Tag Archives: Abraham Heschel

Daily Riches: Justice, Not Just Love (William Sloane Coffin, Abraham Heschel, and Augustine)

Posted on by under dissent and resistance, Loving Well, resistance, Social Justice

“Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.” Augustine

“It is also true that many pastors . . . find it easier to talk to their congregations of charity rather than of justice. Charity, after all, threatens not at all the status quo that may be profitable to a goodly number of their parishioners. Justice, on the other hand, leads directly to political controversy. So there is a real temptation to think that an issue is less spiritual for being more political, to believe that religion is above politics, that the sanctuary is too sacred a place for the grit and grime of political battle. But if you believe religion is above politics, you are, in actually, for the status quo–a very political position. And were God the god of the status quo, then the church would have no prophetic role . . . The cause of justice . . . is to challenge the status quo, to try to make what’s legal more moral, to speak truth to power, and to take personal or concerted action against evil, whether in personal or systemic form. . . .  Clearly the love that lies on the far side of justice demands a communal sense of responsibility for and a sense of complicity in the very evils we abhor. ” William Sloan Coffin

“The more deeply immersed I became in the thinking of the prophets, the more powerfully it became clear to me what the lives of the Prophets sought to convey: that morally speaking, there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings, that indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, that in a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” Abraham Heschel

“Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Psalm 82:3-4 NIV

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Is focusing on love a way for you to avoid doing justice?
  • Are you perhaps inadvertently siding with the status-quo?
  • Are you characterized by the kind of love spoken of above?

Abba, help me to take responsibility for my complicity, even in evils I abhor.

For More: The Heart Is A Little To The Left by William Sloane Coffin

Daily Riches: A Sense of the Mystery Beyond All Things (Einstein, Heschel, Maslow, Julian, Manley, Shakespeare)

Posted on by under Awareness, awe and wonder, Contemplation, God's Grace, Learning Your Proper Place, Mystery, Mysticism

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” Albert Einstein

“The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything.” Julian of Norwich

“The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” Gerard Manley

“If you could understand a single grain of wheat you would die of wonder.” Martin Luther

“The earth has music for those who listen.” William Shakespeare

“Awe is more than an emotion; it is a way of understanding, insight into a meaning greater than ourselves. The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe. Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme. Awe is a sense for transcendence, for the reference everywhere to mystery beyond all things. It enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal. What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe. ” Abraham Heschel

“This is the gift–to have the wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy.” Abraham Maslow

“The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.”
Psalm 65:8

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Does your pace or your focus tend to make you oblivious to “the grandeur of God” all around you?
  • Are you trying to develop a sense–an appreciation–for the transcendent in your world?
  • It’s by God’s grace that we have the “capacity to appreciate … the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy”–but it’s also a capacity we have to develop. What are you doing to learn to “behold” and to “listen” in new ways?

Abba, teach me to behold you in everything–and in everyone.

For More: Asked for Wonder by Abraham Heschel

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

Daily Riches: Parenting the Prodigal – God’s Perspective (Terrence Fretheim and Abraham Heschel) *

Posted on by under Being the Beloved, The Love of God

“The image here, obviously, is not that of some heavenly General Patton having difficulty tolerating acts of insubordination. Rather, it is the image of the long-suffering parent and, given the roles in child rearing in Israel, it is probably more the image of mother than father. God is pictured as one in great anguish over what the children have done, but her love is such that she cannot let go. Any parent with a prodigal child should know something of what God must feel.”

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and burning incense to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of compassion,
with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one
who eases the yoke on their jaws,
and I bent down to them and fed them.”
Hosea 9:10-13; 10:11; 13:4-6; cf. 2:14-15

“The striking note of Hosea is that, whereas the common human reaction in such a situation would be give up, God’s love is such that she cannot let go. The parental pathos is the heart of God!  …God’s Godness is revealed in the way in which, amid all the sorrow and anger, God’s salvific purposes remain unclouded and the steadfastness of divine love endures forever. [Abraham] Heschel once again grasps the essential point: ‘Over and above the immediate and contingent emotional reaction of the Lord we are informed of an eternal and basic disposition’ revealed at the beginning of the passage: ‘I loved him’ (11:1).” Terrence Fretheim

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Can you see yourself in Hosea’s description of Israel?
  • What emotions arise in you when you gaze at “God’s Godness” here?
  • Can you ask God to give you a love more like his? a determined love that doesn’t give up? one with salvific motives?

Abba, there is nothing in this world like your love for me. Thank you for your love.

__________

For More: The Suffering of God by Terrence Fretheim

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Parenting the Prodigal – God’s Perspective (Terrence Fretheim and Abraham Heschel)

Posted on by under Being the Beloved, The Love of God

“The image here, obviously, is not that of some heavenly General Patton having difficulty tolerating acts of insubordination. Rather, it is the image of the long-suffering parent and, given the roles in child rearing in Israel, it is probably more the image of mother than father. God is pictured as one in great anguish over what the children have done, but her love is such that she cannot let go. Any parent with a prodigal child should know something of what God must feel.”

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and burning incense to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of compassion,
with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one
who eases the yoke on their jaws,
and I bent down to them and fed them.”
Hosea 9:10-13; 10:11; 13:4-6; cf. 2:14-15

“The striking note of Hosea is that, wheras the common human reaction in such a situation would be give up, God’s love is such that she cannot let go. The parental pathos is the heart of God!  …God’s Godness is revealed in the way in which, amid all the sorrow and anger, God’s salvific purposes remain unclouded and the steadfastness of divine love endures forever. [Abraham] Heschel once again grasps the essential point: ‘Over and above the immediate and contingent emotional reaction of the Lord we are informed of an eternal and basic disposition’ revealed at the beginning of the passage: ‘I loved him’ (11:1).” Terrence Fretheim

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Can you see yourself in Hosea’s description of Israel?
  • What emotions arise in you when you gaze at “God’s Godness” here?
  • Does this study make you want to change anything in your life?

Abba, there is nothing in this world like your love for me. Thank you for your love.

__________

For More: The Suffering of God by Terrence Fretheim

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

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