"'So snow comes after fire and even dragons have their ending!
I wish now only to be in my own arm-chair!'"
J R R Tolkien, The Hobbit
thoughts on traveling
Being among strangers, sometimes allows you to feel more at home than you can at home. You have no past among them, and there is are free to be more open, more transparent, with those who have no reason to judge you by anything other than who you are at the present moment. You are not trying to win back lost trusts, question and weigh every word of those who have betrayed your trust, Living, even is short spurts, where you feel free from the regrets and damage that you have caused to yourself and others in the past, memories or past grievences seem to fade. and the future rarely enters your thoughts, because the you will not be carruing t any added baggage because you are outside of normal chronological time. in a way knowing that if anything goes awry, you do not feel your future burdened by it. knowing that you will walk away, not having to carry the baggage with you as just another brick added to the load of the past, that must be made up for in whatever future is left, prevents them from even becoming a burden
to realize this timelessness living is our actual state at all times, how differently life is. We see through a glass dimly and dwell in this eternity through discipline and practice.
the results can be similar.
Living by Faith, Jesus did not say that the person who believes in Him, will have eternal life. What he said, rather was that the person who believes in him has eternal life. have eternal life now, this very moment. To live in Christ means you live outside chronological time, free from the sting of death, fear of the grave. you are following Christ who freed us from the chains of fear that death brought, and our own useless striving to beat back death, and the sin that results.
to live out the life-death-resurrection
totally dependent on Grace restores us now, and we are living in God's Kingdom now. We may be looking through a glass that doesn't provide us with every detail of what that means, but we are already living outside of chronological, earthly time.
I finally am getting a glimse for all the warnings about clinging to earthly things, and why there is such grave danger and stern warnings against storing up treasures here as one of the most overiding themes of the Gospel.
Seeing first hand in my life, how what seems the most innocent, harmless, attatchment, I am playing with the chains that Love gave everything to release me. It's a dangerous game, and it'a roots lie in the same Great Lie that caused the Fall, that by choosing God, we might be losing out on somehing better.
As His children, everything good and perfect thing is already ours. If we percieve any lack, it should drive us closer to Him.
I have fallen for the social justice, liberation gospel, and capitalism as original sin for the last time. I have begun to dread Advent, the season of the Great Redistibution, when the rich finally get what's coming to them. Advent is not about the vidication of the feminine, who, according to some sermons i have heard, that the incarnation accomplished through a poor, oppressed, unwedded slave girl, was just the beginning of God turning the social, political, on upside down. The women, working closely with God, brought Salvation to humankind.
And Advent stories of telling Zacharias to shut up, and Joseph to get over himself and be grateful that he even has a backseat in the whole plan, are not only gross misinterpretation, but a differnt gospel all together.
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.
When I pray this with Mary, it is all about what God is doing for us.
It might be wise to follow Mary and Magnify, give first place to God's mighty works, and prepare our hearts to receive whatever His hand offers.
I will leave it to God to decide who is proud, who is humble, who has faithfully loved and proclaimed Him, who is poor and who is poor, who is hungry, who is satisfies himself with things other than God.
What about the poor, the oppressed, those who suffer injustice?.
I think that if those who are Faithful to God do what has been commanded-to love God and love your neighbor, it will be done.
To see the incarnation as God finally coming to the aid of the poor and those who suffer at the hands of the unjust, well He sure took His time, and caused much needless suffering. And if this represents an about face, that God finally took over the job because we have been such utter failures at it, then things should be looking up real soon.
Maybe it's because i have been living in my head, weighing, measuring, acting in predictable ways, because it easier than answering questions. It's not that what you are doing is wrong, but
Jesus did not say that the person who believes in Him, will have eternal life. What he said, rather was that the person who believes in him has eternal life
Being in a place where you have no past, gives you a chance to practice how freeing it is to live in Grace. Repentance begun, forgiveness accepted, all things new. really believe that repenentance begun, and forgiveness accepted
It also was bizarre.
What strange sights and goings on. There is very little that can be called beyond the bounds of normal these days (at least out loud).
Last night I went to a small coffeehouse that featured several song writer/musicians. Four musicians in all; one male, a female duo, and a solo female. Of the four, only one didn't have facial hair. You don't want to know; trust me. I think that the GLBT organization is going to have to add a few more letters to their acronym.
And just to prove that this city may contain some time wrinkles, as well as wormholes, right here on ELCA headquarters home turf, there is a ELCA congregation that still celebrates a pretty traditional LBW liturgy. My daughter had to get to the M's in the Lutheran church yellow pages, but she found one, and is very happy there for now.
I will be catching the early train for home in a few hours. Sleep comes no easier here than at home. And I have run out of distractions. The dragon was entertaining, for awhile, but, as Bilbo says, they all have their ending.
But then again... you can never be sure about anything here.
When literary characters can commit mutiny, jump out of books they have resided in for generations, rewrite their whole story, and even tell you the new version is even less true than the original, you have left the solar system.
Good is wicked and wicked is good, and, with apologies to Kermit, it is now good to be green. No forget that. False start. It's impossible to tell Good from Evil. The green thing still stands.
And if you happen to fall somewhere in the middle, not pure evil, or pure good, (which includes everyone not in a wild costume), you are afflicted with some strange brain malfunction, that turns you into an imbecile. And if there is enough bells and whistles, good singin', and a happy ending (which they had to commit double mutiny to pull off), the whole confusing mess is so darn entertaining and well done, and even could garner a G rating, you just have you applaud. But then you also hope whatever twisted message they just shot into your brain, was so incomprehensible, that no serious damage was done/
Other than that, how did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln.
Yes, it's a helluva town.
*"I was awake in bed, and I fell wide asleep:'
The Notion Club Paper'