2 samuel 14:14 - "we each must die and disappear like water poured out on the ground. but God doesn't take our lives. instead, he figures out ways of bringing us back when we run away (contemporary english version)."
mercy is a beautiful thing.
-dave-
Monday, December 28, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
the didache
what do you know, i have something write!
i was reading a blog today about a new book that tony jones has written, analyzing the didache (an early church document, possibly written prior to the time of many new testament books). you can read the entire text of the didache here. it's not very long at all.
i must admit that my first and only impression of the didache came from a professor at seminary who told our class that he thinks the didache is the reason for legalism in christianity.
i could not have come to a more different conclusion.
it looks more to me like a community looking to emulate and prolong the teachings of Christ, rather than fall into the way the World does things.
this could not have come at a better time for me. it is a time when i am trying to discover what it meant to be a member of The Church shortly after the time of Christ. it looks to me like we don't look a whole lot like that early community of people. check out some of these lines from the didache that echo the teachings of Christ. actually, the interesting thing is that the document begins with a kind of summary of the sermon on the mount. here are some excerpts that struck me.
3:7...be gentle, since the gentle will inherit the earth.
3:8 Be long-suffering and pitiful and guileless and gentle and good, and with trembling, treasure the words you have received.
3:9 Don't exalt yourself or open your heart to overconfidence. Don't be on intimate terms with mighty people, but with just and lowly ones.
be pitiful, guileless and gentle...?!?! seems slightly contrary to the way we are taught as good citizens nowadays...
-dave-
i was reading a blog today about a new book that tony jones has written, analyzing the didache (an early church document, possibly written prior to the time of many new testament books). you can read the entire text of the didache here. it's not very long at all.
i must admit that my first and only impression of the didache came from a professor at seminary who told our class that he thinks the didache is the reason for legalism in christianity.
i could not have come to a more different conclusion.
it looks more to me like a community looking to emulate and prolong the teachings of Christ, rather than fall into the way the World does things.
this could not have come at a better time for me. it is a time when i am trying to discover what it meant to be a member of The Church shortly after the time of Christ. it looks to me like we don't look a whole lot like that early community of people. check out some of these lines from the didache that echo the teachings of Christ. actually, the interesting thing is that the document begins with a kind of summary of the sermon on the mount. here are some excerpts that struck me.
3:7...be gentle, since the gentle will inherit the earth.
3:8 Be long-suffering and pitiful and guileless and gentle and good, and with trembling, treasure the words you have received.
3:9 Don't exalt yourself or open your heart to overconfidence. Don't be on intimate terms with mighty people, but with just and lowly ones.
be pitiful, guileless and gentle...?!?! seems slightly contrary to the way we are taught as good citizens nowadays...
-dave-
Thursday, December 3, 2009
learning to listen
hola friends,
i haven't written anything for quite some time, mostly because i realized that i was doing a lot more talking than listening in my life. i have been so ready to espouse my opinion for so long that i wasn't taking any time to shut up and listen to what God might be teaching me.
i'm a guy (an italian guy at that!), so by nature i like hearing myself speak. i really feel like God is trying to get me to spend more time in silence, listening to what he might be telling me, rather than spending the majority of my time telling God what's up and how things should work.
so, i apologize to anyone who actually cares that i haven't been saying anything lately, but i have to sit back and shut my mouth for a little while.
although i am still doing more talking than listening, there is a little more space in my airwaves than there once was.
-dave-
i haven't written anything for quite some time, mostly because i realized that i was doing a lot more talking than listening in my life. i have been so ready to espouse my opinion for so long that i wasn't taking any time to shut up and listen to what God might be teaching me.
i'm a guy (an italian guy at that!), so by nature i like hearing myself speak. i really feel like God is trying to get me to spend more time in silence, listening to what he might be telling me, rather than spending the majority of my time telling God what's up and how things should work.
so, i apologize to anyone who actually cares that i haven't been saying anything lately, but i have to sit back and shut my mouth for a little while.
although i am still doing more talking than listening, there is a little more space in my airwaves than there once was.
-dave-
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