A Prayer of an Irish monk

here's a prayer from Columbanus a 5th century irish monk:

“Loving Savior, be pleased to show yourself to us who knock, so that in knowing you, we may love only you, love you alone, desire you alone, contemplate only you day and night, and always think of you. Inspire in us the depth of love that is fitting for you to receive as God. May our love be so great that the many waters of sky, land and sea cannot extinguish it in us.”

We cannot unscramble an egg...

A passage from Forgotten among the Lilies by Ronald Rolheiser:

"We need a theology of brokenness. We need a theology which teaches us that even though we cannot unscramble an egg, God’s grace lets us live happily and with renewed innocence far beyond any egg we may have scrambled. We need a theology that teaches us that God does not just give us one chance, but that every time we close a door, he opens another one for us.”

Témoins - Day conference on Emerging Church

On Thursday I attended a day conference on the Emerging Church. The main speaker was Gabriel Monet who spoke about the different aspects of the emerging Church.

He included the observation that there are 3 main 'types' of Emerging Church -

(their raison d'être)

1. Those centred on mission (café church, cyber-church...)

2. Those centred on the development of community (monastic, social projects...)

3. Those centred on innovating the liturgy.

I reflected on my personal slant, and i'm maybe more inclined towards the 3rd 'type' - seeing a more creative liturgical 'event' though i'm also interested in the missional aspect.

I see SatMix as predominantly a mix of innovation and missional though i'd also like to see a community developing (albeit in a loose manner).

I was hoping to discover emerging groups here in France but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much evidence (hopefully i'm wrong !)

here's something from Témoin's website:

Dans une société en mutation, des formes nouvelles d’Eglise se développent pour permettre une expression de la foi en phase avec le changement culturel. Depuis plus de dix ans, Témoins, association chrétienne interconfessionnelle, étudie et fait connaître le courant de l’Eglise émergente.

Nick Ashman - A Prayer For The Fallen

The license of Grace

Here's a parabole from PeterRollins, in his book Insurrection (believe is human; to doubt, divine), which so poignantly illustrates grace:

There was once a young man called Caleb who was obsessed with gathering up possessions and gaining status. He was so driven by the desire to succeed that, from an early age, he managed to become one of the most prominent and influential figures in the city. Yet he was unhappy with his lot. he worked long hours, was rarely his children, and often became irritable at the slightest problem. But more than this, he knew his lifestyle met his father's disapproval.

His father had himself been a wealthy and influential man in his youth, but he had found such a life shallow and unsatisfactory. As a result, he had turned away from it in an endeavor to embrace a life of simplicity, fellowship and meditation.

...he had warned Caleb in the strongest possible way to embrace a life that delves deeply into the beauty of creation, the warmth of fellowship, and the inspiration derived from deep and sustained reflection.

Caleb's father was an inspiring man, well loved by all, and Caleb could see that his father, while living in a modest way, was at peace with himself and the world in a manner that his friends and colleagues were not. Because of this, Caleb often looked longing at his father's lifestyle and frequently detested the path that he had personally chosen. Yet, despite this, he was still driven to pursue wealth and power.

It was true that his father was a happy and contented man, but he was concerned about his son, and on any occasion when they spent time together, he would criticize Caleb for the life he had chosen.

But one day while Caleb's father was reflecting upon his son's life, a voice from heaven interrupted him, saying, "Caleb is also my son, and I love him just the way he is."

Caleb's father began to weep as he realized that all these years he had been hurting his son through his disapproval and criticism. So he immediately visited his son's house and offered a heartfelt apology, saying, "Please never feel that you need to change what you do or who you are. I love you without limit and condition just as you are".

After that day, the father began to take interest in his son's life again, asking questions about what he was doing and how his work was progressing. But, increasingly, Caleb found that he was no longer so interested in working the long hours. Soon he started to skip work in order to spend more time with his family and began to take less interest in what others thought of him.

Eventually, Caleb gave up his work entirely and followed in his father's footsteps, realizing that it was only after his father had accepted him unconditionally for who he was that he was able to change and become who he always wanted to be.

Rollins goes on to say; this is nothing less than a description of grace. In grace we are able to accept that we are accepted and, in this very act of knowing we do not have to change, we discover the ability to change. It is in experiencing the license of grace rather than the legalism of prohibition that real transformation becomes possible.

The Greed Creed

I got this from ASBO Jesus blog...

The trivializing of Prayer

Here's a quote from Richard Rohr concerning prayer:

“Everything exposed to the light itself becomes light,” says Ephesians 5:13. In prayer, we merely keep returning the divine gaze and we become its reflection, almost in spite of ourselves (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The word “prayer” has often been trivialized by making it into a way of getting what you want. But here I use “prayer” as the umbrella word forany interior journeys or practices that allow you to experience faith, hope, and love within yourself. It is not a technique for getting things, a pious exercise that somehow makes God happy, or a requirement for entry into heaven. It is much more like practicing heaven now.

Coming from a protestant evangelical tradition i've been brought up to see prayer as asking God to do things, the things that we think we or the world needs.

i like the contemplative approach to prayer; in fact as we gaze on God we are changed, transformed and we no longer come to Him with our 'shopping list/wish list'. But we become one with the One and His desires because ours.