They said to each other,"Did not
our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" (Luke 24:32)

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Medieval Bestiary

My good friend Joel turned me on to the bestiary from this blog post about the beaver.
To me, there just is something honest, and interesting to me that I can not put my finger on coming from these medieval monks speaking of all manner of animals they never seen in their lives, and did not know about. Perhaps it is the reality that God's creation does point to a greater reality, and that the truth can often be stranger than fiction, I love watching my oldest son's interest grow in dinosaurs.

Below is an example from this resource.

Ants are said to have these characteristics: they walk in order like soldiers; they carry grains in their mouths, and an ant with no grain will not try to take the grain from one which has it; they break each grain in half to keep it from germinating when it rains, because if it does the ants will starve in the winter; when it is time to harvest the grain, they go into the fields and climb up to the grain, where they distinguish wheat from barley by its smell and reject the barley because it is food for cattle.

Some Physiologus versions and other texts tell of the gold-digging ants of Ethiopia, which are the size of dogs. These ants dig up gold from sand with their feet and guard it, chasing down and killing any who try to steal it. It is said that people safely steal the ant's gold by separating mares from their foals, with a river between them. The mares, carrying packs, are driven to the side of the river inhabited by the ants; the ants, seeing the packs as a good place to hide their gold, fill them with the golden sand. When the mares swim back to their foals on the other side of the river, the ants cannot follow.

Herodotus tells a similar story, but places the gold-digging ants in India (see below).


Allegory/Moral

The ants working together for the common good is to be taken as a lesson to men, who should work in unity.

The splitting of the grain represents the separation that must be made in the interpretation of the Bible, distinguishing the literal from the spiritual meaning, "lest the law interpreted literally should kill you". Some sources compare the ants to the Jews, who have taken the law literally and have "died of hunger".

The barley the ants reject signifies the heresy that Christians are to cast away.

Get to Know the Lollards

The name of Wycliffe's boys, depicted in the current title of the blog. What were they about? The voice of God to be heard in the language men of the land knew, (English Bible/old school reformission) , itinerant preacher's who took a vow of poverty and wandered the land proclaiming the reign of God (transcending the will of ecclesiastic and secular powers).

Here is wiki's article on lollardy.

EAT THIS BOOK

The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification
Rev. Walter Marshall

"You are more sinful than you can imagine! The doctrine of Original Sin is true! You cannot reform your flesh! You cannot become a better person by your own strength no matter how hard you try! But cheer up! If you are a Christian, you have come into union with Christ. Through faith in Jesus Christ you are forgiven. Through faith in Jesus Christ you are sanctified and made holy. Through Christ, you are a new creation! (2 Cor. 5:17) The Holy Spirit lives in you! Therefore, pursue the life of faith in Christ with all diligence."

Monday, March 23, 2009

More Kensington

"I became more and more Christian, and he became more and more Kensington you know?"

-from a conversation i recently had with a sweet older lady up at a bible college that exited to the burbs in the 70's, I recently talked to about her and her brother who passed away some time ago, who stayed in the neighborhood, became a drunk, while she moved further and further out of the city.

I will refrain for the moment from saying to much about this quote which reveals much lest i sin, but that it breaks my heart, that evangelical faith has whole heartily, and with abandon embraced and went into her side lover, the suburban middle class ethos.

May you Lord raise up a generation of very 'kensington' people who are very, very 'christian'!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

ST PATTY

Ah, so much I could mention, coming from a Irish catholic background, being an evangelical and a Presbyterian which can tend to idealize Celtic Christianity. This is what I wanted to share instantly when I thought about it yesterday, and today as three guys from work went home for throwing up hung over.

From the Confession of St. Patrick

vs 50
"What is more, when I baptized so many thousands of people..."

This makes me think of Isaac Shaw in Northern India. I must admit, part of me wants to be very fruitful for the Lord, or just die. Yet I have worked so little and done so little for Him. God help us, may the spark turn to flame, and may we see the glory of the Lord rise upon us.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

CT Image Blog














Check out Christianity today's image blog, I really like it.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Video Example of Work's of Mercy

Check out this great Church's website. There is a video here that really work's out what I mean practically, by means of grace in the works of mercy. A young man is rescued from spiritually shallow life of christian scenestering through mentoring, and another young man's life is radically transformed by a stable relationship through being mentored.

Baptism of St. Augustine

I was a relatively new believer, reading St. Augustine's Confession's which was just so brutally real and honest, and amazing to me. And I heard the legend that St Ambrose had the song Te Deum song at Augustine's baptism, a song which I loved to sing in Church and thinking.. As messed up as she is, I love the bride of Christ, the Church, and I still do, thank God, I was once cut off, without hope in the world.

CONSIDER WESLEY

Earlier essays dealt with salvation and grace, two elements that more than any other constituted the distinctive doctrine of Wesley’s movement. Now we turn to the coordinate term “discipline,” by which the early Methodists designated a pattern of spiritual practices to which they were accountable. Today we would get at the same idea with terms like “spiritual disciplines” or "Christian formation.”

Sometimes Wesley’s “scriptural holiness,” with its insistence that God seeks not only our growth in sanctification but perfection in love for God and neighbor in this life, is dismissed as unrealistic if not absurd. There is much that could be said in response, including a robust affirmation of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. But, at a minimum, the promise of sanctification and Christian perfection should never be evaluated apart from the spiritual practices and communal context that was the environment for growth in holiness of heart and life.

The early Methodists adhered to a threefold discipline called “The Rules of the United Societies” (The Works of John Wesley [vol. 9; Abingdon, 1989] 69-73). Methodists were to “continue to evidence their desire of salvation, first, by doing no harm, by avoiding evil in every kind….” This was a turning away from all that would take us away from God and our neighbor. Then, second, by doing good “to our neighbor, “to their bodies” and “to their souls….” This involves works of mercy, a turning to the neighbor in love. Then, third, by attending upon all the ordinances of God. Such are: “The public worship of God; The ministry of the word, either read or expounded; the Supper of the Lord; family and private prayer; searching the Scriptures; and fasting, or abstinence.” These are the works of piety, a turning toward God, offering God thanks and praise and being open to receive grace.

An unusual feature of Wesley’s discipline was his insistence that works of mercy were as much means of grace as works of piety. Both works of mercy and works of piety are means by which we manifest love for our neighbor and God, and both are means through which God enables our hearts to become more loving. Works of mercy include not only what we give but what we say and do. Among works of mercy is assisting those who were in need. It is notable that Wesley insisted on direct relationship with the poor as well as providing assistance to those further away. Our actual relationship with the poor not only counters stereotypes but enables us to receive from them (and thereby from God) as well as give.

I find most presentations on the means of grace, to be institutional, (word & sacrament), or individualistic (journal, contemplate, icons, ect..)

Methodists were held accountable to this discipline in weekly class meetings. There they would not only report on how they had done in keeping to the discipline during the past week, but would receive advice and encouragement for the week to come. It was this pattern of discipline and community that enabled Methodists to remain open to God’s grace, not only for ongoing gradual growth in the Christian life but also the instantaneous transformations of conversion and Christian perfection.

these early classes seemed to have deeper goals than filling the void of the socially isolated, but saw the high order of holiness as something that demanded a military convoy type comradeship in this dark world where the darkness is also in our own hearts.

From the perspective of many in Wesley’s Church of England, the Methodist discipline was unnecessarily demanding. Wesley however was drawn early on to those Anglicans like Jeremy Taylor and William Law whose vision of the Christian life was governed by the goal of holiness of heart and life, and to the discipline that requires.

Within the eighteenth century awakening in England and Wales, only the Moravian Brethren had something approaching the disciplined accountability and small group structure of the Methodists. Although the Moravians contributed the robust understanding of justification that would mark Wesley’s proclamation of the gospel beginning in 1738, they lacked his vision of perfect love as the goal of salvation. Wesley would combine their insistence on salvation by faith with the goal of sanctification and perfection in love.

Wesley’s discipline and small groups were in service to both justification and sanctification, culminating in perfect love. It is this pattern of practices and community that gave early Methodism its distinctive way of life.

There is a lost of vision for the goal of personal piety, it either dismissed for a the goal of an over-realized eschatology, such as emergent / liberals do, or we create simon's, who are addicted to spiritual power as puritan porn, but remain deply unsatisfied and unusefull to the world, or we create christians who have no real interest other than politics, because they make no effort to see and have compassion for the people in darkness (but a new spiritual 'high' to attain or a social system to overcome.) But 'preventative grace, sanctifying grace, and justifying grace' hasn't it come through the means of feeding the homeless, fixing up homes, tutoring inner city kids, as well as communion, fellowship, and prayer? I've seen unbeliever's who are called to do mercy, and weak believer's called to do mercy grow in faith in Jesus through these means as well.


By Dr. Henry H. Knight III, Donald and Pearl Wright Professor of Wesleyan Studies, Saint Paul School of Theology.