Random Notes From What I'm Reading

Romans 12:9-21

Ryan — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:57:34 +0000

Love from the center of who you are, don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil, hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply, practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out, keep yourself fueled and aflame. be alert servents of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

Our scripture tells us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you, get the best of evil by doing good.

Romans 12:9-21 in The Message

Hope Is The Cousin To Grief

Ryan — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:21:00 +0000

“Hope is not logical. It always comes as a surprise, just when you think all hope is lost. Hope is the cousin to grief, and both take time: you can’t short-circuit grief, or emptiness, and you can’t patch it up with your bicycle tire tube kit. You have to take the next right action. Jesus would pray on the mountain, or hang out with the poor or imprisoned, or – as I’ll get to in a moment – start doodling in the sand.”

Anne Lamott in “Plan B: More Thoughts On Faith”

Resentment

Ryan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:13:42 +0000

“I’ve known for years that resentments don’t hurt the person we resent, but they do hurt and even sometimes kill us… unfortunately, change and forgiveness don’t come easily for me, but any willingness to let go inevitably comes from pain; and the desire to change changes you, and jiggles the spirit, gets to it somehow, to the deepest, hardest, most ruined parts. And then Spirit expands, because that is true in nature, and it drags along the body, and finally, the mind.”

Anne Lamott in “Plan B: Further Thougths On Faith”

Rubble and Friendships

Ryan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:10:19 +0000

“Rubble is the ground upon which our deepest friendships are built.”

Anne Lamott in “Plan B: Further Thoughts On Faith”

What A Mess We Are

Ryan — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:01:48 +0000

“What a mess we are, I thought. But this is usually where any hope of improvement begins, acknowledging the mess. When I am well, I know not to mess with mess right away; I try to let silence and time work their magic. You don’t get far without grinding your teeth and heavy breathing. You noodle around, to warm up, and you meander, to find out if there are any improvisations that call to you.”

Anne Lamott in “Plan B: More Thoughts On Faith”

Stumbling Into God

Ryan — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:36:52 +0000

How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling.

Romans 9:30-33 in The Message

Faith, Doubt and Certainty

Ryan — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:18:27 +0000

“I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certrainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me – that the opposite of faith is doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. Faith also means reaching deeply within, for the sense one was born with, the sense, for example, to go for a walk.”

Anne Lamott in “Plan B: Further Thoughts On Faith”

Grace

Ryan — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:17:02 +0000

“Grace threatens all my normalities.”

Gerald May

Doubt

Ryan — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:33:28 +0000

Who in the world do you think you are two second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk balk to the fingers that it mold, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that alright? Either or both happens to Jews, but it also happens to the other people.

Romans 9:20-33 in The Message

Faith

Ryan — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:12:52 +0000

“Faith is not about how we feel, it is about how we live.”

Anne Lamott in “Plan B: Further Thoughts On Faith”