From the weekly Reflexions that I wrote for three years, here are several having to do with time, reprinted along with a couple of extra chapters not previously published.
You can find this at Lulu.com
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/reflections-on-time/11773905
And notice that you can download a less expensive version as a PDF file with no shipping costs!
You also have the option of writing a wonderful and glowing review of this book once you’ve read it.
Also, reprinted and published in a new binding (otherwise the same with the addition of three poems) is Reflections On Breath. Hopefully I will also finish Reflexions On Church within a couple more weeks and then on to the much larger and, I believe, really helpful books, Reflexions On Prayer.
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/reflections-on-breath/11771231
Don’t ask why, because I don’t know. But I decided to blog my meditation from this morning.
This year I am reading through the New Jerusalem Bible, so if the passages I quote sound strange to you, that is why. Also, I am reading three chapters from the Old Testament each morning and one from the New. That’s all the explaining I’m going to do. Anything else in the following meditation that doesn’t make sense to you will have to remain a mystery.
But who can detect his own failings?
Wash away my hidden faults.
Psalm 19:12 read more…
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:8-12
INTRO: Documentary, “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers” – interviews with average North Americans
What became painfully obvious:
- No one wants to listen to Christians–that is, their condemnation, dogma, and arguments
- People are deeply impressed by acts of love and kindness read more…
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
INTRO: Those of us who started Reflexion were drawn together by a shared vision and passion
- Vision: That “spiritual journey” is a useful analogy to describe our life in Jesus
- Passon: Our desire to make continued progress in this journey, to move deeper into God and travel further in fulfilling his will read more…
If I speak with tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
INTRO: I was thinking about Christian fundamentalism a few days ago
- It occurred to me that the pioneers got it wrong
The fundamentals they emphasized were beliefs (doctrines)
– but those are not what is fundamental to the Christian life read more…
Reflexion is polyvocal, which means that our message is told and our prayer is offered in multiple voices. These voices are as varied as our human members, so among them you will hear precision and metaphor, exploration and certainty, report and story. Every voice is beautiful and contributes something to the symphony of our spiritual community.
Here is one of the voices we always enjoy hearing.
I’ve been thinking about wells versus fountains today. Decorative fountains are fabricated and draw our attention by their beauty or the sound they make. They are useful to cover a less attractive area or to elevate it. Fountains move water in a way that is spontaneous, even joyful. read more…
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
INTRO: In the rough grammar and elusive logic of Paul’s letters, we sometimes miss his other literary gifts
For example, here in 2 Corinthians, Paul develops his theme by loading chapters 3-5 with polarities
– he demonstrates the way Christians are pulled in two directions
– it is in this context they need to understand his calling, credentials, and service to them read more…
Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it toone of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'” Matthew 25:31-46 (37-40)
INTRO: Whenever the Scriptures brings up the last judgment, it is to force us to look at ultimate issues
When my life reaches its final hour, what will it equal?
– what will be the sum total of everything I’ve done?
– taken as a whole, what was my life’s value? its spiritual and moral quality? its contribution?
– what was the meaning of my life?
These are the issues that are put on trial before the Son of Man in Matthew 25 read more…
Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” Mark 5:29-30
INTRO: What I want to do with this story is to:
- Go through it once and point out what we typically look for
- Then go back to it and focus on what we would typically overlook read more…
Daily Meditations From the Scriptures