tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22980286.post2669436536697342475..comments2024-03-28T10:26:20.408-04:00Comments on Ponderings on a Faith Journey: Stand Firm -- A Lectionary MeditationRobert Cornwallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581876323110725024noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22980286.post-18455192014804907702010-11-13T15:05:45.236-05:002010-11-13T15:05:45.236-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16496392728357471483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22980286.post-74609750267347580032010-11-13T14:57:58.481-05:002010-11-13T14:57:58.481-05:00"So don’t be too concerned about what you see..."So don’t be too concerned about what you see and hear – that’s just the way life is."<br /><br />I'm often impressed when reading these passages that they create and sustain apathy is some.<br /><br />Collectively we needn't be weak.<br /><br />"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings" (the fault dear Brutus lies not in our stars or our fate or destiny but in ourselves that we have become underlings or subordinates to Caesar)<br /><br />Are we not to love all in need?<br /><br />“He that is thy friend indeed,<br />He will help thee in thy need:<br />If thou sorrow, he will weep;<br />If thou wake, he cannot sleep:<br />Thus of every grief in heart<br />He with thee does bear a part.<br />These are certain signs to know<br />Faithful friend from flattering foe.”<br /><br />William ShakespeareDavidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16496392728357471483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22980286.post-56210359402944326982010-11-13T10:03:38.376-05:002010-11-13T10:03:38.376-05:00(reposted from [D]mergent)
Isaiah 65:17-25
What ...(reposted from [D]mergent)<br /><br />Isaiah 65:17-25<br /><br />What I hear in the Isaiah passage is more than God wanting us to be healthy, long-lived, and have a life of joy and abundance. God wants restoration. It is not enough to be released from exile, God wants us home. It is not enough to be released from bondage, God wants us to live free. It is not enough to be cured, God wants us to be healthy. When we wrong each other, God wants justice – and the justice of God is not about capture, conviction, incarceration or execution. God wants the person who has been harmed to be healed and made whole, and whatever was damaged or lost to be restored. God wants the person who committed the wrong to be healed of a hurtful and angry spirit, to be healed of maddening hurts and insane losses, to be rehabilitated to completeness and wholeness, to be restored to personal and communal humanity – to be released from the bondage of self and the exile of others and be restored to family and community and to a resurrected and transformed self.<br /><br />God wants restoration. It is an admission by God that God is aware of what we will have to endure living in this chaotic universe created and sustained by God. For us to exist, the universe has to be this way. Without chaos, we would not exist, life would not exist. Everything, from the vagaries of quantum mechanics to massive black holes to colliding galaxies has to be possible for life – all of it, from microbes to intelligent sentient life – to appear and thrive. For us to survive and thrive, God made sure we had two qualities – free will and discernment of the more. By giving us free will, God frees us from the mechanistic aspects of the cosmic chaos – we can chose our path. Free will also means that God expects to be surprised by us. By giving us the ability to discern more than the universe, God frees us from the limitations and inhibitions of the uncaring rule-bound patterns and sequences of the chaotic universe. We can transcend the ugly and the tragic, the ordinary and the expected. We can see and participate in the glory that is here and extends beyond the bounds of mortal and physical creation. We can be in relationship with whom created the universe.<br /><br />God is not interested in just creating us. God wants to restore us.<br /><br />Doug SloanColby Cheesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11980909115281293915noreply@blogger.com