Saturday 20 October 2012

Weekend Reading

Scarlet @ A Deeper Story
He pauses for a moment to let this sink in. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wash Judas’s feet. I don’t like Judas. I certainly don’t love Judas. I’d like to kick Judas or push him down the stairs or knock him upside the head. Jesus washed his feet. And after he washed Judas’s feet, he looked at every single one of his disciples and told them, ‘By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’ If you love one another.”

Harvey stands and prays, “Jesus, Your body was broken, Your blood shed for our forgiveness. And we all need forgiveness—for contrary thoughts, for hard hearts, for thoughtless, unkind words. Hear our prayers of confession.”

Yeah, God, I pray, forgive TJ for his thoughtless, unkind words. And in that moment I realize that I am doing the exact thing for which I’m denouncing him. Haven’t I spent hours this past week imagining conversations that make me look smart and him look stupid, that make me look godly and him look like a sinner?

I don’t want a real conversation any more than he does. I just want to be right. And I want him and everyone else at that party to know it. And then I want him to grovel at my feet and apologize for making me cry.

Why the Battle for Joy is Really Worth it @ A Holy Experience
And every nerve ending in this highly sensitive body is already feeling unraveled and gory and I don’t even want to go to this thing and I feel the iron weight of time and kids and expectations all pressing down on the lung and his howl is jet thunder in the frayed veins.

No matter the jarring, a jar of fresh water can't spill filthy water.

When Sunday School is For Mommy @ Mama:Monk
The only way to bear Holy Spirit fruit is to be a Holy Spirit tree, to be a vessel of the Spirit, rooted and built up in the love of Christ (Colossians 2:7, Ephesians 3:16). I can't will patience and kindness any more than an apple tree can try really hard to produce peaches. What comes out of me indicates what kind of tree I already am, not the other way around.

Inspiration Addiction @ Church Dreamer
I now realize we must add a new deadly drug, one that kills the soul. A steady dose of ecstatic Christianity is deadly. Inspiration addiction is quickly becoming an epidemic.

I believe that in large part the numerical success of the American mega church movement is because of inspiration addiction. The orchestration of the music, lights, message, video, and even the announcements are geared to creating an internal flood of adrenaline. That adrenaline is confused with the Holy Spirit.

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