Liturgy of "today" (and tongues)
Today started a new series of liturgy for the Daily Office. It was amazingly relevant and as powerful as some of the charismatic and intimate moments I've had with the Lord. I've even found that tongues can have a part in it.
I found for today a sense of creed or purpose that I am a part of. The Daily Office as work of Gospel and Paul Tillich's notion that life is a dialectic of estrangement and reunion with God work strongly in my heart today.
I found for today a sense of creed or purpose that I am a part of. The Daily Office as work of Gospel and Paul Tillich's notion that life is a dialectic of estrangement and reunion with God work strongly in my heart today.
posted by Learner at 2/27/2006 08:08:00 AM
4 Comments:
So are these ways of communicating with God; tongues, Gospel, Christ, existentialism. How can we understand wheteher these ways are the true ways or not; are they of God or the enemy of our soul. Should we spend more time worrying about God rather than worrying about the enemy of our soul. All these topics could be the way to communicate with God, just as Paul uses the metaphor of the Church being the body of many members, maybe there are many ways to communicate with God. Because there are many people who are created in many wyas, there must be many ways of communicating to God. Be good!
I think that I would define them as follows:
- Gospel - the redemptive act of God to the world through Jesus the Christ; changes everything. Tillich calls it the New Being and says that all prophesy from prior to Christ must be judged on His work and all from that point must be judged against it
- Tongues - just a prayer language that puts vocals to groanings and workings that every Christian has (my def)
- Existentialism - way of looking at humans in which their decisions metaphysically shape their existence. Who I am is simply a compilation of the decisions I make. Taken to an extreme a person's essence doesn't exist until they make choices. For me, we are mostly existential, but there are elements from the Fall and maybe even more importantly of being created in the image of God which have also formed us essentially.
The grouping you have of these things as ways of communication is interesting. I would say that they are elements of the Christian life (kind of). For example, tongues is one way of communicating, but it's actual quite poor. Perhaps its uttering mysteries, but its one-way. I can't imagine the Lord saying, "Oh thank goodness, we are so much closer because you speak in tongues!" I see it as one of many special elements that God may want to include in a relationship. Like when a spouse touches her lover with just that right amount of pressure to say, "This is great - I, love, you). Existentialism is a way of understanding our make-up. I think it's premise has been around since antiquity (some consider Solomon in Ecclesiastes to be the first existentialist). While it's helped many, it has become a false-god to others. I see the Gospel as God resetting the rules through His own life in flesh. Jesus is not dictating a refreshed law, but restructuring the conscience with His Spirit. The Temple is no longer a shrine requiring homage from a distance, but the Spirit touching the messiness of humanity in its deepest pain, deceit, and possibility. He offers everything, but formula. He offered and continues to offer Himself. And life for everyone, in every culture, for every period since that intersection with history has been changed.
There are many enemies to our soul; the biggest being ourselves. I suspect when we walk in the realm of the Gospel (its manifestation being the Kingdom through humble servants/lovers, the Church), that the enemy will come to you. How can he not? Typically, attention on the Lord spoils the fuel for Satan or those alienating thoughts and behaviors we fan. On occasion, I suspect focused attention on the enemy will be needed.
I looked at the book God's Blogs, and it states that maybe we should not look at being created in His image as how, but as why. We were created to be joyous, judging, and other forms attitudes and emotional states.
I have also been thinking about our enemy. Should we being to hate or dislike ourselves? If we are our greatest enemy then we should seek to destroy ourselves or be slaves to God, who we were created in the image of.
But, I think that we focus on these three forms of communication, in addition to many other forms. Thank you for the definitions of Gosepl, tongues, and existentialism. Be good!
I would suspect immersion in the things that are near to the heart of God is the best way to crack through the poison within us.
I love that idea of looking at "why" as the motivation for God creating us in his image. But, I wonder if it's possible to seperate the "how" from the "why?" When John makes the statement, "God is love." It seems like he is intentionally infusing both ideas.
Thought provoking...
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