Hello everyone -
It was good to see a few of you yesterday at Global Gallery.
By request, here are a few items I've mentioned to a few of you lately.
Brene' Brown's TED talks and profile:
http://www.ted.com/speakers/brene_brown.html
The You Made it Weird podcast interview of Rob Bell:
http://www.nerdist.com/2013/05/you-made-it-weird-152-rob-bell/
Yesterday a few of us discussed missing the conversation that used to happen more regularly through the blog and committed to putting more effort into that again. So if you've got thoughts on any of these things, or another conversation you'd like to start, let us know!
Christian Identity and the Hegemony of Mammon
2 years ago
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4 comments:
In a recent conversation with Jacqui and Eve, I shared that I have missed using this blog to post thought provoking ideas and share comments.
So I am commenting.
I listened to the interview with Rob Bell and Comedian Pete Holmes. I’m pretty sure these interviewers always believe…I’m going to make Rob squirm here, but it doesn’t happen.
One of the questions Pete asked was whether Rob believed the Virgin birth is truth or myth and Rob said “yes.”
It made me smile because interestingly and surprisingly that is the same answer I would give. Rob went onto say that there is a lot of power in that story when we hold it beyond myth or truth and let it change our lives.
A while ago I attended Rob’s presentation, “Drops Like Stars.” I listened to it again today. This time I really heard the message about life and suffering. If you’ve already seen it, I definitely recommend a second round.
He quoted the author Susan Howatch From Absolute Truths,
"But no matter how much the mess and distortion make you want to despair, you can’t abandon the work cause you’re chained to the bloody thing, it’s absolutely woven into your soul and you know you can never rest until you’ve brought truth out of all the distortion and beauty out of all the mess – but it’s agony, agony, agony – while simultaneously being the most wonderful and rewarding experience in the world – and that’s the creative process so few people understand. It involves an indestructible sort of infidelity, an insane sort of hope, an indescribable sort of… well, it’s love isn’t it? There’s no other word for it… and don’t throw Mozart at me… I know he claimed his creative process was no more than a form of automatic writing, but the truth was he sweated and slaved and died young giving birth to all that music. He poured himself out and suffered. That’s the way it is. That’s creation. You can’t create without waste and mess and sheer undiluted slog. You can’t create without pain. It’s all part of the process, it’s in the nature of things. So in the end every major disaster, every tiny error, every wrong turning, every fragment of discarded clay, all the blood, sweat, and tears – everything has meaning. I give it meaning. I reuse, reshape, recast all that goes wrong so that in the end nothing is wasted and nothing is without significance and nothing ceases to be precious to me."
When I read these words, I thought about them in terms of sculpture and life, but then I thought about them in the context of God…
No matter the mess and distortion and despair God cannot abandon his work in me. He is chained to this bloody thing! I am absolutely woven into God’s soul and God will never rest until He has brought truth out of all the distortion and beauty out of all the mess but it’s agony, agony, agony while simultaneously being the most wonderful and rewarding experience.
Well it’s love, isn’t it?
"reuse, reshape, recast all that goes wrong so that in the end nothing is wasted and nothing is without significance and nothing ceases to be precious to me."
I'm not sure if that is the frugality in me or what but I've long wanted to believe that every point in our lives is not in vain. And though I definitely don't believe every thing is a "sign" or that God causes most of the pains and destructions I do believe that all those moments can be "reworked" with God's guidance. We learn, we adjust our hearts and thinking through suffering.
Many times its like higher level math to me. I may grasp the lesson for couple seconds but it will take several lessons, examples and practice for me to actually get it or be able to use it. For instance, patience. I feel like I've learned patience in so many settings by now - there can't possibly be more meanings or ways to use it. However it seems like every few years I learning another sort of patience. And for me that learning is usually through mistakes, hurts or just regular life situations.
Nancy, thanks for bringing it back to God's perspective. I need to ponder on your last paragraph more. This really should be about what God's doing, not me. I wish I could grasp that. And grasp His depth of rigorous Love. When focused on that all things tend to align differently. Align it differently, God.
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