The Labrador is snoring,
The wife is gently breathing,
Thoughts are queuing for attention;
Questions jump from foot to foot (do questions have feet?):
'Pick me - Pick me,' they cry.
Is it enough that people are happy?
Is the absence of war the same as peace?
Is it enough to merely 'keep the customer satisfied'?
Is the absence of commitment the same as discipleship?
Is coming to church the same as being Church?
Is doing stuff the same as believing?
You can't buy your way into heaven through works.
But that same faith,
Which comes by faith,
Is impotent unless it begets works.
That mean doing something,
Anything!
Yet all God wants is for us, is:
To sit on our behindsides
And love Him.
Yet, if we do it well
We get off of them!
Yet all God wants for us, is:
To enjoy the relationship.
To spend time with Him (we call it relationship)
To chat (we call it prayer),
To read (we call it study)
To sing His praise (we call it worship)
To listen to His voice (we call it guidance)
To strive to be like Him
To change the way we think
To change the way we live
To be disciples
(There's that word again: disciple)
Can anything that begins with 'dis' be good?
Dis - aster
Dis - ease
Dis - tress
Dis - ciple
(what is an 'iple' anyway?)
But there's a light at the end of the tunnel
A glimmer if hope
And a re-assuring thought:
We don't have to go to Church
We're C of E!
We don't have to go to Church
We're C of E!
We don't have to change
We just need to change the Vicar!
6 comments:
Remember we are human "be" ings not human "do" ings.
When you let go of the questions you will find the answers.
Indeedy - but 'be-ing' with God leads to 'do-ing' and so as nice as the thought that all God wants me to do is sit on me bum and love Him - out of that love comes a response that not only find repose in Him but action for Him.
Thanks for the comment thought Phil.
ps. I'm amazed no one was as surprised as me at the 'change the Vicar' comment - but as they did, I guess this might be a common approach for some :-)
From a Taoist perspective, there is the actionless action.
When you are in tune with the Tao (God?) then you will do the right thing without causing tension.
It is this that I meant, not sitting contemplating ones navel but finding the stillness that is at the centre of our lives and living in that.
As a Taoist friend used to say - there is good and there is bad and the conflict between them is the source of discontent but when the inner peace is found, there lies the freedom to be and act and do freely.
That 'actionless action' you speak of where all is still and all tension is removed and all actions become equal.
Never going to find that - I support the Arsenal.
Thanks for the comments - always good - always interesting. (Gosh, am I becoming Taoist?)
V
Excellent reflection on Church.
Is it OK to use with YPF?
"Never going to find that - I support the Arsenal."
:D :D
I often think of what I'm talking of here with the end of the Serenity prayer:
"Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next."
That sums it up very well.
Post a Comment