My Latest Reads

The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society 

by Henri Nouwen

Chapter 1: Ministry in a Dislocated World

Mysticism and revolution are two aspects of the same attempt to bring about radical change. Mystics cannot prevent themselves from becoming social critics, since in self-reflection they will discover the roots of a sick society. Similarly, revolutionaries cannot avoid facing their own human condition, since in the midst of their struggle for a new world they will find that they are also fighting their own reactionary fears and false ambitions.

Jesus was a revolutionary who did not become an extremist, since he did offer an ideology, but himself. He was also a mystic, who did not use his intimate relationship with God to avoid the social evils of his time, but shocked his milieu to the point of being executed as a rebel.

Chapter 2: Ministry to a Hopeless Generation

…Christian leaders who are able to be critical contemplatives are revolutionaries in the most real sense. Because by testing all they see, hear, and touch for its evangelical authenticity, they are able to change the course of history and lead people away from panic-stricken convulsion to the creative action that will make a better world.

Contemplatives are not needy or greedy for human contact, but are guided by a vision of what they have seen beyond the trivial concerns of a possessive world. They do not bounce up and down with the fashions of the moment, because they are in contact with what is basic, central, and ultimate. They do not condone that anybody worship idols, and they constantly invite their fellow human beings to ask real, often painful and upsetting questions, to look behind the surface of charming behavior, and to take away all the obstacles that prevent us from getting to the heart of the matter.

Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes

by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien

When the "me generation" became Christians, we baptized this egocentrism. We now felt guilty for spending all our money on ourselves. So we gave it to the church. Mainly to our own local church. The church growth (megachurch) movement was led by baby boomers and populated with the "me generation." We built modern cathedrals with children's ministry spaces that Disney would covet. We still gave (and give) money to missions, but preferably for a trip that includes me. We sing the (beautiful) praise chorus, "It's all about you, Jesus." Who are we kidding? It's all about Jesus--as long as it's in a service I like, in a building I like, with people I like, with music I like, for a length of time I like. At some point in this generation, "Take up your cross and follow me" changed into, "Come to Jesus and he'll make your life better."

Just Do Something:  A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will 

by Kevin DeYoung

…God wants us to sit at His feet and read His Word so that we can live a life in the image of His Son. God doesn’t tell us the future for this simple, profound reason: We become what we behold. God wants us to behold Him in His glory so that we can be transformed into His likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18). If God figured out everything for us, we wouldn’t need to focus on Him and learn to delight in His glory. God says, “I’m not giving you a crystal ball. I’m giving you My Word. Meditate on it; see Me in it; and become like Me.”

Note: I’m not convinced of this “become what we behold” statement, but I like the thought of this paragraph. God does not tell us the future because He knows that it is better for us to focus on Him.

The Stoic Type

Well, I thought two weeks of illness and lack of internet were good excuses for not posting, but then my (admittedly clever) friend who is bursting at the seams pregnant and corralling a two-year-old wrote this wonderful blog post about William Wilberforce, unjustly forgotten hero of the seventeenth century. My new excuse for not posting is that I'm too busy coming up with better excuses for not posting. 

Me this past week (minus the snow)

Good Art is Honest

Lately when touring art museums  I have been inspired as much by the pre-twentieth  century artists' creativity as I have been by their creations. This will be a given for some of you, but in younger years, I did not so readily appreciate how these artists were pioneering styles and techniques. In an age before photographic reproduction and art supply stores, they were inventing entirely new ways to depict what they viewed. Our modern eyes unknowingly see the compilation of centuries of work in ads, movies, comics, and even technology. Perhaps Seurat was the grandfather of pixels and Warhol the step-uncle of anime. Next time you use your kids as an excuse to watch a Pixar film, think of Vermeer delicately mixing his own paints in the elusive Dutch light and Van Gogh forlornly cutting sunflowers for a still life after yet another country girl refused to give him her hand...or an ear.

Manet's Bar at the Folies Bergere

Klimt's The Kiss

Degas' The Four Dancers

Picasso's Child with a Dove

Quoteables X

Text from my sister who lives in Northwestern Texas: "Got an oil change and a car wash. Got back in my car and it was playing country music. Shakes head."

My youngest sister describing her friend: "She reminds me of you actually. When people are doing silly or stupid things...she doesn't engage. She just sort of watches with a bemused smile on her face."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, even though I am a lot younger than you, I haven't met anyone that I would consider being in a serious relationship with -- and I have MUCH lower standards than you!" ~ Anonymous

Me: "I'm not free on Friday. I have a movie date."
My friend K who charmingly but perplexingly persists in assuming that 92% of my male acquaintances ages 15-72 are secretly in love with me*: "OH!"
Me: "Don't get too excited. It's with a middle-aged man and his wife."
K: "Oh..."

*I know, I know, it's odd, right? But don't you wish she was YOUR friend too? 

Fall and Winter 2012

Hiking Ladyface overlooking Conejo Valley w/M

D prego at her shower

Me with the result of the previous

New Year's Eve!

Saying good-bye to S

Marveling at my close proximity  to the most accomplished animal noise mimic in California

The woman from Fill-where who disapproves of Hershey's and sports capricious curls?

“If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, 

or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, 

but ask me what I am living for, in detail; 

ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.” 

― Thomas Merton

I posted this quote last January and think it is timely to post again as we contemplate new hopes in the new year. Onslaught of questions imminently descending--

Would you discuss both of these questions with your friends? Your family? First date? Fifth date? Do you want to be identified by your passions? If not, what descriptors would you prefer? Does it bother you that Merton ends sentences with a preposition? Would you like to give him what for? Are you even still reading this gibberish? If so, are you thinking that watching the man whose voice is the equivalent of dark chocolate bust out an adorable self-parody would have been a better use of your time? For that one, I've got you covered. (Click the green print, Mom.)

Growth Gained

Around the turn of the year, it is customary to offer either year-end reflections or new year's hopes. Instead, I offer this summary of personal growth over the past two years, originally sent to a patient friend who still listens to my rabbiting rants. Admittedly, yours truly is a bombastic idealist with perfectionist tendencies, often neglecting to celebrate victories. Many days I am a fixer more than a learner or a lover and--surprise, surprise--am much too easily frustrated by hypocrisy, apathy, and indolence. This list is a testimony of God's faithfulness in spite of my perpetual distractions.

• More patient with people's failures (except for my parents--my progenitors should naturally have it all together, right?)
• Less exacting standards for myself and others
• More willing to let God change people and circumstances over time instead of immediately attempting to change them myself
• Deepened friendships
• More committed to self-care (exercise, rest, diet, Goodwill shopping therapy)
• Better boundaries in relationships
• Sharpened perception of how people unconsciously operate out of woundedness that only Christ can heal
• Clearer view of my own deficiencies and strengths
• Better able to identify with the betrayal felt by Christ not only during His time on earth but more importantly when I make Him huge promises and then quickly and callously ignore them (This is a big one!)
• Convinced that God is good even though it does not intellectually make sense
• More understanding of depression, despair, and grief
• Know that God is close during pain, even when you cannot feel Him
• Increased confidence in God's Word--observing that what I preached to my roommates, the nursing home residents, and strangers on airplanes held true through piercing disappointment and consistent exhaustion
• Mostly content in not knowing the future--releasing most plans
• Increased focus on simplicity of habit and possessions
• Less easily distracted by unimportant comments, items, pastimes, cultural norms and idiosyncrasies as I put my time and energy towards worthier pursuits (including rest!)

Source

Cautionary Ghost

xkcd