tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10217302.post115766759911326296..comments2024-03-21T03:45:48.679-05:00Comments on Enter the Rainbow: Barmen 2006Andy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05944614269873479581noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10217302.post-1157829087521259342006-09-09T14:11:00.000-05:002006-09-09T14:11:00.000-05:00Great Lewis quotes, Larry... he is someone I cirl...Great Lewis quotes, Larry... he is someone I cirle back to often.<BR/><BR/>Andy, I think your update is quite significant. Will you have a chance to share with your congregation?<BR/><BR/>There is a serious threat, mostly to our nation, from a very few fascists (yes - look up the textbook definition) who have infiltrated the party of Goldwater. They are counting on the majority's apathy as they make their move. I think it's important for us to do what Andy's doing here, and remind ourselves and each other of the church's role and our roles in this.St. Peter's UCChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03227619829621314225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10217302.post-1157729127255008732006-09-08T10:25:00.000-05:002006-09-08T10:25:00.000-05:00I like it! cbI like it! cbAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10217302.post-1157696285135093292006-09-08T01:18:00.000-05:002006-09-08T01:18:00.000-05:00This is a hard post to think about. I'm going to ...This is a hard post to think about. I'm going to fall back on one of my favorite authors. CS Lewis puts it this way: <BR/><BR/>"The elaborate world-pictues which accompany religion and which look each so solid while they last, turn out to be only shadows. It is religion itself - prayer, sacrament, repentance and adoration - which is here in the long run, our sole avenue to the real"<BR/><BR/>"When any man comes into the presence of God he wil find, whether he wishes it or not, that all those things which seemd to make him so different from men of other times, or even from his earlier self, have fallen off him. He is back where he always was, where every man always is. Everything is always the same. Do not let us decieve ourselves. No possible complexity which we can give to our picture of the universe can hide us from God"<BR/><BR/>I would add one thing to the last sentence - No possible complexity which we can give to our picture of the universe can hide us from God, nor endear us any closer to God. <BR/><BR/>I think the current situations we find ourselves in in our country cause us to have a lot of apprehension and concentrate on those shadow elements that Lewis refers to. Both "liberal" and "conservative" peoples in the church are finding plenty of shadows to dwell upon now and are beginning to snipe at each other for not paying enough attention to each others shadows. <BR/><BR/>In my heart of hearts, I don't believe God is swayed to love anyone any more or any less if they support a war or don't support a war, if they make decisions to exclude or include as these are all what Lewis called shadow issues. No matter where we fall on these decisions, Jesus has assured us that if we love God with all our hearts and accept him as savior then we will stand naked before God fully redeemed and it will be complete bliss - not complete horror. <BR/><BR/>If the church can engage people in the core of religion as Lewis has mentioned - prayer, sacrament, repentance and adoration - That should be all that it need concern itself with - the rest will work itself out. To think otherwise, in my opinion, is to doubt the providence and sovereignty of the God with whom we make real contact with our religion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com