Forgiveness

The beloved disciple sends a message both to the sinner covered with shame and to the local church tentative and slow to forgive for fear of appearing lax or liberal. The number of people who have fled the church because it is too patient or compassionate is negligible; the number who have fled because they find it too unforgiving is tragic.—Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child, 129

Church leadership

Leadership in the church is not entrusted to successful fund-raisers, brilliant biblical scholars, administrative geniuses, or spellbinding preachers (though these assets may be helpful), but to those who have been laid waste by a consuming passion for Christ—passionate men and women for whom privilege and power are trivial compared to knowing and loving Jesus.—Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child, 127

<idle musing>
Or, rather, it should be entrusted to such as those. Unfortunately, it seems it rarely is : (
</idle musing>

The Lord will provide

744 13th P. M. 10 10, 11 11.
The Lord will provide.

THOUGH troubles assail, and dangers affright;,
   Though friends should all fall, and foes all unite,
   Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide,
   The promise assures us,—The Lord will provide.

2 The birds, without barn or storehouse, are fed;
   From them let us learn to trust for our bread:
   His saints what is fitting shall ne’er be denied,
   So long as ’tis written,—The Lord will provide.

3 When Satan appears to stop up our path,
   And fills us with fears, we triumph by faith;
   He cannot take from us (though oft he has tried)
   The heart-cheering promise,—The Lord will provide.

4 He tells us we ’re weak,—our hope is in vain;
   The good that we seek we ne’er shall obtain:
   But when such suggestions our graces have tried,
   This answers all questions,—The Lord will provide.

5 No strength of our own, nor goodness we claim:
   Our trust is all thrown on Jesus’s Name;
   In this our strong tower for safety we hide;
   The Lord is our power,—The Lord will provide.

6 When life sinks apace, and death is in view.
   The word of his grace shall comfort us through
   Not fearing or doubting, with Christ on our side.
   We hope to die shouting,—The Lord will provide.
                        John Newton
                        Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)

Future hope? Or present reality?

On the other hand, if the central saving act of Christian faith is relegated to the future with the fervent hope that Christ’s resurrection is the pledge of our own and that one day we shall reign with Him in glory, then the risen One is pushed safely out of the present. Limiting the resurrection either to the past or to the future makes the present risenness of Jesus largely irrelevant, safeguards us from interference with the ordinary rounds and daily routine of our lives, and preempts communion now with Jesus as a living person.—Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child, 99

Idolatry comes in various forms

The anything-goes morality of the religious and political Left is matched by the sanctimonious moralism of the religious and political Right. Uncritical acceptance of any party line is an idolatrous abdication of one’s core identity as Abba’s child. Neither liberal fairy dust nor conservative hardball addresses human dignity, which is often dressed in rags.—Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child, 74

<idle musing>
He wrote that in 1994! He could have written in 2023, couldn't he? We still face the same problems—probably because we are the same broken people who refuse to accept our father's loving, beckoning call.
</idle musing>

Awake!

729 1st P. M. 6 lines 8s.
Sober viigilance.

THIS slumber from my spirit shake.
   Warn’d by the Spirit’s inward call
   Let me to righteousness awake,
   And pray that I may never fall;
   Or give to sin or Satan place,
   But walk in all thy righteous ways.

2 O Wouldst thou, Lord, thy servant guard
   ’Gainst every known or secret foe;
   A mind for all assaults prepared,
   A sober vigilance bestow;
   Ever apprized of danger nigh,
   And when to fight and when to fly.

3 0 never suffer me to sleep
   Secure within the verge of hell;
   But still my watchful spirit keep
   In lowly awe and loving zeal;
   And bless me with a godly fear,
   And plant that guardian angel here.

4 Attended by that sacred dread,
   And wise from evil to depart,
   Let me from strength to strength proceed
   And rise to purity of heart:
   Through all the paths of duty move:
   From humble faith to perfect love.
                        Charles Wesley
                         Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)

Who am I, really?

I still cling to the illusion that I must be morally impeccable, other people must be sinless, and the one I love must be without human weakness. But whenever I allow anything but tenderness and compassion to dictate my response to life—be it self-righteous anger, moralizing, defensiveness, the pressing need to change others, carping criticism, frustration at others’ blindness, a sense of spiritual superiority, a gnawing hunger of vindication—I am alienated from my true self. My identity as Abba’s child becomes ambiguous, tentative, and confused.—Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child, 72

Growth

Experientially the inner healing of the heart is seldom a sudden catharsis or an instant liberation from bitterness, anger, resentment, and hatred. More often it is a gentle growing into oneness with the Crucified who has achieved our peace through His blood on the cross. This may take considerable time because the memories are still so vivid and the hurt is still so deep. But it will happen. The crucified Christ is not merely a heroic example to the church: He is the power and wisdom of God, a living force in His present risenness, transforming our lives and enabling us to extend the hand of reconciliation to our enemies.—Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child, 68

The well-fought day

728 S. M.
The well-fought day.

PRAY, without ceasing, pray,
   (Your Captain gives the word ;) —
   His summons cheerfully obey,
   And call upon the Lord:
   To God your every want
   In instant prayer display;
   Pray always; pray, and never faint;
   Pray, without ceasing, pray.

2 In fellowship,—alone,
   To God with faith draw near;
   Approach his courts, besiege his throne
   With all the power of prayer:
   His mercy now implore,
   And now show forth his praise;
   In shouts, or silent awe, adore
   His miracles of grace.

3 From strength to strength go on;
   Wrestle, and fight, and pray;
   Tread all the powers of darkness down,
   And win the well-fought day:
   Still let the Spirit cry,
   In all his soldiers,—Come,
   Till Christ the Lord descend from high,
   And take the conqu’rors home.
                         Charles Wesley
                         Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)

<idle musing>
When I looked this on up on hymnary.org, many of the thirty-eight occurrences only listed verses 1 and 3, and some truncate it to only four lines instead of eight per stanza. That's too bad, because I think the whole hymn says some important things. There was one that listed six verses, but what they did was divide each of the stanzas here into two verses. Here's the link to the scan on that one.
</idle musing>

But do you really believe it?

How would you respond if I asked you this question: “Do you honestly believe God likes you, not just loves you because theologically God has to love you?” If you could answer with gut-level honesty, “Oh, yes, my Abba is very fond of me,” you would experience a serene compassion for yourself that approximates the meaning of tenderness.—Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child, 64

It's all dust

For too long and too often along my journey, I have sought shelter in hand-clapping liturgies and cerebral Scripture studies. I have received knowledge without appreciation, facts without enthusiasm. Yet, when the scholarly investigations were over, I was struck by the insignificance of it all. It just didn’t seem to matter.—Abba’s Child, 58

<idle musing>
OK, I said we were going to start reading Brunner's The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption today, but I got sidetracked. I had found Abba’s Child a while back at a used bookstore or thrift store, can't remember which, and put it on my bookshelf. You know how that goes. I couldn't pass it up at a couple of bucks and figured I get around to reading it someday. Well, the other day became that day. I'm reading from the 2002 edition; the link is to the 2015 printing, so I don't know if there's a difference.

Be that as it may, I originally didn't intend to excerpt from it, which is why this is from page 58. But this hit home only too much. I edit great stuff, full of facts and insights. But, if it stays cerebral? Well, it's so much chip-chuck, hevel, emptiness.

All that to say that for the next week or so, I'll be posting from Abba’s Child. I hope you enjoy it. I certainly did! You do much worse than grabbing a coy and reading it. And then, I promise, we'll get to Brunner!
</idle musing>

Are we nuts?

This excerpt from a devotional on 1 Corinthians caught my eye today:

Following a suffering, crucified God seems unwise. Further, to those who view themselves as elites, a life riddled with suffering is unpersuasive. Wouldn’t a powerful God spare himself and his followers pain and suffering? How could a true God be conquered by the rulers of this world? What is enticing about this type of thinking? Well, for the apostle, those who believe themselves to be powerful in the here-and-now are being made powerless by a gospel that calls its adherents to self-sacrifice, submission, and serving one another.

<idle musing>
Indeed! We must be nuts! Who gives away power and prestige to become a lowly servant?

Of course, for those who follow a broken gospel based on material prosperity, this is absolutely nuts. Only those who know that all that is empty, that the only thing that counts is to know Christ and be known by him can see the true wisdom of it, which is what Paul is getting at in 1 Corinthians.

Just an
</idle musing>

Soldiers of Christ, arise!

725 S. M.
The whole armour of God.

SOLDIERS of Christ, arise,
   And put your armour on,
   Strong in the strength which God supplies
   Through his eternal Son;
   Strong in the Lord of Hosts,
   And in his mighty power,
   Who in the strength of Jesus trusts,
   Is more than conqueror.

2 Stand then in his great might,
   With all his strength endued;
   But take, to arm you for the fight,
   The panoply of God:
   That having all things done,
   And all your conflicts past,
   Ye may o’ercome, through Christ alone,
   And stand entire at last.

3 Leave no unguarded place,-
   No weakness of the soul;
   Take every virtue, every grace,
   And fortify the whole:
   Indissolubly join’d,
   To battle all proceed;
   But arm yourselves with all the mind
   That was in Christ your Head.
                        Charles Wesley
                        Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)

<idle musing>
I didn't remember that this one was written by Charles Wesley.

I know that hymns with military/soldier imagery have fallen out of favor—and I understand that. Some are based on faulty theology and deserve to be consigned to obscurity. But, we risk throwing out some good, solid biblical imagery if we go too far. Personally, I think this one has good, solid theology, so I gladly post it.
</idle musing>

The armor

721 L. M.
The panoply of truth.

BEHOLD the Christian Warrior stand
   In all the armour of his God;
   The Spirit’s sword is in his hand,
   His feet are with the Gospel shod;—

2 In panoply of truth complete,
   Salvation’s helmet on his head;
   With righteousness a breast-plate meet,
   And faith’s broad shield before him spread;—

3 Undaunted to the field he goes;
   Yet vain were skill and valour there,
   Unless, to foil his legion foes,
   He takes the trustiest weapon, prayer.

4 Thus, strong in his Redeemer’s strength,
   Sin, death, and hell, he tramples down;
   Fights the good fight, and wins at length,
   Through mercy, an immortal crown.
                         James Montgomery
                        Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)

Lift up your hearts!

716 C. M.
Rejoicing in hope.

LIFT up your hearts to things above,
   Ye followers of the Lamb,
   And join with us to praise his love,
   And glorify his Name.

2 To Jesus’ Name give thanks and sing,
   Whose mercies never end:
   Rejoice! rejoice! the Lord is King;
   The King is now our Friend.

3 We for his sake count all things loss;
   On earthly good look down;
   And joyfully sustain the cross,
   Till we receive the crown.

4 O let us stir each other up,
   Our faith by works to’ approve,—
   By holy, purifying hope,
   And the sweet task of love.

5 Let all who for the promise wait,
   The Holy Ghost receive;
   And, raised to our unsinning state,
   With God in Eden live:—

6 Live, till the Lord in glory come,
   And wait his heaven to share:
   He now is fitting up your home;
   Go on, we ’ll meet you there.
                          Charles Wesley
                          Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)

<idle musing>
Interestingly, hymnary.org omits the fifth verse, but inserts five other ones before our verse 6:

5. Love us, though far in flesh disjoined,
   Ye lovers of the Lamb;
   And ever bear us on your mind,
   Who think and speak the same:

6. You on our minds we ever bear,
   Whoe’er to Jesus bow;
   Stretch out the arms of faith and prayer,
   And lo! we reach you now.

7. Surely we now your souls embrace,
   With you we now appear
   Present before the throne of grace,
   And you, and Christ, are here.

8. The blessings all on you be shed,
   Which God in Christ imparts;
   We pray the Spirit of our Head
   Into your faithful hearts.

9. Mercy and peace your portion be,
   To carnal minds unknown,
   The hidden manna, and the tree
   Of life, and the white stone.

Personally, I can understand why they omitted them in the 1870 hymnal; they are kind of weak. But it's too bad that hymnary.org deleted verse 5; it has some classic Wesleyan/holiness theology—of course that might be why they omitted it!
</idle musing>

But what's the reason?

The Stoics assume our task is to reduce our estrangement from our nature, but they give no reason for this estrangement as a feature of human existence, the condition under which all humans come to be and must exist. They talk much about our ability to return to nature and not at all about why the human being qua human being is estranged from its nature in the first place. There are symptoms (passions, for example) but no disease, effects but no cause. In light of the Christian narrative, one might say that the Stoics do not have an account of the human problem that does the work the Fall does for Christians.—One True Life: The Stoics and Early Christians as Rival Traditions, 255

<idle musing>
Well, that's the final excerpt from One True Life: The Stoics and Early Christians as Rival Traditions. I hope you learned something from it. I certainly did. As I said at the time, the chapter on epistemology was worth the price of the book. The windows it opened in my mind will be with me for a long time. And the idea of a "second-first language" was extremely interesting.

Next up will be Emil Brunner's The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption, the second in his three-volume Church Dogmatics. I was so happy when Wipf & Stock brought it back into print in 2014. But, if you prefer electronic, The Internet Archive has a copy and there are other legal ones out there as well. Personally, when reading theology, I prefer the hard copy.

I'm looking forward to this; I haven't done any serious reading in Brunner since seminary where his The Christian Doctrine of God was used in the introductory theology class (along w/the compendium of Calvin's Institutes and an assortment of John Wesley's sermons). I fought with understanding Brunner for the first hundred or so pages, but once I "got it," I loved it. I thank Dennis Kinlaw to this day for teaching me to read theology—and not using some vapid introduction to theology text, but instead forcing us to read the originals. Ad fontes, as they say ("to the sources").
<idle musing>

One in Christ

715 5th P. M. 4 lines 7s.
One in Christ Jesus and with each other.

FATHER, at thy footstool see
   Those who now are one in thee:
   Draw us by thy grace alone:
   Give, O give us to thy Son.

2 Jesus, Friend of human kind,
   Let us in thy name be join’d;
   Each to each unite and bless;
   Keep us still in perfect peace.

3 Heavenly, all-alluring Dove,
   Shed thy overshadowing love;
   Love, the sealing grace, impart;
   Dwell within our single heart.

4 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
   Be to us what Adam lost;
   Let us in thine image rise;
   Give us back our Paradise.
                          Charles Wesley
                          Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)

The hermeneutics of disagreement

Disagreement, says Stout, is limited precisely to the extent that we recognize it as disagreement at all. Absent a larger background of agreement, difference would show up as unintelligibility, not disagreement: “Our disagreements … to be, intelligible, require a background of truths taken for granted” (59, cf. 19-21, 43, et passim). To say “that another society has a moral language is to say that it has Views on at least some of the topics we denominate as moral” (69). It is this larger background of agreement that makes disagreement disagreement and simultaneously affords the promise of translation. Hermeneutical enrichment is a real possibility exactly to the extent that disagreement is parasitic upon a deeper agreement and does not—indeed, it apparently cannot—“go all the way down” (20). We inevitably understand something of those with whom we disagree. Articulating this something, finding its linguistic shape and expounding it, discloses the agreement and simultaneously points the way toward the mutually intelligible judgments that are translation in action.—One True Life: The Stoics and Early Christians as Rival Traditions, 241–42

One sentence sums it up

Jesus is Lord above all lords is the shape of Christian political life.—One True Life: The Stoics and Early Christians as Rival Traditions, 233

Stamp thine image on our heart

714 6th P. M. 6 lines 7s.
Hand in hand to heaven.

CENTRE of our hopes thou art;
   End of our enlarged desires:
   Stamp thine image on our heart;
   Fill us now with heavenly fires:
   Join’d to thee by love divine,
   Seal our souls forever thine.

2 All our works in thee be wrought,
   Level’d at one common aim:
   Every word and every thought
   Purge in the refining flame:
   Lead us, through the paths of peace,
   On to perfect holiness.

3 Let us all together rise,—
   To thy glorious life restored;
   Here regain our Paradise,—
   Here prepare to meet our Lord:
   Here enjoy the earnest given:
   Travel hand in hand to heaven.
                          Charles Wesley
                          Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)