God's Part in Salvation

OK, so I finally found something in the "Promises to Keep" Men's Devotional that doesn't cause my stomach to turn.  Let's just say I haven't been all that impressed... lots of theology of glory.... yuck.

Have you ever heard the story of the man who was wonderfully saved and arose in a class meeting to testify to his new found joy? His heart was filled with Christ and his lips spoke of Him and of Him only, as his Redeemer and Lord. The class leader was a legalist and said when the other had finished, "Our brother has told us what the Lord did for him, but he has forgotten to tell us what he did in order to be saved. God does His part when we do ours. Brother, did you not do your part before God saved you?" The man was on his feet in a moment and exclaimed, "I surely did do my part. I ran away from God as fast as my sins could carry me. That was my part. And God chased me till He caught me. That was His part."

Yes, you and I have all done our part, and a dreadfully sad part it was. We did all the sinning and He must do all the saving.   -- Harry Ironside,  Full Assurance

Promises to Keep; March 12; p. 85    

A Dose of Wonder

So I actually grabbed the wrong book this morning but this Madeleine L'Engle quote will work fine.

When I need a dose of wonder I wait for a clear night and go look for the stars. In the city I see only a few, but only a few are needed. In the country the great river of the Milky Way streams across the sky, and I know that our planet is a small part of that river of stars, and my pain of separation is healed.

Dis-aster makes me think of dis-grace. Often the wonder of the stars is enough to return me to God's loving grace.

Glimpses of Grace; p.66 

The Demands of Truth

Whoa, it's been awhile.   Sorry about that, life's been really crazy busy.  No excuses.

Truth is frightening. Pontius Pilate knew that, and washed his hands of truth when he washed his hands of Jesus. Truth is demanding. it won't let us sit comfortably. It knocks out our cozy smugness and casual condemnation. It makes us move. It? It? For truth we can read Jesus. Jesus is truth. If we accept that Jesus is truth, we accept an enormous demand: Jesus is wholly god, and Jesus is wholly human. Dare we believe that? If we believe in Jesus we must. And immediately that takes truth out of the limited realm of literalism. -- Madeleine L'Engle

Glimpses of Grace: p. 51, March 5

Imprisoned Splendor

Look! Here I am, caught up in the fragment of chronology, in this bit of bone and flesh and water which makes up my mortal body, and yet I am also part of that which is not imprisoned in time or mortality. Partaker simultaneously of the finite and the infinite, I do not find the infinite by repudiating my finiteness, but by being fully in it, in this me who is more than I know. This me like all creation, lives in a glorious dance of communion with all the universe. In isolation we die; in interdependence we live. -- Madeleine L'Engle

Glimpses of Grace: February 11; p. 37

The dividing line between Good and Evil

 An amazing quote from Solzhenitsyn in The Mockingbird web site:

As the enlightened among us demythify the chronicler’s stated justification for the mob’s violence, Sister Lange demythifies the greatest and most dominant myth in all of the world and in all of history: the myth of her own entitlement. This is the beginning of wisdom. I am reminded of Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag ephiphany, in which he:
…lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.
If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

The Qualifications for God's Work

Slowly I have realized that I do not have to be qualified to do what I am asked to do, that I just have to go ahead and do it, even if I can't do it as well as I think it ought to be done. This is one of the most liberating lessons of my life.
Glimpses of Grace; p. 33; February 5

Spirituality Overview -- Following Jesus

When I speak about spirituality. I do not envisage something extraordinary -- a superior way of being a Christian that is open only to a religious elite or a more advanced stage in the spiritual life. I have in mind what is given to every faithful person. Christian spirituality is, quite simply,  following Jesus. It is the ordinary life of faith in which we receive Baptism, attend the Divine Service, participate in the Holy Supper, read the scriptures, pray for ourselves and others, resist temptation, and work with Jesus in our given location here on earth. By our practice of spirituality we are not raised to a higher plane above the normal, everyday, bodily life, but we receive the Holy Spirit from Christ so that we can live in God's presence each day of our lives as we deal with people and work, sin and abuse, inconvenience and heartbreak, trouble and tragedy. We are not called to become more spiritual by disengaging from our earthly life, but simply to rely on Jesus as we do what is given for us to do, experience what is given for us to experience, and enjoy what is given for us to enjoy.

Grace Upon Grace; p. 23