Whaddya Know….

….. one’s past never really leaves one behind.  Seems some work I did with a few friends back in the day has found its own life here on the Inter-Tubes.    And even with a social networking presence, yet.  There you can find some of the very few extant pictures of yours truly with real hair.

This link belongs here on The Search for Integrity particularly because of an early working definition for integrity (developed by me for my own use) as follows:  Integrity is letting all the different parts of your life acknowledge one another.

A Tipping Point

This post was used as a basis for comments made at the September 8, 2007 “chew and chat” held in Nanjemoy, MD and sponsored by participants in the Delusional Duck, a local blog.  

….. is when what seemed impossible begins to seem inevitable.  Since some of us have many impossible goals, we need to be pushing toward tipping points in relation to each of them, one at a time.

  A very wise man once said, “If you have faith  even as small as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Be uprooted and be cast into the sea,’ and it will be done for you.” The tipping point is reached when faith is exercised.

I rather think  that for many of us, the real tipping point is the decision point.  

Equality

 

Jesus is the great equalizer.  Paul, the apostle, declared that all are equally sinners, that Gentiles have equal access to God through faith in Christ, that we share with him equally the inheritance as joint-heirs to God.  This spiritual equality translates into organic unity, where there is neither slave not free, Jew nor Gentile, male nor female.  From this unity flows political, economic and social equality, as in the Jerusalem commune in those first heady days of the church, or in Paul’s collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem, in which he appeals to equality as a worthy goal and a motivating force.  Jesus himself spoke of a Father who causes the sun to shine on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.  He made the neighbor and the enemy both one’s equals, and advised equal generosity both to those who can and to those who cannot or will not repay.  He did not separate life, as weso often do, into secular and sacred components.  To affirm spiritual equality and at the same time to uphold and recognize political, economic, and social inequality, fulfills the divine  prophecy that there will be those who “having the form of godliness deny the power thereof.”  This supposed form of equality turns out to be merely a fantasy, a word-game, and utter hypocrisy.  the power of the Kingdom will be seen when individuals live out its principles trhough the enabling of the Holy Spirit in their own personal lives, and through the same Spirit refuse to separate personal decisions from business decisions, or political ones. 

This paragraph  was written sometime in the mid-1980s. I haven’t backdated this post, though, because all these years later I still agree with what I said then.  

 

I like it here

My yard, in the spring:

Philosophickal Ruminations – Mystical Musings

Philosophickal Ruminations – Mystical Musings

Dragged from the archives just because….

Some observations, in the form of parables:

One: There is general agreement among the wise of many traditions that below the root or foundation of all that is, that which gives rise to the existence of all that is cannot be named as if it were among the elements of existence that have come into being. A shorthand way of saying this is that the name of God is unknowable, and any name used is at risk of becoming a blasphemy in short order. The Hebrews protected themselves from this danger by means of a prohibition (”thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain”) as well as the fact that both of those words, Lord and God, were descriptive titles and not meant to be names at all. The Pagans, or some of them, seem to assume a different tack: by naming or identifying a variety of gods and goddesses, they acknowledge that the Mystery that binds all into unity and gives rise to the diversity they celebrate, itself/himself/herself cannot be named.

Two: Everything in the Universe, and the Universe as a whole, is a manifestation or a revelation of the divine Reality that brings us into being and sustains us; each is in some sense a complete and definitive revelation and manifestation of the same, and wants nothing else; yet none can be said to be that Reality in fullness. That is to say, everything that can be said of God reveals some truth, yet at the same time falsifies that truth, if it is taken, shall we say, too seriously. 

Sympathy pains

I observe the world, watch and pray;
Sometimes that’s all I do all day.
A bombing here, a cancer there—
What can avail my feeble prayer?

With God, I, helpless, see the strife
Feeling the bleeding, the ebbing of life.
In faith believing, despite the pain
That healing Love will prevail again.

No anxious spouse by bedside waiiting
Can match the Love I’m contemplating
The tender care for planet earth
The New Creation’s place of birth.

When I arise from contemplation
I’ll seek the healing of my nation
For God so loved, and loves us still
With love that seeks to heal, not kill.

Yawn factor? Or sleepy weekend

Wow, traffic here has slowed down to zero.  I suppose the memething on what theological pigeonhole I come to roost in must have generated a backflow in the tubes.  This post is here just to see if we can unplug the blockage.

Or maybe all my friends took the Memorial Day holiday away from the computer, then went back to work and just got busy.  Whew. I will admit that I collected much of the family on Monday afternoon and went to the movies.

In other news, I figured out what category of movie the Pirates of the Caribbean series belongs to, and why I find them so enjoyable.  They are live-action comic books.

Aside: there is something eminently satisfying to see Johnny Depp playing  a swashbuckling antihero who can’t seem to get to first base with the women.  Now there is a consummate actor!

Orthodoxy test

I passed, I think.

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan, You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God’s grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 89% Emergent/Postmodern 75% Charismatic/Pentecostal 68% Classical Liberal 64% Modern Liberal 61% Neo orthodox 61% Reformed Evangelical 54% Roman Catholic 43% Fundamentalist 25% What’s your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

On the message board where I found this, several people who also scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan expressed some reservation or objection to the description that “you believe that you yourself are totally depraved.” I kept quiet about that but do understand the objection, based on the notion of the universality of what we Wesleyan types like to call “prevenient grace.” It’s probably a matter of definition:

Belief in belief

When I was a seminary student, long about 1985 or so, I met a colleague, a fellow-student, on the stairwell between classes. Like many first-year theology students, this fellow had been exposed most of his life to a fairly narrow set of doctrinal teachings, particularly about the Bible, and was a bit overwhelmed at the barrage of information that was coming his way. Various theories of inspiration, textual variants, critical-historical method, the history of theological argument, was all getting a bit overwhelming. The comment I overheard as he passed me on the stairwell was: “It’s getting so I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

At this time I was rather constantly bathing in what I call the nonstop mystical experience. In a flash of inspiration and insight, I reacted instantly. “Well, bless the Lord!” I exclaimed.

He looked at me in stunned surprise. “What?! How can you say that?”

“Now,” said I, “You have an opportunity to put your trust in the living God, and not in your beliefs.”

The Secret to Winning at Anything « Meditations on Meaning

Stumbling around the web, I ran across this tidbit, which I am shamelessly stealing from the linked site. It just strikes me that there are some worthy principles articulated therein.

The Secret to Winning at Anything « Meditations on Meaning
Begin Manifesto:

1. Big dreams don’t succeed without support from others.
2. That support is most often manifested as faith, advice, or money.
3. There are many ways to get support, but the easiest way is to ask.
4. When you ask, make sure – more than anything – that you open your eyes.
5. You want people who support you for the fire in your eyes.
6. Where you’re at now will change… but that fire will likely endure.
7. People who support where you’re at today may not be there tomorrow.
8. But people who support the fire likely will be there forever.
9. This is the secret of support. But it isn’t a one-way street.
10. If you take it… if you get it… you must give it using the same criteria.
11. Whether or not you believe in karma, it’s always better to act as if you do!

End Manifesto