Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

The Legalism of Self-Preservation -- by Al Sergel

How humbling or degrading is the feeling that I’ve succumbed – with no real intent on my part - to the legalism of self-preservation?

 

This question came to mind while reading Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 commencement address to Harvard University. 

 

Unbeknownst to me until now, anxiety set in on Wednesday around noon.

 

I was coming home from a morning meeting, when I noticed that I had about a quarter tank of gas left in my car.  I stopped at two gas stations and they were both out of gas.  I was still calm at this point.

Philosophical Shot and Chaser -- submitted by Al Sergel

While sitting at the 3rd gas station for gas...30 cars deep (we have a gas shortage in Charlotte).

Are we really the body of God or merely the shadow of man?

Shot of Thomas Merton:

We are all more inclined to idolatry because we imagine that we are of all generations the most enlightened, the most objective, the most scientific, the most progressive and the most humane.  This, in fact, is an "image" of ourselves - an image which is false and is also the object of a cult.  We worship ourselves in this image.  The nature of our acts is determined in large measure by the demands of our worship.  Because we have an image of ourselves as fair, objective, practical, and humane, we actually make it more difficult for ourselves to be what we think we are.

Calling All Gardeners -- by Al Sergal

Jesus poured His Spirit upon all flesh.  

The Farmer cast His seed – Jesus and His Holy Spirit – upon all humanity.  He gave His only Son to save the world – the entire eschatology of humanity.

God has birthed in all of us a portion of Nazareth – this everlasting seed of hope.  

We, like the philosophers and farmers before us must behold this new birth in everyone that we meet.  This seed of hope is present in every person who walks on this earth.  This was God’s promise from the very beginning.

Annalise Acorn's "Compulsory Compassion" -- Review by Wayne Northey

Book Review of Compulsory Compassion: A Critique of Restorative Justice, Annalise Acorn, Vancouver: UBC Press, 2004, 207 pages. 

By Wayne Northey 

Introduction 

There is a longstanding difference in how to read the Gospels in relation to criminal justice and in how we read the Gospels in response to issues of violence and nonviolence in general.  One of Mohandas Gandhi’s repeated statements was that it seems everyone but Christians knows Jesus was nonviolent¹.  The author is not grounding her critique on Jesus or the Bible, though she cites Jesus’ words several times.  She joins with Gandhi’s “Christians”.  I shall return to the issue of her ethical epistemology. 

My point of departure is the church’s Jesus and Bible.  And I am with Gandhi, a non-Christian by his self-designation, in his assessment of (especially) Western Christendom’s remarkable longstanding rejection of Jesus’ nonviolence.  Noted evangelical author Philip Yancey once wrote of Gandhi (rightly I think) that he was possibly the only Christian (Christ-follower) in India at the time of his bid to liberate India from British rule.  

Revealing a New World: Power According to Biblical Apocalyptic -- by Ted Grimsrud

The fifth chapter of the book of Revelation begins with a poignant image. John of Patmos has just been shown an awe-inspiring vision of the throne of God. Surrounding the throne in John’s vision, the entire animate creation worships the one on the throne. In chapter five, though, a shadow falls. John sees a scroll in the right hand of the one on the throne. From how John describes this scroll (“written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals,” 5:1) and regards it (begging for it to be opened), we get the impression that he’s describing history fulfilled.

John sees the scroll but is overcome with grief at the thought that it may not be opened. Who can open the scroll? “No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it” (5:3). The question of power is a basic human issue. How is the scroll of the redemption of history to be opened? What kind of power serves the outcomes we desire?

Solitude: the Place of Embrace -- by Rev. Mike Stewart

It takes faith to go on a path to be completely alone with God. Faith, and a fair amount of courage. Faith, because the outcome of a time of solitude is completely in God's hands and courage because we are often afraid to face God on His own terms and to face ourselves in the raw nakedness of our souls. Brennan Manning makes the comment that it is better to stand naked in the truth than to stand clothed in falsehood. In times of solitude and silence {the two go together} we are naked before God and before ourselves. Ever since we lost paradise in the garden of Eden mankind has preferred to stay hidden and clothed. But the voice of our Creator recorded in Genesis chapter 3 continues to echo down through the passages of time calling out to us, "where are you?" Where are we indeed? Usually hiding somewhere. 

Losing Breath -- Al Sergel

“For there can be no particularism of hope; hope loses all sense and all force if it does not imply the statement of an ‘all of us’ or an ‘all together’.”

-Gabriel Marcel

The heresy of individualism: thinking oneself a completely self-sufficient unit and asserting this imaginary “unity” against all others.  The affirmation of the self as simply “not the other”.  But when you seek to affirm your unity by denying that you have anything to do with anyone else, by negating everyone else in the universe until you come down you: what is there left to affirm?  Even if there were something to affirm, you would have no breath left with which to affirm.

-Thomas Merton

Extreme Intercession: Bringing God's future into the present -- Bob Ekblad

I’ve felt compelled to preach lately on a story in the gospels that I’ve always disliked and wished I could delete from the Bible. I’ve called it a toxic text in that it seems to depict Jesus as exclusive, unfair, even mean. Now I’m finding this text extremely challenging and even inspiring.

In Matthew 15:21-18 a Canaanite woman comes to Jesus desperate for help for her daughter, who is “cruelly” demonized. Jesus ignores her, rejects her and humiliates her by referring to her as a dog, and then finally relents and delivers her daughter. What is happening in this story? What does it mean for us?

The Syrophonecian woman approaches Jesus desperate for breakthrough. Not a Jew herself, she “comes out” of her region, leaving her allegiances and securities to enter into Jesus’ Jewish world. She exercises exemplary prayer protocol. She cries out, and the text uses the same language as Exodus, where Israelite slaves cry out to God (Ex 3:9). She addresses Jesus by the Greek equivalent of the proper name for Israel’s God, YHWH, Kurios. “Have mercy on me Oh Lord!” She identifies Jesus as “Son of David,” a title that identifies him as Israel’s Messiah.

70 Rings: Tribute to Irene Jersak

Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. (Jer. 17:7-8 TNIV)

Irene Jersak is not very famous on earth. For seventy years, she has lived faithfully without great fanfare; I don't recall any special worldly honours being bestowed on her. Her greatest battles and victories have been fought in the prayer closet and on her knees. Her confidence has not been in any human strength (hers or others) but in the firm belief that God answers prayer. This confidence has been her gift to our extended family. So while she remains unknown to those we deem 'important,' I'm very aware of her fame in heaven (as a beloved daughter) and in hell (as a fearsome enemy).

Double or nothing! -- Anouncement by Brad Jersak

For those who haven't heard yet, we made quite an important and wonderful announcement at Fresh Wind on Sunday, Sept. 15. For those who only have a moment, if you just skim down to the bold letters below, you'll get the basic idea. Let me begin by sharing a visitation that I experienced the night before the announcement that finally gave me some perspective on it.

I came before the Lord in prayer and engaged with something he had been speaking to me through the writings of Hans Urs Von Baltasar. I sensed him say, 'Gaze on me and I will gaze on you. I will see you and see through you and into every part of you. I will open up every door and every drawer of your soul and I will evaluate you. I will judge you thoroughly, even where you would not dare judge yourself. I will see and know what you cannot even see and know. And I will render my verdict of mercy, my sentence of kindness, and my gaze will be adoration.'

Spiritual Strokes and Heavenly Physio -- by Fiona Calder

    Hebrews 12:10-12

    “… God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained in it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees!  ‘Make level paths for your feet’, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”

Over and over since the beginning of the year I’ve felt the call to pray for God to strengthen and help us where we are weak and immature.

He shows me the ‘great’ men and women of the faith; those we all look up to because of their special gifts and anointings, and then He says ‘now pray for them where they are weak, stunted and foolish.’