Pop, where innovation is primarily sonic. Classical, where innovation is primarily musical. Jazz, where innovation is…innovative.
“Your faith has saved you” (Luke 7:50). I realized the other night that there is a sensical way of summarizing faith’s role in healings and miracles: It’s not always necessary (cf. Acts 12:12-16), and it’s not always sufficient (cf. life), but sometimes, it’s definitely the clincher.
He who hurries his footsteps errs, indeed. Spurty much? This reminds me a me. It is such a joy to exercise my spurty strength, but it is often a mess afterwards. I should not act like this, as funny as it is.
Ps 148 gives us a picture of how we might ‘rule’ and ‘serve’ simultaneously. In that Psalm, the psalmist summons all creation to give God praise—all angels, sun, moon, stars, sea monsters, fire, hail, mountains, wild animals, flying birds, kings, young and old. What if our rule in creation means that we ensure that creation can voice its praise to God? And how does hail praise God? By doing what hail does—crash down upon the earth. And how does the cheetah praise God? By chasing a Thompson’s Gazelle at 60+ mpg around a tight curve, keeping its tail steady, stretching out over 22 feet per stride. William Brown follows the environmental logic of this psalm:
Is there any doubt that God delights in watching the fastest land animal? That creation’s goodness is bound up with their plight?
I know that we all have our causes, and not all people are called to protect the cheetah. But some are, and it matters to God.
—Matt Lynch, “Genesis and Endangered Species”
Date: January 18, 2017 at 3:12:43 PM EST
colleague: FYI no issue with Gus Mady, he just wasn’t tilting his cab panel back enough to get the hinges on. =) he called a apologized a hundred times. He’s super nice.
me: Good. I’m glad you asked again.
colleague: me too. and thanks for you help too
me: You’re welcome. Glad he and I spoke. I probably wouldn’t have the chance to meet him at NTEA if I didn’t field his call.
colleague: divine appointment!
me: That makes me think: I’d like to treat all encounters as divine appointments—to treasure each human interaction as an opportunity to communicate with someone of unsurpassable worth, a bearer of the image of God
colleague: PREACH!
I decided the above exchange was worth spending some work time on. I haven’t known what to say when people assert that a lucky encounter is a divine one. But now I do.
It isn’t necessarily that we’ve said yes to too many things, although sometimes that’s true. It’s that no matter how I slice it, there are always things I’m not doing, rest I’m not taking, and people I’m not relating to.
me:
New version of the Gospel: Jesus has been crowned king of the cosmos via His execution and resurrection! We get to join him as His subjects and vassal regents! As such, we get to help Him in the (re)conquest of what is rightfully His. Start establishing your inheritance of His kingdom now! All you have to do to get started is repent!
friend:
Yes, I might just add the following: Jesus has been crowned king of the cosmos via His execution and resurrection! His Kingdom is founded on radical love for all and His commands are that we love others as He loves us. He calls us to join him as His subjects and vassal regents! As such, we get to help Him in the (re)conquest of what is rightfully His. Start establishing your inheritance of His kingdom now by turning from a life done your way and live His way—with radical love for Him and others!
Or something like that. For me it has to include something about his commands and his love. The Gospel to me is basically something like this:
- God is...
Here’s why accusing God when he doesn’t save a baby about to drown in a swimming pool is casuistry: “While we may sometimes be blameworthy for failing to use our bodies to prevent genuine evils, the God without a localized divine body is not culpable” (Thomas Jay Oord).
“Think thoughts that are as clear as possible, but no clearer; say things as simply as possible, but no simpler.”
— William Sloane Coffin, Jr.
Partially reformed perfectionist’s hack: Remind yourself it’s imperfect to be a perfectionist.
Whenever I go to the library with the kids, I feel like a failure as a parent. It has something to do with their choice of reading.
When I am deciding what to read next, I will consider listening to musical works and Science Mike podcast episodes as well.
The Cross was for us, not for God. What glorious condescension!
“[T]o say that God turns away from the wicked is like saying that the sun hides itself from the blind.”
– St. Anthony the Great, as quoted by Stephen Freeman in making the point that the talk in the Bible about God’s wrath is metaphorically referring to the natural consequences of separate from Him, not Him actually whooping us
You say you care about the poor?
Then tell me, what are their names?
— Gustavo Gutierrez, as tweeted by Jarrod McKenna
Do not marry unless you can without any doubt decide to commit the rest of your life to that person.
Thank you, Ethan, for requesting employee input ahead of annual reviews. Thank you, Éa, for being up for me walking the mile and a half to school today after you had a bellyache that kept you off the school bus. Thank you, Carla, for being someone to admire, you doula, preschool teacher, mom, councilwoman, and tumbler. Thank you, God, for making the problem of evil and the problem of unanswered prayer seem small today. Thank you, Bones, for delicious bread and fun times. Thank you, Frank Capra, for making It’s A Wonderful Life, which we plan to watch this Friday on Blu-ray. Thank you, Sony, for developing the Blu-ray format.
We are lonely and feel busy because we resent not being sufficient as islands and because doing something means we’re not doing a million other things.
You know, I just queued a recurring task for Sunday evenings: “Set this week’s read-and-reflect time.” But methinks it a better approach to remind myself that the apt time is almost always now for stopping at whim for people, God, rest, or recreation. Do what you want.
Hymns are the way to catechize the kids.
Next someone asks “How’ve you been?” and you’re about to reply “busy,” try saying “overcommitted” instead. It might serve as a humbling, epiphanic, change-enabling confession.
It’s a really good idea to swear off screens for Sundays, at least through bedtime.
Twitter is a way to surround yourself with the most interesting people in the world—to the detriment of your engagement with the people around you.
Stick to the plan, that’s all. Just stick to the plan.
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
— Maya Angelou