I was recently chatting to someone in my family about various things, and in the course of the conversation they mentioned a singer from the 1950’s that they remembered their parents listening to. Now, I forget who the singer was, but when I said I hadn’t heard of them, I got the reply, “Oh well you wouldn’t, it was before your time!”
Continue reading “Before My Time”God Alone Suffices
Nada te turbe, Let nothing disturb you,
nada te espante Let nothing frighten you,
todo se pasa, All things pass away:
Dios no se muda, God never changes.
la paciencia todo lo alcanza, Patience obtains all things
quien a Dios tiene He who has God
nada le falta Finds he lacks nothing;
solo Dios basta. God alone suffices.
The Hebrew word for Love is Hesed.
The Greek word for Love Agape.
The Arabic word for Love is Habibi. Whoever has God lacks nothing.
A [possible] Prophetic Word
What follows is a guest post prophetic word by a trusted friend and spiritual guide. The first part sets the context of prophetic ministry in a biblical pattern; and the second part, with Scriptures, is the unfolding and possible Word of God for the Church.
The Context:
Since the prophetic ministry is one of ‘turning’ God’s people from their sins – including cultural sins – back to God and back to obedience to what God commands in the covenant, then I think prophecy necessarily includes an interpretation of the times, of the present horizon, relative to revealed gospel centred criteria of evaluation.
Continue reading “A [possible] Prophetic Word”One Step Enough for Me
I am reading John Henry Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua, which is to say, as intellectually stimulating as it is and as he is, this Anglican turned Catholic turned recently canonized Saint, is very demanding (thanks Tony)!!!
Anyway, I came across a poem he had read after following up on another thing, and came across a poem he wrote whilst sick and away from home. In the current Covid-19 pandemic that has swept the globe, we can easily feel overwhelmed and disorientated. But the language of the poem, though old fashioned does convey a truth about God’s providential care that we will do well to remember; namely that while we can never know the fullness of the How’s and the Why’s, we are nevertheless called to trust God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, if not for the first time, then for the umpteenth time and in deeper, personal ways, daily.
Notice the lines in the first stanza: Keep Thou my feet; I do not see, The distant scene; one step enough for me!
The Holy Trinity (pt2)….
…..in Propositions!
1. The Trinity is not an optional doctrine, it is essential. God’s unity is not behind God’s threeness, God’s unity is in God’s threeness. This is not speculative mathematics, it is a descriptive theology of revelation.
2. The Trinity is not an academic doctrine thought up by clever scholars, rather it grew out of the Christian experience of worship, i.e. it expressed the early church’s pattern of prayer tothe Father, through the Son, in the Spirit.
3. The driving force of the development of the doctrine of the Trinity was Christological and soteriological, i.e. it served to articulate the Christian experience of salvation in Christ. The first Christians already knew God; through Jesus they came to know God as Jesus’ Father and Jesus as God’s Son; while in the Spirit Jesus continued to be present to them, forming a family of prayer to the Father and building a community of witness to Christ.
The Holy Trinity (pt1)….
….in Tweets!
I. HOW TO AVOID TRINITARIAN HERESY
#1. Start by abolishing Trinity Sunday, that fateful day on which preachers think they have to explain the Trinity
#2. Teach children to make the sign of the cross when they say the words “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”
#3. When someone offers to tell you the practical implications of the doctrine, just smile and move along
#4. Have you come up with a really helpful analogy of the trinity? Well done! Now please don’t tell anyone about it, ever
#5. The doctrine is not a mystery. It is simple & precise. The reality it points to is the mystery
#6. Don’t try to get rid of the biblical words. Don’t try to stick to them exclusively either
#7. In this doctrine every word is used in a very limited way. Even the numbers 1 and 3 can’t be taken literally
#8. Don’t partake in meaningless debates about whether “oneness” or “threeness” is more important (see #7)
II. TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY, EAST AND WEST
#9. Don’t worry about whether you prefer Augustine or the Greeks. You don’t have to pick a favourite, it’s not Masterchef.
“Is there a God?” asks Stephen Hawking
Is there a God? asks world famous theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author, Stephen Hawking in his posthumously published book Brief Answers to the Big Questions. He begins answering it with these words:
“Science is increasingly answering questions that used to be the province of religion. Religion was an early attempt to answer the questions that we all ask, but nowadays, science provides better and more consistent answers, but people will always cling to religion because it gives them comfort, and they do not trust or understand science.”
Note Taking on Julian of Norwich pt6
This session covered aspects of Julian’s positive and pastoral theology.
“I saw Everlasting certainty powerfully sustained without any fear… at peace and rest… then my mind turned and I was disgusted with myself. I could go on in faith, hope and charity, but feel them so little.”
“God keeps us safe in sorrow and joy. . . and sin is not always the cause . . . but both came from one love.”
Note Taking on Julian of Norwich pt5
It was suggested that where Julian is positive about curiosity, Thomas Aquinas wasn’t (I think this thought does not ring true and needs a lot more work on it to justify it). If one can’t see the Summa as an exercise in curiosity from one of the greatest minds ever to exist in the universe, then I don’t know what to say!
Julian: “Fullness of joy is to see God in everything.”
Note Taking on Julian of Norwich pt4
Marjorie Kempe was a contemporary of Julian and visited her and wrote to her.
In one letter Marjorie laments at the end of a thought about sin: “Alas that I ever did sin. It is full merry in heaven.”
This is insightful because of the way this perspective compares with Julian.
Julian said there are Three Knowledges:
- To know God
- To know ourselves (that we are through Him in nature and grace).
- To know our sin and weakness
Gralefrit Theology 