Posts Along the Shores of My Life

Photo by Derick Daily on Unsplash

I post daily. 

I also read daily.

Often, I read what I have posted on a certain day over the years.

Here is a digest of 15 years worth of quotes and observations from May 25.

“The renewal of the church will come from a new type of monasticism which only has in common with the old an uncompromising allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"You are not able to keep a thought from occurring in you, but you don't have to entertain it either." - Timothy Keller

“The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.”  ― Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination

"People do not believe lies because they have to, but because they want to." - Malcolm Muggeridge

You do not just have a right to speak your mind; you have an obligation.

No one else has your point of view, namely your vantage. That is your advantage. It defines your responsibility to participate in the democratic process.

Without your point of view, we have a blind spot.

You did not come by your convictions lightly and you likely will not walk away from them lightly.

If they are misinformed, that can be fixed, but not by hiding or denying them.

This is not comfortable and it makes you vulnerable, but it is necessary. I do not enjoy disagreement at all, but it challenges me and sometimes, sharpens me. Sometimes, it even helps me change my perspective.-

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A great flaw in preachers, like me, if that we always feel compelled to solve all the open-ended questions with three short points and an illustration in 30 or 40 minutes. We measure success by handing out easy answers that people can apply with simplicity in their lives and little thought.

Yet, Jesus often left people scratching their heads.

Matthew 22:41-46

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?"

They said to him, "The son of David."

He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet" 

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

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"It is easy to turn our religious life into a cathedral for beautiful memories, but there are feet to be washed, hard flints to be walked over, people to be fed. Very few of us go there, but that is the way the Son of God went."—Run Today’s Race =-Oswald Chambers

“Sabbath, in the first instance, is not about worship. It is about work stoppage. It is about withdrawal from the anxiety system of Pharaoh, the refusal to let one’s life be defined by production and consumption and the endless pursuit of private well-being.” ― Walter Brueggemann

“In normal life, we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude." --Dietrich Bonhoeffer

As a child, my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it. - Buddy Hackett
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Born this day in 1803 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (d. 1882).

"There are two classes of poets — the poets by education and practice, these we respect; and poets by nature, these we love."

"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have yet to be discovered."
"The cup of life is not so shallow
That we have drained the best
That all the wine at once we swallow
And lees make all the rest."

"The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity. The inventor did it because it was natural to him, and so in him it has a charm. In the imitator something else is natural, and he bereaves himself of his own beauty, to come short of another man's."

"He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses."

"If the colleges were better, if they … had the power of imparting valuable thought, creative principles, truths which become powers, thoughts which become talents, — if they could cause that a mind not profound should become profound, — we should all rush to their gates: instead of contriving inducements to draw students, you would need to set police at the gates to keep order in the in-rushing multitude."

"Poetry teaches the enormous force of a few words, and, in proportion to the inspiration, checks loquacity."
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On this day in 1521 – The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.

What would you expect of people who only ate worms?

Bad joke, but I have always wanted to make it.

"... I am persuaded that your love is established for ever;
you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens. " - Psalm 89:1

May your days be filled with the joy and expectancy
that playfully wrap the gift of purpose.

May your wheels never spin

except to take you deeper into the grounding of truth.

May grace supply you with every need.

And may your dream always be greater than your present reality.

"We have to bear witness to moral principles which the world owned yesterday and has begun to turn its back on today...So we must know what are the unalterable principles we hold, and why we hold them; we must see straight in a world that is full of moral fog." - Father Ronald Knox

"The more I studied and learned, the less I needed 'answers' to every possible question." - Pastor @Mario_A_Russo

“Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.” ~@ANNELAMOTT

"Pain is not eternal, but praise is. Ashes will be replaced with hymn sings. The Spirit redeems and restores..." @LukeAPowery

"In Christ's body, every body is a somebody. Any church will be known by how they treat the most vulnerable in their midst." @LukeAPowery

"Those who are despised are destined to make their home in God." @LukeAPowery

"God never intended people to be the church's projects." @LukeAPowery

"A true prayer is an inventory of needs, a catalog of necessities, an exposure of secret wounds, a revelation of hidden poverty." - Charles Spurgeon

“Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness.”
― Walter Brueggemann

Flip the Greatness Switch

When you dream great, worthy dreams,
you connect to a place in your heart
where you flip the switch
that turns on an attitude of expectancy
and wonder,
thus activating imagination
and motivation.
When this happens,
you engage your mind and
your feet
and your hands in the pursuit of your goals.
You rally all of your resources and,
if you will, by faith,
God's.
Greatness is yours for the believing,
receiving,
and achieving
when dreams partner with
thoughts, deeds, and
prayer.
You are ready for an explosion of
possibilities
and I am
your cheerleader!

"It is easy to turn our religious life into a cathedral for beautiful memories, but there are feet to be washed, hard flints to be walked over, people to be fed. Very few of us go there, but that is the way the Son of God went.—Run Today’s Race" - Oswald Chambers

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The flaw here is that having the knowledge of how to be a safe driver does not insure that I actually AM a safe driver. Knowledge + Skills + Attitude will do it - or as we used to teach at National Traffic Safety Institute: Values + Attitudes = Behavior.

Pondering Possibilities

I am prayerfully wondering and wonderfully praying as I mull over multitudinous opportune obstacles and consider a universe of options the Creator of options has imagined. That is how my morning devotions have progressed this day as I pray about the needs and possibilities of our congregation, our coalition of congregations, our various ministries, and our sphere of influence over the internet. God grant me wisdom, direction, and courage to move forward.

Perhaps I could bounce some ideas off of some of you here and bring you into the experience of seeking God's will in a kingdom we daily pray will come on earth as it is in Heaven.