When I Examine the Pale Grey

This is a poem by someone I know. His name is Chris Rendinaro.

 

When I Examine the Pale Grey

 

I examine the Pale Grey inside my quieted soul

I search a mystery still yet unseen, yet untold.

What is this fit that cometh over me?

Come down on me, Holy Spirit! Try my integrity.
 

I know not why, but ‘tis empty with my heart

Do you work within me, Lord? O! Cleanse every part!

Is my spirit foul, or is my spirit fair?

I gaze into Thine Law

To check my faults I search and stare

into the mirror of your Word.
 

The sting of death is sin, the gift of God is life

I will press on in Christ and His covenant

Sorrowful, but strong in strife.
 

The word of the Lord is true

from His mouth breathed and spoken.

Afflicted I may be, but my faith shall go unbroken.
 

For as He bled in agony

And took of my misery

Slain He lives, lifted to victory.

Only the crucified go righteous when risen.

And He must win the battle.

 

 

Soli Deo gloria,

 - The Reader





True Spirituality and Social Action

I have been meditating on James 1:26-27, and been confronted with my sinfulness. I was moved one day when reading a book by one of the foremost pastors in the twentieth century, John Stott. What follows is a selection from John Stott's book Issues Facing Christians Today pp.53-54.

(Begin Stott) These human but godlike creatures are not just souls (that we should be concerned exclusively for their salvation), not just bodies (that we should care only for their food, clothing, shelter and health), nor just social beings (that we should become entirely preoccupied with their community problems). They are all three. A human being might be defined from a biblical perspective as "a body-soul-in-a-community". That is how god has made us. Therefore, if we truly love our neighbours, and because of their worth desire to serve them, we shall be concerned for their total welfare, the well-being of their soul, their body and their community. Our concern will lead to practical programmes of evangelism, relief, and development. We shall not just prattle and plan and pray, like that country vicar to whom a homeless woman turned for help, and who (doubtless sincerely, and because he was busy and felt helpless) promised to pray for her. She later wrote this poem and handed it to a regional officer of Shelter.

                 I was hungry,
                         and you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger.
                 I was imprisoned,
                         and you crept off quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release.
                 I was naked,
                        and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
                 I was sick,
                        and you knelt and thanked God for your health.
                 I was homeless,
                        and you preached to me of the spiritual shelter of the love of God.
                 I was lonely,
                        and you left me alone to pray for me.
                 You seem so holy, so close to God
                        but I am still very hungry - and lonely - and cold.

So many Christians have been involved in coming alongside the poor and powerless, the sick, addicted and imprisoned since the time of Christ, not only serving their immediate needs, but also seeking justice on their behalf. Why have they done it? Because of the Christian doctrine of man, male and female all made in the image of God, though all fallen. Because people matter. Because every man, woman and child has an intrinsic, inalienable value as a human being. Once we see this, we shall both set ourselves to liberate people from everything dehumanizing and count it a privilege to serve them, to do everything in our power to make human life more human. (End of Stott)

Some Select Scriptures that Come to Mind

 

Mark 12:28-31 (all NASB below)

 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

 

Matthew 25:31-46

To just pick out a verse: Then He [Jesus] will answer to them, 'Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

 

James 1:26-27

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

 

 

     Heavenly Father, forgive us of our apathy and self-centerdness. Cleanse my heart and renew it to the sensitivity of Your own which despises injustice and lovelessness, especially from we who know your love and forgiveness in Christ. His work on the cross was the quintessential showing of love for the unlovely and loveless, faithfulness to the unfaithful, selflessness to the selfish, help for the helpless. Oh God, the showing of grace to rebellious sinners, of who I am chief. We praise you Lord, for the indescribable gift of your Son Jesus, who is our propitiation. Lord, help us to follow your commands, give us holy motivation and empowerment to act in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have called us. Thank you Father, for your infinite grace, we groan for the day when you will make all things new. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

 

Soli Deo gloria,

 - The Reader



Excuses

"An excuse is a lie, stuffed into the skin of reasonability."

         - Dr. Donald Fowler

 

In the context of speaking about excellence and the excuses made for mediocrity.


Soli Deo gloria,
 - The Reader

Word and Deed

There is a saying among Christians, "Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary, use words." That is attributed at times to St. Francis Assisi (though it probably wasn't him). Perhaps you've heard it said another more popular way, "Preach the Word, if necessary, use words." This is a common enough exhortation and platitude given to Christians in warning of talking about the Bible or Gospel too much, instead of living it. A warning to hypocrites. Truly though, on closer inspection, the statement falls apart. To quote Mark Galli in the above hyperlinked article, "Preach the gospel—use actions when necessary; use words always." That is his proposed statement that is better, in his eyes. He also quotes Justin Tayler who said, "the Good News can no more be communicated by deeds than can the nightly news." While he rips this phrase apart in the article for such things as its "postmodern assumption," I think he is being a little unfair. If perhaps you thought that this quote was meant to be the end-all word on the matter, then yes he would be right. However, what this statement is trying to express, for it was perhaps ripped out of a revealing context, is that we are to be living sermons. Edward Guest wrote similarly in a poem:

 

Sermons We See

 

"I'd rather see a sermon
than hear one any day;
I'd rather one should walk with me
than merely tell the way.
The eye's a better pupil
and more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing,
but example's always clear;
And the best of all preachers
are the men who live their creeds,
For to see good put in action
is what everybody needs.

I soon can learn to do it
if you'll let me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action,
but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lecture you deliver
may be very wise and true,
But I'd rather get my lessons
by observing what you do;
For I might misunderstand you
and the high advice you give,
But there's no misunderstanding
how you act and how you live."

 

I disagree with both of the above authors, we are called to speak and do. I joyfully concede that the Gospel is meant to be proclaimed. However, the more known saying "Preach the Word, if necessary, use words" moves a bit away from the above authors, and others, problems with the more original form. This form, perhaps, by replacing the word 'Gospel' with 'Word' better conveys the point that we are to be living sermons and escapes the bad misreading that we are to put proclaiming on the backburner to serving. There is obviously no place for that, it is an overly critical reading of the quote. So I prefer that form of the saying, though admittedly, it still has its difficulties. However, the point of it is clear: the Christian's life is to be a testimony in both word and deed - the quote hitting on the side we perhaps falter on more. We must remember the damage that a hypocritical life can do, and as the quote and poem remind us, our actions are much more telling than our words. Proclaiming and speaking the Gospel to one who is a friend, particularly one won through your Christ-like character in daily living, is obviously preferable and will be taken more seriously by the person who can with firsthand knowledge see it's power in your life.

 

Soli Deo gloria,

 - The Reader

 



Prose that Sings from Augustine and Stoner

A quote from Augustine, one of the greatest church fathers concerning the incarnation of Jesus:

Man’s maker was made man,
that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast;
that the Bread might hunger,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired on its journey;
that the Truth might be accused of false witness,
the Teacher be beaten with whips,
the Foundation be suspended on wood;
that Strength might grow weak;
that the Healer might be wounded;
that Life might die.


A quote from Timothy Stoner in The God Who Smokes in response to "love wins," arguing that, Biblically speaking, holy love wins.

The love that won on the cross and wins the world is a love that is driven, determined, and defined by holiness. It is a love that flows out of the heart of a God who is transcendent, majestic, infinite in righteousness, who loves justice as much as he does mercy; who hates wickedness as much as he loves goodness; who blazes with a fiery, passionate love for himself above all things. He is Creator, Sustainer, Beginning and End. He is robed in a splendor and eternal purity that is blinding. He rules, he reigns, he rages and roars, then bends down to whisper love songs to his creatures. His love is vast and irresistible. It is also terrifying, and it will spare no expense to give everything away in order to free us from the bondage of sin, purifying for himself a people who are devoted to his glory, a people who have “no ambition except to do good”. So he crushes his precious Son in order to rescue and restore mankind along with his entire creation. He unleashes perfect judgment on the perfectly obedient sacrifice and then pulls him up out of the grave in a smashing and utter victory. He is a God who triumphs… He is a burning cyclone of passionate love. Holy love wins.


Soli Deo Gloria
 - The Reader

Prose that Sings from G.K. Chesterton

I have the same reaction nearly everytime I read him: witty, pithy, insightful, profound. I wish I would’ve written that.

Chesterton describes Easter morning:

On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realized the new wonder; but even they hardly realized that the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn.”

Chesterton again, making the case for humility as childlike wonder:

Humility is the thing which is for ever renewing the earth and the stars. It is humility, and not duty, which preserves the stars from wrong, from the unpardonable wrong of casual resignation; it is through humility that the most ancient heavens for us are fresh and strong. The curse that came before history has laid on us all a tendency to be weary of wonders. If we saw the sun for the first time it would be the most fearful and beautiful of meteors. Now that we see it for the hundredth time we call it, in the hideous and blasphemous phrase of Wordsworth, “the light of common day.” We are inclined to increase our claims. We are inclined to demand six suns, to demand a blue sun, to demand a green sun. Humility is perpetually putting us back in the primal darkness. There all light is lightning, startling and instantaneous. Until we understand that original dark, in which we have neither sight nor expectation, we can give no hearty and childlike praise to the splendid sensationalism of things.
 

Soli Deo Gloria
 - The Reader