Lisa Colón DeLay

As promised, I’m sharing some of my current class on Evil (and the Justice of God) here at the blog.

The sound system, or lack of one, was poor in class, so I wanted to make this available to my class and the rest of you.

Tell me what you think.

I’m writing as “Sparky Pronto” (my alter ego) who has the wisdom of the Muses to spark your creative muse and give you encouragement.

A few thoughts…

• Ignore insinuations that creating isn’t part of your reason for being here.

• When you make good art consistently, eventually you will be rewarded.

• Only a few people will “get you” and what you’re doing, if any do at all. That is no reason to stop creating.

• If you feel alive when you create, it’s crazy to stop or let it lag. Don’t.

• Creativity is like water. Jumping into a creative flow will be messy. Know that going in.

(Did you know that I send Inspiration through the US Postal Service? It’s food for your Creative Muse like you’ve NEVER had before. Let me know if you’re interested. Limited spots.)

Let’s make today simpler: Perhaps it can be a more reflective, and contemplative section of your week. Together, let’s turn our full focus to the infinite and personal Supreme Being of great Love and Mercy.

I hope you are encouraged to carefully read and reflect on this Psalm for a few minutes. It is a song of praise and worship to God, Creator of all. Give your heart over to God, today. My brothers and sisters, our matchless God is worthy of our praise. 

(Any reflective thoughts you’d like to share are very welcome.) Be blessed today.

-Lisa

Psalm 148

 ¹ Praise the LORD.^[a]

Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.
² Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
³ Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.
⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.

⁵ Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for at his command they were created,
⁶ and he established them for ever and ever—
he issued a decree that will never pass away.

⁷ Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,
⁹ you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds,
¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,
¹² young men and women,
old men and children.

¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
¹⁴ And he has raised up for his people a horn,^[b]
the praise of all his faithful servants,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.

Praise the LORD.

What can neither give nor take?

Our ability to give hinges on our idea of how the world is, does it not? If we believe we must hold tightly to what we have, our ability to receive will also be hindered.

If we perceive others, God, or even life in general to be sparse in goodness and blessings, we will develop a generosity gap. Something besides giving fills that gap, so we give less. The desire to give wanes too. Eventually, we will live thoroughly according to our purview –which  is a close-fisted plexus of Generosity, and a closed system.

Fear and mistrust are the guiding elements in a close-fisted worldview. The close fist builds the muscles of fear and mistrust, and these sinews burgeon into every area of our life. Where God’s people do not give generously, there is a culture and predominating sentiment of mistrust and fear, toward God and others. This is, sadly, also an attribute of spiritual immaturity. Perfect love casts out fear. Perfected love and grace spurs generosity–a very reflection of God’s nature.

Our behavior reflects our Theology. (i.e. It mirrors the way we have studied and apprehended the Supreme Being)

The temptation to withhold is a temptation to not trust in God. It will indeed effect our worship of God, and diminish our spiritual growth.

Is there a cure? YES. (Well, cure is  rather strong word…but let’s continue…)

In short, to be generous in deed and in spirit, remember God’s faithfulness. Notice the lavish displays of God’s generosity, even in his astonishing creation. The intricate details of his many designs, the lavish beauty everywhere in nature, are surprisingly needless–unless we consider God as a generous Being, par excellence.

Verse for Reflection:
II Cor.10-15

Now [God] who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Questions:

Do you think God is stingy? Do you feel your blessing are few? What treasure do you have that you must give more freely to God (time, talents, funds, other)?

Recommended Spiritual Discipling (training) to help galvanize Generosity:

Fasting.

(If you’d like to work on your generosity, with your ministry or small group, or use fasting as training to promote generosity, contact me.)

Yellowstone Natl Park

This picutre stinks. Sure it’s beautiful, but if we only see the world through 2D images like this, we may not encounter awe or wonderment. We can know who we are better and our place in this world when we include a healthy and vibrant visual ingestion of the beauty around us, outdoors.

I’m putting you up to a challenge.

Don’t let this day go by without going outside…until you are amazed.

Notice the natural world. Take in the sights of the clouds, trees, the birds, the mountains, valleys, rivers, or plains around you. Soak it in until you are in awe. The glory of nature in a window into the transcendent. The intricacy, careful design, loveliness, and goodness of the created/natural world should astonish us.

When was the last time you made time to be astonished by God’s world?

Oh, and please don’t forget to tell us what amazed you!

Pa. 1942 Thanksgiving (creative commons)

Book of Common Prayer
A Litany of Thanksgiving
836    Thanksgivings

Let us give thanks to God our Father for all his gifts so
freely bestowed upon us.

For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and
sky and sea.
We thank you, Lord.

For all that is gracious in the lives of men and women,
revealing the image of Christ,
We thank you, Lord.

For our daily food and drink, our homes and families, and
our friends,
We thank you, Lord.

For minds to think, and hearts to love, and hands to serve,
We thank you, Lord.

For health and strength to work, and leisure to rest and play,
We thank you, Lord.

For the brave and courageous, who are patient in suffering
and faithful in adversity,
We thank you, Lord.

For all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice,
We thank you, Lord.

For the communion of saints, in all times and places,
We thank you, Lord.

Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and
promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord;
To him be praise and glory, with you, O Father, and the
Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

See also The General Thanksgiving on pages 58 and 101.
From the Book of Common Prayer online: here.

I live in Cressona, a dinky little town known for tractor trailers getting stuck under the 11′ 8″ train overpass.

Courtesy of Cressona Fire Dept No. 1 (click for more)

But, just a few roads away are some of the most spectacular landscapes you can imagine.

Each season has its own beauty, and spring and fall are the most colorful. Here are a few photos from my latest bike ride.

[slideshow]

This chapter comes to mind:

The ingenuity for taking this this photo is pretty unbelievable.

Three cameras, and a composite of the tallest tree photo ever.

300 feet. 1,500 year old California redwood.

Be amazed. As you scroll down, watch for the people stationed in the tree.

(Full article here)

Tell me what you think!

1. You find yourself thinking up illnesses that would suffice for excuses for staying home. Sometimes you even invent names like Snufflititus or Schnozatigo: The serious redness and inflammation of the area beneath the nose from too much tissue rubbing. Rx Coffee, remote control, rest, snacks, and tissues with lotion built-in.

2. You suddenly realize how cool, smart, and savvy the early Sunday morning tv shows are, and feel like you might be getting a raw deal but missing them.

3. You feel deeply offended that your church doesn’t care too much that the coffee offered tastes something like armpit, and you start to identify this characteristic with an inherent spiritual problem of your congregation. (perhaps the misusing of the gift of hospitality) 

4. You start to pick apart the pastor’s sermon with a graph, and two columns of hatch marks on your church bulletin, adding up the times he is substituting a self-aggrandizing story instead of using a true parable to teach a point.

5. You find getting tapped for nursery duty a welcomed relief, because you won’t really have to talk to anybody, watch a worship performance you won’t enjoy, or try to not yawn an ungodly amount of times as you try to get through a sermon the pastor must have downloaded from somewhere late Saturday night.

Okay, this was a purposefully whacky list. If you can relate to any of these internal excuses, signs, or avoidance qualities, in some sort of way, then maybe the experience of attending church has grown stale.

It’s normal to have spiritual slumps. It can’t be wise to think of walking with God as a continual emotional high, and when it’s not experienced as such, something is horribly wrong. Like any journey, there will be hills and valleys. Faithfulness demonstrated as a choice done continually, (rather than a feeling-based action) can really see us through times like this. God is always with us, whether we “feel” him or not.

However, I’ll make a different point. There is also a tendency to fall into a consumer mindset, and feel like church-going is like shopping, and picking out something you like. We probably all do it, to an extent. Have you ever walked out of the service on Sunday thinking, “That wasn’t really what I was hoping for,”? Yep. Unmet expectations are common. But, it doesn’t have to wreck the whole bit of it.

Church doesn’t have to delight us every time, and soothe us. Most times it won’t feed us, not in the deep ways we crave. Those times are often found in community that can plumb to greater depths, and do the harder work, but build the stronger bonds that make genuine growth possible. (Think small groups, or spiritual directors, spiritual mentors, and discipleship situations.)

Church isn’t just some way to get recharged for your week, and be poured into. But, have you noticed how easy it is to slip into that bare minimum, and consumerist outlook of it? I have. I’ve been guilty of it way too much.

It’s not about just an experience, nor is it just meant for worshiping God with others. We worship God all the time, whether we do it poorly and unawares, or we tune in and give him our whole selves. We are his creation, our lives lived are a form of worship, like it or not.

Church-going, and the whole of the spiritual walk, are about applying the gospel to our lives in every circumstance and situation, the whole way through. God’s grace and love came down. He draws us to him. He restores. It seems we co-opt and yield to his mighty, gracious work to changing us radically, to be more like him.

Sometimes it just comes down to sucking it up. Sometimes it means you have to change, not your local church.

Have you ever been burned out on church, like I have, at one time or another? What helped you?

Leave any kinds of comments you’d like.

Maybe my eyes view the world differently than many people. I’m artistic, passionate, visual, creative, curious, perpetually pondering, and spiritually-geared. But, that’s not the only reason. It’s been my journey, and more so recently, to radically shift the paradigm of my perception of reality to comprehend and appreciate that ultimate reality is Reality. That is, reality is really the Creator, the Supreme Being, (some call God, Yahweh, or Trinity, etc.)

Really, this means I count experiences as spiritual many might consider ordinary, and I end up have many extra-ordinary experiences as a result, by anybody’s standards. For me, and often others I share them with, they are not just poignant, but deeply engaging, and also powerful interactions with Spirit God, the Lover of my soul.

Today, I encountered a baby bird, and we reckoned each other, and I was able to hold him, and connect with him as God’s beautiful creature, and a precious blessing. He was not afraid, and fell asleep in my palm. The love I showered to him that was overflowing in me, he gave back, in his creaturely way. I give a few details of the encounter at my personal blog

It’s amazing what happens when we awaken to all that is spiritual. God is all around, and filling his world abundantly.

Thank you for visiting.

Feel free to leave your comments…