days when you know there is no God."

Carry on.

(Both Rohr quotes are adapted from Beginner's Mind and available as a Daily Meditation)

My Addiction Delivery System Goes High Tech

I think I've admitted before in this space that I'm addicted to books. As I write this I'm surrounded by books. Book shelves cover the walls, and they're full. There's no more room for books.

Well, this year for Christmas my Delta House peeps got me a Kindle!

When I read a book I like to destroy it. I underline, I circle. I write words, sentences, or even paragraphs. We had talked about the Kindle a while back, and my only reservation was the ability to do all the above. Well, you can, and even better, your notes arrange themselves in a separate file. It works well: A certain thirteen-year old resident of Delta House (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) has been giving the clippings function a good work-out by grabbing the Kindle and leaving random derogatory remarks about me throughout my first book.

It really is an incredible device. And in the long run, it's going to save money, because I spend a lot on books. As for my addiction, the Kindle will either put me over the edge or be my nicotine patch. It remains to be seen.

Fighting Chance

More profundity from Brian Andreas...

What do I get for this? I said & the angel gave me a catalog filled with toasters & clock radios & a basketball signed by Michael Jordan & I said, But this is just stuff & the angel smiled at me & swallowed me in her arms. I'm so glad you said that, she whispered to me. I knew you still had a chance.

Story of the Day, December 25

God Chooses to Walk With His People

Christmas Carols in the Downtown Eastside

(I love the "hovercar" in the background of this shot taken from the steps of the Carnegie at Main & Hastings.)

Over on the Linwood House blog I've just posted a brief reflection on our time Christmas Caroling in the DTES last week, along with some images. It was a great night all around, so be sure to stop by.

Unto Us is Born this Day, a System of Philosophical Methods and Moral Codes

Jacques Ellul is scrambling my brain again today, in a profound (and timely) manner:

"To do his work God does not send a book of metaphysics or a sacred book of Gnostic revelations or a complete epistemological system or a perfected wisdom. He sends a man." (p. 24)

"...God does not reveal by means of a philosophical system or moral code or a metaphysical construction. He enters human history and accompanies his people." (p. 23)

(Quotes from The Subversion of Christianity.) 

Ellul goes on to state that in his view the accommodation of the revelation of Jesus to Greco-Roman philosophical methods was the first cause of the subversion of Christianity.

Advent IV :: Mary’s Magnificat

Over on the Empire Remixed blog Brian Walsh has a stunningly beautiful work that starts off like this:

Like everyone else, she received the news of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with joy, wonder … and fear.

Joy that the barren had conceived.
Joy that an heir would be born.
Joy that Elizabeth’s womb would bear fruit.

Wonder because of the memories this evoked.
Wonder in the memory of Sarah, Rebekah and Hannah.
Wonder about whether God was on the move, whether the promises were to be fulfilled.

Promises and wonder.
Fulfilled dreams.
All bound up with a newly conceived child.

Read the rest here. (My soundtrack for this reading was Christmas Song, by Dave Matthews.)

Purple Madonna

One time on Hollywood Boulevard I saw a young girl with a baby. It was a crisp winter morning & her hair shone dark purple in the sun. She was panhandling outside the Holiday Inn & the door clerk came out & told her to be on her way & I wondered if anyone would recognize the Christ child if they happened to meet. I remember thinking it's not like there are any published pictures & purple seemed like a good color for a Madonna so I gave her a dollar just in case.

Brian Andreas, StoryPeople.com