It is argued (and I concur) that existence apart from God is really a false existence--it is not real, not recognized by God because he did not create or imagine any thing to have existence outside of relationship with himself ("In him all things have their being." Col. 1:17.)
The Shadow Self
Well…I was busted again today by the Holy Spirit. One of the great truths that has emerged through the contemplatives and mystics of the ages is that we humans often prop up a false or “shadow” self into our daily lives. This shadow-self loves to pretend it is the REAL us and loves to try and control the events of our lives along with the people we encounter.
An Order of "Salvific" Love
What Telos Are You Following?
In praying this morning's Song of Creation, I couldn't help but think of the curious claim made by Genesis. Whether you take the creation story literally or not does not quash the inferences of that narrative of beginnings. According to Genesis, God creates by speaking, "Let there be..." After which these four words follow: "and it was so."
When Two or Three Are Gathered
Jesus statement that when two or three are gathered in his name he is in their midst, seems to suggest that he is with us differently when we are together than how he is with us each as individuals. This would mean that there are things that happen when the church gathers that cannot happen when she doesn't.
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
I was thinking about the phrase from the Lord's Prayer: "Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil." In this prayer we are asking God to direct us away from future temptations that would cause us to stumble into the sins that "so easily beset us" (as we would hope any good navigation program to route us around trouble on the road ahead).
Resisting Performance in Prayer
A Politic of Hope
Forgive Us Our Trespasses
Praying for Kings
Praying without Guilt
One of the dangers of praying the Office two times a day is praying the Office two times a day in a rote kind of way. The opposite of "rote" is NOT stirring up some internal passion or by grasping a pressured focus that can produce spiritual hemorrhoids, but a pausing and waiting, refusing to do something just to do it.