tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6935245960496340802024-03-19T05:33:08.366-04:00moves and removeskessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.comBlogger159125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-72670935924041712262014-03-13T18:02:00.000-04:002014-03-31T23:16:31.014-04:00a new site! >> kessiareyne.com<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0lYeGjwkKfz2_Ocx5p_plaC6cbK3ltBXmVN9YtsaNf-UlbcrjyUkJU4lW1KgZ3xiKRc3yN6xa0zpk7Oeb0iJgC1nUS9I95uHIGer1r5teQJOSWVuHBLmwfcy_vqJqV4k5Q2tkjoAix3k/s1600/985245_16792578.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0lYeGjwkKfz2_Ocx5p_plaC6cbK3ltBXmVN9YtsaNf-UlbcrjyUkJU4lW1KgZ3xiKRc3yN6xa0zpk7Oeb0iJgC1nUS9I95uHIGer1r5teQJOSWVuHBLmwfcy_vqJqV4k5Q2tkjoAix3k/s1600/985245_16792578.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
Friends! moves and removes (that's the name of this blog you're reading) has found a new home: <br />
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<a href="http://www.kessiareyne.com/">http://www.kessiareyne.com</a></div>
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Blogspot has been so good to me over the last many years, but I was ready for a change and needed to get more things in one place. The site itself isn't quite finalized, but I published a new blog post anyway :) <a href="https://kessiareyne.squarespace.com/blog/2014/3/13/images-screens-wishes" target="_blank">Check it out</a> and tell me what you think! There's also a place to subscribe by email or RSS and, of course, to leave your comments. Hope to see you there! </div>
kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-15572055816325251682014-01-16T21:16:00.002-05:002016-05-03T15:30:01.224-04:00The Exact Truth Should Be the Law of Speech<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Sensationalism. Scandal-mongering. Name calling. "News." ––It seems that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism" target="_blank">yellow journalism</a> is back with a vengeance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Maybe we can blame the 24-hour news cycle that fills the airwaves with, uh, something </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. . . even when it has nothing to say. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Maybe we can blame the rise of video for making us all more interested in a 45-second clip of anything even when it has nothing to do with something. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Maybe we can blame an increasingly polarized political situation in which the other guy is wrong because, well, he's WRONG, okay? He just is. Never has a politician been so anti-American and backwards as this guy! Only fools and monsters would vote for him! </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">––thus distorting our sense of proportion and demonstrating our inability to follow well-reasoned arguments to reasonable conclusions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> This is bad for our political climate, bad for our policy-making, bad for our neighborliness, bad for our critical thinking, <span style="font-size: x-large;">bad bad bad</span>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> It's bad in the world, but it's far worse when it's in the church. Sermons and blogs and "news" stories in which we underhandedly denigrate believers who believe differently than we do, in which we defame by exaggeration or misrepresentation, in which we thinly veil our slander under the guise of journalism or righteous reformation: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">this is the body of Christ eating itself, one bloody bite at a time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Father, Son, and Spirit weep at the sight of these things.</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord." </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But I say to you, Do not swear at all, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">or by earth, for it is his footstool, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Let your word be "Yes, Yes," or "No, No"; </b></span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>anything more than this comes from the evil one</b>. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">[matthew 5:33-37, nrsv]</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jesus told us to "swear not at all." For those of us not really in the habit of making oaths and swearing by things, what's the message for us? >> The exact truth should be the law of speech. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> In a world of multiplying divisions and deepening divides, where words are wielded to wound and the "other" is an enemy, this message of Jesus is an eminently relevant one: SPEAK ONLY THE TRUTH. When you speak of your brother, speak only the truth. When you represent the beliefs of your sister, speak only the truth. When you disagree with that preacher publicly, speak only the truth. When you need to criticize an author, speak only the truth. The exact truth should be the law of speech.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Jesus proceeded to lay down a principle that would make oath taking needless. He teaches that the exact truth should be the law of speech. 'Let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatsoever is more than these is of the evil one.' . . . . </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /> "If these words of Christ were heeded, they would check the utterance of evil surmising and unkind criticism; for in commenting upon the actions and motives of another, who can be certain of speaking the exact truth? How often pride, passion, personal resentment, color the impression given! A glance, a word, even an intonation of the voice, may be vital with falsehood. Even facts may be so stated as to convey a false impression. And 'whatsoever is more than' truth, 'is of the evil one.'</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /> "Everything that Christians do should be as transparent as the sunlight. Truth is of God; deception, in every one of its myriad forms, is of Satan; and whoever in any way departs from the straight line of truth is betraying himself into the power of the wicked one. Yet it is not a light or an easy thing to speak the exact truth. We cannot speak the truth unless we know the truth; and how often preconceived opinions, mental bias, imperfect knowledge, errors of judgment, prevent a right understanding of matters with which we have to do! We cannot speak the truth unless our minds are continually guided by Him who is truth.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /> "Through the apostle Paul, Christ bids us, 'Let your speech be alway with grace.' 'Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.' (Colossians 4:6, Ephesians 4:29)"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Ellen White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 67-68.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Christian, as you speak, tweet, post, or share, remember: </span></div>
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<span style="color: #a64d79; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">the exact truth +</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;"> </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">alway with grace.</i></span></div>
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kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-79129127813490139622014-01-09T19:13:00.001-05:002016-05-03T15:31:28.554-04:00Wishing Him Well But Withholding My Applause<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> About a week ago, former pastor Ryan J Bell wrote a piece giving a brief history of his religious experience and announcing his plans to "try on" atheism for the year of 2014. (You can read that post on his just-for-the-project blog <a href="http://yearwithoutgod.com/2013/12/31/a-year-without-god-a-former-pastors-journey-into-atheism/" target="_blank">HERE</a> and see a catalogue of his contributions to The Huffington Post, where the article was published, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-j-bell/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.) He says, "I will not pray, read the Bible for inspiration, refer to God as the cause of things or hope that God might intervene and change my own or someone else's circumstances." Unsurprisingly, the reactions have been varied. Some are supporting his experiment in living without God as an undertaking of intellectual virtue, moving beyond the answers of faith to seriously consider the atheistic alternative. Others are doubtful that one can play atheist and not let one's religious convictions, however troubled, get in the way. Many are endorsing Bell's efforts as a laudable act of refreshing honesty, finally admitting the doubts that many religious people keep hidden. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Some Christians are of the mind that his experiment in atheism is "courageous," "brave." They see this "journey into atheism" as a bold authenticity demonstrated in the face of the inevitable backlash (which has manifested itself, in part, in losing his adjunct teaching positions at Azusa Pacific University and Fuller Seminary; read Bell's own summary <a href="http://yearwithoutgod.com/2014/01/07/the-golden-rule-still-applies/" target="_blank">HERE</a>). In this telling, Ryan Bell is the unpopular man standing for his convictions as an act of heroism, spiritual authenticity, and intellectual honesty. The cheers go up: "Courageous! Way to stand out on your own, Ryan! Way to do the unpopular thing!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> It's easy to start nodding along to this cheerleading. After all, many of us still consider Ryan Bell a part of our religious community. Present circumstances and choices notwithstanding, he lived as a Seventh-day Adventist believer and pastor for decades and many of us were blessed by his words and example. At least on the emotional level, he's still one of "us." And for people both within and without the Adventist community, there's a righteous urge to stand with the guy catching trouble for being "true to himself" and to protect him from bad things that might look like persecution (usually labeled as "hate" by the fifth post in a comments section). Further, many of us religious people DO have unanswered questions about a lot of things and if we've ever felt that the church was an unsafe place to share our sincere questions, there's something about Ryan's experiment that sounds so . . . exhilarating. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">But, having no ill will toward Ryan Bell or any of his supporters, I submit that</span> <i><b><span style="color: #0c343d;">people who believe the gospel of Jesus Christ should not be applauding this experiment in atheism and should instead see it for what it is: an abandonment of Jesus and His gospel. </span></b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So let's talk a little bit about <span style="font-size: x-large;">courage</span>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Having questions about the reality of God's existence is not inherently courageous nor inherently cowardly. Sometimes atheists wonder if maybe there is a god out there after all. Sometimes theists wonder if "God" is just a figment of the collective human imagination. Also, sometimes I wonder if there are mice in my apartment or if I'm just imagining those sounds. Wondering isn't necessarily brave or courageous; it is a reflex, sometimes nurtured into a habit, of the mind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Yet what one <i>does</i> with those questions, those wonderings, those doubts may be cowardly or courageous. And the evaluation one makes on this point––commendably courageous or unforgivably cowardly?––is a moral one, it rests on a certain construal of reality and so of morality. Those with a Christian construal of reality have no grounds to consider this experiment an act of moral virtue.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Perhaps observers from all sides could agree that an experiment like Ryan Bell's is "dangerous," in that it is endangering the convictions and lifestyle that he has maintained up till now. Depending on your philosophical leanings, this danger could be the worst thing in the world or the best––is he moving closer to or further away from truth? Is he moving further toward or further away from actual reality? Your answer depends on what you think is true and what you think is right. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> A citizen who gives intelligence to an enemy power is doing something really quite dangerous: he is in danger of being discovered and convicted and executed for treason. High-risk! Most his fellow citizens will condemn his dangerous behavior as treacherous still, helping the "wrong" people; most with interests in the foreign power will commend his dangerous behavior as courageous, displaying a self-sacrificial willingness to aid the "right" cause. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Shall we call Ryan Bell's experiment courageous? I speak here to my fellow Christian believers, the saints who are in Christ Jesus. Shall we commend Ryan Bell for bravery, applaud his gumption, shield him from any Christian critique? Though some have, none of us should.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why not? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is not because I wish to uncritically silence every doubt knocking about in the heads of thoughtful people. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is not because I think doubting God's existence is a sin. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is not because I'd like to see atheists (or doubters) dehumanized or treated without respect. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is because my commitment to the person of Jesus Christ will not allow me to applaud the move of someone who is, in his own words, living "as if" God doesn't exist. It doesn't allow me to think that "God is big enough to handle my questions" means "It's acceptable to turn my back to Him and look to profit from writing about it." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I know a little something about Christian faith and Christian doubt. Several years after my spiritual conversion I spent quite a while in the land of This Might All Be A Weird And Time-Consuming Sham. And what my sojourn there taught me was that a Christian can have legitimate doubts and explore their real possibility <i><span style="color: #134f5c;">from a place of faith</span></i>. To atheists, this may sound like hopeless intellectual hypocrisy, but everybody has questions and everybody has got to explore those questions from <i><span style="color: #134f5c;">some</span></i> place. In consideration of all He has done on my behalf, I'd like to literally give Jesus the benefit of the doubt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> ––Which is what I wish Ryan Bell would do. He has his reasons, perhaps not all shared publicly. He has a personal history unique to him and a relationship with God that I can't pretend to give a reliable judgment about. I'm not looking to offer any judgment on issues of his salvation or conscience or motivations. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I wish rather to speak to the well-meaning Christian faithful in my Facebook feed, my Twitter timeline, and my RSS feed: side with faith, side with Jesus. If you're a person who has embraced the "<span style="color: #134f5c;">Jesus. All.</span>" ethic, recognize that what Ryan's doing <i><span style="color: #134f5c;">isn't that</span></i>. It's anti-Jesus, taking off his personal faith to live in skepticism. Wish Ryan well, greet him warmly if you meet him, pray for him, but don't offer applause for his 365-day renunciation of the gospel and of God. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Maybe at the end of 2014 he'll find theism is an intellectually and experientially viable option, maybe he'll even return to Christian faith and to the Church. That's what I'm rooting for, but in the meantime, I'll hold my applause. </span>kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-29242662576512090242013-10-25T01:03:00.000-04:002016-05-03T15:33:08.493-04:00the flood & why<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was thinking about the flood -- the whole-earth <i><u>mabbul</u></i> that swallowed the world with water and drowned almost every living thing. <span style="color: #351c75;">I was thinking about the tragedy.</span><br />
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And thinking, Why couldn't God have destroyed the violence without destroying the people? Why couldn't He have fixed the world without destroying humans? Why did God do this unthinkable thing?<br />
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The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was very great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land..."</blockquote>
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Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them." [gen6]</blockquote>
Corruption, rottenness. Evil continually. Filled with violence. <i><span style="color: #351c75;">And it grieved Him to His heart.</span></i><br />
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All the things we hate about this life. Extortion and exploitation. Using and abusing people, the animals, and the land. Plotting, conniving, manipulating. Predation and discarding the weak. Debasement, debauchery. Rivers and pools of pain that multiplied until it all became a flood.<br />
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Why couldn't God have destroyed all of that pain without destroying the people?</div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">>></span> Because God could not separate unwilling sinners from their sin. </div>
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And right now we're in the world millennia after that big flood and I look around and sometimes I'm struck with the beauty of a common rabbit just really enjoying himself in a patch of grass and clover, but a lot of times I'm sickened in the stomach with the realities of corruption, rottenness, evil continually, and violence, just disgusted with all the pain. </div>
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And in these situations we ask God why He doesn't put an end to it. </div>
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But when He tells us that He will, we ask Him why He'd do such a thing in destroying the earth with fire. </div>
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Why can't God just destroy all the pain without destroying people?</div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">>></span> Because God cannot separate unwilling sinners from their sin.</div>
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He'll do so much! He will wait with the patience that even the saints cannot fathom. He'll send His Spirit and His message of rescue and restoration and give every invitation to a people who have stopped up their ears. He will put up with the pain that only an infinite heart can feel. He will consider all the privileges of divinity as something to be set aside, and He will make Himself nothing, and He will be born as a man and will humble Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross. He will pour out every good thing He has and everything He is to save as many as He can from destroying themselves. </div>
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But what He'll never do is force someone into holiness and love. What He'll never do is wrestle away their power of choice, leaving their robot bodies alive and pretending that they're still human. </div>
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God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. And this is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. [jn3]</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A beautiful song that gives voice to a common question. (but: language warning!)</span></div>
kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-53181019384684896922013-10-01T13:08:00.000-04:002016-05-03T15:33:40.036-04:00Never More LovedI never feel more loved than when it is very late and I open the door and walk lightly over the floor and lift the cool, white blanket and put myself into bed and find his leg there––on my side, where it should be––<br />
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and at the touch of my four fingers on his back, he envelopes me: an arm, a leg cast over me, pulls me into him, his forehead against my hair, his breath against my neck, arms enfolding.<br />
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I never feel more loved that when he loves me sleeping, still sleeping, because it tells me that he loves me deep. Down where the muscle meets memory he loves me.<br />
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<br />kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-50831824929702955382013-09-20T01:31:00.002-04:002013-10-02T00:03:11.978-04:00Ode to a Nightingale<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/64eonMsecAA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Benedict Cumberbatch reads "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats. Read along <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/101/624.html" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Plaintive, haunting. Hear the longing of the listener and the troubled, mixed emotions evoked by the nightingale's song. >> What are you longing for, deeply?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiMx-wKRVhWcNmSj2tAKPTML6l6JiVuxtiCy7wKhCNNlCfiYpX-voSzZJYAZx4FRAZ1rGCUMHUWAE2KuSqsYA4Cogg5JlaC5bgLY37yfpsbpytZ0AV_NNy-8jdmO43TFbs-imUIT4UUX8/s1600/IMG_6784.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiMx-wKRVhWcNmSj2tAKPTML6l6JiVuxtiCy7wKhCNNlCfiYpX-voSzZJYAZx4FRAZ1rGCUMHUWAE2KuSqsYA4Cogg5JlaC5bgLY37yfpsbpytZ0AV_NNy-8jdmO43TFbs-imUIT4UUX8/s320/IMG_6784.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-62638621711917389262013-08-26T03:02:00.001-04:002013-08-26T03:02:24.635-04:00cleaning<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had a deep conversation with my soul friend Jonathan today–one of those ones where necessary things are said and it hurts deep but it hurts good. It gave me the stuff I need to hear and made me face the stuff I need to hear myself say. I'm so grateful for that ministry. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"And the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in His wings." (Malachi 4:2)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And I have to avoid the impulse to hide from a light that's too bright.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the sunbeams wash my feet clean</td></tr>
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<br />kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-3033354187179177802013-07-17T17:45:00.000-04:002016-05-03T15:34:33.655-04:00the best marriage advice<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Template>Normal</o:Template> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>152</o:Words> <o:Characters>869</o:Characters> <o:Lines>7</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>1067</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>11.1282</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotShowRevisions/> <w:DoNotPrintRevisions/> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:UseMarginsForDrawingGridOrigin/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026"/> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapelayout v:ext="edit"> <o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1"/> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br />
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<span style="color: #262626;">The best marriage advice I ever got was long before I was ever married. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">An elder from my church could see that I really, really, really liked this Joshua Bennett kid. So he said, </span><br />
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<span style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">"Make a list of all his faults. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I mean, every single one."</span> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">Really? Does that sound like a good idea for building a strong relationship?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">"Then go down that list, one item at a time. <i>Choose to accept each of those faults</i>. If you come to one that you can't accept, then don't marry him. But if you make it through the list, then marry him and enjoy it. ... Later, when you're married and he has the same faults and they're driving you up a wall, you can preserve your sanity by knowing that you've already accepted that about him and it's okay." </span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626;">This sounded really strange to me, but it was immensely helpful. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #262626;">The same things that bugged me about Joshua before we got married are the same flaws that he still has to this day; apparently saying your vows does not instantly perfect a person. But I've chosen to accept and love and support him---so I can get on to really enjoying him :)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: #262626;">Eight years into this marriage and I'm happier than ever---not because I married a perfect man (he's really great! but he's not perfect), but because I chose to accept the man I married. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #262626;">Good advice, Stan. Thanks. </span><br />
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<!--EndFragment-->kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-32050906018389509852013-03-30T00:50:00.000-04:002014-01-12T20:09:23.796-05:00a modern terror of ancient suffering<span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">a poem by Ernesto Cardenal,</span></span><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></b></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="color: #20124d;">an interpretation of the biblical Psalm 22, of David,</span></b><br />
<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="color: #20124d;">from Cardenal's "Salmos de este momento en el mundo"</span></b><br />
<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="color: #20124d;">(click <a href="http://palabravirtual.com/index.php?ir=ver_voz.php&wid=382&p=Ernesto%20Cardenal&t=Por%20qu%E9%20me%20has%20abandonado%20(Salmo%2021)" target="_blank">here</a> to hear this piece read).</span></b><br />
<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="color: #20124d;">An English translation follows.</span></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SALMO 21 (22)</span></b><br />
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<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dios mío Dios mío ¿por qué me has abandonado? </span></b><br />
<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Soy una caricatura de hombre</span></b></b><br />
<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">el desprecio del pueblo </span></b></b><br />
<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Se burlan de mí en todos los periódicos</span></b></b><br />
<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Me rodean los tanques blindados </span></b></b><br />
<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">estoy apuntado por las ametralladoras </span></b></b></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">y cercado de alambradas</span></b></b> </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">las alambradas electrizadas</span></b></b> </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Todo el día me pasan lista </span></b></b> </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Me tatuaron un número</span></b></b> </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Me han fotografiado entre las alambradas</span></b></b> </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">y se pueden contar como en una radiografía todos mis huesos</span></b></b>
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<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Me han quitado toda identificación</span></b></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Me han llevado desnudo a la cámara de gas </span></b></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">y se repartieron mis ropas y mis zapatos </span></b></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Grito pidiendo morfina y nadie me oye</span></b></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">grito con la camisa de fuerza</span></b></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">grito toda la noche en el asilo de enfermos mentales </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">en la sala de enfermos incurables</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">en el ala de enfermos contagiosos </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">en el asilo de ancianos</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">agonizo bañado de sudor en la clínica del psiquiatra </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">me ahogo en la cámara de oxígeno</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">lloro en la estación de policía</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">en el patio del presidio </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">en la cámara de torturas</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">en el orfelinato</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">estoy contaminado de radioactividad</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">y nadie se me acerca para no contagiarse</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pero yo podré hablar de ti a mis hermanos </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Te ensalzaré en la reunión de nuestro pueblo </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Resonarán mis himnos en medio de un gran pueblo </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Los pobres tendrán un banquete</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nuestro pueblo celebrará una gran fiesta </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">El pueblo nuevo que va a nacer.</span></b></div>
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<b>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </b><br />
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">PSALM 21 (22) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My God my God, why have you abandoned me?</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am a caricature of a person</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">despised by the people</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They sneer at me in all the newspapers</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tanks surround me</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">machine guns take aim at me</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">barbed wire, loaded with electricity, imprisons me</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Every day I am being called up</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am tattooed with a number</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They photographed me behind the gates</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and my bones can be counted like on an X-ray</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All identification has been removed from me</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Naked they pushed me into the gas chamber</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and my clothes and shoes they have shared among themselves</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I cry for morphine and no one hears me</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I cry with the straitjacket</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I cry every night in the mental hospital</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">in the ward for incurable patients</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">in the quarantine wing</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">in the asylum of the elderly</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I agonize, covered in sweat, in the psychiatric clinic</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I suffocate with the oxygen tank</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I cry at the police station</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">in the prison courtyard</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">in the torture chamber</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">in the orphanage</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am contaminated with radioactivity</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and no one comes near me, for fear of infection</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But I will speak of you to my brothers</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You I will praise at our public meetings</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My hymns will be sung in large crowds</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The poor will hold a banquet</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our people -- the people yet to be born -- </span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">will rejoice in a great feast.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like this poem mainly for 2 reasons</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Through its contemporization it gives me deeper insight into the sufferings of David and of Christ; it makes me to feel a modern terror of ancient suffering.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. It draws a thick and intolerable line between the suffering Christ and the oppressed and forgotten of today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It 100% succeeds as a poem. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD3X2Y6x_fS9bnwN67uzUidqRVK3jYcdewGnC9_FObJd0u89l__un-NYunpj0-ds7hCMO4Mxh76ElHUoeibMU0uMXh4yZcpKLS0r3jkjvjrPZAw4x7YHoOiYVnMC6_-bA5vu5CE3r7qAA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-29+at+11.48.47+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD3X2Y6x_fS9bnwN67uzUidqRVK3jYcdewGnC9_FObJd0u89l__un-NYunpj0-ds7hCMO4Mxh76ElHUoeibMU0uMXh4yZcpKLS0r3jkjvjrPZAw4x7YHoOiYVnMC6_-bA5vu5CE3r7qAA/s400/Screen+Shot+2013-03-29+at+11.48.47+PM.png" width="397" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a piece of "Golgotha", a painting by Gebre Kristos Desta (1963, Ethiopia) </td></tr>
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<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b></b></div>
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kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-49334816118244072112013-03-04T16:16:00.000-05:002013-03-04T16:16:50.023-05:00Why I Don't Drink Alcohol<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO7bv8890Csgv0duWTb-0mRS5AVkPUFuG1SqA3mXKozh52KjrfZPytCGy7Mu2XkOa7RnUx9OLT9jioVF-4f9RDnFHGkBGO3Y1EHFWpxraB0LJvXv4Mv4pK46jzdM5_HwMMMWoqqoVku9g/s1600/IMG_3047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO7bv8890Csgv0duWTb-0mRS5AVkPUFuG1SqA3mXKozh52KjrfZPytCGy7Mu2XkOa7RnUx9OLT9jioVF-4f9RDnFHGkBGO3Y1EHFWpxraB0LJvXv4Mv4pK46jzdM5_HwMMMWoqqoVku9g/s400/IMG_3047.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sparkling apple juice for me, please! </td></tr>
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In brief, here are 5 reasons why I'm a very happy teetotaler.<br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">1. The taste. Ewww.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">People say that it's an acquired taste, but I don't understand why one would want to acquire it. If you want to acquire the taste of something, try Brussels sprouts or mustard greens.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">2. Math</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Alcohol has proven itself a capable instrument for destruction. 1 in 9 Americans has a problem controlling their consumption, and 30% of Americans have reported experiencing an alcohol disorder at one point in their lives (</span><a href="http://www.alcoholaddiction.info/alcoholism-statistics.htm">1</a>). That is TENS OF MILLIONS of people.<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> From brain damage to liver disease, it causes over $2.5billion in medical costs each year in this country (25-40% of patients in general hospital beds are there for alcohol-related complications; </span><a href="http://www.alcoholpolicymd.com/alcohol_and_health/costs.htm">2</a>)<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. It results in 2.5 million deaths every year worldwide (</span><a href="http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/facts/alcohol/en/index.html">3</a>). <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This year, almost 10000 human beings will be killed in alcohol-related motor vehicles accidents in the US (based on 2011 data, </span><a href="http://www.madd.org/statistics/">4</a>)<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. Many people who are afraid of flying or who get sick at the thought of shark attacks still drink alcohol, even though it is, respectively, 860x and 380000x more likely to kill them (but I guess being mangled by a shark isn't as socially acceptable as drinking). Alcohol brings a lot of trouble and I don't want to participate in it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: x-large;">3. Influence</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">I'm not the president of anything and you won't find my picture in a celebrity magazine, but like everyone I have influence in the world, influence on the people around me. Even if I am a person who can drink moderately and responsibly, my example could lead others to drink what they shouldn't when they shouldn't. But why should my life be restricted by the weaknesses of others? "<span style="color: #0c343d;">Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat [drink], you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.</span>" (<span style="color: #999999;">Romans 14:15,17</span>) In other words, my Christianity bids me to lay down my rights for the sake of protecting others. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">4. The need for sobriety</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">People argue about if alcohol is absolutely forbidden by God in the Scriptures, but one thing cannot be argued: God detests drunkenness. (<span style="color: #999999;">Isaiah 5:11-12, 22; 22:13; 56:12; Hosea 7:14, etc.</span>)</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">There are a lot of things in the world that can harm us spiritually, making us unfit for the life God designed, and drunkenness is definitely among them. This is why the Scriptures repeatedly exhort believers to be sober. (<span style="color: #999999;">Romans 12:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8; 1 Peter 1:13, 5:8</span>) And the closer we come to the close of earth's history, the more important sobriety is.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: x-large;">5. Sensibilities of the spirit</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">One of the most commonly expressed desires among Christian people is to hear from God more often and more clearly. Many times we say it sort of complainingly, as if God is not doing His honest part. But we who utter the complaint are the same ones who dull our spiritual senses with busyness, entertainment, gluttony, and...alcohol. God doesn't speak to us through our shampoo bottles or our glove compartments. <b><span style="color: #38761d;">He speaks to us through our minds.</span></b> So whatever we do to keep our minds clear and reasoned tends toward spiritual health and a close connection with the speaking God. Conversely, whatever clouds our minds also dulls our spiritual senses and makes it harder for us to hear the voice of God. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Clear mind, clear life. </span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Who has <span style="color: #93c47d;">woe?</span> Who has <span style="color: #93c47d;">sorrow?</span> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Who has<span style="color: #6aa84f;"> strife?</span> Who has <span style="color: #38761d;">complaints?</span> Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine...</span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. "They hit me," you will say, "but I'm not hurt! They beat me, but I don't feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?" // proverbs 23:29-35</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #0c343d;">The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you can pray. </span>// 1 peter 4:7 </blockquote>
kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-69343590611733601692013-03-01T01:41:00.000-05:002013-03-01T01:41:01.386-05:00I was made for this<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Were some of us made for the desert and some for the trees? Some for the bluffs and some for the sea? Some for the warmth at the earth's midline? Some for the fragrant covering of pine? Some for the clear waters, some for the ice? Some for the corn fields and some for the rice? Then I --- I was made for this:</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZga__E-1v4cnb7AOavdqinPZwgofJqPT89rUCfXtyw-5-mdYrLG1WqacpBCfmLRktSwKgMT9QnHEVcgIpbk1RcMElf3uGb618KIKkgGMNehOSUy8y85Q4aqZfbrKXE_SZpFUNEXwu7Hs/s1600/IMG_1856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZga__E-1v4cnb7AOavdqinPZwgofJqPT89rUCfXtyw-5-mdYrLG1WqacpBCfmLRktSwKgMT9QnHEVcgIpbk1RcMElf3uGb618KIKkgGMNehOSUy8y85Q4aqZfbrKXE_SZpFUNEXwu7Hs/s1600/IMG_1856.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joshua on Eagle Creek Trail, Oregon</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-58726844399932170332013-02-08T00:40:00.001-05:002013-02-08T00:45:19.471-05:00We Need to Clasp A Hand That Is Warm<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This warmed my heart so much. </span></span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want these words to be my own. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read this aloud to help you hear it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic;">What am I to think when my spirit is sad and longing?</span><i style="color: #232323;"> </i></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was the Maker of all things who ordained the wonderful adaptation of means to end, of supply to need. It was He who in the material world provided that every desire implanted should be met. It was He who created the human soul, with its capacity for knowing and for loving. And He is not in Himself such as to leave the demands of the soul unsatisfied. No intangible principle, no impersonal essence or mere abstraction, can satisfy the needs and longings of human beings in this life of struggle with sin and sorrow and pain. It is not enough to believe in law and force, in things that have no pity, and never hear the cry for help. We need to know of an almighty arm that will hold us up, of an infinite Friend that pities us. We need to clasp a hand that is warm, to trust in a heart full of tenderness. And even so has God in His word revealed Himself.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ellen G. White, <i>Education </i>(page 133)</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-JOkRsoQzA-usvzsq3D2ZHeSb0H6YeBxP8rRJ4dhC_ceo1YlKz_oNB_9k6HnPVn6PqyRkZ2zGLOWgGESU4UVywu7PJ21LmZI8JFiKk31LGABoVbGtHJO_XpP1yPWpCGHsqVTZ5wAO-Y/s1600/IMG_5087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-JOkRsoQzA-usvzsq3D2ZHeSb0H6YeBxP8rRJ4dhC_ceo1YlKz_oNB_9k6HnPVn6PqyRkZ2zGLOWgGESU4UVywu7PJ21LmZI8JFiKk31LGABoVbGtHJO_XpP1yPWpCGHsqVTZ5wAO-Y/s400/IMG_5087.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was God who created the human soul, with its capacity for knowing and for loving.</td></tr>
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kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-49049317436346070532013-01-30T22:43:00.000-05:002014-01-12T20:13:11.165-05:00You're Embarrassing Me<div>
Conversations like this rarely happen in homes of fathers and daughters, but it happened frequently in mine during my teenage years. </div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Dad: I forbid you to buy one more brown piece of clothing. FORBID. </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Kess: Navy and black are still good, though?</span><span style="color: purple;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Dad: Kess, try a little color! Why is everything you own so drab? </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Kess: I don't know... I like it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Dad: You're young! Dress like it! Try some sandals, wear short skirts. Please. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Kess: *blushing and averting eye contact* </span></div>
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Honestly, I was too embarrassed to wear color or to show my feet in public. I was too embarrassed to go through the check-out line at the grocery store. I was too embarrassed to call anyone on the phone (except my best friend Tessa; but I was still hope-hope-hoping her mom wouldn't answer). If someone called me and I was wearing a tank top, I would ask them to hold on a minute; this allowed me enough time to go put on a shirt. So maybe you picked up on it: I was very sensitive to embarrassment. In fact, when I was kid, the worst thing my mom could say to me (as she grabbed my upper arm with, uh, intention) were these words: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You're embarrassing me.</blockquote>
*Shudder. Oh, they pierced to my very soul! And it's half comical, half sad that the main part of my ambition as a child was to not be embarrassing and to not be embarrassed.<br />
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Now I'm a grown woman and I have so much more freedom in life now. I've tried to cultivate the habit of not apologizing for myself and of <a href="http://kreyne.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-things-or-chasing-kittens.html">chasing kittens</a>. But honestly, a lot of the time I still struggle not to be embarrassed about one thing or another, and I spend too much energy laboring with my insecurities. </div>
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<h2>
But here are 3 lessons-in-progress:</h2>
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1. It is only the false self that is embarrassed---the self that wants to be impressive, to maintain an image, to manipulate others' perceptions. The me that I was created to be isn't hampered by that stuff. Jesus designed me for freedom!</div>
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2. I have to be okay with the facts. And here are the facts: I have repeatedly mispronounced the word "banal," I run into things a lot, I'm not musically talented, I am clumsy on the athletic field, and sometimes I have popcorn in my teeth. C'est la vie -- et que belle vie! </div>
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3. Instead of laboring under the rulership of insecurity, I choose to live in the kingdom of TRUTH. And here's the truth >> I am only what I am: imperfect & beloved :) </div>
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So you there! <span style="color: #20124d;">Yes, you! </span>Do you want to walk with me out from the shadow of insecurity and into the freedom of a Christ-identity? </div>
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<span style="color: orange;">I will walk about in freedom, </span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;">for I have sought out your precepts.</span> </div>
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Psalm 119:45</div>
kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-7920307949986655082013-01-27T20:41:00.001-05:002013-01-28T21:16:36.426-05:00Make No Image <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been concerned about the "masculinity" of God. Why does God call "Himself" a "He"? Doesn't it seem that by identifying Godself with the "He" then the "he" is elevated above the "she"? Doesn't it seem that if the divine is masculine, then masculinity is divinized? and femininity is marginalized, made the "other"? A glaring part of the world's brokenness is that it is thoroughly androcentric <span style="color: #999999;">(1)</span>, and a male god seems to be a part of this same damaged and damaging pattern.<br />
<br />
So, again, why? Why does God use masculine pronouns? Here's what I'm learning:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
>> God's biggest problem: how to fit the bigness of divine reality into the smallness of human understanding, but</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
>> All's grace.</blockquote>
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<h2>
God as Person</h2>
I think God uses a gendered pronoun because God is a Person, and the only persons we know are <i>he</i> or she---no "it." God is very concerned that we know God<i> personally.</i> And if in Scripture God switched between He and She, wouldn't we idol-makers have taken that as an excuse for polytheism? Or an exploitative sexualized spirituality? 'Cuz we're like that. And that was already the pattern of religiosity in the Ancient Near East, where God gathered a people and instructed them in worship. <span style="color: #999999;">(2)</span> I even find that using the language of God/Godself leads me to conceptualize God as just those letters: G - O - D. Less personal, more alphabetic.<br />
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I would rather know God as a personal He than as an impersonal It, a hazy force, a fog-like power, or even a string of letters.<br />
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<h2>
The Limits & Necessity of Metaphorical Language</h2>
Metaphorical language <span style="color: #999999;">(3)</span> only gets us so far. To employ a metaphor is to say that something IS and IS NOT like the object to which you are comparing it. For instance, to say, "The road was a ribbon of asphalt in the desert" is to say that the road IS LIKE a ribbon in that it is long and thin and somewhat beautiful and gently twists and turns. But in that the road is not an actual ribbon, it IS NOT LIKE a ribbon in that it is not made of fabric, it does not come on a spool, it is not used to adorn textiles. So the road IS LIKE and IS NOT LIKE a ribbon.<br />
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Our language is saturated with metaphors; it is native to the way we think. "Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature." <span style="color: #999999;">(4)</span> So our religious language and the inspired language of Scripture itself is woven in the fabric of metaphors. <i>Our God is a consuming fire. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. Christ is the Head of the church. And Adam knew Eve (wink, wink). Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel! May our cries come before You...! </i>Speaking and thinking like this is so natural for us that we often don't even notice that our language is metaphorical at all.<br />
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So metaphorical language is necessary. We cannot speak or even think without metaphors. In communicating with us, there is no way that God could have said anything about Godself without using metaphors, likening God to what is not like God.<br />
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And if we try to speak of God WITHOUT metaphor, we end up with something that's more like an Excel sheet of abstract attributes than a description of a living, acting, feeling, thinking Person. It wouldn't mean as much to me to know that a Supreme List were hearing my prayers.<br />
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<h2>
Make No Image</h2>
"You shall have no other gods before me."<br />
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"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them..." (Exodus 20:3-5a)<br />
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Those are excerpts from commandments 1 and 2 of the Ten Commandments. For a long time I thought it was kind of redundant. <i>"Don't worship other gods" and "Don't make idols" </i>sounded like the same thing to me. Now I see it differently. God is not only forbidding the worship of other so-called deities (in commandment 1), but God is also forbidding the making of images of the true God (commandment 2). Remember that whole golden calf incident? They made a calf out of gold and then worshiped it, not calling it Baal or Zeus or Thor, but calling it "your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." The God that sent the plagues and parted the Sea and gathered you here? Behold! Here she is in all her shiny glory! (And they were actually impressed.)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJP3GcuMuT_MQ1VK2g310P_KubStsz9cjFsBYHJRyV3Wyrs9SKxRfhLVY2Mzou1fForcXffzu5j6pRsp38b8CaZ0myRMYVdq_vWWQta0xNxfKmj6N9pueH_PpgxtIhs-gBqyBvXk3Xyo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-01-27+at+7.25.08+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJP3GcuMuT_MQ1VK2g310P_KubStsz9cjFsBYHJRyV3Wyrs9SKxRfhLVY2Mzou1fForcXffzu5j6pRsp38b8CaZ0myRMYVdq_vWWQta0xNxfKmj6N9pueH_PpgxtIhs-gBqyBvXk3Xyo/s400/Screen+Shot+2013-01-27+at+7.25.08+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"My idea of God... has to be shattered time after time."<br />
C.S. Lewis, <i>A Grief Observed</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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God uses metaphors (and similes too) to talk about Godself. God uses metaphor to say that God is a consuming fire---but we aren't to elevate fire as better than wind or grass or clouds, we aren't to worship a flame. God uses metaphor to say that God is a horn---but we aren't to elevate horns as better than teeth or toes, we aren't to worship horns. And yes, God uses metaphor to say that God is He---but we aren't to elevate he as better than she, or (God forbid!) think that God is male.<br />
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<ul>
<li>God is not male. God is suprasexual (that is, above gender, greater than and encompassing gender.)</li>
<li>God created both male and female to bear God's image and likeness. (Gen 1)</li>
<li>Eve is as much in the image of God as is Adam. She is not "other," nor are any of her daughters. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
Oh, the world went dark so quickly! The gates of Paradise were closed and we find ourselves outside of Eden, living in the shattered world of broken relationships and confused thinking. And in this world we live by the code of bias and enemy, of hierarchy and "others," of suspicion and power struggle. So we have gender oppression and real inequalities and a temptation to think that God shares our wicked preferences. </div>
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<br /></div>
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But the Gospel? The Gospel says, <span style="color: #0b5394;">"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all."</span> (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11)</div>
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<span style="color: #999999;">(1)</span> "Thus androcentricism can be understood as a societal fixation on masculinity whereby all things originate. Under androcentrism, masculinity is normative and all things outside of masculinity are defined as 'other.'" Thank you, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androcentrism">Wikipedia</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: #999999;">(2)</span> Polytheism and sexualized worship were common in the nations that surrounded Israel, and unfortunately, as Israel departed from the instruction of God, became part of their worship too. Human beings were thought of as the spawn of divine soap operas, heterosexual and homosexual unions were part of the temple worship, and some rites were meant as human pornography so that the gods would be stimulated to have sex and provide for the earth.<br />
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<br />
<span style="color: #999999;">(3)</span> English refresher: A simile is a comparison of two things using "like" or "as." (<i>He stood like a statue. She gathered her dolls like a doting mother.) </i>A metaphor is a comparison that does not use those comparative words, "like" and "as." (<i>She was a whirlwind, packing the house with an almost violent energy. I've been starved for attention lately.) </i><br />
<i><br /></i><span style="color: #999999;">
(4)</span> <a href="http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/01/metaphors/">http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/01/metaphors/</a>kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-76594086572764092822013-01-26T21:09:00.000-05:002013-01-26T21:09:08.564-05:00God Eats Mashed Potatoes With a Fork<h2>
<span style="color: #a64d79; font-size: x-large;">God is an old white man in the sky >> </span></h2>
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I'm sure you'd disagree. And so would I. And so would everyone (<a href="http://youtu.be/-WybvhRu9KU">including Gungor</a>), at least out loud. </div>
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But in the quiet unspoken parts of our thinking, would we be nodding a little? Would we be murmuring about God liking suits and ties so much because suits and ties are more Godlike? Might we maybe be unthinkingly thinking that God is not male or female---"but He's definitely more male than female"? Or that God is neither White nor Black---"but He's kinda more White than Black"? </div>
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Honestly, do you more easily picture God eating mashed potatoes with a sturdy American fork or egg noodle soup with a flat-bottomed soup spoon? Do you more easily imagine God constructing a rough-hewn fireplace or a cross-stictching a lovely rose image? </div>
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God made us in God's image, </div>
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but we were not satisfied. </div>
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So we made God into ours.</div>
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kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-64768852615974756382013-01-20T00:15:00.000-05:002014-01-12T20:16:05.490-05:00The Hugs Really Are Free<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1868218049"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-O9r2eopdNWuWG0DooqVnJGMPguVA8Vzg5KWt0Ir_Z04zC8Fa3Ghex5Aq60lzKCsShmtp_LwI6wUip0hwHGkD82T7qyfHfdBYWUrf-xnd9yTsC077lGfYn4QFflMLR3BsgyL3SEVZIAU/s640/537181_10151416639443142_1884872038_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://robertphotographics.com/">robertphotographics.com</a></td></tr>
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<br />
Today we went out onto the streets of Chicago to give free hugs to strangers. We were stationed next to a train stop, and a tall fellow with tie-dyed hair and a long trench coat in praise of John Lennon stepped through the doors and lit up at the sight of our "FREE HUGS" sign. He hugged us all at least once. And on his second time through, he asked, "What's this for? Why are you guys doing this?" It was only 7 words into the explanation that he heard the word "God" and his countenance changed. He said, "God?" and took one step back. He bummed a cigarette off the girl at the bus stop, then hung out with one beer in his hand, leaning up against a post like he was waiting for someone. We were 30 feet from him giving hugs away, embracing strangers to acknowledge their humanity and give them personal contact.<br />
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Acknowledgement. Contact. Affirmation. Love.<br />
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For free.<br />
<br />
But this guy was talking cynically to the CTA attendant sweeping up trash. "Yeah, they give the hugs away for free now, but they take you to church and make you pay later." The man with the broom shook his head and gave a slow, "Yeahhh," as if this had happened to everybody.<br />
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I walked to the corner, trying to get Joshua's attention across the street, to tell him that we had to head back. I turned around and there again was this same fellow with the blond and orange hair dressed in a trench coat. His said his name was Max. He motioned to two guys next to him and asked me,<br />
<br />
"Do you wanna forsake Jesus and get f***ed up with me and my friends?"<br />
<br />
"No," I told him. "I'm in it to win it," I said with a laugh.<br />
<br />
But my heart wanted to say,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If you knew what He has done for me, you would know why I cannot forsake Him. And if you knew Jesus, you wouldn't want to leave Him, either. </blockquote>
A crowd from the crosswalk pressed in to our corner and the three of them were leaving, but Max had a question first: "What does God think about pot?" His friend was lighting a joint as I was passing out hugs. "What's God's judgment about pot, huh?" He looked above me, past me, looking at the others with an air of challenge. "What does God think about pot?"<br />
<br />
I caught his eyes and told him, "God has something to say about pot, but He cares more about other things, like love, mercy, and justice."kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-66772910636972502442013-01-06T17:39:00.000-05:002013-01-26T21:11:02.597-05:00Drunk & Reassured<b><span style="color: #351c75;">Busyness is the most prevalent drunkenness of the modern age.</span></b><br />
<br />
"Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day."<br />
<br />
Tim Kreider, in <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/">this piece</a>.<br />
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<br />kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-35081764497558943832012-12-11T16:30:00.000-05:002012-12-13T09:45:58.250-05:00We were impressed<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">We were impressed by the burning bush and the pillar of fire. We thought God was close in the Angel and in the Shekinah. But He wanted to be closer still. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">God-nearby-us wasn't good enough for Him. He gave Himself to become God-with-us. Yet that too was for something more: God-in-us! </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Isn't the Christ child the best gift we never could have expected?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-58808176983717865802012-11-15T12:41:00.000-05:002014-01-12T20:17:20.366-05:00I Love To Hear My Husband SingI love to hear my husband sing,<br />
<br />
because he sings like he lives:<br />
straightforwardly, honestly,<br />
without pretense, without effort to impress.<br />
<br />
I used to be bothered when we stood in the congregation<br />
and he didn't sing along or even mouth the words.<br />
He would stand, sometimes shift uncomfortably,<br />
sometimes close his eyes.<br />
<br />
And I was beside him, singing with extra volume<br />
to make up for his very rude silence,<br />
and to protest his apparent protest.<br />
<br />
But now I realize that he will sing<br />
only when he means it<br />
and he always means it when he sings.<br />
<br />
I love to hear my husband's honest songs to God.<br />
<br />
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<br />kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-148872908903588662012-07-16T15:14:00.000-04:002013-01-26T21:12:35.927-05:00Like a Bat in the Kingdom of Men<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75;">But we see Jesus, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75;"> who was made a little lower than the angels</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75;"> for the suffering of death, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75;">crowned with glory and honor</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75;">that, apart from God, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75;"> he should taste death for everyone.*</span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">…Christ Jesus, who</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"> being in very nature God, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">did not consider equality with God</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"> something to be held onto;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">rather, he made himself nothing, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"> taking on the very nature of a servant, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"> being made in human likeness. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"> And being found in appearance as a man, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"> he humbled himself,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"> becoming obedient to death,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"> even death on a cross!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">Therefore God exalted him to the highest place…**</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<br />
We ourselves are creatures longing always for glory and exaltation. When we receive the promises of God, we receive their glory: eternal rest, neverending day, ceaseless joy. We grasp the hand of God in faith that we may be pulled up to higher planes. We are climbing Jacob's ladder, up, up, up. We envision ourselves as swallows, flying higher and still higher out of darkness and into glory---where we belong.<br />
<br />
But we see the crucified demonstration of Godness is expressed in words like <i>Nothingness, Deadness, Apartness, Lowness. </i>Sin flipped the world, and into that inverted darkness came the Son of God, swooping down like a bat, that upside down creature for whom up is down and down is up. The end of a bat's journey is hanging upside down in darkness.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He placed himself as a sinner among sinners.<br />
He placed himself fully under the judgment under which the world stands.<br />
He placed himself there where God can only be present as a questioning after God.<br />
At his highest, at the goal of his journey, He is a purely negative entity:<br />
by no means a genius, by no means one of occult psychic power,<br />
by no means a hero, leader, poet, or thinker: and precisely in this negation<br />
("my God, my God, why have You forsaken me?")...***</blockquote>
<br />
Christ was nailed to a cross. His head was toward heaven and his feet were toward earth, but as he hung there, everything was upside down. Glory was ignominy, shame was exaltation, forsakeness was redemption, separation was reconciliation, lastness was firstness, lowness was highness. He hung like a bat in the kingdom of men.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">midnight moon</td></tr>
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<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">*Hebrews 2:9</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">**Philippians 2:5-9</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">***Karl Barth, "Der Romerbrief," (Rom 3:22)</span>kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-17171504941695675722012-07-09T17:37:00.000-04:002012-07-09T17:38:32.736-04:00Yet It All Seems Limitless"We get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four of five times more. Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless."<br />
<br />
:: Paul Bowles<br />
<br />
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<br />kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-68455062575847491732012-07-04T10:58:00.000-04:002012-07-07T13:13:34.390-04:00Making Life Choices. While Holding Hands.Making life choices can be agonizing.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://kreyne.blogspot.com/2011/11/as-sara-groves-said.html" target="_blank">I know.</a> I've had to make too many lately.<br />
<br />
You're there, looking at the options, and praying that God would just show you the right one. Could it light up or something? I don't have a sheep fleece; would this North Face one work? Go ahead, God: just whisper the right answer in my ear. TELL ME WHAT THE RIGHT CHOICE IS! Please.<br />
<br />
Since I'm now an expert in making agonizing life choices (ahahahahaaaaa!),<br />
here's my advice to you. Specifically to you, Sonya, since my blog comment didn't post.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;">>></span> Choose whatever path your heart desires, as long as you can take Christ there with you. "Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go..." Don't worry about choosing something that's outside your fate or destiny and thereby ruining your life forever. That won't happen! Your destiny is joy in Christ and life with Him forever. So choose the thing you think you want the most, and take the hand of Jesus, skipping into the bright future! Good things await.<br />
<br />
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<br />kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-19880006623469310652012-06-26T15:22:00.003-04:002014-01-12T20:21:18.490-05:00love : life :: curious : deathI love life. I am not contemplating suicide. Really.<br />
<br />
But sometimes I am the smallest bit impatient to face death.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2007, Hayden Lake, ID</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
My grandfather is dying right now. He may live through the night, but it won't be long until he passes away from life into death.<br />
<br />
His name is Argonne, but most people call him by his abbreviated middle name, "Joe." I've been calling him Pampa since before I could pronounce "Grandpa." He was born in 1922 and just celebrated his 90th birthday a couple of weeks ago. The family game in my tribe is a card game called cribbage and Pampa is an amazing cribbage player. I've never seen anyone beat him. And he never let me win, either.<br />
<br />
I have really fond memories of him and my dad fishing in Coeur d'Alene Lake, while my sister and I paddled around the dock and scared away all the fish.<br />
<br />
The last time I saw him was in June 2007. He was still wearing the thick suspenders and trucker's cap he always wore. He had a scruffy white beard and glassy blue eyes. He laughed just as I remembered him laughing when I was a child.<br />
<br />
I think of him there on his hospital bed at home, with a hospice nurse, head laid back and chest exposed to the open air. He's tired. He's very tired. He says as much. He says he's tired and he's ready to go be with Fran---my grandmother. Thirty-seven years ago he lost her to cancer after 28 years of marriage.<br />
<br />
I think of him at 90 years old, finally facing death. It's not the first time death has been close, but it will likely be the last. And I envy him a bit. Because I am sometimes the smallest bit impatient to face death<br />
<br />
because<br />
<br />
death is THE existential problem. It is the heavy concrete base upon which we must build our philosophies, activities, families, and legacies.<br />
<br />
I have this idea that the quality of life is measured by the experience of death. And so how can I know if all of this work, this life, is worth anything until I can secure a successful death? Death lived (so to speak) in hypothesis or conjecture is meaningless. I want to face it, to have a certainty that my life is ending, and only in that moment will I know myself and the quality of my spirit.<br />
<br />
I won't rush the experience by drinking bleach or walking on train tracks. I'm intensely curious, but only a little bit impatient-- certainly not eager.<br />
<br />
In the time between this moment and the hour of my death, I remember that<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death---that is, the devil---and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. // [hebrews2.14-15] </blockquote>
kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-69743166742526732402012-06-24T12:10:00.000-04:002012-07-09T17:40:20.681-04:00"God, have mercy on me": a page from my journalTo some who were confident of their own rightness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:<br />
<br />
"Two people went into a chapel to pray: one, Kessia Reyne Bennett, an educated Adventist pastor and theologian; and the other, well, not. Kessia Reyne stood up and prayed about herself: '<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">God, I thank You that I am not like other people---Sunday-keepers, pork-eaters, evolution-believers---or even like this "Evangelical." I understand Daniel 7 and I affirm sola scriptura.' </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"><br /></span><br />
But the other person stood in the back. He wouldn't even look up to heaven, but he lowered his head and said, '<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">God, have mercy on me and be my Teacher.' </span>I tell you that this man, not Kessia Reyne, went home justified by God and accompanied by His Spirit. For everyone who humbles himself will be exalted, and everyone who exalts himself will be humbled."<br />
<br />
[<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">luke18.9-14</span>, as He spoke it to me]<br />
<br />
Jesus, I don't feel very righteous... but a lot of times I do feel pretty "right" and see all the ways that others have got it wrong. Theological correctness can make us look down on everyone else. I don't want to be like that, God! I'm sorry for the us-them mindset I've had, my judgmentalism. I know I've thought I could judge someone's relationship or standing with You based on how their theology compared to mine. Yes, it IS important to have right theology, but I want to be "right" without being smug or suspicious, and I don't want to be right in the wrong way! I want to be teachable, generous in spirit, and humble before Your unsearchable Spirit... God, have mercy on me and be my Teacher.<br />
<br />
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<br />kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693524596049634080.post-53921218454373336642012-06-17T14:59:00.002-04:002012-07-09T17:41:01.835-04:00The Miracle in Me(if God can change a wretch like me,<br />
then surely He could calm a troubled sea.)<br />
<br />
(if God from proud to meek can make,<br />
then wine from water He could take.)<br />
<br />
(if God can from guilt make me free,<br />
then why not make blind eyes to see?)<br />
<br />
(if He can the heart convert<br />
and purify what sin perverts,<br />
then surely He might've blessed the bread<br />
and from two loaves five thousand fed.)<br />
<br />
Though miracles may impossible be<br />
I now believe, for I have seen<br />
that God has wrought a wondrous thing:<br />
<br />
the unbelievable, inconceivable, impossible miracle in me.<br />
<br />
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<br />kessia reynehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06261374862108423866noreply@blogger.com1