Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its
heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the
daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem
less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart,
even as you have always accepted the seasons that
pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the
winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within
you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy
in silence and tranquillity:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by
the tender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has
been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has
moistened with His own sacred tears.

Saint Augustine (A.D. 354-430) in his work The Literal Meaning of Genesis (De Genesi ad litteram libri duodecim) provided excellent advice for all Christians who are faced with the task of interpreting Scripture in the light of scientific knowledge. This translation is by J. H. Taylor inAncient Christian Writers, Newman Press, 1982, volume 41.

Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he hold to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion. [1 Timothy 1.7]

Source

LOL! – EP

The GLOBAL TRAFFIC JAM on 11-11-11 is meeting its projected goal: 300 bands in 30 countries on November 11th, to raise awareness in the fight against child trafficking and slavery. Many more bands and solo artists are welcome to participate. Please let your musicians friends know of this amazing opportunity for exposure, while helping rescue children around the world.

A good friend Kylie B., TV producer and film wizard, did the concert visuals for Nate Feuerstein‘s Alone. My awesome friend and painter, Taryn Trousdale stars!

Alone – Concert Visuals from Kylie B. on Vimeo.

Nate Feuerstein concert details:

Date & Time: Fri Nov 11 11 05:15 PM
Location: Grand Rapids, MI US 2500 Division Ave S, Grand Rapids, MI 49507
Venue: TRAFFIC JAM: Benefit Concert

It was a lot of fun helping out with film-stuff again! -EP

In addition to the two phenomena of religion and anti-religion, a further basic orientation is found in the growing world of agnosticism: people to whom the gift of faith has not been given, but who are nevertheless on the lookout for truth, searching for God. Such people do not simply assert: “There is no God”. They suffer from his absence and yet are inwardly making their way towards him, inasmuch as they seek truth and goodness. They are “pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace”. They ask questions of both sides. They take away from militant atheists the false certainty by which these claim to know that there is no God and they invite them to leave polemics aside and to become seekers who do not give up hope in the existence of truth and in the possibility and necessity of living by it. But they also challenge the followers of religions not to consider God as their own property, as if he belonged to them, in such a way that they feel vindicated in using force against others. These people are seeking the truth, they are seeking the true God, whose image is frequently concealed in the religions because of the ways in which they are often practised. Their inability to find God is partly the responsibility of believers with a limited or even falsified image of God. So all their struggling and questioning is in part an appeal to believers to purify their faith, so that God, the true God, becomes accessible. Therefore I have consciously invited delegates of this third group to our meeting in Assisi, which does not simply bring together representatives of religious institutions. Rather it is a case of being together on a journey towards truth, a case of taking a decisive stand for human dignity and a case of common engagement for peace against every form of destructive force. Finally I would like to assure you that the Catholic Church will not let up in her fight against violence, in her commitment for peace in the world. We are animated by the common desire to be “pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace”.

from r/atheism

A friend recently sent me a link to this blog post. In it, the author talks about the differance between justice and compassion – as he describes it, compassion is feeding the hungry, while justice is working to end the causes of hunger.

This sort of talk makes me uneasy.

Don’t get me wrong – I am all for working to end systemic problems. If you have the chance to make life better for those on the margins and you do not, I think you are wrong. On two days out of three, I would even call it sinful.

But I suspect the reason so many of us are attracted to high level solutions (ie. “working for justice”) has less to do with our desire to see a just world and more to do with us. We have bought into the myth of our exceptionalism.

We believe that all problems have solutions and, what is more, that those solutions can be discovered by us. In fact, I would go further than that – we believe that those solutions should be discovered and implemented by us. We view ourselves as the world’s problem solvers. We are the virtuous ones. We are the standard. We have nothing to learn. Because we already know the answers.

Most faith based versions of compassion, such as a short term mission trip or an afternoon at the soup kitchen, are no better. They reinforce to us that we are the fortunate ones, that we are the standard and that we deserve to be the way we are. Short term service can, and often does, revolve around our issues of convenience and control.

My work is about moving beyond, to use, the author’s words, either compassion or justice and into relationship.

Relationship is not me centered, but relationship centered. Entering into relationship is messy and time consuming. Entering into relationship is humbling – because in a relationship we have to subliminate some of what we want in order for the relationship to work.

If the church were to focus on entering into relationship with the poor instead of merely having compassion for the poor or instead of working for justice for the poor, then the church could learn from the poor. But first we would have to believe that they have something to teach us.

******

I agree with Hugh. It reminds me of the phrase “the poor will always be with you.” I most often hear it interpreted as a rebuke — Jesus is saying the poor will always be with us because we do not give enough. If we lived by God’s law justice would prevail and there would be no needy. But in context of the story this interpretation (though perhaps with some truth) is off target.

At Bethany, the woman with the alabaster jar anoints Jesus with expensive perfume. The disciples are upset because the perfume costs more than a year’s wages & could have been spent on the poor. Here the disciples’ thinking is straight up utilitarian — more for as many as possible. Jesus on the other hand praises the woman for having done a beautiful thing.

What is it that she did that outweighs our understanding of the ‘greater good’? Well, the obvious is that cost was not on her mind (the perfume cost over a years wages.) But more is revealed in what Jesus said, “the poor will be with you but you will not always have me.” He seems to be asking why the disciples are not thinking of the one immediately before them — the one they love & with whom  they have a close relationship? Jesus is saying nothing is wasted on him. The woman did not feel sorry for giving the God before her the best she could in a righteous, priestly act.

At first this may seem like the words of a selfish god. But earlier in Matthew we see Jesus tell us “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Suddenly, this becomes a lesson on how we ought to love one another. We are not to simply dole out compassion or be the upholders of justice, but give up everything to do so, to lay down our lives for our friends.

We are to give to each other freely and completely. We hold nothing back from those who are in front of us whom we love & know, from those we call friend. We are to give without fear that it could be of better use elsewhere.

Yes, Lord, this is absolutely a beautiful thing. – EP

We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself. - Oswald Chambers, Utmost For His Highest