Category Archives: Jesus the Savior

Daily Riches: Jesus Is … (Tim Keller)

Posted on by under Embracing Losses and Limits, Jesus the Savior, True Greatness

Jesus is
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…the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.
…the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.
…the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.
…the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. …
…the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.
…the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.
…the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant. …
…the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.
…the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.
…the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people. …
…the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us.
…the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.” Tim Keller

“let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of faith.”
Hebrews 12:1,2

Moving From Head to Heart

  • When you think about the very essence of your faith, do you automatically think of Jesus, or something else, like Bible doctrine, or the church?
  • When you’re helping someone desperate do you make clear how limited we humans are to help, and the unlimited ability of Jesus?
  • Are you “fixing your eyes on Jesus?” What does that mean in the course of a regular day?

Abba, again and again, thank you for your son.

For More: Jesus the King by Tim Keller

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Political Jesus (Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, Debbie Thomas)

Posted on by under Contemplation and Activism, Jesus the Savior, The Upside-Down Kingdom, True Greatness, truth and illusion

According to New Testament scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, the Triumphal Entry was … an act of political theater, an anti-imperial demonstration designed to mock the obscene pomp and circumstance of Rome. …Borg and Crossan argue that two processions entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday; Jesus’ was not the only Triumphal Entry. Every year, the Roman governor of Judea would ride up to Jerusalem … to be present in the city for Passover – the Jewish festival that swelled Jerusalem’s population from its usual 50,000 to at least 200,000. The governor would come in all of his imperial majesty to remind the Jewish pilgrims that Rome was in charge. They could

commemorate an ancient victory against Egypt if they wanted to. But real, present-day resistance (if anyone was daring to consider it) was futile. Pontius Pilate’s imperial procession [was] ‘A visual panoply of imperial power: cavalry on horses, foot solders, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold.’ … according to Roman imperial belief, the emperor was not simply the ruler of Rome; he was the Son of God. For the empire’s Jewish subjects, Pilate’s procession … was the embodiment of a rival theology. Heresy on horseback. This is the background … against which we need to frame the Triumphal Entry of Jesus. …As Pilate clanged and crashed his imperial way into Jerusalem from the west, Jesus approached from the east, looking (by contrast) ragtag and absurd. His was the procession of the ridiculous, the powerless, the explicitly vulnerable. ‘What we often call the triumphal entry was actually an anti-imperial, anti-triumphal one, a deliberate lampoon of the conquering emperor entering a city on horseback through gates opened in abject submission.’ Elsewhere, Crossan notes that Jesus rode ‘the most unthreatening, most un-military mount imaginable: a female nursing donkey with her little colt trotting along beside her.'” Debbie Thomas

“They … went out to meet him, shouting,  … ‘Blessed is the king of Israel!’” John 12:13

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Imagine all the Roman/human values being critiqued, rejected – even mocked by Jesus here. Are you comfortable with this Jesus who confronts the political powers? Who attempts to undercut all they stand for? this “agitator?”
  • Imagine the concepts being redefined here: “power”, “foolishness”, “triumph”, etc.
  • As a follower of Jesus today, are you comfortable with “speaking truth to power?” public agitating? choosing “weakness?”

Abba, your Son is awesome.

For More: The Last Week by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of value with you daily in 400 words or less.  Thanks for your interest. –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: The Priority of Presence, The Necessity of Revelation (Aidan Kavanagh, Kathleen Norris, Mark Buchanan)

Posted on by under "Being" with Jesus, Being and Doing, Jesus the Savior, Silence, Solitude, Spiritual Formation, Striving and drivenness, thirsting and longing for God

“Some knowing is never pursued, only received. And for that, you need to be still.” Mark Buchanan

“It was a presence, not faith, which drew Moses to the burning bush. And what happened there was a revelation, not a seminar. It was a presence, not faith, which drew the disciples to Jesus, and what happened then was not an educational program but his revelation to them of himself as the long-promised Anointed One…. Their lives, like that of Moses, were changed radically by that encounter with a Presence which upended all their ordinary expectations. Their descendants in faith have been adjusting to that change ever since, drawn into assembly by that same Presence, finding there always the troublesome upset of change in their lives of faith to which they must adjust still. Here is where their lives are regularly being constituted and reconstituted under grace.” Aidan Kavanagh

“We make such a fuss about ‘seeking God.’ We’re anxious about so many things, and faith, prayer, and searching for God are not excepted. Are you doing it right? Will a retreat teach us a better way? Which method of prayer will be most effective for us? What church congregation will best ‘feed us spiritually’? Probably the best thing we can do is to relax, take a deep breath, stop thinking about what we want or need, and forget about it. Seeking God, that is. Instead we might wait, and begin to silently ponder the ways in which God may already have been seeking us, all along, in the faulty, scary stuff of our ordinary lives.” Kathleen Norris

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name, I said,
‘Here am I, here am I.’”
Isaiah 65:1

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Are you focused on diligently “pursuing” rather than humbly “receiving” from God?
  • Are you trusting educational programs, oblivious to God’s revelatory program – where ongoing encounters with his Presence are the key to transformation?
  • Have you made sanctification or spiritual formation into one more  project, when instead you should “wait, and … silently ponder” how God may have been coming to you? …how God is coming to you now?

Abba, help me learn to see what I routinely miss from you.

For More: On Liturgical Theology by Aidan Kavanagh

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

Daily Riches: The Soul-wrenching Work of Letting Jesus Deal with Our Stuff (Jayson Bradley, Neil Postman, Matt Groening, Louise C.K)

Posted on by under Busyness, Emotions and Spirituality, Jesus the Savior, Silence, Solitude, Stillness

“One way of looking at the history of the human group is that it has been a continuing struggle against the veneration of ‘crap.’” Neil Postman

“For most of recorded history, you couldn’t get away from it. The farmer, monk, chef, and seamstress all worked in relative silence within the rhythms of the day, month, and year. Gradually, technology intruded upon those rhythms and upset that silence. Electric light extended the evening and absconded with our rest. Radio introduced constant chatter, and television doubled down on that chatter requesting our total attention. …When I was a teen, I was excited for the ability to listen to a portable cassette; now I carry thousands of albums around with me. …Do you know those people who seem to carry with them an inner stillness? …Most people I know (myself included) are overstimulated and overwhelmed…. We scroll through a vast network of news stories, updates, and information responding in ways that seem more conditioned than reflective, our minds abuzz with constant distracted activity. …Louis C.K. nails the problem here.

…In the most profound way, Louise C.K. is totally right. [We think] ‘…It’s that God-shaped vacuum. He just needs Jesus to fill it up.’ But Christianity alone doesn’t just fill up that emptiness. Christians are as guilty as anyone else of looking for a shortcut to fill that hole …and, despite what we say, we fill it with the same exact things as everyone else. We may be able to curb that hollowness for a while, but eventually it catches up to us…. We run headlong into that void without the discipline to navigate it, and it consumes us. …It’s like the whole of our psyche has followed Marge Simpson’s advice to Lisa, ‘Take all your bad feelings and push them down, all the way down past your knees, until you’re almost walking on them. And then you’ll fit in, and you’ll be invited to parties, and boys will like you. And happiness will follow.’ Silence is the tool that brings to the surface all that stuff we’ve buried or lies hidden from us. The silence we need is more than an absence of sound; it’s a break from constant stimulus and activity. It’s about allowing the tangled cords in our spirit and mind to unravel and be stilled. It’s about stopping the constant need to control our surroundings with our actions and words in a never-ending quest to drown out the unrest in our hearts. It’s about facing the dragon of emptiness, loneliness, frustration, anger, hurt, and need head on . . . and doing the soul-wrenching work of letting Jesus deal with it.” Jayson Bradley

  • Do you still yourself to let difficult emotions surface?
  • Are you willing to do “soul-wrenching work?”

Abba, still my soul.

Daily Riches: Radically Trusting God, Truly Helping Others (Nikos Kazantzakis, Parker Palmer)

Posted on by under Change Yourself First, Detachment and Attachment, Hurry Sickness, Jesus the Savior, Learning Your Proper Place, Loving Listening, Loving Well, Waiting on God
“I remember one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree just as a butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited awhile, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it to warm it. I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before my eyes, faster than life. The case opened; the butterfly started slowly crawling out, and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were foldedhatching back and crumpled; the wretched butterfly tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them. Bending over it, I tried to help it with my breath, in vain. It needed to be hatched out patiently and the unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun. Now it was too late. My breath had forced the butterfly to appear all crumpled, before its time. It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, died in the palm of my hand. That little body is, I do believe, the greatest weight I have on my conscience. For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the external rhythm.”  Nikos Kazantzakis
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“…most people can and must come to life in their own way and time, and if we try to help them by hastening the process, we end up doing harm. …[but] when we understand that our efforts to help other people can be unhelpful, or worse, we may start to avert our eyes from their struggles and pains, not knowing what to do and embarrassed by our own ineptitude. … [but] Instead of fixing up, or letting down, people who have a problem, we [can] stand with simple attentiveness at the borders of their solitude – trusting that they have within themselves whatever resources they need and that our attentiveness can help bring those resources into play. …We stay present to each other without wavering, while stifling any impulse to fix each other up. We offer each other support in going where each needs to go, and learning what each needs to learn, at each one’s pace….” Parker Palmer
 
“Everyone should be … slow to speak”
James 1:19
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Moving From Head to Heart

  • Can you resist the urge to “fix” someone in need?
  • Can you simply be “present” to them in love rather than averting your eyes?
  • Will you trust them to do for themselves what only they can do, and God to do for them what only God can do – and will do in God’s time?

Abba, help.

For More: A Hidden Wholeness by Parker Palmer

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Your Worst Day and Your Best Day – The Same Day (Charles Spurgeon and Catharina von Schlegel)

Posted on by under Desolation's Gift, Embracing Losses and Limits, Emotions and Spirituality, Jesus the Savior, Suffering and Grace

“I bear my witness that the worst days I have ever had have turned out to be my best days. And when God has seemed most cruel to me he has then been most kind. If there is anything in this world for which I would bless him more than for anything else it is for pain and affliction. I am sure that in these things the richest tenderest love has been manifested to me. Our Father’s wagons rumble most heavily when they are bringing us the richest freight of the bullion of his grace. Love letters from heaven are often sent in black-edged envelopes. The cloud that is black with horror is big with mercy. Fear not the storm. It brings healing in its wings and when Jesus is with you in the vessel the tempest only hastens the ship to its desired haven.” Charles Spurgeon

 “Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

“Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

“Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart
And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.
Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay
From His own fulness all He takes away.”

“Be Still My Soul” by Catharina von Schlegel

“My suffering was good for me….”
Psalm 119:71

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Have you ever had your “worst” day become your “best” day? If you could go back and eliminate that day, would you?
  • If you can, take a few minutes to speak to your soul using the words of this famous hymn. What feelings arise?
  • Spurgeon says he would bless God for pain and affliction “more than for anything else.” Can you say that?

Abba, meet me in my pain.

For More: Then Sings My Soul by Robert Morgan

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Wine We Are Becoming (Henri Nouwen, Avery Dulles, Hellen Keller and St. John of the Cross)

Posted on by under Desolation's Gift, Embracing Losses and Limits, Jesus the Savior, Spiritual Formation, Suffering and Grace

“We never know the wine we are becoming while we are being crushed like grapes.” Henri Nouwen

“The good life does not have to be an easy one, as our blessed Lord and the saints have taught us. … Suffering and diminishment are not the greatest of evils, but are normal ingredients in life, especially in old age. They are to be accepted as elements of a full human existence. Well into my 90th year I have been able to work productively. As I become increasingly paralyzed and unable to speak, I can identify with the many paralytics and mute persons in the Gospels, grateful for the loving and skillful care I receive and for the hope of everlasting life in Christ. If the Lord now calls me to a period of weakness, I know well that his power can be made perfect in infirmity. ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord!'”  Avery Dulles

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“Contradictions, sickness, scruples, spiritual aridity, and all the inner and outward torments are the chisel with which God carves his statues for paradise.”  Alphonsus Liguori

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” Helen Keller

“And I saw the river over which every soul must pass to reach the kingdom of heaven and the name of that river was suffering – and I saw the boat which carries souls across the river and the name of the boat was love.”  Saint John of the Cross

“it was fitting for Him
for whom are all things,
and through whom are all things,
in bringing many sons to glory,
to perfect the author of their salvation
through sufferings.”
Hebrews 2:10

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Think of people you know and all the reasons that people suffer. Do you think you can somehow escape suffering?
  • Jesus suffered in order to be perfected. Some things can only be accomplished by suffering. Can you embrace suffering in your life as not only inescapable, but necessary, even good?
  • “The good life does not have to be an easy one”, in fact, it can’t be. How are you making your life a good life “while you are being crushed like grapes?”

Abba, thank you for the boat that carries me across the river of suffering.

For More: St. John of the Cross: Selected Writings

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Community of Sinners and Saints (Miroslav Volf and Thomas Merton)

Posted on by under Change Yourself First, Forgiveness, Jesus the Savior, Learning Your Proper Place, Loving Well

“Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners. But no one can be in the presence of the God of the crucified Messiah for long without overcoming this double exclusion – without transposing the enemy from the sphere of monstrous inhumanity into the sphere of shared humanity and herself from the sphere of proud innocence into the sphere of common sinfulness. When one knows that the torturer will not eternally triumph over the victim, one is free to rediscover that person’s humanity and imitate God’s love for him. And when one knows that God’s love is greater than all sin, one is free to see oneself in the light of God’s justice and so rediscover one’s own sinfulness.” Miroslav Volf

“Strong hate, the hate that takes joy in hating, is strong because it does not believe itself to be unworthy and alone. It feels the support of a justifying God, of an idol of war, an avenging and destroying spirit. From such blood-drinking gods the human race was once liberated, with great toil and terrible sorrow, by the death of a God Who delivered Himself to the Cross and suffered pathological cruelty of His own creatures out of pity for them. In conquering death He opened their eyes to the reality of a love which asks no questions about worthiness, a love which overcomes hatred and destroys death. But men have now come to reject this divine revelation of pardons and they are consequently returning to the old war gods, the gods that insatiably drink blood and eat the flesh of men.  …To serve the hate-gods, one has only to be blinded by collective passion. To serve the God of Love one must be free, one must face the terrible responsibility of the decision to love in spite of all unworthiness whether in oneself or in one’s neighbor.” Thomas Merton

“love your enemies” Jesus in Luke 6:27

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Have you reached the point where you have transposed your “enemy from the sphere of monstrous inhumanity into the sphere of shared humanity?”
  • Of yourself “from the sphere of proud innocence into the sphere of common sinfulness?”
  • Do you practice “a love which asks no questions about worthiness?”

Abba, let me overcome hatred with love.

For More: Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Take the Trouble to See, Then Love (Anthony de Mello, Pete Scazzero)

Posted on by under Awareness, Change Yourself First, Jesus the Savior, Loving Well

“Love springs from awareness. It is only inasmuch as you see persons as they really are here and now and not as they are in your memory or your desire or in your imagination or projection that you can truly love them; otherwise it is not the people that you love but the idea that you have formed of them. Therefore, the first act of love is to see this person…. And this involves the enormous discipline of dropping your desires, your prejudices, your memories, your projections, your selective way of looking…. When you set out to serve someone whom you have not taken the trouble to see, are you meeting that person’s need or your own? So the first ingredient of love is to really see the other. The second ingredient is equally important: to see yourself, to ruthlessly flash the light of awareness on your motives, your emotions, your needs, your dishonesty, your self-seeking, your tendency to control and manipulate. This means calling things by their names, no matter how painful the discovery and the consequences. If you achieve this kind of awareness of the other and yourself, you will know what love is.” Anthony de Mello

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!'” Luke 7:35-39

Moving From Head to Heart

“Simon the Pharisee did not really see the sinful woman as a human being loved by God. He saw a sinner, an interruption, a person without a right to be at the dinner table. Jesus saw her differently.” Pete Scazzero

  • Think about it, how would you have seen her?
  • What can you do to gain more “awareness of the other and yourself?”

Abba, open my eyes to reality as you know it.

More: Begin the Journey with the Daily Office by Pete Scazzero

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Encounter with Jesus (Madeleine L’Engle, Pope Francis, Henri Nouwen, Heidi Baker, and Teresa of Avila)

Posted on by under Change Yourself First, Jesus the Savior, Loving Well

“We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” Madeleine L’Engle

“Giving them the beauty of the Gospel, the amazement of the encounter with Jesus … and leaving it to the Holy Spirit to do the rest. It is the Lord, says the Gospel, who makes the seed spring and bear fruit.” Pope Francis (on evangelism) “The witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission.” Pope John Paul II

“If we want to be witnesses like Jesus, our only concern should be to be as alive with the love of God as Jesus was.” Henri Nouwen

“Ministry is simply about loving the person in front of you. It’s about stopping for the one and being the very fragrance of Jesus to a lost and dying world.” Heidi Baker

       “Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.”
Teresa of Avila

“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.” Acts 2:32

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Proofs and arguments are no substitute for an “encounter with Jesus”, and such an encounter, will often be through you. What are the implications of this as you think about sharing your faith?
  • There are many ways to unintentionally skew the divine intention for another person to encounter Jesus. How do you get in the way? What can you do to facilitate such an encounter?
  • Our need to be “the very fragrance of Jesus” to the one before us, means that the most critical part of evangelism occurs before any meeting or conversation takes place – in our preparation to give “the witness of a Christian life” and be “alive with the love of God.” What can you do to be “alive with the love of God?”

Abba, by your grace, when others encounter me, may they also encounter Jesus and his love – and be changed.

For More: Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Silent Night, Holy Night (Andrew Murray, F. W. Faber, T. S. Elliott)

Posted on by under awe and wonder, Jesus the Savior, Silence, Stillness
“Silent night, Holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin, mother and child
Holy infant, tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

“Silent night, Holy night
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at thy birth
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

“Silent night, Holy night
Shepherds quake, at the sight
Glories stream from heaven above
Heavenly, hosts sing Hallelujah.
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born.”
Joseph Mohr

“The one fact we forget is that the saints of old were capable of spiritual silence simply because they had not contracted our modern habit of ceaseless talk in their ordinary life. Their days were days of silence, relieved by periods of conversation, while ours are a wilderness of talk with a rare oasis of silence.” Andrew Murray

“Whenever the sounds of the world die out in the soul, then we hear the whisperings of God.”
F. W. Faber

“Where shall the Word be found,
where will the word resound?
Not here.
There is not enough silence.”
T. S. Elliott

“It is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.”
Lamentations 3:26

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Have you been quiet enough to hear the “whisperings of God” this Christmas season?
  • Do you live in a “wilderness of talk” rather than “an oasis of silence?” If so, are you working to make space for silence in your life?
  • Have you experienced God’s redeeming grace? His glory “streaming from above” into your life? If not, ask God for this.

Abba, may this season contain enough silence that the Word would be found, and the word would resound.

For More: Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan, “Silence and Grace” by Richard Rohr

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

Daily Riches: Joining God in His Dream for the World (Amy Grant, Dallas Willard, Pete Scazzero)

Posted on by under Jesus the Savior, Prayer, Social Justice, The Poor and Disenfranchised

“No more lives torn apart

That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.”
Amy Grant

“…the kingdom of God …is the domain where what he prefers is actually what happens. And this very often does not happen on this sad earth…. In human affairs other ‘kingdoms’ may for a time be in power, and often are. This second request [“hallowed by thy name”] asks for those kingdoms to be displaced, wherever they are, or brought under God’s rule. … Jesus’s own gospel of the kingdom was not that the kingdom was about to come, or had recently come, into existence. … his gospel concerned only the new accessibility of the kingdom to humanity through himself. …So when Jesus directs us to pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ he does not mean we should pray for it to come into existence. Rather, we pray for it to take over at all points in the personal,  social, and political order where is it now excluded: ‘On earth as it is in heaven.'” Dallas Willard

“The kingdom of God is God’s dream for the world.” Pete Scazzero

 “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.
He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.”
Isaiah 61:1-2

Moving From Head to Heart

In many ways our dream for the world and God’s dream for the world are alike: healing of broken lives, peace, comfort to the brokenhearted. God’s dream also probably transcends ours: prisoners and slaves freed, good news for the poor – and a judging of evil.

  • Is your “wish list” inclusive enough that you can pray “thy kingdom come?”
  • Are you praying for God’s kingdom (petitioning), or merely wishing for it – or perhaps neither?
  • Are you praying for God to break into not only the personal, but also the “social, and political order?”

Abba, thy kingdom come, thy will be done – here and now in this place.

For More: The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Mystery of the Incarnation (Denise Levertov and Leah Rampy)

Posted on by under awe and wonder, Contemplation, Jesus the Savior

“It’s when we face for a moment

the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know
the taint in our own selves, that awe
cracks the mind’s shell and enters the heart:
not to a flower, not to a dolphin,
to no innocent form
but to this creature vainly sure
it and no other is god-like, God
(out of compassion for our ugly
failure to evolve) entrusts,
as guest, as brother,
the Word.”
Denise Levertov

“In the brokenness and chaos of our time, can we hope to live in a way that honors our longing for peace on earth? A contemplative path invites us to be fully open and present to what is, just as it is, in each moment. That is not easy. The instinct to look away from the violent and destructive is strong for us. The urge to flee, fight or freeze is wired deeply into our reptilian brains. We fear that when we look into the face of tragedy we will despair, yet, when we open our spiritual hearts and minds to what is, we find that the sacred is there, in the midst of sorrow and loss. It is a pure gift that we sometimes sense so clearly: we are lavishly loved as God’s creation.” Leah Rampy

“And the Word became human and made his home among us.
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness, and we have seen his glory,
the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
…From his abundance we have all received
one gracious blessing after another for
…God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.”
John 1:14-17

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • The news of any day makes it difficult to “face …the worst our kind can do.” Has it also prompted you to face “the taint” in your own self?
  • Have you resisted the temptation “to look away from the violent and destructive …to flee, fight or freeze?”
  • It is in the context of our broken world and tainted selves that God “entrusts, as guest, as brother, the Word” … “the Unique One … near to the Father’s heart.” What feelings arise when you consider this?

Abba, may my response to the incarnation be an awe that cracks open my mind’s shell and enters my heart.

For More: The Collected Poems of Denise Levertov Paul A. Lacey and Anne Dewey (editors)

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Suffering of Jesus (Amphilochius of Iconium and Fulton Sheen)

Posted on by under Awareness, Being the Beloved, God's Grace, Jesus the Savior, The Love of God

“Yesterday, on the Cross, He darkened the sun’s light, and behold in full day it was as night; today death has lost its dominion, suffering itself a kind of death. Yesterday the earth mourned … and in sadness clothed itself in a garment of darkness. Today, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. … O new and unheard of happening! He is stretched out upon a Cross Who by His word stretched out the heavens. He is held fast in bonds Who has set the sand a bound for the sea. He is given gall to drink Who has given us wells of honey. He is crowned with thorns Who has crowned the earth with flowers. With a reed they struck His Head Who of old struck Egypt with ten plagues, and submerged the head of Pharaoh in the waves. That countenance was spat upon at which the Cherubim dare not gaze. Yet, while suffering these things He prayed for His tormentors, saying: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He overcame evil by goodness. Christ undertook the defense of those who put Him to death: eager to gather them into His net; annulling the charge, and pleading their ignorance. Made the sport of their drunken frenzy, He submitted without bitterness. He suffered their drunkenness, and in His love for mankind called them to repentance. What more could He do?” Amphilochius of Iconium

“I wonder maybe if our Lord doesn’t suffer more from our indifference, than he did from the crucifixion.” Fulton Sheen

“When they hurled their insults at him,
he did not retaliate;
when he suffered, he made no threats.
Instead, he entrusted himself
to him who judges justly.”
1 Peter 2:23

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • From the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Do you think those who killed Jesus fathomed the magnitude of their crime?
  • Imagine how often this is true of us as well – not only in our obvious sins, but in our “indifference.” Can you admit this about yourself?
  • Can you nevertheless believe that you are loved by God, just as you are? Sit with that and see what emotions arise.

Abba, thank you for your unfailing love – and for not revealing to me the full magnitude of my sin.

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For More: The Lives of the Saints by Bert Bhezzi

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”