When God is in Charge

From N.T. Wright:

"When Jesus healed people, when he celebrated parties with all and sundry, when he offered forgiveness freely to people as if he were replacing the Temple itself with his own work -- in all these ways it ws clear, and he intended it to be clear, that this wasn't just a foretaste of a future reality. This was relaity itself. This was what it looked like when God was in charge."

Our New Vocation

From N.T. Wright:

"Jesus thereby leads the way to a new vocation. Instead of the frantic pressure to defend the identity of people, land, and Temple. Jesus's followers are, through the renewal of hearts and lives, to recover the initial vision of being a royal priesthood for the whole world, which is the Messiah's inheritance and now will become theirs as well."

2012 Devotional Plan

Every year I "shake up" my devotional plan, trying to avoid slipping into a rut, doing an activity simply because I have done it in the past. This year, I am adding a mid-day devotion, and continuing to add ancient practices and disciplines into my life.

For 2012, my plans are:

Morning devotion -- Daily Audio Bible podcast, going through the entire Bible (a range of translations) in a year.

Mid-day devotion -- All from thehe Evangelizo app. Praying through the daily Gospel and reflection, a saint of the day, and prayers from liturgical readings.

Evening devotion -- Night prayer from SQPN PrayStation Portable podcast, daily reflection and occassional saint readings from the BreadCast podcast.

Weekly (usually on Saturday) -- Lectio Divina, via the weekly podcsat presented Rev. Todd Spencer.

2012 Priorities

In deciding what to prioritize for my spiritual life in 2012, my focus has been on the "new monastic" and "urban monastic" movements, and I have tried to discern what of those areas I should try to integrate into my life. I have decided on 5 priorities, tht I think summarize key aspects of these that I can commit to.

S olitude
S tillness
S ilence
S implicity
S ervice

I have not worked out how each of these will be integrated into my life, but I have confidence that I'll figure it out. I have a destination.

A Personal Relationship

From A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God:
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"The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge ofone personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and loving mental relationship that the full possibilities of both can be explored."

Living Out Christian Unity

This can apply not just to East and West, but to any division in the church: High Church and Low, Liturgical and Free, Evangelical and Charismatic, etc ...

"If I can unite in myself, in my own spiritual life, the thought of the East and the West, the Greek and the Latin Fathers, the Russians with the Spanish mystics, I will create in myself a reunion of the divided Church. From that secret and unspoken unity in myself can eventually come the exterior and visible unity of all Christians."
-- Thomas Merton

Old and New in One

From a devotion by James H. Kurt:
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"Jesus will be born of a woman from whom it seems no child could come -- a consecrated virgin -- and this of the Holy Spirit, who is with Him and even before time. He is a new testament, however, signified by His birth of a woman of youth and not old age. Though hailed by the old, he brings the newness of God into our midst. His birth fulfills all the births and words and wisdom of the prophets and judges and kings of the Old Testament."

Bearing the Cross

from St. Thomas a Kempis:

"If thou willingly bear the Cross, it will bear thee, and will bring thee to the end which thou seekest, even where there shall be the end of suffering; though it shall not be here. If thou bear it unwillingly, thou makest a burden for thyself and greatly increaseth thy load, and yet thou must bear it. If thou cast away one cross, without doubt thou shalt find another and perchance a heavier."

Athanasius on Resurrection

"Before the Savior came, death was terrible to the saints. Everyone wept for the dead as though they perished. But now that the Savior has risen, death isn't terrible anymore. For everyone who believes in Christ tramples over death. They would rather die than deny their faith in Christ. For they know that when they die they aren't destroyed, but actually begin to live."

Augustine on Charity

"That bread which you keep belongs to the hungry; that coat which you preserve in your wardrobe, to the naked; those shoes which are rotting in your possession, to the shoeless; that gold which you have hidden in the ground, to the needy. Wherefore, as often as you are able to help others, and refuse, so often did you do them wrong."