Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace.

Hearing this song played on the bagpipes, I still get goose bumps. I remember when I first heard this particular rendition; I was about fourteen, and I loved it…

But, what is grace? I have so often been enchanted by Fredrick Buechner’s definition. It feels more all-encompassing albeit full of prose. Perhaps I like it because of its prose. Perhaps something in its story speaks a mighty truth.

"After centuries of handling and mishandling, most religious words have become so shopworn nobody's much interested anymore. Not so with grace, for some reason. Mysteriously, even derivatives like gracious and graceful still have some of the bloom left.
"Grace is something you can never get but can only be given. There's no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.
"A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving you is grace. Loving somebody is grace. Have you ever tried to love somebody?
"A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace. There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do.
"The grace of God means something like: 'Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are, because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you.'
"There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can only be yours if you'll reach out and take it.
"Maybe being to reach out and take it is a gift too.”

This grace is amazing.

On Making Plans...

I just emerged from a movie at the theater, and so I am in one of those grand states where your life seems to stretch out before your eyes, and you believe that anything is truly possible. You know, I think this isn't an illusion; this should be the way we think about life most of the time. So, as I wanted to say when I suddenly felt the propulsion to write these words, I am not a movie critic professional. I cannot tell you how this film ranks with the latest Spielberg hit or if I should rate it as a classic. But, it was beautiful. It was a story about love & and making plans. The woman.. needed a plan. She learned that she did not need plans: And she finally found something and someone precious enough not to make plans! And he... he loved her enough that he wanted to make plans with her. Making plans. I've never actually been one of those 5 year planners-- I'm pretty spontaneous, especially at the soul-level.

But I do hope, I do hope... that I will be with someone who loves me enough that he is willing to make plans with me (and visa-versa). In this sense, I think that making plans is dream-making.... It's not about whether or not the plans come true-- We never know this-- But it is about loving someone enough that you hope that the plans will come true-- In fact, isn't this what planning is all about, anyway?! Amen, in this sense, to making plans. I hope you'll come find me...

Power

Power; it is a word that has managed to wrangle up watchword level distinction in the rhetorical realm and culture of American Christianity. Upon first examination, power is a rather simple word. It is composed of two mere syllables, and we hear and us it often; of course, we imagine and even rightfully assume that we know what power implies and consequently understand its associated meaning and subtexts. And yet, as we suggested often in our class, power is a multifaceted word. For example, the website Dictionary.com, our illustrious contemporary Websters, defines power with a sum total of 32 different clauses. Herein, Dictionary.com designates that power refers to the “capability of doing or accomplishing something,” as our class likewise affirmed, and its definition also is made wider, expanding to include such notions as “political or national strength,” the “possession of control or command over others,” and even “deity or divinity” ( ). And thus, even though power has found itself forming and informing ample rally cries and analyses, it is expressed in innumerable ways, and thus the word is intricate, vast, and innocuous.
It is words like these that remind us scholars that we do in fact have important work to do. We are the celebrators of ambiguity, those who find the task of re-definition a deeply reverent one. Therefore, grappling with the word power and offering more shades of substance to our notions of power and the impact of these notions on contemporary American Christianity is one of the objectives of this paper. For ultimately, if we look into our traditional concepts of power, likewise impacted by our culture, and juxtapose these definitions with specific Gospel depictions of power, the meaning that emerges for contemporary Christians is momentous. Likewise, this re-definition of power is pertinent for the task of reconciliation. As American Christianity becomes increasingly polarized by ideologies and opposing facets strive to build up support and power for their side, we are challenged to imagine the shape of God’s power and what God would, in fact, have us do. This brings us to the second word that will largely inform this narrative; the word is grace.

Morning Theological Reflection

I have been sitting in a coffee shop for the last hour or so, proofreading, thinking deeply, and working on my own thesis around reconciliation and religion and the arts. Two men in proper clothing and loud voices have continued to discuss everything from Tiger Woods to Shaq. For a moment, I felt like I belonged to a completely different world... but it wasn't filled with judgment (I hope)... just difference. I would like to to use my intellect and imagination for a truly good purpose. I hope that this wish can inspire me to continue on, even when things are difficult. Perhaps, today, one of the greatest things I am learning is to value what I bring and to let this sense of loving value sing deeply from my heart. Someone may not understand and yet, I don't truly desire to be understood as much as I hope for mere connection, to bridge divides, and to live with the resilient power and strength that comes from peace and listening to God.

Love: What I Have Learned

What I Have Learned:

When it happens to you, you don't have to wonder.... In some sense, you find yourself captive to a power that is so truly sweet and surrender is really the only option you have.... At the best of times or ways, the Holy Spirit is leading you in it all... It keeps one balanced. It keeps one honest. It keeps one capable of love that is neither about possession or manipulation but just pure openness, care, & grace. And then you don't write words like these to brag. Bragging is not even possible, because it is all about faith. And if your heart should break in the process, you know you're not alone in the fellowship of the heart-broken... and so, although fear will be a sibling, it can never speak as loud as love. And love: It is more pragmatic than simply being practical.

Morning Gratitude

This morning I am wondering: What gives us the capacity to dream? Sometimes I wonder this particularly about youth. Some youth seem so closely connected to their dreams and passions, and this has always been an inspiration to me. Perhaps I have never grown up in this way. You know, I am glad to say those words.

There's been a lot of worry in the air the last year. The words the economy have been launched at us from various media platforms, and many are also feeling the effects in their own pocketbooks. Then too there is the conversation around security, and the whole dialectic of fear that has been so pervasive that scholars have gone to aims to unpack the meaning for the people.

Sometimes I am tired of the rhetoric of American politics; it is so often too two-sided. I don't think in twos. I like to think in either ones or threes. :)

I wonder why when the time comes to write, the words sometimes feel adolescent, like I am feigning for just the right phrase, and yet I haven't the ability to reach beyond abstractions and inspirational sayings.

The last few days I have been blessed, in particular, by prayer. How come what may feel like one of the most mundane activities can suddenly be full of such dramatic possibility?!?! I am grateful.

New Year Perspectives

The New Year has arrived and hope is palpable. I experience most of my days with a vivid gratefulness for the stream of people that pass-- that intersect with my path. I see myself dreaming again and again about the future, drawing up deep dreams. With all of my laughter and joy comes an underlying fear: What if all of this would fade away? This fear I will not hide. And yet, fear's presuppositions are never complete. I trust in a different story.