Written on 2/25/2009 08:26:00 PM by Miles
In case you were unaware, Lent has officially started. Christians will, for the next 40 days, follow Jesus through his suffering and ultimately his death. We do this in order to truly have something to rejoice in this Easter. Lent gives us the opportunity to do some things that we're normally extremely horrible at: grieving and remembering.
Henri Nouwen has this to say about it, and I think it's worth sharing.
A Prayer for Lent, by Henri Nouwen
How often have I lived through these weeks without paying much attention to penance, fasting, and prayer? How often have I missed the spiritual fruits of the season without even being aware of it? But how can I ever really celebrate Easter without observing Lent? How can I rejoice fully in your Resurrection when I have avoided participating in your death? Yes, Lord, I have to die - with you, through you, and in you - and thus become ready to recognize you when you appear to me in your Resurrection. There is so much in me that needs to die: false attachments, greed and anger, impatience and stinginess...I see clearly now how little I have died with you, really gone your way and been faithful to it. O Lord, make this Lenten season different from the other ones. Let me find you again. Amen.
A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee; Image Books, 2002
Posted in
death,
Gut Check,
lent
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Written on 2/22/2009 07:29:00 AM by Miles
I've neglected this blog as of late....not that it really matters to the four of you who read. But, I wanted to briefly write something to get y'all up to speed on the randomness that is my life.
First off, I'm still married...pushing six years(in Sept.). I can't start any other way than that. April's awesome, and as an added bonus, she's extremely nice to me.
Secondly, we're buying a house. We close and get keys on 3/18, so that is creeping upon us very rapidly. We've done a TON of shopping for furniture and the like. Six years without any of that stuff kind of forces your hand. I've nearly had a heart attack every time we've gotten to the check-out line and seen the total price of our purchase. But, I'm not complaining...I'm thankful we're able to get into a house. It's just the moving part that I struggle with.
Thirdly, our jobs are still in existence, which is always good. April's doing well with hers, and I am still thankful for mine. But, as we all know, that could change in a heartbeat, in which I would type another update. :)
peace.
Posted in
life
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Written on 2/10/2009 08:41:00 PM by Miles
I saw this the other day, but I've just not had time to post it. I loved it, though!
Bill Gates & Malaria
"Malaria is spread by mosquitoes," Bill Gates said while opening a jar of mosquitoes at a conference this past week. "I brought some. Here. I'll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected." Now that's an ice breaker to start your conference! Gates waited a few minutes before assuring the audience the liberated bugs were malaria-free. He went on to say that "There is more money put into baldness drugs than into malaria. Now, baldness is a terrible thing and rich men are afflicted. That is why that priority has been set."
Way to go, Bill !! Sorry to say, however, that I'm not a PC guy and am blogging on my Macbook right now. :)
Posted in
bill gates,
malaria
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Written on 2/09/2009 09:13:00 PM by Miles
Parallel factors are destroying the church in our context. We have pressing needs and we don't know how they will be met. Where will I get my significance? What can I do to make myself feel that I count? Who cares about me and understands me? Where can I find intimacy? We are a well-fed prison camp. We have everything we need materially - housing, food, computers, cars, entertainment, travel - but inside we are isolated and empty.
Worship then becomes the way we try to deal with our emptiness and our isolation. The point about our worship is to make us feel better; the point about God is to make us feel good. So we abandon scripture reading, because that's boring . We abandon the gospel story, because that happened a long time ago and doesn't look very relevant. We can go through a whole worship service without hearing any reference to the fact that God created the world, delivered Israel, sent Jesus to live and die for us, and raised him from the dead. The Israelites forgot the gospel and gave up on God's written word because they were so concerned with their personal needs. The same thing has happened to us.
There is a tragic paradox here. We need to be brought outside ourselves by seeing our lives in the context of a bigger picture, a bigger story - the gospel story. But we are so overwhelmed by our emptiness, isolation, and insignificance that we don't pay attention to the bigger story. All we want to do is think about ourselves in need, so we turn God into someone whose focus is on meeting our needs. We make God a quick fix. But quick fixes don't work.
Posted in
authenticity,
church,
Gut Check
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Written on 1/19/2009 06:40:00 AM by Miles
I would think he would still have mixed feelings about where we've come as a nation.
On one hand, you have something happening tomorrow that most would have never thought would happen, and on the other you still see so much racial injustice in our society. But I do think that what he did was definitely not in vein, as sometimes you never see the result of the seed you've helped to plant. Here's to devoting(and giving) your life for something much bigger than yourself.
Posted in
Jr.,
Martin Luther King,
Miscellaneous
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Written on 1/01/2009 10:46:00 AM by Miles
"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares."
Henri Nouwen
...I want to be more like this type of friend in 2009.
Posted in
authenticity,
friendship,
Gut Check,
resolution
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Written on 12/29/2008 10:02:00 PM by Miles
So, I just came across this today and was quite intrigued. It's from May of this year, but it's completely new to me. Wright defends his opinion that the obscenely massive debt that Africa owes to Western countries and banks should be cancelled. Here are a few quotes from Wright to get you started. Read the entire thing HERE.
In the 1970s, for example, Western financial institutions loaned the best part of a billion dollars to Idi Amin of Uganda - a vicious psychopath and known to be such. By doing so, they not only saddled that impoverished country will a millstone of debt, but financed the dictator's reign of terror. These actions were both financially irresponsible and morally reprehensible. After Amin's fall, the debts were inflated by massive rates of compound interest (up to 20% p.a.!) resulting mainly from economic policies pursued by the developed world, not least as long-term results of the Bretton Woods agreement. At the same time, the bottom fell out of the market for Uganda's main exports.
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Here in North East England, Christian Aid received an unsolicited email from Dr Simon Challand, when he was working in southern Uganda with the Church Mission Society. He wrote that: "Debt relief means money stays in the country instead of pouring out to Europe and the US and there have been huge improvements in health and education...The Ministry of Health has just increased the grant to all the health centres by 85%... four years ago they got nothing. Many health centres are able to provide immunisation, growth monitoring, health education and antenatal care to remote rural areas...Everywhere you go you can see new classrooms going up to support the Universal Primary Education programme which gives every child 7 years of free schooling." [Uganda used its first tranche of debt relief to improve basic medical provision and to abolish fees for primary school.]
Posted in
Africa,
debt,
NT Wright
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