Matthew under the arm 50
We went into a little Church yesterday. There was a local festival. I can't remember the name of the saint who was the focus of the celebration. At the end, as we were leaving, we couldn't help overhearing an argument between a priest and another visitor. It seemed as if the visitor objected to what the priest said. I can only guess that it was one of those pathetic arguments between different styles of Christianity. Inevitably, like all such arguments, someone was 'right' and someone was 'wrong'. I spoke to Columba and asked him to go and put both of them right. He didn't. But he went to the back seats and knelt in prayer. Eventually the arguers noticed and fell silent themselves. They also noticed that Columba's back was rising and falling as if he was having difficulty in breathing. I rushed to his side. He was weeping. The priest and his adversary came to help. Nothing was said, but we all realised what was the cause of his sadness which he took into prayer and silence.
Matthew 12:15-21….
Christians have all too often distorted the Christ-like life. Christendom can seem distinctly noisy and even egotistically strident whereas Christ makes few if any assumptions. And yet, there is a strange paradox, the gentlest Christians have often been the strongest – the ones whom we have to strain to hear have spoken loudest. Jesus wanted to avoid too many assumptions being made about him, as his Father’s Kingdom was not yet realised. This psychology is particularly difficult in our age when celebrity is revered and yet there is a vacuous quality to it .
Come to me and I will give you the Spirit of Love, Truth and Service
The desire to have my ego fed is so strong and yet can never be satisfied. It becomes an addiction particular in religion, where some personalities want to have spiritual power. The Kingdom of God is the 'otherness' of God. There are tastes of it now, but there is always a part of the ‘kingdom-process’ that is not yet…. So establish silence that in itself is a placing of the attention beyond the desire of satisfaction. By the service of others, the feeding of that love through silent meditation, I enter into the life of Christ the powerless one whose authority was of God.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
Labels: Prayer Reconciliation
posted by Martin at 8:26 am
2 Comments:
so where there appears to be no leadership, it's just that the shepherd is waiting for his sheep to choose their own direction, he is just their to protect them from harm.
running behind, holding the saddle as it were.
So what does one do when the teaching from the pulpit is erroneus? Sit and do nothing? Pray yes but the harm has already been done: it's already in public domain as it were. What if the preacher says that although it is in the Bible they don't really believe it is true? Is that following Christ? Is that Christianity? How are people in the pew to know truth from error, and real Christianity when so many who profess to be teachers/pastors do not believe the very faith they teach? What do we in the pew do. We want real faith, abiding faith and working faith.
The church by it's nature can encompass many variants but there must surely be some things that are unchangeable that are the foundations of our faith. What happened to one of the best Anglican statements of faith, the 39 articles?
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