Too Sick To Pray? Another One From Clive Staples
Twice in one week – and on the same subject! Unplanned, I can assure you. But who knows, maybe there is something to this Lent thing after all… From C.S. Lewis’ Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer:
Meantime, however, we want to know not how we should pray if we were perfect but how we should pray being as we now are. And if my idea of prayer as “unveiling” is accepted, we have already answered this. It is no use to ask God with factitious earnestness for A when our whole mind is in reality filled with the desire for…
C.S. Lewis – Footnote to All Prayers
He whom I bow to only knows to whom I bow
When I attempt the ineffable Name, muttering Thou,
And dream of Pheidian fancies and embrace in heart
Symbols (I know) which cannot be the thing Thou art.
Thus always, taken at their word, all prayers blaspheme
Worshipping with frail images a folk-lore dream,
And all men in their praying, self-deceived, address
The coinage of their own unquiet thoughts, unless
Thou in magnetic mercy to Thyself divert
Our arrows, aimed unskillfully, beyond desert;
And all men are idolators, crying unheard
To a deaf idol, if Thou take them at their word.
Take not, oh Lord, our literal sense. Lord, in Thy great,
Unbroken speech our limping metaphor translate.
Rescuing Jeffrey and Having Faith in Hope
A friend sent me this yesterday and I found it so rich and provocative that I asked his permission to share it (the opening disclaimer is his, not mine):
**WARNING: This email contains graphic depictions of ignorance, lack of intelligence and stupidity in the areas of theology, philosophy and psychology—not to mention English, if you count redundancies.
Dear All:
Last Friday in my FYS class we Skyped-in Jeffrey Galli as a guest speaker. It was a day I had been anticipating for over two years. Jeffrey’s answers to two of our questions resonated with me the most. I thought I’d share my thoughts…
“Through the Litter of Anyday”: A Friday Prayer from Frederick Buechner
From Frederick Buechner’s Alphabet of Grace.
What’s to be done? Do what you need most to do this day and what is most needed of you… Guide thou my feet. O Thou invisible, manifest thyself in this visible day.
Darkness moved upon the face of the something or other, and something like a voice said, ‘Let there be…Buechner. Let there be something like Buechner,’ and there was, there is, here in the bathroom with sleep in his eyes and the rain washing at the windowpanes as he pulls on his trousers one leg at a time.
Come unto me. Come unto me, you…
Robert Farrar Capon on Airline Supersavers, Lost Sheep and the Touchstone of Justification
Another batch of doozies from Dr. Capon’s Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus, a few of which may sound familiar:
“Forgive us our sins as we forgive every one who is indebted to us.” The Gospel truth is that forgiveness comes to us because God in Jesus died to and for our sins — because, in other words, the Shepherd himself became a lost sheep for our sake. And it is just that truth, I think, that Jesus underscores when he holds up the forgiveness of debts as the model for our imitation of his…
The Blind Faith of Early Rod Stewart
My father was once quoted as saying, “My entire career I’ve tried to convince people that they don’t have free will… So far I haven’t convinced a single one.” That’s sometimes how I feel about Rod Stewart. I’ve written about him before, but alas, I don’t think it sunk in. Would it help to mention that Paul Westerberg’s favorite album of all time is Never A Dull Moment?! It’s also in my personal top five, for what it’s worth.
Case in point: The song “Blind Prayer” from his very first solo record, the imaginatively titled “The Rod Stewart Album,” which also…
Who Are You Praying To?
Recently, the below prayer was said as an invocation at a NASCAR race:
Hearing this prayer, and seeing some of the reaction to it, got me thinking about prayer in general. Here’s my thought: for whose benefit do you think that Pastor Joe Nelms is praying? Or let’s ask the question this way: is this how he would pray in a room by himself? Certainly, he’s making a joke, and is no doubt well aware that his invocation won’t be taken seriously. Nonetheless, it’s a public prayer that got me thinking.
I have always been a little bit uncomfortable with public prayer.…
Announcing Russ Masterson’s 40 Days Without Food: Divine Goodness to a Starving Soul
Very excited to announce the release of 40 Days Without Food: Divine Goodness to a Starving Soul, the first (e-)book by Mbird friend and contributor Russ Masterson, published by last week by Tyndale. In 2004, Russ went on a fast, and he did it the old-fashioned way, forty days with no food. But this is thankfully no ‘celebration of discipline’ – far from it, 40 Days Without Food chronicles his experience with real humility and candor, and his conclusions may surprise you. Especially recommended for folks struggling with questions of purpose (and looking for some comfort). Russ has given us…
David Jones C-C-Confronts His Mortality, AKA When Bowie Prays God Listens
If the rumors are true, David Bowie lobbied for the role of grand elf Elrond in The Lord of The Rings. Let’s face it – as good as Hugo Weaving was, Bowie would have been amazing, and not just because he played more or less to type in Labyrinth. It’s more that the man appears to possess the elvish agelessness. Not that you would know these days – barring a hilarious cameo in Extras and an inspired one in The Prestige – the man has kept a remarkably low profile since the Reality tour (which ended prematurely, with the man…
“Cathedral” Part Three: What Happens When It’s Okay To Be You (Or “I’ll Stay Up With You, Bub”)
For Part One, click here.
Part Two, here.
Grace has entered, and the bitterness of Carver’s main character at his wife’s beloved guest is slowly deteriorating at the dinner table. The bitterness seems more and more pointed at his wife’s worship of Robert and less and less his impression of the blind man himself. Rather, he seems to be waiting for an invitation:
They talked of things that had happened to them—to them!—these past ten years. I waited in vain to hear my wife’s sweet lips: “And then my dear husband came into my life”—something like that. But I heard nothing of the…
Wendell Berry
I know that I have life
only insofar as I have love.
I have no love
except it come from Thee.
Help me, please, to carry
this candle against the wind.
- Wendell Berry
Franny and Zooey and the Son of God Who Throws Tables Around
Why did no one ever tell me that Franny and Zooey was all about Jesus? I feel duped. But at least I have a new favorite book… and an even deeper appreciation for The Royal Tenenbaums. Here are a few of the many memorable quotes on the subject of, you know, Our Lord in Salinger’s masterpiece:
“The part that stumps me, really stumps me, is that I can’t see why anybody — unless he was a child, or an angel, or a lucky simpleton like the pilgrim — would even want to say the prayer to a Jesus who was the…
Rebecca Todd: Well, I am sure both of you would win a debate so I'm not going there....
Jim McNeely: Rebecca, I agree, great comment! Yummy. Here are my thoughts.I thi...
Sam: Isn't the empty tomb proof? I remember a debate that involved Christo...
Zach: Wonderful jewel of honesty amidst the dregs of mealy pap spewed from l...
Rutger-Jan Heijmen: *Conan's...