Inspired by
Mister Tumnus' blog the other day I have been thinking about our last and best mystery, and I have decided that the eucharist is the real presence where the veil comes down; the mystery where the balance between light and darkness is apparent.
ps, wouldn't it be great if jesus really looked like that - i mean look at those feet - and what is that waist-coat doing?
20 comments:
i agree (if i'm understanding you correctly). i think the eucharist is the whole point of everything. i must finish that blog.
Love that pic. It reminds me of Nick Park's stuff. Do you think he likes Wensleydale cheese like Wallace?
Jules, i reckon he's the weirdest of us all....
mr t, you are understanding me and i agree - it's the 'tipping point' of faith
awareness, Nick is a great guy and a good friend of Greenbelt, am sure jesus likes wensleydale, probably likes a good claret with it too
He's a hero at my house. My children were weened on Wallace and Grommit........
Rumour has it that his brother is a professor at the local university, University of New Brunswick.
i will find out for you...
would you like me to try and get you something sihned for your children?
That would be wonderful! They would love that. Thank you.
I don't think I can regain my faith. I used to believe, really and truly. I had faith.
But it got broken and I've spent five months trying to repair it. It may well be a hopeless cause.
niki, good that you're here. you're not alone.
Niki, i don't know the reasons as to why you feel like you do, maybe you have lost faith, but has faith lost you? i doubt it...
tis god-man jesus is very misunderstood, see i don't believe (no matter what we do or become) he is repelled by us - no matter how messy our lives are, regardless of how incomplete we are, and when we recognize that this god-man jesus is not discouraged by our humanity, is not turned off by our messiness, and simply doggedly persues us in the face of it all, what else really can we do but give in to his outrageous, indiscriminate love?
so maybe you have lost faith in something, but i don't believe that something has lost faith in you
in fact if my dear beloved and missed friend mike yaconelli was here he would say this to you (I know this because he said it to me)
Some people consider the use of words like 'messy spirituality' rude and audacious. "How dare you suggest that people are messy? What are you proposing? Are you suggesting that sin is ok, that we should condone less than 100% effort to serve God? You are too negative. It's not helpful to emphasize our flaws"
But the truth is we are a mess. None of us is who we appear to be. we all have secrets. we all have issues. we all struggle from time to time. no one is perfect, not one (I have just paraphrased Romans 3:10). The essence of messy spirituality is the refusal to pretend, to lie, or to allow others to believe we are something we are not. unfortunately, people can handle the most difficult issues more easily than they can handle the lack of pretending
When you and i stop pretending, we expose the pretending of everyone else. The bubble of the perfect Christian life is burst, and we all must face the reality of our brokenness
And wallow in it apparently
meaningWBTL, i can't speak for paul, but for me, being in the middle of something doesn't mean you don't want to see a way out of it. it shouldn't have to mean pretending you're not in the middle of it either. 'wallowing' would imply enjoyment. perhaps some do enjoy their particular struggle. i don't. but i can't false-face my way out of it either. some things last a while. have some compassion.
Mister Tumnus my comment was aimed at Harbour, not Niki, I have read her blog and think she is brilliantly expressive and intelligent, especially for her age.
It was more of an expression of frustration. Harbour constantly talks about each one of us being a mess and how we need to share it. How our brokeness is beautiful, but there are different levels. There is the humbled helpless level that God can reduce us to to give us no other option than to lean on him and then there is the opposite end of the scale. The type of brokeness that has been enslaved by the 'emo' crowd. This love of self loathing, woe is me and self pity is disgusting.
Harbour talks all the time about how we need to be honest in this, but there does come a point when we have to actually DO something about it. Just ahven't actually seen him offer constructive advice past that point thats all.
Sometimes compassion = tough love
wow. well again, i can speak only for myself....
i have found this blog a source of much comfort lately. there are some things (in my life anyway) that probably won't get any better. and trust me, i've put a lot of effort not to mention money into trying to figure out a way through....
the non-judgemental attitude of these posts has been a blessed relief.... the thought that perhaps there are people out there who know what it is like to be close to the edge....
and i'm sorry, but i can't (don't, and won't anymore) believe in a god who does that to people in order to bring them closer to him.
i'm not against 'tough love' but it's not waht compassion means. compassion means 'suffering with' and it is hugely important for me to know that lonely as it gets there are people out there who 'get' lonely.
Ok, let me clarify - I dont believe God is the cause but sometimes he lets it happen.
i don't believe in that god
Hi Jules, that sounds tough. Much respect as I don't think I could do it. Often there are circumstances and events that cannot be changed sometimes imposed on our lives and sometimes our own mistakes. It's good to know God is there for them all. Most of the time there is nothing we can actually do to change our situations but it is our attitudes towards these things that make all the difference. God Bless.
Mr. Harbour.........you're having an interesting week of comments and critiques!
Here are my thoughts.......
Messy is good. Messy means one is in the middle of a work in progress. Who wants to be retentively sterile or "practically perfect in every way" like Mary Poppins?
Messy doesn't mean we have victim mentalities. In fact, I think it is the opposite. If I am aware of the areas in my life that need a bit of TLC or attention then I can work with the Big Kahuna........find strength through my faith in God to be able to overcome whatever issues etc I am dealing with.
I love visiting your site.....the poetry, lyrics, quotes, personal insights, questions and comments you have provided for all to read have been inspirational, often funny, always thought provoking. I have not been a regular church attendee for a long time. My personal year of writing and self-reflection has allowed me to pace my own return and to connect with God in a completely different manner than before. Your site has added to my learning and reawakening.
Dana.
well, i didn't expect all this from a wee post on the eucharist! Ah well, the raising of the blood pressure doesn't hurt every now and then i suppose
i guess all i want to say is paraphrase some bright woman that someone a while back quoted on someone's sight about pain is not an option, misery is...
misery (as Tom Waits sings), can be the river of the world, but i don't think the genuine struggle of all those who visit this part of blog land can be described as so
i don't think any of you wallow in your struggles and part of the miracle of compassion (mr t, you are correct when you say it means to suffer with - that's why jesus is so bloody attractive) - when we weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn...and even, dare i say it laugh with one another, we create community, and when we build that, we are lifted somewhat out of our despair, gloom, melancholy, and we find ourselves knowing we aren't alone and though the pain may not go away altogether, we slowly become aware of a greater power than us holding us still....
thanks all, (meaning, drop by any time) but particularly jules, shirley and dana, not so much for your compliments but for still believing in messy spirituality and in the knowledge that the truth does set us free but it also makes us very very odd
jules, email me and i will show you how to make all those links...
paul.chambers@cwgsy.net
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