A Digest for Readers and Listeners - If You Have Ears to Hear
Gruntled or Disgruntled

Snippets to Digest Today

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Richard Rohr takes the doctrine of the Trinity to illustrate how we, as Christians, must celebrate "clear distinction, pluriformity, and otherness," while affirming that "the infinite trust and flow between them is so constant, so reliable, so true, and so faithful that they are also completely one. They must be diverse, and they must be one—at the same time. "

It seems every generation must be newly converted. While we seek to transform individual hearts and minds we must also work to create change throughout systems. Until a full vision of equity is realized, we must continue naming and resisting the ways in which so many people are excluded and oppressed.

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Some years back, I got an ad for a Christian social media app. Why do I need a Christian ghetto in which to isolate myself from everyone but the like-minded?

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Rumpelstiltskin!
Oh Smiddleebopper!
Shemamamamamanan!
Oh slush!
Grrrrrrrr.
Fudge!
Son of a biscuit eating Baptist (or Son of a Baptist).
What in the name of Orville Redenbacher!
What in the name of Richard C. Hottelet.
Good gravy!
Mercy sakes!
Sakes alive!

Cuss
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"Hear this, all peoples!
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
both low and high,
rich and poor together!"
(Psalm 49:1-2 ESV)…
See more
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"To err is human; to forgive divine."
#ThingsNeverSaidInTheGodfather
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When I sneeze, it is,
"Hah-chewy, louie, dooey, pewy, and foowy!"
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"He lifted up the poor out of misery *
and multiplied their families like flocks of sheep. " - Psalm 107:41
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Make Room

"Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy."
He is saying, "I was sorry that what I said when I told you hard truth made you grieve ... a little sorry, but ultimately glad, because you got yourself straightened out and you ended up with some real comfort."
Real comfort sometimes only comes through soul-grieving and spiritual introspection that cuts away at us and stones the mixed voices or dissent within our hearts.

The phony, temporary, temporal comforts to which we flea in avoidance and denial wear off like an aspirin. God's comfort is deep. It sometimes hurts going in, but it heals us in the process.

That is my personal take-away from this scripture this morning.:
"For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us."
"For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. Therefore we are comforted."

"And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you."

(2 Corinthians 7:2-16 ESV)
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I wrote a long mediation on Psalm 119:57-64 and accidentally erased it. I guess it was for me and between me and God.
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Today's take-away for me today from Psalm 49: Do not be impressed or intimidated by power, wealth, and position. God rules! All else fades away.

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