Meine Klein Welt

Faithfulness

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Christ Church Vienna

This morning’s collect began with the statement,

“Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray”

I think sometimes I regard prayer as a chore. Something that should be done…Something that God wants me to do. Like most chores, it becomes something that I can put off too easily. I rationalize the need to a preference. Sure my room could be cleaner, but I can make due with the clutter…and I don’t have the energy anyway.

What I miss out on by treating prayer in this manner is the bounty of blessing God desires to bestow on me. His blessings are greater than anything I can fathom, yet too often I toil away in prayerlessness attempting to do God’s work without God’s blessing. The absurdity of a life such lived is striking as I write it, yet remains too easily maintained.

God’s faithfulness is not dependent on mine. He is always more ready to hear…

Men in the Church

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I remember reading the book Wild at Heat by John Eldridge a few years back, and while I have quite a few problems with some of his conclusions I think the premise of his book is very good. Defining the male role in society and the church is a very good discussion to have.

I remember reading his assertion that men in general feel out of place or bored with the contemporary church in America. And in reference to my last post, I wonder how much of that has to do with the evangelical church putting so much emphasis on feelings and emotions. I don’t think I’m over-generalizing when I say that most men aren’t very much in touch with their feelings. Can it be that many evangelical churches have pushed men out of the church by preaching sermons that address mainly felt needs and emotional issues?

Any thoughts?

Trust

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St. Teresa of AvilaTrust in God
Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing alarm you.
While all things fade away
God is unchanging.
Be patient
And you will gain everything.
For with God in your heart
Nothing is lacking,
God meets your every need.

–St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Because He First…

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Today at church the Collect for the 12th Sunday after Trinity was read:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

This reminded me of that famous snapshot of the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel, the Creation of Adam, and an observation a friend of mine made. If you look closer you’ll see that God is fully outstretched, straining every muscle in reaching out to Adam. You can even see His angels pulling him back, like an anchor to keep Him from falling out of Heaven. Meanwhile Adam is reclining, his wrist limp. He could easilty traverse the distance between himself and God, but he is not willing to put forth the effort.

I found myself humbled and convicted as the Collect was read this morning. How unworthy am I to receive anything from God, yet how richly does He bless me?

He Started It!

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Blame GameI came across this story via Yahoo!News which smacks of the type of reactionary thinking I rarely come across outside a classroom filled with 12 year olds.

Hamshahri, a prominent Iranian newspaper, is sponsoring a contest for cartoons about the Holocaust in response to the recent publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.

The paper asks:

Does the West extend freedom of expression to the crimes committed by the United States and Israel, or an event such as the Holocaust? Or is its freedom only for insulting religious sanctities?” Hamshahri wrote, referring to the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.

This is a very childish response and, I think, unecessary. How many publications have satirized Judaism or Christianity in the past? I submit that via cartoon, editorial, or inflamatory statement, the free press has often satirized and/or denounced these religions. How often have these events spawned the kind of violent protests that we are seeing around the Muslim world right now?

Muslims are right to be offended by the cartoons, but there are more productive methods to voice their outrage. This Holocaust cartoon exercise will backfire on them. And even if it did provide the kind of response they are trying to provoke, it in no way justifies the needless vandalism and death that has taken place over the past few days.