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.

Jacob wrestles,

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” (ESV Genesis 32:26-28)

This is one of those landmark events, a manifestation of God in scripture that we could dig a deep well, like the transfiguration of the Lord in the gospels. What I had not noticed before, or in fact in my recent reading of this, was the fact that the man who Jacob wrestled with asked him "What is your name?" till today listening to a remark about it by Ravi Zacharias.

This is of course the question we must hear, and must answer ourselves. What is your name? Who are you? We have to own up to our character and our past if we can be blessed. But what God does is just insane, because when Jacob owns his past, and his future, God breaks in and completely redefines him, renames him, and remakes him.

I am continually doing this very thing, every day, going to God, owning up to who I am, and how its been informed by my past. I am an unclean man of unclean lips, and live among a people of unclean lips. I cry out search me O God, see if there is any offensive way in me, I wonder if it would ever take all night to find yourself, and the exact ways your screwed up, and have fallen short of the glory that He made you. I wonder if I can say as I long for the light of God on his word's in scripture "i will not let you go, until you bless me."

It's easy to judge men like Jacob and evil he did, and wonder how God used him so powerfully that even today, people on the other side of the world in a language not yet conceived of yet like ours may worship 'the God of Israel"

May we walk walk with a limp Lord God, may we be the broken and contrite that you can not refuse, may we wrestle with you, search your word, cry for blessing, and may we have the humility to admit who we ultimately are without you, and the grace to see ourselves in the light of the gospel, and live up to our new names in this world.

Puritan Paradise!

Here we go, from fourth to fifth geek gear!

check this site out,

If your interested in puritan lit.,

It has pdfs and document scans of entire books that i could never find before in print or online.

It promises to include more and more, especially interesting is the British reformers, scans of old prints in the original middle English. kinda like.. my educated description of it is like germanfrenchgaeliclatenglish.. but it is readable with work.

God's Peace

Who said it? - Justification by faith

to the three people who read my blog, including my wife.. :)

can you guess who said it? (hint, its five different guys/ i added two)

Quote #1 Pope Benedict 16th

"It is precisely because of this personal experience of relationship with Jesus Christ that Paul henceforth places at the centre of his Gospel an irreducible opposition between the two alternative paths to justice: one built on the works of the Law, the other founded on the grace of faith in Christ."

Quote #2 N.T. Wright

One is not justified by faith by believing in justification by faith. One is justified by faith by believing in Jesus.

Quote #3 Martin Luther

“There is no justification without sanctification, no forgiveness without renewal of life, no real faith from which the fruits of new obedience do not grow.”

Quote #4 Walter Marshall

"So the words are a declaration of the gospel way of justification by the righteousness of God; and that so dearly and fully, and the benefit spoken of, so great and glorious, being the first benefit that we receive by union with Christ, and the foundation of all other benefits, that my text is accounted to be evangelium evangelii, a principal part of the written gospel"


Quote #5 Richard Baxter

"Faith causeth not justification at all but only is the condition of it but faith causeth the acts of other graces by a proper efficiency."

The Pilgrims Progress

A generation ago, required reading in public schools. The second most translated book in the world, second only to the Bible. From a 17th century uneducated baptist in Bedfordshire prison.

How did this happen? I don't know. But my firstborn sons namesake the great puritan mind John Owen, chaplian to the king, when asked why he would go hear the poor tinker preach from the King, he responded that he'd give up all his learning for the power of that tinker's preaching.I have recently been revisiting the Pilgrims Progress, with some mp3's from CCEL. Today I heard this picture which moved me by its simplicity and truth, which Bunyan gives us hundreds of, for our help in this life in this great story.

***

Then he took him by the hand, and led him into a very large parlor that was full of dust, because never swept; the which after he had reviewed it a little while, the Interpreter called for a man to sweep. Now, when he began to sweep, the dust began so abundantly to fly about, that Christian had almost therewith been choked. Then said the Interpreter to a damsel that stood by, “Bring hither water, and sprinkle the room;” the which when she had done, it was swept and cleansed with pleasure.

CHRISTIAN: Then said Christian, What means this?

INTERPRETER: The Interpreter answered, This parlor is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the Gospel. The dust is his original sin, and inward corruptions, that have defiled the whole man. He that began to sweep at first, is the law; but she that brought water, and did sprinkle it, is the Gospel. Now whereas thou sawest, that so soon as the first began to sweep, the dust did so fly about that the room by him could not be cleansed, but that thou wast almost choked therewith; this is to show thee, that the law, instead of cleansing the heart (by its working) from sin, doth revive, Rom. 7:9, put strength into, 1 Cor. 15:56, and increase it in the soul, Rom. 5:20, even as it doth discover and forbid it; for it doth not give power to subdue. Again, as thou sawest the damsel sprinkle the room with water, upon which it was cleansed with pleasure, this is to show thee, that when the Gospel comes in the sweet and precious influences thereof to the heart, then, I say, even as thou sawest the damsel lay the dust by sprinkling the floor with water, so is sin vanquished and subdued, and the soul made clean, through the faith of it, and consequently fit for the King of glory to inhabit. John 15:3; Eph. 5:26; Acts 15:9; Rom. 16:25,26.

Abraham J Heschel

If you don't know this jewish scholar, and early civil rights and anti-war leader, get to know Abraham J Heschel.

"Instead of showing us a way through the elegant mansions of the mind, the prophets take us to the slums. They make much ado about paltry things, lavishing excessive language upon trifling subjects. What if somewhere in ancient Palestine poor people have not been treated properly by the rich? So what if some old women found pleasure and edification in worshiping "the Queen of Heaven"? Why such immoderate excitement? Why such intense indignation?

The things that horrified the prophets are eve now daily occurrences all over the world...

We ourselves witness continually acts of injustice, manifestations of hypocrisy, falsehood, outrage, misery, but we rarely grow indignant or overly excited. To the prophets even a minor injustice assumes cosmic proportions ...

Others may suffer from the terror of cosmic aloneness; the prophet is overwhelmed by the grandeur of divine presence. He is incapable of isolating the world. There is an interaction between man and God which to disregard is an act of insolence. Isolation is a fairy tale.
....

Prophetic sympathy is a response to the transcendent sensibility. It is not, like love, an attraction to the diving being, but the assimilation of the prophet's emotional life to the divine, an assimilation of the function, not of being. The emotional experience of the prophet becomes the focal point of the prophet's understanding of God."

Selections from "The Prophet"


Oh Lord, would you rise up your daughters and your son's to dream dreams and see visions, to have a sympathy with your thoughts, to live lives that are a protest to this world, and speak out against the injustice that we see as no big deal. Thank you that you speak through the voice of many. May we be cut to the heart, and see our need for justice, our need for restoration, our eternal need for you!