Everlasting God,
In whom we live and move and have our being:
You have made us for yourself,
So that our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
–Augustine of Hippo (Algeria/354-430)
Tag: God
Jedi Training, coming in 8 weeks.
No, Mr. T is not officially endorsing my program, (which is really a focused learning group) but if he knew about it, he might.
If you’re curious, and ready to be a Jedi, click the tab at the top that reads “Jedi Training – Info.”
Only 10 people will be chosen, at a time. We begin in January.
May the Schwartz be with you.
Cosmic Hope
(a personal reflection from Gospel Virtues by Jonathan R. Wilson)
Cosmic Hope: For all times, for all places, and all people, and nothing can take it away.
This idea “hope as story” is not sourced in a human story.
It creates the circumstances by which we may endure, and serve each other. (not a will to power)
It is found in community, personally, with Person, and eschatologically.
It is transcendent…
Strangely enough—It can be started through worship.
How might you define it?
Get God and Get Rich Quick
Wouldn’t it be cool if God was a genie, and if you rubbed him the right way you could get your wildest dreams to come true?
Or maybe he could be like the Lotto, and you could hit the Jackpot with him, and a windfall of goodies could come your way, with no trouble at all.
Or God could be like a butler with supernatural body toning and skin enhancing skills to diminish the signs of aging and flabbiness.
Ah, God, the big vending machine in the sky…
Except-God asks us to be familiar in relationship to him like a spouse. He calls us his “Beloved.” Hum… conundrum…
Is the Get God-Get Rich idea perhaps a bit immature? Near-sighted?
Anyway, God is a Being described as a Person, right?
A friend of mine, Jon Acuff, has a hilarious post called “Secretly Believing in the Prosperity Gospel.” You’ll laugh out loud if you read it. His book, “Stuff Christians Like” is a great commentary on Christian sub-culture that will have you laughing non stop! (Especially if you were ever a preacher’s kid!)
Our First Learning Group is finished.
Here are a few quotes from participants:
“All in all, one of the major things I gleaned from Brother Lawrence, was the similarity of my struggle to his battle, to get past punishing myself for my failures and losing my focus on God. It seems that when BL finally internalized the concept of God’s grace, he realized that as soon as he saw the disconnect in his life it was foolish to waste time beating himself over it (asceticism, which could take that quite literally, especially in BL’s day!). He learned to immediately return to the position that was already his because of God’s grace, continuing in the joy of His presence.”
“I’m glad Brother Lawrence seems like such a regular guy. He prays things like “God, I can’t do this unless you help me,” and when he messes up, “God, I *always* do that, and if you don’t help me I won’t ever do better!” That I can relate to!”
“I loved that Brother Lawrence was his own man – it was just him and God becuase everyone elses ideas confused him, so he just went straight to God. It was nothing in between – he would just get up – own the difficulty and carry on!!”
“For me, Brother Lawrence broke down some of my pre-assumed barriers by helping to break the secular and sacred divide that has happened in my life. I have often thought… okay, now it’s prayer time, then work time, then church time, then social time… etc. In reality, those separations don’t exist, and it’s immensely helpful to integrate our whole lives.”
Learning exchange invitation to YOU!
- Brother Lawrence-Practicing the Presence of God
For more on -Explaining “online Learning Groups”- click on the tab above called “Learning Groups-Updates”