Morning Thoughts
Genuine thanks for the wonderful comments on my post below. All cause me to think, more importantly, to feel, to reflect perhaps, on my spiritual life. I will hang on to what the three of you said.
E: for what it's worth, I did read James, a couple times. I don't have the benefit of any scholarship, but three things stuck out: one, it's a collection of sayings strung together, almost epigrams; two, its constant defense of the poor is comforting. The author was very concerned with social class and the spiritual elevation of the 'brother in humble circumstances.' Three, he uses hyperbole. The passage I quoted below does seem to be about Christians asking for help in times of suffering; ask in faith, James says. Then he dismisses those who don't have the faith. But he says other things, just as strong and directed at believers, other places in the letter, examples which would include us all at one time or another. This softens his comments for me a bit. Could this rhetorical intensity, class consciousness, be leftovers from a person who was actually raised with Jesus? Maybe so.
Allison: yes, Romy rang my bell also. I emailed her with personal thanks when I read her comment. Lots and lots for me to digest there. The example of the saint struggling with doubt, sitting at the atheists' table, of Jesus' own agony in the garden...very potent and much appreciated.
***
The mountains are chilly this morning. I'm trying to save propane and sitting here in the great room with the woodstove going. Once it gets cranking it will heat this entire area to over 70 degrees. That, though, can take hours. I think I'm up to 62 so far. Not bad. Mostly heat left over from last night's burn.
The semester is slowing down for me, or I feel confident enough in my classes, know my students enough, not to berate myself so for being behind. It's all getting easier, and the end is in sight, even if a couple hundred essays still wait between me and that end. Christmas is coming. The great Advent. My favorite holiday and one which hits just after my grades are submitted and I throw on a sweater and begin looking around me for the life I left behind in August.
The spare time I have today (it's a holiday and I'm not driving to campus) I'll spend working around the house. A full blog morning, a longer post, would be nice, but I have to get ready for the carpet installers. One last little piece of hardwood floor to finish. And my muses are silent. Maybe because my fingers are still warming up.
Heartfelt love to all
E: for what it's worth, I did read James, a couple times. I don't have the benefit of any scholarship, but three things stuck out: one, it's a collection of sayings strung together, almost epigrams; two, its constant defense of the poor is comforting. The author was very concerned with social class and the spiritual elevation of the 'brother in humble circumstances.' Three, he uses hyperbole. The passage I quoted below does seem to be about Christians asking for help in times of suffering; ask in faith, James says. Then he dismisses those who don't have the faith. But he says other things, just as strong and directed at believers, other places in the letter, examples which would include us all at one time or another. This softens his comments for me a bit. Could this rhetorical intensity, class consciousness, be leftovers from a person who was actually raised with Jesus? Maybe so.
Allison: yes, Romy rang my bell also. I emailed her with personal thanks when I read her comment. Lots and lots for me to digest there. The example of the saint struggling with doubt, sitting at the atheists' table, of Jesus' own agony in the garden...very potent and much appreciated.
***
The mountains are chilly this morning. I'm trying to save propane and sitting here in the great room with the woodstove going. Once it gets cranking it will heat this entire area to over 70 degrees. That, though, can take hours. I think I'm up to 62 so far. Not bad. Mostly heat left over from last night's burn.
The semester is slowing down for me, or I feel confident enough in my classes, know my students enough, not to berate myself so for being behind. It's all getting easier, and the end is in sight, even if a couple hundred essays still wait between me and that end. Christmas is coming. The great Advent. My favorite holiday and one which hits just after my grades are submitted and I throw on a sweater and begin looking around me for the life I left behind in August.
The spare time I have today (it's a holiday and I'm not driving to campus) I'll spend working around the house. A full blog morning, a longer post, would be nice, but I have to get ready for the carpet installers. One last little piece of hardwood floor to finish. And my muses are silent. Maybe because my fingers are still warming up.
Heartfelt love to all
Comments
A wonderful, almost 80-year old Quakerish blog friend recommended two books for me that I am looking forward very much to reading. They are: "Till We Have Faces" - C.S. Lewis' last (and Larry says)best work. Also, "Thou art That" - a short work by Joseph Cambell, who studied world religions and seemed set off by Christianity. Larry says in this (very late or maybe last) work of his, he came back to a place of finding meaning in Christian mythology.
I'm looking forward to these books because it is heartening to me to read of a fellow traveler who has traversed the road of doubt and unbelief and still found God waiting at the end of the path.
I was thinking about a comment you left on KMJs post about seeing her and her hubby again someday. We're going to be up in Vancouver the the week of 4/17-4/21. Any chance you could find your way up there during that time? I know schedules are tight with spring break and family stuff. Just a thought.
Peace, brother.
it's a great idea. That would make four blogfamilies in one spot. I don't know when our break is or what we're supposed to do, but I'll keep this idea in mind.
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