Sunday, November 25, 2012

"It Is What It Is..............."

Three of my grandsons, the oldest now twenty, went shopping around midnight Thursday evening, returning about four in the morning with fifteen dollar sweat-suits plus a few other bargains, and vowing to do it again next year. Continual texting back and forth with my daughter kept worry to a minimum. To each their own. There was never a discount, though, no matter how big, that could tempt my wife to go forth into such madness… I listened to my pastor this morning liken being baptized into Christ to its original meaning of cloth being immersed into dye until it took on the identity (color) of the liquid. It was a good message, but one, in my opinion, that failed to say it “as it is”. Thomas Merton once said that “To say ‘God is love’ is like saying ‘Eat Wheaties’. There is no difference except that people know they’re supposed to look pious when God is mentioned, but not when cereal is”. In other words: preach something long enough and believers will repeat it without any real understanding of what it means. In truth, there is never a point, at least on this side of heaven, where any of us ever permanently take on all that He is. What we do possess via a born-again experience is an actual connection with His reality and the possibility of becoming one with Him temporarily, in worship or in prayer. We can also know Him partially in an anointing, a place in ministry where He comes forth to speak through us, sing through us, or simply witness through us unto whomsoever. The union is temporal, however, and men remain men afterwards, in our individuality, in our humanity such as it is. Some of us even find it fun wrestling with others over a forty percent discount while the rest of the world is sleeping. Go figure……

8 comments:

  1. Once again, you made me chuckle. In fact, I'm glad I didn't have a mouthful of tea when I read the Wheaties quip! Sums it up quite nicely, I think...

    Mich

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    1. Got the quote out of a Kathleen Norris book I just finished on "Acedia", that last word summing up the book in spots and yet here and there through it, very interesting thoughts on Christianity and life in a monastary.....

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  2. And yes, yuck to the shopping. Never was a fan and though I'm...uh, frugal, I can definitely resist a bargain especially involving crowds. Ah youth...

    Mich

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    1. I think you say it all in your last two words here, Mich. It's not all "youth" out there, though....

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  3. I took pictures on Black Friday. Sometimes that is like communion to me...and oh, my humanity...

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    1. You have me wondering, Annie, whether you are referring to your humanity or that which was out on Black Friday. I'll be interested in the pictures...

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  4. I love Kathleen Norris' writings. She actually came here around the time that book came out to launch a different Christmas book in which she was one of the contributors. Hubby and I went and looked forward to meeting her but there were so many people clamouring to see her or to show her how .... wise they were during a question period that we both decided to cut her a break and left without meeting her. She spoke candidly and seemed quite down-to-earth.

    It was a lovely book though we didn't buy one. As you now know, I'm cheap. ;-) How is the Acedia book?

    I'm also intrigued by Annie's comment. Sometimes, I enjoy being in the middle of a crowd and just watching.

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    1. The Acedia book takes you with her through the ill health and death of her husband, her faith in the journey, and the source from which she gained her faith. It "slowed down" in some places for me, but much said within it that also fed me....

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