The song of the martyred savior...
Oh give me mercy for my dreams
'Cause every confrontation seems to tell me
What it really means
To be this lonely sailor
And when the sky begins to clear
The sun it melts away my fear
And I shed a silent weary tear
For those who mean to love me
A prayer of blessing for those who mean to love Him for who He was...
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.
May you revel in the fellowship of His sufferings and share in the glory of His vindication.
May you have mercy for the dreams you dream and grace in every confrontation you face, particularly those found in a violent storm of hate.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
And may you love
...as He loved you.
;)
MLK
“Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that cripple them, is a spiritually moribund religion in need of new blood.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.
Think
"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."-Rev. D. Martin Luther King
Love
'Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation'--GOD in His biography.
And in the end of the very end Israel did just that...she kept the covenant...in the One seed...and is truly 'God's special treasure'...and she is Jesus.
In the end these three remain...faith, hope, and love and the greatest of these is love. But what do we know of love? We will be shown. We will see? What we don't know we can discover in the relationship of Father, Lover, and Spirit...for God who is three is really One in love.
Disclaimer: Nothing I have written here is conclusive and final. Dogmatism (unfounded positiveness in matters of opinion; arrogant assertion of opinions as truths) is not the goal...exploring the 'playground of theological thought' is.
Friday, January 22, 2010 at 04:46AM '...all of my life I've been in hiding...wishing there was someone just like you' ~ Deliver Me by The David Crowder Band
'...I will worship, you LORD, only you Lord, and I will, bow down before you, only you LORD'~ Only You by The David Crowder Band...
'it's just you and me here now'
Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 03:07AM Perhaps I am a smuck, a helpless romantic, a bit too domesticated. The truth is I believe that a great many of the songs and movies of popular culture point to the desire to find a home in the heart where we are one with another or with a particular other. This rather new phenomena is not a product of the culture we live in or the time we live. This call, voice if you will, has been, is and will be for all time a connecting thread for all creation. It doesn't make a difference where you live, when you lived, or how you lived. You and I have longed for another to complete us, another to reflect our soul, our image, and in a certain way we have within us a craving to create a new creation with our own unique DNA. And when we connect to make this happen it is the climatic point for us. It is the epitome of existence. It isn't about procreation or even extending our influence from our offspring. It is so innate, this desire to connect, that it makes us human carved in the likeness of God.
In the beginning God created...in His likeness, in His image, He made them. Male and Female like God.
"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness;
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them."
'In His image' contains three elements; masculine, feminine, and creative. We, when we connect to one another, bear offspring, children, and generations, that in turn do the same. They spring forth from us. Just like God.
He was the first. And He wasn't really a He. He was a relationship. A man, a woman, and the voice. The creative power of life. This is how the trinity we speak of makes sense and connects to us made in the image of God.
Monday, January 18, 2010 at 03:51AM 'This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.'
'But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.'
Monday, January 4, 2010 at 04:19AM At long last it is finally here. The book I thought I would finish years ago is now complete. Well semi-complete. You see what you hold in your hands is a rough version of what might be and at the same time you hold what is--from one heart, a bit too pure, maybe a wee to honest. Raw. It hasn't been edited. It is a bit rough and edgy.
My friend Drew Nelson is a musician. He crafted an album that he held close to his vest. He only shared the original unmastered version with a few. It was his treasure. After some considerable time it was finally mastered and delivered. It was finished. Sort of. If he should sign a deal it will be tinkered with yet again.
But I treasure this first edition. There is so much heart in that initial risk. Truly blood, sweat, and tears went into that project--his and his wife Nicole's. It is really raw and wonderful. I commend 'Dusty Road to Beulah Land' to you highly.
It is a treasure because it is unstained and faulty. That's good and that's, well not so good, it depends on how you look at it. To me it is a delight.
I hope that is your experience as you read this book.
Monday, January 4, 2010 at 03:56AM Pathos is God's feelings, heart, desire, connection. 'Without pathos sovereignty becomes power without sovereignty pathos becomes tragedy'. Pathos is what the prophets instinctively knew of God. They expressed His deep longing, intricate connection to the human drama. Jesus took up the same when he spoke. He was the last in a long, patient line of prophets who declared God's emotions, feelings, heart, towards the human condition. God became in terms we can understand 'involved now'. And like Jack Dawson on the deck of the Titanic he commits to saving Rose even if it means plunging into the deep dark abyss, which of course, he did in the descension to earth. He followed the committment to the end at the cross. This is where the son of the vineyard is taken and killed by the tenants of the vineyard. Prophets came and went and Jesus was the last prophet, the last word, the last gasp of God. This is the way he understood Himself. He was speaking for His beloved. His heart was the heart of God in heaven here on earth. Jesus was looking for a way to get back home. The exit sign was posted over the cross.
He took that door.