WHO wants to inhabit a universe
where every riddle is already solved
where every mystery's made common-place
and the power of paradox slowly dissolves?
What will be left to reach out to,
or to wonder and ask ourselves 'why'
when the unanswered questions we
argue and fight for are neglected until they each die?
WHEN we each eat our fill from the apples that fall
from the tree of the knowledge of life which we shook -
and the wonder of ages and space and of love are all
made merely entries in some scholarly book -
WHEN the last lingering question is finally rendered
a point obselete and dated and moot
and we wholesale abandon the longing to know
and discover, which brings us up out of our youth -
THEN why measure time? For the moments which pass
will be nothing but space for the boredom to fill,
unlikely suggestions of godhood will surface; and
the madman's desire to rise up and kill
will be met in our ego...we haven't begun
to be all we will be when eternity's run
finally grinds to a halt and we all disembark
and we pat our own backs as we grope in the dark.
FOR a mystery solved is a victory won and
a lost childhood dream and
a bright morning sun
urging minds, fresh awake, to embrace a new day;
hold your ignorance close, drive it far, far away.
NEVER give up on knowing nor the wonder which keeps
what we don't know before us and fills up our sleep,
For the things we can see and the things just beyond
are both captured and lost as our race stumbles on.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
the Breastplate of St. Patrick
I rise today
with a mighty power, calling on the Trinity
with a belief in the threeness,
with a faith in the oneness
of the creator of creation
I rise today
with the power of Christ's birth and baptism,
with the power of his crucifixion and burial,
with the power of his resurrection and ascension,
with the power of his return for the final judgment.
I rise today
with the power of the love of the cherubim,
in obedience of angels,
in service of archangels,
in hope of the resurrection and reward,
in the prayers of the patriarchs,
in the foretelling of the prophets,
in the preaching of the apostles,
in the faith of the confessors,
in the innocence of the holy virgins,
in the deeds of righteous men.
I rise today
with the strength of the sky,
with the light of the sun,
with the splendor of the moon,
with the brilliance of fire,
with the blaze of lightning,
with the swiftness of wind,
with the depth of the ocean,
with the firmness of earth,
with the strength of rock.
I rise today
with the power of God to guide me,
with the strength of God to raise me,
with the wisdom of God to lead me,
with the vision of God to see for me,
with the ears of God to hear for me,
with the words of God to speak for me,
with the hand of God to protect me,
with the path of God before me,
with the shield of God to guard me,
with the friendship of God to keep me safe from
the contriving of demons, the temptations of sin,
the inclinations of my nature, and everyone who wishes me harm...
Christ protect me today...
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ below me, Christ above me,
Christ to the right of me, Christ to the left of me,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye which sees me,
Christ in every ear which hears me.
I rise today
with a might power, calling on the Trinity,
with a belief in the threeness,
with a faith in the oneness
of the creator of creation.
[This translation of Faeth fiada is taken from Philip Freeman's excellent biography of St. Patrick. It is a beautiful read; you would enjoy every minute of it.]
St. Patrick of Ireland, by Philip Freeman
with a mighty power, calling on the Trinity
with a belief in the threeness,
with a faith in the oneness
of the creator of creation
I rise today
with the power of Christ's birth and baptism,
with the power of his crucifixion and burial,
with the power of his resurrection and ascension,
with the power of his return for the final judgment.
I rise today
with the power of the love of the cherubim,
in obedience of angels,
in service of archangels,
in hope of the resurrection and reward,
in the prayers of the patriarchs,
in the foretelling of the prophets,
in the preaching of the apostles,
in the faith of the confessors,
in the innocence of the holy virgins,
in the deeds of righteous men.
I rise today
with the strength of the sky,
with the light of the sun,
with the splendor of the moon,
with the brilliance of fire,
with the blaze of lightning,
with the swiftness of wind,
with the depth of the ocean,
with the firmness of earth,
with the strength of rock.
I rise today
with the power of God to guide me,
with the strength of God to raise me,
with the wisdom of God to lead me,
with the vision of God to see for me,
with the ears of God to hear for me,
with the words of God to speak for me,
with the hand of God to protect me,
with the path of God before me,
with the shield of God to guard me,
with the friendship of God to keep me safe from
the contriving of demons, the temptations of sin,
the inclinations of my nature, and everyone who wishes me harm...
Christ protect me today...
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ below me, Christ above me,
Christ to the right of me, Christ to the left of me,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye which sees me,
Christ in every ear which hears me.
I rise today
with a might power, calling on the Trinity,
with a belief in the threeness,
with a faith in the oneness
of the creator of creation.
[This translation of Faeth fiada is taken from Philip Freeman's excellent biography of St. Patrick. It is a beautiful read; you would enjoy every minute of it.]
St. Patrick of Ireland, by Philip Freeman
Monday, February 25, 2008
The Greatest Faith Christ Saw
When Christ was approached by a Roman officer and asked for a miracle, the officer specifically said that he was "unworthy" or "not deserving." I would like you to try to imagine the way many modern evangelicals would respond to that statement. Frankly, they would attack such a pronouncement as being "negative" and "untrue", possibly a "lie from satan". Instead, the centurion would be told that he "should acknowledge his worth and the glory he was created for as a person of dignity..." etc. etc. etc. This is such a frequent picture lately that the idea of our great worth is regarded as an inviolate truth from On High.
Please notice however, that Christ did not tell the centurion to think better of himself, or stop thinking worthless thoughts, or to "love himself" or to "forgive himself" or whatever it might be. He said that this soldier had faith. Not just any faith, but greater faith than he'd found anywhere in Israel. You see, significance and worth doesn't come from fomenting feelings of power and majesty in people. All that creates is a diversion towards the self. Lots of people are making lots of waves by preaching a gospel of human potential and glory, but this is not how God has chosen to save us. In fact, this is a short-cut and a regression.
Watch: Adam and Eve sinned and fell from grace. That's why it's called The Fall. Christ came with all the majesty and glory of the Godhead as one of us - he brought the human race a glory and majesty and righteousness which had nothing to do with Adam. Our original created state was the highest pinnacle of creation, and it failed. Redemption is the hand of God reaching down from eternity and it cannot fail. When we focus on the glory we were originally created with we are looking backwards, not forwards. We are forgetting the fact that we are fallen and sinful and miserable. Redemption requires that we go through the temporary darkness of realizing our worthlessness (just like the centurion) and only when we do, can we leave it behind. It doesn't matter how we were once created; that potential was spoiled and lost in the garden of Eden. Christ offers us something new and something more, namely, the righteousness and the glory of God.
Redemption requires that our ego be defeated and abandoned, not refurbished and defended. Christ accepted the worthlessness of the centurion, and by accepting it, by naming it Faith, he raised that anonymous Roman to a higher level than all the others around him. Do you remember that right up to the night of Christ's death, his followers were still arguing about who was best? They had a very firm grasp on human glory. They knew how magnificent they'd been created to be. They knew they were made in God's image, children of Abraham, worthy and worthwhile, deserving and well-chosen. Christ's spirit never worked through their faith until all the greatness of their humanity had failed and left them as writhing, yellow cowards, hating their actions and acknowledging their weakness.
The church in our country is weak today because we are increasingly focusing on our strength and our worthiness. Christian leaders are so busy telling us not to feel bad about ourselves that we've forgotten how much we have to feel bad about. This is called repentance. It requires us to hate one thing in order to leave it behind and accept something else. That "something else" is Christ and he is looking for faith. He found it once in a pagan foreigner who compared himself not to Adam, but to Jesus Christ, and found himself worthless. Do you want great faith? Get your focus off yourself, get rid of the advice telling you to pump yourself up with inspirational back-pats, and memorize Philippians 3:7-16. At least read it. It would do all of us a world of good.
Please notice however, that Christ did not tell the centurion to think better of himself, or stop thinking worthless thoughts, or to "love himself" or to "forgive himself" or whatever it might be. He said that this soldier had faith. Not just any faith, but greater faith than he'd found anywhere in Israel. You see, significance and worth doesn't come from fomenting feelings of power and majesty in people. All that creates is a diversion towards the self. Lots of people are making lots of waves by preaching a gospel of human potential and glory, but this is not how God has chosen to save us. In fact, this is a short-cut and a regression.
Watch: Adam and Eve sinned and fell from grace. That's why it's called The Fall. Christ came with all the majesty and glory of the Godhead as one of us - he brought the human race a glory and majesty and righteousness which had nothing to do with Adam. Our original created state was the highest pinnacle of creation, and it failed. Redemption is the hand of God reaching down from eternity and it cannot fail. When we focus on the glory we were originally created with we are looking backwards, not forwards. We are forgetting the fact that we are fallen and sinful and miserable. Redemption requires that we go through the temporary darkness of realizing our worthlessness (just like the centurion) and only when we do, can we leave it behind. It doesn't matter how we were once created; that potential was spoiled and lost in the garden of Eden. Christ offers us something new and something more, namely, the righteousness and the glory of God.
Redemption requires that our ego be defeated and abandoned, not refurbished and defended. Christ accepted the worthlessness of the centurion, and by accepting it, by naming it Faith, he raised that anonymous Roman to a higher level than all the others around him. Do you remember that right up to the night of Christ's death, his followers were still arguing about who was best? They had a very firm grasp on human glory. They knew how magnificent they'd been created to be. They knew they were made in God's image, children of Abraham, worthy and worthwhile, deserving and well-chosen. Christ's spirit never worked through their faith until all the greatness of their humanity had failed and left them as writhing, yellow cowards, hating their actions and acknowledging their weakness.
The church in our country is weak today because we are increasingly focusing on our strength and our worthiness. Christian leaders are so busy telling us not to feel bad about ourselves that we've forgotten how much we have to feel bad about. This is called repentance. It requires us to hate one thing in order to leave it behind and accept something else. That "something else" is Christ and he is looking for faith. He found it once in a pagan foreigner who compared himself not to Adam, but to Jesus Christ, and found himself worthless. Do you want great faith? Get your focus off yourself, get rid of the advice telling you to pump yourself up with inspirational back-pats, and memorize Philippians 3:7-16. At least read it. It would do all of us a world of good.
Friday, February 22, 2008
What's on Your Bookshelf?
"People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are. Life may sometimes legitimately appear as a book of science. Life may sometimes appear, and with a much greater legitimacy, as a book of metaphysics. But life is always a novel. Our existence may cease to be a song; it may cease even to be a beautiful lament. Our existence may not be an intelligible justice, or even a recognizable wrong. But our existence is still a story. In the fiery alphabet of every sunset is written, 'to be continued...'"
- GK Chesterton, Heretics
“...while most of us realize how dangerous it is to expose ourselves to immoral content, we often fail to realize that the form of popular culture affects us just as much – not only what is said but also how it is said… The best way to grasp this is by a comparison to high culture. A sonnet or a symphony has a complex structure that takes some effort to understand. It challenges us; we have to work to appreciate it. That’s why we study Shakespeare in English classes and Mozart in music-appreciation courses. But who takes courses to understand Madonna? Who needs to? Who takes Soap Opera 101? Who needs Cliff’s Notes to understand a Harlequin romance?”
- Chuck Colson, How Now Shall We Live?
Let us remember that our brains are capable of far more than we demand from them; our minds will stretch as far as we ask them to. We will never see or reach or rise above our highest effort, and we live in an age which is viscerally opposed to effort in any exercise which does not involve money or physical fitness, and that is because we have to earn money so as not to starve to death, and we tend to be too obsessed with our looks. Every other part of our lives is a constant, uncomprehending race away from effort, discomfort, or inconvenience. We either expect things to be made automatic by technology, or avoidable by some hireling. But while we admit that the discipline to excel at our jobs in unavoidable, and physical fitness cannot be proxied, we frequently have no such understanding or concern about our spirits, in spite of the fact that scripture assumes everywhere that we will pour out our lives as a 'living sacrifice'. Small investment always yields small benefits, especially within the threshold of eternity.
- GK Chesterton, Heretics
“...while most of us realize how dangerous it is to expose ourselves to immoral content, we often fail to realize that the form of popular culture affects us just as much – not only what is said but also how it is said… The best way to grasp this is by a comparison to high culture. A sonnet or a symphony has a complex structure that takes some effort to understand. It challenges us; we have to work to appreciate it. That’s why we study Shakespeare in English classes and Mozart in music-appreciation courses. But who takes courses to understand Madonna? Who needs to? Who takes Soap Opera 101? Who needs Cliff’s Notes to understand a Harlequin romance?”
- Chuck Colson, How Now Shall We Live?
Let us remember that our brains are capable of far more than we demand from them; our minds will stretch as far as we ask them to. We will never see or reach or rise above our highest effort, and we live in an age which is viscerally opposed to effort in any exercise which does not involve money or physical fitness, and that is because we have to earn money so as not to starve to death, and we tend to be too obsessed with our looks. Every other part of our lives is a constant, uncomprehending race away from effort, discomfort, or inconvenience. We either expect things to be made automatic by technology, or avoidable by some hireling. But while we admit that the discipline to excel at our jobs in unavoidable, and physical fitness cannot be proxied, we frequently have no such understanding or concern about our spirits, in spite of the fact that scripture assumes everywhere that we will pour out our lives as a 'living sacrifice'. Small investment always yields small benefits, especially within the threshold of eternity.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Blind by Choice...
[Albert Speer directed the production of arms and ammunition for the Third Reich during the last days of world war two. When the war was over and he stood accused with other prisoners of war at the famous Nuremburg trial, he had months during which to contemplate the role he played during those critical years. This excerpt comes from his book, Inside The Third Reich.]
"[B]eing in a position to know and nevertheless shunning knowledge creates direct responsibilty for the consequences - from the very start... One day, some time in the summer of 1944, my friend Karl Hanke, the Gauleiter of Lower Silesia, came to see me. In earlier years he had told me a great deal about the Polish and French campaigns, had spoken of the dead and wounded, the pain and agonies, and in talking about these things had shown himself a man of sympathy and directness. This time, sitting in the green leather easy chair in my office, he seemed confused and spoke falteringly, with many breaks. He advised me never to accept an invitation to inspect a concentration camp in Upper Silesia. Never, under any circumstances. He had seen something there which he was not permitted to describe and moreover could not describe...
"I did not investigate, for I did not want to know what was happening there. Hanke must have been speaking of Auschwitz. During those seconds, while Hanke was warning me, the whole responsibility had become a reality... Those seconds were uppermost in my mind when I stated to the international court at the Nuremburg trial that as an important member of the leadership of the Reich, I had to share the total responsibility for all that had happened. For from that moment on, I was inescapably contaminated morally; from fear of discovering something which might have made me turn from my course, I had closed my eyes."
[Is it not the greatest condemnation of humanity that we love darkness rather than light, because our deeds are evil? May God have mercy on us all.]
"[B]eing in a position to know and nevertheless shunning knowledge creates direct responsibilty for the consequences - from the very start... One day, some time in the summer of 1944, my friend Karl Hanke, the Gauleiter of Lower Silesia, came to see me. In earlier years he had told me a great deal about the Polish and French campaigns, had spoken of the dead and wounded, the pain and agonies, and in talking about these things had shown himself a man of sympathy and directness. This time, sitting in the green leather easy chair in my office, he seemed confused and spoke falteringly, with many breaks. He advised me never to accept an invitation to inspect a concentration camp in Upper Silesia. Never, under any circumstances. He had seen something there which he was not permitted to describe and moreover could not describe...
"I did not investigate, for I did not want to know what was happening there. Hanke must have been speaking of Auschwitz. During those seconds, while Hanke was warning me, the whole responsibility had become a reality... Those seconds were uppermost in my mind when I stated to the international court at the Nuremburg trial that as an important member of the leadership of the Reich, I had to share the total responsibility for all that had happened. For from that moment on, I was inescapably contaminated morally; from fear of discovering something which might have made me turn from my course, I had closed my eyes."
[Is it not the greatest condemnation of humanity that we love darkness rather than light, because our deeds are evil? May God have mercy on us all.]
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A Prophecy by Soren Kierkegaard - with commentary
[In the following entry, my commentary is italicized while the words of Kierkegaard appear in regular font.]
Suppose someone invented an instrument, a convenient little talking tube which, say, could be heard over the whole land... I wonder if the police would not forbid it, fearing that the whole country would become mentally deranged if it were used.
[Kill your television now before you and your whole family become pod-people!]
On the whole the evil in the daily press consists in its being calculated to make, if possible, the passing moment a thousand or ten thousand times more inflated and important than it really is. But all moral elevation consists first and foremost in being weaned from the momentary.
[Wake up and smell the fact that this present moment only matters in light of eternity.]
If Christianity is really to be proclaimed, it will become apparent that it is the daily press which will, if possible, make it impossible. There has never been a power more diametrically opposed to Christianity as the daily press. Day in and day out the daily press does nothing but delude men with the supreme axiom of this lie, that numbers are decisive. Christianity, on the other hand, is based on the thought that the truth lies in the single individual.
[Television makes us slaves to popular fashion! You will not be free unless you stop caring about the things they want you to care about, like American Idol and superbowl ads, and simply cherish what Christ plants within your soul!]
If someone adopts the opinion of the public today and tomorrow is hissed and booed, he is hissed and booed by the public. A nation, an assembly, a human being can change in such a way that they are seen to be no longer the same; but the public can become the very opposite and is still the same, the public.
[God can change an individual, or even ten thousand individuals, but nobody can transform a mob or a crowd.]
It is very doubtful, then, that the age will be saved through the notion of social organization, of association. In our age the principle of association (which may at best have validity with respect only to material interests) is an evasion, a dissipation, an illusion, whose dialectic is that as it strengthens the individuals, so it weakens them. It strengthens by numbers, by solidarity, but from the ethical point of view this is a weakening. Not until the single individual has established an ethical stance in spite of the whole world, not until then can there be any question of genuinely uniting. Otherwise it gets to be a union of people who separately are weak; a union as unbeautiful and depraved as a child marriage.
[The only way to make a group of people strong and effective is if it is made up of individuals who have stong ethics, good morals, and God's values; and they must have embraced these on their own.]
Suppose someone invented an instrument, a convenient little talking tube which, say, could be heard over the whole land... I wonder if the police would not forbid it, fearing that the whole country would become mentally deranged if it were used.
[Kill your television now before you and your whole family become pod-people!]
On the whole the evil in the daily press consists in its being calculated to make, if possible, the passing moment a thousand or ten thousand times more inflated and important than it really is. But all moral elevation consists first and foremost in being weaned from the momentary.
[Wake up and smell the fact that this present moment only matters in light of eternity.]
If Christianity is really to be proclaimed, it will become apparent that it is the daily press which will, if possible, make it impossible. There has never been a power more diametrically opposed to Christianity as the daily press. Day in and day out the daily press does nothing but delude men with the supreme axiom of this lie, that numbers are decisive. Christianity, on the other hand, is based on the thought that the truth lies in the single individual.
[Television makes us slaves to popular fashion! You will not be free unless you stop caring about the things they want you to care about, like American Idol and superbowl ads, and simply cherish what Christ plants within your soul!]
If someone adopts the opinion of the public today and tomorrow is hissed and booed, he is hissed and booed by the public. A nation, an assembly, a human being can change in such a way that they are seen to be no longer the same; but the public can become the very opposite and is still the same, the public.
[God can change an individual, or even ten thousand individuals, but nobody can transform a mob or a crowd.]
It is very doubtful, then, that the age will be saved through the notion of social organization, of association. In our age the principle of association (which may at best have validity with respect only to material interests) is an evasion, a dissipation, an illusion, whose dialectic is that as it strengthens the individuals, so it weakens them. It strengthens by numbers, by solidarity, but from the ethical point of view this is a weakening. Not until the single individual has established an ethical stance in spite of the whole world, not until then can there be any question of genuinely uniting. Otherwise it gets to be a union of people who separately are weak; a union as unbeautiful and depraved as a child marriage.
[The only way to make a group of people strong and effective is if it is made up of individuals who have stong ethics, good morals, and God's values; and they must have embraced these on their own.]
Monday, February 18, 2008
a tribute to Psalm 32
All the sin I try to hide,
All the secrets locked inside
Make me too ashamed to try to seek Your face
But You're everywhere I've been
Stronger than my sin
Let me open up my life before Your grace
Show my heart the way to go
Let my faithless spirit know
That Your mercy gives me strength to face the day
Your unfailing love
Surrounds me with sounds of
My deliverance & this is why I pray
Take the past away from me
Nail it to the cross of Christ and let it be
Thrown with all my guilt into the deepest sea
Set me free to live tomorrow in Your Name
All the secrets locked inside
Make me too ashamed to try to seek Your face
But You're everywhere I've been
Stronger than my sin
Let me open up my life before Your grace
Show my heart the way to go
Let my faithless spirit know
That Your mercy gives me strength to face the day
Your unfailing love
Surrounds me with sounds of
My deliverance & this is why I pray
Take the past away from me
Nail it to the cross of Christ and let it be
Thrown with all my guilt into the deepest sea
Set me free to live tomorrow in Your Name
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